DVD Review Update 3/22 Illumination Edition

So yeah. I was expecting a few more things to be in today… and I guess by now they are in the box? They just were not brought in with the one big box in which this was a part of. So maybe tomorrow we can wrap those up and report them being in… but we do need to talk about something related to one of those incoming so… update.

Illumination’s Sing. Aka… Furry Idol The Musical? I don’t know. This is popular enough that it got a sequel this past year (2021) and it probably will get another sequel down the line in 2023 or so. So… Sing. Oh look! The cover of this DVD has the pig in gold… is this the best choice for food on Japan’s Golden Week? Gold layered pig? Uhh… yay?

Ok enough of Sing. Especially since I have to talik about Sing 2 when it arrives (after I order it). This is about Disney Animation’s Zootopia. Mainly that the director of that movie has joined the ever growing exodus of creators from the Disney Animation label, and joining John Lassiter over at Skydance (whose movies this year is Luck and Spellbound. At this rate, the rate Disney is steadily bleeding talent, as they all follow John Lassiter to Skydance. He who is best known for people trying to cancel him ebcause he loves to give hugs… no. Just hugs. He’s so friendly he likes to hug people. Men, women, furries, they are all equal and equally huggable… only apparently it’s ok to hug a furry without permission, women… not so much.

Despite the fact women won’t use their paw to smack ytou upside the head for hugging… unlike furs. Paws, and claws, comes out when you hug without permission. Just ask anyone who hugged a Basic Cat without permission. But yeah. John Lassiter. Is he now the modern day Moses? Only… you know… without the Animation Ten Commandments? Or a giant list of a billion commandments that only a few atheists have talked about on YouTube? And let’s not forget thaqt time in Leviticus where God straight up BBQd a few of the sons of Jacob because they made fire wrong… yeah. John Lassiter promises not to set people on fire for making fire wrong… I hope.

Ok long story short. Disney wants to get their animation brand going at full gear. And while people loved movies like Encanto and Turning Red (newest releases), not enough people loved them and they floundered. And having this exodus of talents from Disney does not help their case any in the years to come… so yeah. Disney is not on the best of footings right now.

Lool John Lassiter. I’m sure your nice… just… no hugs please. I think I overate and now I’m feeling queasy so… uhh… no hugs. Back away… you can leave the pepto chewables on that table over there and have a nice day.

So yeah. I am looking forward to watching Encanto, I want to get Turning Red from Pixar… but this exodus problem is not doing Disney any favors. And places their animation future in a bit of a jeopardy in my opinion. How will it all turn out? I guess when 2023’s movies hit we will see how the quality is… if Disney can survive having Hawthorne (female character in Lightyear coming up in June) give a female character costar a nuzzle, hug and kiss.

Yup. That kiss supposedly newly added to the movie thanks to the state of Florida. In fact this kiss may have been brought to you by the letters F (Florida), B (Bill or P Proposition), and the term AG (Anti Grooming) aka DSG (Don’t Say Gay)… uhh… Disney? No. Stop it. Can’t I watch a single movie anymore without having the politics of the day shoved down my throat? Please? I just want to be entertained… why can’t I just be entertained…

Tomorrow we should see… hey! Fly Me To The Moon Volume 10 is in! A no politics title with a happily married couple! Also Zootopia DVD (which means we can then talk about the TV Series… that will be full of secondary characters but little if no Judy Hopps/Nick)… and Lady Death Anime Movie (for the Anime reviews)…. coming up.

DVD Review Updates 2/20 Disney Animation Version

So this is our Disney Animation Update. We will be at it for awhile as there is also Frozen and Zootopia coming in a few days… but let’s sit through this first.

Tangled. I won’t go into the movie. I got the movie because it starts things off before the Animated Series… of which I only found ONE OVA (Queen For A Day), and no signs of anymore of the series. Despite the fact a bunch of episodes were made of the series… maybe a DVD Collection will come somewhere down the line. Or I’ll have to search for it on E-Bay.

Anyway much like with the previous Dawn Of The Croods the animation quality takes a decided shift from movie to series. And that’s fine. I am not a particularly picky individual. As long as the series at least tries to be somewhat well written and done I can live with the change of art.

Speaking of which? While it won’t have a second series like The Croods coming in the days ahead? It and Zootopia have a sequel stuck somewhere in pre production Bob Chapek’s Office (aka Hell). How so? Well Zootopia might be a more recent movie fare, but Tangled? Tangle came out in 2011! That means the movie has been in pre production Star Wars Galactic Starcruiser for over 10 years as of this date! With no clear sign of said sequel in sights.

Maybe it’s in the works? BUT the only thing I could find info on upcoming movies was some untitled Pixar movies coming in 2023 and 2024 (1 and 2 respectively) so… yeah. This & Zootopia have their work cut out for them. At least Zootopia has a new series in the horizon, but more on that when we look at the Zootopia DVD coming soon.

Rounding out this look is a brand new Disney Animation movie. Encanto. Which I think looks nice and I am looking forward to watching this.. wait a sec… (goes to door and throws it open)… YES KNEON WHO DOESN’T KNOW HOW TO SPELL NEON!! I GOT THE MEMO THAT IT FAILED IN THE BOX OFFICE!! GO GET STUFFED YOU ANNOYINGLY VOICED HUMAN YOU!!… (slams door)… So yeah. Encanto didn’t fare wo well on release. Go figure.

And yeah. It’s funny how Disney Animation gets all the theater releases, and Pixar is delegated to filling space on Disney+… ok it’s not really funny but it’s a thing and it’s happening KNEON… sigh. Anyway I for one am looking forward to checking this out. And nope. I looked. The Encanto DVD case does not mention any extras. I did get the DVD Only version so… eh.

So next time we should be looking at more stuff arriving. Maybe it will be DreamWorks, maybe it will be Disney Animation, eventually it will be Skydance and Illumination… yes. It means I will be receiving THOSE movies. Sing. Aka Animated Furry idol The Movies. Of which I am sure there will be a Sing 3 before you can say “What? Again??”… stay tuned.

DVD Review Update 2/20 DreamWorks Edition

Spo we have a pile to go through so let’s split it into two, this being the Dreamworks pile and the next being the slowly growing Disney Animation pile. Disney… whose DVDs are maybe the last thing you can afford in their ever growing greed… until they stop being affordable.

So let’s see. Monsters Vs Aliens. Now I do have two more DVDs still coming, slowly, one still lost in transition between California and here (that seems to be the new Bermuda Triangle in the COVID era, the Pacific Ocean between California and Hawaii). Yeah. I live in Hawaii. SPOILER… it’s not worth trying to live here. It’s way too expensive, and it’s filled with whiney complainy people… case in point me. Have you heard me complain? See? I told you Hawaii had whiney complainy people! I’m proof of it!

So this is probably the only not movie OVA released I found which seems to feature the actual stars of the movie. The streaming service series? Not so much. Ugh. Everything Dreamworks did with their movies and streaming service series is a direct foreshadowing of what happened this year with MLP G5 aka A New Generation! Nobody from the movie returned for the series! Ugh… also the monsters fight the Not Pumpkaboos from Pokemon Sword & Shield… and none of the pumpkins are Shiny. They’d be purple if they were.

So the team is dispatched to handle an alien threat during Halloween, and no sign of Tommy Lee Jones or Will Smith to help with the alien menace. Also this takes place after the movie, despite the fact this and the movie came out about the same time. Wby? Because in universe they are already selling costumes of the monsters and aliens from the movie. Go figure.

So what are the bonus content of this DVD? Which is about the time span of two episodes of the short lived animated series (or four is you count it for each short episode in a normal episode). Well it has Monster Karaoke Music Party, Modern Monster Movie Making (aka behind the scenes on making Monsters Vs Aliens the Movie or Series I guess?) and World Of DreamWorks Animation… aka the same short included on a ton of DreamWorks Animation DVDs… sigh.

So this is about 45ish minutes, and I guess I will review it somewhere down the line. Meanwhile I have a second DVD coming that is part of the short lived streaming service series… we will see what we think of that when it finally arrives and I can talk about it (and whether or not I need a third DVD to complete the short lived run).

Next up is Dawn Of The Croods. I know you can’t tell from this image, but this is a thick DVD case! About as thick as the DVD case I have for Spectacular Spider-Man. So that must mean this is a 8 DVD collection! Anyway there is not much to say. It has the DVD of the original first movie, and it has the complete Dawn Of The Croods spinoff series.

And yes. Much like with Monsters Vs Aliens this is another foreshadowing of what happened with MLP A New Generation. In this case it foreshadows the tonal shift in animation from the movie to the YouTube shorts Tell Your Tale. Because the animation of the movie and Dawn Of The Croods is very different. Also I think only 1 or 2 of the voice cast of the movie return for Dawn Of The Croods. I know 2 of the movie voices are back for the new Croods series coming soon (yes, there’s a second series ocming).

Why not. This one lasted four seasons! FOUR SEASONS! That’s pretty darn good for something like The Croods. Especially since other movies didn’t fare so well… but hey! This is also the best collected series yet! Monsters Vs. Aliens is kinda slipshod released on separate DVDs that are hard to track, Tangled The Series is… kinda not released yet on DVD past one OVA… and then there’s this, everything from Dawn Of The Croods in one complete set. Nicely done.

This will probably be a down the road thing. Probably during the summer since it will be a long sit down to go through so many discs. This and Spectacular Spider-Man… we shall see. Anyway with this order there are only two more DVDs coming from Dreamworks Animation (both Monsters Vs Aliens). And then… I will add Puss In Boots from a few years ago. Because a new movie is coming out later this year. Which might be the last for the character? Oh well.

Next up… Disney Animation’s first few DVDs arrive… coming up.

DVD Review Update 3/14

So since there is no need to stretch this out, I piled this update together into one update. Mainly my growing Western Animation DVD pile, and my Universal Pictures/Legendary Pictures DVD pile.

So first off we have The Croods 2018. This has to be a bit of a rarity for Dreamworks Animation. Yes the movie was fairly successful, but it also did well in the Animated Series follow up department. If anything, of the four studios I will be pitting head to head in my Western Animation pile (Dreamworks/Illumination vs Disney/PIXAR)? Dreamworks is the most balanced of the four. It purs equal efforts into both theatrical movies and small screen ongoing series.

The only downside is that there are far more not so successful series like Monsters Vs Aliens The Series (1 Season) as opposed to more successful ones like Dawn Of The Croods (4 Seasons AND a new Croods series coming soon on PEacock… ugh… yeah. NBC Universal. So yeah Dreamworks has everything come out on Peacock. Guess I’ll just get the DVD at some point in the future.

And hey. It’s a movie series with Nicolas Cage in it. That has to be nice eh? Sure he doesn’t do any of the animated seires past the two movies, but… still it’s nice. And as such we also have Croods: A New Age 2021. That should mean that we will have a third movie in 2024. Why not. The first two movies were a success, and the Animated Series follow up Dawn was also a success running for four seasons so… yeah. I can see there being a third movie. No news on such a thing yet but… eh.

Megamid 2018. What can I say? It’s a quirky superhero movie that is actually kind of fun. AND there is giong to be a follow up animated series… why not. Just about everything Dreamworks Animation has done has gotten a follow up series, so why not Megamind? It should be out soon, and yes it is coming out on Peacock… look, NBC? I like you and all… but are you yet regretting making your mascot the damn colorful bird with the provocative name that sounds like your talking about male anatomy? I know I regret it…

Speaking of mild regrets? We wrap up today’s pile of things for future review with… sigh. Warcraft 2015. Yes. THAT Warcraft. As in Blizzard’sWorld Of Warcraft.But hey! Don’t fear! This is from 2015! So it’s guaranteed to be microtransaction and horrible remake graphics free!… maybe.

But yeah… its Warcraft. Let’s see… bonuses of the DVD are Deleted/Extended Scenes, a Gag Reel… no no. No more poking fun at all of Blizzard’s mistakes this past two years. I mean an actual gag reel. The Origin Story of Warcraft (if you are not hailing from the age of early PC games when the original Warcraft premiered), The Fandom Of Warcraft… you know. This is from 2015. Back before it became stylish to hate your fans. And a Behind The Magic (SFX) of Warcraft with Industrial Lights And Magic. Well… that’s a nice batch of bonuses!

So next time? We head back to the Anime pile with the Anime-ification of two things… well technically only one. The other… maybe not. Anyway Spawn The Aniamted Series, and Witchblade The Animated Series (with not Sara Pezzini, who seems to be a single mother and has all the bounce and fan service you’d expect from an Anime adaptation of Witchblade…)

(I’m getting mixed signals from this release. She’s a signle mother and loves her daughter, but nature look at that design of her… yup! Definitely mixed signals here!! Damn you Anime version of Witchblade for making me confused!)

Anyway, see you next update! Coming up… and yes. There does exist a World Of Warcraft Porn Parody movie… ugh… but hey. Look at the bright side! Get both it and this one! Then, after you see the porn version? You’ll absolutely think that this version looks like Lord Of The Rings (not the Amazon version, the Peter Jackson version) by comparison. It’s kinda like watching the Pokemon more parody, and wondering why Pikachu is a yellow painted horribly “costumed” young lady whose voice could kill… yeah. These are the kinds of things that you can make fun of, but you shouldn’t watch. Ever. Seriously don’t. Unless you have self hatred issues, then don’t torure yourself. Nuff said.

DVD Review Updates 2/10

So one of the things that makes Dreamworks Animation stands out? Is the fact that they don’t just throw a tone of movies at you each year. Each year they also throw a ton of spinoff Animated Series at you as well… some more successful than others. As you can see from the small slice of content I am getting from them. Monsters Vs. Aliens, The Croods, Megamind and The Bad Guys (April 2022.

See this? It’s NOT the 2009 movie. No. It’s the 2013 Series… well, one of three DVDs. Unlike Dawn Of The Croods (which you can get in one purchase along with the original first movie) you have to buy… I assume three DVDs encompassing the whole one and only season of about 24 episodes or so, with 50 shorts…

Because Dreamworks Animated is seemingly obsessed with 11 1/2 minute short episodes, years before it became fashionable to be into those. This? I assume this is either the first or second DVD of the set. I know there is one after this, which I am ordering shortly… I just need to find the third DVD… or the first depending on what happens when I get the next one.

Why this thing didn’t come out in one easy to get DVD purchase, like Dawn Of The Croods? I don’t know… also? Dawn of the Croods? Four seasons long. Monsters Vs Aliens? One Season. So you can see the difference.

And there is already a second Croods series coming up too. That one only features two of the main voice actors from the movies, and that’s fine. I won’t miss Nicolas Cage in the new series… eh. Oh. There is also a Megamind series coming out (both coming on Peacock).  It will probably be a long while before they are available on DVD… I’m still waiting to get House Broken Season 1 on DVD if you are wondering… but I will be looking forward to both for future review. But first… I have all this to review.

So what is still coming in? I still have a Jurassic Park collection DVD coming in, as well as Captain Marvel (from she who is now leaving the MCU, Brie Larson), Pacific Rim… oh. And still waiting on Princess Connect Re Dive. So updates on all those coming in the days ahead. As well as more Dreamworks Animated updates… well not much. Like I said I am just picking up Monsters Vs Aliens, The Croods, Megamind… and The Bad Guys next month or so. Stay tuned.

DVD Review Update 2/9

So yeah. I have an update on Anime Reviews coming today too… today truly is a good day. I managed to go out, get myself a diet soda and some eats, see the outside world, get ready to make another order from my survey earnings, pick up a new Anime DVD so I will be in the know and up to date on the latest Animes people are watching and reviewing… today really is a good day. Even as things go south in the Ukraine with the Russians deciding they want to be even more jerks then they were… a few days ago when they pulled the old fake cease fire trick again. Twice in a row. Uh… no? Bad Russians? Jerks.

So you can say you know there are Dead Rising animated movies out there people can buy? There are Dead Rising animated movies (made by Legendary Digital for Crackle, one of the obscure streaming services) out there… yay? Anyway from 2016 we have Endgame!

“After narrowly escaping a zombie quarantine, Chase (Jesse Metcalfe) can’t shake the guilt of having left a trusted colleague behind. Now, as he heads back into the quarantine to expose the architects of the outbreak, he will uncover a secret more evil than he could have imagined. With mass annihilation looming. Chase — along with a group of dubious allies — slices, hacks and bludgeons his way through the zombie hordes that plague the abandoned city. Our heroes will have to confront their most gruesome nightmares in order to save millions of innocent lives, including their own. Also stars Dennis Haysbert, Billy Zane, Mane Avgeropoulous (“The 100”) and Keegan Connor Tracy (“Once Upon A Time”)” (aka that show that wanted to be Fairy Tale Soap Opera ABC version).

So yeah. It’s another… well the last of a two movie series… of Dead Rising animated movies. And again if I get enough requests I’ll review it for you, put it on the top of my review list for you. Just ocmment below if your interested in seeing more! Also this is a Legendary DVD release, so it and Watchtower have nice extras added onto each DVD. So its a nice add on to your collection even if you never touched a Dead Rising video game before.

We round out today’s look with two movies that fit into the Western Kaijuverse of Universal. Kong Skull Island (2017), which started the Kaijuverse for Kong… which ended quickly with 2021’s Godzilla Vs. Kong, because after that movie TOHO withdrew the rights to their Kaijuverse from Universal… meaning they will have to do a timejump to explain away why there is no Kaiju like Godzilla anymore in the world, and start anew with Son of Kong.

At this point I think they might as well merge Kong, and whatever other Kaiju they can invent or buy… like that one rare European Kaiju made years ago that nobody talks about… and merge them all with Pacific Rim to make a new Kaijuverse. Might as well… anyway this is Vietnam Kong… yay?

Finally we have Pacific Rim Uprising… 2018? 2019? Dammit the fine print on these cases are so hard to read! Anyway this stars John Boyega. He who was Finn in the Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, then became the Incredible Shrinking Finn on Chinese movie posters… then was into Disney.. until he wasn’t into Disney anymore. Thats great. We need him to return to Universal and do more Pacific Rim, since this is the best franchise to rebuild your Kaijuverse around after TOHO took their Godzilla and other Kaiju and went home… to delay their own Kaijuverse after refusing to make a sequel to the popular Shin Godzilla from some years ago. Sigh.

Tomorrow we have the first of a batch of animated movies I’m getting from Dreamworks Animation! And it fits the Kaijuverse idea in my head as I think they should add a new 50 foot woman to the Kaijuverse… maybe not played by the same lady who voiced Susan in Monsters Vs Aliens… did I reveal too much? Anyway see you next update.

DVD Review Updates 2/8

So we should get through these so I can get ready for the next batch of incoming DVDs. I do like to keep my ordering going… even as I prepare to wrap up for a time in order to get My Dress Up Darling Season 1 (Japanese Language Version) from Amazon for review… which I will do after we look at Season 1 of Hidamari Sketch. Then we will truly see if I think it is Best In Show… probably. I do have a pretty easy going threshold of approval… unless you irk me like School Zone Girls. Then all bets are off.

So let’s see. From my Paramount stack building we have a double pack of GI Joe… which really should have learned from all it’s better 80’s animated movie events it kept doing, and did their movies in that same level of action and fast paced storytelling. At least they would have fared better. Though to be fair the money earned from GI Joe isn’t that bad… it just isn’t the same level as Transformers during the Bay era (aka the Bayverse). So yeah. Scoring at best a 1/4th of what a good Transformers movie makes? That would kinda doom this franchise… which is sad since Retaliation kinda was better than Rise Of COBRA (featuring the 9the Doctor Eccleston as Destro… WHY!!!!)

No. Wait. The 11th Doctor is about to appear as Morbius villain Hunger in the upcoming Morbius movie this April… so I guess we can do a Doctor as villain thing. I just hope Matt Smith does his better than Eccleston did Destro.

And yeah. I am going to order GI Joe Origins Snake Eyes… for some reason. Eventually. Maybe next week.

Over in Sony’s pile we have… Men In Black. Completing my collection… because I can’t get ahold of the Animated Series because they are hard to come by. So we will stick to the movies. And look! The first two movies I went to theaters to see! The third… I saw that one on TV. And look, it has Josh Brolin aka Thanos aka Cable! But I saw all three of these! IUnlike the previously revealed Men In Black International… but ok.

So tomorrow? We look at the Universal and/or Legendary Pictures pile. We have Kong Skull Island, we have Pacific Rim Uprising… hmm… Universal needs to reboot their Kaijuverse after TOHO withdrew the rights to Godzilla and their Kaijuverse, so… maybe it’s time to pull a Multiverse and merge the remains of their Kaijuverse with Pacific Rim? Why not. Oh. Also we look at the story of Dead Rising Endgame. The second of… two Dead Rising animated movies. Because you just have to see it to believe they actually made Dead Rising animated movies… coming up on the next update for future reviews!

DVD Review Updates 3/3

So I guess if we are doing Anime it’s time to start getting ready to review DVDs as well… might as well take this large pile of content I have been purchasing with all my survey earnings and put them to good use. So that is the plan which will slowly reach fuirtation in the coming days. Stay tuned.

So today’s new arrival is… proof that you can indeed watch movies based on Dead Rising. Mainly this and one more Animated Movie made by Legendary Digital, and released originally on Crackle… what? You don’t have a subscription to Crackle? You don’t even know that Crackle is? Me neither… but here it is.

The DVD of Dead Rising Watchtower. SPOILER… it doesn’t involve our favorite reporter character from Dead Rising fighting the armies of the zombified Jehovah’s Witnesses… because, you know, they have a publication called the Watchtower…

So let’s see… “When A mandatory government vaccine fails and a full-scale zombie epidemic ensues, a new reporter and three other survivors are trapped inside a quarantine zone. The team must use everything they can find to fight off the flesh-hungry mob and evade becoming part of the undead horde.”

Sigh. No. This is not a COVID vaccine hit piece movie. This came out in 2015, about six years or so before the vaccine was a thing. Also? I am pretty sure the reporter is voiced by Rob Riggle in this movie… is he the OG voice actor from the games? I don’t know. I never played the games… but yeah. Dead Rising.

Reviewed by Matt Donato of WeGotThisCovered.com as “A Gift To Zombie Lovers.”… was that taken in the proper context or not? I guess only time and a review will tell. Anyway this 2 hour movie is on my list to review in the days ahead… now I am just waiting for the second… and last… movie. Dead Rising Endgame. Coming soon.

Only two movies? I guess it was supposed to be a trilogy but it just didn’t sell very well… or it was meant to be a four hour movie chopped into two two hour movies for time sake and to churn out double the DVD/Blu Rays… anyway this is on my docket for a future review.

And since the DVD was flopping about loose in the case when I got it? I hae to say that this DVD is… unremarkable. The most generic bland looking DVD stamping I’ve seen to date. What…I hope this isn’t some sort of bootleg. It looks legit… anyway Dead Rising Watchtower. Coming soon to review.

See you next update when we look at… Pacific Rim? Dead Rising? Men In Black? Kong? Stay tuned.