MY NUMBER 1 FAVORITE DISNEY VILLAIN (PART 2)

Well you all read about why the Devil is number 1 on my list on Hallows eve, so let's now talk about the villain that he's tied with on "Halloween"...

THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN



WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

For some time now, it's been a Halloween tradition that before I call it a night and cry a little that Halloween and the month exploiting the holiday and season is all over; I watch the Disney version of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow". Sometimes if I have more time I'd watch the cartoon featured before it "The Wind in the Willows” not only because it's a fun cartoon, but gets me ready to embrace the Holiday season since there is some beautiful Christmas visuals in it. But usually, I'd just skip ahead to the cartoon that closes the double feature. However as iconic of a Halloween classic that this short is, we don't really start getting to the Halloween visuals until we see Ichabod dance with Katrina at the Halloween party. Before that we just gaze at a colorful sleepy little town in the fall. But even when we do enter the party, the dark Halloween atmosphere doesn't begin until the dance scene is over. And right when the party starts to look dark and spooky, that's when our ghostly villain is first mentioned!

As soon as Brom figures out that Ichabod is superstitious, he smiles and winks, and begins to tell a ghostly tale by the fireplace about the worst specter of all that haunts "Sleepy Hollow" the Headless Horseman who seeks a head to replace the one that he's lost, and how he escaped him by crossing the bridge that the Horseman will dare not cross. Only he doesn't narrate the tale, he SINGS it, leading to a song sequence that I feel is underrated nowadays by modern Disney fans, and being one of my (I kid you not) all-time top 5 favorite villain songs! Why, you probably are wondering? Well first of all, I love the Halloween visuals supporting the scene. You have black cats, jack-o lanterns, ghost-like shadows, and the overall environment being drenched with the colors black, orange and red. Furthermore, I not only love seeing Brom look more scary and menacing when he reenacts as the Horseman as he’s telling his tale, but I love how all the guests (with the exception of Katrina) start to look and act creepy, as if the friendly towns people who we've met earlier aren't as nice as they appear to be. They all swarm up uncomfortable close to Ichabod as they sing with Brom as if they're coming after him and deliberately taunting him then just having fun; create dark and monstrous shadows towards Ichabod; and how they just lifelessly stare at Brom when he tells his story in the background with look of fear in some shots just makes them and the scene itself appear to be even more creepy. Let's also not forget the party guest who doesn't look like that he's alive for how ghoulish he looks, sounds and acts. We never even see him again after we first see him appear!

The song is sung by "I'm dreaming of a White Christmas" himself Bing Crosby, who puts plenty of fun, class, and terror when singing this song. This was my favorite Halloween song growing up as a kid that I would sing countless times, even when being way out of season, for how creepy and bouncy it sounds. I'll even say that it's my favorite Bing Crosby song for how much I love it and the Holiday itself! I know some people don't find the song itself to be scary since it sounds way too upbeat, and I can see why, but honestly I can never understand why they don't see the spooky material to come out of it. Not just in terms of the visuals, but just how dark some of the lyrics are (particularly that the song itself centers around a ghost who wants to chop-off any innocent he finds); the choir of towns people that help make the song catchy but also sounding like a choir of ghouls and banshees singing (especially the wailing noise that we hear from the women's choir); and how the music goes from eerie to dramatic as Brom's tale builds and builds. For me the song is like "Grim Grinning Ghosts" from "The Haunted Mansion" (another song that I couldn't stop singing as a kid). It's not supposed to flat out scare you, it's really more supposed to be just good spooky fun, and I definitely get that when listening to this song. Speaking of "The Haunted Mansion", do you know who was originally going to sing the song? The great deep voiced Thurl Ravenscroft, who sung the famous ghost song as one of the singing busts. Though I love Crosby's version much better, if his version doesn't give you any kind of chills, then Ravenscroft's version will, especially for how he hits that final note!

After getting a song that effectively sets-up our villain, what follows is a nerve racking sequence that builds-up to his presence. Unlike the song, and the chase sequence with Ichabod and the Horseman where it balances out the horror and comedy, this scene (aside from when Ichabod tries to pull his horse when he hears the sound of galloping of hooves drawing near) is drenched in complete darkness and suspense. Right when the scene starts where we gaze at the moonlit sky to seeing this Gothic forest where the only sounds we hear is the eerie wind blowing and animal noises as Bing Crosby's narration sets ups Ichabod's nervous ride into the hollows, you are pulled into the atmosphere as if you are going on this nightmarish ride with Ichabod. Images such as the old spiral trees looking like ghosts that want to grab Ichabod, the cloud in the shape of a claw covering the moon, and the woods appearing to close in behind Ichabod with no way of turning back, as we hear animals and insects making sounds that sound like they're calling Ichabod's name and the horseman is so petrifying and surreal that just gets more and more scarier and intense until Ichabod discovers cattails bumping on a log that are making the sound of the hooves, realizing that all his fears are in his head. And we feel comfortable and laugh along with Ichabod and his horse after being scared silly...that it is until we hear a maniacal voice laughing with them, which causes the two to sweat as the strings in the score builds, and gasp when they see the horseman himself!

There are two important elements to the horseman that make him to be so memorable. The first is his evil laugh! For the majority of evil laughs that we hear in animated films, as scary as they can be, we always remind ourselves as we get older that it's just the actor in a booth laughing into a mic as a sense of comfort. But with the horseman on the other hand, not many audiences get that. It doesn't at all sound human, it sounds like the kind of laugh that you'd here in your nightmares or if you were to enter Hell. It just never sounds like that this is coming from an actor's voice, almost as if Disney somehow manage to summon the actual devil himself and persuaded him to provide the laughter for the horseman to make him really scare audiences that would see the film.

The second is his design! Though I was never frightened by his design (or even his laugh believe it or not as a kid) it's still a cool and blood-curdling design! He's a tall and muscular headless figure drenched with the colors black and purple; rides a dark and vicious demon like horse with red eyes; wields a long and shiny sharp sword; and carries a flaming pumpkin with an angry frown on it! He's the kind of specter who you wouldn’t want to encounter alone in the woods at night for how big, scary, and quick he moves where your head is as good as his if you don't have a horse to save your skin. And even if you do, you still may-not have a ghost-of a chance for how tricky and powerful he is. And here's another fun fact about the Horseman that was also a scrapped idea that was never used, did you know that the Horseman was originally going to appear in a ride where you would have to escape from him to save your neck? And not a ride based on the story, but in "The Haunted Mansion" at the Graveyard? As out of place as the Horseman would've been since the ride's story has nothing to do with "Sleepy Hollow", it sounds like an incredible idea to bring such a frightful villain to life. I'd be down to experience a ride at a Disney theme park where I'd be riding for my life away from the Horseman!

The entire sequence involving Ichabod being chased by the horseman is some of the scariest and funniest imagery that Disney has ever brought where you find yourself to be screaming and laughing all the way through. One moment you're laughing at how long the lead attached to Ichabod's horse is, the next moment you find yourself in fear when he's now off his horse when holding on to the rope and right up against the horseman's horse and his blade. One second you feel safe for Ichabod and his horse when they hug thinking that they’ve lost him, but then you're back to being in terror when they find themselves back in front of the horseman, until they go sliding into the river below them where you start laughing again! It's an overall insane and exciting roller-coaster of thrills and laughs. My favorite moment that always makes me laugh is when Ichabod hits a tree branch that knocks him on the back of the horseman's horse, and doesn't notice that he's literally right behind the horseman as the chase goes in circles, until Ichabod and his horse notice that they are apart from each other, which causes them to gasp until Ichabod is knocked back on to his horse by the very same tree branch. As for the moment that scares me the most, its when Ichabod looks inside the horseman's neck to see nothing but darkness and the sound of his evil laughter coming out of it.

Again much like the Devil in "Fantasia", every single frame and image of the horseman is so frightening and iconic that pointing out each of those moments are practically endless! There are just so many great shots of him, such as the image of him riding after Ichabod through the spiral woods where the sky above now appears to be a maroon color. Or when he jumps right in front of Ichabod swinging his sword in front of a bright moonlit background! Or how his horse leaps almost as high as the moon! I can go on forever! Let's not forget that big, loud, and intense score that supports the chase scene and the Headless horseman's presence. It plays a huge factor of the thrills and chills that we get from the horseman as this scene plays out, especially when they mix the music with the horseman's laughter! But out of everything that makes the horseman so scary is how wildly ruthless he is. Since this evil and powerful spirit is desperate for a head, no matter if it's a good face or an unusual face, he has to have it in his possession, and he never gives up as he chases after Ichabod with full speed blocking him at almost every turn, and violently swinging his sword whenever he's near his head.

And just when Ichabod passes through the bridge stopping the horseman in his tracks, the horseman pulls one last attempt at taking Ichabod's head by throwing his flaming pumpkin at his head! After we see the pumpkin hit the screen and burst into flames, we cut to the next morning to see Ichabod's hat and a shattered pumpkin beside it with no trace of him or his horse! Normally in a Disney film the villain would usually have some kind of downfall or weakness where the hero would win and live happily ever after, and with Disney's name attached to a story as scary and mysterious as "Sleepy Hollow", you'd think that Ichabod would simply just escape the horseman and leave the town safe and sound. But surprisingly enough, they stay true to the source material by keeping Ichabod's fate a mystery. We don't know for sure if he was "spirited away by the headless horseman" or married a wealthy widow, all we know is that Ichabod won't be returning to the hollow. How often do Disney villains actually get away with their supposed crimes in the end or live on to still carry on what they're doing? Almost never. Sure we never discover if the Horseman really took Ichabod's head, but his evil spirit still remains where he'll more than likely search for another one.

What's also fascinating about the horseman is that it's never clear if it's Brom or not. Some of the clues that it could possibly be Brom are certainly there. We never hear any mention about the horseman until Brom discovers that Ichabod is superstitious, and uses his fears to make him petrified for when he rides into the hollow and as a means to embarrass himself in front of Katrina. Brom uses Jack-lanterns, and a sword to act out the horseman, which the horseman also carries. And both Brom and the horseman ride a dark horse. There is enough evidence in the film that can hint that it was Brom who dressed up the horseman and chased Ichabod, but there are also other implications that the horseman that Ichabod encountered could be real. The horseman's horse has red glowing eyes; the horseman himself is muscular like Brom, but less bulky; and the most notable indication that the horseman could be real is when Ichabod looks down his cloak and sees absolutely nothing. However, it is possible that Ichabod could possibly be imagining the horseman's appearance differently since he was already suffering from a bad case of hysteria when he entered the hollow by seeing and hearing things. But then again he did reach into his cloak deep enough to see practically nothing.

You may even notice during the chase that the horseman for the most part doesn't carry his flaming pumpkin with him. We see the pumpkin in his first appearance; and see a silhouette of him holding it as Ichabod tumbles down into the river; but until Ichabod crosses the bridge it's pretty much absent and just magically appears in his hand when he tosses it at him. How on earth can Brom possibly do that?! Well say if it was really Brom as the horseman, my only explanation to that is it could be a continuity error. I do love the animation in "The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad", but I'm not going to act like that it doesn't have its noticeable inconsistencies because it has plenty of them. Ichabod's eye color changes throughout the short. In the climax Ichabod's jacket and hat change colors; Brom's coonskin cap appears and disappears in a few shots; and sometimes people or things would change poses and positions in the next shot (like the men at the tavern sleeping, to having a few being awake in the next shot; or the barrel's cork going from one side to the other). Some of those are pretty big noticeable errors and that's just to name a few out of the many other mistakes. I'm not saying that those errors are distracting or anything, because the designs, imagery, movements, pacing, slapstick, story, narration, songs, characters, and what-not are all so great that it's easy to overlook those errors (even the major ones). I'm just simply implying that it's possible that the horseman's pumpkin could have been a part of those errors. However, since it's never quite clear if the sudden reappearance of the pumpkin was intentional or not, it helps add into the mystery of the horseman. And that's overall why I had a change of a heart for this villain. Will never know for sure what the horseman truly is, or what happened to Ichabod. Even if we used the pieces of evidence that we were given, we still wouldn't have a definitive answer, and that's what truly makes him out to be such a scary and intriguing villain.

The horseman will always be an enigma for how mysterious he is, and though he doesn't appear much, everything revolving around him is horrifying; from his build-up, to the atmosphere surrounding his presence, to his design, to his evil laugh, to his violent cravings of taking Ichabod's head, to the ending that leaves us all into thinking. He and the Devil from "Fantasia" do have their differences, but for me they share so much in common that I simply don't have the heart to separate those two as my number 1 favorite Disney villains of all time!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!!

And remember...

"With a hip-hip and a clippety clop. He's out looking for a head to swap. So, don't try to figure out a plan, you can't reason with a HEADLESS MAN!!!!!!"

"Man I'm getting out of here"

-Bing Crosby

MY NUMBER 1 FAVORITE DISNEY VILLAIN (PART 1)

A TIE BETWEEN

THE DEVIL



FROM "FANTASIA"

AND

"THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN"



FROM "THE ADVENTURES OF ICHABOD AND MR. TOAD"

WARNING: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS!

Now I know what some of you are thinking? "How could you put them as number one over villains like Frollo and Maleficent? The Devil didn't do anything? The Horseman wasn't real, it was just Brom in disguise? Why are they even tied together, they have nothing in common? This is such a let-down!" OKAY, now look, let me make one thing perfectly clear alright? This is MY PERSONAL list! These are the villains that I personally feared and admired when watching these films. And if you don't agree with my rankings and reasons, that's fine! This is all subjective! We're all going to have our own personal rankings of Disney villains. So if you're favorite one isn't higher or even on the list, just remember that this isn't your list. The reason why you've been following this list or glancing at parts of it is either because you're interested in Disney villains just as much as I do and are either curious to hear a different perspective that you haven't considered before, or see if you share something in common with my thoughts.

So with all that said, let's finally get to my reasons of why these two are on the top of my list, and more importantly why they are together? Well the ironic thing about my choosing for these villains is when I started brain-storming for the list back in 2012 during my senior year of High School, these two were originally going to be at the bottom. And it wasn't just for their minim-screen time and having little to no motivation (or least not as big as other villains), but it also was because I was going to count all the sequels and spin-offs that these villains have appeared in. And if you saw the Devil outside of "Fantasia" he was pretty much portrayed as a joke. He makes public appearances, he can be defeated by Sora and pals in "Kingdom Hearts" and Mickey in "Fantasmic”, and is afraid of the dark (as evidenced in "The House of Mouse") and Michael Eisner (in the "50's Years of Magic" TV Special). As for the Horseman, even though he hasn't been made out as a joke like the Devil outside of his film, since it’s possible that Brom could be the Headless Horseman, I felt at the time a bit disappointed that the Horseman may not be real in the film's world.

However, after deciding to not to count the spin-offs that the Disney villains were in (with some exceptions though), and watched their scenes again, these two were cooler and darker than I remember them to be. And the overall reason why they're tied together in my number one spot is that they're both powerful supernatural beings that feed on the forces of evil who can't be destroyed, and both appear towards the end of "Package Disney films" where they manage to leave a huge impression on you for when it’s over and only in a matter of minutes as opposed to the whole film. Let's also not forget how equally scary and demonic that these two are where they manage to spread fear in every single frame they're in without saying a word (apart from a laugh)! I know the Devil is more powerful than the Horseman since he's the lord of evil and the horseman is just a ghost, but I still just couldn't separate the two for how similar they are to each other.

Much like when I tied Shere Khan and Scar together, each of these villains will be talked about in a separate post. And to play things fair since they're tied together, I'm going start the first part by talking about the villain who appeared first. So let's get into the villain who appeared in the first of the "Disney package films"...

THE DEVIL

Now for those of you who are probably complaining at that this point that he's referred to as Chernabog by fans and even the company, I'm sorry to differ with you, but I have my reasons. The first and obvious reason is that he's never referred to as Chernabog in the actual film that he's appeared in at all, not even by the film's MC, Deems Taylor. In fact, he himself says that Bald Mountain is "the gathering place of Satan and his followers". And when you look at his demonic design, giant bat wings, and large horns as he controls the demons and fires around him, how could you mistake him for another creature? IT'S THE DEVIL!

And do you know why else refers to him as the devil?

Well yes, him too, but do you know who else?



That's right! The man who's behind everything, even claims "Chernabog" to be "the devil himself".

So if he is the Devil, then why does Disney refer to him by a different name? My theory is, since the Devil looked so scary and that his sequence is one of the most iconic scenes in Disney history; Disney wanted to market him as one of their Disney villains and sell tons of merchandise based off of him (preferably on Halloween). But to avoid parents and Christians from complaining that they're selling Satan to their kids, they decided to change his name by taking a name from one of the Christian folklore gods of evil, thus why people and Disney referred to him by his marketable name.

And what's amusing about this villain is, even if people (especially kids) haven't seen the film where he first appeared in, everybody recognizes his design (mainly from the marketing) and that he's nothing but pure evil (if you don't count the embarrassing spin-offs that he's appeared in). Much like Frollo, the Horned King, and the villain that he's tied with, nothing about his design comes off as fun or comforting for how frightening and satanic he looks. He's larger than life; has ginormous bat-wings that span out wide; has long sharp pointy horns; a devilish smile with sharp fangs; his whole entire muscular body is consumed by the colors of darkness; and the only bright color that he has on him (when the flames below aren't reflecting on him) is the color yellow for his long demon eyes that express nothing but evil! He just has the word evil written all over every single inch of his design!

And do you know who originally served as a live action model for the Devil? Bela Lugosi.

Yes, Dracula himself actually did demon-like poses for the animators to use as a reference. However, the animator for the Devil (Bill Tytla) somehow wasn't happy with Lugosi's poses, and replaced him by having the director of the sequence Wilfred Jackson to do the posing instead.

It’s needless to say that the person that they got to replace Lugosi did a phenomenal job for the modeling. But a part of me feels like that the animators did keep a few of Lugosi's poses and expressions in if not all.

Or in the very least used some of his expressions and movements from "Dracula".

When the sequence itself begins we gaze at a glowing green ominous looking mountain at night time, where we see the top of the mountain open up to reveal the Devil and that those rocky tops are actually his wings. What I find cool about the devil's first on-screen appearance is before he starts doing anything, he loosens himself up a bit with his body language saying "Alright, let's get ready to spread some evil". And when he does he doesn't just wave up his arms and poof the ghosts and demons start to appear; his claws turn into dark shadows covering the small village below him as he pulls some of the houses and sights to raise the dead. What we then see rise out of the ground are ghosts and evil spirits floating up to the mountain to join their evil master. The ghosts that appear are all eerie for how supernaturally unholy and helpless they look, and I admire the endless creativity for the variety of different designs that we see of these paranormal beings. We pretty much see almost every single scary ghost design possible such as grim reapers, skeletons, devil-like witches, and ghost soldiers riding on skeleton horses; and the places they appear from (given the settings time-frame) are all appropriate places for the dead to be awaken such as the gallows, a ruined castle, and a foreboding old graveyard. Once the ghosts are all joined together and approach the Devil, they swirl around him until he pushes them away and summons the fires of hell from below him!

What then follows is the Devil playing with his demons like toys, as all the others dance and rejoice around the burning flames that constantly changes color. He brings some of these ghosts to life as demonic creatures only just to destroy them again by throwing into the fiery whirlpool of flames down below; creates beauty out of flames to then turning them into hideous animals, to feisty lizard-like demons, to miniature blue devils that almost look like him; and bathes in the flames that rise above and around him! I know that in terms of Disney villains, a villain bringing the dead back to life just for their own amusement isn't much of a motivation, BUT HE'S THE DEVIL, he doesn't need a motivation! He is everything that is wicked and sinful, and watching him create evil in Disney's version of HELL is more than enough for us to feel intimidated by him! You look at his fiendish smile and see his bright yellow eyes light-up and squint as he's creating minions, watching them dance for him, and destroy them all while the colorful flames reflect on him, and you are in constant terror for how much he's having fun with it!

The whole sequence itself as we watch the devil fiddle around with the dead and his followers gives you the feeling that you're trapped in hell, and that this is what's more than likely in-store for you if you don't get to heaven. Come to think of it, I don't think that Disney could ever get away with something like this if it was done today. It involves Satan and hell; we see poor demonic souls being abused and killed left and right; it's full of dark and scary imagery; and it's very suggestive, as well as having some nudity. The last time that Disney was able to get away with something as similar as the Bald-mountain segment is the "Hellfire" sequence in "The Hunchback of Notre Dame". And much like the controversy that "Hellfire" got, this was no exception. So many parents complained about how disturbing, adult, and terrifying this sequence was to their children, that the scene was cut when it was first released on video. And believe it or not, parents and people who oppose Disney still complain about it now.  As a kid, I would occasionally fast-forward to the end of the film on my VHS copy once or twice just to watch the Bald-mountain sequence since I've seen and heard so much about this Disney villain, and this was before I would start to fully watch the film after my second experience on "The Great Movie Ride". And when I saw the scene, I wasn't scarred but more amazed by how surreal, colorful, and scary everything looked. To me it was like watching something as surreal as the "paraphernalia wagon" sequence in "Halloween Is Grinch Night" or the "Tunnel Scene" in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", it throws so much scary and creative visuals at you in such a short amount time that it feels like one big exciting ride. And as I contentiously watch the sequence when I started to develop more of an interest in the film, I find more and more things to admire about it, for how gorgeously animated it is, how Modest Mussorgsky's famous piece perfectly fits within the movement of the animation and the world that’s created, and how adult and risqué it is.

When the chaos from the celebration ends, we get a blinding flash of light from below as the Devil gives a mighty poses. But before he's about to create more evil and toy-with his followers and trapped souls some more, he is halted by the sound of a church bell. He ignores the first warning and is about to proceed with his evil, until the church bells ring again, and the heavenly morning light begins to shine on him. Finding the powers of god and all that is holy and good to be too strong for him; the ghosts go back to their graves, his minions retreat, and he closes his wings to protect himself from the sunlight to once more becoming the mountain's peak, and what follows after is one of the most powerful, atmospheric, and beautifully breathtaking pieces of animation with religious themes to ever be brought to the screen. With "Night on Bald-Mountain" being Disney's representation of hell and our fears of eternal damnation, the "Ava Maria" sequence is Disney's best representation of hope and the unknown beauty that lurks in the heavenly clouds above.

For those of you who think that I'm a Satanist for putting the Devil on the number 1 spot on my list for finding him to be cool and awesome, that is not my reason. Granted his design, and the atmosphere and demons that surround him are unique, frightening, and imaginative, but that's not why I find him to be so amusing. It's more of the fact that Disney took a giant risk at creating something that's supposed to resemble the evils of hell and Satan himself for more for an adult crowd. On top of it, apart from my reasons why he's tied with another villain, the truth is no other Disney villain can top him since he is all that is evil who feeds on it and creates it more for his own fun and pleasure, rather than targeting a specific individual to make their life miserable, or trying to rule and conquer something. He rules darkness and the pits and fires of hell, and his victims are everyone! In my eyes no other Disney villain can ever match wits or be more powerful than the Devil, no matter how interesting and different you make him out to be!

Unless they create another supernatural being who is just as equally pure-evil as the Devil is!

TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR PART 2!

GOOSEBUMPS SEASON 4

You know, since the 4th and final Season of Goosebumps only has like 4 episodes (I’m still counting the part 2 to these episodes as one episode total), and the fact that I discontinued doing lists of favorite episodes before reviewing the next Season, I figured what the hell and decided to review the last Season of the show since we're still in the Month of October!

So let's open R.L. Stine's brief case one more time this year and take a look at Season 4 of...
 


 NEW INTRO

I'm not going to waste too much time talking about the new intro since it's mostly just showing a compilation clips from most of the episodes from the last 3 Seasons just done at a faster pace, with an added lightning effect, and Slappy's voice telling "Viewers to Beware". However, I will say that while being far from a bad opening for how energizing and quick it is in terms of pacing and visuals being thrown at you, it’s nowhere near as memorable as the original intro since it's iconic and gave us time to look at some fun visuals made for the intro, before giving us a clip montage.

HOW I GOT MY SHRUNKEN HEAD

 

Mark is a kid who wishes to one day explore the jungle, finally gets his chance when he's invited to go an expedition with his Aunt Benna after receiving a package with a shrunken head inside it that carries supernatural powers. Upon arriving to the Pacific Jungle Island of Baladora, Benna has mysteriously disappeared, and Mark suspects something strange with the other doctors that partake in the expedition.

When the episode began, I was invested and find myself constantly interested in what was going to happen next as it moved on. But when knowing the show's formula at this point, you can pretty much tell who's going to be the bad guy, and if the Aunt is still alive and well, which is kind of disappointing that the episode doesn't offer that many unique twists and turns. Not to say that the story itself isn't engaging because it is thanks to its jungle setting, the mysteries surrounding the supernatural powers of the shrunken head, and the characters.

Mark is a likable character where you enjoy his passion for exploring and finding his Aunt, but the kid who plays him while not terrible since he does do a good of enough job at keeping you attached to his character, is very off most of the time in terms of his delivery sounding unnatural and a bit rehearsed. Aunt Benna is quite an interesting character where you find yourself wanting to know a bit more about her character for how adventurous she is, and what other ancient artifacts that she's collected in the past, that's held by a fine performance from the actress playing her. However, the characters who stand out to me the most are the Hawling family, particularly the Father and the daughter. They too are just as interesting and well performed as Aunt Benna is, and for you fans of the series you may recognize the actors from previous "Goosebumps" episodes. The actor who plays Dr. Richard Hawling played the Father in "Night of the Living Dummy 2", who gives his character here a British accent so cool that I never suspected that he was played by the same guy. And the actress who plays his daughter Karen is Beki Lantos, who played Margret in "Stay Out Of the Basement", and despite having no British accent like her parents, I'm quite surprised how well she pulls off the bratty and selfishness of her character, since she previously played a character who was the complete opposite. Though the main characters are good, the supporting characters aren't. The subplot with Mark's Mother and her boyfriend is pointless. The pilot who dresses up like Elvis and wants to be a movie star is a weird and awkward character, who feels out of place with the rest of the characters in the episode. And there's this weird guy at the airport that appears in-front of Mark and then just mysteriously disappears when Mark turns around, who we never see or hear from again.

As for the effects, they're nothing incredible, but for a kids TV show they aren't bad. You can definitely see that this episode has more of a budget when compared to most "Goosebumps" episodes from the show for the locations, and effects. The design for the shrunken head for instance is a cool design, and the effects of it floating, glowing its eyes, and even moving its face are good, if not jaw-dropping amazing. The green-effects such as the use of making the actors to appear to be small are pretty good as well. But as good as most of the effects are, there are indeed some incredibly bad ones, that really stand-out in the climax. The head chasing after Karen looked like that it was added in at the last minute where it never seems like it was actually there when compared to many other scenes before that; and the blue-screen effect of Mark floating was so obvious that it just kind of ruins the ride.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Though the episode does have its problems with its predictable story-line, the hokey acting from our lead, some of the supporting characters being pointless, and the effects looking awful at the climax, there's still plenty of good in it. The story's setting, and the myths revolving around the shrunken head is intriguing. The characters are likable and interesting. The acting for the most part is good. And the effects and the episode's overall look are fun and at times cool to look at. It's not one of the greatest episodes from the show, but it's not a bad or mediocre one either.

THE GHOST NEXT DOOR

 

Hannah discovers that she has a new neighbor named Cody who lives next door. But the house next to hers is an old abandon house that no one has lived in for quite some time. Curious to why he's living there, and not ever seeing him or his family move-in, she suspects something strange about him. And upon almost every time that she encounters Cody, she seems to be haunted by a mysterious shadowy specter when he's not present.

Not too long ago, I was watching a video of the "Top 5 Best Goosebumps Episodes" from Channel Awesome's very own Walter Banasiak, and when I found out that one of the episodes from this season was on the list, I was quite curious to see this episode for the first time, wondering if its as good as he made it out to be. When the episode began though I was interested, I knew or had some kind of idea of what the first part was building up too. And while watching the first 19 minutes of it, I kept thinking to myself “when is this episode going to wow me”, it's so predictable! But when we got to the end of the first part my jaw dropped as I reacted with awe. And when the second part started, I was hooked and eager to learn about what everything going on in the first part was all about. Granted I'm not going to act like that this is the first horror anthology kid’s show to pull off this kind of twist, and there are a few things that I'm not quite clear about in terms of logic, but overall it's still all executed brilliantly!

The kids they got to play our leads are very charming and how they work off each other is quite believable. It's definitely some of the show's acting at its finest. You do have some pretty goofy supporting characters like the clumsy mailman and the two generic bullies, but you also have some other good supporting characters as well, that I can't go into detail on who those characters are, but you'll know who they are when you decide to watch it. The sets and the effects are some of the best effects that the show has brought. I love how old and dusty and drenched in shadows the old house is that creates such an ominous vibe, and the ghost effects are not bad for a TV show aimed for kids (especially how we see the actors go through each other).

OVERALL THOUGHTS

This is an episode that I dare not talk too much about because I don't want to spoil it for newcomers, but trust me when I say that it's an episode worth seeing if you haven't seen it yet! It's suspenseful; it's charming; it's well-written; it has some fun gags that the kids can enjoy; it's just an overall great episode that I feel is criminally overlooked.

CRY OF THE CAT

 

Movie star Allison Rogers is staring in a horror movie about an evil cat, but little does she know that the film's subject matter is going to become reality for her after she accidentally hits a cat with her bike. The cat turns out to still be alive, but is now coming after Allison for taking away one of his nine lives.

When the episode started out, I had no idea where it was going. There's a demonic cat that's attacking two kids in a dark house, and they hire some kind of Exorcist to get rid of it, but gets killed by the cat off-screen as the kids are then left to fend for themselves. I wasn't sure if this was supposed to be a previous encounter with the cat before meeting our real main characters, or if the episode was starting out in the middle of the events to then giving us a flashback leading up to everything that we just witnessed. But once I found out that this was a film that the characters are in, I was kind of disappointed that everything I saw was fake, but quite intrigued to see the series take a different route. Usually with a premise like this, the story would be set in some kind of suburban neighborhood with a bland kid that just gets in the middle of it. But instead it mostly takes place on a studio lot with our lead being an actor, which I was not at all expecting in an episode like this. It's true that when I see the characters shoot scenes for the movie, I was curious to know the full plot, and frankly would love to see it as a whole entire episode for how foreboding, intense, and a tad bit silly it is (I mean really a pet Exorcist). But the actual story that we're given for this one is still good enough, where I became just as engaged in the premise as I did with the previous two episodes.

The acting here is just as good as it was in the previous episode, and it's once again nice seeing some  actors from older episodes of the show to play new characters. Playing the lead of Allison is the same girl who played Iris in "Calling All Creeps!" from Season 2, and she does a solid job of playing off the characters fears and diva side, while still making her come across as likable and remorseful. She's pretty much one of the fewest well rounded characters that the show ever comes close to getting right. Playing her co-star in the picture Ryan is the kid who played little Eddie (or Prince Edward if you want to get technical) in "A Night in Terror Tower", and while giving a good performance, the character himself is rather forgettable and seems kind of there. But the most memorable character that the episode has is the director Larry for how childish, weird, and over the top snobby he is. One minute he's talking sweetly to Allison, but once she's out of sight, he frowns and says nasty things about her. There's just never a boring moment with this guy, and his performance never gets exaggerated to the point where it becomes obnoxious. The only performance in the episode that wasn't as good when compared to the others is the actress who plays a strange girl named Crystal. She does a decent job at playing the strange factor to her character, but her performance is so dull for how one note it is that it gets irritating, especially when she tries to emote her concerns for Allison's encounter with the cat. It's pretty much a soulless performance until her last scene in the episode where it's almost as if she's a totally different person. 

Our monstrous feline named Rip (Gimmicky, but a cool name for a beastly cat) is a frightening creature for how he never stops stalking his prey, and viciously attacks Allison when he gets a chance. The effects for the cat are quite scary for how grotesque and savage looking they make him out to be, however I will admit that the design while not goofy or even bad, he looks more like a rat than he does a cat. Almost like how the "Werewolf of Fever Swamp" looked more like a gorilla instead of a wolf. And speaking of werewolves, much like how you can become a werewolf from a physical wound by one, the same happens to Allison, except that she's becoming more like a cat. As silly as it may sound, it was done well enough on both a fun and suspenseful level. But for some strange reason midway through the second part, her cat-like abilities seem to be forgotten. And since a part of that premise involves people turning into cats, you expect them to use make-up effects, and they do, but once I saw the half human and half cat make-up design I began to chuckle at how silly it looked. I mean the fur does look like that it's consuming a person's body, but having a human eye on one side, and seeing a giant cat eye that doesn't blink on the other side just looks ridiculous. It's almost as if the effects team was running out of time and took a part of some cheap Halloween mask and stuck it to the actors face!

OVERALL THOUGHTS

Much like "How I Got My Shrunken Head", this is a good if not great or memorable episode. It has a nice change of setting, some good performances, mostly cool effects, and a scary monster. It does have its flaws in terms of clunky writing, a few forgettable or dull performances, and some odd designs and effects, but it's far from being a bad one. And if you're curious to see "Goosebumps" take on cats, chances are that you'll be satisfied at their attempt.

Join me next year as I review the final episode to the show and share my overall thoughts on its 4th and last Season. I may possibly sum up my overall thoughts on the entire show on a separate post next year, BUT I make no promises concerning that.

GODZILLA: FINAL WARS (AMERICAN DUB)

In the sixth installment to the "Millennium Era", Toho felt that it was time to put the series to rest again, but not after ending it with a bang and releasing it for the 50th Anniversary of the first film; which leads us into an all-out monster brawl known as...

Out of all the Godzilla films made during this Era, "Godzilla: Final Wars" was the one that I was interested in seeing the most. It had the majority of monsters that Godzilla has fought in the past. There's tons of action involving both the monsters and the humans. The Xiliens from "Invasion of Astro-Monster" are the film's primary villains. And fans are overall mixed about the film. There are some who love it for its action and wide variety of monsters, while others are disappointed in it by finding the overall product to be a mess in terms of story, effects, and action. And I'll admit that as hyped as I was to see the film, I felt a bit skeptical about it from the amount of cons that I've heard fans complain about. But now after finally seeing the film, what are my thoughts on it? ON WITH THE REVIEW!

Taking place in the future in the same time span as the 1954 film, giant monsters appear all over the world to destroy humanity, but are beamed away by an alien race known as Xiliens, who have come to help Earth from the monsters and an incoming planet called "Gorath"  that will destroy it. But it later on turns out that they actually came to Earth to use all of mankind as their food source, and unleash all the monsters to start doing harm to the world. A former commander (Don Frye), a mutant solider (Masahiro Matsuoka), a biologist (Rei Kikukawa), and a journalist (Maki Mizuno) team up to take down the Xiliens through their skills and a spaceship called "The Gotengo" (that appeared in the film "Atragon"), but need help with taking down the monsters attacking world-wide. Their only solution to achieve that is to unleash Godzilla from his frozen icy prison. From here on out, we get spaceship battles, monster brawls, hand to hand combat, and total destruction.

If the plot sounds familiar to any of you Godzilla fans, or if you've been following my reviews on them, that's because the film is pretty much just a modernized remake of "Destroy All Monsters", just with more action and monster's fighting each other, while that film was more dialogue heavy and showed little of the the monsters. The premise itself even reminds me very much of a video game that was my very first exposure to the Godzilla franchise "Destroy All Monsters Melee", which involved aliens (looking almost similar to the Xiliens) releasing monsters around the world under their control, as one (of your choice) resists their power and fights off the monsters that are attacking. As if having a recycled plot isn't enough, the film (like many Godzilla films before this one) has ripped a few scenes and concepts from other movies such as "Independence Day" and the climax from "Star Wars: Return of the Jedi" for example. But the American film that this film takes a lot of elements from is "The Matrix" such as the fast editing and pacing; some of the color scheming and lightning; a soundtrack that sounds more suitable for an action film than a Godzilla film; the use of slow-mo; the stylized action scenes; and the Xiliens themselves resembling the characters from that film from the way they're dressed with long black leather jackets and shady goggles. It's more than obvious that Toho is trying to cash-in on "The Matrix" craze, much like how it was cashing in on James Bond in the 60s, and Time Travel films in the 90s. But as painfully obvious as the rip-offs and similarities to other films (including their own) are, is there at least more than enough good in the film for you to overlook it?

Well let's start off with the amount of monsters that Toho got to appear in this movie, with the exception of the king of them all. We do have appearances from some of the monsters who've appeared in all three Eras like Mothra, and a different version King Ghidorah  (and I know that he's referred to as Keizer Ghidorah. But come on, it's still King Ghidorah, just with a different name, origin, and a slightly different design). But for the majority of monsters that we see, are monsters who Godzilla’s hasn't encountered since the "Showa Era" such as Anguirus, Gigan, King Caesar, Kumonga, Kamacuras, Ebirah, Hedorah, and Godzilla's son Minilla. Even Manda who had his own film, and lastly appeared in "Destroy All Monsters" (not counting the times that Toho used stock footage of him in other films) gets a few minutes of screen-time. Rodan also returns to fight against Godzilla, who hasn't been seen since "Godzilla VS. MechaGodzilla 2” during the Heisei Era. And as a special treat for die-hard Godzilla fans, Toho took another slam at the 98 Godzilla by throwing him in the film as a joke, and giving him a different name known as Zilla. We unfortunately don't see any of the monsters that originated from the Heisei Era, or this Era, but after not seeing most of these monsters for decades it felt right to bring them back here for this gigantic brawl. If there is one thing that I find myself questioning about the monsters that appear in this movie, its the ambiguity of their origins? We know that the film is connected to the 1954 film, but it's never clear if this film is in continuity with the other films that these monsters have appeared in, or if they were being recreated for this film. All we get is a montage of monster attacks during the seizure inducing opening credits, and hints that Japan has encountered most of them before, but that's it, which is quite confusing. Even though the continuity with the monsters in "Destroy All Monsters" is just as head scratching, the film at least establishes itself to connect with all the other films whether it makes sense or not. Mainly everything about the monsters past in this film is all just up in the air! And for a franchise that usually loves to establish their monsters, this just felt as half-baked as the writing for the monster's background in most of the other films from this era.

So since we haven't seen most of these monsters in so long, naturally their designs, costumes, and effects would be altered to fit the modern era that these films were made. But considering that there are so many of them, I won't bother talking about each and every single design.  Monsters such as Mothra, Rodan, King Ghidorah, Kumonga, Anguirus, do look like that they have been altered a bit, and they do look as cool as they did in the previous films that they've appeared in, but nothing about their designs really stand-out from the others. King Caesar for instance, who I felt that his design was cool, but his costume looked cheap for when he appeared in "Godzilla VS. MechaGodzilla"; here they give him a costume that doesn't look as beaten-up and worn-out as the previous one. I do wish that they kept his glowing red eyes since that's what helped make him look so ferocious in the original, but it’s still overall not a bad re-design. The concept of Ebirah being a giant lobster is still ridiculous for a franchise that usually gets creative and original with most of their monsters, but I do like that he looks more like a real-life sea creature, instead of making him resemble one of those plastic lobster toys that you can buy at a harbor gift shop. Kamacuras is now a mixture of puppetry and CGI, and as obvious as you can tell when he's real and not, he still looks good and I like that he moves more like how an insect would, especially for when he flies. Out of all designs in the film, the best one goes to Gigan and Ghidorah's first form. The updates to Gigan's design are similar to his iconic design, but have a few altered changes to make him appear a little different, much like the other monsters that I chose not to go into detail about. However it's not his first design that stands-out; it's his second one when he's rebuilt as Modified Gigan, since he is now given Chainsaws for hands instead of hooks. Now that's what I call an upgrade! Ghidorah's first form known as Monster X, even though it doesn't feel that much of a twist that it's really Ghidorah since he has three heads, a long tail, and gravity beams, its still an awesome design for how other worldly and demonic it looks with its skulls and space-like appearance. It's just an overall unique and grim looking design!

Though the film has plenty of great designs, and updates to the costumes and effects to bring these monsters to life, there are a few bad ones. The costume used for Minilla doesn't feel like that I'm looking at a reptilian creature. I’m not talking about it in terms of design (though it is mostly true), I mean the costume for it looks like the kind of costume that would be used for a show like "Barney". When they make him appear gigantic (for unknown reasons) he looks fine, but when he's the same height as the humans, I'm just constantly aware that I'm looking at someone in a costume with its lack of expression and how bulky and rubbery it looks. But in the very least the character is less obnoxious than he was in the "Showa Era".  Hedorah's new costume and design looks absolutely dreadful. I may not be a fan of Hedorah, but the costume in the original did look more life-like and slimy than this. This just looks the effects team created his costume at the very last minute. And as if some of the costumes don't look bad enough, so are the CGI for some of the monsters. Zilla looks way more fake here than he did in the Emmrich movie. But since the film is taking a good jab at this horrible Godzilla impersonator, I actually believe that the horrible CGI used for him makes this jab even funnier, whether it was intentional or not. But Manda on the other hand, while having an awesome design and a cool action scene supporting it, the CGI for him is certainly not all that convincing.

Now I'm sure you are wondering at this point of what I think of Godzilla, since I spent so much time talking about his foes and allies! Out of all the appearances and alterations that Godzilla's made over the decades, this is personally my favorite. His new design looks so much cooler and badass than it ever did before, that it's almost as if Toho took the best Godzilla designs from all three Eras, mixed them together, and made him thinner, resulting with the best design that Godzilla’s ever had. I know many people would disagree with me on that, and that's fine, we all have our personal favorite Godzilla design, and when I think of Godzilla being strong and awesome to look at, this is the one that comes to mind. And the scenes of Godzilla fighting against the monsters support the reasons why I find him to be so powerful and cool looking in this movie, because he never gives up or hold's back when fighting a monster. If a monster is in his way, or wants to challenge him, he'll take em' out in almost no time. That's how powerful of a monster that Godzilla is in the film. And the best part of all is, they give him a personality, which I haven't seen since "Giant Monsters All-Out Attack". He's a monster who hates humanity for what they transformed him into, and for all the destruction that they have brought to the Earth, and wants revenge, as well on those who have frozen him. He gets distracted from taking out the ship that imprisoned him when he's fighting against the monsters, but when all the monsters are dead, he goes right back to going after his real enemy. He does have a sentimental side as shown in the end of the film when he meets his son, but before that it's all just simple revenge with him. The only real downside to Godzilla's appearance in this movie is with the exception of the film's teaser, we don't see him again until we're about an hour in, since most of the screen-time is dedicated to the monsters, characters, and the Xilliens; but when Godzilla finally does appear, all of his scenes that follow make up for his absence in the last 45 or so minutes.

With a Godzilla film titled "Final Wars" and having a large gallery of monsters, you would of course expect this film to go all-out with its action, and the film absolutely does deliver! The film is flooded with so much action, destruction, and excitement at such a fast pace that it never gets boring, slow, or even tiring (not to say that I can't see why others may feel differently about it). And everything from the locations, to the monster effects, to the miniatures, to the explosions, to the Sci-Fi comic-book like sets and art-direction, to the mattings, to the cinematography that gives this monster B movie such a gigantic size and scale, is all just so amazing to look at! BUT that's not to say that the fight scenes and effects don't have their problems too! I already covered the designs and effects for some of the monsters looking phony, and outside of the monster effects there are a few shots where the matteing appears to be very off (like you know that some of the locations and monsters that the actors are standing in front of aren’t there), and half of the CGI looking very video game like (especially during the spaceship battle scenes). But much like many of the great Godzilla films, even if the effects are wonky at times, or take up most of the scene, if the fight scenes themselves have enough weight, thrill, energy, and stunning action to keep you invested and amazed than its easy to forgive how clunky some of the effects, and designs look since you still find yourself enjoying the overall experience. But with that in mind, there is one major element in these scenes that may disappoint Godzilla fans, and that's how short some of the monster fights are. Since the film has so many monsters for Godzilla to fight, it would seem likely that many of these fights aren't going to last as long as you would like them to be, and for the most part they are. The only real long fight that we get in this movie is Godzilla fighting against Monster X; all the other monsters get taken out within a few minutes, and even some times a minute (like Hedorah for instance), which will come off as a downer for many fans who were expecting to see more time dedicated their favorite Godzilla foe. When you really think about it, if you took away all the other monsters, and just kept Monster X, Mothra, Minilla, and Godzilla in, and just had the Xilliens warn them about what's going to happen to earth, you really wouldn't miss much in terms of story. But on the other hand, I still enjoy watching all the other monsters destroy stuff before Godzilla fights them, and when they do fight Godzilla, as short and brief as they are, the fights themselves are still incredible on an action and visual level that heavily exploit how mighty of a monster that Godzilla is!

The action scenes revolving around the characters and the Xiliens as out of place as these scenes are for a Godzilla film for how Matrix like it is, and even at times pointless (particularly the motorcycle chase sequence) are still just as fun and badass as watching the giant monsters. The choreography, the stunts, the editing, the pacing, the set-ups, and the music (even if it doesn't sound like music that you'd hear from a Godzilla film) create this one big adrenaline rush for how fast and wild that these scenes are where you find yourself attached to the action in-front of you as if you are on a roller-coaster. Unfortunately since the majority of scenes with the human characters are just them fighting, there's hardly any time dedicated to them to be interesting. They're for the most part acted fine and do keep your attention okay when they’re not fighting, but many of the characters and their performances just don't come across as memorable for how bland they are. Even the whole entire concept for these X-Men type of heroes called Mutants I found to be boring. As a matter fact, I kept forgetting that these people are supposed to be a special type of human beings since all they mostly do is fight with their fists and the weapons that they carry. I get that they move faster and are supposed to be stronger than the average human being, and that one of them appears to have a special power towards the end of the movie; but I found the superpower elements to be so downplayed in the film that it felt like that I was simply watching highly stylized action scenes given the film's future setting, comic-book-like environment, and that there are aliens and giant monsters present.

The only character and performance in our squad of heroes who may not be all that interesting, but is so cool and over the top that it doesn't matter, it's Don Frye as Captain Gordon! He's like a live action combination between a video game character that you'd see in classic fighting games like "Street Fight" and a military sergeant from an 80s Saturday Morning Cartoons like "G.I. Joe”, for how tough and cartoony he is! You look at his mustache, long overcoat and military hat, angry animated expressions, and how this man is built as he speaks in a gruff voice spewing out one-liners, fighting the Xiliens with his Kitanna sword, and piloting "The Gotengo" that the two words that instantly hit your mind is nostalgia and badass! There's never a dull moment for how aggressively loud and manly macho that this character and performance is! He's the only one in the entire film, who speaks English, and rather than finding yourself questioning about how he and the Japanese speaking characters are able to understand one another, you overlook it since his performance and how he interacts with the characters is just so much fun to watch!

Another character and performance that stands out just as much as Gordon's are the Xilien race! They're overall goal and reasons to take over Earth in the long run is complicated and makes very little sense (much like how the original Xiliens were), but there are still plenty of cool things about them to hold your interest as foes. It's awesome seeing them having control over the many classic monsters, only this time they have more than 3 and use them to attack different parts of the world instead of just Japan (pretty much like the Kilaaks in "Destroy All Monsters"). They're new style while not all that original, still makes them look cool. The make-up design for what they really look like (even though we only see that before the 1 hour mark of the movie, and never see that design ever again) is admirable for how gross and ugly it is. And their Mothership, despite looking like "Spaceship Earth" at Disney's Epcot, is just as nearly unstoppable as the monsters are. Masatō Ibu as the Xilien General gives the character a calm, pleasant and yet calculating backstabbing vibe whenever he's present on-screen. But the one who steals the show on the Xiliens side is the young hot headed and insane Controller X played by Kazuki Kitamura. From the moment when I saw him disagreeing with his General's way of enslaving humanity, I knew that he was going to be our main antagonist out of all the Xiliens. Before he gets his position in power we see him arguing against his General alone, and making himself out to be a cool and trendy celebrity to the Earthlings with his bad boy attitude; but when he does take power, he goes from being cool and tough, to insane and ruthless to the point where he starts to look like the Goblin King from "The Labyrinth".  I do miss how laid back and intimidating he was before he gets his power. But he's still a riot to watch in the scenes that follow for how off the walls over the top deranged (and even childish) he is, where all he can think of is kill and destroy! It's silly for how cartoonishly evil it is, but still fun and at times menacing to watch.

Just for fun, ever think what New York would be like in an ACTUAL Godzilla film, well now's your chance to witness it. Before Rodan attacks, we see a pimp (who looks like that he was ripped straight out of a 70s blaxploitation movie) yelling and pointing his gun side-ways at cop for towing his vehicle (that also looks like it came from the 70s), as the cop just stands there looking and talking chill despite that he's being threatened, while a bum just watches all of this laughing and commenting. This is seriously how Japan sees New York, and IN THE FUTURE?! On one hand as a New Yorker I should be offended by this, and for its racist stereotype, and above all being a 100% pointless scene. But I can't help but find myself laughing at how ridiculous this sequence is for how abnormal it all is! Oh and here’s a little fun fact, if you watch the scene, you may notice that the cop's words don't match up with what he's saying. The reason for that is when this scene was filmed, the actor playing the cop constantly used the F-word (where you can even see him mouthing that word in a few shots). And in order for the film to appeal to a wider audience, the cop was dubbed over to sound less offensive by saying words like "freaking" and "I'm going to bust you up"...you know, like how a real cop would talk! And as if the scene can't get any more out of place, when Rodan finally arrives in the city we hear a far from subtle cartoon effect when the cop's hat flies off.

OVERALL THOUGHTS

"Final Wars" is a mess of a movie and I can see why people would hate it. The story and universe makes no sense; some of the effects and monster designs are bad; the majority of the characters are nothing special; the tone and atmosphere is all over the place; and the film has so much stuff going on that it all feels crammed and even pointless. But as messy of a movie it is, it's still an AWESOME mess for how much the film is drenched with extreme non-stop action at such a wildly fast pace! You can tell that Toho really wanted to end this era with a bang and they definitely succeeded through its large gallery of monsters; endless kickass action scenes; cool effects that still look fun to look at when they do come across as cheesy; a bizarre and colorful futuristic environment; fun over the top performances from Frye and Kitamura; and Godzilla being portrayed at his greatest! It's a film that never has a dull moment, and if you're looking for a Godzilla film that only wants to entertain and fully exploit all of its action, than this is your movie! I just hope in the future that if Toho ever does do another cross-over like this, they'd get half the cast of monsters that we've seen in the last two full eras, such as Biollante, Battra, Destoroyah, and Orga. Maybe even have Megalon join the fight since he hasn't been seen on screen since his debut film.

OVERALL THOUGHTS ON "THE MILLENNIUM ERA"

Much like the previous two eras, this one is just as hit and miss. However, some of the series misses do pose as a consistent problem in most of these films. In all the other eras of Godzilla, Godzilla was always given some kind of personality for us to connect with him, as opposed to just seeing him as a giant monster. And while they give him an identifiable personality in a few films like "Giant Monsters All-Out Attack" and "Final Wars", he's boring and uninteresting in the majority of films that he's appeared in. As awesome and powerful of a monster that Godzilla is, it wasn't just his design and abilities that made many fans (including myself) adore this creature. It was the fact that he was usually given some kind of character and emotion to keep our interest in the creature himself. Whether he was portrayed as a neutral hero, a deviously smart creature, or a tormented animal in the franchise, there was always some kind of personality given to Godzilla for us to find him amusing. And the fact that we get very little of that in the majority of films from this era is disappointing. It'd be like taking away King Kong's confused and sympathetic personality. The scenes with him fighting monsters and climbing up the Empire State building are cool scenes, but it's the emotions surrounding the monster that hold our interest for how fascinating he is.

What also brings this era down is with the exception of "Tokyo S.O.S.", all the films are just stand-alone reboots. On one hand, since the continuity between the films in the last few eras hardly made any kind of sense, I can see why they went with this route. Plus I like that the majority of these films can stand out on their own, when in the previous era, you had to see the previous film by order to understand the film that you are currently watching, or else you'd be lost. But with the exception of "Godzilla 2000", all the other films give Godzilla the same 1954 origins, just with a few little tweaks here and there, and I'm sorry but I overall find that to be lazy and repetitive. Sure their attempt of changing Godzilla's origins in "2000" (that is if he even has an origins story) was lousy, but Toho seriously couldn't come up with a better idea of giving Godzilla a new background for why he exists in the later films? Well I'm not that surprised because the films not only mostly follow the same formula as many other Godzilla films, but they've also rehashed many of the plot elements and character archetypes that we've seen in many of their films. This series even rehashes the same order of classic recurring monsters from the "Heisei Era" by starting off with a few original monsters, to then having Ghidorah, Mothra, and MechaGodzilla appear in the following films. I'm not saying that other Godzilla films before these aren't as guilty of reusing plots and characters from their films because they are. The point I'm making is since we've seen all these stories and characters used countless times in the franchise before, it's now getting very tiring as if Toho is all out of ideas.

But as major as the flaws that are present in most of these films are, there's still plenty of good to them! There are many likable characters in the franchise, even if many of them aren't that memorable for how cliched and simplistic they are. The new monster Orga is a cool monster who I hope to see in later installments to the franchise. Some of the updated designs, back-stories, and abilities given to the monsters are cool and fit within this new age of Godzilla films. But the biggest praise that I have to give to the franchise as a whole is the effects and fight scenes! These are some of the best that the series has to offer for how grand they are, especially in the last 4 movies where they really shine. But that's not to say that they have their weak points too. The fighting in the first two films is boring, and there are still some clunky effects as well in all of these films. Ironically, even though the series has the most amazing use of practical effects, it also has the worst effect that I've ever seen used in a Godzilla film and that's the use of CGI! There is a few times where it'll look cool (like for Godzilla’s atomic breath), but for the majority of that effect being used in these films is plain dreadful. I mean as cheesy and fake as the practical effects can look in most Godzilla films (especially in the “Showa Era”), they at least feel there. The CGI here, especially for Godzilla, is so ugly, so video-game like, so uncanny, and so out of place with the rest of the effects used for these movies that it hurts my eyes for how much it sticks out like a sore thumb.

"The Millennium Era" has it's major problems like the previous two, but it's still has plenty of awesome entertainment value to it, where it really starts to kick in at "Giant Monsters All-Out Attack", as the two films before that go from fairly entertaining but slow-moving, to incredibly dull and boring with 1 or 2 good things that don't necessarily save the overall film.

And I am done with reviewing all three eras of Godzilla movies. Don't worry I still have a few other Godzilla related films that I plan to review in the future, so don't think that I'm officially done with reviewing these films yet.

GODZILLA: TOKYO S.O.S. (AMERICAN DUB)

You know at this point of the series, after seeing like 4 reboots in a row, with 3 involving the origins of the 1954 classic, I've just come to accept the fact that Toho is just going to be throwing one reboot after another during this Era. So I lost all hope for them ever trying to continue at least one of their films from this Era. So let's get right on to the 5th film of the "Millennium Era"...

  

As MechaGodzilla is being repaired to fight Godzilla if he ever comes back to attack Japan, an elderly Dr. Shinichi Chujo who has previously appeared in the events of "Mothra" (played once again by Hiroshi Koizumi) is approached by Mothra's twin fairies (Masami Nagasawa and Chihiro Otsuka) to ask him to convince the Government to drop the bones from the first Godzilla (that's used to construct MechaGodzilla) into the ocean where it belongs, and have Mothra defend Japan from Godzilla instead (and they couldn't have told anyone about this before the creation of MechaGodzilla after all those years because...???). Conflicted by this decision, the Japanese Government decide to give Mothra a chance, but when things don't seem to be looking good, they bring out MechaGodzilla to take part in the battle.

AT LAST, Toho has finally decided to give us a follow-up to one of their films from this Era, instead giving us another reboot dating back to the original! It feels like a breath of fresh air to see a Godzilla film continue after the one I just reviewed, and see what happens next after getting a bit of a cliffhanger of Godzilla running out of sight, to fight again for another day! Furthermore, I love that Toho also decided to make this film a sequel to the film "Mothra" as well, to make it even more interesting and nostalgic, resulting with us getting 3 sequels (4 if you count "War of the Gargantuas" since the event was mentioned in the previous film, and the Maser cannon that was introduced in the film is used in these two films, despite the events of that film not being as relevant as the events from the other 3 films are played out here) in one movie. However, as much as it feels like a second parter to both "Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla" and "Mothra" (even feeling more of a continuation to "Mothra" than "Mothra VS. Godzilla" was) there are a few gripes that I have with the film.

 

Discovering that this is a sequel, since I enjoyed the characters so much in the previous film film, I was excited to see what they are doing now and how these events are going to affect them. But as I let the film play on, the only previous character that's present for most of the movie is the Prime Minister (Akira Nakao). We get a few short scenes of the soldier Yashiro (Yumiko Shaku) who helped defeat Godzilla in the last film before she leaves this film, but that's about it. Which is a real downer. Don't get me wrong, I felt connected to the Prime Minister in the first film and you still feel connected to him in this film too, but it was Akane, the scientist Tokumitsu, and his daughter Sara, who were the real stars of the film. Which disappoints me that we see very little of Akane, and never see the other two. Now the characters replacing them here are not that bad, you do feel an attachment to characters like Yoshito Chujo (Noboru Kaneko) the mechanic and protagonist of the film, his nephew Shun (Kenta Suga), Dr. Shinichi Chujo, and the Twin Fairies for the same reasons you feel attached to most of the characters in the series. And the writing and pacing is definitely more flowing than it was in the last film. But with that said, the characters, their arcs, and the events that they go through are very reminiscent to the previous film. You have a pilot who bullies Yoshito, only this one has almost little to no purpose for his actions, or at least is not established as well as it was in the last film. A romantic relationship between a pilot and one of the men working on MechaGodzilla, only here it feels pointless and easy to miss. Our lead being trapped inside MechaGodzilla during the climax, and willing to risk his life. And the theme of the characters about "Life and Death" that isn't done as poor as it was in the previous film, but feels preachy and forced. And as if the film itself doesn't heavily resemble the previous film, it also carries plenty of similarities to "Mothra VS. Godzilla". Mothra fights Godzilla as she is slowly wasting away. The fairies try to warn Japan to give back something that isn't there's which will result with dire consequences. And her twin Larvae’s join in the final fight after hatching out of an egg. It almost as if the film is trying to remake both movies, and pass the film off as a sequel since it ties into the other movies.

What's even more half-baked about the film are the things that this sequel could've explored a bit more. I was hoping that we'd get more of a personality from Godzilla, and get a real feel of the first Godzilla's pain inside MechaGodzilla. And to be fair, there is some of that. We discover the bones inside MechaGodzilla (who is no longer referred to as Kiryu, maybe because we all know him by the machine's actual name that was even in the title of the first film) is the reason why Godzilla’s attacking; and they do attempt to give MechaGodzilla a heroic and tragic personality when it gets possessed again. But the reasons for Godzilla being attracted by MechaGodzilla's bones only exists as an excuse that makes little to no sense. And the soul of Godzilla now deciding to become a hero and a tragic character, feels more like a quick way to wrap things up. I understand that it wants to sleep peacefully in the ocean, and take the second one with him, but like in the last film, we hardly feel connected with him in order for us to feel sorry for him. People talk about why we should pity him, but we ourselves never get the chance to experience his torment and misery before the climax since he's always portrayed as a lifeless robot up until that point. It feels kind of random that we now have to sympathize with it and see it do the right thing after seeing it do nothing in this film, and destroy stuff in the last film. What I also wished that we could've learned more about is the giant turtle monster that Godzilla killed off-screen. Apparently it was going to be Anguirus, but was changed to the monster Kamoebas from "Space Amoeba" to avoid fans from being upset by this, which is a wise move if you were just going to show Anguirus lying there dead with no fight. But it still feels pointless to the overall plot as you sit there wondering, who this turtle is (if you're not familiar with this monster), where did it come from, and what went down between it and Godzilla? I know this scene is supposed to build-up to Godzilla's appearance, but if you cut that scene out, you would miss nothing!

But as much as I complain about most of the things in the film, there are still tons of great stuff in it, and that's mostly revolving around the scenes with the monsters fighting each other! Again just like the last film, and the film before that, I don't have anything that new to say about the effects, the fight scenes, and the designs for the monsters! Some of the designs have been altered slightly, like giving Godzilla a scar from the last fight, or having the Larvae's eyes turn from blue to red for when they get mad for example, but they still mostly look the same. The only real major difference with these scenes of chaos and destruction is that aside from the pre-opening credits scene, we don't get to the giant monster action and brawls until the last half of the movie. The first half is just simply building-up to this big battle as we’re given time to connect with the new characters. But as soon as the army fires against Godzilla, the action and movie finally begins and doesn't stop until it’s all over, as we witness the characters get into the middle of all of it. For a climax like that, that lasts for almost an hour long, I can see people finding it being tedious after a while, but personally I never had a problem with it, for how awesome it is, while it still manages to nicely balance out the characters subplots in the fight, and giving us one or two touching moments (mainly the scene with Mothra and her babies seeing each other).

OVERALL THOUGHTS

It’s great to finally be watching the first and only actual sequel to a Godzilla film made in this Era, and truthfully its just as good as the last film. Everything regarding the monster action is as grand as it was in the last two films. And the new main characters are as likable as the ones in the previous film, where their arcs, backgrounds, and relations move at a much better pace. But the film still suffers from lazy writing. And aside from being the only sequel for a film from this Era, nothing about it really stands-out as anything different or groundbreaking for how safe it is. Also if you try to watch this film as a stand-alone without seeing the last one, you will be lost. It to me feels like that this film, and “Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla” are simply just one long movie, with “Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla” being the set-up, and “Tokyo S.O.S.” being the climax. And apart from the characters that we’ve grown attached to in the first film being mostly absent, and the second part rehashing many elements from the previous film (and “Mothra”), it works well as one movie. So if you plan to view this film, be sure to see "Godzilla Against MechaGodzilla" first.