The Brave Little Toaster To The Rescue

The 1980s were a time where Disney movies were not making the money or being liked by critics. So many films just did not impress anyone. Regardless of what the story was based on, critics and Disney lovers just didn’t like the films during that decade. Nick the Nitpick Film Critic noted in his review, “That's not the case now however for many of the once unnoticed movies have found a home for those who appreciate the quality they gave. But of those, there were some movies that got recognized for being well done.” Before Disney really started to come back again with “The Little Mermaid,” another animated film was released that so many children who grew up with it still remember it to this day, which was “The Brave Little Toaster.” Seeing the story of the film, Disney fans and critics really liked how adult some of the usual themes and concepts were for the story. Sadly though, Disney started to release straight-to-video sequels to the film a decade after. Despite it being a time when Disney started releasing sequels, it would have been one of the worst, but “The Brave Little Toaster To The Rescue,” released in 1997, actually holds up.

Starting some time after the first movie, we see the appliances once again but here, they’re in the owner’s veterinary clinic. Their owner, Rob, is ready to graduate and has to finish up his 600-page thesis before submitting it. One night when he is about to be done, the electricity goes out and Rob loses all of his work. Now stressed that he won’t graduate, his appliances and some animals join together to help Rob out. Directed by Robert C. Ramirez, who directed “Joseph: King of Dreams,” and written by Willard Carroll, who was the executive producer to the first “The Brave Little Toaster,” they actual made a passable sequel seeing at the time when this came out. As predicted, it’s not as good as the first movie but it’s a sequel that you can see. There are a few things that don’t add up, obviously. Nick noted, “The most typical of reasons being continuity errors; ones that go beyond the physical realm that the first had established. Things don’t just materialize.”

The other ones are the characters. The new animal friends to the original group are fine but they feel like they were just shoehorned in there. You just see that it was needed for one of the main animal’s reasons to change for no reason. Then there’s Rob’s understudy Mack who is basically his assistant. When he is introduced, his personality instantly lets you know what type of person he is. Besides all of those flaws, there isn’t a lot to notice. Despite these being problems that hurt the development with certain characters, the script still has some dark stuff that you really feel scared at. You have to applaud the crew for not having the overall result feel superfluous. I agree with Nick when he said, “Some sequels get completely diluted and end up having no risk involved.” Unless the watcher wanted to know who voiced the characters, a lot would find out that a lot of the original voice actors from the first movie did not reprise the roles.

Nick mentioned, “Since the release of this was a decade later, seeing why some actors who voiced childlike characters is understandable.” However, the question remains with why Jon Lovitz, Timothy E. Day, Wayne Kaatz and Colette Savage did not reprise their roles? Every one of them voiced protagonists. However, the voice actors who replaced them did have the same level in their performance. Jessica Tuck voiced Chris, Chris Young voiced Rob, Eric Lloyd voiced Blanky and Roger Kabler voiced Radio, who all sound just like the original actors, which is acceptable. Reprising their roles is Deanna Oliver as Toaster, Thurl Ravenscroft as Kirby and Timothy Stack as Lampy, which is great to hear. For new cast, Jay Mohr voiced Mack, Andy Milder voiced Ratso, Alfre Woodard voiced Maisie the Cat, Danny Nucci voiced a Hispanic Chihuahua, Andre Daly voiced Murgetroid the snake and Eddie Bracken voiced Sebastian the Monkey. Brian Doyle-Murray voiced a computer.

The animation is really decent for this sequel. This is mostly because the first movie really set itself on a pedestal. If anything, the animation here is on the same level as the first one, which is acceptable. Seeing how this film was animated on a smaller budget, it’s important to see that the quality stays about the same. Sadly, the film score was not done by David Newman, but Alexander Janko replaced him. Nick said, “This was Janko's first film composition and seeing that he frequently orchestrates more than composes, it's interesting that Janko made out rather sufficiently. The score itself consists of organic orchestra and uses those elements to its advantage. By this, the cues that involve the darker themes work properly.” The songs that the protagonists sing are passable. Songs like Remember That Day, Tap to the Super Highway, and Chomp and Munch are catchy and really get you feeling.

This film isn’t memorable to the first one, but it’s not completely useless. There is some adult stuff in here, the music is done nicely and the voice cast does a good job. The extra characters and an unexplained motivation is what makes this film forgettable to an extent.

I don’t understand why this film came out after “The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars.” This film is actually the second film, so why they decided to release this last is beyond me. However, I think you should see this one because it actually is a good film to watch. You will like this better than the Mars one, but you will not like it as much as the first one.

Now that we have done this trilogy, stay tuned tomorrow to see what I will review next in “Disney Month 2020.”

The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars

Those friendly anthropomorphic household appliances are back for more journeys in “The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars,” released in 1998, a nice, but lightweight, direct-to-video animated sequel to the far superior “The Brave Little Toaster.”

Toaster (Deanna Oliver), Radio (Roger Kabler), Blanky (Eric Lloyd), Lampy (Tim Stack), and Kirby and vacuum cleaner (Thurl Ravenscroft) make a promise to protect their owner’s new baby, Robbie (Russ Taylor). However, an old Hearing Aid, voiced by Fyvush Finkel, which was left in a drawer by the house’s previous owner, receives messages from outer space and is about to be transported to Mars when Robbie crawls in the way of the transportations and is accidentally sent to Mars. Using plans from a Wittgenstein the Supercomputer (Brian Doyle-Murray), the appliances use a Microwave Oven (Wayne Knight), some microwave popcorn, a calculator (Stephen Tobolowsky), and Fanny the fan (Carol Channing) to fly to Mars.

TV Guide mentioned in their review, “On Mars, the appliances find Robbie but encounter an army of refrigerators and other militant appliances that rebelled against their manufacturer and fled to Mars, and have built a missile to destroy Earth.” Toaster fights the appliances’ Supreme Commander, voiced by Alan King, to an election and wins, and then deactivates the missile. They all go back to Earth, along with Tinselina, a Christmas Tree Angel, voiced by Kath Soucie, which sacrifices its organic hair and dress to use as fuel so they can fly back. Robbie is put into his crib before his parents wake up, and when he learns how to walk, he rescues Tinselina from a trash can and his parents put it on top of their tree.

TV Guide said, “THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER was a charmingly old-fashioned and nicely animated fable about growing up and leaving behind childhood possessions and memories, and the visually identical sequel is entertaining enough for kids, but lacks the thematic poignancy that made the original such a pleasant surprise. The additional characters are amusing, particularly the Yiddish-accented hearing aid and the wisecracking microwave, but there are simply too many of them, including a "cameo" by Farrah Fawcett as, yup, a talking faucet. There are a number of clever touches designed to appeal to adults, such as the voyage to Mars where the appliances encounter lost balloons floating in space who sing about their past lives (a hippie balloon from the Woodstock concert, a cowgirl from a Buffalo Bill Wild West shows, etc.), but the silly new songs can't compare to those of Van Dyke Parks's in the original.”

The story, based on a novella by famous sci-fi author Thomas M. Disch, is also very complicated for a kid’s cartoon, showing signs of hidden intellectual elements fighting to break through, like a strange subplot involving Albert Einstein, who is shown to have been Hearing Aid’s former owner, and his Unified Field Theory. TV Guide ended their review by saying, “Additionally, whether Disney realizes it or not, there is an obvious capitalism vs. communism subtext, manifested in the commander's speeches to his "oppressed" workers, whom he tells "you have no master but yourselves."”

Sorry to say, but this one is a serious downgrade from the first movie. I didn’t like it when I saw it and if you liked the first movie, then give this sequel a pass. You won’t like it, but what do you expect when it’s a direct-to-video sequel? A lot of them have spelled disaster, but there have been some exceptions. But this one, do not see because you will hate it, I assure you that.

There’s one more sequel that we need to look at, so stay tuned tomorrow to see how that one turned out in “Disney Month 2020.”

The Brave Little Toaster

December is here once again and I will start my usual tradition of “Disney Month” once again. However, this year will be no connecting themes, which probably won’t be that way from now on. Now I will just do a grab bag of different movies that I would like to review all throughout the month, since there are so many movies that I have overlooked. To start off, I will look at a movie that I have constantly skipped over, “The Brave Little Toaster,” released in 1987.

Do you ever think if household appliances come to life and enjoy themselves whenever you leave the house?

Based on the book by the late Thomas M. Disch, the movie is about five appliances traveling all over the country to find their owner. Along this risky trip, they encounter a waterfall, an evil shop appliance owner, but most importantly they learn about friendship.

Marielle Sabbag admitted in her view, “When I was six years old, I watched The Brave Little Toaster every single day! There was even a day when I watched it twice! Yes, I was a big fan of this film.” “The Brave Little Toaster” is a fun animated film with catchy songs, a message about friendship, and the importance of bravery.

Toaster, Blankey, Lampy, Radio, and Kirby (a vacuum cleaner) are appliances that share a strange friendship. From the start, the film introduces us to the characters and their personalities, displaying how they relate to their position. The film does not avoid showing their fights, disagreements, and how they don’t understand each other.

Going on this trip helps them realize the hidden secrets that they chose not to see. Because they never had to depend on one another before they had to join together and work as a team.

Sabbag said, “I like how the central character is not the only one to get their time to shine.” Each character has their moment of bravery. Toaster keeps the group together, saying that they need to go out and find their owner, but he has his mistakes. That is the best part of this movie. Nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes. However, we can work on correcting our flaws.

The voices of the five appliances are Deanna Oliver, Timothy E. Day, Tim Stack, Jon Lovitz, and the late Thurl Ravenscroft and everyone is amazing. Sabbag said, “I especially loved Jon Lovitz as the quirky radio who always makes entertaining announcements.” Other voice actors include the late Phil Hartman, Joe Ranft, Jonathan Benair, Wayne Kaatz, Colette Savage, and so many others who brought this film to life.

Sabbag mentioned, “I remember turning up the volume and danced around to the songs. My favorite scene of all is when the appliances do their chores as Radio plays Tutti Frutti by the late Little Richards.” Other songs included are City of Light, It’s a B Movie, Cutting Edge, and Worthless.

Animation for the film is well-done. The hand-drawn animation is obsolete nowadays. The animators really had to thing how a lamp or a toaster would move on its own. Sabbag admitted, “That’s what I love about animated movies. It’s all about imagination.”

Jerry Rees make a film for everyone to enjoy. Sabbag said, “Over time, the message of this film has evolved for me. As I have been trying to figure out why this movie had such an impact on me when I was six, I believe that it was the friendship of the five appliances.”

Sabbag continued, “I do have to say that this is more of a film for young adults than child audiences.” The film is dark and has scenes that will scare children. Like the song Worthless has references to suicide. Sabbag admitted, “The clown scene scared me as a kid.”

Despite how this movie might be now dated, it’s still a fun film to see how technology has changed over the last three decades. We have become really dependent on technology.

Sabbag ended her review by saying, “The Brave Little Toaster will always be one of my favorite childhood films. It is an unforgettable work of animation. I recommend that you watch this film if you have not seen it.”

I will also give this film a recommendation because I think everyone will really enjoy it. I don’t get why people might hate this movie, but I don’t, so I think everyone should see it. I vaguely remember seeing this as a kid, but I saw it as an adult and I really loved the film.

Surprisingly, this movie got a couple of sequels, which we will look at the first one tomorrow in “Disney Month 2020.”

Jarhead: Law of Return

One great thing about the popularity of Netflix streaming is its contribution to the general public’s intelligence of film history. One example is that even though people may remember “Jarhead” from 2005 that had Jake Gyllenhaal/Sam Mendes, not many people know there were three sequels.

Without a doubt, they’re not directed by or starring any famous celebrity, and they’re of really low quality, but they’ve been released.

“Jarhead: Law of Return” came out in 2019, and is a movie that cites Israel’s “Law of Return,” the legal validation for giving Israeli citizenship to any Jew regardless of where they’re from. That’s how Major Ronan Jackson (Devon Sawa) ended up there, a U.S. trained F-16 pilot flying for the Israeli Air Force, married to an Israeli (Shanti Ashanti).

Jackson’s mother was Jewish, so that’s how he ended having an immigrant (“oleh”) citizenship status.

Anyone who knows military jargon knows that “Jarhead” means a Marine. How we’re sending Marines into Israel to help rescue Jackson after he’s shot down over the Golan Heights? Jackson’s father, played by Robert Patrick, is a U.S. Senator. Only a combo Marine Corps/Shaldag (Israeli commandos) can save Jackson from the hands of the Iranian-packed Golan Freedom Brigade, and their unknown, killing leader, The Ghost, played by George Zlatarev.

 “If he lets you see his eyes, you’re DEAD!”

Roger Moore noted in his review, “Amaury Nolasco (TV’s “Deception) plays “gunny” Sgt. Dave Flores, leader of a grizzled team of tough-talking, swaggering hulks of testosterone and tattoos.” Meeting their Israeli equivalents (Amos Tamam plays their leader) and the Mossad agent (Yael Eitan) makes for a slightly interesting argument.

Moore mentioned, “The Israelis are all mysterious, anonymous warriors — “Our names, like God’s, are not to be spoken.””

The Jarheads all say, “Yeah, you’re Brenner, you’re Brodetsky…”

Moore said, “They quickly find themselves in the thick of it, tracking the missing pilot, fighting and dying on a mission that “does not exist” in a desperate race against the clock.”

The firefights are basic, with the odd eye-rolling mistake of a moment. The pilot fights off terrorists packed with a truck full of machine guns and AK-47s with just his sidearm.

Moore mentioned, “Maybe that’s because he’s hiding out in the only field of bulletproof sunflowers in all of the Middle East (filmed in Israel and Bulgaria). Time and again, Palestinian fighters hold their guns up high to shoot OVER the flowers when Jackson is hiding IN among them.”

The decree changes from “Sure” to laughable. Moore said, “Wait’ll you see what it takes to bring Jackson down. The wacky modified dune buggies of all low-rent commando movies turn up as super secret assault vehicles.” A sniper uses the automatic weapon with the shortest barrel that you’ve ever seen to become Arabic Sniper.

Then there’s the fight in headquarters, where the Marine four-star general, played by Ben Cross, would be a lot more impressive to the Israelis if he wasn’t clearly wearing his stars on a jacket with sergeant’s stripes on the sleeves.

Moore mentioned, “Actor-turned writer-director Don Michael Paul specializes in low-budget sequels WAY down the line from the original “Death Race,” “Sniper,” “Bulletproof,” “Scorpion King” or “Kindergarten Cop,” so don’t expect him to sweat the details. He scripted the epic fiasco “Harley Davidson & the Marlboro Man,” so the hard-boiled dialogue is…hardcore.”

“This is Benghazi all OVER again!”

Moore admitted, “Yes, the whole affair plays like Israeli propaganda, gory and trigger-happy but cut-rate, inept and unsatisfying.” However, Universal has to make up that cash they lost on “Cats” in some way.

Sorry guys, but this is the worst of the franchise. As I said, never see these horrible sequels because they suck. Every single one of these horrible straight-to-video sequels! Now all of you know why I said this franchise is reminiscent of the “Jaws” franchise. Just watch the first one and never bother watching the rest of the franchise.

Thank you everyone for tuning in for “Jarhead Month.” I’m sorry that I mostly talked about horrible movies, but that’s what happens when studio executives don’t quit while they’re ahead.

Look out next month for what I will end the year off with; which I think will make everyone happy since we all need it.

Prisoners

For this year’s “Thanksgiving Movie Reviews,” I thought of looking at the 2013 film, “Prisoners.”

When two young girls go missing and the police release the main suspect, one of the girl’s father starts fighting with the young officer in charge of the search, before taking matters into his own hands to rescue them himself.

Dan Jolin noted in his review, “Having earned an Oscar nomination for his last film, Incendies, French-Canadian director Denis Villeneuve crosses the border for his English-language debut, Prisoners, a very American crime mystery. Villeneuve’s never been the cheeriest of filmmakers, so his portrait of US suburbia squats beneath dirty-white skies, draped in a thin snow that you know will never make for good angels.”

The main topic is really harsh, focusing on the mysterious disappearance of two girls. Jolin mentioned, “But this isn’t a straight investigation — when are they ever? — as the cops arrest the likely abductor just a few scenes later: a greasy-haired creep with a Michael Jackson voice and “the IQ of a ten-year-old” played by Paul Dano.” Wouldn’t that be too obvious and it couldn’t have been him? The father of one of the girls, Keller Dover, played by Hugh Jackman, would disagree, and being a good, Christian, American survivalist, with gas masks and lime bags in the basement, decides to look for his daughter himself. On the release because of not having enough evidence, Dano’s Alex Jones is captured and jailed in Dover’s DIY torture cage until he mentions the girls’ location. However, the search continues by desolate cop Loki, played by Jake Gyllenhaal.

Jolin said, “Prisoners is a smartly structured, solidly performed thriller, executing intertwining races against time — to save both the girls, and prove Alex’s innocence or guilt — within the same psychological labyrinth. And the political undercurrent is not hard to detect: Dover is the America that invaded Iraq, believing his grief-fuelled quest for justice places him beyond morality and the law.”

Jolin continued, “Back on the surface, there are all the expected turns and twists, and anyone familiar with the genre will sniff out one particularly plump red herring.” Also, it is sad the film has a clichéd character that sees an important clue after throwing all the files to the floor when stressed. However, Villeneuve and writer Aaron Guzikowski keep you hooked and guessing, never allowing either the tension, or the coldness, to yield.

Jolin ended his review by saying, “A decent, cogent, greyly atmospheric thriller with something to say about War-On-Terror America.”

Now this isn’t the type of Thanksgiving movie that you can watch with the whole family. Still, for those who are old enough to watch “Prisoners” should because you will absolutely love it. The movie plays with your deductive reasoning when it comes guessing who and where the girls are being held captive. Don’t miss your chance on watching this because you will love it, I promise.

Happy Thanksgiving to all of my online viewers! Please be safe out there today and do not travel. Just have a Zoom chat with the extended family. That would be best in the times that we’re in and try not to stress out too much with making the dinner. Just keep it simple and enjoy whatever you have. Make sure to be thankful for everything and hope that society will get better soon so that we can go back to way things were before.

Stay tuned tomorrow for the finale of “Jarhead Month.”

Jarhead 3: The Siege

Winston Groom wrote a sequel to his bestselling book Forrest Gump, called Gump & Co., but I doubt that will ever get made into a movie. However, Anthony Swofford has never written a sequel to Jarhead, and that was made into a movie with Jake Gyllenhaal in 2004, but there have been two straight-to-video sequels.

Alonso del Arte said in his review, “My memory of the first Jarhead movie is rather fuzzy. If I recall correctly, it covers all of Swofford’s enlistment in the Marine Corps, as well as can be done in two hours, and he did not re-enlist. There was plenty of combat readiness in that movie but no combat.”

Arte continued, “The biggest thing that sticks out in my mind about that first movie is the protagonist drinking out of a clear plastic bottle. Makes for a poetic image, but I hope in real life Marines are still using the drab green canteens. So I am not alone in being surprised about these two sequels seeming to be nonstop action.”

Universal Studios had the thought that Swofford does not own anything on the word “jarhead.” Arte said, “Therefore, they can make as many Jarhead movies as they like, though I do hope they give Swofford some kind of fee, however ambivalent he might feel about it.”

“Jarhead 3: The Siege,” released in video in 2016, stars Charlie Weber as Corporal Albright, a young Marine whose tour of duty becomes completely different from what he thought. That could be the only connection this has to the first movie.

To make sure good no one thinks this sequel will have more talk than action, the screenwriters made sure to begin with a short prologue with a voice-over where Albright says he doesn’t know anything as bullets are being fired.

The movie then flashbacks to Albright’s arrival at “the Kingdom,” one of the Arab counties, we don’t need to think about which one. Maybe the screenwriters were trying to prevent complaints.

They probably thought a lot of American has some recognition with Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia or Afghanistan. Picking a Middle Eastern country besides those could still get complaints, so it’s safer for the writers to not specify which country it is. No one can say “They don’t have those in Qatar” or “We don’t do that in Yemen.”

Despite some people are convinced that this movie is definitely taking place in Saudi Arabia, a monarchy where the king has a lot of real power. Arte admitted, “Not that I’d do well in a Jeopardy! Middle Eastern countries category, but I’m pretty sure Jordan is also a monarchy. So I’m not going to insist that “the Kingdom” refers or does not refer to a specific real country.”

Now Albright is assigned to the embassy detail at the United States embassy in the Kingdom, where his main job looks like to act as a human lectern in blue clothing for Ambassador Cahill, played by Stephen Hogan, to read children’s books to the local children.

It’s the job other embassy Marines looks like they have done without complaining before Albright was enlisted, but it motivates the new man to go rogue in a training exercise. The scene is that ambassador has been kidnapped by some terrorist group or another.

Arte said, “Albright charges ahead and rescues the pretend-ambassador, but fails to notice a pretend-terrorist in the shadows, who can then pretend-kill the entire unit. Sometimes the most important Marine is the one at the rear. It’s a lesson I think Albright has forgotten by the end of the movie.”

In another situation of unthankful initiative, Albright identifies real terrorist Khaled al-Asiri, played by Howard Hadrian, casing the compound, and takes this information straight to the ambassador. Albright is not taken seriously because intelligence is sure that al-Asiri died in a recent drone strike.

Trouble is, al-Asiri did somehow survive the drone strike, but didn’t have his cellphone with him at the time. Arte noted, “Unlike JAG, Jarhead 3 can’t send Trisha Yearwood to analyze drone strike debris to identify human remains and make sure the intended target was in the building.”

Also, al-Asiri is looking to get his cellphone back, which for some reason is in a safe at the embassy but hasn’t yet been uploaded to CIA computers (yeah, there are some details in the story that doesn’t really make sense, other than to put the main character in more dangerous situations).

Arte noted, “Pretty soon, the embassy is under siege, bullets are flying everywhere and Kingdomians on both sides of the conflict are having simplistic theological discussions while holding guns.”

The ambassador and the terrorist’s brother are in the embassy’s safe room, but Albright and computer tech Olivia Winston, played by Sasha Jackson, must take bullets and go to a separate building in the embassy compound to retrieve the terrorist’s phone and upload the important information it contains (Arte said, “I guess terrorists don’t have ways to tell their accomplices to make information obsolete”).

“The is just like Benghazi!” the embassy’s goofy media intern Blake, played by the voice of Zuko from “Avatar: The Last Airbender,” Dante Basco, exclaims at one point. No, it’s not. Arte noted, “John Kerry is Secretary of State and the Republicans don’t look like they're interested in politicizing embassy deaths during his tenure.”

One of the Marines tells Albright that a Marine dying in the line of duty is an act of bravery, a civilian dying is a national tragedy. Also, Benghazi was a consulate, not an embassy, and Ambassador Stevens was supposed to be there only for a short period.

Dennis Haysbert is wasted as Marine Major Lincoln, the MARSOC commander who doesn’t get to do much besides tell Albright to hold things together until he can get there with his MARSOC unit.

Arte noted, ““Jarhead 3 is 13 Hours with less class and more Marines,” declares the review at the War is Boring blog. That reviewer rightly takes issue with how foreign aid is depicted in Jarhead 3. In the movie, foreign aid is literally given under the table, and seems more like protection payments to the local mob.”

It doesn’t look like anything learns anything from the whole war experience. Albright gets promoted to Staff Sergeant and becomes the Marine embassy detail’s new NCOIC (the trigger-happy guy died during the war, and it looks like there isn’t supposed to be even one Marine officer in the table of organization), while Agent Winston continues to make under-the-table payments to locals.

Dennis Haysbert is on the DVD box and promotional materials for the movie, despite his role being very small. Arte said, “I guess it’s just to give this direct-to-DVD production a small sheen of Oscar credibility (Haysbert has been nominated for a Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards).”

Marines want to see themselves in the movies more. Arte said, “In Operation Hollywood, David Robb mentions that the Marine Corps floated the idea of making Forrest Gump a Marine in exchange for less government interference on the screenplay. I guess it is mainly on that level that the Jarhead movie franchise is of interest to me.”

The third installment, as already mentioned, went straight-to-DVD in 2016. Arte advised, “If you happen to see it at your local library, I would recommend checking it out. But I wouldn’t recommend actively searching for it. And if I happen to come across Jarhead 2, I will review that here as well.”

However, I feel that you should avoid this one because this franchise just keeps sinking into disaster with every installment. This one is no exception because it feels like they just want to make money off of a good movie. Just don’t watch this one at all.

Sadly, they made one more attempt at a sequel. If you want to know how that one is, just wait until next week when we finally wrap up “Jarhead Month.”

The New Mutants

Tonight I saw “The New Mutants,” released back in August, and the final film of the “X-Men Franchise” produced by 20^th Century Fox before the merger with Disney. This is the film that no one knew if it was going to be released since this was delayed for the past two years. However, since this film was released on DVD and Blu-Ray today, I thought of checking it out as a rental since I didn't go see it in theaters because of the pandemic and is it as bad as people are saying it is?

Fear haunts this somewhat strange version on mutants, the 13^th and apparently final film in the “X-Men Franchise,” which finally was theatrically released after two years of delays and really separates itself from the whole franchise by keeping things really scary and contained. Emma Simmonds said in her review, “Working with co-screenwriter (and childhood pal) Knate Lee, writer-director Josh Boone delivers a heightened, horror-infused coming-of-ager, where budding supernatural prowess and past traumas trigger some serious adolescent angst.”

Despite supposedly a service for up-and-coming mutants, the setting is the type of rundown hospital building which rings serious alarm bells. Our Cheyenne heroine Dani/Mirage (Blu Hunt) is the only survivor of a horrifying, unexplained tragedy that’s glanced at the start, but tossed aside by Dr. Reyes (Alice Braga) as the cause being a tornado. In a therapy group, Dani meets the other patients Rahne/Wolfsbane (Maisie Williams), Illyana/Magik (Anya Taylor-Joy), Sam/Cannonball (Charlie Heaton) and Roberto/Sunspot (Henry Zaga), who differ so much in their friendliness, before things get really serious for everyone.

Simmonds said, “The horrific potential of super powers has been explored before, but rarely in an actually frightening way – last year's Brightburn being a rare and not particularly successful exception – and, with its play on teens-in-peril and asylum flicks, the set-up in The New Mutants is promising; there's the germ of a genuinely good idea here. But Boone doesn't do suspense or pack in enough scares (presumably he was constrained by the need to deliver a PG-13; here it's a 15, but a rather tame one) and the film's occasional over-earnestness ties it unwelcomely to his previous effort, the weepy The Fault in our Stars.”

If clips used from “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” is there to remind audiences how much this group film suffers with this comparisons, there are viewers of properly crucial material, not slightest when seeing a child abuse backstory, when there’s a lesbian love that looks like it will happen. The cast are rightly picked (it was right to select Williams and Taylor-Joy) and, with the gender balance tilting in favor of the girls, “The New Mutants” is a new look. Things may start a little slow but the film does pick up with strength, identity and interest, and those who have missed the big budget movies in theaters should find it nice to go there again.

To be completely honest, I don’t really agree with the hate that this film has been receiving. I think that this final film of the franchise was done decently and I would say to everyone who did not go to the theaters to see it can check it out as a rental. Don’t listen to the critics, just watch it and judge based on your own thoughts. You could say that this film is like “One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” meets “The Breakfast Club.” What’s surprising is that this film is short and goes by really fast that you don’t even know how much you have watched. Especially with only five young mutants in this film, everyone contributes their part equally. In my honest opinion, this was a decent, fine film to end off on and I will give this a 9. It's not one of the worse, or the worst in the franchise. There were talks about possibly making sequels to this film, but now it doesn’t look like that will happen. Now we need to see if Disney will somehow incorporate the X-Men into the MCU and how.

Thank you for joining in on my review tonight. Look out Friday for the continuation of “Jarhead Month.”