dalty_smilth

Beast With A Billion Backs is a worth follow-up to Bender's Big Score. Though it seems like they tried to space the humor out more, which I think is good in a lot of ways, because it helps give it more of a movie pace rather than a TV show pace, allowing tension to build over the course of the first two acts. That said, it really kind of loses steam during the third act, and it seems like David Cross wasn't really given the chance to show his comedic chops as effectively as he could have. Which is a shame, because the second and third acts were where Bender's Big Score really shined. And I want more Robot Devil. Or even another character that Dan Castellaneta could play.

Also, I kinda figured they'd find some way to bring Kiff back after they killed him off, but it would have been interesting to see what would have happened if they hadn't. But oh well. Characters have a tendency not to stay dead in cartoons. Or science fiction. And especially science fiction cartoons.

Anyway, it's worth seeing, so go see it.

While not as widely known or as critically acclaimed as his My Little Pony duology, Victor Dal Chele's update of the 1980's cartoon "Go-Bots" has quite a few memorable moments. Many have questioned Dal-Chele's decision to reinterpret the show as a broad, raunchy comedy, but the fact is that the jokes work. The humor is very much in the vein of the Zucker/Abrahams spoofs, at times even directly referencing "Airplane!", and there are lots of tongue-in-cheek references to the much more popular "Transformers" series. The main problem with this film is its uneven nature. The studio, worried that audiences wouldn't appreciate Dal Chele's subtle sense of humor, as well as his rebellious nature, fired him from the project after principal photography was completed, and hired John Grusd, a studio employee who they felt would toe the line, to finish the film. Because he'd already filmed about 70% of the movie, and because the footage was so expensive in the first place, the studio realized they couldn't scrap Dal Chele's footage completely and start over from scratch, so they hired a script doctor to "retool" the script, re-shot the scenes they felt were the most objectionable, and tried to integrate it with existing footage. It didn't quite work. Dal Chele has tried to distance himself from this film, he even requested to be credited as "Alan Smithee" in the credits, a request that was ultimately denied, as the film didn't end up being released until My Little Pony: The Princess Promenade was released, and the studio kept Dal Chele's name in the credits to try to cash in on the later film's success. Of the film "Go-Bots", Dal Chele has said, "I'm proud of what I shot on that film, and I think if the studio had not intervened, it could really have been something special." In the end, Dal Chele says that only about 40% of what ended up in the film was his, and that he wouldn't be opposed to doing his own cut of the movie, if the studio would give him the rights and resources to finish the film his way, but he's not holding his breath, and neither, he advises, should the fans. We can only hope that someday the studio will see the light. In the meantime, the film, as it is, is quite enjoyable and has a few moments of brilliance. So get this movie and enjoy a fun film partially told by a great cinematic storyteller.

This film... wow. How can I begin to describe it? This, Victor Dal Chele's first commercial film, is one of the best films I've seen this year. It's not quite as good, I think, as his later work on Princess Promenade, but given that it's his first movie, it's pretty good. Heck, it's better than some more experienced directors' seventh or eighth films. I thought Raiders of the Lost Ark was a pretty good movie until I saw this. I mean, the only reason that it's not as good as Princess Promenade is because Very Minty Christmas is more raw, and rougher around the edges. Dal Chele made this film in 90 days with a budget of around $600,000, and while he does his best with what he has, it's obvious to anyone who's seen Princess Promenade that he could have done more if he had more. To make a comparison, even the best, most professional-looking, most polished high school production of Stephen Sondheim's Into The Woods is still a high school production of Into the Woods. Still, the budget of a film means nothing if a dedicated auteur like Dal Chele is holding the reins.

Now before I go any further, I want to address the the rumor that My Little Pony: The Princess Promenade is essentially a remake of Very Minty Christmas. Mr. Dal Chele has said in interviews that it is not. Not quite. To quote a recent interview with The Resource (Of Living Legends) published by Birnbaum and Schusster (BS) Publications, he said "It's not a remake, exactly. It's just that there were some scenes that I thought I could have done so much better with a bigger budget, so when I got the opportunity, I did so." And it's obvious if you watch Princess Promenade that it's supposed to be a sequel. Major Thorndike refers at one point to "the Christmas Incident" implying that it's something that has already happened. Dr. Dandelion later reveals that it's been five years since Flutterby's death, even though he apparently is killed at the beginning of Princess Promenade. And that may be why so many call Princess Promenade a remake, because the first fifteen minutes basically show an abridged version of the events of Very Minty Christmas. And also, while Flutterby is very much the main protagonist of Very Minty Christmas, Huggles, who is a fairly minor character in VMC, becomes the main protagonist of Princess Promenade. The reason for this, of course, is that Huggles was played by Emily Deschanel, who at the time when they were VMC was not very well-known, other than as the sister of Zooey Deschanel, but when Princess Promenade was being made, she had become known as the star of the hit series Bones, so the role of Huggles was beefed up to give Ms. Deschanel more screen time. And thankfully, her portrayal of the character in the sequel, and the fact that the sequel was written to showcase her talents only makes the movie that much better. This, obviously, is why the recap of VMC at the beginning of Princess Promenade was narrated by Huggles, who rarely spoke or got directly involved in the action during VMC.

*SPOILERS* Although, despite this, and even though it's been widely reported that Inky was originally going to be the main protagonist of Princess Promenade, the end of this movie suggests that Dal Chele always intended Princess Promenade to be Huggles's story, given that SHE is the one who is chosen by the Mysterious Pony In A Business Suit after the final battle.

And one more reason that Princess Promenade is erroneously called a remake of this film, in my opinion, is that both films deal with many of the same subjects. Life, death, the nature of good and evil, and whether progress for the sake of progress is a good thing.

To conclude this review, let me say that while My Little Pony: The Princess Promenade stands very well on its own, and does not require your having seen Very Minty Christmas for you to enjoy it, having seen Very Minty Christmas will greatly deepen your understanding of Princess Promenade. And if nothing else you should watch My Little Pony: Very Minty Christmas because it is fine film-making.

Those two words, I think pretty much sum up what this show was about. I think. That's what I got out of it. Did I miss anything? Now, let me qualify my review by saying that I used to love this show as a kid, and I watched it religiously. And not all the episodes were bad. The one where the kid had AIDS had a decent message. But still...

Let me run down a typical episode for you.

Planeteers are engaging in fun youthful, Scooby Doo Gang type activity, usually involving the environment. Suddenly they encounter the villain, usually a business owner, who being the owner of a multi-million dollar international corporation is obviously evil. Okay, maybe that's not so far-fetched. But unlike real evil corporation owners, the villains in Captain Planet don't actually provide a useful product or service. Instead, it seems the only thing their corporation does is destroy the environment. And it's not just because of lazy, careless, inattentive environmental procedures. No, the villains in this show are actively trying to destroy the planet. Seriously. That's always their life's ambition, to completely and utterly bring an end to the planet earth. Apparently they either don't realize or don't care that by destroying the earth, they'll be destroying the planet they themselves live on. And it's always an evil capitalist who's the main villain. It's never some lone nut. And there's never any reason given why they'd even think of intentionally destroying the planet. They're just evil, insane capitalists with access to millions of dollars. But seriously, who would ever actually come up with a plan to destroy the world with the intent to actually go through with it? I mean, would it be that hard to give someone a reason for trying to destroy the planet? Maybe it could just be a bluff, they don't actually want to go through with it, but they want to be taken seriously. Maybe they do want to destroy the world, just to hear it go BING! Maybe they've had a really hard life, and they want to end it, but they don't see why everyone else should stay alive either. Whatever.

Anyway, the Planeteers encounter the unreasonable planet-destroying-happy evil capitalist. They try to reason with him (or her, as the case may be), usually through well-reasoned, insightful, and persuasive arguments like "Polluting is for bozos." When that doesn't work, they try shutting down the capitalist's evil world-destroying pollution creation apparatti (unless there is no such word) with the power of their rings which allow them to control the five elements which include: Earth, Wind, and Fire. Or maybe it was Emerson, Lake, and Palmer. Come to think of it, it may have been Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. Whatever. Anyway, the Planeteers would always end up in some inescapable situation which would result in their certain death, at which point they would combine the powers of their rings to summon Deus Ex Machina... I mean Captain Planet. The Captain would then show up and conveniently solve everyone's problems, except the evil capitalists, who would be carted off to prison on twelve counts of participating in an economic system where ambitious people can become extremely wealthy while other less ambitious people don't make as much money, as well as the misdemeanor charge of trying to destroy the planet.

At least that's what I remember about the show. Keep in mind, it's been a long time since I've seen the show, so everything I've said about it may be completely invalid. So don't take my word for it. And if you care about the environment, if you believe in learning to respect people of all cultures, and most importantly, if you hate capitalism, then by all means watch this show. And finally, I would like to echo the sentiments of a previous reviewer, who wondered rhetorically how many trees they had to be cut down to provide the producers of this show with paper to write/draw on.

I remember watching this special when it was on! All the characters were anthropomorphic bears. I remember they did one of the verses for the title song in the style of Michael Jackson. I remember thinking at the time that it was freaking hilarious! That's about all I remember about it, though. I don't know why they never showed it again. Maybe it's on VHS somewhere or maybe they've shown it on some cable network. But I haven't seen it since it was first on. If any network executives are reading this (and I doubt they are), you should dig this special up and show it again this holiday season. I guarantee it would be much better than the normal sentimental, sap-drenched, "Hallmark Hall of Fame"-type Christmas drivel you're probably planning to show. We need more Christmas specials like this. Nobody wants to see a "Survivor" Christmas, or "A Very Will & Grace Christmas" or other such nonsense.

Anyway, if you're flipping through the channels this Holiday Season and you see that this special is on, you should watch it. Sure, it's no "Charlie Brown Christmas", but hey, what is?