Reviews
Gekijôban Poketto Monsutâ: Myûtsû no Gyakushû (1998)
Popcorn Movie
"Pokémon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back" is an interesting film, to say the least. WARNING: This review contains spoilers. I'm not familiar with the Pokémon series or the products, but as someone who likes Japanese anime, I thought it might be refreshing to watch Pokémon. I was disappointed by the Pokémon movie because it lacks sufficient depth, plot progression, character development, or even any form of organization. It almost assumes that all children are mindless and only appreciate psychadelic colors and strange creatures. I'll admit, as a university student, I may be a little out of touch with understanding child-oriented films, but it doesn't take much effort to realize from watching this film that Pokémon the First Movie is a complete no-brainer. The movie is loaded with cheesy "moral lessons" that children are sure to ignore, and shallow in its explanation and development of the expressed moral lessons. There is nothing wrong with using a movie as a medium for teaching morals, but instead of allowing children to discover and learn these values through their own logic, the Pokémon film simply explains everything away. Perhaps I'm simply being nostalgic when I call for a return to kid-animation films like "The Secret of NIMH" and "The Hobbit" where the plot development, animation, soundtrack, story, and moral lessons all intersect in a non-gratuitous way that doesn't actually rot the mind away. Even live-action children's films like CTW's "Follow That Bird" and Jim Henson's "The Muppet Movie" have more to show for in terms of intellectual development than the Pokémon film. "Pokémon the First Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back" is by no means a timeless classic, and it ranks with such poor films as "Mighty Morphin Power Rangers." Perhaps the only redeeming value to Pokémon is the voice acting by Megumi Hayashibara. If you're looking for a good anime, stay away from Pokémon. A better choice that teaches a spectrum of values and is far more entertaining would be Neon Genesis Evangelion. Yesterday's generation had GI Joe, Smurfs, Transformers, and Strawberry Shortcake. Today's generation has Pokémon and Hanson. Are we destined to become mindless at the hands of increasingly poor entertainment? I should hope not.
Stealth Fighter (1999)
Stealth Movie With Stealthy Plot
"Stealth Fighter" is perhaps one of the worst low-budget espionage films concievable. Ice-T's portrayal of a navy fighter pilot borders on ridiculous even comedic as he brings unbelivable adolescent "gang" behavior and language to the film. What happens when the gangsters of New Jack City meet political terrorists? You get "Stealth Fighter" a movie that is almost insulting to the intelligence. How is it possible that a pilot can be concurrently enlisted in both the Air Force AND Navy, be a Navy SEAL, and lastly, be qualified for all major US aircraft? And with all the intelligence neccessary to do all of those tasks, we're to believe that Ice-T's character can't even pronounce the words "seven-seven-seven" with good english? (Ice-T pronounces seven as 'tevin-tevin-tevin.') Not to mention that this film excessively steals stock footage heavily from such movies as Iron Eagle, Interceptor, Clear and Present Danger, US Navy Seals, Diamonds are Forever and includes a battle sequence constructed entirely from edited footage of the bombing scene from Flight of The Intruder, where the only noticeable difference is Brad Johnson and Williem Dafoe have been conviently edited from the scene. The "stealth" F-117 which is stolen from the US gov't is actually the prop used as the "Manta" transport plane from Executive Decision. What is supposed to be a high-tech Los Angeles class submarine is actually the WWII era submarine set featured in Down Periscope. And the center attraction, a stolen SDI satellite, is actually stock footage of the killer satellite from James Bond "Diamonds Are Forever." To make matters worse, the footage editors didn't even bother to remove the original on-screen text from US Navy Seals in the carrier scene...the text that says "Off The Coast of Lebanon" does not match the on screen text used earlier and for the rest of "Stealth Fighter" - it's like comparing italic Times New Roman to Arial font. There are way too many character flaws, plot inconsistencies, and easily recognizable props and footage from other movies included in "Stealth Fighter" to make it believable.