kwya-loo Reviews

Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget (2023)

Where is the soul!!

[3/10 · 1 January 2024]

I watched this after having loved the original as a kid (Aardman is a favourite studio of mine). I watched in anticipation for that quirky humour, snappy and action-packed sequences and was met with ... flat and cliche jokes??

It definitely felt like it had the appearance of Aardman but like it had been shucked and shelled by an American company. Left soulless and with dumbed down to the point that it was painful. Jokes now were either too simple or soft or safe, or too over-explained. Aardman is so well known for underplaying a joke or bit and then moving right on.

The music also seemed less iconic to me, the themes didn't really hit hard enough and I can't even remember what music they used now ...

I read later that Nick Park was not a part of the movie and this combined with the replacement of the two main characters' voice actors really just soured the whole film for me.

The daughter in this film also doesn't feel fleshed out enough, but just a carbon copy of her mum. Rocky has become so dumb and is a completely different character. Ginger's voice just lacked that unique tone that the original voice actor had too.

The Incredibles setting of the factory was quite funny, and I did like the eye pad reference - that was probably the closest to Aardman's original humour - but apart from that I had to force myself to sit thru the rest just in a delusional hope that it would get better.

It didn't ... that last scene was so cringe and added nothing to the movie.

I'm hoping that Aardman will return to their roots - this is the weakest release so far. Netflix and streaming companies need to let studios do their thing, they know how to do it best!

The Days (2023)

Japanese culture is different when handling nuclear disaster

[8/10 · 5 June 2023]

There are definitely some awkward translations in this docuseries, for one I think the title may be a direct translation from its Japanese title, which makes more sense.

On the whole, it seems they borrowed a lot from HBO's Chernobyl mini-series. Cons included:

• the long pauses
• shots that took way too much screen time than they deserved
• lack of delivering on the build up of tension (it felt like tension was building with it sort of fizzing out than delivering on a satisfying break)
• some slow scenes seemed a little bit gratuitous but on the whole weren't too bad

Pros included:

• reasonably believable CGI
• great that it was in Japanese language
• the ending had a great insight into where Fukushima is now today
• a haunting ending sharing with us the perils of nuclear energy
• good acting from main characters
• a good breakdown of what actually went down in 2011
• insight into the Japanese work culture and how that affected how they handled it. The discipline and selflessness was very sad and a culture shock to see.

I would recommend this to anyone who was interested in Chernobyl but curious about Japan's ordeal in 2011.

Harry Potter: A History of Magic (2017)

A beautiful window into the artefacts and beasts in HP

[10/10 · 22 June 2022]

Loved JK rowlings little insights into what she was thinking about certain things as she wrote about them in the books. Loved this thoroughly! Especially having a look into various manuscripts with such beautiful handwritten pages.

Also a great exploration on thought behind science and magic and the early modern period.

9/11: One Day in America (2021)

The best 9/11 documentary there is.

[10/10 · 8 June 2022]

Absolutely the most comprehensive and well made documentary that captures 9/11. It was lovely to see some of the firefighters i had seen on old interviews still well and alive all these years later.