Regi-117 Reviews

Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir (2015– )

Beautiful show, but repetitive

[9/10 · 2 June 2021]

I personally love Miraculous. I hope it doesn't make me biased though!

The animation is stellar and so are the characters. The characters are memorable and you'll take them with you everywhere you go.

Sometimes the animation can be a bit bad, and the characters can make themselves unlikeable at times, but all in all, still a great show.

The worst flaw of all in this amazing cartoon though is the writing..

While it's a fun to watch cartoons with interesting characters and situations, it's also very repetitive.

And pretty much predictable.

The characters aren't very consistent either, which led to a TON of drama in the fandom concerning Marinette's, the main character, behavior. Marinette in season 1 was a sweet girl who helped everyone around her but the writers then began writing her actions as...stalker-ish in later seasons.

Not a good impression for the new watchers, writers!

Don't get me wrong, Marinette is my favorite character! But the writers screw with her character to make an interesting drama line that could have been done in a better way. If you've seen the show, you know what I mean, haha.

Concerning predictability and repetition of stories in each episode:

Each episode starts with the daily lives of Marinette and Adrien, the second protagonist.

The evil Hawkmoth akumatizes someone who is angry or upset, they become supervillains.

Marinette and Adrien transform into Ladybug and Chat Noir and fight the villain and win.

That's the repetition we've been shown for quite a few episodes.

But with Season 4 up and coming and a few episodes out already, it's sort of changing that repetition into something more interesting.

I love that season 4 is challenging these story prompts the writers set up for themselves but it's still predictable.

Predictability is something that gets pretty old when it's in almost every episode.

Spoiler:

The only part in season 4 where we actually get something we don't predict is when Marinette tells someone her secret identity when she begins to break down from the responsibility.

This change was absolutely unexpected but so good and a different approach to how the writers' have been taking this show.

But from there on everything was just predictable, and while the writers have good ideas, it's the way they execute them that takes away the element of surprise that takes away the predictability and repetition.

BUT-

Overall, this show is amazing and worth a watch!

Arlo the Alligator Boy (2021 TV Movie)

Neutral but worth a watch

[5/10 · 1 June 2021]

The movie was ok, per say.

It hit all the points when it came to animation, music, character designs, etc.

But it missed in characters and who they are exactly and making us understand what makes them characters and the execution of a good story prompt.

To me, it seemed that the characters were just thrown at us without much explanation as to who exactly these people and creatures were other than a quick introduction and small songs.

I thought the story idea was good, there's a lot of movies and cartoons that follow this prompt as well, but it's the way it's executed that sells the story.

Arlo the Alligator Boy does not execute the idea as well as others. The pacing is all over the place, and the way the characters are introduced are messy.

But the good thing about this movie is that it's actually very enjoyable and worth a watch.

Despite all the bad points I pointed out, it's something I would definitely watch again.

Like I said, the animation was absolutely BEAUTIFUL.

During many of the musical moments, the animation was a huge standout as well as the music.

I personally enjoy musical theatre music more than pop, but it was still interesting to listen to.

One down side though would be the sort of meaningless tunes to these songs. As if they were just made on a whim without much thought to what it means to the characters and story.

Pretty much not very memorable but extremely catchy at first watch and listen.

A second standout, or third, would be the character designs!

The character designs are so close to perfect. They're unique, interesting to look at, all the while being absolutely eye catching.

And third, or fourth, the acting is PERFECT.

While I wouldn't feel anything for these characters if I watched without tapping in, it's the acting for each the characters that tunes you into an emotional rollercoaster.

The acting does it all.

But like I said, the movie was ok, but definitely worth a watch.