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Reviews
Jambareeqi Reviews (2012)
The most underrated review show ever made
Do you want to know a little secret about myself? Back in my middle school years, I would get in a lot of trouble with my parents for watching YouTube shows "Smosh" and "Angry Grandpa." Then in the year 2017, when looking up "The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland", I stumbled upon a British movie critic called Jambareeqi. Soon enough, my troubles went away! In addition, during 2017, I was in severe depression and Jambareeqi's reviews were one of the few things that would cheer me up. Plus, it helped me escape my depression and become a better person.
But I suspect you don't care about my personal stuff and just want to know if "Jambareeqi Reviews" is worth watching. Well, as said in the title of this review, I think that it is the most underrated YouTube review series ever made to date. The best thing about the show, to me, is that it is super funny and entertaining while giving solid information about the review subject. Jambareeqi himself does say some foul language, sure, but he is still a really likable and sincere person deep down. All these aspects of "Jambareeqi Reviews" help make his videos really engaging to watch.
Now some people complain that "Jambareeqi Reviews" is too similar to other reviewers like Doug Walker, Chris Stuckmann, etc. But personally, Jambareeqi doesn't need to do everything differently. In fact, no aspiring movie reviewer needs to! Not to mention, Jambareeqi pulls off the hot-tempered reviewer shtick far better than the Nostalgia Critic because unlike him, Jambareeqi is never obnoxiously over-the-top.
Overall, I love "Jambareeqi Reviews" and am sad that it ended in December 2019. Fortunately, Jambareeqi is still making videos to this day and even has a channel on Twitch now. If you ask me to say who I think is the best YouTube movie critic is, I would most certainly say it's Jambareeqi! "Jambareeqi Reviews" gets an A+.
The Lion Guard (2015)
A mostly wasted potential
The Lion Guard is an American animated children's television adventure series. It follows the adventures of Simba's second-born cub Kion as he leads his new Lion Guard on a mission to protect the Pridelands from all enemies.
When I first saw the trailer for this show's pilot Return of the Roar, it became my most anticipated TV program of 2015 because I felt like the idea of Simba having another child with a new responsibility was actually quite interesting. And when I finally saw Return of the Roar, I initially enjoyed all of it. However, as I kept rewatching it, I began to realize something: Kion and his Lion Guard are doing more than just defend the Pridelands; they are also segregating their enemies just because they don't believe in the Circle of Life. Even worse, the bad guys are forced to stay in the Outlands, a place where there is no food, water, and shelter. Now yes, I know that the Lion Guard needs to punish the baddies for their crimes, but there are less extreme ways to do that. They can just have their enemies perform some community service or, if they ARE going to banish them, at least exile them to a place where they CAN survive. Because of all this, when the actual series started, I actually rooted more towards the show's villains more than the good guys.
Even if you can brush that aside, The Lion Guard is still a pretty generic adventure story. One that is filled with ideas we've seen so, so, so, so, so many times before. For example: in the episode "The Zebra Mastermind," a dim-witted zebra causes some of the Lion Guard's dumb enemies to try some ridiculous tactics of "defeating" them. That's the premise of so many episodes of other kids shows. The show also dedicates most of its 2nd season to bringing Scar, the villain from the original movie, back as a fiery ghost. Similar to how Jafar returned in The Return of Jafar or how Emperor Palpatine came back in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Lastly, a lot of Kion's Lion Guard teammates are just different sidekick archetypes.
It's like the show's writers weren't even trying and simply went with the first things that came to their heads.
Anyway, what about the Lion Guard themselves? Well, besides Kion, the Lion Guard consists of Bunga the honey badger, Fuli the cheetah, Beshte the hippo, and Ono the egret. To me, Fuli the cheetah is the Lion Guard member with the most potential to be interesting. Why? Because when we first meet her in Return of the Roar, we have no clue who her family is or where she came from. I personally hoped the show would explore that. But nope. They just sideline her for a lot of the show. Sure, Fuli does learn to let her Lion Guard friends become her new family in the episode "Fuli's New Family," but that doesn't make us not want to know her past.
Meanwhile, Bunga the honey badger is pretty much based off his catchphrase, "Zuka Zama." Even though he didn't bother me, I can imagine him annoying the crap out of others. Not only is he an ignorant fool, but he can also be quite rude, mean, and condescending towards others.
Now I'm not going to be completely pessimistic with this show because it's not an awful show. Far from it. Trust me when I say this: when something works in The Lion Guard, it really, really, really works. Firstly, at the beginning of the first season, Kion meets a friendly, female hyena named Jasiri. Not only is she the most likable character in the show, her friendship with Kion is beyond endearing and charming. You can really sense their chemistry with each other. Heck, that's why I really don't like how at the end of the series, a teenage Kion marries Rani, a lioness who is the leader of the Tree of Life. Her relationship with Kion is cute, but just not necessary to the plot. She only becomes Kion's wife just to give Kion a new responsibility after he retires as leader of the Lion Guard.
Also, while I think that bringing back Scar as a ghost is a lazy plot direction, the show is at least creative about the evil lions of the past being represented through fire, while the good ones are represented through clouds in the sky. That's a metaphor for Heaven and Hell.
Overall, while The Lion Guard has some potentially likable and interesting characters and a few good messages, it is yet another one of Disney Junior's mediocre products. It encourages harmful activities like prejudice and oppression, has unoriginal concepts, and even contains several plotholes in Lion King canon. However, the relationship between Kion and Jasiri is beautiful, the show can be creative at times, and it does give us a decent story about a lion's struggle with his light and dark side. If you have kids and you want them to be mildly entertained, then this could kind of get it done, but beware of what I talked about. If I could rate The Lion Guard using a letter grade, I'd give it a C+.