Reviews

So I saw this film for the first time when I was 8. Of course as an 8 year old, I found this film to be hilarious, but I recall my mother finding it absolutely stupid. I remember every kid in my school was talking about the film and quoting it not long after it came out. Now I have re-watched this film as a young adult, and I'm constantly wondering who was the intended audience for this film? The film is rated PG-13, and it's obvious because some of the humour is inappropriate for children. Ironically, most of the humour in the film would only be funny to someone under the age of 12. Overall, the film basically feels like a watered down, more childish imitation of Austin Powers. I can honestly see why this film has been long forgotten by the majority of the population.

This film came out when I was at the young age of 10, mum and I were regular cinema goers back when movie tickets and popcorn were cheap (relatively of course). I almost completely forgot this film's existence until today when my friend brought it up telling me how this film had basically proved that the Disney Renaissance of the 1990s was over by the time the 2000s rolled around. Being the avid Disney Channel watcher, I can recall being bombarded with advertising to go see this film, so mum and I went to see it. I remember my mum enjoying it somewhat, I even enjoyed it for the most part. The humour used in the script was somewhat crass but who doesn't love a good burp joke every now and then, even my mum laughed. Of course the silly puns and such are funny to those who are younger, but it seems this film was targeted at those 8 and under way too explicitly. Obviously it's a kids film, but what separates Disney films from most other kids films is that many of them can be enjoyed by people of all ages, where you discover something new each time you watch it and grow up more. The only thing I discovered about Home On The Range was expected: More underlying crass humour. Yes, there is a lot of adult humour, and yes there's plenty in other Disney films too, but this almost seems like it's trying to copy Dreamworks or something. Well films by Dreamworks were becoming popular at this time, so it's obvious why cheap, crass humour was used. Not to mention the songs are completely forgettable and the story is thin and cliché. Finally, to top it all off, the animation is not that great especially by Disney standards. I'm surprised this made it to the cinema, it seems like it should've gone straight to DVD. With a budget of 100 million, you would think they could have better quality animation staff. However most of this money was probably spent on the celebrity cast and advertising. The fact that Disney has stooped to such a low point surprises me.

To sum up: If you're kids are still in Elementary School, they will probably enjoy the film. I highly doubt anyone over the age of 10 would enjoy this however.

It's like this show decided to take all the terrible, leftover rubbish from other shows about office life, and slap it all together to create this mess. When I saw this show on TV, I could've sworn it was an old, re-run of a mediocre programme from the 90s, and then I learn it's actually only been out a year. How? It's all recycled junk, and it's a blatant try hard of a show. The jokes are nothing new, I've heard them all before, and I see nothing creative about this show. Stop trying to remake stuff that was fine to begin with it and make it something worse. I understand taking inspiration from the old to create the new, but all this does it rip off the old. In other words, there's no inspiration in this TV show whatsoever. For all I know this could have been written by some 14-year-olds who know nothing about real office life other than what they see on old sitcoms. Nothing against you if you like the show, but I've yet to see why people think this show is actually so good. 1/10.

I loved this show as a kid, I've always been into magical girl type shows. The show definitely has that unique, pseudo-anime flavour most shows of the mid-2000s have. While many criticise this, this feels awfully nostalgic for those like me who were preteens in this era. The show is creative, yes maybe it takes inspiration from those like Sailor Moon, but in it's own unique self it is it's own great show. If you think Sailor Moon is better, go watch Sailor Moon, enough said. I like Sailor Moon, but stop trying to compare everything to something else, and let it be it's own thing. I can never seem to get why people hated this show so much, a lot of the times their reasons seemed shallow (I don't like their voices, their outfits are ugly, etc etc). While I don't disagree that these can be valid points, they don't attack the main point. Also, anyone who says that Winx Club has better animation and calls themselves an "animation lover" needs to get their eyes checked. While I never go into the Winx Club, let me say the animation looks quite cheesy and reminds me of animated Bratz films, while W.I.T.C.H. looks much more professionally done. Interestingly however, the book series happens to be from the same country as WC (Italy). The animation, however, reminds me of shows like Totally Spies (which happens to be from France, same place the animators behind W.I.T.C.H. happen to be located).

I saw this show with low expectations, not expecting it to be that great knowing how FOX's Animation Domination has gone terribly down hill, and in all honesty, it's not terrible. I absolutely love the dead-pan, sarcastic, somewhat subtle humour. Reminds me a lot of the show Home Movies, a favourite show of mine. I love the fact that an adorable 7 year old kid acts like a rich young adult, to the point that he is oblivious that he is a child. The fact that his parents are two gay men is awesome, I mean come on it's 2011, about bloody time this happened. Not sure why people are putting this show down so much, it's not absolutely terrible. It maybe be out there, a bit rude, offensive, but hey, depending on the way you look at it, it can be quite funny. Sure it may not be the best show on TV, but it's a sign that comedy might be heading into a better direction. A direction of humour that isn't so silly and in-your-face like a lot of American comedy has been the past few years.

I could probably comment on how Disney is going downhill, or that they need to stop with the shows about double-lives or trying to get into the show business. I will give it the benefit of the doubt that the jokes are a result of bad writing, the acting has potential though. These are the kinds of jokes I'd probably find funny if I was still 4-11 years old, because they've been recycled so much on Disney. For the most part it's so unrealistic, and need I explain why? It should only take you one episode to determine no 13 year old girl is THAT independent in the middle of Chicago. I remember shows like Even Stevens and Lizzie McGuire, that are arguably just as cheesy as anything else Disney puts out. However, the main difference was it taught kids valuable life lessons, and TV doesn't care about that as much any more. The kids act spoilt, sassy, like they can always win and always get whatever they want. If kids keep growing up with this idea in their head that they can be sassy little brats as adults without getting beaten up or killed, it just shows you what's wrong with today's generation.

However, I do have a guilty pleasure for the fashion, the theme song is catchy and danceable, and the actors are really cute. However, those aren't really good reasons to like a show, but it did lift my rating from a 1 to a 3.