Reviews

EPISODE ONE AND TWO REVIEW (will update later)

I will be honest, here; I was worried. After the mostly disappointing The Mandalorian season three and Obi Wan, my expectations were low, and with the fact that most people haven't seen Star Wars: Rebels or maybe even The Clone Wars, I was concerned those viewers would be confused and left-out. But I needn't have worried!

We start with a brief text scroll, catching us up on the events of Ahsoka's The Mandalorian appearance, and what has happened since. This makes it more accessible if you missed that show, or if you forgot what happened. It's also a lovely surprise to have a text crawl! When was the last time we had one?!

The opening scene is action packed, intriguing, and introduces us to new characters and the basics of the plot straight-away. There's no time wasted, here! The rest of the two episodes have a nice balance between action, plot and character development, I thought.

There's plenty of lightsabre battles, "car chases" (with space/sci-fi vehicles lol) and shoot-outs. Not too much, and not too little. The choreography is much better than a lot of the SW stuff we've seen in the last few years, which has been a big complaint by fans, so clearly they listened to us!

If you have seen Star Wars: Rebels, you will *adore* the live-action versions of the characters, and all the subtle throwbacks to the cartoon. In-fact, some scenes are shot-for-shot reconstructions! It's amazing. I actually found myself a bit teary a few times, feeling the emotions of the characters I love so much.

For those who *haven't* seen Rebels, don't worry, Filoni has you covered, too. There's enough exposition (explaining things that have happened) to help you get a grip on past events, but it doesn't feel forced, it "flows" well as a part of the plot. No one is sitting down saying "hey, remember when thing happened?" like in other shows. It was very natural. I still think there's other stuff that needs explaining for you, but hopefully they will in further episodes.

I gave it a nine rather than a ten *because* of the fact that people who haven't seen Rebels might get lost, and there's a few things about the plot that bugged me, where I found myself "facepalming" the actions of the characters and pointing-out what they *should have* done, for instance. That's pretty standard fare for Mandoverse, though, and Star Wars in-general, let us be honest.

I found myself "in the edge of my seat", holding my partner's hand super tight throughout several scenes, gasping at things, nodding at things, etc. I was really, really into it! And, for the first time in ages for Star Wars, we reinstated our "no talking" rule, because we were enjoying it so much.

The music, by-the-way, is incredible.

I was absolutely taken-aback by the quality of writing, acting, direction, fight choreographer, music, costunes, just *everything* ! It's not perfect, but it's pretty darned close...

I really, really hope they don't mess this up in the episodes that follow! I now have very, very high hopes for this, and the upcoming "Mandoverse Movie".

• Illisia Adams, GEEKETEERS.

Star Wars: The Clone wars us really rather brilliant, but every-now-and-then it falls flat, and this is one of those occasions, sadly.

It's a good episode for Ahsoka fans, as it's 95% her, with very little of the other main characters, and the action sequences are pretty unique and fun, but that's all this has going for it, sorry.

Here's what lets this episode down: the basic premise! In the opening few minutes Ahsoka's lightsabre is stolen by a pickpocket, oh no! Her reaction? Yell at him, chase after him a little, then spend the rest of the episode on a "whodunnit?" chase, with the help of a new friend...

But she didn't even use her force powers! All it would have taken was a simple flick of the wrist to "call to" the sabre and return it to her from the thief. Simple! Episode over.

I think what they were going for was an Ahsoka-centric "heist", "chase" style episode, but if you know anything about how force powers work, the whole thing just doesn't make sense, sorry.

Going into this, I hadn't seen the trailer, promotional images, cast, *nothing*. All I saw was a new Christmas Carol adaptation, but animated, on my Netflix Recommended, so I clicked play!

Going-in blind, I was pleasantly surprised by the fact it was a musical, and even more surprised when I heard *familiar* songs, because it turns-out this is a remake of my all-time favourite adaptation from 1970!

The animation is beautiful, the voice acting great, and the plot additions work really well, although there are classic elements from the book that were admittedly missed. Music-wise, the new versions of the old songs were pleasant although I admit I didn't enjoy them quite as much as the original, and the new songs were lovely additions.

I love how child-friendly this is! Reminiscent of The Muppet Christmas Carol, with the darker elements lessened and lighter elements added, and of course the songs. The animation and direction is *stunning* in my opinion and I think children will love it.

I see a lot of one star reviews from fans of the original, and that saddens me. Open your minds and your hearts! This adaptation was written by the same man - Leslie Bricusse - who did the original 1970 film, and yes, that includes the new songs. Sadly, he passed-away last year (2021) during production (RIP).

All-in-all a wonderful adaptation, enjoyable by newbies, and fans of the original who can open themselves to it.

Merry Christmas!

First of all, this concept has basically already been done on YouTube, by the channel 'Bon Appetite' with their series 'Gourmet Makes'. That said, this is a competitive gameshow with a variety of different chefs and multiple "rounds", not just the recreation of the snacks, so it's different enough in my opinion to not be a rip-off.

The first "round" is the recreation of the snack, and the second is where they must create something original that is *inspired by* said snack.

There's a tension-building time limit and the contestants have 100% creative reign in a *huge* pantry and kitchen, with various scientific things for them, too.

I think the contestants and judges all have a lot of interesting experience and qualifications under their belts. However, the two *presenters* are very, very awkward to watch, with terrible delivery of badly written one-liners, times when they aren't looking at the camera properly, no chemistry between them whatsoever, etc. I'm not even sure why there are *two* presenters, anyway? One is sufficient. Heck, the judges on their own have enough chemistry together and are good on camera, so they could have just had them presenting, to be honest.

I'd have preferred a larger range of snacks from around the world, not just American ones, but it's nice to have the contestants coming from around the globe.

The studio is beautiful, colourful and fun. The direction is good. The music is barely noticeable and very forgettable. I *hate* the way the show is "cut", sadly, because on multiple occasions people were cut-off abruptly mid-sentence and it's very jarring.

Contains uncensored British swearing.

You can tell that Netflix are trying for another hit cooking gameshow like Nailed It! But I don't think this is it, sorry team. It's not one I will be in a rush to watch every episode, you know? Maybe one on occasion, or I might just skip to the episodes with the snacks that particularly intrigue me.

6-7/10.

If you love Zootopia, this is absolute essential viewing!

The animation, soundtrack and voice acting are on-point, and the writing is heartwarming, fun, and hilarious!

I love that these shorts fill-in little bits of plot from the film, it's really great. I'm going to have anew perspective on the movie when I rewatch it :-)

My only issue is that there are only six episodes! Obviously it takes a lot of time, effort and money to make these as high-quality as the film, but all-the-same, when I was done it was a bit like "oh... where's the rest?" which is a real shame. Still, I can see myself watching this multiple times :-)

Highly recommended for established Zootopia fans. Heck, I think random viewers could still enjoy it!

WARNING: This is nearly constant "fan service", full of old characters, throwbacks, references, etc, from "classic Who" from decades ago. As a classic Who fan, this is so, so enjoyable, a 8-9/10! *However*, if you have only seen "new Who" (since the 2000s), most of this will be lost on you and although I think you'll like it, it sits at more of a 6-7/10.

This episode was definitely Chibnell and Whittaker's best, and that makes me annoyed! Suddenly I'm thinking "okay, where was this quality for the last three seasons?!" and I'm actually sad to see them go!

It's action-packed, lots of fun, very emotional in places, and fills-in some of Chibnell's previous plot, which is good. There's a good twist at the end that will lead us until the 60th, with Russel T Davies return. There are still far, far too many questions Left unanswered from this tenure though, *especially* "The Timeless Child". This episode itself has a few unanswered questions, too, but *hopefully* you are having so much fun (like me) that you were able to ignore them.

I can definitely see myself rewatching this, which is the first time I've said that about any Chibnell-Whittaker episode!

You'll enjoy it more if you're a classic Who fan, and if you are able to ignore plot holes and unanswered questions, but I'm not sure I can recommend it outhetwise, sadly.

This "short film" spends the first five minutes giving us a behind-the-scenes, making-of featurette, which completely ruins what *should* have been a beautiful, immersive, 'Fantasia' style experience. Have the documentary thing *separate*, for goodness sake! I liked the documentary, but it didn't belong here, *before the film*... Anyway, the film itself is quite beautiful, with lovely narration and soundtrack. Apparently it serves as a prequel of-sorts to the Frozen 2 film, interestingly. I watched the 2D version on Disney+ but there is a superior, interactive version for virtual reality also available (probably without the documentary, too). Without the documentary bit at the beginning, this would make for lovely pre-bedtime viewing, as a "bedtime story" of sorts, but alas... Like I said in my title, it's wasted potential...

A lot of these reviews are from people that were offended by one line (a comment about caesareans) in the film, or tall people who think the film is "unrealistic", etc. I am not a tall person and I wasn't offended by that scene (although I can see why a person would be, so if caesareans are a tough topic, steer clear of this), so I am going to give a review of the film from a more neutral perspective, here.

First of all, that s is a teen romcom. If you are expecting something with real depth, look elsewhere, because you won't find that here. This film is cheesy and predictable! But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The basis for the plot is a unique one, the acting and direction was good, the soundtrack excellent, and the final scene made me really, really happy, and at-the-end-of-the-dat, isn't that "ticking all the boxes"?

I agree with other reviews that perhaps this isn't"realistic", but it's not supposed to be! Again, if you want realism, look elsewhere. If you want *escapism*, something unusual, something feel-good, something cheesy, this is your film!