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leynir
Reviews
The Letter for the King (2020)
Americanized garbage
I read the book this series is based on way back when I was a teenager. It's a beloved classic that draws on the rich European history in order to build a fantasy world.
That said, the series has nothing to do with the book.
It's nothing short of cultural appropriation and misrepresentation of Europe's past and heritage. Even back in the middle ages, Europe has been incredibly diverse - but not in the sense of the American "melting pot". As such the lead actor was completely miscast. He also couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag.
Give this series a miss and read the book instead!
Ousama Ranking (2021)
Looks cute but it's NOT suitable for kids!
Contains slight spoilers.
First things first: This anime is NOT suitable for kids.
The art is gorgeous. Vibrant colors, lush backgrounds, smooth animation, distinct characters and even somewhat of a retro vibe. Definitely drew me in instantly.
Sound is fine. Nothing outstanding.
Story is lacking. Mostly uses betrayals for shock value and in place of a decent plot. No original ideas. Tries too hard to elicit certain emotions from the viewer.
Most characters are pretty much stereotypical. A "don't judge a book by its cover" message is hammered in right from the start.
What caused me to give it such a low score and ultimately drop it? It's deceptively violent, which absolutely turns me off.
A whole species is massacred. You could argue it's deserving of this fate since its members are assassins who self-admittedly even kill children.
A child character is beaten up by his own brother so badly he suffers several broken bones. The aftermath is shown.
A frozen dead body is ground up (I'm not kidding) in some kind of a giant blender to be made into a potion - which the dead person's young son is supposed to drink (again, not kidding).
A creature is beheaded.
A character chops off his own hand after he pushed another character into a pit that leads to the underworld.
Most of this is shown on-screen.
That's a nope from me.
Salvage Kings (2019)
Drop in quality in season 2
I enjoyed watching season 1 and would give it a solid 6.
In season 2 they added two newcomers who both seemed kind of fake to me and IMO messed up the team dynamics.
I gave them a chance but soon found myself skipping most of their scenes. After 3 episodes I dropped the show. It seems the producers wanted to appeal to younger, trendier audiences and that is not my cup of tea. Maybe that's also why the crew started to do fist bumps instead of shaking hands? In any case it's annoying, too.
In case there's a third season without Brandon and Maya I'd be willing to check it out.
Wild Brazil (2014)
Repetitive narration
I've been watching documentaries for decades and I know "a thing or two" about nature and its many animal species.
This documentary is beautifully shot, without a doubt. The narration on the other hand is very repetitive - it constantly reminds the viewer that the shown "baby" animal needs to grow up fast or needs to learn something. Facts are repeated also.
One of my pet peeves is calling animal young "babies". Animals don't have babies, they have young or more specifically cubs, pups, kits, calves, hatchlings, chicks and so on. Only humans have babies.
This disneyfication is unnecessary and annoying.
Resident Alien (2021)
Gross, vulgar and completely unfunny
It's quite telling what passes for "comedy" these days. How people can enjoy this rubbish is beyond me.
Then again, comedy has been dead for several decades now...
The Barbarian and the Troll (2021)
Cringey yawnfest
I grew up with shows like Fraggle Rock, The Muppet Show and Sesame Street and still have a very soft spot for puppets.
Sadly "The Barbarian and the Troll" only manages to look great - the characters and premise are one big miss. The whole thing reminds me of the equally bad "Disenchantment", full of tired old tropes that were maybe somewhat fresh about 20 years ago.
Take a look at the main character for example: a rebellious (ex-)princess (oohhh, never seen that before!) turned barbarian, who takes herself completely serious in a show that tries its hardest to be funny and witty and fails miserably. It's cringey. Really cringey.
The troll character is a wimp who's at odds with his father (never seen that before either!) and is smitten with the barbarian at first glance. Could... we maybe stop with father-son-conflicts for a while?
My goodness, you'd think it's not THAT hard to do a decent parody but apparently it is. Shame about the puppets and nice backgrounds, both of which invoke nostalgia and for that get two stars from me.
Croc-Blanc (2018)
Barely adequate
The backgrounds are nicely done, but that's about it. Characters - animals and humans alike - move stiffly. Animation looks very dated and low-budget. Wooden voice acting.
Small children will probably enjoy it since they don't know any better.
Primal (2019)
Disgusting
I think this series very telling of the state society is in at the moment - some even think it would be ok for children as young as seven (!!!) years old to watch this senseless, almost casually depicted violence and gore.
When did we become so desensitised? How far will this go?
Back in the 80s when I was a kid I watched movies like "An American Tail" and "The Land before Time" which were surprisingly dark and had a profound effect on me. I was able to handle them fine, though.
Never should children be exposed to shows like "Primal".
If you're an adult and don't even feel a tiny bit sick in your stomach watching this kind of gore then something is wrong with you. Seriously.
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (2019)
Nostalgia? Nope.
Although I'm an 80s kid I watched the original movie for the first time as a late teen (TV) and rewatched it as a young adult (DVD, including fascinating making-of footage), so I wasn't influenced too much by nostalgia. Instead I was able to appreciate it from a more comprehensive standpoint than a child could.
I saw all the hard work, trial and error, creativity and genius that went into making the movie and absolutely loved the practical effects they used. The story was fine, too, and the ending satisfying. It neither needed a sequel nor a prequel.
So... about the prequel.
I didn't even make it through the first episode.
Practical effects - which while decently done, actually manage to look more outdated than the original - clash with overused CGI effects in a jarring manner.
The story was changed from simple, symbolic and mythical to the usual boring contemporary LOTR-lite fantasy style, and like many other reviewers mentioned, completely ignores the original premise. I'm very sure even a completely untalented fanfiction writer could have done better.
The tell-don't-show/infodump opening was done laughably bad. Don't get me started on the voice acting.
I'll gladly give this series a miss.