Review: Disney Descendants

Review
Disney Descendants 

Disney Channel unleashed their newest DCOM on WATCH Disney Channel. So if you can't wait until Friday to see it (which you can, trust me), you can watch it early there.

Let's do a quick plot synopsis then get into the likes and dislikes of this DCOM. Here's the basic plot - the children of classic Disney Villains, who are exiled on the island of the Lost, get a chance at redemption by attending a boarding school at Auradon (the fictional kingdom that units the Disney Kingdoms). Maleficent has cooked up a plan to have them steal the Fairy Godmother's magic wand so they can break free and take over the world. However, contrary to the tagline in the image to the left, it appears no one is born bad, it's a choice.

If you liked High School Musical, there's a chance you will like this DCOM. It's High School Musical with Disney character namesakes. But that is as far as the resemblance goes. It seems that many of the characters were distilled down to one character trait (our already two-dimensional animated favorites have now become one-dimensional). The story opens with a tablet, yes, a tablet instead of a book and is riddled with modern day slang. I really miss period pieces.

The Evil Queen, played by Kathy Najimy, seems to have let her obsession with beauty go (and let herself go). Jafar is now a pickpocket and salesman. Cruella has a squeeky toy dog as a companion. And Maleficent, played by the always wonderful Kristen Chenoweth, is mostly intact though speaks in modern tongues. Maleficent gets one decent number in the movie, but nothing that lasts. Not sure I'm a fan of the casting overall for the villains, or perhaps they were just written poorly. Even Belle and the Beast were off. Again, these are the characters by namesake only.

Now for their kids. It seems the formula for the children's names is to take the first letter, or first few letters and come up with something. Let's see, we have Mal, Maleficent's daughter. There's Evie, daughter of the Evil Queen. Jay, the son of Jafar. And of course, Carlos, the son of Cruella De Vil (who is largely wasted in this film). Do they have other parents? Are they all single or divorced parents? Who knows! We never get that explained. We just know that they seem to live in poverty and have given up all the wicked ways. Unfortunately, all of the kids were not that interesting to watch either. Jay was a jock, Carlos was a wuss, Evie pretended to be shallow and dumb, and Mal was unsure about her path. Mal, at least, had a story arc. The others were just there.

What we do get explained in tedious musical numbers is that love conquers all. The music was fine. But this was not the type of music that moved the movie forward, helped develop character or plot, or were even spectacular to listen to. They were pop songs disguised as a movie. I wasn't impressed. Poor Alan Menken and Howard Ashman and the Sherman Brothers.

The only real stand-out child was the son of Dopey. He actually looked and acted like he might be the progeny of the dwarf. His story just kind of doesn't get resolved though. Too bad, he was a warm spot in the film.

I can't say I liked much about this DCOM. It seemed like it was mostly a response to the After Ever High Toy Line. It seems like it was done hastily and gave little regard to the source material. I guess that's fine if that is what they were shooting for, but it had a lot of missteps along the way. Then again, if this was the launching platform for a new series, then mission accomplished. The High School Musical crowd is going to love it.

I was looking forward to this being a franchise I could get behind, but I'm not sure I want this kind of treatment of the characters. It seemed lazy and rushed.

The Muppets Full Pilot

It's the video we've all been wanting to see. What did Bill Prady show ABC that got the Muppets their newest prime time show? No more waiting, because here it is!

We saw a lot of this footage in the teaser trailer that came out a few months ago. I think the teaser was well edited and really gave us a good flavor for the show. We do see that the language is more "adult." It's still a lot of fun with cameos and hopefully musical bits, especially with the show within a show feature. The idea of family is intact here, as the Muppets have always been this oddball group of performers who care deeply for one another.

Kermit and Piggy's relationship has taken another hit here. They appear to be officially broken up, though I'm a little skeptical about how far that plot device will take us. We do find out that it is not Spamela Hamderson, but instead Denise that Kermit is dating.

We also get another Kermit who's kind of a downer. Ever since The Muppets (2011), we've had this Kermit who doesn't quite seem to be as positive. I really hope this changes.

I'm looking forward to it for sure and can't wait to see what else is in store. Comic Con gave a lot of great information about the show, but it'll be great fun to see what Bill Prady brings to the Muppet gang this time around.

The Many Faces of Ant-Man

Avengers Assemble has both Hank Pym and Scott Lang as characters. The above image is of the Hank Pym version.

Celebrating Ants!

Celebrating Ants!

Ant-Man is creeping ever closer to its release date! Now, to some, ants are creepy. They get into everything, especially sweets, chew through the wood, leave unsightly hills in lawns, and can just get in the way. But there are lots of things to celebrate about ants. Here are few things that make ants great!

1. Ants belong to the Order Hymenoptera, which inlcudes bees, wasps, sawflies, and ants.

2. Ants can be extremely efficient foragers. The European red ants (Formica polyctena) can harvest an estimated 1 kg of arthropod food a day!

3. Honeypot ants feed exclusively on on insect-produced honeydew. They can be so full of honey they literally look like honey pots.

4. Some ant species have "gatekeepers," or major workers that have heads that can plug an opening. 

5. Bullet ants have an extremely painful sting, hence their name.

6. Leaf-cutter any workers can strip a tree of leaves in one day.

7. Trap Jaw ants use their jaws to literally fling themselves away from danger. Their jaws can open at 140 mph.

8. There are over 12,000 known species of ants and they inhabit almost every landmass on the planet.

29 Secret Characters for Disney Infinity 3.0!

Disney Infinty 3.0 made an appearance at SDCC and proudly showed off their lighted display of EVERY character we had seen and are yet to come. However, there are 29 blank spaces! That's a lot of new characters. The majority of those characters are Disney Originals, followed by Star Wars, and then Marvel. Marvel and Stars basically balance each other out, but Disney is the name of the game and Disney characters are double the amount of the other two categories.

Let's speculate, shall we:

The Vision

Scarlet Witch

Ant-Man

Yellowjacket

More than likely, these will be characters from The Force Awakens and sprinkled in classic characters from the original trilogy and the Clone Wars.

Kylo Ren

Captain Phasma

Finn

Rey

Poe Dameron

R2-D2

General Grievous

Padme Amidala

Shaak Ti

Kit Fisto

Wild speculation and amazing things can happen in the Disney category. With so many open spots and new things on the way, we are excited to see what surprises are in story!

Zootopia: Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps

The Muppets: Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie Bear, and Animal

The Good Dinosaur:  Arlo and Spot

Finding Dory: Dory, Marlin, and Nemo

Goofy

Hercules and Hades

Alice in Wonderland

Tarzan

Belle, Beast, and Gaston

Jafar

Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver

We assume the massive amount of characters are to replace the blind power disc packs. Hopefully characters will be released throughout the year lifespan of Disney Infinity 3.0 so something new is always coming out. Keeping the game fresh is key if we are going to be investing in almost 30 new characters. We can't wait until DI3 releases on August 30th!

Ant-Man Figures and Collectibles

San Diego Comic Con has official arrived and we couldn't be more excited! We've already seen Ant-Man as a prescreening and now we can finally see the figures from the film. Take a look below at the amazing 1/6 scale Hot Toys figures, cosbabys, and artist mix below. We can't wait to get our hands on these miniature Ant-Men!

The Ant-Man

The Yellowjacket

Shrunken Ant-Man and Yellowjacket!

The adorable Ant-Man cosbabys

Ant-Man artist series

Ant-Man Review

Ant-Man is one of Marvel’s finest films. Filled with humor, heart, and a heist, Ant-Man delivers on all fronts and brings plenty of surprises along for the ride.

Ant-Man is one of the forgotten properties of Marvel. Making his first appearance in the 60’s, Ant-Man was one of the founding members of the Avengers. With the ability to shrink to the size of an ant and communicate with his name sake, Ant-Man was kind of a strange hero to sell. A morally grounded scientist with absurd powers. However, we are talking about a group of heroes with an egotistical billionaire in a suit, a Norse God, an assassin, an expert archer, a super soldier, and a scientist who has anger issues, Ant-Man really doesn’t seem all that strange when put into perspective.

Where the movie succeeds is not over explaining Ant-Man’s powers. Hank Pym, the creator of Pym particles and Pym Technologies, discovered a way to shrink the distance between atoms, decreasing the objects size. The technology was going to fall into the wrong hands so he hid it for years. Until someone else discovers it and now he must stop them from selling the technology to the highest bidder. That’s the generally plot of the movie. Nothing terrible original but the way it is presented is unique and unexpected. However, the movie is not bogged down in the science, but in the story of Hank Pym and Scott Lange, two of the Ant-Men.

Hank and Pym are both tragic characters, trying to do good in a world that just won’t let them succeed. Both have families they are trying to save, both for themselves and from themselves. Rather than the big spectacle like Iron Man or Captain America, Ant-Man hits closest to home, with family and redemption being the central theme. Everyone deserves a second chance. While Hank Pym’s story is more heart-breaking than Langs, we feel for both characters and want them to return to the family they used to know.

The ants are a highlight of the movie. Each species gets a great introduction in a montage while Ant-Man trains to fight and control the suit. They are as much as a character in the movie as Pym and Lang. They are presented as cute but formidable and make the most enduring chirping noises.  They are believable and the special effects are phenomenal.  It may turn some people off from the movie but the ants literally save the day!

There are plenty of surprises along the way, which I won’t spoil here. The humor was spot on, breaking tension and diffusing emotional scenes. It is one of the strongest aspects of the movie and sets it on par with Guardians of the Galaxy. It was refreshing after the heavy hitter that was Ultron, and yes, we don’t forget about those events in this movie.

Stay for themed credits scene.

Stay for the post credits scene.

Overall, Ant-Man is a triumph. It is easily one of my favorite Marvel movies and I cannot wait for Scott Lang to make an appearance in Civil War. Bigger is not always better and Ant-Man proves that a good hero with a good hear and ant friends can save the day, whether it be for the whole world or a single family. Go see Ant-Man on July 17^th!

I highly recommend it in 3D!

Happy 4th of July! (Independ-ants Day!)

Happy Independ-ants Day (Feel free to download as wallpaper)

Even monsters celebrate America!

LEGO Ant-Man

In just a few short weeks, Ant-Man will be hitting movie theatres and we are super excited. As we wait for that day, he's a little peek at the LEGO set from the film.

Notice who the characters are?

Seems like the other Ant-Man products are calling Hank Pym "Blackout" Ant-Man. Is this the first major spoiler about the final battle from the film?

Here are all the pieces. The ant measure 9" long. That's a big ant!

Yellowjacket

Scott Lang as Ant-Man

There are three figures that come with the set, including Yellowjacket, Hank Pym as Ant-Man, and Scott Lang as Ant-Man.

It looks like a great set and retails for $19.99. The set will be released on July 5. 

Vote for Ant-Man Poster!

If you haven't been on Twitter and don't follow Ant-Man, you may be missing out on some fun happenings. For instance, you can tweet for a special screening of the film in a city near you! Or vote for the poster you can get if you see the film on July 16th! Start voting on facebook and twitter! We've ranked them from our favorite to least favorite below. Use the hastag in the caption to vote on your favorite social media platform.

Here's what's going on (from Facebook): Vote for the exclusive poster that you want to receive when you purchase a RealD 3D ticket to Marvel’s “Ant-Man” at AMC Theatres starting Thursday, July 16th while supplies last. Just comment on this post with the hashtag that corresponds with the poster you like best! Make sure you vote by tomorrow at 9AM PST.

#AntMan Power

#AntManTransforms

#AntManShadow

#AntManStrikes

#AntManSuitUp

#AntManHope

Ant-Man in a box!

Marvel's Collector Corps box this month is themed around Ant-Man! We love Ant-Man and couldn't wait to get it. We were as giddy as a forager ant finding an abandoned donut! 

The box is pretty awesome, right off the bat. It's a dynamic image that captures the classic Ant-Man style. 

Even before getting to the goodies inside, we are treated to a Collector Corps Ant-Man patch and pin. 

Once you get past those, the box is overflowing with wonderful goodies, powered by Funko!

The POP! Vinyl figure is of Ant-Man unmasked. But the surprise is the inclusion of the smallest bobble head Funko has ever made. So you get two awesome vinyls! Plus, you get two Ant-Man Mystery Minis. There are four total figures - Ant-Man, Ant-Man Unmasked, Yellowjacket, and Blackout Ant-Man. 

Next up is the t-shirt. It's a fun design featuring the mini Ant-Man vinyl figure (actual size, of course) and the film logo.

Finally, you have the comic book with variant cover. Scott Lang is our Ant-Man in this series.

Overall, I'm extremely pleased with this box. It certainly delivered with awesome exclusives and fun items! Can't wait to see what the Collector Corps has up their sleeves for the next box.