Mulan (Disney Gold Classic Collection) (1998) Review

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(More customer reviews)First of all, kudos to Disney for *finally* including a MANDARIN LANGUAGE AUDIO TRACK (the original DVD had French and Spanish- no Chinese). It's about time!!!
Next: I have to emphatically disagree with reviewer Bill Mydo below. -You will excuse me if I spend some little time defending this film against his critique; Mulan happens to be my favorite Disney animated movie, second only perhaps to Beauty and the Beast. Perhaps my being Chinese-American may have something to do with it, as does the fact that I strongly identify with the character's self-doubts. Still, I am fairly particular as to what I consider "good art"; and it boggles and confounds me that anyone would fail to see the difference between this movie and, for example, Hunchback or Hercules.
Yes, Disney's Mulan is very much a western/ American movie, made for western and American- not Asian- audiences. No, they "didn't get it right"; or, not exactly. But I never expected them to, and I give them a good deal of credit for trying. They came quite a bit closer that I ever thought that they would. Nor do I find this movie overly feminist (no more than Snow White or Cinderella are "chauvinist"). Mulan may be a strong female character, but she is not Aladdin's Princess Jasmine. Mulan is not defined by rebellion, nor by what she rejects. Instead she upholds her sense of honor as she struggles to find out who she is and where she fits in. Moreover, in a genre known for its blatant ad nauseum boy-meets-girl love themes, I truly appreciated the downplayed understatedness of the "interest" between Mulan and Captain Shang.
As to the "commercial" aspect of the film; yes, it had its tie-ins and its merchandising. What Disney movie doesn't? But the real issue is the worth of the film itself, and on this I take exception to the review below. I believe there is more in it than Mr. Mydo gives credit for.
The film does have its awkward moments. The scene with the match-maker and Mulan's first entrance into the army camp are both extremely painful to watch- I do not enjoy watching anyone be utterly humiliated- not even a cartoon character (and I do not believe that someone as bright as Mulan would fumble so badly over simply coming up with a new name). I also find it somewhat irksome that one minor character, Mushu the dragon, continually steals attention away from the movie's proper focus. And there are a number of jokes and visual gags that closely border on PG. I found this in somewhat poor taste in a kid's movie.
But these faults are counterbalanced, and more than compensated for, by the scenes that really work. The opening "brush painting" of the Great Wall; Mulan's song (Reflections) and the ensuing scene of loving encouragement from her father; the scene where she decides to leave home; her heart-to-heart talk with Mushu at the abandoned camp in the mountains; the Imperial Palace where she is honored by the Emperor before all China... the sheer artistry of these scenes is breathtaking.
When the Special Edition DVD is released, I intend to be first in line!

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Eragon (2006) Review

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(More customer reviews)Honestly, I wanted to cry as I sat there in the theater watching this movie. What a waste of ten bucks. If you have read the books, and excitedly waited out the release of the movie, you are undoubtably as disappointed as I am. The books had such scope, like a Lord of the Rings junior. There was no way to get everything important shoved into an hour and a half movie. Why not go ahead and make a 2 and a half hour epic? I'd have watched it!!
Here is what you'll miss in the movie:
-The relationship between Brom and Eragon is very underdeveloped, so much so that when Brom dies, you're like, whoopdeedoo.
-Saphira ages from a tiny dragon into just about full grown in one ridiculous moment.
-Eragon's journey with Murtagh is like, 5 seconds long. No Hadrac desert, no bonding. Again, you could care less about Murtagh in the movie.
-The Dwarven kingdom was UNBELIEVABLY disappointing. If you read the book, you probably had quite a vision workded up in your head, with the Star Rose and all. The movie pretty much annihilates all that. And the dwarves themselves are stupid-looking. You can't slap some armor on a guy with a beard and call them a dwarf.
-Arya is an ELF. Did they really go over on the budget that they couldn't even give her POINTED EARS???
-The battle between Eragon and the Shade is like nothing. I was so bored.
Over all, this movie takes a perfectly paced book and puts it into hyperdrive, taking all the wonder and fun right out of it. You'll sit down to watch this movie and all you'll be able to do is watch in horror as they slaughter it. It is a terrible shame. Had they had a larger CGI budget, blatantly copied some LOTR stuff, and had Mr. Paolini perhaps overseen the novel-to-script process, well, maybe he did, but they just shoved some more money at him and he said, "Whatever, I'm alright with you destroying my cool book. Go for it."
Now, if I were to choose one or two things from the movie that didn't totally and completely suck, I will say this:
Saphira, for the amount of CGI that was spent on her, is perfect. She was totally real. The voice of Rachel Weisz is perfect as well. Eragon, Edward Speelers, he was great too. Too bad he had to over-act in order to compensate for the crappy, crappy dialogue and lack of character development.
If they happen to make a sequel, Lord help us. The second book is even more complex and wide-scoped than the first. It will not translate well based on it's predecessor. I say they scrap the first movie, and make it all over, with a bigger budget, and the fans of the book get all editing priveledges. Then we'd have our Eragon come to life, rather than this horrible, mess of a mutilated movie!!


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In his homeland of Alagaesia, a farm boy happens upon a dragon's egg -- a discovery that leads him on a predestined journey where he realized he's the one person who can defend his home against an evil king.

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Dragon Wars - D-War (2007) Review

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(More customer reviews)I am a 56-year-old movie buff and right off let me confess, I love this movie.
In my opinion this movie was never intended to be taken seriously at all. Consider that in the first exposition scenes you have not one, but 2 entirely different characters in different scenes say directly to the narrator in the middle of his attempted explanation of this nonsensical tale "what are you talking about?" I don't believe this was accidental folks, this is called comedy.
One thing to be aware of when you're watching this movie is that the director is the most popular comedian in the entire country of Korea. He gained his fame and fortune as comedic actor. In other words his entire professional career has been based on making people laugh.
I think most people who are reviewing this movie are completely missing the comedy. Frankly I found the movie to be hilarious.
How anyone could possibly take this movie seriously after seeing the Darth Vader character stupidly get run over by a car 2 times in a row is beyond me. That was obviously comedy (and very funny).
Yes it is entirely overblown. Layers of complete absurdity are piled with additional layers of even more absurdity. Which makes it a perfect satire of the Star Wars, Lord of the rings, Harry Potter and all of the rest of the overly pompous mega-movies. If there is a big overblown scene in one of those movies you're going to see a similar scene in this one.
A few examples. The Gungan Army scene from Star Wars episode 4 -- only this time the Army with the cute, smiling dinosaur critters with the weapons on their backs are the bad guys. And these smiling dinosaurs are wreaking total havoc on Los Angeles fighting the LAPD. The incongruity of the destruction and the cute smiley dinosaurs is absolutely hilarious.
Remember the giant explosion scene in Independence Day with the flames and flying cars rushing up the street? It's here, but with a very funny twist. In this movie the same thing is done by a giant snake rushing up the street. The exorcism scene in the Exorcist? Yep, it's here too, tossed in like the kitchen sink, completely unconnected to any plot points.
Giant marching Imperial Army and Ninjas? Sure enough. Darth Vader character with a ridiculously laughable sinister voice? Of course. Rampaging Jurassic Park dinosaurs? You got it. Dogfights straight out of Independence Day? It's here too.
Savor the site of Ray Harryhausen look-alike creatures doing massive destruction that Ray most certainly dreamed of, but couldn't accomplish with the technology of his day. I can tell you that he is smiling in his grave cause this movie delivers a wonderful tribute to his work.
Let me name a few more of the movies that have tributes here. Pitch Black, King Kong, Seventh Voyage of Sinbad, Men in Black, Dragonheart, Ghostbusters, Godzilla, Ninja Mutant Turtles, the Host, The Thing, Rodan and even Monty Python and the holy Grail. It doesn't stop there, look carefully and you'll see many many more.
Does the acting suck? Absolutely. Is the story completely incomprehensible? It most certainly is. Is it even more ridiculous than Star Wars, Lord of the rings or dozens of others. Yes it is, and I believe that was exactly the point.
I predict this movie will be watched at midnight showings at colleges 10 years from now with folks rolling in the aisles.
I have seen lots of Hollywood studio comedies recently and have not laughed nearly as hard as I did watching Dragon wars. I literally had tears streaming from my eyes many times because I couldn't stop laughing.
So give yourself a break from any pretensions of seriousness, have a glass of wine and have a fun time watching and laughing at the funniest, most ridiculous spectacular eye candy CGI movie ever.

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Meet Buraki, the vicious, 200-meter long Imoogi serpent from ancient Korea. His army includes giant lizards with missile launchers, flying dragons, soldiers bred for evil and mega-intelligent dinosaurs. Together, they will destroy Los Angeles and possibly the world unless reincarnated warriors Ethan and Sarah can outrun them and resurrect the Good Imoogi, Buraki's ancient nemesis. Dragon Wars reveals every last detail of Earth's greatest battle, a war you'll only believe when you see it for yourself.

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