It has been quite a long time since I've seen The Incredibles, or any Pixar film for that matter, and boy does this film bring me back. This was, and still is, not just one of my favorite Pixar films, but one of my favorite films of all time. This awesome piece of Pixar history has great character interactions, wonderful themes and styles, and set pieces, all thanks to Brad Bird.

Without giving away too much of the plot for those few who haven't seen it, its surprisingly pretty simple. It starts off with a funny interview of a couple of what this world calls 'Supers', which explains what goes on in this world. Simply put, its a 1960's-esk style world where Superpowers and Superheroes are abundant. The main star is Mr. Incredible who lives for fighting crime and saving lives. His whole life gets turned on it's head though when he saves someone who never wanted to be saved and is sued! After this incident Supers left and right are being sued and blamed for being the cause for everyone's problems instead of the solution. Cut fifteen years later and Mr. Incredible, or Bob Parr as he's now known, has settled down with a wife with super stretch powers and three kids, one with super speed, one with invisibility, and one baby with no powers. This is where the film's comedy and characters shine. When the whole family is on screen they really feel like an ordinary family. One that argues and bickers and plays with each other. Even when their fighting or running from the bad guys later in the movie they still have these same character interactions which are genuinely entertaining.

Though you may not notice it your first time watching, The Incredibles takes place in a 60s style world. The directors of this movie made it pretty hard to get that, however, as it only really tells you in the very beginning which takes place in the 50s. The rest of the movie takes place fifteen years later which sets the state of the world quite well. It actually runs a pretty well put together parallel with our world. In The Incredibles world, there is mention to a sort of Superhero civil rights, which is kind of like our own civil rights during the same time period. The movie doesn't make this apparent and doesn't dive into it all that deep, but it is just a fun note. The set pieces in this movie are also just really fun to look at. A lush tropical island in one scene can be quickly opposed with a bustling city in another scene. This constant switching of environments really gives this world a unique feel.

This movie is wonderful. It has a deceptively simple premise that pays off awesomely. The character interactions are great, the animation is fun, and the style looks great even today. If you haven't picked it up or seen it yet, please do. You will not be disappointed.

I thought The Incredibles was incredible!

pixar review the incredibles

Saturday, August 29, 2015

Recently I've been trying to finally play through the world-famous Legend of Zelda : Ocarina of Time. Everybody has always seemed to say that it is the best Zelda game ever and some even think that it is the best game ever. This simply isn't true because Ocarina of time is a mess. The dungeon puzzles are inconsequential, the overworld only seems like it has many exploration factors, and the combat is stale as best. Why is this. Why is there a constant battle between supporters of Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past when both of these games are only good in the grand scheme of things.

First of all, let's get started on the flaws of Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past; respectively. Ocarina of Time, like I mentioned before, is only good as it has many flaws that simply can't be overlooked. The first flaw has to be direction they took with the combat in relation to the type of world that this game takes place in. This world's infrastructure-heavy locations like Kakariko Village, Death Mountain, and Lake Hylia are all built to be explored much like you would in A Link to the Past but the camera angle in which you are seeing the world is essentially counterproductive to the exploration. By that I mean in A Link to the Past the view you had of the world only enhanced the way you viewed things like platforms and puzzles. There was a set distance you could see to the north, south, east, and west, and because of the above-camera you could even see hidden secrets on top of ledges and houses. In Ocarina of Time, however, the secrets are still there, but you had to scour the land for a vantage point or constantly fiddle with the camera in order to see exactly where you were going. This camera angle also doesn't help when combating more than one enemy. It works fantastically in a set arena with one powerful enemy, much like most of the boss fights, but outside of that the game will constantly be putting you in unfair combat scenarios where you are forced to focus on one enemy when there are plenty more also on your tail. A Link to the Past gets everything right in these aspects but also suffers from the same world building faults that Ocarina of Time does. In both of these games, I never felt like I was pushed to explore because the game would often just tell me what to do next. Because of this there was no mystery or adventure; there was simply a to-do list that the game would update me to periodically.

Though both of these games are flawed in similar ways, their spiritual successors both fixed virtually everything that the originals got wrong! First of all, Twilight Princess nailed the epic story line with real consequence that Ocarina of Time tried so hard to do. Twilight Princess also fixed the majority of the puzzle-based gripes I had with its predecessor as this Gamecube title's puzzles usually encompassed larger scaled rooms with multiple puzzles in each room that gave less of an emphasis on tight-corridor-fighting. Also, though Twilight Princess' form of Navi, named Midna still tells you what to do in the order in which to do them, she lays them out as vague hints, which not only forces you to explore a vast world but gives a whole lot of character to Midna as not even she knows exactly where to go! A Link to the Past's 'sequel' named A Link Between Worlds also vastly improved the previous formula. In A Link Between Worlds, you can explore the entire world and play any dungeon in any order you want from virtually the start of the game (at least after the first three dungeons). Though both of these games' styles are vastly different, they both feel like Zelda games now, with a strong emphasis on great dungeon layouts and world exploration!





Extra Thoughts:

I was originally going to write in Wind Waker as the successor to Ocarina of Time but I've never played Wind Waker.

You may think that this post resembles Egoraptor's Sequelitis of Ocarina of Time and A Link to the Past. It does. I took a lot of inspiration from that video and agree with most of his thoughts on the matter. He repeatedly referenced Skyward Sword in his video and though I didn't get to talk about it here, I might actually write about it soon.

I was going to wait on this post until I had actually finished Ocarina of Time, but I decided to do this post now while the game is still fresh on my mind and just do a full review of it once I finish (I only have two dungeons left so it will be pretty soon!).

2d 3d retrospective zelda

Wednesday, August 05, 2015

Time of Eve is a strange Slice of Life Anime to think about. It's so simple that it seems to just fly by but also has a background complexity that takes a keen eye to recognize. By that, I mean it doesn't just throw the morals it wants to demonstrate at your face. Time of Eve slowly introduces you to new ideas as the plot thickens. Before I go on, I should probably mention the story.

Time of Eve takes place in Japan in a future where a good majority of people own androids that do simple tasks like cooking and cleaning for their 'masters'. Some of these androids, however, want more out of life than being a "slave", so they go to grey areas where they can't be monitored by the corporations who made them and can talk freely while the rest of the world still thinks that they are soulless robots. One of these grey areas is a small and sort-of-hidden cafe called The Time of Eve. The story begins as our main character, Rikuo starts getting suspicious of his android whom he has named Sammy. One day he decides to track her to the cafe where he begins to meet a whole slew of interesting characters of which most are androids. This revelation turns everything that Rikuo knows about robotics on its head and he starts questioning with the audience what it really means to be human.

This Slice of Life anime is really unlike a lot that I have seen as it isn't just about life. It is about the meaning of life and who gets to control that life. Time of Eve is an Anime Movie that I can always come back too easily as every time I sit down and watch it, I find even more and more things to enjoy about it! Time of Eve is one of my favorite Anime Movies of all time and I recommend it to really just anyone in general, whether you like anime or not.

Conclusion: I thought Time of Eve was amazing!

review time of eve

Monday, August 03, 2015