MOVIE: DC League of Super-Pets (2022)

by benmweilertNo Comments
DC League of Super-Pets Year: 2022 Rating: PG Length: 105 minutes / 1.75 hours I’ve never been a huge pet person because of allergies. As such, I initially passed on DC League of Super-Pets (2022) because it didn’t seem interesting to me (I also wasn’t wild about Kevin Hart or Dwayne Johnson as voice actors). Of course, with kids around, I eventually had the opportunity to watch this movie with them. Overall, it’s a pretty basic superhero movie that just happens to feature animals instead of humans. It has the usual jokes that adults would get and the silly little gags that appeal to children. Mostly, it’s just…there. Because it’s telegraphed that each of the pets eventually ends up with one of the members of the Justice League, I was hoping there was slightly more synergy between the animals/powers and the heroes they’d be matched with. Krypto (Dwayne Johnson) makes sense, but he already had a connection to Superman (John Krasinski). At the very least,...
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MOVIE: Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

by benmweilertNo Comments
Wreck-It RalphYear: 2012Rating: PGLength: 101 minutes / 1.68 hours One year after the release of the book Ready Player One, Disney also jumped onto the video game setting with Wreck-It Ralph (2012). Both have an astonishing number of licensed characters, even if they're relegated to cameo status most of the time. The larger difference between the two is that Wreck-It Ralph examines the virtual world from the villain's perspective. Redeemable villains have been all the rage for some time, so providing video games as a space to contextualize the concepts of destiny and cultural expectations was a perfect fit. Plot-wise, I enjoyed the video game universe Wreck-It Ralph created—even if there are undoubtedly some plot holes if you take it too seriously. I felt the Sugar Rush section of the film was a little long, but only because it had to deal with an entire other subplot with Vanellope (Sarah Silverman). Sure, feeling like you don't belong because you're a glitch parallels...
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