Wednesday, December 11, 2019

It: Chapter Two/Frozen II


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In case you haven’t seen the intro from my entry dated 1/26/19 (it’s in my archives whenever you want to read it), I’m no longer going to review every single movie I see.  I’m going to review one, with the occasional bonus, and just give ratings for the rest from now on (unless I decide to pick it up again in the future).  You can always ask me why I gave the ratings for the films without reviews though (via comments or the e-mail addresses under the ‘About Me’ section).
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It:  Chapter Two                                                          EH/OK
Technically this isn’t a sequel, just one-half of a remake, since this and part one (chapter one) are one long movie released separately.  This chapter was 169 minutes, the first was 135, making it a little over 5 hours total.  The original was 192 minutes (not only do I know that because of my movie run-time obsession, but I also confirmed it by researching).  Of course I’m a big fan of the original It (which was actually a two-part TV movie).  I did read the long-ass book by Stephen King too, but only remember specific parts.  I did recommend the first part of this remake, mildly, but still thought it was way overrated (check out my review for it in the archives---www.abcreviewarchive.blogspot.com).  I didn’t care too much for this second chapter.  I absolutely had no problem with the adult cast of “The Loser Club” at all.  I did have a problem with all the CGI (I honestly don’t think I’m ever going to give in to modern cinematic technology).  I wasn’t a fan of any of the monstrosities (save for a giant statue---that was cool) and there came a time when I couldn’t wait for the movie to be over.  There’s an air of predictability at times too.  Since I’m a Stephen King completist (the man himself makes an appearance here, by the way), or film completist for that matter, I had to see this (and the first chapter) no matter what, as will any King completist since I don’t think your inner OCD will allow you not to (especially if you saw the first chapter).  This is just another remake though (as a whole) that will never live up to the original (in my opinion), and I don’t care what anyone says, but Tim Curry will always be Pennywise over this slobbering, mostly-CGI, multi-rowed toothy villain!  12/10/2019



Frozen II                                                                     OK
So here we are with round 2 of the Nordic-set Disney film featuring the two sisters, Anna and Elsa, a ginger and blonde, respectively; theatrically-released no less.  I did like Frozen as did many young and old, and I’m sure there were many a parent sick to death of that Idina Menzel-performed song that became very much a part of pop culture.  I’m admittedly a fan of it and there was even a worthy metal cover by a band called Betraying the Martyrs.  Ironically, “Let it Go” is a song about letting go of the past while this sequel involves righting a past mistake.  While the animation in this film looked great (no surprise considering the studio), I hate to say the story had the feel of an inferior direct-to-video sequel.  I was only a fan of one of the many songs which still wasn’t as good as “Let it Go.”  I know you shouldn’t compare to what came before, especially if what came before was a huge success, but shouldn’t any attempt always strive to be the best?  I hate to say I also didn’t care much for Olaf this time, who I actually was a fan of last time (his presence was more annoying here).  I hate to keep saying ‘I hate to say,’ but I hate to say I just wasn’t feeling it as much this time.  I suggest just checking it out on video (meaning DVD/Blu-ray/streaming/whatever) as it has that direct-to-video feel, like I said.  12/9/2019


---Sean O.
12/11/2019

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