Blake Hustic (Count Ronin)

Trust me, it could’ve been a lot worse, but also a lot better. The fight scenes are cool, the characters are charming, and there are a few funny moments. The movie’s biggest weakness is that the story was too simplistic. It wasn’t particularly engaging and most of the humor wasn’t that funny. If they didn’t know what to do, they would just say something random or re-iterate something that already happened.

The concept of a kid accidentally writing a letter to Satan when he was trying to write a letter to Santa is a wild premise that could have gone in many different directions but ultimately this movie's biggest sin is it's lack of follow-through. It tried to be a wacky supernatural comedy where anything can happen and a heartfelt holiday flick at the same time, which is possible but never fully commits to either one, not to mention the tone is uneven and the humor is lacking. Every time I thought they were doing to do something interesting with the story, they just didn't, and it almost felt like I was watching them try and figure out the story in real time. It would have been a lot more interesting if the Devil didn't reveal himself so soon, because once he does, the protagonist wants nothing to do with him and most of the movie is just him telling the Devil to leave him alone. Plus, the protagonist doesn't really make any decisions that effect the story. Things just kind of happen to him and nothing he or anyone does has any real consequences.

Once again proves that with the prequels, you can't go wrong with the production design, even if the CGI is heavy. It provides a fitting end to the saga but not necessarily the character arcs. The characters finally have emotions but they still mostly feel like wooden boards so when Anakin turns to the Dark Side, it feels less like a complete shift in his moral compass and more like it just had to happen.

Is it a quality movie? Not really. Is it entertaining? Yes. The action scenes are a lot more memorable and creative and the politics make a lot more sense now. C-3PO and R2-D2 are definitely the highlight, and the former talks more like a human being than any of the actual human characters.

The script wasn't particularly boring or entertaining, and the acting was wooden and the story hard to follow. The CGI was decent, though, especially for the time.

It did have some funny parts and cool Easter eggs, and the first quarter or so was good. The rest, however, was full of things that are way out of place in Scooby-Doo movie, including a “save the world” format and a bunch of forgotten Hanna-Barbera characters that are probably forgotten for a reason. This movie might as well have been called “Hanna-Barbera: The Movie - Pop Culture References”.