C Nijensohn

Watching this just made me want to watch the original animated version. I wasn't upset when it announced that it was dropping certain characters and the songs in favor for a more realistic story. As long as it was entertaining and tried something, whatever. But the problem is that by the halfway point I considered turning it off and trying for a refund. The message of hard work and training leads to success in the original is tossed aside in favor of vague superpowers and "chosen one" tropes. The editing is atrocious, with it randomly cutting from one random scene to another. The tonal shift is just ludicrous, one scene ends and shifts to "Oh no, horrors of war!" with no effective build up, emotion or drama. The character choices and motivation are nonsensical. The action is meh, but is also hurt by the GOD AWFUL EDITING. Finally, the numerous callbacks to the original made me ask the movie, out loud, "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE?" Overall, better than Artemis Fowl, but not by much.