Sora Gen Next

The premise was weak. This show is about two best friends (sisters?) who gain the ability to jump through time. The problem with the show is there is no sense of "present". Therefore, jumping through time has no consequences or limitations. This makes for very confusing plots and storylines, and little character evolution or development. It also allows the girls to get their way, despite using underhanded methods sometimes. Whole storylines are leaped through, and it just becomes a confusing mess. This show could've worked if time travel had some sort of rules, boundaries, consequences, and real challenges. Otherwise, it just feels like a confusing mess.

This review may have some spoilers, but personally I don't think it matters whether you know them or not. Starstruck's weakness was its main character Jessica. They tried to develop her into a "Not like other girls" type of protagonist that "saw the celebrity for who he is", but as soon as she meets Christopher Wilde, the pop star, she seems to be struggling between trying to act like she doesn't care (lashing out whenever Christopher has fame and celebrity issues) and actually being just like all the other girls she's sarcastic towards for being Starstruck. To me, the transition from anti-fan to romantic lover was awful. She seemed to fall for Christopher way too fast, which made her weird complaining and anger throughout strange as she tried to act like she was unbothered while actually staying around him majority of the time. I couldn't tell from the moment she met the super star whether she'd been faking she wasn't a fan just to seem different or not because she willingly tried to stay around the star, even at moments when she could have left him alone. Yet, she would constantly complain about him while staying around him the whole time. She even tells him not to tell anyone about them, but when he acts like he doesn't know her, she gets angry? This movie was like the earlier DCOM Stuck in the Suburbs, but Stuck in the Suburbs did a better job of getting to the root as to why one of the characters "pretended" not to be as Starstruck as all the other girls. They explored (at least lightly) the psychology behind it or the reasoning, and brought it to a head by mentioning it within an argument. This movie never addresses the main character being so "anti Christopher" while suddenly expecting him to be into her. She's never confronted. So it just feels like she's always right in the movie, while Christopher was the one in the wrong and needed to "apologize" for lying about not knowing her. Someone needed to confront the main character, too, and address her angsty and confusing behavior. This would have helped her development as a character. She needed that self-reflection. Instead, Christopher was the only one who seemed to develop and learn something about himself. Jessica, on the other hand, was always "right". When, from the viewers' standpoint, she was not right at all. Someone should have pointed out that she was just as starstruck as her sister Sara, that she actually was caught up in the fame, though she tried to act different from everyone else. Christopher should have asked her why she was so bent on calling him superficial when she didn't even know him. She should have been addressed somehow. Instead the character felt hollow and annoying. If the pacing between Jessica and Christopher's relationship had been developed better, and her character given more moments of reflection, this would have been a good movie.

The movie was not a bad one. In fact, it was rather more enjoyable than what I thought when I first heard the announcement several years ago (when Amy Schumer was supposed to be the lead). Unfortunately, as a doll enthusiast and collector, it was not the Barbie Movie I wanted. I am personally tired of movies designed to make fun of themselves. I didn't expect Greta Gerwig to lean towards a "pro-Barbie" universe, though. Still, that was what I wanted. In fact, I was hoping this movie would be an origin story, which no one has ever done for Barbie. I was hoping they would flesh out her suburban beginnings in Wisconsin, how she decided to get a job as a super model, and how that changed her life. The elements still could have added feminist story-telling, but focusing on the story written for Barbie that already exists. It's like having a Batman movie and the movie is about Batman realizing he's a comic book character. Or Harry Potter and him realizing he's a character in a book. I should think fans would want a life action adaptation first. Instead, I got Life-Size, the Truman Show, and Enchanted from the Barbie Movie, which was basically a movie making fun of the Barbie World and insisting that Barbie become real. It didn't need to be made this way because Barbie's universe didn't have to be separate from our own. It was also a concept that has already been done and felt predictable for me. Yet, it was still a fun movie. What I like is that it didn't try to be too raunchy while still appealing to adults. I wish other doll brands would realize the delicate balance of keeping the magic of a doll franchise alive while also appealing to all ages.

I loved SATC and never asked for a reboot. Every show doesn't need a revival. I'm content with re-watching old shows. As someone else pointed out: "Sometimes a masterpiece is best left untouched". This show, like many reboots today, has little to no redeeming qualities. If your only redeeming quality is "more diversity", then you know it's a horrible start to a sequel. Diversity doesn't make a show good. It's what you do with that diversity. As an African American, I never asked to be included in everything. If I want to see myself in a girl group, living in the city, I can find an all-black show with it. I don't know why anyone asks for a show to be more diverse when that was never the intention. Now, there's a bunch of forced and nauseating "diverse" characters that are there to teach, preach, and expose these four women to the diversity they hardly ever seem interested in to begin with. And guess what? That's who they were. Four upper-class white women who stuck with one another. Forcing them to have diverse friends and out-of-character LGBTQ+ romances is unnecessary, yet it's the only thing driving many of the first few episodes. Yes, maybe SATC's original flaw was the lack of diversity, but the flaws are what made it what it is. This show is unnatural in its approach to the topic of diversity that it makes my head spin. AJLT is trying to announce to the world how these new token characters are going to somehow "improve" the show, but they don't. They are still supporting characters, second to the ones everybody really wants to see, and lack so much chemistry with the main cast, I wonder why they are there. Then the character assassination of Miranda makes me wonder if her actress is playing her, or if Miranda is playing her actress. They changed her to make her align with her actress, but her actress was clearly NOTHING like the original Miranda. That's why it's called "acting". Miranda ditches her son (who became a disrespectful spoiled teenager) and her now-deaf husband to go skipping off with a self-centered comedian (with whom she has no chemistry with). Samantha got a mention, but it wasn't honorable. It was hard to believe that Samantha just dumped her friends over something so petty after how supportive she was in the SATC. It also sours the show to know that so much drama between the actresses are going on behind the scenes, which makes a real comeback with the golden four impossible. With some characters literally passing on, and the show literally bumping off some of the more important ones, the magic of the show has been snuffed out. I'm just not into the spirit anymore. The show was great for its time. But if I wanted something "new", I would just watch a new show. It's time to move past this show, a staple of its era, and make new and compelling stories that were just like SATC.

This review will have spoilers and I don't think it matters if I spoil it. To be honest, the only reason why people give this movie a pass is because it is inclusive. But we have enough inclusive and diverse content today to expect better than to just be "included". Diversity doesn't make a movie good, so I'm not going to pat the writers or directors on the back for that. They don't get stars for that. Today, it should be a rule to create diverse stories, not an exception. On that note, I'm tired of watching shows with shoed-in diverse characters with poor development. All representation is not good representation. I live as a Black and Queer person, but it doesn't mean I need to see myself all the time unnecessarily. When we are included, honor us by telling our stories authentically. This movie doesn't do that, so it should not have us at all. If we look outside of the poor diversity they tried to include, the movie is riddled with horrible teen drama clichés, the pacing is rushed, the characters lack depth, and gay characters fall into the "Bully becomes gay redemption arc" and "Bury your gays" tropes, neither of which are good. I don't care that Timmy is Bisexual. It doesn't redeem him, and it doesn't change the fact that he was a misogynist prick. The spell the girls put on him doesn't automatically make him a good guy truly, so it was cringe to even watch him develop into this fake cringe sensitive guy and even a romantic interest. That tidbit is glossed over as he constantly parades around like he's suddenly "woke" of his own will. Technically, that misogynist is still there. He's being controlled. This, to me, would be fine if the characters had to face that their magic is actually controlling things in the end, the way the original witches in The Craft had to come to terms with. They had to learn that magic can't solve everything indefinitely, and that too much of it can cause harm and actually prevent people from personal evolution. Instead, we're supposed to pretend that Timmy "changed" after. He did not. Being bisexual doesn't make him "changed". That's not a redemption. Thus, this boy was a prop to make the movie seem more interesting than it really is, and not real representation. His real potential for goodness would have been felt if he'd personally and consciously decided that his actions were bad in some way by experiencing the same humiliation he caused, with bisexuality just being an asset after he actually evolved. Which he did not. The movie preaches feminism and girl-power, but actually these themes are very commonplace now to the point this movie is preaching to the choir. Girl-power movies have been pushed since the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s. This movie offers nothing new to the conversation and preaches the same feminist talking points found in all movies centered on women without any more depth or nuance. It's also not enough to have a token Trans and Black girl. More development would be needed in order for me to see them as true representation. To me, they were decorations to support the leading white cis character. Their stories and personal lives weren't nearly as developed as the girls in the original movie, and I thought the original movie didn't do enough as it was.

This is good light-hearted fun with some action. Over the years, the show has improved tremendously, with the comic timing hitting just right, the action scenes being more interesting, and the cast showing more and more chemistry. The last two seasons were my favorite, and I'm just an adult who started watching the show after a few kids were telling me about it. I have to give it to the writers and directors for bring the wit and charm to the show. Unexpectedly, I was a bit sad when it ended, but all good things come to an end.

The addition of wolves created some fierce musical numbers and weaves into the themes of equality and tolerance. While the story already tackles it from that perspective, the audience becomes aware that sometimes the oppressed groups can carry prejudices of their own-and become oppressors.

With strong Latin-American characters (characters with strong personalities) and a true-to-hood story, one person could hardly believe this is a Disney Channel movie. But it is. Though general themes of friendship and teen angst are present, there are heavier topics tackled, at least briefly, that seem to be missing in present Disney Channel, such as the cost of dropping out of school, living up to parental expectations, and holding on to dreams despite obstacles. All of that is combined with some fancy dancing and Latin pop music. I personally enjoyed this movie more than I ever thought I would.