Evin Culler

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You see this? THIS is how you make movie MAGIC! Wicked is a surprisingly epic, engrossing, fun, colorful, spectacular extravaganza of a film that takes you on a seriously emotional ride. It's not like most movie musicals that actually fail to deliver in the idea that it feels like a musical movie version of the same Broadway show. Let alone one that comes from The Wizard of Oz. Let's start with the amazing production, everything from the sets too the costumes too the lighting, too the grandiose musical production, even down too the way they use COLORS in this film is awesome. The use of Pink & Green to symbolize Galinda and Elphaba respectively is a nice touch that shows both of their sides and personalities. Galinda is a popular upper crust girl that came from a prominent family and Elphaba is a troubled prodigy that was shamed ever since she was born. The use of pink for Galinda often gives her princess vibes, while green perfectly compliments Elphaba's shamed persona and the fact that because her skin is green, no one shows her any respect. The sets in general really suck you into the world of Oz and make it feel like it's own living, breathing place. Honestly it feels more grandiose than the musical itself! That's how good the production is on this film. Next we'll go with actors, as there wasn't truly a bad performance in this movie. The weakest link was Marissa Bode as Nessarose, and not even she was bad! The main two actresses, Ariana Grande & Cynthia Erivo, were SENSATIONAL in this film! Ariana Grande embodies Galinda perfectly. It helps that she actually has experience on Broadway and knows how to put on a Broadway-esque performance. She honestly fits into the role of Galinda too well, considering she actually made a song derived from the musical itself called "Popular" with MIKA, and she sang "Defying Gravity" at the Wicked Halloween special. She has this ethereal, princess-like presence too her, while also pulling of a spectacularly balanced case of narcissism while not appearing TOO mean. Honestly sounds like Ariana Grande in real life, she's perfect for this role. Cynthia Erivo however I didn't know initially had such Broadway experience either. When I found out about her, I could definitely see her as Elphaba. She carried her performance extremely well and had a ton of emotion throughout her portrayal of the green-skinned character. She also had HUGE chemistry with Ariana, you could feel the emotions between them as they collide and develop a friendship throughout the movie. I especially like how Ariana Grande portrayed Glinda's change of heart during "Dancing Through Life", as it felt very vulnerable and freeing for both characters. Also, Cynthia absolutely NAILED "Defying Gravity". I also love how the number ended with Elphaba racing into the sky on her broom like she's a marvel superhero. The framing literally made her look like a superhero. Overall, the 2024 rendition of "Wicked" was epic, emotional, grand in scale, fantastical, and worthy of being called a musical rendition of "Wicked". I remember seeing the actual Broadway play live on stage, and not even the play itself was this epic! It is truly "Wonderful".

Personally I want to give this film a 4.5 out of 5, but that option isn't available. As far as "Video Game Movies" go, this is quite possibly the most faithful video game adaptation i've ever seen in my life. This is as Super Mario a movie as you can get. It is without a doubt worthy of the title "The Super Mario Bros Movie". The movie is colorful, fun, full of authentic easter eggs at every turn, easy to watch and have fun with, and is undoubtedly made for Mario fans BY Mario fans. This is Fanservice to the absolute max and I am ALL here for it. However I don't think the movie is amazing by any stretch, it comes close to being great, but there are things that hold it back. If you think about the plot too much it does reveal several glaring plotholes, and as a story the plot is pretty much what you'd expect from anything revolving around Mario. Mario & Luigi try to fix a pipe in the sewers of Brooklyn but end up getting separated after being sucked into a warp pipe and Mario himself must save his brother from the evil Bowser, who wants to marry Princess Peach Toadstool of the Mushroom Kingdom. The plot DOES do new things though, as Luigi is the one being rescued and not Peach. It gives us new things we haven't seen before in the Mario universe and that was still very much appreciated. If you're going to give me a paper-thin story, at least make it entertaining. The Mario movie is legit entertaining throughout the WHOLE experience. Never once was I bored or fell asleep. That's probably due to the film's visuals, this animation is absolute next level stuff and is honestly Illumination's Magnum Opus in terms of general animation quality. This film looks utterly stunning, the musical score is great too, I even like the cheesy 80's pop songs they throw in here (Except AC/DC's Thunderstruck), and the movie is above all else, VERY faithful to the games. In fact it's so faithful it's honestly a crime. They outdid themselves with faithfulness to the source material in every way. I highly enjoyed this film, totally worth going to go see and experience with families and fellow mario fans alike!

This movie was excellent! I hadn't seen the original Puss in Boots spin-off film so initially I wasn't too hyped for this film. Went with my family to go see it on Christmas Day and was REALLY surprised! This film was absolutely fantastic and was a complete deviation from the normal, boring drek we got from other animated studios like Disney nowadays. It has everything, great animation, fantastic action scenes, standout characters, a great, hilarious script, compelling themes, character development, a villain that actually DOES HIS JOB as a villain, even a little romance here and there. On top of that, the movie can actually get kind of dark at times, to the point where it actually reminded me of the old shrek movies with several lines that had censored curse words or even reflections of incredibly dark subject matter like death, drinking, or even despair and abandonment. It had a psychological aspect to it as well with Puss in particular being afraid of the "Big Bad Wolf", who is quite literally DEATH in this movie. Not figuratively, rhetorically, poetically or even metaphorically. He is LITERALLY death. Those are his words verbatim. To think that a movie like this would even include a manifestation of the "Grim Reaper" in such a cool way is mind-boggling by today's standards. Death (Or the Big Bad Wolf if you wanna' get technical) was legit the best character in the film. He was cool, intimidating, and didn't overstay his welcome or overshadow the main villain of the story, Big Jack. He was also REALLY scary. I legit got chills whenever he went after puss because it felt like he was more or less a force of nature, something that Puss couldn't escape, which is very in-line with the theme of reflecting on your own mortality and the eventuality that we will eventually die. This movie was legit one of, if not THE best animated film I've seen all year. Turning Red, Lightyear & especially Strange World have got NOTHIN' on this movie!!!