solid-rock800

I saw this movie back when it was in theatres, and watched it again recently. And there's a lot to like about this one! The acting is pretty good, the effects are done well, the story and characters are interesting. The action is done well too - action scenes are choreographed well, and they're used appropriately - they fit with the pacing, they're not unnecessarily long, etc.

If you're a fan of the games, there are also lots of fun little call-outs you'll enjoy. But you don't have to have played to enjoy the movie - my dad watched it with us, and he hates video games and doesn't usually watch fantasy stuff, but he really enjoyed it and wishes they made a sequel (as do I).

My biggest criticism is the pacing is a bit off in the beginning; it jumped around a lot unnecessarily and you could tell there was a lot of interesting background info that was skimmed over. That setup probably could've done better.

But on balance, this was an entertaining and interesting movie, well worth a watch.

I couldn't stomach watching the whole thing. And yes, it's fair to write a review reflecting that lol. I will give it 2 stars because the cinematography was lovely and the acting was good. Unfortunately, I couldn't handle listening to Sandra Bullock having a perpetual panic attack and not following basic instructions. It grated on my nerves; I was like "if I have to hear her panic-pant one more time, I'm shutting the bloody thing off" and about a minute later, that's exactly what I did. Like I get she's on her first mission, and that it would be an awful situation to be in, but it got to the point where she was just annoying and even a bit unbelievable. Like, I've had panic attacks before, they're not easy to control. But I can promise you in a life or death situation I would do my best to pull it together asap instead of failing to follow basic instructions all the time cos I'm too busy using up all my oxygen on panicking.

I watched this recently as it's supposed to be a classic and I hadn't yet seen it. And now that I have... I don't get why it's a classic. Sure; I get that people like the message that we're more than the stereotype of whatever group we belong to. But it'd work a lot better if these characters didn't act like stereotypes the entire way through the movie until they're suddenly besties at the end. Like seriously, daddy issues don't erase the fact that they are all still quite reflective of the groups they belong to. Bender was annoying and disgusting beyond belief, I spent the whole time wanting to smack him upside the head, and yet I got the impression that he was meant to be some agent of change - which is even worse; as if we all just need some a**hat to come verbally abuse and sexually harass us into some profound moment of self-reflection. None of the characters were likeable. The crazy chick was barely even believable, that was well beyond how the "alternative weird kids" I knew in high school acted. The jokes don't land imo; the story is boring, the delivery of the message comes off as deep as if a 14-yo had actually written the thing. Terrible movie.