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Tortured_Tetsuo
Reviews
Van Helsing (2004)
What went wrong??
*SPOILERS*
I didn't have massive hopes for this movie to begin with. But when it began I thought it might be okay. It begins in black and white and what is basically the original frankenstein movie but with enhanced special effects. But then they throw Dracula into the mix who has hired Frankenstein to find the secret to life for his own evil purposes, which are revealed later in the film. But Frankenstein takes the secret to his grave in the spectacular windmill fire of the original movie. And with Van Helsings first appearance, fighting the obnoxious giant Scotsman Mr Hyde, there is also a bit of hope for the movie.
But as the movie goes on it just gets silly. Carl, the friar, has a ridiculously annoying English accent and is a blatent rip off of the Q character from the Bond Films. The storyline is done in the best possible way to fit Dracula, Frankensteins monster and werewolves into it, but it's not great and very predictable. I actually thought the monsters were all done pretty well, especially the werewolves which were very cool despite looking cartoony. The Frankenstein monster drew lots of laughs from the crowd, even though he was meant to be a tragic character. This was kind of unavoidable but they could have done him in a bit less obviously laughable way. And Dracula I thought was fine. There was alot of bad overacting from him and his brides but overall I thought he was cool. Even his demon form, which I thought I would hate, was pretty cool in the end.
Despite the fantastic effects, theres just too many negative points to call it a good film. A cheesy, predictable plot, poor acting, ridiculous lines, way too many unintentionally laughable moments and ridiculously over the top set pieces.
4/10 - just because of the overall look of the film and a few little things which were seriously cool
The Animals of Farthing Wood (1993)
An epic children's story...but great for adults too
*CONTAINS SPOILERS*
I watched the Animals of Farthing Wood a lot when I was growing up, and while admittedly I've forgotten a lot of the story lines and such, much of it has stuck with me.
One of things I enjoyed most about the show were the characters. There was a huge range of woodland creatures, all of which had their own personality, little background stories and theire own relationships with certain other characters in the group. The smaller animals were always very timid and would always try and protect their families. Adder (who had a darkside to her, always ready to eat the rodents) had a grudging, but quite close friendship with Owl, and Badger played as adviser to the lead role, Fox. And of course there was the close bond between Badger and Mole.
The other thing that strikes you about the show however, is the way the characters develop, sometimes get killed and eventually grow old and die, something which you don't see a lot in children's TV. I remember being pretty traumatised when Moley died as it was totally unexpected. And after that, you could see his close friend Badger slowly delapidate and die of old age, another truly sad moment. But then there were also the fantastic moments, like when the group at last reach White Deer Park and it seems as if they have come to a happy ending and when Fox and Vixen finally have their litter of fox cubs, who we in turn watch grow into adolescent foxes.
It is a truly great show and is reminiscent of Watership Down. The varying story lines, character development and relationships and decent animation make this more than just a kids cartoon.