AFJ REVIEW: PETE’S DRAGON

Starring: Bryce Dallas Howard, Robert Redford, Oakes Fegley, Karl Urban, Wes Bentley, Oona Laurence, and John KassirWritten By: David Lowery (screenplay), Toby Halbrooks (screenplay)Directed By: David LoweryStudio: Walt DisneyRun Time: 102 minutesRated: PG

Lately, Disney has been going back into their vast library of titles and either rebooting them, or re-imaging them.The results of those endeavors vary, depending on your level of fandom and whether or not you have children in your home. One thing is for sure, Disney always delivers the family film, which I am thrilled to say is exactly what the reboot of Pete’s Dragon is.

The 1977 Pete’s Dragon was a blending of live actors and one animated dragon. The animation was hand drawn or what many refer to now as 2D. The film is still marvelous to watch for its over the top villains, musical numbers, and of course the Disney magic that brings Pete’s dragon, Elliot, to life. However, the film is not held in such high regard as Snow White or 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. It does have flaws that I won’t dive into, which makes rebooting it decades later a safer bet. So how much of the 1977 film survived this 2016 reboot? Just enough to tie it loosely to the original, yet still be its own thing.

The full Pete's Dragon review on Action Figure Junkies.com. 

AFJ REVIEW: SUICIDE SQUAD

Starring: Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, Jay Hernandez, Cara Delevingne, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, and Joel Kinnaman
Written By: David Ayer, Based not he Comic Book by John OstranderDirected By: David AyerOriginal Year of Release: 2016Rated: PG-13
Run Time: 2:10

Sometimes a movie comes along and I find myself torn between critic and fanboy. This looks to be what will come with DC Comics and Warner Brothers’ superhero releases. The critic within places a wall up and stands firm upon it saying, “forget all you know about these characters, these films stand on their own”. That’s a really hard thing to do when you know the backstory to so many of DC’s characters. The fanboy stands there screaming with joy that the likes of Deadshot, Harley Quinn, Captain Boomerang, and Killer Croc are in a movie. These two sides of my brain also struggled with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. Thankfully, the writer within, who simply loves a good story, trumps them both. This brings us to Suicide Squad.

This is a huge gamble for DC Comics placing B and C list characters in their own film. On a grander scale, it is a huge gamble for superhero movies in general. This film is the first of its kind for the genre, a live action film featuring villains as the main characters. Many of these characters have yet to even grace the silver screen. So introductions need to be made. An immediate overlap and exposition comes from two of the main characters, Deadshot (Will Smith) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie). We are given an overabundance of who they are. Granted, they are the stars of the movie, but I felt as if I got all I needed from their second introduction, the first was pointless. This additional time may have been better spent flushing out some of the smaller and lesser known characters in the film. In not doing this, it reveals to the audience who is going to stick around and who will die an early death. It also doesn’t help that one’s star power also indicates his/her level of significance.

The full review for Suicide Squad is on Action Figure Junkies.com.