Daybreakers, Princess and the Frog, Caprica

[thistlechaser]

Miss, miss, HIT.

Daybeakers (the one about the whole world becoming vampires, thus blood running out) could have been great. It had a good idea, I had been wanting to see it sooner, but it turns out having missed it in theaters wasn't such a bad thing after all. Element after element in the movie annoyed me, and most of the characters did as well. And that they somehow fit a hot sports car into a vampire movie made me roll my eyes endlessly. Willem Dafoe's Elvis character was nearly enough to make me stop watching, though I resisted and saw the film through to the end. (The fact that I saw this so soon after District 9 made Daybreakers seem even worse.)

I was hoping for a lot more from Princess and the Frog. The few reviews I saw on my flist were all positive, some outright glowing. I disliked it from the first moment. I find I no longer have patience for silly/unrealistic stuff in animated movies (like in the beginning, when the cat attached itself to the ceiling, or when the one character got stuck in a tuba). The songs all seemed like they came straight from other movies. The accents annoyed the living poo out of me (and I usually love accents). Whole parts of the storyline/characters seemed to come straight from other movies (where have we seen 'young royalty only wants to play around, stuffy older adviser tries to keep him grounded' before? Oh, right, Lion king). I'm 30 minutes into the hour and a half film, but I don't think I'm going to finish it. So much of it annoys me: Character design (the bad guy is so unrealistically drawn!), character voices, the characters themselves (the main character's best friend/princess is SO ANNOYING! Arg!). I really wanted to like it, but it's just not happening.

Caprica, on the other hand, is OMG amazing! I've only seen the pilot so far, but I'm drooling to make time to watch the rest! I really thought this series wasn't going to work (which made me highly sad). I'm so very glad I was wrong! It's too early to tell if it will be as good as BSG (can anything be?), but if the pilot is any indication, it's going to be a really, really enjoyable series. (Why am I wasting my limited time watching Princess and the Frog when I could be watching this?)

Stargate: Universe should be about due to restart, too. Finally!

Comments

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

My head is just kind of breaking trying to compare Caprica and Princess and the Frog. ;p The only thing I can think of that they have in common is that I like both. But they're such entirely different types of things that I cannot really comprehend doing a comparison.

Let me know what you think about Caprica as you watch more. I've seen all but the most recent episode. I do think that if the Taurons were an RL nation/ethnic group, there'd be a lot of protesting as to their portrayal on the show.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Apples and oranges, yes. I was just comparing them as two things I'm currently watching! :D

I do think that if the Taurons were an RL nation/ethnic group, there'd be a lot of protesting as to their portrayal on the show.

Totally agreed, yes.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I think we're about in the same spot now, I haven't seen ep 5 yet (the most current one). It's odd, but I'm no longer sure how I feel about the show. Do I dislike it? Like it? I just don't know...

"I do think that if the Taurons were an RL nation/ethnic group, there'd be a lot of protesting as to their portrayal on the show."

That's dead-on right and I think the source of my maybe-disliking the show. The grandmother is just so... over-the-top seeming. I think the whole Tauron culture bugs me.

I love the show's tech though, and the BSG ties. I like a lot of the culture/relationship stuff (gay couple, group marriage). The religious stuff neither bothers me nor attracts me.

I've never felt so uncertain about how I felt about a show. It's not that I both like it and dislike it, I just don't know, period. I'm going to keep watching it though.

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

The series hasn't quite panned out with the promise the pilot showed, but I'm intrigued enough to keep watching.

Welcome to Tauron, the Mob Planet! I'm not actually sure how seriously the grandmother is meant to be taken; I was thinking she was being deliberately over the top in a snarky/sarcastic sort of way, but maybe she really *is* just that bad. ^^;

Sam and his partner were a nice surprise. And the whole Soldiers of the One thing and Zoe does seem to indicate one possibility of how the Cylons ended up with their One God.

I'm still going to keep watching because I'm curious as to how exactly things are going to link up with BSG. Besides, it's only an hour a week so it's not like it's a huge time commitment.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Did you watch ep 4 yet? There's a moment in that that makes me think you're right that she's being deliberately over the top. (I don't want to spoil it by saying what moment that was, but it was about the game.)

Sam and his partner were a nice surprise.

Surprise indeed! I had to rewind and watch again to make sure I had really heard that part about him trying to pick up guys, ha!

I'm going to keep watching as well. The good outweighs the bad, plus who knows what future ties it will get to the original series. On to ep 5 (the most current one) today!

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Wow. Ep 5 is by far the best one so far. Better than the pilot, I'd say. Watch it when you can! :D

[kamalloy.livejournal.com]

That was an awesome episode. Actual sci-fi in a sci-fi series instead of all the soap opera stuff! Who would have thought? Okay, I like some of the soap opera stuff, but the whole exploration of the v-world made me so very happy. Also, Graystone takes his first steps towards supervillainy; what he told the Cylon prototype to do was really just evil. And man, did I want to tell him he was making a huge mistake. At least Baltar only betrayed all of humanity because he couldn't keep it in his pants. ;p

And then the newest episode was okay. We did get to see a Tauron custom that involved letting go and not horrible bloody revenge (and speaking of all this, they probably should have at least done a quick mention of Tauron culture on BSG. Did no one survive?) But the whole trying to make Graystone sympathetic again by having him feel guilty about what happened during the break-in and theft seemed kind of clumsily done to me.

But oh, next week's episode will give us more New Cap City! Yay!

And as a fun exercise, go download "Panic Switch" by Silversun Pickups. Listen to it and tell me that it doesn't fit Tamara and the guy who was with her in the v-world (whose name I never quite caught).

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

I'm halfway through the newest ep and bored. zzz "But the whole trying to make Graystone sympathetic again by having him feel guilty about what happened during the break-in and theft seemed kind of clumsily done to me." is exactly my issue. Hopefully I'll watch the other half today, then can move on to something else.

Woo more New Cap City!

(and speaking of all this, they probably should have at least done a quick mention of Tauron culture on BSG. Did no one survive?)

On top of that, I'm having a hard time seeing how kid-Adama became commander-Adama... Where exactly does this life of crime fit in?

[quasilemur.livejournal.com]

Silly and unrealistic stuff in a children's animated program? Well I never! *monocle pop*

I was surprised at how much I actually enjoyed Caprica, though.

[thistle-chaser.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, yes! Guess I'll need to stick with animated shows aimed at adults-- wait...

My opinion on Caprica has cooled a little after watching the first four eps (see comment above!), but I'm going to keep on watching it!