Change Your Image
AwesomeReviewperson
Ratings
Most Recently Rated
Reviews
H2O: Just Add Water (2006)
Nostalgic and I love the gang
The acting in H2O: Just Add Water may not be top tier and some of the fashion choices reek of the 2000s, but I still hold a special place in my heart for this show.
It's innocent fun, as we watch our girls Cleo, Emma and Rikki navigate their new lives, turning into magical mermaids at the smallest contact with water. The girls' friendship with each other is strong and they are good role-models, but they often fall into mermaid issues - like time-activated sprinklers. Thankfully, they have Lewis (toe nail clipping collector and scientist) to help them when they transform.
Rikki is my favourite character because I think she has the best arc. I really like how one of the episodes explores her embarrassment in her living situation (she lives in a trailer park) and her friends being totally fine and accepting of it. She can't control her family's financial situation and it doesn't make her any worse a person. I am a bit disappointed that we only really got one episode about it, though.
Zane is also an interesting character. He's a pretentious, obnoxious rich kid who gets saved by one of the mer-girls when drowning. He becomes determined to prove the existence of mermaids, seeing himself bullied and considered weird by many others at the juice shack all the kids hang out at (the gang are determined to not be discovered, as they think they will get stuck in a lab). He ends up bonding with Rikki when stuck on a balcony at one of his dad's conferences and we see that his dad is a major influence of his disagreeable behaviour. The two start dating (which Rikki hides from her friends) until Zane is forced to make a choice. He could expose mermaids to the world (including Rikki, who he was not aware was one while dating) or help Cleo, Emma and Rikki escape and remain safe. He helps the mermaids out and we come to see that he is actually quite caring.
I find Emma okay. She's very responsible, but has had to give up her passion for swimming to hide her mermaid powers from the world. Cleo. Is. A. Mopey. Pest. She has been friends with the toe-nail clipper, Lewis, for ages and gets weirdly mopey and controlling about him at points in season 2. She's super whiny and I 100% side with her little sister in all their silly spats.
The series is funny and addictive: I binge watched it for a few days on netflix. However, the third season is a major disappointment. Emma disappears 'to Europe' and is not seen at all, with a new personality-lacking girl in her place (she takes centre stage in the show, despite being very boring). Lewis is hardly seen and Zane and Rikki's relationship just gets really weird. It takes away a lot of enjoyable elements.
Almost Naked Animals (2011)
Unpleasant.
I was a child when I was first exposed to Almost Naked Animals on the free kid's channel ABC 3 (now ABC me). They would play it far too often and I always found the character designs really ugly. Why would I want to see animals that look like they're covered in shaving stubble? It's vomit inducing, really. Talking animals are supposed to be cute and likeable, but they went and did the opposite with this one.
The dog main character is erratic and hyper annoying. He's not funny and never was. The narwhal and poodle and everything else are also really obnoxious. I feel like this show should be illegal for how utterly frustrating it is.
What Happens in Vegas (2008)
Divorce or Money?
I hate to say it, but the male protagonist just does not deserve Cameron Diaz. He is obnoxious and juvenile, not even trying to accommodate her when they live together.
Minions: The Rise of Gru (2022)
New Minion Introduced In Flick Of The Century
As soon as I saw a meme of a man dressing up in a suit for the Minions 2 movie, I knew I needed to see it. I had already expressed a desire to watch it, but nobody was willing to see it with me (what utter fools, why would they not like minions?). Following the simply sublime trend of 'gentleminions', I persistently badgered my family members until they relented.
I dressed up in my closest outfit to what a minion would wear ('minionbounding' - see 'disneybounding') and brought some bananas in to watch the movie. There was apparently a bird in the cinema, but why wouldn't there be? Everyone loves the jaundiced tic-tac banana fiends.
The movie was highly enjoyable, hilariously pointing out in the opening scene that illuMINatION has all the letters of minion in it. The storyline is that the minions are helping a young Gru get the Zodiac amulet so he can get in with his idolised villain group. Unfortunately, a thicc boi gets in the way. Otto, the new brace-faced minion foolishly trades the amulet in for a pet rock, meaning the gang must work to retrieve it and get into Gru's good books again.
There are numerous references to other works in this fine franchise, like a picture of young Vector, the antagonist of the original Despicable Me. We also see a Scarlet Overkill lunchbox, reminding us of our stunning villain in the first Minions movie. Dr Nefario, the master of the fart gun plays a role at the Criminal Record store and helps Gru get some cool gadgets and the anti-villain league show up at the end. As a long-time viewer and fan of the series, I was quite glad to see the lore from previous movies expanded upon.
The minions do not disappoint in cuteness, showing off their puppy-dog eyes and stopping at no end to have Gru be their 'miniboss'. In particular, I would have to commend the performances of Bob the minion and Otto, who is well invited into the fandom.
This is a joy to watch, though viewers must be sure to understand that it is a family movie and not serious in nature.
White Chicks (2004)
Causes Immense Pain To Viewers
This film induced a visceral pain I had never before experienced. The scene where one of the undercover officers removes a hangnail on a date while an enamoured Terry Crews looks on made me want to physically vomit.
The female characters in this movie are also very stereotypical 'white chicks' who are obsessed with shopping and know their friends so poorly they cannot tell when they have been replaced with random men they've never met before. I know that it may be mainstream to make fun of such privileged women, but it still comes off as sexist. Perhaps it would be too much to expect from such a movie, but the premise feels wasted in its shallow exploration of racial and gender identities.
Also... the disguises have such an uncanny property to them. When the agents take them on and off I feel highly perturbed.
Overall, I would not recommend watching this movie, unless you are a masochist. I am haunted by it while trying to sleep at night.
13 Going on 30 (2004)
Strange yet predictable ... Misses the mark
OK, so she may be 13 going on 30(TM),
BUT, even with the protagonist being an age-morphed 13 year old a lot of her behaviour comes off as inappropriate. She invites 13 year-old girls over for sleepover parties and hits on a young boy in a restaurant. If gender roles were reversed, these faux-pas committed by her would rightly be considered creepy. Yet they are played off for comedy and I think it really misses the mark. Scenes like these made me feel uncomfortable as a viewer.
I also found the whole 'wedding crashing' scenes just wrong. Jenna shows no respect for the fact Matt is engaged (major Dan Humphrey vibes from Matt, but I digress) throughout the film. And it is NOT romantic to interrupt someone's wedding on the day, despite what romcoms want to tell people. They've already paid for everything and have been planning things for months. Any feelings you have for the bride or groom are henceforth irrelevant.
I genuinely felt kind of bad for Matt's fiancée because she seemed like a nice person, but was so unaware of what was going on. That was ... until she was magicked out of existence so we could have a happy ending ... WHAT!?!?!
I may not agree with what I've mentioned so far, but there is one thing I must say. This film does not lack entertainment value. I cringed, I cried, I snarked. A true emotional journey of a problematic movie.