Mortal Kombat: The Journey Begins

What a way to f***ing start this week!

Oh man, this...this brought back some stuff. So how does one describe The Journey Begins? Shite. I mean that's the easy way at least, but you have this direct to video project that is this mighty bizzare mix of 3D and 2D animations, essentially being the cliffnotes version of Mortal Kombat to get you prepped for the big movie. Except for the fact the movie hit about 10 days before this. Friggin' whoops apparently! How do you mess that up? It even has some behind the scenes footage with cast interviews and stuff at the very end, so you would think this would come out like a solid 2 weeks before the film. I'm sorta dumbfounded at that. The story is this pseudo-prequel/parts of the original movie/ buncha' bullshit you never saw. It starts on the boat where Liu, Johnny, and Sonya are heading for the tournament as they come actoss these characters and learn the backstory of the actual Mortal Kombat tournament. And this is where the 3D animation comes in, and it's not good. I mean not. Good. But it is fascinating to see because they used motion capture for it, and such technology was in it's sheer infancy, I mean even in Two Towers it was still being perfected but they did such a good job with it. And boy howdy, you better f***ing believe I thought this was the most high tech, cool, state of the art shit you ever seen. I rented this tape a good fair amount of times in my youth, and the 3D CG fights were my favorite part. I'm so happy I waited until a more mature, seasoned, and intelligent me started writing reviews. In fact even the animation style is so unheard of, they used 3D backgrounds and environments that look much worse than a Nintendo 64 game but still animated the characters in the 2D style. So you have this hilariously jittery, poorly tracked, flat out garbage animation trying to interact with a 3D world. They had no budget for this, they blew it all on CG wonder, they barely had animation cells to film a scene. It's that special kind of cheap animation where they constantly reuse bits and pieces and the lip syncing makes Godzilla movies look masterful. I simply cannot wrap my brain around why this exists. I know I didn't exactly have a warm reception to the new Mortal Kombat trailer but I think it is extremely safe to say we are on an upward spiral. It's not getting worse than this. No way. Absolute tripe. Thank God you can watch it for free on the YouTubes, because I have wasted money on a bit in my life, but I'm not wasting it here. 1 star, 2/10, I somehow have nostalgic memories of this but it does not hold any sway this time. Watch if you are morbidly curious or are still part of the Kombat Klub. Movie coming up tomorrow on a very special day so stay tuned for more.

Scooby-Doo And The Legend Of The Vampire

Yeah I'd say this is the middle ground for this week.

I didn't hate Legend Of The Vampire, it's a decent little movie but it's certainly the most average of the bunch. So we meet up with the gang as they have just taken a cruise ship to Australia as they lolligag about enjoying the sights before they sporadically decide to attend a music festival at the totally not real location of Vampire Rock, where attending musicians (like discount Jimi Hendrix) have been kidnapped or scared off by a group of vampires that look like Kiss if they had a more psychedelic color palette to work off. They meet up with The Hex Girls again (Huzzah!) and quickly set about solving the mystery. What's really interesting about this movie is it's this very bizarre mix of old and new, the animation style follows the current show at that time What's New Scooby-Doo but the character designs are the 1969 classics, even the sound design is almost ripped straight from the 1969/70 episodes music and all, and it perplexes me cause this has really been the first to do that. Most if not all the other direct to video entries of this series do something original with it's production, maybe 2003 was just a sort of off year where this project got quickly pushed onto the director and producers and they had to quickly cobble it together. But it's not a shoddily made movie, the animation is quite nice, I genuinely dig the original music pieces, it's so goddang great to hear Casey Kasem again as Shaggy, the movie set a precedent with returning original characters with The Hex Girls which is a trend still felt today, I do like the movie but I don't love it. Will however say the gang does not make for very convincing musicians, not only is their look more ridiculous and just plain bad than any 80s hair band ever, but at least Velma has a kind of nice singing voice. All in all, I would only recommemd this to a hardcore fan or if it just sounds interesting enough to you, not bad but not great. 2.5 stars, 6.5/10, and we finally get to the main event with the first 3D animated Scooby-Doo film ever so join me tomorrow for Scoob!

Scooby-Doo And The Alien Invaders

Yeah sorry I couldn't get the Scoob review out last week, I really had no idea how I would see the movie until I already posted my Legend Of Boggy Creek review, so this is to make amends.

Boy is this movie a ride. Yet another classic in my eyes and collection, I've held onto this tape for about 20 years now, and I'm still grappling with that little fact but let's not dwell on that and get to the review. This is another strong entry for me, it's odd looking at the runtime for the Scooby-Doo movies cause 9/10 times the movie is barely over an hour long and it so did not feel like that when I was a kid. True the mystery aspect is so weak that it takes just one single clue for Velma to bust this case wide open but the appeal it has is more in the characters than the setup. So the gang is travelling through....Utah? It really doesn't state where they are but the topography screams of Wile E. Coyote to me when suddenly the van breaks down and mysterious lights are dazzling the sky leading the gang to investigate the small town and the nearby satellite dishes. Why? Because why not. I immediately have to mention the animation cause it really is pretty dang good with excellent colors and the shading works wonders, every background looks weathered, old, and used like there's actual grit on the animation cells. It looks awesome! But back to the story for a bit, pretty soon Shaggy and Scooby meet up with a hippie girl and her golden retriever and shock of all shocks, romance blooms. This is why this holds up so well for me, cause how many times have we seen Shaggy and Scooby head over heels in love? Not too often. It's such an interesting dynamic to go with and the chemistry between them goes hand in hand very easily, to the point where Shaggy is ready to settle and spend his life with this woman. That's wild man, and I was living for it just as much back then as I am now. We even get a Xanadu-esque music number and the visuals are so damn late 60s it is incredible. I'm pretty sure if you asked people what they remember most about the movie it will be the romance. But truthfully, the rest ain't bad either. I like the designs of the aliens, granted they look like broccoli heads with blood red eyes but I dig it. The locales are nice, the side characters can be fun, and the twist is kind of awesome in my eyes. But let me tell you something, I have never seen an animated Scooby-Doo movie with quite a few instances of innuendo, I mean Jesus this was a bit of an eye opener watching it all these years later. From..."positions" of characters, to dialogue, it's a bit randy! But nothing can really take away from the ending which is honestly very depressing, I mean I was bummed out by it as a kid and it nearly shattered my heart as an adult. It's a downer man, not to the point of other movies I've reviewed but plenty sad enough. I give it 4 stars, 7.5/10, well worth a watch if only just once. And by my count I only have one more Scooby-Doo movie left from this second golden age, so tune in tomorrow for Scooby-Doo And The Cyber Chase.

Scooby-Doo And The Witch's Ghost

It's the best and I will fight you on this.

Now of course I'm biased, I saw this at a young age and fell in love with it. But why? Why this movie above every other? I can't fully say. It has a great story, the gang meet a famous writer Ben Ravencroft who invites them to his hometown where apparently the ghost of his ancestor who was convicted of being a witch has returned. It has probably the best finale to any of the Scooby-Doo movies, the acting is great especially when you get a powerhouse like Tim Curry fully devoted to his role. Add good comedy, great animation, and the best and so far only recurring characters in the series history to return periodically. I refer of course to The Hex Girls, who I am even more biased towards because quite frankly I love them and the music they perform in the movie. But it goes deeper than that, this is a terrific fall movie, I mean like if you put it on in October it has that exquisite fall feeling to it all and perfect for Halloween. The nostalgia has skyrocketed, I watched this movie all the time, day, night, I adored it as a kid and the love has never died. The animation is crisp and fluid, the comedy actually does make me laugh at times, the characters are memorable, the music is fantastic, this just holds the title for best Scooby-Doo movie ever. This and my old tape of Scooby's Greatest Mysteries, and of course Mystery Incorporated are the crown jewels of this series for me. You wanna know why I persist to love this series even to this day? Watch those and the original show. And the best part? I share a birthday with Shaggy Rogers. Happy Birthday Casey.