The Pirates! Band of Misfits

Running Time: 88 minutes.

Media: Cinematic release.

It's been a while since I sat down and enjoyed something a film like this. I actually saw this with my fiancée's god-daughter's brother about a month or two ago while her sister and her friends went to see Mirror, Mirror for her birthday. As hot as Julia Roberts is, I preferred to see this...

Now I have to confess, I didn't hear a lot of hype about this film at all, so I kinda was thinking this would be a little "hokey" (that's become my new favorite word of late!) and then I heard that Hugh Grant was going to be voicing the lead role... My head turned... This was not going to be any ordinary film...

How surprised I was when I was proven right... This film, while crafted to enthuse and entertain youngsters like my young friend Aidan, also had a number of small Easter Egg moments where the odd adult joke was cleverly hidden away. Not only that, the cast such as Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, Jeremy Piven and Salma Hayek brought wonderful entertaining renditions of their characters that I couldn't peel my eyes away from the screen. The animation is very much in the clay stop-motion genre that one would see with Wallace and Gromit but it has been ramped up a few notches...

The plot line was entertaining in itself, The Pirate Captain (played by Grant) tries to get himself into the competition as the Pirate of the Year, an annual match which involves a number of categories which alas, the Pirate Captain cannot well-compete in. IN his attempts to plunder a number of ships with his rag-tag crew, he comes across Charles Darwin who discovers that his "parrot" is actually the last living and surviving dodo. In the process, the Pirate Captain gets embroiled with a pirate-phobic Queen Victoria and a number of other characters which throw chaos, joy and laughter into the storyline.

Now, while this isn't knee-slappingly funny... I did chortle a little at some of the jokes being made, as well as smile secretly to myself... I guess in the case of the adult watching the film, as opposed to the child watching it, there's a considerable difference... But this is a wonderful film that I would take kids to, and also be entertained myself... This movie does receive a bountiful four stars for the amazing effort that was put into this film, and it shows.

The Transformers (TV Series on DVD)

Running Time: 2549 minutes.
Media: DVD.

After having recently acquired two figurines from a friend of mine as a belated birthday gift, I've been inspired to review something now some 25 or so years since its initial release to TV, the Transformers cartoon series, and in this case, the original series from 1984 to 1988...

Sad, isn't it? Not really, considering the recent movie trilogy has raked in over $2.6 billion USD, I'd say it's done incredibly well, based off a very unique concept... Well, maybe not so unique. Anyone who tuned into Channel 7 down here in Australia back in 1984 to 1985 on an early Saturday morning, as I did would have seen similar antics from a race of transforming robots known as the Mighty GoBots, also marketed down here as Machine Men. Hasbro went a step further and came out with Transformers, of which Marvel, Sunbow Productions and IDW Publishing took it further, and released both the cartoon series on TV and the comic book series. Being young and not able to afford comic books back then, I was content enough to let 22 to 24 minutes of my life every week be devoted to watching these amazing robots battle against one another. Autobot against Decepticon. Decepticon against Autobot.

I took the opportunity earlier this year to sit through all 98 (yes, count them, 98!) episodes due to a relatively small investment at a local video and entertainment store, and purchasing the boxed set. It was always a passion of mine to own the series some day. The entire series is spaced out on 15 DVDs, which, including features is a whopping 2549 minutes... Which is a solid 42 hours and 29 minutes... And I spent the good part of three weekends going through all these...

The incredible thing about Transformers is that while the movie series of late may not appeal to the harshest of critics, the original series however, will always bring them back home. The series marks the struggle of the Autobots, in the brave command of Optimus Prime, in the battle against the evil Decepticons, headed by the maniacal and from recent reports, chronically emphysemic, Megatron.

The somewhat disappointing part of this, is that while the series portrays the Transformers from seasons 1 through to 4; the critical turning point post-season 2 to pre-season 3, has been left out. You actually are required to purchase "The Transformers", the animated movie, to see how things follow up from the end of season 2, to the start of season 3. The movie does not come bundled in with the series, which is a tad disappointing.

All in all, the Transformers cartoon series is great for any hard core fan such as myself. I'm giving this 4½ stars for bringing back childhood memories, having only deducted the ½ star for not having had the Animated movie to link the two middle series together.