Big Hero 6

Image from: http://marvel.wikia.com/Big_Hero_6_(film)

Name: Big Hero 6

Release Date (in Singapore): 17 November 2014

Watched on: 23 November 2014

Summary:

From Walt Disney Animation Studios, the team behind "Frozen" and "Wreck-It Ralph," comes "Big Hero 6," an action-packed comedy-adventure about the special bond that develops between Baymax, a plus-sized inflatable robot, and prodigy Hiro Hamada. When a devastating event befalls the city of San Fransokyo and catapults Hiro into the midst of danger, he turns to Baymax and his close friends adrenaline junkie Go Go Tomago, neatnik Wasabi, chemistry whiz Honey Lemon and fanboy Fred. Determined to uncover the mystery, Hiro transforms his friends into a band of high-tech heroes called "Big Hero 6."

Summary by: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Summary from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2245084/plotsummary

Personal Ratings: 4

I've been waiting for this cartoon for quite some time already. And it's probably one of the lesser movies out there that really met my expectations, after all the expecting and judging from the trailer.

I was quite surprised at the Japanese (well more specifically, Japanese / San Francisco) setting of the anime. I don't think they actually did a Japanese setting for their cartoons before, so this was a plus point for me (I mean with all my Japan fetish...) Wonder if Japanese seiyuus are going to dub this (can't wait if they are going to dub this in Japanese).

It was really a game well played, because to the viewers, the fact that certain links within the story was pretty obvious, it took our attention away from another potential party. At first, it may look really obvious that Krei was the culprit behind everything, and because Hiro just didn't establish that obvious link, it really took all the attention away from the professor. 

I really liked how they didn't just threw away Tadashi when he died, but actually made him the backbone of this whole story. (I don't know why, but most of the time, characters that die in the beginning are usually thrown away, and will be never mention in the story).

"Tadashi" means "correct" in Japanese, so from there, there is already that deep meaning behind his name. And I think that the message to us viewers, via his name, was that he was always doing all the right things, and he is always right. You can see it from his actions that that was really true (when Hiro stray away from his path and was too absorbed in revenge).

Really well developed story when it came to Hiro and his brother. Really touched by parts of the show. I think that for a supposedly happy show, it made me real sad at some occasions (Sadder than Frozen, and Frozen was suppose to be a sad show.)

I really liked how much they developed the main characters, but I just somehow don't really think that there was enough development for the other 4 characters. 

Other than using certain personalities of the characters to make the show funny, there wasn't really much development for the rest of them.

I really enjoyed the laughter. Things they used to make it funny weren't just words, but more of action. (Since I really hate slap sticks)

Really love the character's design. When I first saw the characters, I was just blown away. I totally loved it (especially the main character). I thought that they somehow really portrayed many information about their personalities just through their design, and they just all end up being really likable characters.

I thought that they could have showed us just how smart Hiro was in school, to the extent that he doesn't even want to go to high school. It kind of gives us that sense of satisfaction when Hiro actually found some school in which he wants to go into. 

Of course the starting for this movie was also quite good. With the unexpected robot fight and everything. But in the end, there wasn't really much of mention when it came to those robot fights, so there wasn't that nostalgic feeling when you compare the starting and the ending of the movie. 

One thing I didn't like was the inconsistent pronunciation of Japanese words (or names). You have everyone speaking in English pronunciation, and then all of a sudden there is this girl that pronounces it the right way. I'm not sure if the younger kids could hear the difference, but the inconsistency was definitely annoying me.

All was well, but I just couldn't really get one part of the story; why would the professor actually attack Hiro when Hiro first found out about the mass produced invention of Hiro's. I thought it would have been more sensible to actually try and talk Hiro into joining him than trying to kill him right off the bat. 

Recommended for:
Gender: Both
Age: 10 and above
Ratings: PG

Interstellar

Image from: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/photo-interstellar-new-teaser-poster-701642

Name: Interstellar

Released Date (in Singapore): 6 November 2014

Watched on: ?

Summary:

In the near future, Earth has been devastated by drought and famine, causing a scarcity in food and extreme changes in climate. When humanity is facing extinction, a mysterious rip in the space-time continuum is discovered, giving mankind the opportunity to widen its lifespan. A group of explorers must travel beyond our solar system in search of a planet that can sustain life. The crew of the Endurance are required to think bigger and go further than any human in history as they embark on an interstellar voyage into the unknown. Coop, the pilot of the Endurance, must decide between seeing his children again and the future of the human race.

Summary by: Warren D'Souza

Summary from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0816692/plotsummary

Personal Ratings: 3.5

Another touching story this month. This story talks about relationships, specifically relationships between the dad and his daughter.
Seen many types of stories about the world dying and not being habitual to man kind anymore. Makes us reflect on our actions. So this movie is a mixture of 2 genres.

Thought that the story was really well developed. Could see the strong connections between the front and the back of the story. However, this story feels more like a loop, where the pat and future is connected through the actions of one guy.
However, of course, throughout the movie, they kind of made us think that it was the work of a 3rd party. And speaking about 3rd parties, when it comes to the outer space / galaxy, one would immediately associate it with aliens. So throughout the whole show, i kept thinking that aliens would pop out of nowhere. 

Seeing murph live through 3 stages of her life (namely, kid, middle-aged and old) while her dad only lived through one; middle-aged. Really kind of set that ground for making people (or well, at least, me) cry. I just really have this thing for time being passed so quickly.
Though I wasn't really sure if it was really necessary for there to be such a huge difference in time when they went on that planet, and why only that planet. (One hour on the planet was like 7 years).

In terms of creativity, when it comes to the different types of planets, making them having extreme weather or geographical conditions didn't really make it all that unique. But I guess that does give us that surprised factors when we saw the huge wave of water. The reason for it having that surprised factor only works because we are able to compare it with the norm.

Thought that they could have gave us more details on the earth side of things and not focus too much on the space side, because in the end Murph did play a very important role with 'hope' and the new planet that humanity if living on. 

Certain parts I couldn't understand because of the lack of scientific explanation. For example, the whole thing about plants not being able to grow anymore (is it because it was too dry?) and also the part where the ship exploded when the guy tried to open the 2nd door. 

This movie is a little on the log and draggy side. For a movie to be almost 3 hours long... Thought that they could have cut it down a little shorter, and make it go a little faster.

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 13 and above

Ratings: PG-13

Suisei no Gargantia

Image from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16524/Suisei_no_Gargantia

Name: Suisei no Garantia 翠星のガルガンティア Gargantia on the Verdurous Planet

Sequel: Suisei no Garantia Specials, Suisei no Garantia: Meguru Kuro, Haruka

Status: Completed

Episode: 13

Release Date (for eng subs): -

Summary:

The story begins in the distant future in the far reaches of the galaxy. The Human Galactic Alliance has been constantly fighting for its survival against a grotesque race of beings called "Hidiaazu." During an intense battle, the young lieutenant Ledo and his humanoid mobile weapon Chamber are swallowed up into a distortion of time and space. Waking from his artificially induced hibernation, Ledo realizes that he has arrived on Earth, the planet on the lost frontier. On this planet that was completely flooded by the seas, people live in fleets of giant ships, salvaging relics from the seas' depths in order to survive. Ledo arrives on one of the fleets called Gargantia. With no knowledge of the planet's history or culture, he is forced to live alongside Amy, a 15-year-old girl who serves as a messenger aboard the Gargantia fleet. To Ledo, who has lived a life where he knows nothing but fighting, these days of peace continue to surprise him.

Summary Source: ANN

Summary from: http://myanimelist.net/anime/16524/Suisei_no_Gargantia

Personal Ratings: 2.5

Mecha gundam type, but it's not really the typical mecha animes out there. 

Overall, there were many interesting plot twists on the characters as to which group was bad and which group is good. For people whom you may think be good, somehow turns bad. There are also parts where those bad people unexpectedly do good stuff. So in the end it's really quite unexpected as to who is good who is bad. I think this type anime where by the good and bad people aren't really drawn using a clear line, makes the anime a little more unexpected and less predictable. 
However, I did feel that their too specific and structured with their character developments (many stories, inclusive of Dramas and Mangas have this problem). For example, because they were going to show the fleet comander dying, they suddenly started showing us the scenes where he wasn't in good health. So it's really predictable that something would happen to him in the episode itself. I think that spreading out the character developments throughout the front part would have been better, because it makes the viewers feel more affection and curiosity of the character, before the real incident happening. 

Now, going into the more specific parts of the animes; starting from the front. 
The anime started out with a fighting scene. Honestly, I didn't really like their choice of weapon; laser beams. I'm going to talk about this under the arts section because it concerns more of the design than anything else. 

For the difference in language between the two groups of people, I didn't really like how they kept switching who was the one talking in Japanese. Usually they decide which side is the one talking in Japanese and stick with it whenever the two groups are talking to each other. But I guess to a certain extent, since both sides talk in a great extend, and honestly hearing a foreign language would feel weird and may get pretty annoying after awhile, this may be the right call. 

It was quite funny to see how Ledo reacts to things which are normal to us, like eating fishes and birds. Though i think it would have been better if earth was still earth, without much change from the one we are staying in right now, it would have given us at least one side to relate to. But than, they needed a reason for humans to be living in outer space. Though that point wasn't really made clear in the beginning, so it was a little confusing when he first landed on earth. 

Thought that they should have gave us at least half an episode worth of life in outer space. Or, when they actually tell us the differences between earth and outer space via words, They should have illustrate to us how is it like in outer space, and give us a little overview of how it really is it really like in outer space. Because the whole time, there was close to no scenes of life in outer space, so I can't really picture the whole thing out. 

Also, for the thing about Ledo's brother, they kind of made it such a big thing in the beginning where Ledo was crying and stuff like that, but there wasn't really anything much going on there. I was really anticipating something interesting and plot changing to happen, but nothing happened. 

For the later parts, where Ledo actually tries to use their language, I think it should have sounded like a more foreign sounding Japanese instead of a robot-ish Japanese. 

As for the two extra OVA episodes which were released after the completion of the whole anime, I thought that the episodes regarding the commander should have been told during the time Ledo and the commander were fighting but before he found out that he was already dead. Giving us the background of the whole story regarding the commander, would have probably not leave that kind of "what happened here: kind of feeling while watching that part. 
Also, I thought that since the OVAs were released after the completion of the anime, I thought that they should have made a little sequel on Ledo and this current life. 

Overall, not too bad an anime, but nothing that left an impression on me. 

Art Ratings: 3.5

Quite nice art, but I didn't really like the overall design of the clothes and mecha. 
I'm not sure if it's because of the way they designed the mecha, but having many laser beams shoot out at ones, somehow just didn't really seem that appealing, and in this anime it actually looked kind of lame. I know that they wanted to keep the whole future theme in check by using lasers instead of the traditional bullets and explosives, but it just didn't looked as cool as it should. I know other animes like gundam seed do have parts where their gundams actually shoots out many laser beams, but somehow they look really cool. I'm guessing that it's because of the variation of the sizes of the beams which makes it look a lot cooler. 

Recommended for:

Gender: Both

Age: 13 and above

My Ratings: PG-13