DTV Wonders: Leroy and Stitch

This movie is the finale to the both the franchise and the TV show. Fittingly for a finale it is about the importance of saying good-bye.

It begins with a bright opening mirroring the opening of first film, as they get the happy ending they have been striving for.  All the experiments are caught (well they are ignoring 625). Lilo is given big praise and made their ambassador to Earth, Stitch is given a military job with the Galactic Alliance, Pleakley is given the job of head of Earth studies at their community college, and Jumba is given his old Evil Genius lab back.

They refuse to leave at first and then miss the idea of their happy ending and then all leave when Lilo tells them it is okay, as she knows that is what they want.  Kind of odd to do it this slowly, but I think it works. It feels more realistic, and the scene where Lilo realizes Aloha also means goodbye means she must be fine with letting them leave is a nice callback to the first movie and a nice message about accepting your friends having to move on to different locations.  I see why this appealed to me when so many people left my school when I was in 7^th grade.  I will not lie and say I did not tear up.  It is the same music from the first one when they will all stay, and now it plays when they leave.  I have not seen the show in years, but I really enjoyed the little montage of the experiments being happy.  It also only takes up a few minutes, but it then gets slow showing everybody but Stitch not being happy.

The first 25 minutes do get slow and then Hamsterviel joins Jumba.   Surprisingly that makes it slower, as developing Leroy takes a while. I hears dome fans are mad at the idea of Leroy being called “Experiment 628,” but I remember a commercial calling him that.  I am surprised Jumbaa just does what they want at gunpoint, and the next few minutes are very slow.  Jumbaa’s music failsafe is too obvious.  It oddly picks up when Hamsterviel names the new experiment, since Gantu keeps pointing out every name he suggests is taken and seems to have grown really attached to his prey.  I think that fits his character since Gantu is a professional who knows and respects his enemies. 

Stitch arrives and battles newly named Leroy, and this makes no sense.  Gantu and Stitch’s crew are there, so why are they battling one on one?  Also Stitch is a pro and should win easy.  Pleakley shows up to check on Jumba distracting Stitch resulting in a victory for Leroy and all three being captured.  At least it was a good fight.

Lilo has no problem recognizing Leroy is not Stitch in spite of his shape shifting powers, and she convinces Experiment 625 to help her.  Honestly naming him “Reuben” and getting him to become ambitious is surprisingly underwhelming.  However it is fun seeing him use all his powers and intelligence to fix the space ship. In the show Reuben is my favorite character, and this gives him the obvious, yet satisfying ending of joining the heroes and using his great powers when he now has something to actually motivate him.

Stitch, Jumba, and Pleakley escape, which should have happened later to keep with the low point of Leroy capturing every experiment, Hamsterviel taking over the Galactic Alliance, capturing Lilo and Reuben, and him going to Earth to destroy them all. 

Gantu has really been the real brains lately pointing out their potential obstacles, which makes it a bigger deal when Hamsterviel fires him.  You probably get the drill, as this movie is predictable.  Rueben talks about Aloha, and Gantu switches sides.  Gantu is then amazed to see Reuben using his great powers.

With only one quarter of the movie left they reunite, and Lilo and Stitch are finally together again. On one hand this makes it really stick out. On the other hand them being together is such a key part of the franchise.

They save the experiments with the giant cannon on the college van. Why does college van have a giant cannon on it?  Maybe it is for space pirates or all the other dangers in space in this universe.

They have a good fight with Leroy and his seemingly endless hordes of clones Hamsterveil made, and it turns on them.  As a fan of the show this is really cool to see except when “Clyde” is called “Floyd.”  That really messes with it.  After that they play “Aloha Oe” the failsafe song.  Why not do that earlier?  This song feels both underwhelming but also very fitting for this franchise.  After all the first one ends the major plot by holding up a two dollar receipt.

They all want their old lives back except Gantu and Reuben who get a job together with the Galactic Alliance. As predictable as this movie overall was Gantu becoming a hero was not something I saw coming until around a 3rd of the way in.

It ends with a giant group picture and then all the Leroy clones dancing to “Jailhouse Rock” around angry Hamsterveil. Should have reversed when these happened.

It is hard to give this movie my usual rating. As a finale to a series it is great. It is much more lacking if you have not seen the show. I will give it Four Tree Stars. It is predictable, but a great way to end the franchise for its characterization, and I love the lesson. Part of aloha is “bye.” It is about both saying goodbye, but also bye to your old self. It might mean coming back, but like Gantu and Reuben it can also mean an entirely new and better life. They are the best characters this movie, as they are the ones who actually move on. Gantu, as he is forced to and does not try to force it back. Reueben, as he wants to be better than what he currently is.

Next time I will look at a movie that was made to be a huge deal and never caught on.

Obscure Animation: The Adventures of Scamper the Penguin

Sometimes my reviews/analyses are really long, as the subject is really deep. This is not one of those times. Sometimes a movie is just about watching cute drawings.

This is the American dub of a Soviet-Japanese film, and to what I can tell the British version is far better and more faithful. Unlike The Seventh Brother where I think the changes to make it lighter helped the film by making it more relatable while keeping the darkness of the original this version just removes everything but cutesy designs.

I am not reviewing the American version to get a worse version. I am doing it since that is the version I saw when I was the target age, and my past history with reviews says to do that. Again it worked really well for The Seventh Brother, so this has no excuse.

It starts with a very generic song to open it. It was supposed to skip to the narration and some very pretty animation of the Northern lights, but only the British Dub kept that. Then the narrator talks about the dangers of The Antarctic in a voice that is way too happy. The most interesting thing about this movie, going back and forth between them to see how little things like slightly better word choices, a better narrator, and better music really make another version better.

When the fathers are watching the eggs the seagulls attack with a really corny song being played.  It really kills the mood when Gilbert (Scamper’s father) saves a few eggs while all the other males left.  In spite of the mood being killed we do see why Gilbert is the leader when Scamper is born.

Next group of scenes introduces Scamper as playful and admiring his heroic father, but some older penguin convinces him he must use the gift of life to explore and think for himself.  Then another bad song plays.  While doing this he is attacked by seagulls, but thankfully they have really sucky aim.  He befriends a puppy named Cowboy and the movie is already 1/4^th the way over.  Last review was a movie that is really full of details.  This is very empty of details.

Except how scary the heroic human looks.

The elderly penguin tells them all the dangers.  This is the most posted clip from the movie, and I find it pretty boring and do not have any memories of watching it as a kid. It might be that the clip is actually from the British version which includes the orca killing a leopard seal showing the predators are not united, but here that is absent.

The next few scenes are Scamper and Snowball playing. Snowball is Scamper’s friend and not-love interest, and she was saved by his dad during the sea gull attack. She is a coward who wants to be brave, so she follows Scamper.

He and Snowball are saved by the dog and the man, and the other penguins do not believe him due to men and dogs being evil, and we are at the halfway mark.

Snowball and Scamper leave to try to learn to fly, and they get lost. They are attacked by a leopard seal and this starts good until Scamper throws a snow piece that in mid air gets way bigger and clogs its mouth.  It does not help this scene is full of reused animation from earlier in the movie and that one scene.

One annoying detail is there are many scenes of them quietly waving. Now voices were added, so they keep talking with their beaks closed. It is really distracting.

They are rescued/caught by zoo workers.  In the original they are poachers.  Now instead of dying the stakes are just going to a zoo.  They meet Louis who has already been caught.  For the viewers’ sake it helps to be anti-zoo, but I am not.

A random stick washes on the boat allowing them to escape.  This is the main problem.  Random things keep working out for them.  It is like there is little weight to the consequences.

They get off the boat as a really corny song plays.  It I kind of funny.  Scamper reasons they are older now (by a few hours) so they can swim, and it works.

They get home but everybody is gone.  It would be sad, except the music is still playing the happy song when they rode blue whales home.  It fits so terrible.

Then everybody is right there for a happy reunion.  Then the old Penguin tells them all the other children have been captured by the zoo workers.  They they try to save them and a giant wave saves them.  Narrator says nobody was hurt.  That was an eventful last few minutes with no clear mood.

In the original work and British Dub Gilbert, Scamper’s dad, perished along with several other penguins.  Now he is just absent when Scamper is declared the leader even though nobody was hurt, so he should be fine.

I miss Ghostbusters Afterlife so much. I do not remember caring for this at the target age, and the two times I have watched it since have not been kind to my memory. All the interesting and good stuff was removed. The only redeeming quality left is some cute animation. Two tree Stars.

Next time is Leroy and Stitch. I hope this is as good as I remember.