A Statement before we begin –
tytdreviews.com/2026/01/03/a-word-on-j-k-rowling/

I feel like ‘Goblet of Fire’ kind of marks the beginning of the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise re-finding its feet. After the last two entries tried leaning into ‘darker fantasy’ and ‘moody emo tone’ by way of the live action Tim Burton Movies. This entry sees things evolve a little bit from ‘Azkaban’ and the ‘sweet spot’ is more or less found for how this series will look, act and feel from this point on up to the finale.

Do I like this aesthetic? well, I wouldnt have chosen it personally. But I dont actively hate it, it’s a vibe that I just kind of accept, but quietly moan about. I think the main issue I have with it, is it just feels so drab and washed out, especially compared to the other entries. all those rich reds, greens, golds and ‘warm white’ tones from the first two films have essentially been replaced with greys, blacks and washed out browns, everythings so desaturated as to almost be painful. Had they gone for a more colour rich and deeper palette, I think this could have looked truely extroadinary…As it stands its ended up looking like most video games of this era , and has more in common with ‘Twilights’ colour palette than anything else.

I appreciate im in the minority on this opinion, people clearly like the aesthetics and tone of this film as Warner have spent the last 2 decades solely making merch in this style and tone. But I just find it kind of drab and lifeless.

With that in mind, I think technically, this still holds up pretty well, the direction and cine are sharp, clearly thought through and distinctive for the time, the edits relatively tight (almost to a fault…but more on that later) and the scenes are deep and detailed, in spite of an overreliance on CG and special effects. Realistically, this is a big budget fantasy film, and if thats the vibe your looking for (with some laughs and darker moments along the way) then i’d struggle really to think of a better example.

However; its the scripting for this one that really kind of hobbles it for me. Bearing in mind, this is one of the longer books in the series, and its runs 3 minutes shorter than ‘Chamber of Secrets’ (the 2nd shortest book in the series). The sheer amount of content thats been trunkated, changed or just cut out all together is frankly baffling, and as someone who’s listened to this book multiple times. I still cant quite believe just HOW MUCH of the original plot is missing.

Entire sub arcs involving the house elves are gone, scenes during the tri-wizard tournament are altered to remove character development, or extended, removing the more subtle and succinct charm of the books. These are important elements that help set up the next few films and books, and they simply dont exist here. I would say at least a third of the books plots, set ups and deeper moments have been axed all together or heavily changed.

And, as someone who’s read and seen this now, it makes the film version feel incredibly uneven by contrast, we have a rushed opening act, that gives way to a lumpy and uneven middle act, crashing into a final act that feels as if you’ve been ranted at by a lunatic for the last 2 hours. Its definitely a thrill ride in some regards, but its frankly exhausting by the end credits. and doesnt make for the best of viewing experiences.

The new characters here have slightly botched introductions, meaning when they get more of a presence in later films, it feels weird. and key characters from this book are missing entirely, completely nuking other characters only real reason to be here (poor Fred and George!)

This was probably the 2nd of 3 peaks for ‘Harry Potter’ mania. The series was running about as high as it could run around this time, and ultimately; this film just kind of feels a bit rushed and uninspired by contrast. Yes the performances are still fun, and theres a handful of decent ‘sketch’ moments here and there, but it feels inescapable that the production didnt really know how best to handle what is ultimately probably one of the more complex Harry Potter books. The Triwizard tournament in and of itself would have been MORE than enough to be getting on with, but its also running with plenty of hormonal teen subplots, AND trying to set up elements that’ll pay off in later installments. Its a lot, and I dont feel like they quite nailed it here.

This far into the series, I’d say if you didnt like ‘Azkaban’ it might not be worth going any further. I ultimately found this one inoffensive for the most part, with just enough good things to keep me on board, but I cant say I inherently loved it. The visual spectical and that handful of funny/solid moments is doing a LOT of heavy lifting for this film. and the gulfs where that isnt happening is frankly quite deafening.

i’d rewatch this one again, but I think its definitely one of those films where i’d keep my phone on standby for idle scrolling. Definitely a ‘background’ movie.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/harry-potter-and-the-goblet-of-fire/

A Statement –
tytdreviews.com/2026/01/03/a-word-on-j-k-rowling/

1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
4. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/list/the-harry-potter-films-ranked/

A Statement before we begin –
tytdreviews.com/2026/01/03/a-word-on-j-k-rowling/

The third entry in the ‘Harry Potter’ series and the last film I bothered to read the book adaptation of. ‘Prisoner of Azkaban’ is quite literally just a ‘fine’ movie. and while the elements and characters this film sets up will get a lot more love and depth in the later sequels. For now, this feels almost like the germination point for where the rest of the series will go thematically and aesthetically from here on in.

Visually, theres a big shift away from the more whimsical fantastical fantasy aesthetic and styalisation, into a more moodier ‘Tim Burton-esq’ dark fantasy. Im personally not a huge fan, but it was the style at the time and if you dont much care for it here, well…buckle up because theres 5 more films in this style to come.

Technically? I cant really fault this film, its at least trying to stand on its own two feet when compared to ‘Chamber of secrets’ which felt like it was trying to ape ‘Philosophers stones’ visuals unsuccessfully. ‘Azkaban’ isnt trying anything ‘new’ exactly, but it also isnt trying to retread old ground, so I do have to give it that.

Its also almost 20 minutes shorter than ‘Chamber of Secrets’ so it has that going for it, the script itself feels a bit more nippy and story driven, theres definitely less randomly ambling around following the day to day school antics at Hogwarts, and more of a clear 3 act story with progression and drivers for the characters motivations. I dont really care much for the mopier blunter tone this films going for, characters are generally moodier, sadder and more aggressive. Which is a shame. But given they’re appealing to the ‘alt’ crowd of the 2000s…they could have gone WAY more cringe than they ultimately did.

The scripts pacey, has a good 3 act structure thats evenly balanced, tells a half decent story fairly well. Im not the biggest fan of the time travel elements in this one, but on this rewatch, I have to say I enjoyed it more than last time, theres less distinctly memorable moments in this one compared to the other two, but what it lacks in distinction it makes up for in consistency.

The performances are once again pretty rock solid, Im not entirely won over by Michael Gambon as Dumbledore in this one, he’s not nearly mild mannered enough and has seemingly decided that Dumbledore should be more irrassible than welcoming…and that doesnt improve as the series goes on…STILL! David Thewliss is an absolute delight as Lupin in this one, as is Gary Oldman as Srieus Black. I have no notes, they’re pretty much perfect casting for me. and the score seems to have had a bit of a kick up the pants with a slightly more skatty Jazz vibe to it this time around. An odd choice…but I like Jazz, so it works for me.

All in all? this entry feels like the series is finally deciding what direction it needs to move in tonally. But unfortunately, I dont think its a tone I personally like. The loss of sincere tender moments and genuine fun makes this entry feel less like a fun adventure family movie, and more like the cringe inducing readings from a teenagers diary.

Its a solid enough production, and I know they get better as they go on. But I spent most of this film kind of wishing it would just get to the next ‘good’ bit.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/harry-potter-and-the-prisoner-of-azkaban/

A Statement before we begin –
tytdreviews.com/2026/01/03/a-word-on-j-k-rowling/

A somewhat ‘rocky’ continuation into the film adaptations of the Harry Potter books. ‘Chamber of Secrets’ takes everything I liked about the adaptation of ‘Philosophers Stone’ and basically goes ‘Pfft. we dont NEED that kind of pleasent and well made craftsmanship, we need ONE OFF MOMENTS!’ Because, thats pretty much the only thing I enjoyed when it came to this film. a series of about half a dozen or so disconnected moments totalling about 5-10 minutes of the films full 2 HOUR AND 40 MINUTE RUNTIME OH MY CHRIST.

I dont know what possessed them to make the 2nd shortest book in the series the longest film adaptation, but I for one was definitely not a fan.

The script itself isnt exactly unpleasent, but its really just a bit of a nothing burger. a murder mystery where half the plot elements are pulled out of the authors backside to make it make sense, and while I remember the book being quite pacey in getting all the set elements in place and then letting the events unfold, the film version is in NO rush, plodding along barely mustering any kind of tension, and tripping over itself to put silly gags and random gurning to the camera in as many scenes as possible.

It feels like the production REALLY wanted to go into dark and gritty terratory, and the book does have some darker themes. But rather than using the preferred formula of whimsy and light comedy contrasting darker/sadder moments. Here they go for emo level darkness contrasting Tim Burton style physical comedy. and it just doesnt pack the right punch for me.

The characters overexplain EVERYTHING, WAY more than they did in the first film, scenarios and scenes drag on and on endlessly. and again, while I didnt hate this one. It seemed to do the absolute barest of minimums to keep me on side just about.

The cine and direction are fine enough, though this entry seems to favour more CG over practical effects, I know as the series goes on practical effects become a rarer and rarer thing, but I do miss a good model shot here and there when it could have worked. Technically, I cant really flaw this production it looks pretty solid, especially for 2002 higher budget cinema.

The performances are mixed, again I wont really go into detail on the kids performances, but I will say it feels like some of the cast have almost regressed in understanding their characters in this entry, Where they nailed the characterization in the first film. I will once again compliment Alan Rickman because…why not? he’s usually the best part of these movies. and I do have to credit Kenneth Branagh as Gildroy Lockheart, a wonderful realisation of the smarmy, self centered ‘perfect guy’ and Branagh plays all the twists and turns that come with it beautifully.

The scores kind of unremarkable, essentially rehashing the first films score, and its just more of the same, it helps keep the continuity going, but there arnt really that many well used moments, and a lot of the newer tracks sound kind of derivative of the older work.

In short ‘Chamber of Secrets’ is an ‘Arse Numb-er’ of a film. but not an unpleasent one. A Middling effort with a handful of fun moments, some decent (for the time) set pieces and special effects and some great performance turns. But that 2 hour 40 runtime is a SERIOUS blockade for me when it comes to rewatches, and I dont know how Kids today would take such a long and fairly uninteresting production. I reckon it’ll be a while before I respin this one again.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/harry-potter-and-the-chamber-of-secrets/

A Statement before we begin –
tytdreviews.com/2026/01/03/a-word-on-j-k-rowling/

And without further ado;

Its been probably about 5-6 years since I last revisited the original ‘Harry Potter’ films, I was never a particularly big fan of the series, I caught the first two films when they came out, but had a pretty sizable gap before seeing the third film, and it wasnt until around 2015 or 2016 that I finally watched all the other films for the first time. Tonight, me and my partner decided to go through the whole series again, but the first couple of films WELL exceed 2.5 hours, so its going to be one we do in chunks for the forseeable. Starting with the first film, and probably the one im most familiar with, and honestly? I found it to be a bit of a mixed bag.

On the one hand, visually? for a 25 (soon to be 26) year old film that relies heavily on CGI and special effects, I found this film remarkably held up quite well! some of the effects are creaking a bit by this point, but given that there are big budget studio films released in the last 12 months that dont hold up as well as this film does, thats pretty miraculous honestly.

Christopher Columbus clearly bedded himself firmly into the world of Harry Potter for this entry, as the end result is a striking and, for the time, destinct and vivid vision that blends various ‘classical’ period styles into an eccentric, but delightful tapestry. This entry in particular always felt a lot more whimsical and festive to me than some of the other entries. a film thats aiming more for a light hearted fantasy aesthetic and isnt afraid to lead with gentle visuals, and then contrast them with the odd stronger, darker scene or two.

the cinematography is rich, deep, crisp and colourful. the sequences are nicely hung together, and for a 2.5 hour feature, this really does move at a clip. honestly; on a technical level, theres very little I have to say about this production, other than its a very well handled and technically impressive for the time feat, and that I can totally understand how, for the time, this became the captivating theatrical piece that launched a generation of Millenials into a mad frenzy.

However; if I do have to pick fault with anything, the script would probably be it. Having read the book a few times growing up, it was noticable this time especially just how far afield the film goes compared to the book. entire backstories are just blatently abscent, and the front end of the book is particularly edited down, removing a LOT of action involving the Dursleys and chopping down/smoothing over a lot of character development and more entertaining moments between Harry and the rest of the cast.

Its so glaring as to really put me off the production, because so much of the more charming materials from the book have just been airlock’d. Not helped either by the elements of the book that WERE quite questionable (having the one Irish character be called ‘Seamus Mcfinnigan’, and having him be notorious for causing explosions is I feel…a bit rum.) being retained in full, and in some cases expanded into recurring running gags.

I guess what im saying is, and this is the case with most of the films in this series, if you are familiar with the books, the films will feel like entire continents have been deleted from them. Im still sore ‘Peeves’ (played by Rik Mayall) got entirely removed from the film for no good reason.

As a result, to me, the first act feels rushed and missing a lot of the setup and charm, the second act feels kind of pedestrian, but keeps things moving along just about, and the third act feels like a mad race to the finish, with an ending that doesnt really feel like we just experienced a film, rather we’ve ‘paid to play’ for a couple of hours, and our times run out. Come back next time.

This combined with the aforementioned rum tones and jumpy narrative does hinder the film ultimately, resulting almost in a ‘two tier’ viewing experience, where fans can ‘fill in the gaps’ while us movie povvo’s are forced to just GUESS why things have happened on screen.

As unfotunate as the scripting is, the cast are delightful. I wont talk about the kids performances in this because, this was essentially most of the child actors first gigs, so it would be a bit unfair of me to judge them given the stakes they were dealing with. However I can say that broadly speaking the casting is about as solid as could be hoped. Richard Harris, Robbie Coltraine, Maggie Smith, Alan Rickman and Richard Griffiths could not BE any closer to their print counter parts if they tried and they absolutely nailed the brief consistently. just their presence in this film is enough to lift the whole thing up in spite of its faults.

Throw in a delightful and, by this point frankly ‘iconic’ score from John Williams, and you essentially have a flawed production, that just about lands on the ‘positive’ side of the fence. Of all of the films in this series, this is the one i’d be most inclined to say im ‘fond’ of. If memory serves, there are better entries to come in this franchise, but this entry is the one that i’d say comes the closest to giving me a sense of ‘nostalgia’.

Do I think kids today would enjoy this one? if they have patience, then I think they might. But at 2.5 hours long, I think younger kids would really struggle to sit through all of this unless they were pre-invested. and; lets be honest, non of us should be giving J.K. Rowling a sodding penny these days. So…probably not a recommendation from me here.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone/

This series just continues to surprise me, its a rare thing to see a series where each sequel ACTUALLY improves and just gets a bit better. But here we are. after leaning a little bit more into referencing Sonic 2,3 and Sonic and Knucles in the last film, The studio finally decided to take the handbreak off and adapt probably one of the campiest and bizarre ‘lore’ shake ups in the series history.

I LOVE ‘Sonic Adventure 2’, as a game has it aged well? no. It has a lot of filler and the controls feel like trying to guide your characters through cement at all times. But do I love the vibe of it? you abso-bloody-lutely better believe it. So when I heard they were going to be using SA2 as the base for this movies adaptation I was frankly kind of delighted, in fact, it was when I heard they were going to use this as the base that my interest in this series actually began really.

So the plot is as follows, after the events of the last movie Eggman is presumed dead, and the army have formed a new taskforce with shutting down alien engagement in any way known as G.U.N (as subtle as a brick, and the film acknowledges that). At a secret prison complex occupied by G.U.N, a top secret experiment called ‘Project Shadow’ has been kept in stasis for 50 years, and the film opens with hackers interrupting the stasis cycle and freeing Shadow, a rogue black and red hedgehog with anger issues, from his entrapment.

Shadow promptly destroys the prison complex, takes out all the guards and flees to Tokyo, causing carnage and forcing G.U.N to recruit the ‘Sonic’ team to go deal with him. They get promptly whooped, and so Sonic and co have to fall back on ‘Stone’ Eggmans henchman for help…only, Stone reveals that Eggman survived the last movie and has been slobbing out trying to keep a low profile.

But when the team tell Eggman that the hackers involved in the incident used Eggmans signature moves to free Shadow, he becomes enraged and an unlikely alliance forms to find out who the hackers REALLY were, and to stop Shadow from enacting a 50 year old plan of vengence, with dire consiquences for humanity!

As mentioned, the biggest thing that drew me to this entry was exactly HOW they were going to handle the plot of SA2. The games plotting is pretty insane and border incoherent, with plot lines revolving around cloned demons, Impersonation, Flat out child murder, prototype gods, bio/cyborg engineering and large breasted bat ladies thieving shards of the master emerald. Its…an interesting turn on a series that up until this point was happy kind of just chilling in the woods freeing woodland critters for 75% of the playtime.

And, while I really wasnt surprised at all that there wasnt a 1:1 reimagining of the game to a film medium, I was a little dissapointed in some ways. the very corest of core plot elements are here (Shadow being freed, vaguely framing Sonic for a few crimes, and the final act is VERY vaguely similar to the game) but a LOT of the harder darker edges have been sanded RIGHT down, and a LOT of the campier elements of the games vibe and personality have also all but been sanded off. Shadow the hedgehog in the games is a campy, flouncy and ultimately lovable LGBT Icon, here? he’s a bit of a mopey teenager, and thats a shame. While Tails and Knuckles get a LOT more character development and more personality put on the screen, Sonic and Eggmans characters feel almost toned down as a result of them trying to keep continuity with the previous films vibes and aesthetics.

While big elements of the SA2 storyline are abscent, things like the Bio-lizard and the Chao’s are represented in fun little cameos, they also occasionally drop the odd line from the game into the movie which I thought was nice, along with 1 or 2 music cues from the game. Which again was a welcome addition to me, though Its a shame they didnt lean more into the games plotting honestly.

The script itself is probably the strongest one to date, we once again get some nice references to in game levels and cut scenes such as the Green forest, City escape,Pyramid Cave, and Final Rush, though I do think the series is starting to suffer a little bit in that the human plot lines and the furry plotlines seem to now be forming as an A-plot and B-plot, rather than melding together as they have done in the previous entries. Which is a shame as there were points in this where it felt like I was just watching a generic action comedy movie, and I had to remind myself that Sonic and the gang had been abscent from the screen for almost 10 minutes while the humans just…did humanny stuff.

The pacings pretty rock solid, all the acts move at a good pace and for an hour and 50 minutes long, it really didnt feel it. The tone and vibe is pretty solid once again, though I do wish they’d censored less. I want child murder to be graphic and directly caused by the army damnit!

Hell, even the many performances of Jim Carey in this film didnt grate in quite the same way they did in the last couple of movies, here there are some genuinely eggman-esq moments on display, and…the BIZARRE imagery conjured up when Carey is on screen makes some Japanese commercials look like the shipping forecast.

It ends about as strongly as it could have ended, and with ‘Sonic the hedgehog 4’ coming out in early 2027 (and mild spoilers, but its looking like its going to be taking elements from ‘Sonic CD’, which…I dont like that game much, but I LOVE the concept and Metal Sonic, so Im actually kind of delighted honestly) I feel that this film offers both a satisfying conclusion to its own story, and a good jumping off point if the 4th entry doesnt quite meet the hype.

Direction, Cine and editing are all once again on point. No real criticisms from me, the CG is looking quite a bit better than the last 2 entries, though how long that’ll hold up given the last 2 entries CG aging awfully in less than 5 years…only time will tell, The performances are great once again with Keanu Reeves adding a nice addition as Shadow, he’s got the right tone and vibe for the character, I just wish they’d given him a few more scenarios to really flounce a bit more. But hey, beggers cant be choosers.

The score is a nice mix of genuinely lovely orchestral pieces and remixes/rearrangements of sonic stage levels from the first game up to SA2, I do wish thered been a few more SA2 score remixes in there, my kingdom for an orchestral ‘Metal Harbour’ or ‘City Escape’ sequence. But otherwise, its about as solid as I could have hoped.

‘Sonic the Hedghog 3’ Once again firms up the franchise and offers a tighter, more well rounded viewing experience, with improvements across the board, the humour is now about as tight as I think they can get it and contrasting it with some darker tones in this entry made the funny bits all the more entertaining. It looks great, it has border immaculate vibes and I had a really fun time with this one, I hope they keep the momentum up for the next entry, and in the meantime, I have a ‘Knuckles’ spin off show to catch up on…

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/sonic-the-hedgehog-3/

After being pleasently surprised by the first film, I dove straight into ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ without any real idea of exactly where they were going to take the series. The first film struck out with a new origin story for Sonic and Robotnik, a new location and light references to the expanded universe of Sonic media, but no direct ties. But it seems like this time around, they were quite a bit more open to diving more into the Sonic franchises lore and history.

The plot of this film opens with Robotnik still trapped on the mushroom planet after the events of the last film, but he’s rigged up some kind of communications satellite and using one of Sonics quills he sends an energy signal blast off the planet and deep into space, some time later his message is seemingly ‘recieved’ when a ring portal appears on the planet and from it walk some guards (who Robotnik takes care of reletively quickly) followed by ‘Knuckles’ the Echidna, the last of a fierce warrior race who is searching for Sonic and a mysterious gem known as ‘The Master Emerald’.

Meanwhile, back on earth, Sonic has decided to take up ‘hero-ing’ as a profession, with mixed to poor results. After a pep talk with Tom, Sonic agrees to reign in being a hero, and rather than chasing the goal, to wait for the right moment to present itself. With that Tom and his partner leave Sonic in charge of the family home for a few days, as both Tom and Maddie are going to Maddies sisters wedding in Hawaii.

Once they’re gone, Sonic tears the house up eating junk food and partying. But all that comes to a close when Eggman shows up WITH Knuckles and violent fight ensues. Sonic is nearly destroyed, but help arrives in the form of Miles ‘Tails’ Prower, a plucky little fox who’s one of Sonics biggest fans, who manages to rescue Sonic and get both of them to a place of safety.

Its here where the full plan is revealed. Tails saw Sonics antics from the first movie using advanced tech and decided to leave his village to team up with Sonic as help, Tails then reveals a secret in a map given to Sonic before he was sent to Earth which reveals that, many years ago a war between the Echidnas and the Owls over the master emerald nearly spilled over into widespread destruction. But that the Owls managed to secure the master Emerald and hide it on earth in a secret location, and that Sonic was supposed to become the Emeralds new guardian, but late on the job. The map given to sonic will lead him to a compass, which in turn will lead him to the Emerald. But Knuckles knows all of this already and Robotnik has convinced him that Sonic is an evil entity bent on using the Emerald for total universal destruction.

And so a race ensues with Sonic and Tails teaming up to try and track down the Emerald before Robotnik and Knuckles can find it, and…as you can imagine an inevitable betrayal is on the cards…

The first film pretty much created its own springpad with only very loose cosmetic references. But ‘Sonic 2’ here seems to have decided to try and pool elements of Lore from ‘Sonic the hedgehog 2, 3 and Sonic & Knuckles’ into a semi-coherent movie.

What I mean by pooling lore, is that there are several scenes in the movie that are meant to be ‘homages’ to levels within those sonic games ‘Ice Cap Zone’, ‘Water Labarynth Zone’, ‘Marble Hill Zone’ etc…and that elements from those sonic games such as end level bosses and game mechanics are also very present.

Obviously the big additions here are Tails and Knuckles, both of whome are VERY in line with the characterisations in games, comics and on screen. and I do have to compliment the team behind this picture for really getting to the core of what these characters are, and managing to distill all the qualities these characters have across their various media appearences into one, I would say fairly definitive’ characterisation.

Sonic, Tails and Knuckles here are polished examples of the last 30 odd years of there appearences, and its absolutely delightful to see them interacting in ways that have previously only been available in a limited capacity. While I still arnt 100% happy with Robotniks characterisation. I will admit that here, he’s closer to the good doctor than he was in the last film.

The script for this one is again, kind of generic, and once again it opens and ends strong, but the middle does sag just a little bit as we get bogged down in the logistics of the great treasure hunt. I will say this feels a lot tighter than the first film in many regards, but at just over 2 hours long, I do feel it could have lost 10 minutes from the middle and been all the stronger for it.

The humour in this has been polished up a little more, while I still loath the ‘meme’ humour and fart jokes, they are a lot less present here, and theres much more of a focus on the type of dry ‘alternative’ humour I enjoyed in the firtst film. Which was nice.

A reduction in the ‘NPC’ characters here was also welcome. But I dont quite feel the set pieces were as interesting as the first film, or as emotionally invested. I think the finale is stronger than the first film, but everything else is tighter, but less dramatic. Which is a shame.

Other than that, the cine direction and editing is the same as the first film, largely rock solid, but the visual effects again are surprisingly starting to creak a little only 3 years after this one came out, which is wild. There were also some moments where it all felt a little ‘TV Movie’ esq…which im not sure if its the result of a rushed production, or whether this had been considered for TV movie purposes…but some bits just looked a bit less polished than others.

The performances are great with the addition of Colleen O’Shaughnessey, the voice of Tails in the sonic games since the 2010s being a VERY nice tie in to the game universe, and Idris Elba absolutely OWNING Knuckles as a character, honestly; he’s the absolute best of this movie, really helping pull the production up quite significantly. While I still have some issues with Jim Careys turn as Eggman, I accept at this point that they’ve at least tried to work a bit more Robotnik into his performance, and this is likely the best we’re going to get. It may not be the Robotnik I want, but I cant deny that he’s at least entertaining.

Sonic the hedgehog 2, in my opinion is marginally better than the 1st film, while I dont think the story is quite as engaging and the grander set pieces are a little more underwhelming, I think the characters have gotten a lot stronger and more engaging, and the pacing has had quite a tightening up. I do prefer this one more than the first outing and would be much more happy to recommend this one to people, Though I think watching the first film would almost certainly be needed in order to fully get the benefit from this entry. With that in mind, I’d say watching these first 2 films is definitely worth your time!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/sonic-the-hedgehog-2/

Im a long time fan of the “Blue Blur” having cut my gaming teeth through most of the 90s, the ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ games pretty quickly became a firm favourite in my games library, I learnt the basics of platforming with the original games, the ‘Sonic Adventure’ series were two of my earliest games for the ‘Gamecube’, and even when the series has been utter UTTER dross as seen in ‘Sonic ’06’ and the ‘Wii’ exclusives, theres always been something kind of lovable about this franchise and series…That and the ‘lore’ of the franchise is frankly bewildering to the point of madness.

So when they announced they were making a movie adaptation of the series, I had mixed feelings, on the one hand, its a movie adaptation of one of my favourite video game characters, on the other hand, its a movie adaptation of one of my favourite video game characters aimed at younger children and cringey Millenials looking to desperately cling to their childhood by any means necessary. And then they hired Jim Carey to play Dr. Robotnik…and THEN ‘Covid’ properly kicked off….and THEN ‘Ugly Sonic’ and THEN the trailer which was filled with slightly cringey ‘present to 2020’ meme references…aaaaaand I basically wished it well and went back to lysol’ing my entire house every day for 2 years…

WELL! Theres 3 of these movies now, they’ve apparently been quite successful, and its ‘Voidmass’, that strange period between Christmas and New Years…I have a few months of a Paramount+ subscription left to go…So I gave it a go…I had fun with it.

The plot creates a somewhat new origin story for Sonic, here; he’s an orphan being looked after by a talking owl in the world of ‘Green Hill’, he’s an oddity with superhuman speed and lightning powers that have never been witnessed in this world before, and, from the off as part of a ‘just go with it’ insertion piece. the land has ‘Rings’ that can tear a hole in the fabric of space time to any world or reality that the thrower thinks of.

Life isnt perfect in Green Hill however, Sonic is told to hide who he is, which he refuses, leading to him being hunted by a tribe of Echidnas (Im sure THAT will become relevent in the sequel!) When his adopted owl mum takes an arrow to the knee, she casts a ring to a mysterious reality called ‘Earth’ and sends Sonic there with a bag of rings, warning him to stay hidden; and if he’s ever discovered to flee to the last safe reality, a mushroom planet with no other habitable life.

With that, Sonic is cast into ‘Green Hills’ Montana. Where he sets up a pretty cushy pad in the forest, and spends his days pimping out his crib and exploring the life and lifestyles of ‘Green Hills’ inhabitence.

Its here that we’re also introduced to Tom, Tom is part of the local law enforcement and is trying to find a ‘real’ cop job working the hardened streets of San Francisco as he’s grown bored of the stale local policing life that includes jumpstarting peoples cars, eating doughnuts and looking after stray ducks. Luckily for Tom, he gets the job! and him and his partner begin plans to move to San Francisco. Unluckily for Sonic, he’s grown deeply attached to Tom and his mundane life, and really REALLY wants things to stay exactly as they are.

On realising that he may never actually get to do half the things he wants to if he stays hidden, Sonic accidentally releases a large energy wave, which knocks out half the towns power and alerts the government. At first they think its an EMP attack, but then they realise it may be something more. So they bring in a psychotic genius, Dr. Ivan Robotnik, who immediately seizes control of the militaries budget and hardware and begins a desperate attempt to track down what or who caused the energy surge, for nefarious alterior motives.

Meanwhile Tom and Sonic accidentally end up meeting each other, and when Robotnik pieces this together, the pair must take off across country, avoiding Robotnik and the law, in the hopes of reaching San Francisco and getting Sonic to a safe new home. All the while making up for lost time via a ‘Bucket List’.

Having seen this one now, I feel I did somewhat judge a book by its cover. Up front, is it perfect? absolutely not. it is a flawed production, but did I enjoy it? I absolutely did.

The script isnt really offering anything new exactly, its basically a buddy roadtrip movie at its core, but its a pleasent enough one. Its ultimately more of a character piece, with the films success predominantly being levvied on how much you like Sonic, Tom and Robotnik as characters.

The pacing is pretty solid, keeping pretty consistent across all three acts, with maybe just a slight sag in the second act. The tone and humour is very much all over the place, but at its best it has some really nice dry humour, some good self aware stuff that wouldnt feel out of place on ‘Adult Swim’ and a few nice jokes for long time sonic fans across all the media formats he’s appeared in. At its worst, theres excessive ‘Flossing’ (I felt myself petrifying when that came on as I realised that was less than 5 years ago) and fart gags…Stay classy Sega…

I feel the film ends about as well as it could, nicely setting up a sequel, but maybe just a tad schmaltzier than I would have liked. for me though, the biggest wedge I had with this film lies in its characterisations.

The non series characters from this film, could just as easily be NPC’s for the amount of weight and depth they bring to the screen, the vast majority of them at this point did pretty much nothing for me, and legitimately gave me ‘appearing in an advert’ vibes. Tom is probably the closest to breaking that mold, but its a struggle and i’d say he suffers from the ‘commercial’ vibes for a good 70% of the runtime.

Obviously, Sonic is the main focus of this movie, and I think they nailed his tone and vibe more or less, I think in the games at least, Sonic is maybe a little more snarky and a bit more dry humour wise, but this feels like a good amalgam of his personalities across the games, Anime series and the Saturday morning TV Sonic. They’re all Sonic, and this Sonic is ALL Sonics.

Robotnik on the other hand? I struggled with, with the exception of the Satruday morning ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ TV series, Robotnik has almost always been portrayed as a genius scientist with a malevolent presence and a bizarre appearence. The whole reason the character looks the way he does is BECAUSE its supposed to lull people into a false sense of security around him, to make Robotnik look as if he couldnt really BE that bad…only he is.

Carey here?…is doing Jim Carey. He resembles the character of Robotnik in neither tone nor visuals. He’s doing the same ‘Ace Ventura’, ‘Bruce Almighty’, ‘Grinch’ routine he’s been doing for years, just less animated, and with less funny voices. He has a degree of malevolence, but not much else going for it. I actually find it kind of bizarre that Carey retired citing feeling tired with doing the same old routines…just to come back specifically to do this role….AND to do it multiple times…

In either case, I DO think hes a highlight of this film, but I just dont really think he’s playing ‘Robotnik’. And thats kind of a shame really, because I’d have loved to have seen an actual attempt and bringing that staunch genius menace and seriousness to the big screen, rather than just Carey going through the motions…

On every other front, the films fine. The direction and cine is pretty solid, though the visual effects are already showing some signs of creaking…which is concerning given the films only just about 5 years old. The cine is vibrant rich and detailed which is nice, the Bullet time sequences here are welcome and fun little additions, the edits pretty rock solid and the performances are all to Studio grade, there wernt any that I particularly loved, but I didnt actively hate any of them either.

I think post release, this film could stand to go back into the edit to clip out the 2019/2020 meme references, they aged like sour milk here and had me actually having to look up what the ‘fad’ of the day was at the time that warrented its inclusion here, but obscure jokes ‘from the day’ has been a problem with cinema going back to its fundamentals. as im sure there’ll be ‘6-7’ references in movies throughout 2026.

Ultimately; had this film been a standalone, i’d have maybe been a bit dismissive of it, pleasent enough, but not worth seeking out, but given its now part of a franchise with 3 (soon to be 4) entries plus a couple of TV series in the works. I have to see it as the base for a bigger picture. I didnt dislike it, but if this was all there is, I wouldnt have been won over by it. As it stands, its a fine enough story, reintroducing characters from a 30+ year franchise to a younger audience and setting the pieces up for many more adventures to come.

I had a fun enough time with it, I will be checking the sequels out, and I think if your a fan of the games, or of Sonic in general, you’ll probably get a kick out of this one, its not quite as coherent and curated as ‘The Super Mario Bros Movie’. But what it lacks in presentation, it more than makes up in presenting these characters and using a style of humour that Nintendo wouldnt touch with a barge pole. Proving once again that Sega do, what Nintendont!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/sonic-the-hedgehog/

I hadnt heard too much fanfare about ‘Moana 2’ ahead of checking it out, which is usually a pretty good indicator that it likely wasnt to be as captivating as the original. Indeed my feelings towards this film only grew more concerning when I learnt that this film only exists *as* a film because originally it was intended to be a 6 part ‘exclusive’ Disney+ series, till the funding got cut on the project, and essentially they had to take what they’d animated already, mush it together into a playdoh style ball of scraps and animate a few bridging pieces to help smooth it all over into an ‘as consistent as possible’ feature experience.

The film returns us to ‘the island’ and Moana is exploring the unexplored as a newly minted ‘wayfinder’ only, while checking out the smaller islands surrounding her home, she stumbles on a broken pot with artwork depicting a massive island under the stars, on returning home she learns that this Island was previously a waypoint for all the other islands in the surrounding area to mix and mingle and share in the joy and joy and joyness of each other, before a vengeful god took his anger out on humanity, sinking the island and putting deadly lightning tornado storms in the surrounding area to prevent the various islanders from ever interacting again. Its said that if a human ever sets foot on the island again, that the curse of the gods will be broken and a new age of prosperity will reign.

Cue, Moana; who puts together a ragtag band of generically likeable eccentrics to go on a great voyage with her to find Maoi (whos been trapped by the gods), dredge the island back to the surface and restore the great collaboration of the islands. or die trying.

Honestly? this kind of smacked of ‘background movie’ fodder to me. Something that was inoffensive enough to have on in the background while your doing something more interesting, but absolutely NOT something you’d put your full attention into.

Across the board it just felt like they were simultaineously trying too hard to force a sequel that, at this point, I feel didnt need to exist, while banking HEAVILY on people remembering the last film fondly.

As such you have a script thats trying to force the feeling of adventure and whimsy, that ALSO just CAN NOT help itself in making callback gags, follow up gags to the first film, or just…flat out recycling jokes and references from the last film. and I felt at multiple points across the runtime of this film the cold clammy grip of a corporation on my shoulder trying to usher me into feeling charitable and ‘on board’ with something I had absolutely no such feelings toward.

The script itself feels overly generic, the pacing is wonky, with the opening act once again taking an absolute age to get going, only this time its into a 2nd act that feels like a rushed hodge podge of ideas and random vignettes that didnt feel particularly well curated, and then finally we get dumped into a finale that felt rushed, and reductionist by comparison to the previous film.

The characters all felt kind of closer to ‘tools’ that people, the old guy Moana brings along with her is essentially reduced to just being grumpy and mild comic relief, he does basically nothing else for the whole thing. Maoi feels a lot less central to the plot, as does Moana…in fact, thats probably a big issue with this film really, it feels less like the characters driving the narrative, and more like the narrative throwing things at the characters and them just neutrally being pulled through it. Theres no stakes, no real development, and the rewards our characters get after going on this heroic journey feel inconsiquential and kind of bizarre given that the stakes (in my opinion) were significantly higher in the last movie.

While the art direction and animation are still fairly strong here, theres nothing really that ‘one ups’ the first films style and creative flow, the performances are fine enough, but again have a slightly unpleasent corporate ‘we’re here for the money’ vibe to it, the songs arnt as catchy or memorable as the first film, and theres WAY too many of them and they drag on for WAY too long.

All in all? Moana 2 is a sequel. and probably the most sequelliest sequal it could have tried to be. While there are a handful of genuinely fun and sincere moments across the full runtime, they are painfully few and far between and in every other regard this film is poorer than the original. Definitely not essential, if you or your kids enjoyed the first film, this is basically just more of the same, but less good. If you think you can live with that, then have at it.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/moana-2/

One of those movies that i’d seen in dribs and drabs over the years, but never fully given my attention, I decided to dive right into the original ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ over the 90s remake to see what made this such a much loved movie in the first place, and I totally get it.

The plot opens on Thanksgiving day, when a mysterious white haired, bearded man turns up to watch the Maceys thanksgiving day parade, and winds up berating and ultimately replacing a drunk actor hired to play Santa during the parade. After alls said and done, he does SUCH a good job that he’s hired to play Maceys ‘In store’ Santa, where he goes down an absolute storm after telling parents the best places to buy their kids much wanted christmas toys. The owners of Maceys are mortified at first, but realise that this approach brings in more customers than ever before, and higher profits. Causing them to pivot into becoming ‘the helping hand store’.

This is all too good to be true yes? Well, it is. Because the bearded man claims his real name is ‘Kris Kringle’ and that he’s the ACTUAL Santa Claus. Much to the confusion and dismissal of hard working realist divorcee Doris, who refuses to accept Kris’s story. Doris has a Daughter names Susan who she’s raising as a realist too, telling her that their is no Santa Claus and to take reality for what it is, rather than living in a fantasy. This somewhat bothers Doris’s coworker Fred, who has a bit of a thing for Doris, but it outrages Kris, who makes it his mission to not only prove to Doris that he IS the real Santa, but to help Susan nurture and develop her imagination.

Meanwhile, a pseudo psychologist working to do intelligence checks at Maceys has taken a GREAT disliking to Kris, and the feelings somewhat mutual. He wants Kris at minimum out of the store, and ideally committed, so he sets a trap in the hopes of snaring Santa, that will ultimately lead to the trial of the century! IS there REALLY a SANTA?!

I was very pleasently surprised by this one, it starts off maybe a little bit slow plot wise, but quickly picks up pace, delivering the kind of Schmaltzy christmas charm that you really want from a movie like this. The script is sluggish for the first 20 minutes or so, but then quickly picks up steam leading to a zippy second and third act that have a near perfect balance of light comedy, touching moments, romance and holiday cheer.

The act structurings are pretty evenly paced out, they dont rush things too badly and tonally its light and pleasent. The characters are all maybe a little *too* glossy stereotypical for my palette if im being honest, but I appreciate that this is a film from the 40s, when that kind of thing was all but unavoidable. The characters are well rounded and frankly delightful. With Doris bringing a dry and realistic edge to the situation, Kris being as delightful, charming and slightly irrasible as you could imagine Santa being, and Fred bringing a George Bailey level warmth to proceedings that helps act as the glue bringing these characters together.

Its a script that builds to a strong conclusion and sticks the landing. and its clear to me from story alone, how this has managed to stand the test of time.

Direction wise, its pretty reflective of studio pictures of the time, nothing too outlandish or ‘out there’ for the era. But its a good sturdy work, that again, holds up remarkably well for its age and delivers a genuine and sincere vision with the perfect level of energy.

Same goes for the cine as well, which again, isnt really breaking any boundaries on a technical level, but it does have a distinct grandness about it (the thanksgiving day parade footage itself is quite lovely) while also not shying away from mixing in good close up footage to really help bring the audience in on the action. This is largely edited together really solidly, and while It maybe would have been nice to have more B-roll and cutaways within the sequence structuring, Again, that wasnt entirely commonplace at the time, so it might be asking a bit much.

Performance wise Edmund Gwenn is a damn near perfect Kris Kringle, jolly, endlessly kind, patient and supportive, his warmth would melt the celluloid if it wasnt on Safety strip. he’s perfect here and pretty much makes the film what it is.

Same goes for Maureen Ohara and John Payne as Doris and Fred, they have fantastic on screen chemestry, Marueen plays the role with a genuiness that is unusual for this era of film makign and John compliments the cold realism with a bit more whimsical openness. These three actors frankly, were in the right place at the right time and toghether they achieve a rare lightning in a bottle moment honestly.

The rest of the cast keep things fairly campy, serious with a slight whimsy for comedic effect. its a solid production honestly. With only the soundtrack falling a little short, in the sense of…I dont actually remember any of the music in this film barring the occasional carol. I think it maybe would have helped if it had been a bit more prominent to the storytelling.

Ultimately? this is a lovely little Holiday classic, it hits all the right notes, aims for sincere over glossy and delivers the exact kind of cozy Christmas watching that I strive to find every year. Definitely one i’ll try and watch again next year and definitely recommended!

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/miracle-on-34th-street/1/