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The movie felt like 20 minutes to me. I don’t know how it feel like four hours to someone.

A comment earlier said this felt like a crisis of faith distilled into film form. This makes me wonder if either of you have seen “Falling” by Richard Durtcher, his last LDS-themed movie before stepping away from the faith. I heard it was very much that same feeling, his personal crisis of faith. I was just curious of your opinion on that film since I chose not to see it when it was out and there seems to be no way to watch it now that it’s gone.

Thanks for the review! I enjoyed this movie, but didn't love it. I'm a pretty big Tolkien (but not necessarily PJ) fan who doesn't watch a lot of animated content. I loved the landscape art, but thought the animation of the people seemed saturated and a little choppy, particularly in the beginning. Some of the visuals were stunning, though, particulrly of Helm, and that map transition in the beginning. I didn't like the frequency of PJ movie callbacks, and the ending definitely didn't work for me. The story was, fine, and I thought Hera was a sufficiently compelling character. I would have liked more of her relationship with her brothers. What I really felt missing was 1) more of Freáláf's story and 2) background and political context on the Dunlendings. I was disappointed in the lack of nuance in the depiction of them. But, despite these criticisms, I agree that it makes a fun Thursday movie. I'm not sure it's asking the audience to think much more deeply than that.

I loved this review! I think even as a woman who was thrilled leading up to this to see a story centered on a Rohan shieldmaiden, I align more with Alan on this one. I felt like a little too often Hera was too perfect, and I was hoping to see her struggle more internally (maybe with grief or despair, or overcome her own pride/hubris in a way her father and brothers couldn’t; was disappointed to not get much character growth from her in that way) and would’ve liked to see a little more nuance in Wulf’s villainy. Those are my main critiques though - I certainly got excited during a few cool scenes, loved the sound and character design, and overall had a good time. 5.5/10.

As someone who only watched the slime tutorial because I was curious, I did wonder how part 1 was as long as the entire play. I know those side stories are essential to part 2, but that 2hr 40 mins is a long run time. I think they could have trimmed 30 mins. I also think part 2 is rushed in the play, and if that is over 2hrs long, I'd understand.

It's no master piece like Peter Jackson's trilogy, but I really liked it. I have a few thoughts about how it could have been better, but nothing that brings it down too much. I know a lot of people wish Helm was the main character, but I think it's better to have someone else in this case. I think that with a crazy overpowered character like Helm it is more impactful to view their actions from someone else's point of view. And Helm still does all the crazy stuff he did in lore.

There is a history that was highlighted here. In every scene there were nods or callbacks or even cameos that relate back to the original Oz books, the Wizard of Oz movie, the Tin Man stage play, the book Wicked or the Wicked musical. There is a rich tapestry of Easter eggs for fans to geek out over.

One thing I found quite disappointing is the lack of impactful lines that weren't (or at least felt like) recycled from LOTR for fan service. I could hear Theoden and others, but not this movie's characters

If you say it's bad, I will be mad.

"People who were bad are good, and people who were good are bad." Incorrect. The "good guys" were always manipulative liars in TWOO, and the Wicked Witch only wanted her family heirloom back after her sister was killed. Glinda sent Dorothy on an unnecessary goose chase, and the fake Wizard sent her out on a hit. Also, this film is for people who felt "othered." I'm not surprised it didn't resonate with present company, but the reality of the film is about prejudice and privilege.

I've been watching you guys for years and just realized we share the same religion. Who woulda thunk?

The singers sang live...including Defying Gravity

I was so relieved to see a female character who is described as clever by other characters and actually does clever things. I do agree with Alan that Héra could have used more character depth and I think the place to do that would have been more focus on her friendship with Wulf. If they had really leaned into the friends to enemies arc, the ending would have slain us all emotionally. If I could mind map for a sec here...I'd have shown her as excited to see Wulf when she hears that Freca has arrived, maybe even have them briefly meet before the witan and she picks up on a new vibe from him that confuses her. He's being distant, not joking with her like she expects and has always been their dynamic. She's thrown. It's something she could quickly express to Olwyn (clearly her surrogate mother). It would give a little more groundwork for their private conversation afterwards where she realizes that it isn't just his crappy dad's ambition, Wulf genuinely wants to change their dynamic to a romantic one. (Hera gave me ace vibes, and that could easily be conveyed in Middle-earth appropriate ways. Also a man's refusal to accept a woman's rejection leading to destruction has precedent in this world- look up Maeglin, if you want to know more😬) Maybe Wulf reveals here some agreement with his crappy dad's ambition that Héra had always thought him against. The first crack in their friendship. I would add a sweet father-daughter scene after Wulf's banishment where Helm and Héra actually talk about these marriage offers. This could establish that Helm has been well aware that Héra does not want to marry, and since she's the youngest and a girl and it isn't as vital for her to marry as it is for Haleth (who needs to continue the line) he's been willing to put that off for the sake of her happiness. This would also be a great place to bring up the existing alliance between Rohan and Gondor; Helm could argue that with Wulf swearing revenge they need strong ties to Gondor more than ever- unlike Fréca, Wulf is a capable warrior and his people love him more than they did his father, establishing him as a genuine threat. Héra could respond "Is the oath of Eorl not enough? Does Gondor need my body also to call us friend?" This is the first place to seed in a theme of duty vs freedom with Héra. I think that would set her up for development, since she would have to step into greater and greater duty to Rohan over the course of the film. And as she rides into her final duel, she should definitely have said "I am the bride of Rohan". I really thought she was going to evoke Elizabeth I there and it threw me when she didn't. Anyway, that's my ramble of how I'd give Héra an arc. Forth Eorlingas!🐎 (And another thing ...I felt a distinct lack of Rohirrim/Anglo Saxon pageantry. They could have opened the witan with proper ceremony: in the absence of a queen, Héra is the lady of Meduseld and would be the one to greet honored guests with the ceremonial cup--"Westu hal, Wulf son of Fréca" with a friendly smile he doesn't quite return).

No, she wasn't naive or in any way shown as dumb, she was a young woman in a tense situation that was smiling and trying to appease the Hugh Grant character. She had noticed his hair was wet when he returned to the room, so she was aware something was wrong before we the viewer was (had we not been watching a movie obvs!), she was the one that had the gut feeling....and she was the one that Mr. Reed got completely wrong. There was no change to her character. she was a woman that suddenly realised that 'smile and appease' wasn't going to work, so another survival mode kicked in for her. I, and countless other women, will have experienced this feeling, probably numerous times. Funny it's only men I have seen interpret her character as 'suddenly changing'....

My husband, son, his girlfriend, and I all watched it. We commented about how bad it was but we all were laughing out loud. I think it was meant to be just what it was and everyone was in on the joke. I didn't regret watching it but I won't watch it again.

Have to dissagree with Alan. Boring/ Too long moments?? Where???? I'm not big fan of musicals but this one totally bought me. Wasn't bored even for a second

I kept laughing every single time they paused on defying gravity

lol I dindnt think the pacing was weird, I really enjoyed everything about it

I think my least favorite thing was Héra’s character design. There’s no reason she had to have this vivid unnaturally red hair and dress so differently from every other character of her culture. Even if she wasn’t blonde I would have preferred her to at least have a natural red hair color. Her appearance took me out of the story every time it cut to a shot of her. I have other gripes, but overall I had fun watching it and it’s good for what it is. I also give it a 6/10.

Please, watch "I'm still here" the Brazilian movie... I would love to watch you guys talking about it!!! ❤

wasn't bad....but really not that good either. To many decisions didn't make sense, they didn't properly explain others. Like why nobody threw Helm a rope when he was standing right there in front of the gate. Was expecting something bad, but in the end, I still overall enjoyed the movie, just wouldn't say it was good since it easily could have been better, could have easily stuck to the lore, and been 10 or 20 minutes shorter.

No way he said 5/10 😭

Hi Guys! I 100% burzillion % agree with Wild Robot being in the top tier of Dreamworks films. Love the impressionist with realism lens is so spot on, and the color and lighting so beautiful. I'm not a teary movie goer, but I really had to fight not to cry in this one. It's so good at touching your soul and has so many good themes and points. I love the quiet but persistent environmental throughline in the story. It totally speaks to you even if you haven't been a parent, or wanted to but don't forsee it happening, or if you are a parent, and those aren't the only relationship types it delves into. I think Wild Robot is my movie of the year for 2024. Thank-you your thoughtful and thorough reviews. Hayley ^_^

2 months after the fact😂 but still. I really liked it. I understood what Arthur was going through. Losing reality. Seeing his ‘Joker’ pop op everywhere, from the beginning on. With the pills and the umbrellas. Showing us it was right under the surface. Then the psychosis and Joker growing steadily. I can go on 😂. Even Harley. Being so extremely on his side, only to see she cares nothing for Arthur. She only wants Joker. I’ll definitely watch it again.

Have you guys watched Arcane on Netflix?? It is SO AWESOME, and also full of characters to therapize 😅

I see the movie as a metaphor for the last days. Believers and Disbelievers enter the same path, albeit through different doors, that eventually leads to being controlled, by their own choosing. In the last days there will be false prophets working miracles deceiving many. Regarding the character Sis. Paxton: The Apostle Peter changed, courage and conviction wise, after his conversion. Sis Paxton is, I assume, new to the mission and Sis Barnes is her senior w/ 9 investigator conversions. Sis. Paxton expresses concern about finding and converting someone. At the door of Mr. Reeds house Sis Barnes says let's get your first baptism During the exchange w Mr. Reed Sis. Paxton becomes stronger in her beliefs and exhibits greater confidence. ( Many critics think the sudden change out of character ) Sis Paxton is her own first convert.

I gave up on this video after the comment wondering whether 'Helm Hammerhand' had a pornographic connotation. Duh. Not going to waste my time listening to a bunch of guys who either don't know Tolkien's work or haven't even seen the movie yet make stupid and/or derogatory remarks about it. I'll wait for TCD's review once he's seen it. Might be more interesting and to the point.

I just got back from seeing this. I liked it but I was disappointed. I also thought the art, specifically the animation, was kind of weird. There was some odd movement here and there and a lot of floaty 2d animated characters on 3d settings. some of it almost looked rotoscoped. Its good but not great.

For me the first part of the movie was funny and light but i was wondering if it was too similar to High School Musical Sharpay-Mean Girl disney Descendants mixed with Maleficent and a make over Clueless style, also the Prince's song in the library was too long and i didn't care much about it. The second half of the movie gets better, i started getting all the pieces together and sort of recognizing the characters from the movie the wizard of OZ 1939 and i was really amazed by Cynthia's voice specially the ending i was not expecting what happened and i was very impressed. I even said wow in the movies and others said it as well the ending was really cool. I also liked the theme about respecting animals. I didn't notice how long it was, but my husband complained about it during the ending credits. Although I've never seen the musical before, i definitely enjoyed the movie. But because i have seen so many movies where the plot is in a high-school where there is always a mean blonde brat who bullies the quiet "ugly" authentic one i can't give it a 10/10.

I had no idea you two are Latter Day Saints! You've given me a lot to think about, not the least of which being that I should watch HERETIC!

The 2 sister missionaries actress both are ex-mormon's

i was at the show at the bowl that they were showing clips from at the end! plus my friends mom in the la phil showed in the movie as well. john williams changed the world

I agree with Alan about this film.

Don’t you put that Dorito-Shell Tacobell Evil on me 😡

I really wanted to like it. It was shit.

I really enjoyed this film when I first watched it. The voice acting was really good. The animation for the most part was well done. There were some spots where it looked rushed or just looked off but again good for the most part. But after replaying it in my head I realized that there were a few plot holes. The first was the archers of the rohirrim. When wulf approached helms deep , it looked like he was within range of the archers. So when he killed the prince in front of everyone, why didn't the archers just shoot him? If he was out of range then fine. The second was that they established that the enemy encampment was out of range of the archers. However, the enemy encampment could shoot their messenger birds. If they were on a equal technological level, that means that the enemy archers would have to be in range of the other archers in order to shoot down the birds. The only other option would be that the enemy archers bows had a longer range which means they could have laid down suppressing fire allowing the ground forces to advance on the keep. No need for that siege bridge. Then was helms death. They did a good job of depicting it as it was in the book however, they clearly show that four able-bodied men couldn't open the door cuz it was Frozen shut. However, helm and Hera were able to pry it open just enough for Hera to get through, with helm then being able too close it by himself. So in reality a couple more people would have been able to open it. The second was that the older shield maiden had a looking glass and could see the duo running through the camp meaning that the Snow wasn't obscuring visibility, meaning that the guards on top of the gate could have helped King Helm. What they should have done was have the snow be so bad that there was no good visibility for anyone and the only way for Hera to escape was to lower a rope down from the top of the gate leaving helm to stay on the ground for Hera to escape. Lastly, was the conclusion to wulf and Hera's fight. They clearly showed that wolf was stronger than Hera so she had to be quicker and smart but when wolf went for the sneak attack, All the sudden she can match him and was even able to pin him down. That sequence would have worked if wolf would have pushed her off, Go for his sword, but before he wouldn't be able to deliver The killing blow, Hera would grab her own sword and stab him in the gut. I would like to know that I didn't have a problem with Hers's character. It was just that one scene And then when Hera's left, it would have made more sense that she couldn't stay due to the fact that the death of her brothers and father was still too fresh in her mind instead of her wanting to go on an adventure. Again, I really wanted to like this movie but I just couldn't overlook those plot holes. So for me, 6 out of 10,

I normally like your videos, but this was painful to watch. I think maybe you should just avoid reviewing musicals if you simply don’t understand them. Every point you made was wrong. Like…why say “all these songs were 3 minute songs in the okay, but were 7 minute scenes in the movie”. That’s a blatantly untrue statement. Every little “pause” in popular exists in the musical. The score is almost entirely a faithful adaptation of the original musical. There is very little in the way of padding. Act 1 of the musical is much longer than act 2. This movie was almost scene for scene the same as the musical except for a bit more dialogue to flesh out the two main characters a bit more as well as the lore surrounding the animals of Oz. You mentioned plot points that weren’t necessary to the main story. Could you please elaborate on what those are exactly? Because you never did in your video. It sounds like you just don’t like musicals and wanted to find a reason to criticize the length of the movie.

Hera wanted to be her own person, free from the expectations of fathers and men. Despite being the key driving force that saves the Rohirrim people, she is lost in history to the brute strength of her father and the men at war. She was heroic, but did jot need to become some grand hero. In a way she is the opposite of her father’s/wolf’s pride.

My favorite aspect, outside of Helm Hammerhand's final stand, was how the movie ended: a show of mercy with relatively little violence. Budget-wise, they probably couldn't afford a bigger 3rd act battle (the animation was all over the place as is), but I find it fitting for a Tolkien story nonetheless. So many things could've been improved, but I find this to be its crowning achievement.

Great movies! Wulf just a massive incel incapable of taking rejection from Hera so he builds a massive penis outside helms deep that just FLOPS. 😂

I think something you guys are missing is some of that “padding” is setting up part II

Knew you guys were some sort of Christian denomination No clue y’all were Mormon!

I think it was horrible, but i would definitely like to see a while cinema therapy about it. I think this movie felt like women disempowerment and the relationships and characters barely grew.

I hated Hot Frosty.

I gave this movie a solid B-. The characters were absolutely gorgeous, but I had issues with the writing and the fact that some of the animation was choppy (especially when contrasting it to the amount of very fluid animation we've been having recently). For the writing, the characters didn't feel really fleshed out with justified actions until later in the movie. I remember wishing there was better set-up for the conflict so that I could feel the emotional impact more drastically. For example, the relationship between Hera and Wulf being just the 1 sentence "we used to be inseparable as kids" and the scene where they were mock-fighting did not make me think they had a really meaningful relationship. It really felt like a man just let his pride inflate his sense of self to the point of destruction. Because the story is written in Hera's perspective, I grew to really enjoy her as a character and watching her struggle and make decisions that showcased her care for the people. I really wished there was a bit more on Wulf's side that showed a little of how he descended into this rage for revenge - small, repeated moments of being denied/rejected, his father telling him something about what he and his people are owed, etc. Just something to make him more well-rounded. In terms of animation, I feel like the budget went all out for the non-humans L O L Watch those eagles fly, see those horses gallop, so smooth. And then the frame rates on the people were sometimes 😬 And a decent amount of the 3D environments weren't made to blend well with the 2D characters on top, so I kept being taken out of the immersion of the film. I don't know the politics that happened for the development of this film, so I'm sure that was a major contributing factor. I honestly wasn't planning on watching it, but it happened to release on a day off so I said "yolo, lemme take myself out on a date." I told my friend group immediately, I don't think it's a necessary theater watch. I found the ending to be satisfying and was super happy to see we got some of the OG hobbit actors in the mix. I would absolutely buy an art book of this and read paragraphs of lore, but not necessarily race to watch it again.

I was torn between a 7 and an 8 for this film when I saw it yesterday. If we consider how rushed it ended up being, I could curve it up to a 9. I'm inclined to stick with 8/10 if you're a Tolkien fan, maybe less if you're not really into his work like that. I loved that they included what little dialogue Tolkien actually wrote for the story of Helm Hammerhand (as well as narrative bits like "but his knees were unbent", which really brings the part where Freca threatens "Old kings that refuse a proffered staff may fall on their knees" full circle).

Hey happy holidays. Love your channel and the chances I get to see the comments and learn what you think about our favorite movies 🎉

"She didn't want or choose anything." Did you not watch the end? She straight up says, "I made a choice." Alan stfu

I feel like I need to defend Alan here. I've seen the musical, I've loved it for well over a decade, I went into this movie knowing what to expect, and even *I* was skeptical of a 2.5 hr run time for only the first half. And yeah, I agree with him. The pacing felt weird to me. I got bored in places. And we didn't actually add a lot more to the key relationships. I was hoping there would be more new story elements to justify the runtime. I personally don't think it did. Everything was beautiful to look at, though. The pacing felt off mostly during the musical numbers. There were so many times the music would just start and stop - for a single shot, a look, a single line of dialogue - and it would stop the momentum for me and bring me out of the movie, out of the immersion. Yes, the songs have always had scenes embedded within them, I know that, but I prefer the way the stage show keeps the plot moving forward. The biggest culprits in the movie were Dancing Through Life, Popular, and... Defying Gravity. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ They stopped just *ooooooone* too many times before the final "IT'S MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE". The pacing doesn't drop it to a 5 for me though. Solid 9 for sure. Maybe 9.5.