Zootopia 2 – Movie Review

TL;DR – Zootopia 2 captures what made the first film such a joy. Full of energy, full of chaos, and full of delight. But it is also asking the important questions.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Zootopia.

Zootopia 2 Review Introduction –

There were several thought processes that happened when I started writing this review. The first was discovering that the original Zootopia came out nine years ago, and also that is how long I have been writing reviews for this site. It was an odd moment of reflection, but also a profound look at one of the issues of modern Hollywood, in that it takes forever in between iterations. Well, let’s dive in and see if one of the most stacked cast lists this year can make up for all the time.

So, to set the scene, things have been going well in Zootopia (or Zootropolis, depending on where you live) since the incident that brought partners Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) when now former deputy mayor Dawn Bellwether (Jenny Slate) tried to start a war between the herbivore and carnivore members of the mammal city. After a mission goes wrong, Hopps and Wilde are sent to therapy with Dr Fuzzby (Quinta Brunson), which is make-or-break to see if they can continue being partners in the ZPD. But while the mission might have been a bust, some clues, like some scales, show that there may be more than just mammals in the city of Zootopia and with the Zootenial Gala coming up, is someone about to strike at the heart of the city?

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The Electric State – Movie Review

TL;DR – What if you smashed The Creator into Ready Player One and then made something mostly soulless with the components?

Rating: 2.5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film.

A wall, Hiding a desolate landscape full of robot corpses.

The Electric State Review

These days, it is hard to find big-budget films based on an original story or at least an unadapted work. Let alone a movie with a budget that is reportedly one of the biggest in cinematic history. But if you are going to spend that much on something, the question is: have you made something of real substance? And I am not sure that happened here.    

So, to set the scene, 1990 was a simpler time. It was before the war. Where Michelle (Millie Bobby Brown) can watch her brother Christopher (Woody Norman) destroy math tests that take college professors days to complete. But there is a growing anti-robot sentiment growing across the nation. That is because robots decided they didn’t want to do all the menial labour we were making them do and rebelled. It was war, a war humanity was losing, which was when Ethan Skate (Stanley Tucci) arrived as a saviour. Now, everyone is hooked into his SENTRE tech, and all the remaining robots are sent to an exclusion zone. In 1994, Michelle, who lives as a ward of the state, arrives at her house when a Cosmo (Alan Tudyk) bot changes everything.

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Kung Fu Panda 4 – Movie Review

TL;DR – While it is always lovely to see Jack Black back in this role, unfortunately, the outing, while still fun, did not have the energy of the previous entries.

Rating: 3 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Po sitting under a flowering peach tree trying to meditate.

Kung Fu Panda 4 Review

One of the joys you get is when you have a solid franchise that hits on every entry. A company that does that generally quite well is DreamWorks. Sure, not everything is a Shrek, and occasionally you get a Shrek 4, but they are always entertaining and occasionally you get a How to Train Your Dragon. In that space were the Kung Fu Panda films, which I thoroughly enjoyed, so I was excited to see we were getting a new one, if only for Jack Black’s energy alone.   

So to set the scene, it has been some time since Po (Jack Black) took on the full mantle of Grand Master at the end of Kung Fu Panda 3, and he is now defending the Valley of Peace by himself as The Furious Five leave to follow personal missions. It is in this space that Master Shifu (Dustin Hoffman) informs Po that he must choose his new successor as Dragon Warrior. Po does not want to give up the mantle that he has worked so hard for and become the spiritual leader of the valley. However, when word gets to him that Tai Lung (Ian McShane) has returned and is causing havoc, Po knows an adventure when he hears it. Thankfully, Po has a new guide in Zhen (Awkwafina) to help him tackle the real threat, the sorceress Chameleon (Viola Davis).

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Loki: Glorious Purpose & Full Season 2 – T.V. Review

TL;DR – They absolutely stick the landing in such a way that I might have a touch of hope that the MCU finally knows where it is going.

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End Credit Scene.

The whole team.

Loki Review


We have reached the end of Loki’s second season, and I have to say that I am in a much better position with this show now than I was this time last season. The writers have condensed the width of the show, but by doing that, they have given it the depth it needed. But the question remains: can they stick the landing? And we will look at that and then the season as a whole in our review today. (Spoiler: the answer is yes)

So to set the scene, things are bad: the temporal loom has exploded, the TVA has been abandoned, and only Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Sylvie (Sophia di Martino) can remember their time there. But in Science/Fiction, Loki discovered how to control his time-slipping. It is not about how, it is about who, it is the driver who is to protect his friends that is the driving push behind is control. Loki is no longer the God of Mischief, a loner messing with people for japes. But what has he become? Well, that is a fascinating question. We will be looking at the episode and the series as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Loki: Science/Fiction– T.V. Review

TL;DR – A solid interlude preparing us for the chaos that will be the season/series finale.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is an audio cue at the End of the Credits.

This start to turn to spaghetti.

Loki Review

Now Loki likes big ‘what the heck moments’ that dramatically shift everything we know. It didn’t hit as well as it could have in Season One, but I am not sure anyone particularly saw last week coming, where death came from every side. The question is: can they build upon that moment and propel everything forward or languish in possibilities?

So to set the scene, after fighting off the threat from Miss Minutes (Tara Strong), it looked like for a moment that they were actually going to stabilise the Temporal Loom and save the Multiverse. That was until Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors) ran out to fix the problem and was immediately spaghetti-fied. Quite gruesomely, I should add. All Loki (Tom Hiddleston), Morbius (Owen Wilson), Sylvie (Sophia di Martino), Casey (Eugene Cordero), and O.B. (Ke Huy Quan) could do is sit and watch as the Time Loom collapsed under all the different timelines and the TVA was destroyed from within. Which makes it all the more peculiar when Loki opens his eyes to find himself still in the now empty TVA and time slipping all over the place. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Loki: Heart of the TVA – TV Review

TL;DR – It starts from 100 and then blasts ahead from there.   

Rating: 4.5 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End-Credit Scene.

The remins of a palace stuck in time.

Loki Review

After a strong opening, last week’s 1893 was the first time I had pause to wonder if Season Two might not be on as firm a footing as I had first thought. But you can’t count your chickens before they hatch, and we still have half the season to go. With that in mind, let us jump into this episode before the episode starts a paradox it can’t fix.   

So to set the scene, after helping Victor Timely (Jonathan Majors) escape with knowledge of the TVA because they were fighting. Miss Minutes (Tara Strong) and Ravonna Renslayer (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) make their way to the end of time to see the dead He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors) and his crumbling palace. It is here that Miss Minutes reveals that Renslayer helped with the last war, like did most of it themselves, and well, maybe they don’t need another He Who Remains to run the TVA. Which is when Victor Timely arrives in a TVA and might be the only one who can save the world. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Loki: Breaking Brad – TV Review

TL;DR – A follow-up that plays with intensity and emotions.  

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no End-Credit Scene.

The Temporal Loom.

Loki Review

Last week, we dived into the first episode of Loki’s second season with Ouroboros, and to be clear, we came in with a bit of trepidation. But after a solid first episode, it made me a touch more assured, even more so as we end the follow-up today.  

So to set the scene, the TVA is barely holding on by the seams as timeline after timeline branches off. At the same time, OB (Ke Huy Quan) is trying to find a way to help the temporal loom handle all the new branching timelines. Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Mobius (Owen Wilson) are desperately trying to find Sylvie (Sophia di Martino) before it all falls apart. They have one hint: a temp pad used by Hunter X-5 / Brad Wolfe (Rafael Casal). But when they return to 1977, London, they find that Hunter X-5 has become Brad Wolfe, actor extraordinaire. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Loki: Ouroboros – TV Review

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ subscription that viewed this show.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a Mid-Credit Scene.

Rating: 4 out of 5.
Statue of Kang.

Loki Review

Well, we have finally hit sequel territory with the MCU’s television shows on Disney+, and the first cab off the rack is Loki. I may have been excited about this had this been back in 2021, before the first season and then the follow-up Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. Now, there is just trepidation. But a solid trailer teased that this might be the season where everything falls into place. But we will see.

So to set the scene, at the end of Season One, Loki (Tom Hiddleston) was kicked through a time door by Sylvie (Sophia di Martino), who proceeded to stab He Who Remains (Jonathan Majors). This has the effect of smashing the primacy of the one timeline, as branches pop up everywhere. Loki is desperate to warn everyone of what is happening, but no one remembers him, and there are statues of Kang everywhere. Now Loki is on the run and might be able to do something about it if he stops time slipping all over the place. We will be looking at the episode as a whole from here, so there will be some [SPOILERS] ahead. 

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Indiana Jones Series Review – Exploring a Franchise

TL;DR –.We look at the varied highs and lows of the Indiana Jones franchise up to now.   

Disclosure – I paid for the Disney+ service that viewed these films

Indiana Jones and Raiders of the Lost Ark. Image Credit: Lucasfilm Ltd.

Indiana Jones

There are moments when you sit around with nothing to do for a weekend and decide it is time to dive into some nostalgia from the past. With Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny coming out later this month, and it has been years since I had seen the older films, some not since cinemas, it was good timing when they all appeared on Disney+ this week. Well, good time with a massive dash of marketing. So we dive back in time not quite to a galaxy far, far away, but not, not a galaxy far, far away.

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Everything Everywhere All at Once – Movie Review

TL;DR – You may have been told how wild this film is, but trust me, whoever was talking to you was completely underselling it.

Rating: 5 out of 5.

Post-Credit Scene – There is no post-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid to see this film

Everything Everywhere All at Once. Image Credit: A24.

Everything Everywhere All at Once Review

The word surreal gets thrown around quite a bit and usually means something that might be a bit cerebral or weird or maybe both. But for something to be genuinely surreal, it needs to challenge the nature of reality, to contest the very bedrock we live our lives on. Films will often dip their toes into the surreal, but every now and again, a film will dive in headfirst. Today, we are looking at just such a film that just might nail everything it sets out to do.

So to set the scene, in a city in America, Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh) lives above the laundromat that she runs with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan). Things are pretty stressful for Evelyn at the moment. The IRS is auditing the business. She is trying to put together a party for he estranged father, Gong Gong (James Hong), she is feuding with her daughter Joy (Stephanie Hsu), and Waymond is about to drop divorce papers on her. As they arrive at the IRS to be audited by Deirdre Beaubeirdra (Jamie Lee Curtis), Waymond suddenly changes into a completely different person. He declares that Evelyn is in trouble because a force from another universe is hunting her down, and it just might have found its prey, and that is when the alarms go off.

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