I consider myself a brony; That is, someone who enjoys a children’s show for little girls called “My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic”. One who enjoys the show for what it is and is willing to give it a chance. Originally like most bronies, I found the show after seeing images of it on 4chan (specifically /b/) and decided to give it a chance on youtube. After about five episodes I was officially hooked and stayed up all night watching the first season. While I really do think the show is great, I wont say its perfect, and has some flaws.
What I found interesting about this dvd was that it contained five episodes from season 3 but one from season 2. Another interesting bit was that they decided to have the season 3 finale as the second episode on the list, while this is a bold placement, it just feels out of place when the rest of the episodes come on and Twilight Sparkle doesn’t have her wings that she gets in Magical Mystery Cure. (fanbase is very divided on this turn of events)
Anyway, the episodes themselves range from decent to really good, with Lesson Zero standing out from the crowd. I found this one to be quite hilarious and had me laughing all the way through it. If I had to say which one was the weakest I’d say it would be Mmmystery On the Friendship Express due to nothing really changing any of the characters and that in the end, nothing really mattered. I know some may interpret this to just be a “one off” but I just felt it was incredibly forgettable. Another highlight is Magic Duel with the return of The Great and Powerful Trixie.
While this collection of episodes from season 3 is good, its not the great ones like “Too Many Pinkie Pies” and “Keep Calm and Flutter On” or even “Sleepless in Ponyville” it just feels put together to keep bronies or small kids in check before they finally release the whole seasons in box sets. At least now I can finally go frame by frame for Derpy’s cameo. All 3 seconds of it.
6/10
1. Games Ponies Play 7/10
2. Magical Mystery Cure 7/10
3. Mmmystery On the Friendship Express 5/10
4. Magic Duel 8/10
5. Lesson Zero 9/10
Video
Presented in its native 16:9 “Anamorphic Widescreen”
Having seen the original airings of the show in standard definition, and the 1080p uploads to You Tube this looks quite spectacular for a standard def dvd. Colors are exceptionally vibrant and detail is as good as it can get with the show. The only flaw I can see is that some edges up close start to fray and it looks sharp. Also if you get really close to the movement, there is some pixilation. Other than that, this really has surprised me, both on my computer and big screen tv.
9/10
Audio
I’m pretty sure that when these episodes originally aired, they were presented in a 2.0 mix, but for this dvd release it appears that they have expanded it into a full blown 5.1 mix. Unfortunately I don’t own a 5.1, but through my 2.1 setup and my “7.1” headphones, dialogue is clear and so is the music. I did notice that the clairity shot up for the main theme song, and it sounded like it was a “Master Audio” level quality. I did also notice some surround activity with the headphones, but it was mostly an ambient usage, and not something aggressive.
7/10
Packaging and Bonus Features
Well this is where the dvd really starts to dissapoint, the cover art is simply Princess Clestia doing a pose that she has never done, Princess Cadence just standing and Twilight doing….a slight pose? Other than the three characters it looks like they’re on a bare stage that isn’t anywhere in the series. To say its genereic, doesn’t really quite say it enough.
Meanwhile in the Bonus Features, there is “Sing Along” and a “Coloring Sheet”. Now what that discription doesn’t tell you is that the sing along is of the song “A True True Friend” (from Magical Mystery Cure) and nothing else. In case you haven’t seen the episode, there are five songs in it, so picking this one out of those seems off. Why only this one? What about the others? The Coloring sheet is not included and is a dvd-rom exclusive where you download it and print it off yourself. While I wasn’t expecting anything on “Lord of the Rings” level special features, this just simply is depressing.
2/10
Overall
I would only really recommend this disc to someone who has no intention on buying the seasons 1 and 2 dvd when they are released. If you are a brony, then you have already seen these and you will buy the seasons, or already have them downloaded in 1080p from youtube. I would recommend this for small kids (since it is a kid show anyway).
6/10
Overall (Not an Average) 6/10
The Review
The Movie 7/10
The Video 9/10
The Audio 7/10
The Packaging and Bonus Features 2/10
Overall (Not an Average) 8/10
….Fluttershy is best pony.
directed by: Sam Raimi
written by: David Lindsay-Abaire and Mitchell Kapner
Just to give a little context into my very cynical and black heart, my father considers his favorite movie ever to be The Wizard of Oz, and has the entire film memorized and can even act it out in front of the TV. (trust me, I’ve seen it) so with that in mind I’ve pretty much known everything about this movie ever. So when my father saw the trailer for “Oz the Great and Powerful” before we saw Lincoln, he put his hand over his face and said “some things they should never touch”. After viewing the film I can pretty much agree with him.
The Movie
Oz the Great and Powerful is the newest film directed by Sam Raimi (The Evil Dead, Spiderman) and written by David Lindsay-Abaire (Inkheart) and Mitchell Kapner (The Whole Nine Yards). This film had one gunshot to the knee right out of the starting gate by having it be a prequel to a film that is now over 70 years old. Most would consider this a great opportunity to tell a story of who these characters were before their role in the classic film, but unfortunately the script doesn’t know what to do with them either.
James Franco plays Oz a carnival magician who has dreams of being a better person and moving on to bigger and better things. One day on the job, he gets caught trying to seduce one of the many women that he meets and gets chased until he gets away in a balloon. Suddenly at that moment, a tornado (possibly twister) sucks him in and he (somehow) gets transported to the land of Oz (or dies horribly in the crash but they never bring it up so it could possibly be his own purgatory). While there he quickly meets Theodora (Mila Kunis) who instantly recognizes that he is a wizard and their adventure is off to the Emerald City.
If any of this starts to sound familiar, just stop me, cause it would appear as though this film has to go through the cliff-notes of the previous film: follow the Yellow Brick Road, Munchkins, poppy field, you must kill the witch to progress, the liar reviled. Instead of the film going in its own direction, it decided to almost copy the first film scene for scene while trying to “have its cake and eat it too”. That’s not to say that the whole film is bad, its just has a “meh” feeling throughout it.
I did enjoy certain things, like the first 30 minutes. I did also very much enjoy a scene between a china doll and Oz that showed that he has a gentle side. It was a very delicate moment that I thought was going to be the turn for the character, but unfortunately in the next scene it would appear that he didn’t learn anything. This is very frustrating especially because this film has a Jar Jar (once he’s on screen, you’ll know how it is) that is toned down but is still super annoying every time he opens his mouth. I also did like the performance from The Wicked Witch of the West (no spoilers on who it is). She turns in a performance that is actually scary and a threat. One of my favorite lines from here was “we will coat the yellow brick road with the blood of everyone” Definitely badass.
Overall:
Unfortunately there really isn’t much else to comment on, cause it’s the generic story that everyone (and their grandma) can see coming cause we’ve already seen this. Oz the Great and Powerful isn’t bad, and I think it would be great for kids, but for people in my age range of 14 and up, its just a tedious and boring adventure that seems to just have nothing to say about itself.
6.5/10
The 3D and other technical jumbo:
The film starts off in the 1.33:1 framing and I did notice that the sound is in mono. Once we get to Oz it switches to the 2.39:1 aspect ratio, color, and in 7.1 and i think the transition for this was very well done. The 3D itself was utilized for mostly a “commin at ya” type feel, so many things bounce off the screen towards the audience. To me personally, I believe this to be the shit kind of 3D that keeps drawing attention to itself and is annoying rather than immersive. That’s not to say that it doesn’t have its moments of being fantastic. When there is snow, or long tunnels, its incredible in its depth and feels great. If you were debating on weather to go with the 3D or not, I’d say not to UNLESS you really wanted to.
7/10
