It's not half bad - certainly beautiful to watch (I saw it on blu-ray in 2D) and I can understand the character development and the processes the characters went through, unlike the Narnia movies which seems far less involving.
Is it the cartoon/anime? I don't know - never saw it, probably never will. Certainly don't care to. But not unlike "The Shining" or "V for Vendetta", I think the movie tries to carve out it's own existence and does so admirably for a family film. I do think it's trying to jam a lot of plot into it's time slot, but I have a feeling it didn't have much of a choice. Trying to get a 4- film franchise for earth, fire, water and air would be hard.
I also don't think the director had the clout anymore to say no to having post-processed 3D foisted upon him. Of course everyone has to say it was designed to be so, but if you see the blu-ray print, you'll see some truly beautiful lighting and set design, perfectly balanced for normal, flat movies. 3D is a phase - let it die.
Lastly, I can't get into the hate. If you read many of the user reviews, you'd believe this thing is a harbinger of the apocalypse - this is because there's an internet phenomenon whereby people believe they're more deeply invested in the material than the writers, director, actors - it doesn't matter. They'll hate it into submission, and that kind of hate campaign works too. Will it cost the studio money? Almost certainly - that's the game plan. It's like shampoo - create fake accounts, spend your life ranting how awful it was, repeat daily. Manos - Hands of Fate, now that's a 1-star movie, not this. Ignore the haters - they'll just go swarm on the next Stargate series instead.
Is it the cartoon/anime? I don't know - never saw it, probably never will. Certainly don't care to. But not unlike "The Shining" or "V for Vendetta", I think the movie tries to carve out it's own existence and does so admirably for a family film. I do think it's trying to jam a lot of plot into it's time slot, but I have a feeling it didn't have much of a choice. Trying to get a 4- film franchise for earth, fire, water and air would be hard.
I also don't think the director had the clout anymore to say no to having post-processed 3D foisted upon him. Of course everyone has to say it was designed to be so, but if you see the blu-ray print, you'll see some truly beautiful lighting and set design, perfectly balanced for normal, flat movies. 3D is a phase - let it die.
Lastly, I can't get into the hate. If you read many of the user reviews, you'd believe this thing is a harbinger of the apocalypse - this is because there's an internet phenomenon whereby people believe they're more deeply invested in the material than the writers, director, actors - it doesn't matter. They'll hate it into submission, and that kind of hate campaign works too. Will it cost the studio money? Almost certainly - that's the game plan. It's like shampoo - create fake accounts, spend your life ranting how awful it was, repeat daily. Manos - Hands of Fate, now that's a 1-star movie, not this. Ignore the haters - they'll just go swarm on the next Stargate series instead.