Reviews

Every commercial block has an ad celebrating the 100 years of storytelling by the Walt Disney Company before a picture begins in movie theaters in 2023. It was no different before the latest and last Indiana Jones movie made by director James Mangold and was released by Disney.

The movie is 154 minutes of uninspired chase across boring and everyday locations: Sicily, Morocco, the French Alps. Don't get me wrong, these places have interesting and rich cultural, historical and artistic heritage, but previous Indy films while having similar locations also had interesting sets in these locations: e.g., Sir Richard's resting place under Venice, the mine and shrine of the Thugge under the Pankot Palace in India, the Temple of the Chachapoyan Warriors and the tomb of Orellana in Peru, the temple of the Holy Grail in Asia Minor etc. This film didn't have any interesting temples with booby-traps, tombs or any interesting mysteries that need to be unveiled.

The characterization of the movie is heavy-handed. The motivation of the antagonists is unclear and remains that until the end of the movie, where it's too late to care, because there were no engaging plot points to keep the audience interested in the story. Helena 'Wombat' Shaw, who persuades or rather forces Indiana Jones into this new adventure, is an irritating, egocentric character, who It think was supposed to be a charming and a feisty partner of Indy. Her character also underwent an unexplained progression, from a selfish being to an adventurer, who can make the right moral choices at the end of the story. But there is no explanation why she has a sudden change of heart.

Indiana Jones also has an inexplicable out of character moment, when he deliberately destroys artifacts with no remorse rather than being forced to as in 'Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' (2008). When I was watching the film, I felt Dr. Jones was on his own, despite he had many companions on his adventure, like Antonio Banderas. The film utilizes too many characters and not in a good way. In spite of everything, Ford was still good as Indiana Jones.

The story feels forced and empty somehow. It's the lack of emotional scenes between characters that makes this a forgettable installment in the Indiana Jones series. Despite the film trying to make one between Helena and his godfather Indy there's no heartfelt family moment, as was between Indy and his father in 'The Last Crusade' (1989) or even between Jones, Marion, and Mutt in 'The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull'.

The direction also left a lot to be desired. I disliked the heavy use of medium close-ups and the editing because you couldn't tell sometimes what was happening. It was noticeable that the movie wasn't directed by Spielberg because it wasn't as engaging and exciting. The de-aging of Harrison Ford by ILM in contrast was phenomenal.

John Williams score this time was better than his compositions for the Star Wars sequel trilogy but wasn't spectacular. Although I liked when I heard the reprise of 'Belly of the Steel Beast' in the prologue, I can't help but feel, the recycling of previous themes and the lack of a proper recognizable theme felt like the movie itself - forced and artificial. Many of today's directors can't use music as effectively as George Lucas and Steven Spielberg did in their movies. The heavy emphasis on music in certain scenes made Lucas's and Spielberg's films memorable and magical, but directors nowadays just can't use John William's talent, because it's heavily buried in the mix of diegetic sounds, and the soundtrack is not allowed to breath and make room for only the music in certain scenes.

It should have been evident by now judging by previous Disney productions (the uninspired and lackluster Star Wars sequel trilogy, the countless live action remakes of their animated features, that lack any imagination and freshness, but are packed with unnecessary political check-boxes) that this movie is another bland cliché movie by the Walt Disney Company. That company, that almost has a monopoly in the film industry, but somehow can't make compelling stories. They never could, Disney made his filmography by relying on adapting already written fairy tales. Their storytelling was always basic. Their success is thanks to their wonderfully fluid animations (which they didn't invent but borrowed the technology from the Fleischer brothers) and songwriting skills.

Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny is a product of its time; an attraction film. It forces you to feel emotion. An editing and ideological practice in movie making, that was used by the Soviet montage specialists who wanted to influence their audience by their ideologies. Modern film-making is just like that. They (especially Disney) want their audiences to warm up to their ideologies and be conditioned to basic and unchallenging storytelling, which is too common nowadays.

I miss George Lucas and Steven Spielberg who were the real talented storytellers.

"Scooby Doo on Zombie Island" was my favorit incarnation of the cartoon series apart from the original run of the 1969 show as a kid.

I remember I saw it the first time on Cartoon Network on an evening when I was 4 years old and it made a huge impression on me. It was an odd one in the franchise due to its more serious tone and better animation by the japaneese Mook Animation studio.

Now looking back, as a comparison, all Scooby shows had lame and cheap animation - even in their time it was considered cheap - prior to "A Pup Named Scooby Doo", but their succes was due to their likable characters, spooky ghouls, enigmatic mysteries , well designed and painted backgrounds and locations, the humour and great chase songs.

This time "On Zombie Island" provides us a feer, detailed and beautiful animation, updated character designs with a bit saturated and darkened colors to fit the tone of the movie, and the Mystery Machine also sports a new look. Moonscar island - the main location of the movie - is living and breathing, due to the quality craftmanship that went into designing the island and drawing the movie's atmospheric, tru to life backgrounds evoking the likness of the Delta region.

The gang is updated as well - they are working young adults now. Daphne is a TV reporter and has her own show: Coast to Coast with Daphne Blake. She has outgrown her original damsel in distress character and acts as the leader of the Mystery gang searching for a real ghost - the driving force of the plot of the movie. Fred works with Daphne as her producer and cameraman and has romantic feelings for Daphne and vice-versa, which was also implied in the original show, but was never spelled out. Velma has her own succesful bookstore specialised in mystery novels - inspired by the gangs adventures - and has many orders from custumers. Shaggy and Scoob are always fired soon after they are hired for a job. Intrestingly, Scooby is shown behaving like a real dog while he chases cats in this movie.

The Scooby gang is invited to Moonscar island - after a lot of unsuccesful paranormal investigations for Daphne's TV show to find a real ghost - by Lena, the cook on the island. She works for Ms. Simone Lenoir who lives in an old, spooky southern mansion with a lot of cats. They say that the entire land is haunted by zombies and ghosts after dawn. The Mystery Inc. accepts the invitation, because Lena's description sounds authentic. The gang and Lena are transferred by Jacques the ferryman and meet the ol' Snakebite Scruggs who saves Shaggy and Scooby from aligators after the two fell into the river. Arriving to the island they are convinced this place IS the perfect haunted place they're looking for...

The script is tight, the movie doesn't waste any time. The mystery and suspense are well set up, so is the love drama between Fred and Daphne. You just don't know who the gang can trust, while the island is haunted by zombies, ghosts and other terrifying creatures after dawn. Zombie Island is dark, especially compared to previous shows, but has some good Scooby humour as well to ease the tension and suspense. The soundtrack is excellent featuring "chase songs" The Ghost Is Here & It's Terror Time Again by rock band Skycicle. The songs don't stick out lyrically out like their 70's hippi counterparts, because they were written for this movie.

The only con I can think of is the movie is a bit short. It feels like a 20 minute episode of the old shows, due to how well paced this movie is, but this compliments the screenwriters and directors talents.

Scooby Doo was back with "Zombie Island" and it helped to revive the franchise after declining views and interest. It was a dark, ballsy horror movie for kids. It took itself seriously and it worked. It marked the end of an era and it launched the modern Scooby Doo era paving ways to more direct-to-dvd movies, What's New Scooby Doo, Scooby Doo! Mystery Incorporated etc.

What I didn't like even as a kid back than was the parents complaint about the movies dark tone. They said it was too dark for kids, but I as a 4 year old loved every minute of it, even if I was a bit creeped out. Unfortunately "Whitch's Ghost" suffered because of sensitive parents and was robbed out of it's true potential. It could have been on par with "Zombie Island".

Overall, I recommend this movie for everyone, yes even for younger kids, because I do believe protecting kids from negative feelings like fear causes more harm later in their lives than good - they have to be able to face their fears and negative feelings sooner or later in their childhood - and they are overprotected by parents these days.

This student film of Lucas from the 60's depicts a jazzy, noir mood without any plot or actors. The dancing reflections of car headlights on windshields can be viewed as the only characters in this short film. Lucas creates interesting dynamic shots with his editing skills. The visuals are in a great harmony with the accompaning music as well by the Miles Davis Quintet. It's fascinating to see an early work of a young and ambitious, soon to be famous director. Overall, it is not only an excellent audio-visual experience, but a brief showcase of Lucas' great visual editing and mood evocing skills.