I can tell you that Game of Thrones is phenomenal, visual beautiful, fantastic, exhilarating and action-packed thrilling rollercoaster that in many ways has not been seen yet in a tv show. I could say that and be absolutely right about it, but unless you have been living under a rock without an internet connection for the past 2 years than no doubt you already heard, seen or read for yourself what a masterpiece the books and/or this tv series is.
Game of Thrones is exactly like the title says: A game for the throne. Played by the people who think its their right to claim, conquer or inherit it. They all have different goals and different ways of getting to that point, but their goal is in essence in one way or another the same for all of them: to be recognized and remembered for their deeds. Off course that is not so weird since everyone in real life at some level thinks like that. But the main characters in Game of Thrones are different, either through noble descent, the power and money they have, intelligence or sheer luck they have become a member of one of the noble houses that rule the countries and can decide the fate and lives of hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of people within the fictional continents of Westeros and Essos.
The story, setting and characters are all taken from a broad range of European history. Most of what we see of the continent Westeros (castles and tournaments) is taken from High Medieval Western Europe from around the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. But the story takes bits and pieces from other time periods as well. For example the wildfire that was used in season 2 in a brilliant strategic move of "The Imp" Tyrion Lannister during the Battle of the Blackwater is in fact Byzantine "Greek fire" which was invented and first used in the 7th century during battles between Muslims and Byzantines. This and other historical events, devices and characters based on real people out of history are all as it seems perfectly interwoven into each other into the fictional world of Game of Thrones by the author of the books George R. R. Martin.
For the actors who play the characters i have nothing but utmost respect. The performance they manage to show episode after episode is definitely what makes this tv show so popular. There is one in particular that without a doubt is one of the more popular stars of this tv show: Peter Dinklage who plays the role of "The Imp" Tyrion Lannister. In the 1st season he was portrayed as nothing more than someone who took advantage of his noble status and money to do whatever he wanted. But in season 2 (and hopefully the next seasons too) he transformed despite his disadvantage of being born as a dwarf (who during medieval times and in this fictional world are considered "lesser" humans) into a brilliant military and political strategist and someone who can very good and enjoys as he so very accurately said himself "play the game".
Game of Thrones is without a doubt the hit tv show of this decade. It started out with a story about medieval times, but slowly with every episode we see the world of the Seven Kingdoms transform into a place where mythical creatures exist, magic and dark powers are used as a weapon against enemies and where the dead are once more walking again.... Winter is coming, and i have no doubt it that it will be as spectacular and story-wise phenomenal as we have have seen in the previous seasons.
oh well, what can I say? It's not bad as critics say, at all.
The CGI animation needs to be really talked. It's groundbreaking for real, the way it was "filmed" and choreographed in Virtual Reality, giving a sense of real freedom on the gorgeous computer sets created. There are scenes where The Lion King simply throws at your face the ability of building scenes and shots that could easily be taken from a BBC Earth documentary.
But we need to talk about the elephant in the room, that every critic smashed, that is the bland voice animation in favor of the realism in the animals. It's not that bad for real. In fact, the movie conveniently hides some of the "would-be weird" mouth animation in some of the musical parts because of that carefulness and takes some risks with other scenes.
In terms of voice acting itself the real winners are Timon and Pumbaa, voiced by Billy Eichner and Seth Rogen respectively. They completely steal the show even with lines from the original and blends super nicely with the animals, especially Timon, because a meerkat is simply as funny real as animated. Chiwetel Ejiofor's Scar was more "villain" and less "cunning" like the original, putting a sense of danger with his plan and therefore the movie is a little darker because of that. The Be Prepared was transformed into a drama and suspense "song" revealing more the horrible plan that is to kill his brother and king.
Donald Glover and Beyoncé were a surprising combo, especially, because I thought I wouldn't be able to separate the superstar level, especially with Beyoncé, and pretend I wasn't seeing a lion being a world-star diva. But it works, most of the times. There are times where you say "oh that's so cute look at them" and there are times when you just imagine Nala belting in Coachella vibes for a hundred thousand people :sweat_smile:.
In terms of music production, it still maintains the quality associated with the original's soundtrack. Just from the beginning with Lebo M. returning with his full power for Circle of Life, but also passing with the obvious star vocalist Beyoncé creating a beautiful rendition of Nala's Can You Feel The Love Tonight with Donald Glover as well, showing that she has a trained and connected voice, using mostly the riffs and runs in head voice mixed with that Disney's touch to it. Also the new music from her, Spirit, was a nice surprise connecting two parts of the world of The Lion King. (Also keep for the credits to hear a new song from Elton John which was a nice addition as well).
These are the main parts of the movie. Some will like it, some will love it and some will prefer the original afterwards. But there's no denial that it wasn't just a bland remake. There were talent involved, from the CGI animators to the music producers and performers. It's a great tribute to one of the best animated movies of all time, showing a new modern light to it and introducing a beautiful story to the younger audience.
This is a parody of rom-com and a good parody imo will maintain genre. it's stupid easy to make a comedy parody of everything. See things like Epic Movie and Date Movie. But a good parody of horror films will also itself be a horror film see Scream and Happy Death Day both excellent horror films that lampoon aspects of horror films. I think what sets this movie apart from other parodies is that it does a very effective job at being a romcom. It doesn't take itself seriously which is what you expect but there's a level of sincerity that you don't expect.
It's super hard to pull off a song and dance number in a movie and not have it be super cheesy. Few films do this that aren't all about singing or dancing (Step Up, Pitch Perfect). But the number in this movie manages to be legimately fun which surprised me. Rebel Wilson is Rebel Wilson most people hate her I find her charming enough. Hemsworth plays a one note character that's on screen enough to be funny with his constant "You're beguiling" but not so much that you get annoyed with him. If I had known Priyanka Chopra was going to be in the movie I might have skipped it. I'm not a fan of her as a person. Also I learned she looks terrible in extreme close ups. When you pull out just a little bit she shines. She's a good looking person, a mostly decent actor and she has a top notch voice.
If I cared about Adam Devine personally I'd be scared for his career becoming one note but here he's pretty toned down. Which helps him a lot.
Plotwise I have a big problem with the opening scene after the prologue where Nat has to get a note off her door and give it to her neighbor. It's filmed so badly you can barely tell what's going on. WHich is that he's hot and girls are constantly leaving note for him but they don't know which door is his so she ends up with notes on her door. It's a weird problem that makes no sense but at least they do a callback to explain it at the end. But beyond that the plot doesn't try so hard to make sense. Which is a good thing. It's just walking the path of the romcom you the audience (more than Nat) try to figure out which tropes are going to make it in and which ones will get left out.
It was a fun ride that didn't overstay it's welcome. A light airy movie that didn't leave you empty. Congratulations we have a date movie.
