Carola
taped the animated Xena movie for Sofia W this last winter. As always,
we sat down to watch it. Sofia fell asleep rather fast, though.
*s*
It begins very well. Who would not want to see Herc crawling out
of some godforsaken creature's nostril? The animated movie is full
of small comedy quirks and (sadly) lots and lots of bad lines. But
who cares? It's Xena, for cryin' out loud! It's not supposed to
be perfect!
But still... the animation leaves much to be desired, even if the
style compliments the storyline and the main theme. This movie is
definitely for children, even if we adults can laugh our asses off
from time to time.
[Sofa Xenite 1: Ehr...what's the story?
Sofa Xenite 2: Dunno. Oh! Yeah! Zeus snatched Herc's mom to Olympus
and Hera was pissed off.
Sofa Xenite 1: Uhm, so what's that got to do with those big, ugly
dudes walking around?
Sofa Xenite 2: Those are titans, you see; Hera was really,
really pissed off by what Zeus did and so she freed them
to wreck havoc on mount Olympus.
Sofa Xenite 1: And Herc doesn't give a damn, as long as he can snatch
mom back. Aha! That explains everything!]
Of course Xena has to save the world and restore the 'normal' order.
She is followed by her loyal comrade and sidekick Gabrielle. Gabrielle,
however, is turned into a giant eagle. Xena vows to save her friend
whatever the cost.
Gabby is not the only one affected by the godly madness. Nay, far
from it! Ares and Dite, among some, are turned into farm animals.
Which is below their dignity.
Some awkward singing and Titan destruction later, we learn that
Herc's mom had some kind of disease and that she'd chosen, by own
accord, to remain with Zeus in her specially designed doll house.
Xena and Herc work things out in a semi-boring number and glance
at each other hero-style.
The battle of Olympus is won, everybody is turned back to their
true form and our heroes walks off into the sunset...
The fun thing with this movie is that every voice belongs to the
original actors/actresses, which is very unusual when you do a spin-off
of something this caliber. The subtext was very much there and accounted
for, more so than any of us had expected.
Reneé's voice work is good. She doesn't have many lines,
but it's endearing to hear her as Gabby anyway. She's turned into
the eagle shape way too early and ROC fans may be a bit bored with
just following the action from Xena's and Hercule's point of view.
Or the others...
Recommendations:
Yes. ROC is in it! The script is bad and too simple,
but it works as a kids movie, which is the main intention. The animation
is poor and the backgrounds are scary, or rather 'barren'. The LoDuca
song that opens the movie is great.
The
images used for the review illustration can be found at www.cousinliz.com.
Check them out, there's more! |
