#returnedtothecrypt

So...I liked this movie a lot better than the first, but I still didn’t find most of it funny. I know why it is funny, I can point all the jokes out, but I didn’t start laughing until much later. Deadpool caters to a different type of humor. Nothing wrong with that, it’s just not me. 

However.

The characters, the action, the cameos and the very X-men feel overall I loved. Best new additions? Domino, Cable, and this reboot-timeline version of Yukio. She’s so adorable! And don’t get me started on the JUGGERNAUT! Heavy use of CGI or no, I have waited over a decade to see a Cain Marko that actually acknowledges his relation to Charles.  I don’t even care if Deadpool exists in its own continuity until proven otherwise I’m counting it canon. THANK YOU, Deadpool team for confirming Charles’ horrible upbringing. Weird thing to say, I know, but up until now no one in the XMCU’s bothered to emphasize his personal tragedy. It’s important the audience--any who might be unfamiliar with the X-men story outside the films--know it isn’t only villains whom tragedy makes. 

Speaking of tragedy, I find it funny the Deadpool films draw from classic cliches, but somehow manage to keep them fresh and distinctly, well, “Deadpool.” I quite like his relationship with Vanessa and also liked how the film went beyond what one might expect of “death and revival” with a healing mutation. Reminded me a little of Jack Harkness, honestly. It also served to keep Deadpool’s humanity intact and in turn kept him from devolving into nothing more than a walking pop-culture reference. 

As far as the pop-culture references go, there were times I felt the script went a little over the top with them. Even more than the first film. I’m not the world’s biggest Deadpool fan so I’m not sure how often he does this outside the movies but within said movie context I much prefer occasional sprinklings as opposed to a heaping platter.  It threatened to disrupt the flow of the film once or twice, even if this is more a comedy/satire. Same with breaking the fourth wall. That said, I adored the DC references. And the post-credits scenes ;)

(Although if I’m being honest, I do still like Origins and the tragic spin on Wade’s character even if it was an abomination of the Deadpool everyone loves.)

And I cried a little inside, seeing that archived footage of Hugh. I will miss you, Wolverine. 

Let’s see, what else...

Oh yeah! The characters!

Great to see Negasonic again (Ellie, I think her name is?) Kinda wish she played a larger role, but her appearances didn’t disappoint and her powers are still SO COOL. Also love the “moody goth x pink-haired bubbly girl” trope. It’s adorable. Like I said, I adore this new Yukio even if her new incarnation differs from her original timeline counterpart. I loved original Yukio’s quirky but serious nature, and her relationship with Logan. Maybe that’s what it is, I’m still not over Logan and all these references in the film further remind me he’s not coming back.  That isn’t Yukio’s fault. I do love this new version, I do. She’s adorable and so is her interaction with Wade. I have to wonder, though...can she still see how people die? Or is new “Pinkie Pie” Yukio strictly a lightning mutant? I wish Fox paid more attention to its timelines...Deadpool or no Deadpool.

Domino was amazing. I didn’t really know much about her, going in, despite knowing of her. Couldn’t have picked a better way to handle or cast her. What a cool way to interpret her powers! Luck truly be the Lady~

As for Cable...I was so afraid he’d become a parody of the character I knew. When I was younger, he fascinated me as a character and I retain a soft spot for him. My gosh though he was AWESOME. Stayed the serious-Terminator-badass the entire time. Desperately hope we see more before Fox’s final day. Please. I love Cable and I’d love even more to see him cross paths with the X-men. Especially Scott. 

Colossus was...the same. No real comments there. I like how he pairs next to Wade as the goody-goody straight-man but I prefer his original actor XD; I guess it doesn’t much matter, new-wonky timeline. For all we know, Piotr was able to grow up in Russia now, hence the accent.

I loved the villains too, apart from Cain. Black Tom Cassidy (what is he, Sean’s nephew or something now??), poor Russel (a neat take on the to-be antagonist idea) and I gotta tell you, as a long-time fan I am LOVING all these references to the Essex name. Been a long-time coming! And to know there exist other “Mutant homes” besides Xavier’s school...it’s heartbreaking but fascinates me all at once. This new world where mutants aren’t so hush-hush. Damn! I wonder though...do the X-men know of the Ice Box? Makes you think... (By the way, that cameo scene, oh my gosh that was great. I wouldn’t want to deal with Wade either, guys.)

Gotta love the “formation” of the X-force, too. Of course Deadpool would start it and of course everyone would die XD; What a great way to sneak in cameos. I only wish Chris Evans’ Torch made it past the script drafts. I am glad kid!David made it in, though (according to my research after the film. You know that was intentional...the real question is do we now consider it “canon” or is this but another breach in reality? ;) )

There really wasn’t all that much I didn’t care for, apart from the excessive...what I’ll call “Deadpool-ness.” Silly complaint when it’s his movie but I said my piece on that. The only real moment I feel might’ve served from a slim-down was his dying sequence at the end. I get what they were trying to do, and it was funny at first; after a while, though, it started dragging. Maybe that’s just me. I don’t know. 

I’ve been following along this series almost from the beginning; when I heard a proper animated film was in the works I was very excited. I had no idea what lay in store, of course, but it seemed like such a milestone, and rightly deserved. I can’t believe this series has come as far as it has, and still going after all these years. Not only that, but the characters have continued to grow organically, one-off characters return and develop as well, and story arcs went from episodic to partially serialized. It’s really inspiring for someone like me, to see a little show about colorful ponies evolve into quite frankly, a phenomenon I’ve never before seen. Nor have I seen a company/studio respond the way Hasbro did: they’ve really seemed to embrace their fanbase and both broadened and improved their merchandise along with it. I’ve said it before but I really hope one day I’m able to create something with half as much meaning and inspiration as I’ve seen My Little Pony give so many others, myself included.

So to walk away from their film with a mediocre “meh” hurts me to admit. It really does. I wanted something new, fresh and impressionable from this movie. Both the plot and characters felt standard, expected and honestly, tired because of that. The Storm King felt essentially like a rehashed Tirek, without half the same terror. While I maintain season four of MLP was essentially Dragonball’s Goku vs Freeza, it was still one heck of a finale. Tirek stands as my favorite villain in the series: he was threatening, powerful and quite honestly, terrifying in his own right. He straight up ate magic.  Changed physically because of it. Came very very close to destroying Equestria and my gosh I wanted to feel that same sense of dread in the movie. I didn’t. Instead, I saw a wannabe and less-impressive Tirek conquer Equestria in a less-impressive way.  He also received no backstory whatsoever. I suppose that’s the case with most MLP villains, I suppose I just hoped for something different in the first feature for this incarnation.

Likewise, I also hoped for a far more interesting backstory for Tempest. She had such a presence on-screen, and I’ve never seen the concept of a broken horn explored before. Her song, too, was by far the most powerful in the film…which is why I was so disappointed to learn she became the way she was through an Ursa Major attack. Ursa Majors are huge and intimidating, I get that, it just seemed a bit weak for such a powerful villain against friendship…and reminded me strongly of Starlight Glimmer’s origin. A pony turned against others due to feeling abandoned. Just like Tirek, Starlight’s conclusions and subsequent revenge against the mane six made for a much greater impact. I’m also not at all surprised she turned around when the Storm King (surprise surprise, I say sarcastically) betrayed her but Twilight saved her. How often has this happened in the series? I know friendship is Twilight’s title, and the focus of the series, but I wanted something stronger, something—as I said—unique to this movie. 

Honestly, Tempest embodies a lot of what I love about Zira from Simba’s Pride (the Lion King sequel, because there are some people who don’t know that.) The way she carries herself, speaks and sings…just with a lot less maniacal bloodlust. The murderous mania I can do without, I just wish Tempest felt more like a villain, a proper villain. The Storm King, too. They were caricatures, and I don’t think caricatures don’t always work well in a feature.

Villains aside, I also had a lot of problems with the behavior of the mane six. From what I’ve read, production for this movie began in 2014, which would explain why they act so different from the ponies we see in season 7, now. I don’t believe the Twilight of 2017 would angrily state it might’ve been better if she hadn’t been friends with Pinkie and the others. I also do not believe she would have tried to steal a magic pearl. Ever. Even in season one. That is not a Twilight thing to do, no matter the stakes. Of course, compared to the others she was the only one taking this entire threat seriously. I’d witness fear and dread in her friends but then they’d carelessly make a scene and draw attention to themselves, something that, again, did not work for a feature like this. I know this movie is primarily for children, but the balance between humor and darkness didn’t flow as well as it does in the series itself. With more time to carry out a story, it should have. (Also, didn’t Spike get over his Rarity-crush?) Most of the characters behaved like they might have in seasons three or four, not seven. It felt really out of place and at times took me out of the urgency.

On a more positive note, I adored the seapony sequence. Everything about it: the backstory, the design and visuals, and the characters! I will say I figured out pretty quick they held some kind of relation to the hippogriffs, but it was cool nonetheless! The princess’ introduction felt very “Little Mermaid.” Kind of a fun nod, although I’m not entirely sure if it was intentional. Definitely the best part of the movie. A friend of mine pointed out—and I agree, actually—a movie set almost entirely underwater would’ve been a lot more fun than what we got. It was so colorful, and the origin blurb has a lot of potential for deeper development. Pinkie Pie was by far my favorite of the mer-designs!

I’ll go back to visuals in a second: I want to talk about characters for a minute. I don’t for a second think there needed to be as many new characters as there were. Was it cool to see pirate-bird-creatures-seriously-what-were-they and an anthromorphic cat? Yes, yes it was. Did we need them? No. No we didn’t. Too many characters, not enough time to develop them beyond tropes seen time and again. I would’ve preferred the creative team use this opportunity to bring more minor characters to the forefront: a “Slice of life” combined with the mane cast for an epic adventure or something. Actually—and I was talking to the same friend about this—if this movie had been written even a year later, it might’ve been a great opportunity to throw Starlight at the forefront of the other mane ponies to rescue/stop a corrupted Twilight Sparkle. I know that’s not something done so easily in a kid’s movie: they want to root for their favorite princess to save the day. However…Midnight Sparkle made such a great impact, at least I think so, in Equestria Girls, and the older Tempest might very well have succeeded in corralling a disheartened Twilight to her side, even if she were reluctant. Maybe Twilight’s magic gained an explosive side when reacting to negative emotion: similar to Tempest and even Starlight. Or maybe she really felt like there was no other way out or that she hurt her friends beyond recovery or something… just something. Something better. I’m not sure how I felt about the series kind of making fun of itself, either. I liked that they were out of their element, that their streak of making friends and solving problems so easily wasn’t working and yet essentially did by the end. However, they’ve traveled to other kingdoms before, and made friends, solved problems in these kingdoms, despite not always seeing eye to eye with the locals. It seemed a little weird they’d grow frustrated with themselves over leaving equestrian and expecting the same results: they have left Equestria and gotten the same results. Makes enough sense to me they’d grow used to expectation.

Now to the visuals.

WOW. W-O-W. Absolutely stunning in every, and I do mean every, possible way. Fluid, colorful, sparkly, the very definition of eye candy. I can’t get over it. The added shadows and movement in their hair, eyelashes, everything…I wish the show were animated like that all the time. It was a tiny bit jarring, trying to adjust to so much more on a big screen but I’m not complaining. There were definitely a few shots in there I’m sure the studio put in to show off their animation but again, not complaining. They worked hard on this movie and deserve to show off.

It was also really wonderful to see an animated film reminisce the hand-drawn cel-animated look of old. I know that computer-generated look is cheaper and the next “big” step in animation, but I’m a little old school at heart. Disney, Don Bluth, Dreamworks, you name it: they created such wonderful, fluid work back in the day…I miss it. Some highlights that stood out to me: THE EYES. They were so big and sparkly. So expressive. My gosh. The hair/mane, especially on Celestia and Luna. Such volume! Really mystical. The sonic rainboom, however foolish of Rainbow Dash, might’ve been the most visually appealing moment in the film. So vibrant and rich. Wow. As I said, the seapony sequence. Although Tempest’s magic gets special mention because I definitely felt her rage and dazzling power whenever it went off. 

I can’t think of anything else to add…I think this about sums up my thoughts. If there’s anything else, it’s the jokes/references to Hungry Hungry Hippos and the Wizard of Oz. Not necessary, exactly, but done, at least I thought, with more taste than Moana’s attempt at pop culture. As much as I loved that movie. Setting them in the background, or split apart amongst a group made you do a doubletake: a ‘listen-close-or-you-might-miss-it’ sort of thing. I liked that.