ANI-MOVIES, *Defenders Of Space

Yet another Korean knockoff from the Joseph Lai filmography, Defenders Of Space, was original titled Phoenix-Bot: Phoenix King(also known in parts of Europe as Master Of The Future), and features several ripoffs of various anime and Japanese toylines. Among these are White Base from Gundam, some of the ships from the Leijiverse, and a certain fire engine from Transformers which as this point was still part of its original Diaclone line, plus the title character of Tezuka's Phoenix manga.

In the future, the mighty Zinba empire lead by Emporer Nicholas are a race of blue aliens ripping off the Gamilons from Yamato armed with Tatsunoko super robots, and invade the human colony on Mars. Some of the youngsters were luckily off planet playing baseball, and arrive just as their city has been decimated. Two of them head to Earth to seek out the power of the mysterious Phoenix King, instead of for some reason getting help from Earth's defense forces, which seems to be run by guys in business suits. The pesky kids unlock the Phoenix King robot, which is actually Inferno from Transformers and only transforms into a fire engine near the end of the movie after a single Autobot manages to take out an entire galactic armada.

The animation is sub-par, even by Korean forgery standards, with the characters changing facial patterns from scene to scene. There's boring music, and even though its only a little over an hour long the film pads out several segments with shots of the Phoenix-Bot flying in space, almost like the entire movie was one big commercial for this one 80s action figure. There are parts where the movie completely say "screw you physics" like when someone shoots opens a ship's window in space to run a drive-by on an approaching missle, like something out of GTA. If you're planning on doing your own Mystery Science Theatre session for a crappy anime wannabe bootleg, then dial this up, which is conveniently part of the Ronin Mecha lineup on Tubi.

ANI-MOVIES, *Mortal Kombat Legends: Battle Of The Realms

Acting as the second half of what would have been a more effective trilogy, Battle Of The Realms continues the story from Scorpion's Revenge. This animated movie combines elements from the later Mortal Kombat video games past the original one, and tend to rush plot elements from a series of fighting games that got more convoluted as it went along. The major difference is that in this one, the realm of Outworld is referred to as Edenia, the world that Otherworld eventually merged with. Former Avatar animator Ethan Spaulding returns as director, with slightly upgraded quality.

After the previous Mortal Kombat tournament, Shao Khan begins an invasion of Earth, with the tournament champions leading up humanity's defense forces. Shao Khan convinces the thunder god Raiden to petition the Elder Gods for a final Mortal Kombat to end any future conflicts, even though its not explained how Edenea could go to war to Earth since they lost the last tournament. The Gods agree, with Raiden asking to have his godhood removed so he could join Earth's fighters as a participant. Meanwhile, Scorpion is being hunted by the mad god Shinnok to unlock the final hidden piece of a powerful entity known as the One Being, to which Shinnok sent cybernetic Lin Kuei ninjas. The new Sub-Zero seeks revenge against Scorpion who was tricked into killing his brother by Quan Chi. The new Mortal Kombat takes place on the Outworld conquered realm of Edenia, of which Princess Kitana is the rightful heir to. Earth's fighters particpate with Liu Kang finally besting Shang Tsung, but newcomers Kung Lao and Stryker dying in combat. Kitana tries to assassinate Shao Khan fighting Raiden, but the skull-headed hulk stops her and kills the thunder god, which pressures Liu Kang to unlock his inner Super-Saiyan and defeats Shao Khan. The Elder Gods lend Liu Kang their combined powers so he can take on the revived One Being merged with Shinnok, leading to a full blown kaiju battle with the fate of the universe lying in the balance.

The sheer way the stakes keep building to cosmic levels in this single feature is sort of like taking Avengers: Age Of Ultron and zooming right into Endgame. You can tell that WB was rushing this out as a cashcow when the opening bit with Scorpion showing off his moves is taken out a meme of "Ultra-Instict Shaggy". You can get whiplash from the pace the plot warps to, and many might find the way the story escalates more than a little jarring. There's some development in Johnny Cage and Sonya's relationship, and we get to see Jax's new robot arms, but Liu Kang's evolution from fighter to godhead is more than slightly a major paradigm shift. Fans of the video games will probably find it inviting, however the average animation lover or comics fan would be better off just renting it.