ANI-MOVIES, *Ainbo: Spirit Of The Amazon

Ainbo: Spirit Of The Amazon succeeds in delivering a better message of ecology than Ferngully ever did. This was a shared production between studios in Peru, Germany, and the Netherlands that came out in 2021. The fully-CGI film had an English release in American theaters and was eventually put out on home video format and streaming. It got praised for its depiction of Peruvian mythology and culture, as well as how deforestation is still having a huge impact on the environment.

Set in the nation known as Candamo within in the Amazon jungle, newly teenaged native Ainbo wants to be the best warrior in her tribe. She grew up not knowing what happened to her parents, so she was raised by Chuni who also looked after the chief's daughter Zumi who is also Ainbo's best friend. It's unclear if the two girls have a relationship beyond having grown up together, but it's largely hinted that they have a sapphic relationship. The tribe is under a curse where the people are sick and the rivers are polluted killing off all the fish, so Ainbo wants to see about helping Zumi with this crisis since she just becomes the new chief. Ainbo is visited by a comical pair of spirit animals, the tapir Vaca and the armadillo Dillo who can talk and lead her to the giant tortoise Motelo Mama who watches over the whole Amazon. She sends them to retrieve a piece of moonstone from a tremendous sloth to access the cure for curse from a tree that Ainbo sees as her mother's spirit. Meanwhile, a white man and his workers are ravaging the rain forest looking for gold and pretends to be a shaman helping cure Zumi's father, but he is in reality Ainbo's father Will who is possessed by the evil snake deity Yacuruna. Ainbo's mother Lizeni helps lift the curse and frees Will from Yacuruna after an intense fight with a giant mechanical scorpion made of construction vehicles. Will and Lizeni then pass on with Ainbo helping Zumi in her new responsibilities as chief.

Ainbo: Spirit Of The Amazon is a pleasurable film that doesn't try shoving the theme of conservation down your throat while still telling a somewhat compelling story. Ainbo herself is a great heroine who even though she is a strong female character still realizes her own immaturity as not being experienced enough to handle most of the journey solely on her own, plus her spirit guides don't just bail her out of every situation while doubling as trickster spirits. The dub is acceptable despite the fact that some of the dialogue doesn't totally match up with what is going on in the story. The film didn't make its money back in production value, but it has gained a modicum of notoriety since its theatrical release on streaming. The animation is not up to Pixar's standards, although it fits the colorful look the view gives of the lush Amazon jungle.

ANI-MOVIES, *Bolt

When your initial movie posters have non-DreamWorks characters smirking and giving the raised eyebrow look, then you know Disney is struggling by giving in to the promotional tactics of their competitors. Although the 2008 movie was Disney's fourth fully-CGI theatrical production not to done by Pixar and done just before the company received higher success with their next 3D movie Tangled, Bolt did manage to make twice its budget back at the box office. Directed by Big Hero 6's Chris Williams and Zootopia's Byron Howard, this was an original screenplay co-written by Dan Fogelman not based on any existing story. The best way to describe Bolt is that it's The Truman Show blended with The Incredibles, but from the perspective of common animals. Aside from the positive reviews it received, Bolt never really solidified itself as one of Disney's mainstays as most of their releases in the late 2000's didn't gain much traction. The movie didn't even get its own crappy made-for-video sequel.

A dog named Bolt grew up with his young owner Penny and believing that he is an augmented canine with superpowers who protects Penny as they try to save the world along with Penny's father from the evil Dr. Calico and his army of high-tech henchmen. In reality, Penny and the other characters are all actors with Bolt being the only one who doesn't know that it isn't real which is part of the director's intent so Bolt will believe that everything in it is real to get the best performance out of an animal. This is good idea, although it leaves Bolt with a Buzz Lightyear syndrome where he thinks he really is the superhero character he's playing on the show, and that his owner Penny is constantly in danger being attacked by spies and evil cats. Penny wants to be able to just take her dog home once for the weekend and treat him like a regular pet, but the network won't allow it, as well as wanting more realism in their action show about a superpowered dog, so they also decide it should end its next episode on a cliffhanger. This leaves Bolt thinking that Penny is really in danger and he sets out to find her. After getting talked into roping along a bullying alley cat by some pigeons, Bolt has the idea that his new captive of Mittens is in league with Dr. Calico as all cats are supposed to be. They get another stray in Rhino, a trailer park hamster who is a huge fan of Bolt's show. Mittens manages to clue Bolt that his life as a super-animal while convincing him that being a regular dog is as good. After finally reaching Hollywood, Bolt is heartbroken to find that Penny has gotten a replacement dog for the show, even though Mittens convinces him that she still loves him. Bolt goes back just as the entire TV studio sets on fire and saves Penny. Penny's mother has had enough and has them quit the show, taking Bolt, Mittens, and Rhino home with them and the closing credits shows them enjoy everyday family life.

Bolt was an original idea, but copies many tropes from the Toy Story movies, so Disney is just basically ripping off its own properties, even though they would do this worse years later with Wish. The entire movie gives off the impression of a cartoon short from the 60s which has been stretched out to a feature-length production. It isn't bad, but there wasn't anything significant about it to make it more memorable. Evan having John Travolta and Miley Cyrus voicing the main characters doesn't really help move the needle much. The experimental new format of CGI animation that was utilized helped Disney advance to take on more realistic models such as in Tangled or Frozen. Bolt is an inoffensive but still enjoyable film which helped pay the bills to keep the lights on at Disney so they could make grandeur productions, even though this content is original it doesn't help when Disney just forgets about it years later.

ANI-MOVIES, *The Legend Of Hei

Chinese animated movies have been on the rise over the last decade, and in 2019 The Legend Of Hei was released with enough success that it recently got a sequel. This was the prequel to a flash animated series and webtoon called The Legend Of Luo Xiaohei by the artist known as MJTT, which has also spawned a graphic novel and a mobile game. To describe this film to anime fans is that is combines elements of Yu Yu Hakusho and Bleach but begins in a manner similar to that of the Oscar-winning Flow. If you're a regular Ghibli admirer, you'll recognize the themes of spirits trying to survive in the modern-day world of humanity.

Hei the cat spirit tries to find a new home after his forest was ravaged by construction workers. He gets taken in by another stray spirit called Storm End who has the power to control plants and takes Hei to an island where a few other rogue spirits live on. A human with magical magnet powers named Infinity attacks and captured Hei, then constructs a raft to get them off the island. Infinity is one of the human members of a council of spirits that exist harmoniously with mankind, and he was sent to get Hei to lure out Storm End that was planning on stealing Hei's powers so he can rid a major city of humans to reclaim it back for the spirits. Infinity and Hei's journey to the council's headquarters makes up a majority of the film with Storm End and his rebellious posse in hot pursuit. All this leads to Hei deciding whether he wants to ally himself with Storm End, join Infinity and the spirit council, or to go his own path.

The Legend Of Hei makes you question the morals of all the characters whether they are good or bad, humans and spirits alike, and since this is from the point of view of a small child it gives it that extra sense of an innocent spirit trying to figure out the world around him. The perspective of what the characters are willing to do to achieve their goals shows how extreme some of their methods can be and ultimately reveals their true colors. There are fluid fight scenes in this along with dynamic cinematography. This has a fantastic musical score that helps move the story along on a steady pace. The Shout! Studios dub is steady and easy to follow, so if you happen to catch this movie on streaming then give it a whirl, and hopefully the rest of the original series will make its way to western audiences.

ANI-MOVIES, *How To Train Your Dragon

Cressida Cowell's How To Train Your Dragon book series was adapted into an animated motion picture by DreamWorks which went on to spawn an entire media empire which includes a pair of movie sequels, at least a trio of animation TV series, several specials, and as recently a live-action movie. There's even an amusement park at the Universal Orlando Resort dedicated to the franchise. Whereas Over The Hedge was based on a webcomic and brought them much success, DreamWorks was hungry for another property to acquire, so the Dragons library was an untapped gold mine. An adventure/fantasy from the point of view of teenagers is exactly the brand of YA material that made Harry Potter such a merchandising juggernaut.

Set during the Viking Age, Berk is a village on the coast that is constantly being ransacked by flying dragons, and its people have become expert dragon fighters. Their chief Stoick has trouble dealing with his scrawny son Hiccup who despite his small stature is clever and created a net launcher that brings down the rarest dragon, a Night Fury. Hiccup tracks him down later and befriends the dragon he calls Toothless because his teeth can be hidden, although Hiccup shot off part of Toothless' tail, so he creates a replacement one that works while he's riding him. All this is happening while Hiccup is going through training of his own as a dragon fighter, and all he learns about dragons while bonding with Hiccup and uses this to pass his training. Eventually, Hiccup's friend Astrid finds out about his hidden dragon and together they manage to locate the secret island where all the dragons come from. It turns out all the other dragons are collecting food for a much larger dragon called the Red Death, which Hiccup tries to explain to his father, but the stubborn Viking instead captures Toothless and leads a hunting party to slay the Red Death. Hiccup gets the other teens to take the leftover dragons and stop the Red Death, but this results in Hiccup losing a foot, even though this causes the fighting between dragons and the people of Berk to come to an end with the two now living in harmony.

How To Train Your Dragon was the launching pad for a new wave of young adult fantasy that hadn't been seen since Avatar: The Last Airbender, even though there doesn't seem to be as strong a fandom for the Dragons franchise that Avatar has endured, but much more profitable. The film features soaring scenes of flying that probably thrilled people when this first played in theaters, even though the CGI is still slightly rough around the edges. The casting was brilliant, especially Jay Baruchel as Hiccup, and the strange part is that DreamWorks managed to keep most of the cast together for the future productions like the TV series that was featured on Cartoon Network. The sequels took the premise of the original movie and made it more epic with grander reveals and a deeper exploration of the world. The final TV series actually takes place in modern day where dragons continue. This first movie is a timeless gem that set up a new otherworldly saga that still has room for further chronicles.

ANI-MOVIES, *Ralph Breaks The Internet

In what seemed like a good idea at the time, Disney decided to do a sequel to Wreck-It Ralph while dipping their toes into digital culture that the even less than successful film, The Emoji Movie, did a year before. The problem with trying to cash in on a current trend is that by the time the actual movie about it comes out is that the fandom has already died out, which is at least one of the hiccups that Disney came across when they continued their video game-themed franchise. Rich Moore is back directing, but this time along with Phil Johnston who also wrote this and the previous movie, plus future-Nimona writer Pamela Ribon acting as co-writer. Even though it was nominated for numerous movie awards, it failed to actually win most of them, as well as receiving an initial profitable opening there wasn't much love for after the hype died down. Rich Moore already had plans to do a sequel, although how it developed into parodying the online world is a large mystery. Having the film come out a few months after the already similar Ready Player One movie didn't help its reputation either.

Taking place six years after the original, Ralph and Vanellope are still best buddies at the old arcade which finally gets Wi-Fi. Ralph's attempt to make Vanellope's racing game a little more exciting results in the console's steering wheel needing to be replaced. Ralph and Vanellope decide to hop on to the internet in search of a replacement game part where everything looks like a cross between Tron and The Jetsons. They manage to head to Ebay and win the part they need but for a way higher asking price because they thought the whole bidding act was a game. Not having enough money to pay for game part, our duo accepts a job going after rare items in online games which here is the car of the main character Shank in a Grand Theft Auto rip-off. Ralph and Vanellope get caught by Shank and her gang, but they help the two of them get an account started on BuzzzTube where they get paid for every weird video or meme Ralph appears in. Vanellope goes into the net to advertise Ralph's videos and when she gets to the Disney website she has a nice chat with the collected Disney Princesses, even though some of them aren't genuine princesses, in which she realizes she wants to leave her old game and stay in Shank's world. Ralph hears about this and releases a virus into the game to win his best friend back. This gets out of control, and copies of Ralph start multiplying all over until they all combine into a kaiju-sized giant that Ralph manages to calm down and delete. Vanellope decides to stay in Shank's game while Ralph returns to the arcade, and they keep in touch via online chat.

Ralph Breaks The Internet is at least not a typical sequel where they retell the story from the original all over again, but the tonal whiplash can leave a bad impression for fans of Wreck-It Ralph. Instead of a sturdy plot, the sequel is mostly just recycled pop-culture references and shameless selling out to online companies, especially that Disney now own Marvel Comics, The Muppets, and Star Wars in which was one of Stan Lee's last cameos. Despite being a theatrical blockbuster, this movie didn't leave its mark among viewers in any progressive way and makes it nearly impossible for any conceivable follow-up, unless of course they take them up into space where all sequels go to die.

ANI-MOVIES, *The Day The Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie

After being passed over from one distribution company after another, Ketchup Entertainment(which some otaku might remember as the same group that released the Captain Harlock movie to America)finally picked up the ball and got this rejected Warner Bros. production into theaters, if even for a limited run. The Day The Earth Blew Up is the first time Daffy Duck and Porky Pig from the Looney Tunes get their own feature-length movie. The two toons had a series of shorts together from the 1930-50s, but never their own full on solo adventure. Uncle Grandpa creator Peter Browngardt directed this film which had about a dozen writers behind the script, although there is a downside to having that many pens on the paper. Whereas your average Looney Tunes cartoon would be a little over five minutes long, this movie stretches it out to a full-length feature, and that does wear on the plot quite a bit. This is countered with some flashbacks and montages, one of which was done in the style of the Bob Clampett era of Looney Tunes. The movie was intended to premiere on HBO/Max, but Warner decided to free up the space on their largely limited streaming service by trying to sell it off, of which Ketchup Entertainment fished out and made only about a hundred grand in box office cash for. Browngardt intended this film to be a spinoff of the Looney Tunes Cartoons that also ran on HBO/Max for five years, although the movie is a stand-alone feature that is not directly connected to the revitalized TV series. The cool part is that the movie is a great gateway into old Looney Tunes, even though HBO/Max removed all their classic cartoons from their service the exact same week the film was released in theaters, so you can tell Warner Bros. was really willing to drop this hot potato just to cash out on this whole franchise so they can get back to making more unwanted Harry Potter material.

Mixing in modern day along with a 1950s sci-fi flick, we're shown how Porky and Daffy were adopted by Farmer Jim, a strange looking man with a realistic face that is barely animated. Farmer Jim eventually passes away by literally walking away into the sunset, leaving his "sons" to take care of the farm which over time gets gentrified part of an urban neighborhood. Their roof gets destroyed after an asteroid flies through it, so now they have to raise enough money to pay for the repairs otherwise they'll lose their house after a home inspection. The two talking farm animals fail at every job they try for, usually because of Daffy's lunacy. Seeking solace at a diner, Porky and Daffy have a chance meeting with Petunia, a lady pig who Porky takes a shining to who works as a scientist that gets them jobs at a nearby gum factory she works at. Things seem to be going okay until Daffy notices a man possessed by alien gum has sabotaged the machinery infesting it with parasitic living gum which takes over the host its chewed by. All this is the plot of a nameless alien that Daffy thinks is trying to take over the world, so he goes on a rampage trying to stop the alien's intentions resulting in him getting arrested and Porky using all their saved money to bail him out of jail. Daffy does eventually convince Porky and Petunia into believing him when the gum starts attacking them. This leads to the trio coming up with a plan to free everyone from the alien gum mind control, even though it's not what they think, and they have to clean up an even larger mess.

The Day The Earth Blew Up is a love letter to the Golden Age of cartoons while keeping it just creepy enough for old monster movie fans. Even though there is constant humor throughout the film, you can see how the writers had trouble trying to pad this out to give it enough screentime for a theatrical release. It's easy to see how this was intended to premiere on streaming, although you can understand why Warner was hesitant to put it out there just as they declined to give their animation/live-action movie of Coyote Vs. Acme a release even though it also got picked up by Ketchup Entertainment. Eric Buaza does a great job voicing both Porky and Daffy, even though he lacks the talent of Mel Blanc as both characters sound very similar, except that one has a lisp and the other one stutters. Since the film is now currently streaming on HBO/Max anyway, you might as well give it a watch and appreciate some old school cartoon nincompoopery.

ANI-MOVIES, *Wreck-It Ralph

Coming out a year before Frozen would chill the entire world with its music, Disney's prior CGI-animated movie that for once didn't rely on fairy tales as its source material. Wreck-It Ralph from 2012 was another non-Pixar production that was a throwback to retro arcades of the 80s and 90s and guest stars real game characters as a part of it like from Pac-Man and Street Fighter II. Former Futurama animator Rich Moore directed this, with an eclectic script by Frozen's Jennifer Lee and Phili Johnston who went on to write Zootopia. The story borrows from the idea of Toy Story where the video game characters come to life when no one else is around to play them and all live in their own little electronic community where they can hang out together. The original characters are interesting and have some definitive appeal. Wreck-It Ralph has been labeled as the Roger Rabbit of video game movies as the actual crossover of game characters is very limited. The film was supposed to be released in spring of the following year but was ahead of schedule and did gangbusters during the holiday season, plus winning the Oscar for Best Animation.

Set in a modern day arcade, the Donkey Kong-inspired game Fix-It Felix Jr. is celebrating its 30th anniversary of being in the arcade, and all the characters from it are having a party even though they don't invite Wreck-It Ralph who is the single bad guy that wrecks an apartment building while Felix steps in to fix all the damage with a magical hammer. Ralph attends a focus group for game villains that realize that their part is play the antagonist, but him not being involved to the anniversary party makes him finally speak out how he hates sleeping in a pile of bricks while all the other characters get to live in nice apartments. The residents tell Ralph they'll only count him as one of them unless he gets a medal, so Ralph hops into another video game inspired by Aliens where he has to travel up tower as a space marine and kill monsters called Cy-Bugs. He succeeds but ejects into another game called Sugar Rush which is like Candy Land mixed with Mario Kart where kids race cars in a land made of candy, along with a Cy-Bug that starts laying eggs. Ralph meets the game's outcast Vanellope who takes Ralph's medal and uses it as a token to enter a race that will finally earn her a place on Sugar Rush's character select menu. The land is ruled by King Candy who seems like a rip-off of Ed Wynn when he voiced the Mad Hatter and finds Ralph's presence as a foil to his plans to keep Vanellope permanently out of the game, even though Ralph teams up with the glitchy girl to help her win the race to get his medal back. They make their own candy creation car for the race that begins just as the Cy-Bugs start invading. Meanwhile, Felix tags along with bug hunter Sgt. Calhoun and forms a bizarre romance with her. King Candy gets infected by the Cy-Bugs and turns into a hybrid monster while revealing that he was from another game and took over Sugar Rush making everyone forget that Vanellope is really the reigning princess of their game. Ralph, Felix, and Calhoun manage to vanquish the Cy-Bugs with Vanellope winning her place in the game. Ralph gets to live in his game's apartments, Vanellope is a playable character, plus Felix and Calhoun get hitched.

Wreck-It Ralph was a major booster for Walt Disney Animation Studio which hadn't had a big win since Tangled two years later. There wasn't as much merchandise backing this film as you would normally expect from Disney which might be partially to the incorporating licensed video game characters into it. The comedy is on par for all-ages audiences of the time, as well as old school gamers, even though it doesn't have any particularly huge rewatch value as most Disney fans would probably enjoy viewing the original Tron again over this.