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((Classic Animation and Video Game Reviews...))
AWESOME CARTOON OF THE MONTH:
Lord of The Rings (Film Studio: Fantasy Films)
Lord of the Rings is Director Ralph Bakshi's biggest commercial success and is argued by some to be his masterpiece as well. Although it did have many problems, this film is a very controversial and artistic translation of one of the greatest epics of all time, and being based on a great classic usually helps a film a lot. This film is no different...
It is a pure Bakshi concoction, that you can be sure of, but it holds true a lot to the Tolkien masterpiece, thanks to a great script by Peter S. Beagle and Chris Conkling. With GREAT voicing jobs by all concerned, including John Hurt and Anthony Daniels, it does have power behind the words. The one thing this movie falls apart on is, handling of the work. While Bakshi did a superb job on the art and feel of the movie, he lost track on keeping it aimed straight ahead. It meanders, and leaves you with a sour taste in your mouth at the end (with a very disappointing ending indeed!).
THE OCELOT'S REVIEW:
While it does have many faults, I have to say it was a great film because of two reasons: 1) It kept me excited most of the way, and 2) it had a raw power, an energy to it that riveted you. I would like to congratulate three people who made this film so great: 1) Peter Woodthorpe, with a hilarious voicing job as Gollum, that equals if not betters the great job done in The Hobbit and Return of the King, 2) Leonard Rosenman, with a Golden Globe-Nominated musical score that is totally awe-inspiring, and 3) Bakshi, of course, for an interesting if not exciting interpretation of the classic novel.
RATING: Script: ***1/2 Sound: **** (!) Voice: **** (!) Animation ***1/2 (!) Overall: *** (A classic of our times, hampered only by problems in the motion of the film, heading both forward and backwards at times)
CARTOON CRITIC v3.0'S REVIEW:
Compelling, captivating movie, but altogether disturbingly Bakshi. The score was magnificent, the animation was surprisingly realistic, but unfortunately, the ending left many questions to be answered. Speaking of questions, I have a few of my own... Are Sam and Frodo gay? Sam seems to be WAY too close to him throughout the whole movie. Here's another question... Why was Billy Barty cast as a bit part? That makes absolutely no sense in a cast devoid of stars. They should have made more use of his talent. John Hurt's role was surprisingly dull, and Aragorn's character design seems to be based off an Eskimo. The coolest part of this movie were the costumes on the rotoscoped characters... especially in the battle scenes. Those Orcs were well designed. Unfortunately, it was just another bright spot in between many confusing scenes. Given the finances Bakshi had, he could have done better.
RATING: Script: **1/2 Sound: ***1/2 Voice: *** (Gollum was one of the best parts of the movie) Animation ***1/2 Overall: **1/2 (Perosnally, I liked Rankin/Bass' adaptions better because although they didn't spend as much money or time on the visuals of their films, they handled their films' direction much more straightforwardly.)
CLASSIC GAME OF THE MONTH:
Punisher (Design:Beam Software|Distribution:LJN)
SUMMARY: I LOVE THIS GAME! One of the best comic adaptations on any consoles. Also, one of the first games to have interactive backgrounds. The more you shoot, the more damage they got! It was also just really cool, seeing the Punisher move around with all those really big guns! He looked like a REAL guy. Even his punches and kicks looked real, in a comic book sense. The only problem was that the bosses took an incredible amount of hits. The whole game had a dark, dreary comic book look to it. The music, though sparse, was interesting (Especially, the blues that the saxophonist played. [If you shot him, it faded out as he died!]) The sound effects got kind of annoying, but the game play and graphics were some of the best on an 8-bit system. But, hey, where's the blood... Strange. You'd shoot 'em, but it would have no effect on their arteries. Oh, well. We have enough of that gore anyway.
GAME INFO: System: NES Players: 1 Game Modes: 1
RATING: Graphics: ***1/2 Control Response: *** Sound: ** Fun Factor: **** (!) Overall: ***1/2
Links to other sites on the Web
The Ocelot's Personal Web Page (A page all his own!)
A clip from the theme song of the Wonder Years. Joe Cocker RULES!
A VRML by The Ocelot... Not a great one, but my first one, so don't complain! (Turn off collison detection on your VRML browser before you try it if you want to explore it.)
You say you can't see my beautiful world? Then go to here to get Cosmo Player by SGI!
One of our favorite games. The shareware version of Politics. Believe us, you'll like this game so much, you'll NEED the full version.
Another great game. Hunting prairie dogs. Simple, fun, and addictive. Play this beautiful 3-D game once, and you'll be hooked.
© 1997 vrpence@kih.net
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