False Memory Confessional (spoilers)

Let's not kid ourselves here, we're all victims to false memories, even when it comes to movies. We catch things when we're young, but when we revisit them, chances are they'll be much different than you'd remember, whether it be things looking different, scenes occurring differently (possibly due to you not paying attention to the full scene) or a stark tonal difference. I'm going to go over my personal biggest false cinematic memories, ranging from least to most different.

!!!Spoiler Warning!!!

Honorable Mention: Nightmare on Elm Street 5

This doesn't come from the movie itself, but rather the beginning. I remember watching this film on television and seeing a drastically different opening logo. I knew it was for New Line Cinema, but the one I recall was drastically different. It had an ovular iris leading to a red/yellow/blue background with filmstrips flying by. Since the latter is part of the logo that does appear on the film, I guess I did see the real New Line logo and just didn't realize it.

There's Something About Mary

Starting off with the least different. This centers on the scene where Ben Stiller's character gets his testicles caught in his zipper. I saw it up to the last few seconds before he's loaded onto a gurney. This is lower because I knew the context. My parents actually told me what happened. I caught the film right at the scene so I had zero awareness of what kind of film it was. I'd go on, but I have enough common sense not to dispel damning personal information.

I remember the character.

Summer of Sam

Another small offender. I knew the context and when I saw it again, it played out similarly to how I remember it, but not by much. This was the scene where Berkowitz encounters the black dog. What I missed was the entirety of the dog's dialogue, and the cheesy atmosphere. I remember it being a lot creepier when I first saw it, but then again I was young and the film wasn't even a decade old by then.

Kill!

Arachnophobia

I saw this movie at the wrong age. I know it's retarded, but this movie actually gave me arachnophobia. Look at it like this, there're spiders that could kill you, I don't feel too bad about admitting it. Anyway, at the time I was in the dark about the more comedic aspects of this comedy thriller. I didn't see John Goodman nor did I pay attention to the way the dialogue was given, but one scene stuck in my head for some reason, the scene where Sam Metcalf dies. Like the previous ones, I knew the context, but the way I remembered it was much different. At first I thought that Sam's death caught his wife by surprise and that she called Jeff Daniels' character right from there, but when I watch the scene again, Sam actually walks her through on what to do, also the dialogue.

Spider Man (2002)

Right off the bat, I just wanna say that I love Sam Raimi's Spider-Man, even more to this day. It was one of the earliest movies I recall seeing in theaters. Now where do my false memories lie with this one? Well, the false memories lie not in what happened, but what I missed. For what happened, I remember most of the scenes looking different visually (namely the spider that bit Peter Parker), and that covers that.

I want to get into the fact that there're scenes that I had no idea were in the movie to begin with. For starters, in the lunchroom scene, there was a huge gap between Peter eating and him finding the fork stuck to his wrist. I didn't recall the part where Mary Jane slipped and Peter caught her. While we're on this, at first I thought Peter was caught off by spider webs, I missed the fork part, as well as the fight with Flash Thompson.

I also missed a chunk of the first scene with the Green Goblin where he killed the people on the balcony (though to be fair I was young at the time and I wound up dodging a mental bullet.) Strangely, I remember the scene where Norman Osborne transforms into the Green Goblin, but I missed the dialogue. Whatever the case it kept the same effect.

Another aspect I missed was parts of the scene with the bridge. I completely missed the part where the New Yorkers threw garbage at Gobbie. To close off, I missed chunks of the final fight with Gobbie and Spider-Man, and I misinterpreted the former's final moment. At first I thought the Green Goblin died the moment he revealed his true identity. I completely missed the moments right after.

Secret Window

Here's where I have the most false memories. Bear with me, because there're so many false memories that I have to bullet-point them.

• First up there's the opening logo. I remember the opening sequence, but the opening logo really caught me by surprise. The Columbia Pictures logo appears at the start, but when I first saw it, for some reason I recall seeing a logo for a company that has been defunct for over a decade. Vestron Pictures. Don't ask me how I thought that up.
• Next there's the character John Shooter. The only thing I didn't recall was the fact that he had a thick southern accent.
• Then there's the scene where Johnny Depp's character talks to himself. I recall him throwing something at the wall, but at first I thought he threw something at a mirror while talking to a reflection of Shooter. Depp does see Shooter in the mirror, but that's not the case with what I told you.
• Referring back to the previous bullet, here's my silliest misconception. There's a brief instance where we go into the foundation of Shooter. Johnny Depp's at a yard sale and dons Shooter's cap while talking to a mirror. Sounds simple enough, but I... I thought it was a black guy talking into the mirror. Part of my misconception is that Charles S. Dutton was in the movie, and I thought his character conspired against Depp. Yeah, it's a retarded misconception, save it.
• To conclude, I also completely missed the foundation of the plot. I blame this on me reading the plot summary on Wikipedia. I had no idea about the divorce aspect, which was crucial to Depp's actions later on in the movie and again referring to the foundation of Shooter.

To conclude, go back to movies you saw as a kid, and tell me if anything turns out to be much different than you remember.

Curious George Learns Phonics review

I have an excuse. I played this as a kid, like many of the PC games I cover on here.

Personal Background

Like many of the PC games you see me cover, I have played these at one point in my childhood. I actually had a hard time trying to find this one, because for the longest time no footage of it has surfaced on YouTube.

Game Background

At some point, you've either read or heard of Curious George. Curious George is a series of books centered on a monkey who explores the world around him and learns how things works. There's a lot to this world, so naturally the writers would have plenty to gear out. I've read a couple of books, remember one the most vividly, heard of the movie adaptation which actually got better reviews than other adaptations of other media, saw a few episodes of an ensuing TV series and that kept with the spirit of the books, and I played this game.

The game was developed by Houghton Mifflin Interactive, a publishing subsidiary of the book publisher Houghton Mifflin, the principal publisher of the Curios George books. It was developed by Vipah Interactive, who not only worked on additional Curious George games, but if casual research is anything to go by, they worked on the art design for Curious George books from the period. With a pairing like this, you'd think this game would be good, right?

Well yeah, but when you get to a certain age its intended novelty wears thin.

Gameplay

The game is set at the circus, with six attractions to choose from. Now you're probably wondering about that title. Yep, it's an educational game, hence that novelty factor. I won't judge the game based on the quality of its mini games, but its overall educational value and intuitive nature.

Comedy Clowns

The comedy clowns are a group of pairs of clowns that tell jokes. They get mixed up thanks to George and we have to get them paired with the right clown. The mechanic behind this game is more or less the same as others. In order to find the right clown, we have to click on the clown holding a picture. The narrator states we have to find a picture that begins with or ends with a certain letter. Find the right one, and you're rewarded with a joke, and since this is a children's game, the jokes are puns.

These jokes are only funny to one kind of person. One kind of person from a certain kind of cheap looking show where archetypes take heavy precedence over proper characterization. One person-

Fuck me, I can't escape from this damn show, can I?

Fun House

You drag letters onto a sign to spell out a word representing a picture above. There's a bit of a challenge involved since the letter choices don't stay up forever, but there isn't that good of a payoff. Just a high-score at the end.

Sammy the Seal

What's a circus without a horn blowing seal? Problem is that the horns are broken and the only way to get them to work is to drag pictures to them, but be careful, those pictures need to have a certain vowel. For your troubles, you get to play along to a stock track, but you only get to add silly sound effects if you decide to join in. I do feel more rewarded for completing this than with Fun House though.

Animal Acrobats

All you have to do is click on one of three animals holding a picture of something that rhymes with a picture hanging above. On the upside, you get a performance at the end, consisting of the same animals you encounter in the game, so there is some sense of accomplishment to be had, both educationally and play-wise.

Peanut Pickup

Essentially a Pac-Man clone. I figured they'd throw this in as a little diversion, but nope that's not how Vipah slithers. You get to round up peanuts, but you have to look for vendors carrying balloons containing pictures of things that start with a certain letter. Do this twice and the round's over. You don't even have to collect all of the peanuts in this.

Story Theatre

The closest thing we have to a diversion. You get to choose from ten different stories. Each of them are harmless, some containing some morals, but at least the antagonist doesn't die to push a cockamamy moral. I only recall going through two of them. They're fine by little kid standards, and they don't suck to defy that.

On the upside, you could just read the stories. The educational aspect seems to be optional. Basically, you click on a flashing icon and then you have to find words that rhyme with a stated word or words that begin with the same letter. This sounds a bit annoying, but as I said you don't have to do this.

Overall Educationalness

Phonics is one of the simplest lessons one has to endure. The game went about this fairly well, I couldn't imagine a better way to do it honestly. But there is one serious strike against it, and that's the punishment for getting a wrong answer. If you slip up, the game not only scolds you, but forces you to listen to a hint before you try again. It makes you feel like an idiot who can't figure out your own mistakes. I don't know who this was aimed for, but it had to be for someone who's at that age where you have to be receptive.

My only other complaint is the over-abundance of educational games. Now sure, you need plenty of educational games, but you'd also need a break. Branch out and include some excursions, some personal rewards for your troubles. Even Sonic's Schoolhouse had these luxuries.

What do you get for all of your troubles? A printable certificate detailing your overall accuracy in the games you played. If you used this as your principal means of teaching your child phonics, I guess this would be a good way to determine how well they've done.

Graphics

As I've said before, this game shares the same principal design used in Curious George books from the period. For a game released at the start of the late-90s, it runs pretty well, save for some occasional choppiness. The character design looks nice and simple, it has a good use of color, geez that's a crazy way of saying the game looks easy on the eyes.

Voice Work

By PC game standards, the acting isn't too bad, but there is one thing I'd like to point out. During most of the games, whenever the vowel used in the game is said, it's represented through a text-to-speech voice. It's funny because a transition to it occurs while the narrator speaks. Imagine going from hearing Kevin Michael Richardson to Samuel L. Jackson in a matter of seconds.

Music

The music isn't too bad either. It compliments each level, but it's ultimately nothing I'd write home about. The only track I don't like is the Fun House one. It's a mess, and appropriate since I'd consider that to be my least favorite level.

Overall

Curious George is a simple pleasure, and it's worth a try if you love that monkey with all your might. As an educational game, I guess it works, it gets right to the point with what it intends to teach. I'd say it's forgettable at best, but since Curious George is so well-recognized, I doubt this game would leave your consciousness so easily.

My Life Me review

I don't know about you, but I really hate anime-inspired shows. To me, unless they're supposed to go with the plot of a series, it just tells me that they wasted money on the visuals and gave fuck all to the rest. But I do have some personal exceptions. The Boondocks' art style mostly resembles what was in the original comic strips, and it obviously has its own endearing charm. Kappa Mikey actually did something really original with it, done to differentiate American characters from Japanese ones, but where does today's show stand?

My Life Me is a Canadian-French animated series that aired between 2010 and 2011. It was created by Svetlana Chmakova, a Russian-born Canadian comic artist. Given her roots in the comic genre, it makes perfect sense why she'd go for such a detail-oriented style. Per familiar actors or companies, this show has little to none, unless you count that Justin Bradley, one of the voices of Arthur (from the eponymous show) and a prominent actor in Canada, lent his voice to one of the main characters.

The show aired on Teletoon (its French network included), which makes sense since Teletoon is used as a dumping ground for various types of cartoons. They throw anything at the wall to see if it sticks, and very few have stuck on the wall. While the show started in 2010 in France, in Canada, the show lasted throughout September for around 25 days. It has no DVD release, at least one that I know of, and English-language prints are rare on television.

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You hyped?

In its prime, what did people think of it? Well, during the time it aired it got a lot of unfavorable attention from 4Chan due to its anime aesthetic, it currently has a 3.1 on IMDb (but to show how useless that site is, the only genuine review is a 7/10 review. The others are by someone who hates anime, and Tommypezmaster. If you don't know who the latter is, just keep it that way. But in the end, the show was just unremarkable, and the only thing people saw for it was an easily exploitable manga making program. It was popular in Malaysia, Mexico and France, they didn't have the same kind of people who ejaculate to morals surely.

The show actually became lost for some time when it stopped airing cold turkey in 2015, okay not lost lost, but not every episode was available, at least in English. Until recently. All of the episodes have been found and are available for your viewing pleasure. I have seen a few and overall... it wasn't that bad.

Plot

The series centers on a quartet of teenagers who're paired together per a social construct (a "pod" as the series likes to put it.) Par the course for many tween/teen shows, these teens are radically different socially. First up is Birch Small, a manga and art enthusiast who may or may not be a stand in for the show's creator. She's not noteworthy, but she has enough flaws to keep her from being a slice of plain bread, okay at the very least she has something going toward her character.

Next is Sandra Le Blanc, a skateboarding enthusiast who resents the more geeky counterparts of her pod, and tends to be super sarcastic. Okay, I'm down with that, we all need sarcasm in our lives, and she doesn't hold back. Third is Liam, the token awkward geeky guy who tends to be headstrong when things seemingly play in his favor. Fair enough. Finally, there's Raffi, the token love interest of Birch, and one without much of a personality. He's the pretty boy of the series, do I really need to further summarize his character?

The framework of each episode is pretty basic, it's generally set in school and the issue of the day tends to affect one of the four. I wouldn't call this a super-original idea for a teen oriented cartoon but to each their own. At the very least, I could make it through an episode in a straight shot. Doesn't matter how by the numbers your framework is, just as long as you could watch it.

Animation

Now, given how anime-inspired this show is, you'd think they'd work in tropes related to anime, and you'd be right. Characters would sprout cat ears and tails to represent their inner evil, there're sweat drops and of course, chibi galore. This also happened in shows like Teen Titans and Avatar, but this show honestly does it better.

Think about it, both Avatar and Teen Titans are uber-serious shows and those anime tropes sorta kill the mood, making each show look tone-deaf. In My Life Me, it's a comedy that's rooted in manga and anime, the animators would be fools not to exploit it. It seems like a form of epic trolling to show just how repetitive anime could be with their worst aspects, which would explain why people would shit on this show.

Given that this show was made in the early-2010s, obviously it would use flash animation. The show manages to kinda stand out from the others by using a more sophisticated art style, and by sophisticated. While the animation is obviously subpar as a result, the art direction is better, hell, they went all out and copied the basic anime eye design (unlike Teen Titans and Avatar where most people look like they're on the verge of going into cardiac arrest.)

Acting

As said early on, this series has little familiar actors. One of the only familiar actors I could trace is Justin Bradley, who has appeared in episodes of Are You Afraid of the Dark and previously voiced Buster. Birch is voiced by Sarah Camacho, who hasn't been active in Canada since this show and has pursued more acting jobs in Mexico. Only other notable thing she's tied to is Winx Club.

Stefanie Buxton voiced Sandra and her latest role in anything was in 2017. She appeared in an obscure TV adaptation of The Never-ending Story and an episode of Big Wolf on Campus, as well as an obscure MTV show (which was her debut). Finally, Mark Hauser seems to be the only one who's still active, with a credited 2018 role. Like Sarah Camacho, Mark lent his talents to a Winx Club related property.

Now, you're probably wondering why I'm focusing on the actors rather than the acting. Well it's simple, I really have nothing to say about it. The acting is serviceable, the voices fit the characters, what more could be said?

Overall

I think some anime purist got butt-hurt over a show that indirectly mocked the worst aspects of anime, now people hate it for some reason. In the end, per a non-Japan anime fix, I'd gladly take this over Teen Titans and Avatar, at least this doesn't abuse art design just to look more presentable than it has any right to be.

Thoughts on the EZ PZ Situation

Either this or EZ's thumbnail for the video in question.

To give you a refresher, a former member of the animation industry recently took part in an interview with YouTuber EZ PZ. Given that the guy's an active critic of the animation community, EZ had no reservations in talking about the more... lurid details. Those include Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch fucking a shit ton of women, general hiring procedures that amount to head creators hiring personal friends and something about a women's union that has a connection to some cartoon created by a streaming service. The video is down below.

I watched the video, and I'll admit, I gave it a like. I always anticipate hearing some interesting gossip, mostly because I'm hungry for validation in my ridiculous opinions. There was an obvious red flag in the video, where we just had to take everything EZ presented at face value, which I could accept, had it not been for the fact that damning allegations were presented. EZ needs to take some tips from Mister Metokur, he brings up damning info in his lolcow exposes, but he more often than not provides evidence to prove it, and if he can't, he tells his viewers outright.

A few days later, after watching a video discussing Turkey Tom, I was directed to a trailer for a video by the same user. Given the title, I figured the video would be in agreement with EZ PZ and would be an expose on Alex Hirsch, but that turned out to be bullshit. So far, two people have responded to EZ PZ's video, to my knowledge.

Once you get past the "Evidence fucker" mentality, you'd be shocked to find that info presented against the blacklisted individual is far more shocking, shocking in that it's backed by facts.

The guy in question, Luke Weber, accused Alex Hirsch of sleeping with and giving various women STDs. Apparently, Weber wound up losing a girl he had a crush on to Hirsch and you could see where this is heading. He also got fired from Steven Universe due to him drawing a comic where he and Pearl fuck (at least he didn't want to fuck Rebecca Sugar, but that's beyond the point.), then there's the fact that he's allegedly schizophrenic, and people found it hard to work with him (especially since the animation industry is reliant on large numbered groups). The fact that this made a lot more sense than the allegations Weber brought up really says numbers.

Seems as though Weber wasn't blacklisted, people just didn't want to be anywhere near him. If he was blacklisted, why would he want to be anonymous (unless it was to avoid potential harassment)? He'd have nothing to lose in giving this information out, and any harassment would validate his points. I say this because I know of people who were blacklisted who spoke out and haven't been hunted to death. First, James Woods, Hollywood wants little to do with him because of his ultra conservative views and Trump support. For a while, that didn't stop him from posting pro-Trump stuff on his Twitter (until he got suspended for it), nor did it stop him from getting some television roles here and there. There's also Jon Voight, a straighter arrow than Woods, he made it no secret he got blacklisted and even did an interview (on Fox News, but that's beyond the point), full body and all.

Now this leaves another question, why the hell would EZ take what the guy said at face value, at least enough to make a video out of it? Well, given his backlog of videos related to cartoons, I think he was seeking validation for hating certain shows. It's no secret EZ is not a big fan of Steven Universe (I'm not either), so when Weber brought up stuff related to the show, a lightbulb went off in his head and he pounced on the news, hoping to get more people on his side and validate negative opinions he has on the animation community. As a consequence, we got allegations that's so egregious that Christine Blasey Ford would've used them on Bret Kavanaugh.

EZ PZ is the kind of person who views anything damning as a golden opportunity to push a personal narrative. He's the same guy who was so desperate to get dirt on Enter he considered doxing him for some juicy details.

Where do I stand on everyone else involved? If the allegations would've been true, if the sexual encounters were consensual, there wouldn't be an issue. The way Weber went about the whole thing seems more like a revenge fantasy for someone who got his date shafted by a more popular guy, with the lesser man envisioning his one-sided rival as an embellished womanizer, and that Weber is, internet wise, a "nice guy."

To sum up everything. EZ PZ, you're obviously hungry for credible dirt against the animation community, Weber, you're probably an incel in the making, Alex Hirsch, since Gravity Falls ended, its fandom hasn't become as toxic as other shows so I have nothing against you. Guy who made that second video I linked, I... guess you're better than EZ PZ?

Little Witch review

Last time I covered one of Porchlight's many obscure animated films. Now let's go into their far northern equivalent in a little number called Little Witch.

Background

Little Witch is an animated film that was released in 1999 through Sony Wonder, who you may recognize as the distributor for Sesame Street videos (post Random House) and pre-Paramount Nickelodeon tapes. The film was produced by Studio B Productions, who you may not recognize by name, but you've probably seen a show by them and you just didn't know it.

Studio B was a Vancouver studio who was behind Yvon of the Yukon, Savage Dragon (one of the few good offerings in terms of cartoons on USA Network) and What About Mimi, brought Edgar and Ellen to television through a series of pilot shorts and have produced earlier episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, only to be done in by the fact that they're a Canadian studio, hence they'd be folded into DHX Media. Apparently this was intended to serve as a pilot to a series that never took off, which makes sense given that it doesn't run any longer than half an hour. I think it could've worked as a series if enough was put into it.

Studio B's talent lies not within their own abilities, but who they commission. The animation, according to the credits, was handled by two studios. The first was Philippines Animation Studio, a former go-to for Nelvana when their deal with Hong Ying Animation fizzled out. Their resume isn't as known, unless you heard of Bob and Margret, Moville Mysteries and Committed. The second was Mercury Filmworks, who is perhaps better known for producing the animated portions of the 2004 Fat Albert movie, one of the few aspects that people don't complain about.

The film has a 7.0 on IMDb, so even as by stand-alone property that isn't as well known standards, we could be heading into some good shit.

Premise

The film centers on the eponymous Little Witch, a girl in a family of witches born the day after Halloween. As a result, she is unable to fall in line with the rest of her family, electing to follow a life of good and seeks fellowship, especially since her birthday's approaching and she'd have little company then. I can't say this aspect is that unoriginal, but the framework isn't as lucky. While Little Witch is more freewilled, she's still bound by the customs practiced by her elders, which would lead to comedic instances, par the course.

Our hero, for your convenience.

Speaking of not so original, Little Witch, Liddy for convenience, immediately develops an interest in one of her neighbors, Marcus, a somewhat awkward kid, so awkward he immediately hits the deck when Liddy tries to introduce herself. This leads to an opportunity for her to test her magic powers, which actually help Marcus become more agile, but this doesn't prevent him from bailing once he gets a load of Liddy's family. To be fair, they're hellbent into forcing her to be like them, if this happened today they'd probably force Marcus to vote for the Democrats, less he wants to get Kavanaughed.

A majority of this movie details Liddy's interactions with the other kids, notably where she manages to impress some through a free broomstick ride. The remainder of the plot involves Liddy rounding up her new friends for her birthday party while contending with the habitual rituals her elders put her through every birthday, but given what kind of movie this is, expect a happy ending, because I already spoiled enough for you.

Animation

You could easily recognize Studio B's animation whenever you see a relatively cheap flash show. This is apparent in shows like Yakkity Yak, Being Ian and George of the Jungle. Their better shows come from joint operations, where the animation is typically outsourced to another studio, namely Class of the Titans, What About Mimi?, Yvon of the Yukon and The Legend of Frosty the Snowman (which wasn't as pissworthy as the original Frosty the Snowman). This is obviously of the latter extreme. The special contains slightly above average background, along with smooth animation and relatively decent character design. Given that the design in this special is mostly shared in What About Mimi? and Yvon of the Yukon, I take it Studio B worked on the character designs before outsourcing the animation.

Acting

One of the most interesting aspects about the acting is that the main protagonist shares the same actress as Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy from MLP:FiM. Aside from Ian James Corlett, who a lot of you should know about by now, that's the end of actors I personally know about, but near as I could tell they're all based in Vancouver, where Studio B is.

Overall

I wouldn't call this a definite Halloween classic, I won't even say it's that great. Like The Haunted Pumpkin of Sleepy Hollow, it's forgettable, but harmless in the long run. The only complaint people would try and bring up against this special is that the characters look ugly. Well obviously they never watched more than one episode of Regular Show and really took a deep look into the overall design.

As an unsold pilot, I think this could've worked as a full series. The characters have some layers, the protagonist is tolerable, it has a good design, and Studio B is more than capable of producing full series, even landing a three-season deal with What About Mimi? which had the same kind of animation.

Little Witch isn't going to be a Halloween classic, but it sure as hell isn't going to be review fodder either. You only know about it because I brought up its very existence. You're welcome.

The Haunted Pumpkin of Sleepy Hollow review

Okay, it was between this and The Night of the Headless Horseman. I haven't seen the latter (in full), but I hope to do so at some point. To give you an idea on what you'd be in for, imagine Foodfight if dated animation was its greatest flaw. But we're not here to talk about that, obviously. Instead I'm going to talk about an animated film I managed to catch as a kid, managed to rediscover, and actually kinda enjoyed.

Personal Background

Most of you probably caught this film when it aired on Cartoon Network in the early to mid 2000s, that was my situation. CN stopped airing the film after a few years, but it still remained fresh in my mind, like I could remember exact details from it rather than embellish them and surprise myself when I go to see it and wind up seeing something different (Spider-Man, Arachnophobia, you won me with your apparent cheesiness). The only problem was at the time it was hard to find the movie online, but luckily someone was generous enough to upload the movie onto YouTube (in 2015 though, long after I gave up trying to find it.)

Film Background

Little information exists on this film, at least as far as casual research goes. It seems to have been a direct-to-video release that wound up on television one way or another (I knew Cartoon Network had nothing to do with the special because if it was, Warner Bros. would've had involvement in it (WB and Cartoon Network are managed by the same parent company). So who spearheaded this film? Porchlight Entertainment.

Porchlight primarily produced direct-to-video movies, but you may recognize them best for their television efforts. They were the principal producers of The Secret Saturdays and have done work centered on LeapFrog (remember that?), though some may better remember them for Tutenstein, one of the few cartoons that aired on Discovery Kids (who's cartoons apparently exploited loopholes to avoid becoming generic educational shows.) Or if you want some better perspective on how good the show was, it was nominated for three Daytime Emmy awards and won two of them. Impressive for a mid to average budget company from Southern California.

The film was directed by Vong Zeven, who hasn't done anything else apparently. I would say he worked at Porchlight, but any other project he would've worked on for them would surely be credited.

Plot

If you didn't get enough clues early on, the film is an adaptation of the famous legend of the Headless Horseman. Given that multiple ones exist, a little differentiation would be beneficial, and yes, there is enough to make the film stand on its own. This time it focuses on the pumpkin atop the Headless Horseman. It may seem silly, but given the creepy possibilities of pumpkin carving, along with, ahem, aimed at a young audience, I think they made the right call.

Given that murder was a focal point of the original story (Ichabod Crane), and who this movie is catered toward, you'd think they'd shy away from showing his death, right?

Well not exactly.

We get the implication that he died, along with a sorta graphic depiction of the Headless Horseman killing Ichabod by tossing the titular pumpkin at him. They say he was never heard from again, but we all know the dirty implications. I'll give that a pass.

We have a full telling of the climax of the Headless Horseman, summarized within the beginning within two minutes. If they had just given a beat-for-beat retelling of the original story while abiding to what they consider to be good enough for children, this would've been a hell of a lot more forgettable, but this isn't are prime focus.

Like many of animated films from the time, our focus goes to the present day, centered on two average kids. For better or worse, it keeps with the connection to the original story by having one of the kids, Nick, be a descendant of Ichabod Crane (not entirely confirmed, but strongly suggested due to both being cowards.) Points for using a common trait and one that's more or less easy to connect to. But that isn't all there is to him, Nick also has a fascination with technology, though this isn't explored beyond designing a Halloween prop and a scene where he's more fascinated with a prop case that holds the manuscript (aka the igniting aspect of the plot device)

Our heroes ladies and gentlemen, two of three anyways.

Nick's friend is Kate, and obviously she'd not only be the beaver of the two, but kind enough to put up with a boy who'd be destined to be ostracized for such a domineering character flaw. Also she helps to put aside any adaptational inconstancies by bringing up crucial aspects, including the fact that the story is based on mostly true happenings.

He's not integral to the plot, but this character is interesting enough for me to bring up. Like many real life settings, you gotta have a bully, and this film delivers. Tucker, the bully, is not like any stereotypical bully, he's actually pretty entertaining. He mainly picks on Nick to exploit his cowardly nature, but obviously the bully is also somewhat easy to spook come the right circumstances. Basically, it's a character stereotype done proper.

Onto the remainder of the film, the plot gets going when two thieves (and like many films that involve thieves, it's a bumbling idiot paired with a short-tempered intelligent one) steal the manuscript. They decide to hide the manuscript in a pumpkin patch, to return to it once they evaded the authorities. That makes sense, but the following doesn't, just the fact that the manuscript is magical. But, unless they intend to bring satanic rituals into a kids film, I guess this made the most sense.

Nick and Kate discover the pumpkin containing the manuscript while searching for the right kind of pumpkin for a pumpkin carving contest. Little happened between this that was worth mentioning for the record. It's there that things begin to get weird. The pumpkin they retrieve appears to be already carved, and out of it comes a bumbling non-human sidekick that compliments any cheesy kids movie. Their stand in for this is a ghost named Nathaniel. When I first saw this, I thought Nathaniel was a cowardly ghost, but it turns out he's just a typical right place wrong time kind of character. Harmless, but at the same time nothing special. He also relays more info on the original story, right down to the fact that the Headless Horseman was a Hessian soldier (they would've called it a regular soldier, but the fact that they mention the specific type used really gives me the idea they actually looked over the original story to score some additional brownie points.)

The Headless Horseman is summoned and it pursues the pumpkin to complete its visage and to become fully formed, but, hitting more trope notes, it has to be done by midnight. But again, it still makes sense because it would be at the end of Halloween, and since when do monsters belong in a Thanksgiving-centric holiday? Nick, Kate and Nathaniel take place in Castle Von Tassel, a notorious ancient castle which is haunted by ghosts. They don't play that much of a role beyond headlining a song (which we'll get to later) and briefly serving as obstacles for our heroes. The Headless Horseman gains the pumpkin, seemingly at the stroke of midnight, but the big bad winds up failing thanks to convenience (or if you want to be more specific, the clock on the castle was apparently off by a minute.)

It's neither a silly ending, nor is it that creative, though I will say that it felt like Nick garnered the courage to test what turned out to be an effective way of defeating the Headless Horseman.

The film has a basic premise with otherwise silly moments in between, but that isn't always a bad thing. It's harmless and by family friendly tellings of grim stories standards, it didn't feel too botched.

Animation

Porchlight's animation could be summed up like this. Near average character designs, slightly better backgrounds and an ultra-smooth frame rate. When watching this, I could tell they really wanted to try their best, and here it wasn't in vain. The characters here look fine, they're easily 

identifiable from a visual standpoint and the action looks decent. By direct-to-video/TV movie standards it's pretty good. I also saw some more ambitious animation techniques, and they pulled it off fine.

Such as one of those artsy perspective shots.

It looks cartoony, but that's what they were going for, either that or they knew they had to cut corners and sought a shortcut that wouldn't undermine their work.

Acting

The film doesn't contain familiar voice actors, at least not highly recognized ones. Nick is voiced by Joanna Ruiz, who's only other recognized role was in the Horrid Henry cartoon series. Eric Meyers and Tom Clarke Hill who voiced Nathaniel and Tucker and the two thieves respectively both appeared in an English dub for a Spanish CGI movie called Spirit of the Forrest. Meyers did have some additional roles, such as being the first voice Daisuke Jigen in Lupin the 3rd. The rest have appeared in Thomas and Friends of all things. I half expected Porchlight to outsource acting duties to Vancouver, but it turns out that most of the actors are based in the United Kingdom (Nick's and Kate's anyways.)

But I'm just droning on at this point. The actors did a good job here, even the actors voicing two characters at once. Some of them even sound like more familiar actors. If you could pull off a convincing Dee Bradley Baker (Ichabod Crane in the start) and a convincing Ash Ketchum (Nick), you're destined to go beyond work for hire.

Music

To round off the common aspects of family films, this movie has songs in it. Two anyways. The first can be heard while Nick and Kate are preparing a halloween prop. It's a pop rock tune. It's sorta catchy, not grating on the ears and it sorta reminds me of a lighter version of Terror Time Again from Scooby Doo on Zombie Island. The other song is a generic haunted house affair. It fits and, like the previous one, it's also pretty harmless, but the previous song is better.

Overall

I'd normally be against watered down adaptations of otherwise dark material, but honestly, they handled it pretty well. Nothing worth stressing over, the characters are likable, the animation is decent and it gives decent Halloween vibe. It's kinda like a less cheesy Scary Godmother, but it still stands on its own. I think you'll like it.

Casper: A Spirited Beginning Activity Center Review

Games based on movies are common. People are always aching for just a little extra dosh, with no mind to potential consequences. But what about games based on things made for a quick buck? As in direct-to-video sequels or TV movies? Those are scarce, but they do exist. For example, did you know they made a video game based on one of those direct-to-video Scooby-Doo movies from the late-90s? Spoiler alert, it sucks, and the movie it's based on wasn't all that hot either.

But that's not what we're here for. I want to talk about a game based on a movie that I had no idea existed until I saw someone else talk about it (coincidentally, that's how I got more details on that Scooby-Doo game I told you about.), a game that works, but as you get older, you could tell how desperate they were for some extra money (I take it rentals weren't as good as the distributor had hoped.)

Personal Background

This was one of many games I used to play when I had access to the family desktop. I didn't think much of it at the time, same with the other games I had, it was just a time waster. I also wasn't that familiar with Casper at the time. My earliest exposure to the character was through the 1995 movie of all things (which for the record isn't as bad as people may lead you to believe.) When I saw one of the game's niches, it left me confused, because I had no idea that another Casper movie existed, and that the game was based on that.

Game History

The game is based on the 1997 direct-to-video film Casper: A Spirited Beginning. It was developed by WayForward Technologies, who you may recognize as a developer for many of SpongeBob games for the Game Boy Advance post SuperSponge, also Shantae. It was also published by SoundSource Interactive, a former protege for TDK Mediactive, one of the more shameless license publishers out there. It came out a year after the movie and basically fell into obscurity soon after.

Is it deserved? Kinda, but that isn't a dealbreaker I assure you.

Gameplay

Feel excited?

As it's said in the title, the game is a mini game collection. You could select from five different mini games, with a sixth remaining locked until you collect fifteen casper coins. To get the coins, obviously you'd have to play the other games, the amount you receive depends on what difficulty you play (easy gets you one, hard gets you three and if you want to play these games in a perfect order, play them all on hard.) Here's what you'd be in for.

Casper's Spinning Squares

Basically a slider puzzle, without the luxury of you having the desire to skip them because you hate those damn things. You have to click on certain squares to fix the image, and for your reward you get to see a clip from Casper: A Spirited Beginning. I would say that it isn't ideal to include spoilers, but as far as I know it only shows clips from the first half, so they got me there. The challenge comes in the fact that you'd have more squares to flip depending on what difficulty you choose, otherwise you could just flip one or two squares, repeat that fifteen times and you'd have unlocked that secret game before your mouse could grace over the other game icons.

All I have to do is click the middle row and I'm done.

Fatso's Kitchen

Basically a brain teaser, where you have to drag the right ingredients into Fatso's bowl. The right ingredients are the answers to riddles you have to solve, which range from simple (add the color of grape soda) to difficult by kid standards (this is obviously aimed at much younger people, not going to lose my shit over that.) This is one of the better games in the collection since there is a stronger sense of challenge than the previous game.

Basically if you don't know your foods, you're screwed.

Snivel's Mix and Match

Imagine the possibilities.

As it says, it's a mix and match game. A ghost comes up and you have to switch its head, torso and legs so it matches a picture Snivel is holding. Only difficulty changes are that you'd have to change all three in the hardest difficulty, while in the easy mode it's down to one or two. There is one cool aspect about this though, you could mix up your own image and print it out. 

Stinkie's Goo-Toss

No game is complete without a target practice game. As Stinkie, you throw goo balls at ghosts (which are actually cameos for characters that appeared early on in the movie the game's based on, interesting factoid.) Beyond the casper coin reward, you also get ranked depending on your accuracy. This is another one of the stronger games in the collection, thanks to its replayability.

Ready for a GOOd time?

Stretch's Memory Game

I take it the face is there to throw off your concentration?

Back then I sucked at memory games, and this is no exception. The point of this game is to memorize a pattern and keep it up until the game ends. On easy, you only have four spots to contend with, but it doubles for every difficulty spike, with the highest pinning you against a complete clock face. As you'd expect, this is another highpoint in the game, there is some genuine challenge in the game (human error helps this too.)

Kibosh's Magic Puzzle

Alright, have you got enough casper coins? Did you buck up and go all hard difficulty on all five games? Did you just grind in Casper's Spinning Squares? If so, a grand reward awaits you.

And by grand, I mean you get to see this lovely face which you'll cover with puzzle tiles.

The name tells you everything, it's a jigsaw puzzle. What's so magic about it? Once you complete it, you get to see a movie clip from the game's source movie. Let me tell ya, as an adult, I feel fucked. First up, the puzzle is piss easy, so easy that you could (mostly) see the outlines of the puzzle. There's no thought process needed, just follow the pattern and you're done. Not to mention, the magic is kinda meaningless when you could just go to Casper's Spinning Squares to take advantage of the movie clip niche. I'd normally be lenient to this game, but the fact that it's the only thing in the game you have to unlock and that it's promoted before you could even play the rest of the game, it feels like a ripoff.

Rankings

1. Stinkie's Goo-Toss: One of the more fun games in the collection. It's higher up because of the ranking system. It encourages people to play again to top their previous score.
2. Stretch's Memory Game: Actually a good way to test your memory. Doesn't feel like a total waste of time.
3. Fatso's Kitchen: A fun little brain teaser, non-offensive.
4. Snivel's Mix and Match: It's kinda boring and lacking in difficulty, but the printable feature's a very nice touch. Too bad you'd be limited on what you could put in your design.
5. Kibosh's Magic Puzzle: It may be a rip, but it has a little more weight to it.
6. Casper's Spinning Squares: You just click squares, sometimes just two.

Design

Basically, the overall design is a mixed bag. The background look kinda cheap, electing to use real life photos which clash heavily with an otherwise cartoony design. Ironically the best looking levels are the ones with the least detail. The characters are hand-drawn and, I'm not kidding, they look a lot better than they did in the movie the game's based off of. They're more fluid and expressive, and they're a bit easier on the eyes.

Music

You wouldn't think it, but the game has a decent soundtrack. The songs fit the themes of the levels and the characters, but at least one sounds like a ripoff of the other. An organ-laden theme compliments Kibosh's level, a cartoonishly clumsy theme compliments Snivel's level, we have a carnival-type theme that blends perfectly with Stinkie's level and a slovenly theme compliments Fatso's level (though it sounds a bit like Casper's theme.) Stretch's level has absolutely no music, but then again how could you concentrate on the patterns if you have music blaring in your ears. That's actually a very nice touch.

Overall

For a game that was intended to be a cash grab on a movie that not many people would wind up seeing, it does have plenty to show for it. Obviously they'd have to cut corners, such as using those putrid backgrounds, but there is a level of effort that outshines even the most harmless of licensed cash grabs. You'd think that the success WayForward would find later on would be a redemption tale, but it's more like an underdog story. From a developer for hire with a dream to one of the more respected developers in the industry (okay not by much, but people are willing to refer to them by name for praise, also Shantae)

Whatever the case, I could say there's more to this game than the movie it's based on (it doesn't include a generic father son tale, that speaks numbers.) But if that's not enough for you, it's more sound than those PS2 Casper games. Think about it.