Review CLXIV - Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl

Review 164
Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl (2016)

Oh jeez, it's been quite a while. Here I thought I hadn't written a review since July, but in fact, it's been since June! While partial blame is definitely on the fact that I haven't been watching all that many movies in general - instead I've been splurging on some anime - I would say it's been more a case of needing to take a break from writing reviews. Some months you really feel in the mood to sit down and write out your thoughts, and other times, you just need an extended hiatus. I can't say I'm feeling cent pour cent back, but knowing it's the month of Halloween, I figured it was time to write a review for a least one thriller this month. Not to mention it's Friday the 13th. If I was really on top of my game, I would have reviewed one of the films in the Friday the 13th franchise, but in all seriousness, I actually really hated the original. Consequently, I never decided to go further into the series, but I digress. Today we're talking about A. D. Calvo's Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl starring Erin Wilhelmi as Adele, our protagonist; Susan Kellermann as Dora, Adele's aunt; and Quinn Shephard as Beth.

Adele is a quiet girl who keeps to herself. When her mother informs her that her agoraphobic aunt is near death's door and asks that she take of her for financial gain purposes, Adele puts up little resistance. However, her aunt refuses to acknowledge her presence, leading Adele to fall into isolation in a new town where she knows no one... Until she meets Beth.

We'll start with the positive aspects of Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl. It definitely carries an ominous air throughout the progression of the film, setting up a great atmosphere for a horror movie. As my boyfriend pointed out, the palette of the film is also very consistent - it carries a lot of dark blue, grey, black tones, with the occasional dark red. The colours are very muted, again helping set up that tone. The acting was fine overall, with no falseness from the actors and actresses... And I think that's it for positivity. Everything else was mediocre at best, just bad at worst.

Obviously the biggest complaint would be the writing of the film. It is... bad. I can't say I saw anything completely new in this film, and even though it rips on archetypes, it doesn't do a very good job. First of all, Adele's character is just badly written. She's completely naive to the point of just being not self-aware in the least, and her innocence doesn't make sense. What do I mean by this? Adele basically sees this girl at a bar one day, who we learn is named Beth. From the start, it is obvious that Adele loves this lady. I guess she's never experienced love before, but somehow she thinks it's fine to just stare at Beth for long periods of time even though it is obviously creepy. She initially has this shy look to her whenever she looks at Beth, almost not wanting to make eye contact. Guys, where did this love spawn from? I mean, Quinn Shephard is attractive, yes, but I don't know, I don't get where this infatuation comes from. Anyway, it's just typical hair-flipping action with Adele which was just crap writing. She's innocent and listens to her music and smiles to herself, talking about how much she loves Beth. I dunno, I guess it's equivalent to Myra Hindley when she first met Ian Brady and wrote in her journal about how mature he looked. But instead of just writing this in her journal, Adele portrays all her emotions up front in a conspicuous manner. That's problem number one. When she eventually gets drawn into Beth's evil ways, she has no moral compass whatsoever. She follows her around like a puppet and barely puts up a fight about anything Beth tells her to do. Spoiler - even when Beth tells her to switch her aunt's heart medication for some cheaper "natural" alternative, she doesn't put up a fight. This would make it more interesting, especially with the overall plot (which we will discuss in a minute). They could have made character development, but they didn't. Her aunt dies as a result of this shit, but she doesn't question this shit for even a second. There are easily led people, and then there's badly written characters. I can't talk shit on aunt Dora very much because she barely backs an appearance, so we'll skip her. Next is Beth. Beth is just typical bad girl too. She doesn't bring anything new to the movie, just same old shit I've seen before. I can't say she was as horribly written as Adele, but that could be because Adele gets more screen time than Beth, and I just found Beth boring to be honest.

Second is just general plot. This whole "good-girl-turns-bad" is old. I don't care if the movie had a good atmosphere, the whole time I was watching this, I felt like the script was being read to me. Nothing was subtle. Adele followed Beth because, for the sake of the plot, it had to be done. They didn't try to deviate from the eventual end, instead giving the viewer exactly what they expected from every scene. Adele turns from stupid innocence to stupid blasphemy. The plot is basically in line with The Cabin in the Woods satanist-MKUltra kind of shit. It's freakin' boring and been used before. Beth is attempting to convert Adele to the dark side because she's part of some satanist group. Adele gladly walks into it. This is boring! I want my horror movies to say something! I don't just want some satanist shit which I've seen multiple times before and I will see, I'm sure, again in the future. But no, the plot had to be weak.

From what I read for Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl, everyone said the film moved through the underbelly slowly, only to abruptly end with the climax. People said not to question the ending, but in reality, that's because they didn't understand it. This is fine because personally, a few years back, I wouldn't have understood it either. But really, I think my satanist clue just lets you guess the ending. Spoiler - yes, her aunt supposedly comes back from the dead to make Adele take her place, but instead, maybe take it as Adele joining her aunt in the MKUltra programming. Even if I didn't understand the ending, it would still be shit. Why? Because it's so fast and horribly shot. Adele does the stupid thing of running into the basement even though she could easily run outside. And anyway, I don't care because Adele never had any morality to begin with. Good for her if she joined this cult - she doesn't care if people die.

I suppose this review is a bit all over the place, so let me sum it up: Sweet, Sweet Lonely Girl attempts at a nice atmosphere, but falls short on everything else. Characters are derivative, plot is unoriginal, and the "mysterious" ending is nothing short of lame. The movie isn't absolutely horrible - if someone put it on and I was there, I wouldn't walk out of the room - but it's not good either. Would I recommend it? No. But if you know someone who is inviting you to watch it, you won't throw up.

Review CLII - Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace

Review 152
Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace (2016)

I don't know if I'm stretching this with the title of a review, but it nonetheless will get a piece of action here. I was not familiar with the original sketches from the trio at Million Dollar Extreme, and I have not checked them out either, but let me tell you, Million Dollar Extreme Presents: World Peace (short: World Peace) is something. I was going to wait until episode six was released, but unless they decide to throw everything down the drain in that episode, I have a feeling my views will not change.

World Peace is a comedy series of approximately eleven-minutes currently being shown on Adult Swim, a late-night program on Cartoon Network. I don't live in the United States - nor do I watch television - so I would have missed out on this series, but thankfully I managed to catch it on youtube (note: a quick search seems to produce negative results for the episodes at the current moment - I'm sure copyright issues are the culprit). For those of you wondering what it's about, it's a skit show. Given the length, there are usually about three major skits running through the show. As for the type of humour, it's definitely off-the-wall anti-comedy in general, with some sketches honestly not being all that funny, apart from a little joke in the middle of the sketch. C'est en style de The Eric Andre Show, for example, where you sit there awkwardly at times because stuff is just happening and it is just off. I'll admit, it isn't a style that's for everyone - I can't say I always enjoy it - but World Peace goes above and beyond with its political commentary.

Yes, I did say political commentary. I mean, it's damn obvious when you watch an episode, but I think it's important to remember that you should not be disregarding the commentary made in comedies. Monty Python's Flying Circus, while silly at times, still made some pretty strong political comments at times that can maybe be overlooked given the general context of the show. The Meaning of Life I can say for sure had a lot to say - only because I haven't watched the show in its entirety. A drama, when taking on political positions, is taken seriously and can cause a backlash, but comedy can have liberty as it can be taken more lightly. However, I can't say World Peace takes itself lightly at all. Check out the tap water sketch to see what I mean.

The title of the show already speaks volumes given the movements pushed by governments to accept and tolerate everyone, and to bring about world peace, which, given human nature, is a complete fallacy and should already provoke laughter. Check it, I do have a belief to treat people with respect regardless of their origins, but the general population does not. "But shouldn't we try?" Of course - but what the government pushes is not this - it only pushes agendas which are self-destruction to its own people. This is what the show presents. It presents the double-standards, political correctness which plagues Western society. It makes you laugh, but then you have sketches like this one which make you wonder what the hell is going on. Again, I believe in respect among people, but what exists today has taken on a whole new level. I was speaking to a fine arts graduate student the other day, and he complained that in one class, the teacher was analysing a piece of work and saying the author was just a "privileged white woman" with nothing to say. I can't say I didn't feel an anger from that comment - not because I am in that demographic, but because this was exactly the problem minorities had to face in the past. We are not progressing, instead we are just pointing at a different race. My field of study keeps me away from art and critiques from these pieces, so I can't say I face the consequences of it in general, but I'm sure my blood would boil in such a class. It's just a sad story all around when, by attempting to get other voices heard, we shut up others.

I guess I don't really have much else to say about World Peace except expressing how flabbergasted I am that this show was even produced. It's damn raw, pretty funny at times, and has a lot to say about the political climate now. Regardless if you agree or not, sometimes you need to listen to stuff outside of your bubble to keep your views in check, and one hundred percent, World Peace does this. So thank you, Sam Hyde, Nick Rochefort, and Charls Carroll for your sketches, as well as Andrew Ruse who directed and also helped write this.

I would link a promo or something, but I linked you a bunch of sketches, so check those out! Youtube should also have some episodes uploaded somewhere, so be free my minions!

Review CXLVI - Suicide Squad

Review 146
Suicide Squad (2016)

Sometimes I think I want to torture myself. Although in reality, I checked out David Ayer's Suicide Squad because I had discussed it with someone and I hated on it from the trailer alone. I really wasn't digging Jared Leto's portrayal of the Joker, but the guy I was talking with said he didn't think the way he approached the Joker was all that bad. I had briefly seen the trailer when it had come out if only because some friends were discussing it, but because it had been so long, perhaps my memory was playing tricks on me. So after listening him to talk about the movie, I decided I would check it out (in piracy), especially since critics had apparently buried it seven feet under causing utmost outrage for the fans when Ghostbusters wasn't slaughtered. *claps hands and rubs them together*

Honestly, I think I got, what, twenty, thirty minutes into the film and dropped it? So I guess this is less reviewing and more just hating, but that's okay. I figure as long as I'm up front, it's all good. From what I saw of Suicide Squad, it was a super stock film. That is, the movie recycled character introductions like we've seen time and time again, reminding me of Snatch. I also thought the whole introduction was shit in how it was executed. Check it out - we begin with I think it was the Animals' rendition of House of the Rising Sun. It seemed so misplaced. We got it as we rush across the water and enter the prison to see Deadbolt (Will Smith) talking shit about his food to the guard. The guard, being the dick every guard is in every Hollywood film, beats the shit out of him. Then it cuts to some song I didn't recognise for our introduction of Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) strapped to the ceiling of her cell. Now, what? How does she have straps in there? This is a maximum security prison - I don't think you're even allowed shoelaces, especially since this woman is psychotic and maybe will attempt suicide. It was just stupid.

Already I'm raging, but it gets worse. We then get Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) explaining each of the characters. First we start with Deadbolt, also known as Floyd Lawton, who is a mercenary. But he's also the father of a young girl. He is forbidden to see her because he is an ASSASSIN, but they meet in secret. Batman (Ben Affleck) catches the two and, though Deadbolt attempts to shoot Batman, his daughter stops him in the pursuit, telling him to give up. He does, and is captured. Honestly, what a shit backstory. I think it would have made more of a heartfelt story if he would have shot his daughter, and was now living with the consequences. I was waiting for him to shoot her, but instead we get some shitty acting from this daughter and Will Smith looking like this guy who became an assassin for only monetary reasons. I don't even know how his daughter is fine with him being a mercenary. I mean, maybe she isn't since she tells him to give himself up, but she isn't pissed in the least. It's just shit, honestly. It is super sloppy writing with no character development. Deadbolt is the bad guy who is really good. That's all we get from him - and I doubt it changes by the end of the film.

Then we talk about Harley Quinn. I'm just rolling my eyes at this character. She literally exists for sex appeal, and that's it. She also has a shitty story. She was a psychiatrist who was treating the Joker, and she eventually fell in love with him. And let me tell you, the acting when she is Harleen Quinzel is ATROCIOUS. It was on the level of Watchmen. So much so that I almost had a fear the acting would continue down that route. However, once Margot Robbie has to act a super obvious characteristic, she's fine. Anything subtle, anything that requires talent, not so much. So as Harley Quinn, she's fine, but it's so bullshit. So yeah, Harleen Quinzel (Jesus, that name needs to stop) falls in love with the Joker, who asks for a chainsaw. She promptly gives it to him and he busts out of jail, not before "hurting her real bad" with who knows how many volts to the brain, with Harleen Quinzel beckoning him. It was the stupidest shit I had ever seen. We get a shot of the two of them together with Harley Quinn as a stripper/go-go dancer or something. The Joker looks- actually, wait, I'll get to him. Anyway, so they're a duo, with Amanda Waller telling us she is even crazier than the Joker himself. Then Batman attempting to make out with her... "Hey, guys, Harley Quinn is the way we're getting our young male viewers in! Let's get her as nude as possible, and horny, and sexy as possible!" Christ... Just shit all over.

There were other introductions, but honestly, I don't even remember them because, by now, I was out. I know one of them gave themselves up, but that's it. So all I have is the Joker, who we saw multiple times. You know how I said I had hated him in the trailer? Yeah, I hated him more. His metallic teeth reminded me of a gangster with gold inserts, and his appearance in the club with Harley Quinn just destroyed me. He's a hardcore gangster in Suicide Squad, which I really, really did not like. The Joker is a jokester, a prankster. I hate this level of seriousness he ran - it makes no sense. I'm not gonna compare to the one in The Dark Knight because frankly, I can't remember the portrayal there all that well, but I recall him having super dark "humour". The portrayal in Batman was also fine. Here, the Joker is just crazy and freakin' idiotic. Granted, I saw him for two seconds, so I can't really make an accurate description on him, so maybe the jokes come later. However, what I saw was enough to make me really hate him. Honestly, that gangster portrayal crap is just so shit. SO SHIT.

Really, I just hate this overall introduction to the characters and insert to the main plot. I'd rather it be like Snatch where we learn about the characters through a particular scene, not by having another protagonist explain each of them. It makes everything seem rushed and the easiest way to give us a backstory. And it continues with Amanda Waller explaining why these guys are needed, instead of showing us the imminent threat. Why couldn't Suicide Squad start with that threat instead of the pointless sympathy call with Deadbolt, and showing us Harley Quinn? That's the point of using a visual medium to tell a story - so you can show us the scene, not tell us about it. Just shitty writing, honestly.

Finally, the use of old music in these films to get people swinging in the theatre is also driving me up the wall. Yeah, I know they have a separate soundtrack, but Watchmen did this by having old, classic rock songs to get you in or something, and it just keeps happening. Stop. I really can't get no satisfaction with these songs.

I wrote all that from thirty minutes - I could only imagine the whole film. Suicide Squad is so stock and unoriginal with really bad writing. It isn't worth my time, and it certainly shouldn't be worth yours. The only reason you'd see Suicide Squad is because the marketing was massive for this pile of junk, and you think it must be good since you saw five different trailers online. Just... whatever.

Review CXLV - Ghostbusters

Review 145
Ghostbusters (2016)

I debated writing this review for a couple of reasons. Number one, everyone under the sun has reviewed it, so my measly review really doesn't stand by it. Number two, it didn't get a great rating, unlike Zootopia, which needs to burn in hell and know its place. But nonetheless, I read/heard some reviews saying Paul Fieg's Ghostbusters was just okay and not bad, so I figure I might as well put my two cents in.

Now, before I begin, I did review the old Ghostbusters a while back and said it was just okay and I didn't have much to say, but given the wisdom I have accumulated over four years (cough), I can say that I give Ivan Reitman's Ghostbusters a little more credit now than I did originally. So if you're sitting here saying, "Hey, man, you didn't like the original!" that would be an exaggerated claim and my old review was bad (as are all of them, sigh).

To be honest, I didn't even finish the 2016 rendition. It was so painful and ridiculous and lowbrow that I made it about an hour in and, realising I still had about an hour left, I dropped it. But I still think I can say what I need to say. I know the ending is very "anti-man" with its penis attacking or something, but honestly, the film has it from the beginning. So let's start from the beginning, mmkay?

We start off with Erin Gilbert, played by Kristen Wiig, claiming she has found the formula to connect quantum laws and relativity. I'm glad they chose the easiest possible thing for her to display her "smartness". I'm guessing the whole thing is a joke and she was day-dreaming or something, but whatever. We then find out she wrote a book with her friend, Abby Yates, played by Melissa McCarthy, a while back and her friend had re-published it against her will. And we find out that one of the people reviewing her case for tenure is an evil man who doesn't believe she can accomplish anything. He also criticises her wardrobe. Now, I can only talk from my experience in physics, but I'm guessing it's a pretty universal thing in general. Every teacher I have met in my degree so far has been very, very friendly. They are serious about their work, but trust me when I say that I had bigger run-ins with teachers in psychology than I have in physics. And the one teacher who I met who was flimsy was sexist - toward men. That's right. He was a man who was always encouraging his female students and would disagree and disregard his male students. In particular, I recall a male peer of mine commenting that he had difficulty reading the board, and the teacher told him to move closer if he couldn't see. I, who was sitting the same distance away, defended the student saying it was a bit small, and the teacher, with no argument, said he would write bigger. So really, this brings me to a second point - people in academia aren't going to be sexist in general. You might have the one teacher who makes a comment about women, but university students and professors are some of the most liberal people around. Sure, science, mathematics, engineering, economics fields probably have more conservative students than, say, art students, but I have yet to meet a guy tell me he thought I wasn't as smart as a man. And especially in physics, where most of the guys are slightly socially awkward, they would never say this. Even if they aren't, are you going to hate on a student when they show prospect and possibly answers to your questions? I don't care that this teacher was an older man - he wouldn't be a complete dick. And to add one other thing, he criticises her attire, yet in my experience, I have dressed more professionally than my teachers. Granted, this is Columbia University, but nonetheless, this guy was so passive aggressive about the whole thing, it came off as super feminine. Women say, "No, nevermind," when you ask them what. No? Whatever. We'll have more to say on this.

So then Erin goes to confront Abby about the whole ordeal and we meet Jilian Holtzmann (Kate McKinnon), who pissed me off. I know a lot of people were like, "Man, Holtzmann was awesome!" and maybe because all the other characters are so bland, this is why. But she's insane. She's supposed to be an engineer for Christ's sake. If she behaved like that, she would lose her license, point final. It's possible that this is different in the United States, but to me, there is a certain licensing and educational system that goes on to actually be considered an engineer. She has nothing. She's also super catty with Abby about Erin, which made me sit there shaking my head. What are we in, high school? Thanks, movie, for portraying men AND WOMEN in a derogatory way. Honestly, my balls are busted - I've heard everyone talk about the sexism toward men, and it really is disgusting. I hate it. But for the few who say, "These women are empowered and you just hate the film because they're women!" I say, no they are not, and yes, I hate them because they're women. Because they make these women the MOST STEREOTYPICAL SHITS. These are the women I meet on the street and turn away from because they bring my sex down. Honestly, I was going to call Erin the "brainy" woman, but she isn't. She is so emotionally strung and STUPID, I wanted to kill myself. Abby? She and Holtzmann are super catty for no reason. Then when everyone is friends, it's like, "Okay, ghosts are real, we have evidence, so it's okay c:" Why even have that cattiness from the beginning? It was completely useless. Otherwise, really, Abby has nothing going on with her. I really don't get why she is there. Holtzmann is there for laughs, oh whoooa, man, but instead she comes across just as idiotic with setting shit on fire. Jesus H. Christ. So yeah, in the end, they discover ghosts, they STEAL SHIT FROM SOME UNIVERSITY (kleptomaniacs), and they open their "Ghostbusters" centre. They hire some guy, Kevin (Chris Hemsworth) who, while hot, is completely incompetent. I don't get how people said this guy carried some substance because he was not funny. I know the film is trying to be sexist again with men, but it shows just how much of an idiot Erin is. She wants to go with this guy because he is so "dreamy" and it is so awkward to see them together, but maybe they should be showing her actually going for an intelligent man with SUBSTANCE. She is literally behaving like a man going for the sexy bimbo. It's not funny, it's pathetic. Kevin is not hot - he's a you-know-what boy. Women behave on a different scale than men - while having Megan Fox should attract (young) male viewers based on appearance, I don't think women generally go for men just based on looks, especially not a woman who is FREAKIN' APPLYING FOR A TENURE POSITION AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY IN PHYSICS. People are stupid, but I would hope this woman has standards of some sort. But given divorce rates and freakin' society, I think I'm wrong.

So what else do I have to say? Oh, right, Leslie Jones as Patty Tolan. People beat on her for being stereotypically black, but honestly, she didn't come across as a complete racist dolt in my opinion. Granted, I didn't watch until the end, so maybe it got worse, but from the minimal screen time, she was fine. I don't really have much to comment on. Consider this character lucky for only jumping into the film a short time before I stopped watching.

I pretty much stopped at the part where Bill Murray's character - WHY, BILL MURRAY, WHY - an evil man, gets attacked by a ghost after Erin acts as an irrational woman, and they go to city hall because there's some ominous guy in the back. And the mayor is a man, with a woman by his side. But whatever, I can't say anything about the scene because I stopped watching. I just couldn't take it anymore. The film was less about bustin' ghosts than it was about stupid melodrama and little jokes. The title really should have been changed. I mean, in the original, every character was just pure and existed as they did and busted ghosts. You had Dr. Peter Venkman who was denying ghosts and trying to get the girl, but it was Bill Murray, so it was cool. And Dr. Raymond Stantz (Dan Aykroyd) and Dr. Egon Spengler (Harold Ramis) were cool, man. I liked their duo because they were not complete IDIOTS LIKE FREAKIN' ESTI DE HOLTZMANN... *breathes* And Winston Zeddmore (Ernie Hudson) was fine, man. JUST FINE. ... How did they screw this up so royally? By adding women and making this film an agenda. I watched this film, what, a week ago? And I still feel dirty from trying to watch it. I tried at it alone while trying to finish a birthday gift for someone, and I was so disappointed. This is entertainment? Maybe for a young kid, but I'd tell my kids to watch the original.

Guys, Ghostbusters is shit. The reason it can't be okay is because it holds the title of a classic, a film which actually had humour for all ages. I refuse to take it as, "Well, it was doing its own thing c:" A remake can be different, but this is literally just pure Hollywood regurgitated shit that marketing has tried to give to you as a three-star-Michelin meal. I tried my best not to compare it to the original, but I couldn't. When I remember all the humour I got out of the original, all the cheesy special effects, I can't help but feel so, so disappointed. I hate this feminist angle everything has to take. I hate that they're shitting on themselves and calling it funny. We can't support this shit anymore and call it "empowering". Just because a woman is a protagonist does not mean it has to be about this woman defeating a male society. Why can't we have it as coinciding, living as one?

Eff 2016 Ghostbusters. You will perish in flames!

Review CXXVIII - Zootopia

Review 128
Zootopia (2016)

My boyfriend and I decided to visit the theatre on Friday to finally use a movie pass we got for Christmas. Since we rarely see anything in theatres worth watching, we decided to check out a bad film to make fun of it. He was set on Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens, but considering I've never been a fan of the franchise, and I already knew the film was a copy paste of the original, we went in to see Byron Howard and Rich Moore's Zootopia, with voices from Ginnifer Goodwin and Jason Bateman as our protagonists.

Zootopia was bad. Now, don't get me wrong. The animation was spot on and pretty fine, as expected from a Disney/Pixar film. I wouldn't expect anything less from this multi-million(billion?)-dollar company. No, what I'm talking about is the plot.

Now, I watched the film as an adult, so of course I'm seeing it through experienced eyes. But the amount of social justice this film pushed scared me. No, really, I was scared. I mean, check it, I thought the film was going to be all "love everyone" considering the plot. I mean, really, it was expected. But the film took a rather ambiguous and respectable meaning for a kid's film and took it way, waaay out of proportion. I'll explain why. And be warned: I'm the ruining the film here on out. No mercy.

The film starts off with a play. We find out that bunnies and tigers were natural enemies at some point in history, but after the formation of major metropolis Zootopia, prey and predator evolved to live in harmony. Already we kind of see this derogatory stance of those living outside of the city, but wait, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

Filled with humour, we find out through this play that our rabbit protagonist, Judy Hopps (Ginnifer Goodwin), wants to be a cop. Her parents are absolutely appalled, considering there has never been a rabbit cop before. "Don't do it, honey. Be a farmer like us. We gave up on our dreams and settled down. You'll never survive as a cop." A "fellow" fox classmate, complete with Southern drawl, pushes her down further emotionally and physically by reminding her of her genes. "You'll never be nothing more than a stupid bunny!" Okay, that gives us enough to discuss for now. So, one, the film points out that farmers basically gave up on their dreams of going to the city and are happy being submissive and sticking to old traditions. How about we tell that to the family in The Grapes of Wrath, hm, or the real small-time farmers out there today who face rising constrictions on their hard work (and yes, I am talking about the Oregon farmers who had a huge protest)? A completely respectable family who was forced out of their homes only to travel to bigger, better places and get shut down and told they were garbage, partly because they were from mid-South. Based on this one vicious fox obviously from the South, Southerns are also all conservative nutheads (can't even make a pun, so sad). I mean, yes, based on what I've seen as an outsider, the South is more republican-based, but the subject of conservative = bad in the media is a story for another time.

So yeah, this hare wants to be a cop. Not only is she a rabbit, but she's a female. And when she graduates top honour in the police academy, Mayor Lionheart (J.K. Simmons) is all ready to bring her in, supporting this whole movement to bring more prey into the police force. Remind you of all these movements to bring more women into the army/reserves, or to bring more women into engineering? One hundred percent. As a female pursuing a male-dominated field, this is real. This is very real. Anyway, we see that Mayor Lionheart is actually a jerk to the vice-mayor, a nice sheep, Bellwether (Jenny Slate). Bellwether, after seeing that Judy is not really getting the work she hoped - she's assigned parking duty - she keeps telling her, "Us small guys gotta stick together." Which, all right, that's fine. That's nice.

During one of her patrols, Judy happens upon a con-artist fox, Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman). Now, I didn't mention this, but foxes are the bottom of the barrel in this city. No one trusts them. But given what Nick Wilde is - taking advantage of other animal's niceness, including Judy - can you really blame them? Well, instead of explaining everything leading up to it, Judy finds out through a heartfelt moment that Nick was treated like shit at some scout meeting because he was a fox. So he decided, "I would just become what everyone expected from me." Honestly, my mouth opened wide at this shit. Are you serious? Are you blaming everyone else on your problems? Obviously this is saying that if a minority supports a stereotype, it's not their actions - it's the result of social conditioning. Honestly, guys? Guys. I understand not all stereotypes are just. I understand. But don't give me this bullshit. Yeah, a child who is sexually abused may go on to be a pedophile, but if a black man robs a store, do you think it comes only from a white man putting him down, saying he will never amount to anything? Yes, of course this is the subject of many rap songs where black people can be put down, but seriously, stop blaming your problems on other people. Nick chose to be this way. If it was me, I would have proved them otherwise. I know a lot of you will disagree, and honestly, I never investigated a lot into this, but I nonetheless don't appreciate this "it's never my fault" attitude. Fess up to your crime.

Nearing the end of the film, once Lionheart is booted out since he was hiding the fact that predators were reverting back to their predator nature, we found that new mayor Bellwether was up to this all along with some nighthowler plant thing. "Prey are 90% of the population! We will push the predators out, so we are no longer the little man! Muahaha." Way to spread on the white guilt, guys. Once again, white Man is the problem, leading to minorities doing wrong. Once again, I understand how much white people have done, but if you look at what people in general have done, seriously, it's just easier to blame the white Man for everything since white people went to conquer mass areas. But anyone see what Asians have done to other Asians? See what a lot of African country leaders are doing right now? See the state of a lot of Latin American countries? Yeah. White Man.

But the part that really... So, this is before we find out everything about Bellwether. Judy finds the crazed predators and explains that predators can go crazy, but prey can't. Nick is completely and absolutely offended, and storms off. Judy heads back to her hometown, only to find out how the predators are going crazy. She heads back to Zootopia and tells Nick she was wrong in her assumptions, and she was a jerk and... Honestly, I can't remember exactly. But the way it was said... Honestly, it was like Judy deserved such punishment. Given the whole debate on genes playing a role, it's like the whole debate on how men and women are completely equal in every way. I mean, shit, I believe in equality, but we're different. Prey and predators are different. You cannot deny your evolutionary history, people! You cannot deny genes, no matter how much this film pushes that shit down your throat. I refuse to accept that!

My point here is, Zootopia is pushing all this on our children. They are impressionable. And we're shoving these socialist views down their throats and setting them up for this victimised culture. Even if you agree with it, don't you think this film takes it too far? I mean, shit, like I said, a "I love everyone" theme is fine, but to push this much shit down your throat... Even this idea that politicians may do good while doing bad... Am I even getting through to anyone? This is extreme. I wouldn't want my kid watching this. Not with this many social agendas being shoved down their throats. No. Please, no.

And yet, this film is being declared as the best Disney film ever produced. Instead of accepting our differences, the film promotes a unity. But it also promotes a self-destroying culture where we're all at fault for the decisions of others. And those who are against seeing this equality are simpletons who gave up on their dreams. I... stop here. Zootopia further emphasised what I already knew: when/if I have kids, they are not going to watch recent films.

Also, separate rant: the animal sounds and depictions were not always accurate, and I would have liked to see some two-toed sloths. They're cuter, you know.