The Neverending Story II

Well sequel month is almost over and it looks like I am going to finish it off with Neverending Story II. So let's go back to Fantasia as I review The Neverending Story II and see if it should really be Neverending or if it should have ended.

The movie opens with Bastian (Johnathan Brandis) going to the book store from the first movie where he meets with Mr. Coreander (Thomas Hill) and asks if he can read the Neverending Story Book again Coreander says no but Bastian takes it anyway. Bastian tries to read it but finds out that a lot of the pages are blank and then he goes into the world of the book. Inside the book a villain called Xayide (Clarissa Burnt) wants to take over the world of Fantasia by using a machine that takes away one of Bastians memories whenever he makes a wish with his new powers. Xayide sends her minion Nimbly (Martin Umbach) to try and trick Bastian into making a wish. Xayide sends a small army into the city but Bastian manages to defeat them. Bastian manages to contact the Childlike Empress (Alexandra Johnes) who tell Bastian that he needs to rescue her from Xayide. Bastian gets the help of Atreyu (Kenny Morrison) and Falkor (Donald Arthur) and they set off to find Xayide.




Bastian camps outside Xayide's fortress and try to figure out a plan to get inside. Meanwhile back in the real world Bastian's father (John Wesley Shipp) finds the book and takes it to Mr. Coreander but finds that most of the pages in the book are blank. They distract the guards and Bastian wishes for a way to climb up into the fortress. They corner Xayide and ask her where the Childlike Empress is. Xayide says she will tell them if she takes them to Silver City. Xayide and her minions take a carriage to the city and use the fact that Bastian is slowly using his memories to try and manipulate him into thinking that Ateyu and Falkor are against him and that he can trust her. Bastian and Atreyu get into a fight and Bastian accidentally pushes Atreyu off of a cliff Falkor carries Atreyu away and leaves Bastian with Xayide. Bastians runs away to find Atreyu and Falkor but Xayide and her minions are hot on his trail.

***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

Bastian can only make two more wishes before he doesn't remember anything. Bastian finds Falkor and Atreyu but finds that Atreyu is dead. He uses a wish to bring him back to life. Back in the real world Bastians father returns to the bookstore to find that whole store has vanished into thin air. Xayide catches up to them but Bastian uses his last wish to wish that Xayide has a heart which ends up making her explode. Bastian saves The Childlike Empress and all of Fantasia. Bastian returns
home to his father who now knows all about the Neverending Story. The End.

***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***

This wasn't that good of a sequel. The acting isn't that good and the plot seems a bit overdone. But the sets and make up is quite impressive. So it's a good looking movie just not a good movie plot wise. But if you think you might like it check it out it's still better then the third one. See you all next time.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

If you remember a while back, I reviewed the first Harry Potter movie, I like the first one so let's see if the second one is any better. Little side note, I am now going back to doing one review a week because it was too hard to do two a week. So let's head off to Hogwarts as I review Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

We start at Harry's (Daniel Radcliffe) home where his step family, the Vernon's, are having guests over for dinner and they don't want Harry and his magic ruining anything. So they tell him to keep in his room while they have guests over. But Harry discovers a House Elf named Dobby (Toby Jones) in his room warning him to not go to Hogwarts. Harry says he wants to go to Hogwarts and Dobby has no choice but to drop a cake on the head of one of guests and make it look like Harry did it. This causes his family to forbid him from going back to Hogwarts and lock him in his room. But luckily Ron (Rubert Grint) breaks Harry out of his house using a flying car and takes him to his house. When we get to Ron's house we find that Ron's sister Ginny (Bonnie Wright) is going to Hogwarts. Harry stays there and he gets a message from the school telling him what books to buy. They go to Diagon Alley where they go to a bookshop where a famous wizard named Gilderoy Lockhart (Kenneth Branaph) who turns out will be the new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. They buy the books and we cut to a few month later where they are trying to make it to the train to Hogwarts. But some sort of magical barrier is keeping Ron and Harry from getting on the train. So they use the Flying car from before to fly to Hogwarts but end up crashing it and the car drives itself off into the woods. Harry and Ron get lucky and don't end up getting expelled.

 School seems to be going normally until one day the resident bully Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) insults Harry's friend Hermione (Emma Watson) and Ron tries to cast a spell on Malfoy but it backfires and everyone ends up getting a detention. Harry's detention is helping Professor Lockhart answer his fan mail but on his way back to his dorm he comes across the cat Mrs. Norris who has been petrified with some cryptic text on the wall next to it. This causes quite a big panic as you may imagine but that doesn't stop Harry and his team from playing Quitich. When one of balls is possessed it tries to attack Harry and he ends up falling to the ground and breaking his arm. Lockhart tries to heal his arm but ends up making all the bones in his in his arm vanish. That night a student turns up petrified just like the cat did and people are starting to worry. With everything going badly Lockhart starts self defence classes but one of the students summons a snake and Harry finds a way to talk to it which freaks everyone out and makes them think he might be the one petrifying everyone. It also doesn't help that two more people have been petrified. Harry finds a mysterious Diary that apparently has the mind of a former student in it. Harry sees through the memories of the student that the same thing happened 50 years ago and that Hagrid was the one behind it which is why he got expelled. Harry and Ron go to talk to Hagrid and he tells them to "Follow the spiders". They follow some spiders into the forest where they see a giant spider that used to be Hagrid's pet. But the spiders says that he isn't the monster in the school and he tries to eat Ron and Harry. They escape from him and the next day they find out that Hermione has also been Petrified.

***SPOILER ALERTS TOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

They find a piece of paper in Hermione's hand which says that the monster attacking everyone is a basilisk which is a snake monster. Ron and Harry find out that Ron's sister Ginny was taken into the Basilisks lair called the Chamber of Secrets. They manage to find the entrance to the chamber and go into it. Ron is separated from Harry due to a cave in but he tells Harry to find his sister. Harry finds her and discovers the person who is in control of the basilisk is Tom Riddle. It turns out through some sort of spell he preserved his 16 year old mind inside the book and used the spell to posses Ginny to do his work. Riddle also reveals that he grew up to be Voldemort AKA the man who killed Harry's parents. Riddle releases the Basilisk but Harry defeats it and saves Ginny. They escape and they are all rewarded for defeating the Basilisk. The End.

***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***

This was a great sequel to the first Harry Potter. The special effects are pretty good and so is the acting I love all the different details in the sets. It is fun movie all the way through. I recommend this as a fun adventure movie. See you next time.

Gremlins 2: The New Batch

As you may remember last Halloween I reviewed the movie Gremlins. I didn't know there was a sequel till sometime last year. Usually this is a bad sign, but you can't judge a movie by it's poster. So let's tune into the Clamp Cable Network as I review Gremlins 2: The New Batch.









The movie starts in New York in the shop from the first movie where we see Mr. Wing (Keye Luke) being approached by a man named Forster (Robert Picardo) who asks on the behalf of his boss Daniel Clamp (John Glover) if he could sell his business to him so that he can build this project he is working on. He says no and Forster leaves. Fast forward a few months later it turns out Mr. Wing has died and the building is being destroyed. But, the Mogwai from the first movie Gizmo (Howie Mandel) is still inside. Luckily he manages to escape but two scientists named Lewis and Martin (Dan and Don Stanton) find Gizmo and take him away. Meanwhile it turns out that Billy (Zach Galligan) and Kate (Phoebe Cates) from the first movie live in New York and work at the Clamp Enterprises. Kate is a tour guide and Billy is an artist in the art department. Billy knows a man named Fred (Robert Prosky) who works as the host of this corny horror show as the persona of Uncle Fred the vampire. Fred tells Billy about this new genetic research lab which he thinks seems very suspicious. Meanwhile in the lab it turns out that the two doctors from before work in that lab and the lead doctor Dr. Catheter (Christopher Lee) is planning to do experiments on Gizmo.

Billy hears one of the employees whistling Gizmo's song and Billy decides to investigate the lab. He finds Gizmo and lets him out. Billy tells Kate about Gizmo and tells her to pick him up and take him to their apartment. But a malfunctioning water fountain causes Gizmo to get wet and multiply into four more Mogwai with the leader being a Mogwai named Mohawk (Frank Welker). Kate accidentally picks up the wrong Mogwai and takes them home. But they realise the mistake and just as they are about to take the Mogwai back Murray (Dick Miller) and Shelia (Jackie Joseph)Futterman from the first movie come to visit Billy and Kate. They get the Futtermans to leave and go back to the Clamp Building where the evil Mogwai invade a frozen yogurt bar and eat a bunch of the food there causing them to turn into Gremlins. But before Kate and Billy can stop the Gremlins and find Gizmo they have to go do their jobs. But while Kate is giving a tour of the TV studio the Gremlins invade a cooking show and cause a fire activating the sprinklers which makes them multiply into more Gremlins. It is utter chaos and it gets worse when they break into the genetics lab and drink all sorts of chemicals making them mutate into different types of gremlins like a Bat Gremlin, a super smart Gremlin who can talk (Tony Randall), and a Vegetable Gremlin (OK that last one sounds a bit dumb).

***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

Billy finds Mr. Clamp and comes up with a plan; they will trick the Gremlins into thinking that it's night outside and when they go out and they will get burned up. Then we get this scene where the Gremlins take over the projection booth and Hulk Hogan scares them off (this scene would be a lot cooler if you watched it in theatres). Mr. Clamp uses his emergency exit. Forster, Dr. Catheter, and Billy try to stop the Gremlins from eating all the chemicals but by this point there are even more mutant Gremlins such as an electric Gremlin and Mohawk had become a spider Gremlin. Meanwhile outside Mr. Futterman hears about the building being invaded so he sneaks in. The plan is in motion but just when everything is going great it starts to rain outside. But Billy comes up with a plan to use the electric Gremlin to kill all the other Gremlins. The plan works and Billy Kate and Gizmo are safe. The End.

***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***

Gremlins 2 was surprisingly good. The acting is good and some of the animatronics are better than the first movie. It is also very funny and clever with some of its humor. However it does feel more like a parody of Gremlins then a sequel but that isn't a bad thing. So if this seems like your thing check it out some time. See you next time.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze

Wow that title is a mouthfull. Sequels Month is starting off with this film and we will see if it is better or worse then the original. As I stated in my review of the first movie it is based on a popular comic and TV show from the 80's and 90's. Oh and there may be some spoilers for the first movie in here. So let's go to where everyone eats pizza and review Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: Secret of the Ooze.

We start with a pizza delivery boy named Keno (Ernie Reyes jr.) who stumbles upon some crooks robbing a mall but then the ninja turtles, Leonardo (Mark Caso), Donatello (Leif Tilden), Rapheal (Kenn Scott), and Michaelangelo (Michalen Sisti) come to the rescue.  Now in the first movie they used their ninja gear in the fight scenes but since that got too many complaints from parents they use random objects that just happen to be lying around. So after defeating the crooks the turtles head back to the apartment of April O'Neil (Paige Turco) where they are staying until they find a better place to live. Later that day April does a report on TV about a local company closing down for unknown reasons. But it turns out this mysterious ooze has caused some nearby dandelions to mutate into bigger dandelions. That night the same pizza deliver boy comes to April's apartment and sees the turtles and gets freaked out. But the turtles explain to him what they are and that it is important to keep a secret.

Meanwhile it turns out the villain from the last movie, The Shredder (François Chau) is still alive and planning his revenge on the ninja turtles. The Shredder and his henchmen invade the lab with the ooze and kidnap one of the scientists and one of the last canisters of ooze. The turtles decide to go into the sewer to find a good place to live. They find an abandoned subway station where they decide to live. Meanwhile Keno and Rapheal go to the Shredder's headquarters where he sees the scientist from before and it turns out the Shredder used the ooze to mutate a turtle and a dog into mutants named Tokka (Kurt Bryant) and Rahzar (Mark Ginther). But Keno and Raph get captured and it's up to the rest of the turtles to save him. But they to get captured but manage to free themselves and once again instead of using their ninja weapons use random objects they find lying around. They escape the Shredder and make a plan to defeat him once and for all.

***SPOILER ALERT STOP HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THE END RUINED***

They challenge the Shredder's mutants to a battle and end up battling in a club where Vanilla Ice is singing. Oh and then he starts doing a ninja rap.....I don't even know what to say about this scene. They defeat Tokka and Rahzar but then Shredder drinks the last of the ooze and becomes Super Shredder (Kevin Nash) only to have the ceiling collapse on top of him resulting in him being defeated so it's kind of pointless for him to have transformed in the first place. The End.

***SPOILERS OVER KEEP READING***

Well that was an awful movie. It is extremely dated. Some of the actors aren't that good and the Shredder isn't that much of an interesting villain. But at least the animatronic turtles look pretty good. But I still don't recommend this movie as a good sequel or good movie in general, See you next time. And seriously, why was Vanilla Ice in this?