Brave

The movie Brave was one of the films I anticipated this year. I'd been watching the trailers since the start of the year. You know I have the thing for archers, so this movie was surely be on my list. Plus, I'm curious to know more about the bear, and it's relation to the

movie.

The rich history and legend of Scotland has helped the creators to set the atmosphere of the movie.

I like how they set up the kingdom. No fancy thrones,or halls. The dining table was made of food, without that fancy carvings. Everything is in place.

Merida's triplet brothers are cute, though I think it might've been better to let them talk. You know they are too clever for their age, but they don't talk. Isn't it weird?

One of the things notable in this movie, is the posture of archery contestants. According here, the animators got the good and bad postures as accurate as possible. I think it just earned 'Brave's animators, extra bragging rights.  

Now about the plot, finally there's a story of about mother-daughter relationship. The movie makes sure impart the importance of listening.

With her untimely bethrotal, Merida couldn't help but rebel against her mother's decision. 

In her rage she slashed their family tapestry. Not only that, she took the chance to change her fate, with the help of the old witch.

And so it happened, her mother fell under the spell and it can only be undone if she 'mend the bond torn by pride' or else her mother would permanently be a bear.

When this happened, you might initially think that Merida realizes her grave mistake and accepted her part in this. But no, she was defensive.And she just thought, oh sewing up the tapestry would do the trick.

The story played out well, that her pride continued to blind her, but at the very last moment, she finally apologized, and more than mending the tapestry, she was able to mend a much important bond- her bond with her mother.

So much on the positive, now let me just tell the part which I don't like so much.

It's about Mourdu, a prince from the ruined kingdom who asked for a spell for him to have the strength of 10 warriors. So it turned out he got stuck with the spell and became a bear, permanently.

Now don't get me wrong, I don't have any problem with that, nor I had a problem when he attacked the family in the beginning or when he attacked Merida in the ruins.

But come one, on the last part, when they were in the menhirs he started attacking,and the poor warriors who charged were nothing against him, then Mor'du, as if holding a certain grudge, happens to single Merida out. Why would he do that? What prompted him? Why would he like Merida killed.

I'm thinking it's just so to have a fight scene, but it looks that the intention/motivation of the villain was weak.  

It seems like from the beginning he wanted to hurt her, but the question is why? My questions wasn't anywhere near answered by the end of the film. Anyway, children could easily just ignore it, so it's fine, at least the beast was gone now.

And the other clans warriors, if they act like one, were not given much depth of character in the movie. All the clans just kept fighting when they get the chance, no other deeper stories about them. 

Anyway I still think this movie has some worth, think deeper and learn the lessons this movie gives.

The Healing

I've never liked a horror or slasher film, but I did my sister a favor, and so I ended up with her at the last-full  show of this movie on a Saturday night. And yes, I didn't see at least 1/4 of the film because of the horror and gore factor. I watched them with my hands over my eyes. :P

Based on a deep-rooted supersitions and belief on faith healing, and how they turned it into a horror one, I can say that the movie's plot was well thought. though there are some weak points, I actually think this movie is disturbing and scary.

!Spoiler!
Just don't look at me with that chameleon eye!In the movie, when the victims get possesed by their Doppelgänger they get that chameleon looking eyes that can rotate 360 degrees. It really creeps me out.

The the craziest part was when Greta's Doppelgänger crying was seen by her husband. The husband can only see her back, but lo and behold, switch camera angle, and you can see the black creepy eyes. The feigned cry + the crazy eyes =a real horror.

Just don't bend like that, okay?!
Imagine this scene, There was an outage, Seth, the main character was inside the dark house, Greta's doppelgänger appear, of course Seth doesn't know it, so she called her, and you know, it bends backward in an awkward position and stared for the longest 3 seconds. The heck. Real creepy.

Of course, all films has their good and bad.
For starters, I wonder, is it necessary to have a comedy in a horror film? I think no. It makes the atmosphere weak, and breaks the building tension. But for the benefit of the doubt I think it's just ok, at least the viewers would have time to breath.

Also, I think the ending is quite weak. It kind of leaves you wondering what happened to Cookie in the end.
Anyway, overall, if you're finding some horror/ slasher film, you can go see this one. I can say it's worth the money.

Ice Age 4: Continental Drift

Having just watched the 3rd movie of Ice Age, I know I have a lot of catching up to do. So when my friend offered a free movie as her birthday treat, I opted for Ice Age's latest one.

On the third movie, I met the saber-toothed squirrel, Scrat, and his adventure with his beloved acorn. The story seems to be almost incongrous with the rest of the plot and I really found him a peeve.

In this 4th movie though, I think the scriptwriters were able to make good use of his character. They were able to bring a message too. Scrat is just a simple squirrel who is just trying to find a place for his acorn, and by doing so accidentally caused the continental drift, unbeknownst to him. This is a message that says your actions have an effect on others, directly or indirectly, and whether you know it or not.

Different types of relationships were handled in this movie too. To name a few we have Manny's daughter Peaches. She is already a budding teenager and would surely like to hang out with cool friends. Him, being overprotective causes a friction between them. Sid's Granny was abandoned by their family, leaving her in his care. And Peaches in pursuit of cooler friends broke her bestfriend, Louis' heart.   

 Let's not forget Diego. He was the thing I'd been wanting to see since the start of the movie. Denis Leary's voice adds up to his charm. This sabertooth tiger sure is a loyal friend of Manny and Sid, imagine his patience for Sid and Granny. 

And no matter how he denies, you can confirm his soft side when you see those bunch of hyraxes all over him because of their gratitude. It makes him more adorable. I'm glad that they finally made him a pair in this movie.

This ice age is surely a treat.

Blonde girl

With the rain, there's not much to do today so might as well be productive. Thank God I was finally able coloring this drawing. 

11th Book: Erec Rex (Dragon's Eye)

It's hard to find the words so I will start with the summary.

Plot
Erec Rex is a boy with a glass eye. He grew up with enchanted objects, a strange mom, and other adopted siblings. His upbringing is as strange as the reason he doesn't know why his other eye was like that.

He's no ordinary kid. There are times when he gets this strange sensation, almost like mind control that commands him to do things he wouldn't normally do,good thing, so far they are only commands to help save people.

Erec's magical adventure began when his mother was kidnapped, and together with a girl named Bethany, the two explored the lower Earth, a world where magic is not an imagination, but a reality.

The Good: Creative
Okay, there are already tons of books concerning magic, ever since advent of the Potter series, and this book is no exception.

The good thing though, is that the author is creative enough to come up with a different story.

There are some chronicles about the game which Erec joined, and I think those are entertaining for kids, I personally like the game under the sea.

The Bad: Who is that again?
Ok, for a children's book, I think the character's names should have been reconsidered. Sure Erec Rex Bethany, Jack and Oscar are easy to remember. But then you would ask yourself twice,who that Claudius... Bartimius is, as well as other ancient names listed there.

The name might be long for some reason, like it should sound as scary and lethal, but if you are a kid, seriously, are you going remember that?

There were also some instances where the story becomes just plain confusing.

Some characters were just like bombs that comes out of nowhere, explodes, and would leave you asking, who the heck was that?

Some were underdeveloped, that would leave you little clue as to why on Earth they were even there in the first place.

What's next? That's it?!
As likely as the characters, some points of the stories didn't evolved too.

There are a number of loose ends or loose beginnings, somehow I don't feel that I would see the answer in the part 2 of the book.

Don't get me wrong, those are just some observations of a reader. This book is not that bad, as I said the ideas were quite creative, maybe it's just the way it was written.

Ran Mouri

Ran Mouri of Detective Conan is one of my favorite characters. I found this very beautiful picture of her, but the size was very small, look at how pixelated it is when resized.

I really wanted to re-draw this one, so I tried it, and with the use of my Wacom tablet I retraced the drawing. I think result is close enough. :P

Ran waiting for Conan

My first finished drawing in SAI

Finally, after days of tracing and coloring, I've finished a drawing using my Wacom tablet and the application SAI. I'm pretty proud of the result, considering I'm new to this thing.

Now take a good look at the characters, Do they look familiar? These characters are my chibi version of Peeta and Katniss in a happier lifetime.