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Showing posts from October, 2023

It's a Wonderful time! (Super Mario Bros. Wonder in early review)

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    Friends, it's not every day that we get a new 2D Mario game. Even after years of releasing similar or uninspired products like the New Super Mario Bros. games, the games were still pretty fun. Here's a shocking statistic for you, while people are mocking that now old series (which is funny considering New is a permanent fixture in the title), but the most recent game in the series (not counting New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe , since that was basically the same as the Wii U game, or Super   Mario Maker 1 or 2, since those were built mostly around the fan community) came out 10 years ago. That was the last time that we saw Mario take on the 2D stage, but now in 2023, we've gotten Super Mario Bros. Wonder ! For the first time in a long time, the future looks bright for the 2D Mario landscape, and it looks like they're knocking it out of the park this time. Let's get into why it makes it special from some previous releases, shall we? A New Adventure!     The game b

A whole lot to pack into 13 minutes! (Thoughts on "Once Upon a Studio")

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      Friends, I know I've been writing about Disney a lot recently, in fact, the past 3 posts have been about different aspects of the company in one way or another. However, this is the 100th anniversary of the Walt Disney company, and as such, I feel like I haven't talked enough about the House of Mouse this year before this point. This week, I have to talk about the latest short from Disney, "Once Upon a Studio." Now, I will say that this short is only about 13 minutes long, so it's entirely possible that it will actually take more time for you to read this than it will for you to go on Disney Plus or Hulu and just watch it for yourself. I would be remiss if I didn't talk about it for some time today. With that out of the way, let's get ready, because it's almost picture time for the cartoons! What are Cartoons to do at night?     Once Upon a Studio begins with the ending of a workday at Walt Disney Animation Studios in Burbank, and everyone is lea

When Hinges Creak in Doorless Chambers... (Haunted Mansion (2023) in review)

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      Welcome, foolish mortals, to this chilling review of one of the spookiest films to come out all year. What makes it so spine-chilling, one may ask? Why, it came out over the summer, and thus, commercially flopped. It blows my mind that this movie came out over the summer, it's such a perfect "Spooky season" movie, and I feel like it's my duty today to talk a bit about this movie and why it deserves a watch during October, especially since it's now on Disney+. Of course, I'm slightly biased, because I love the ride so much, and there are tons of easter eggs to the classic attraction, so feel free to take this review with a grain of salt. Hop inside your Doom Buggies, friends, because we're going to New Orleans! Beware of Hitchhiking Ghosts!     The story of this movie is a much more complicated affair than I expected, though it makes sense for this to have some depth with death being such a major theme of the ride. In the beginning, we meet Ben, an ex

Mickey Mouse is back as a video game hero! (Disney Illusion Island in review)

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 Well, friends, it's that time again! The time that Disney has decided to put more effort into their video game offerings, and specifically one based around making Mickey Mouse into a hero. Of course, there were the classic Sega Genesis games with Castle of Illusion and Power of Illusion , then there were the Disney's Magical Quest games for Game Boy Advance, and then Epic Mickey back on the Wii, and while Disney has made many games since then, very few have seen the Mouse take the spotlight for himself. He was a playable character in Disney Infinity, at first in Sorcerer form, and later just as himself.  We're now back to a Mickey (and friends) centric game in Disney's Illusion Island ! I have been super interested in this one since it was first shown off sometime in the last year or so as part of a Nintendo Direct I think? Either way, I picked up on it because for one thing, you play as Mickey and friends through a 2D platformer, and for another thing, it looked jus