fatemaster2003

Oh dear Pooh... What happened to you and your (beloved) kid-friendly franchise...

At first, when the movie was announced, I was pretty surprised to see how a supposedly kid-friendly franchise like Pooh, being turned into something animalistis and sadistic like this? But again, I'm always a positive person and will always welcome a new idea.

So, when the trailer first hit the internet, I saw it and kinda liked the idea to a point where I was pretty excited to see the outcome. But upon watching it, I finally realized that I've wasted 86 minutes of my life for a movie that's badly produced.

Don't get me wrong, this movie actually has potential if executed properly. Gory and slasher movies still have great values, as long as it's executed nicely. Sadly, that's not the case with this one. Bad direction, bad lighting, bad script, bad story, bad acting, bad costume. Nothing good can be said about this one. Oh wait.. maybe one good thing is there: the killing and the gore.

Things I really hated about the movie is mainly on the following:

1. Actors and actresses who was pretty bland on the acting... 2. Terrible and inconsistent dialogue (10 minutes into the movie and I already felt like wanted to stop watching it because of the dialogue...) 3. Story which is under-developed 4. Bad costumes... (I mean, come on. In this era, where you can create a believable monster like Kingkong and Godzilla, but yet, the creatures just looked like over-juiced villain cosplaying as Pooh and Piglet, while going all Jason-esque style murder spree?)

I'm sorry, but I really don't recommend it, unless you really have lots of free time to spare and don't mind your childhood lovable-stories got butchered and turned upside down into full gore-style killing spree genre.

I still give it 3 stars out of 10, because I want to at least appreciate the idea, which again, is sadly, badly executed.

For starter, I'm one of those Resident Evil fanatics that would consider myself as someone who really will try my best to love any kind of Resident Evil related stuff (be it the comics, games and/or movies), you name it. So far, I've tried to accept every Resident Evil movies ever made and actually am able to live by and accepted the craziness in it, no matter how silly it turns out (I'm looking at your Resident Evil, dear Ms. Jovovich).

So when the news came out, saying that Resident Evil will receive a big reboot, unrelated to the Ms. Jovovich era, I was hyped. And the hype was even much, much higher when I heard that this time around, the director was promising a more frightening take, closer to the source (the game).

Now the movie is out, and I have to admit... it's kinda disappointing. Yes, the director is doing his best to make this movie as close as possible to the game (design-wise) and while some of the end-result do look the same as the game, the overall result is (again) very disappointing. If only they didn't rush the production and try to take their time instead, I really think this movie will become a blockbuster despite some of the casting choice.

Let's start reviewing some of the things in this movie then.

Firstly, the casting. Overall, we should really give the actors and actresses some credits as they are doing a wonderful job, though some of them are clearly underused if you want to compare it with the game. And I'm also a bit confused to some of the backstory of the characters in it. While some can be accepted, but one particular character received a very... disappointing background story to begin with. Why the writers decided to give this one a hallowing story is really a big question-mark for me...

Secondly, the plot. Combining two Resident Evil stories into one movie and with only less than 2 hours to tell the whole story? This is where my opinion about they shouldn't rush, came in. Yes, the monsters design are quite creepy (and their origin is actually acceptable for me), but the director is rushing it so much, the movie starting to lack (big time) in the fear-department. Not to mention, some of the more important monsters were too easy to defeat, making it not even a tad bit scary or tense.

While easter-eggs were put-in all over the place, the director turn this movie into one hell of a roller-coaster of a disappointment. Overall, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City felt like a movie where you're invited to view all sort of easter-eggs, and the director forgot the fact that he is supposed to direct a scary movie instead of a big carnival of easter-eggs...

I'm still giving it 5 out of 10 though, because who doesn't love a good easter-eggs movie?