leomoviecritic

It was pretty jarring to see that this spin-off got rid of the Specialists, characters who made the original Winx Club great. Still, I checked out World of Winx to see what it had in store. I like the more mature art style and some of the fight sequences, but it always feels like there's something missing. I kept expecting Sky or Brandon to show up, but no, they're only barely referenced! The new transformation scenes are a little uncomfortable, too. Hopefully the live-action Winx Club won't push the Specialists to the sidelines.

I love this cartoon for its surprisingly good action. The more negative reviews here seem to be about the terribly mis-managed English localizations of the show. Apparently, the show was originally done in Italian until 2010, when Viacom/Nickelodeon started producing it. So for the earlier episodes (seasons 1-2), there are a few different, almost unprofessional-seeming dubs from random studios...and they censor/reduce all of the layered characters into the same dumb stereotypes. Yikes!

Avoid these 3rd-party dubs and watch either the Italian episodes or the newer Nickelodeon ones (both overseen by this show's creator, Iginio Straffi). It's a really fun watch and my favorite character is Timmy (Tecna's boyfriend).

Getting this out of the way first: the first three Toy Stories are 10/10 movies in my opinion. The fourth had the potential to be on the same level, but it (just barely) misses that mark. I say this because it works amazingly as a movie on its own (great balance of breathtaking animation, good humor, interesting characters), but it slightly disappoints in the area where it really matters (giving fans of the first three a chance to see all of their favorite characters again). I get that the movies have always been focused on Woody's story, but his group of friends deserve more than a few lines each. The new characters (especially Key and Peele's stuffed animals) are funny but not interesting enough to justify pushing Buzz Lightyear into a minor role. Sticking with fewer new characters (was the mini cop toy really necessary?) would have made so much more sense and opened up opportunities to fit in the rest of the original Toy Story cast. When they make a fifth Toy Story (which is sure to happen, judging by the box office receipts), I hope to see more of the other toys we have been following since 1995.