myzombiejohn

Action packed adventures are the primary focus of this show. However, what makes even mostly filler episodes enjoyable are the surprisingly real characters, the strong family bonds, and the consistently well written dialogue and voice acting. Compared to many other cartoons, it actually covers quite a lot in less time. The huge plot twist at the end of the first season was cleverly foreshadowed and does a lot to elevate the main story, heightening the tension of all further developments. Though the last season was sadly cut short and still left me wanting for further exploration of it's intriguing concepts, it still pulled together a fairly complete feeling ending. When moments do get heavy, emotional, or serious you can expect them to be handed extremely well. Argost especially is a truly conniving and memorable villain, and deserves, along with the rest of this show, to receive greater recognition.

I wasn't expecting this movie to be nearly as good as I found it. At a glance, I simply can't understand why it gets such low ratings.

Sure, as someone familiar lore from the original Bram Stoker Novel, I found myself questioning whether or not this film was really meant to fit within the original cannon, or if it was meant to be part of its own alternate continuity. The latter seems to be true, but I don't see that as a problem. I've l grown to love MUCH looser takes on Dracula.

As a stand-alone story, Dracula Untold takes every opportunity to steer the narrative in an interesting direction. Several times I found myself thinking, 'oh, it would be so cool if they did this next', and then they went there. The ultimate conclusion may have be forgone, but the journey sure was a ride. Everything was pretty tight. There were no parts I can recall that dragged down the pacing, which was pretty heart-pumping throughout. I loved how many little details had come back into play by the end.

This version of Dracula is well preformed and also surprisingly sympathetic, even reasonable, despite being convincingly bad@#$. I enjoyed how his powers were and weaknesses were represented, and taken advantage of, with the final fight being my favorite. And for some reason, I find Dracula turning into a swarm of bats much cooler than him just turning into one. What can I say?

In the end, even though this story is kind of a prequel, I'm hungry for a direct sequel.