This is the final segment of the final episode of The All-New Super Friends Hour, unlike most other Super Friends formats, this one had hour long episodes that were made up of various shorter cartoons. The first segment would be an adventure staring two members (or three in some cases as Batman and Robin would often team with another Super Friend) of the Super Friends. The second would be a morality play staring the Wonder Twins. The third would be a typical half hour Super Friends adventure. The fourth and last segment would feature one of the main Super Friends (or two in the case of Batman and Robin) teaming up with a special DC Comics guest.
In this cartoon Superman and Green Lantern team up to save the day when a wild elephant is loose in India.
This is a fun cartoon. Superman and Green Lantern have to save the day without harming the elephants making saving the day feel like a real challenge. The elephants have a great design, and the background art of India is very eye pleasing. The climatic action scene is done quite well. There is some of that very corny superhero dialogue that I love. While there may not be anything new here there is still enough to enjoy.
After having been around for decades, it is amazing that the Mario franchise can still do something new. Yet this new Yoshi spin-off game is something completely new. I have never played a platformer that has felt like this before. Rather than your typical straightforward platforming stages, this is a game that encourages you to explore these levels and the learn about the creatures in them. The premise is that you are helping an anthropomorphic encyclopedia learn all it can about various creatures in its pages. Each creature has its own stage and the point of each of these stages is to learn all you can about these creatures. As someone who simply loves exploring the world around him, a video game that encourages you to explore the video game world in the same way is automatically appealing to me. To simply move at your own pace as you move around this world creates a very charming and relaxing game to play. I found this game a perfect way to unwind after a workday myself. The game even lets you use your own creativity giving you the opportunity to name the creatures you meet.
It of course helps that the world you explore is delightful. The artwork is fantastic and many of the environments and creatures are very creative and fun.
With its often very easy difficulty, this game is heavily aimed at younger Nintendo players. I have no problem with this and feel this is a perfect game to make for kids. After all it is always a wonderful idea to encourage creativity, exploration and curiosity when making something aimed at kids. Heck even most grown-ups could use more of each of these.
The only problem I have with this game is with the mixture of often very easy difficulty and its short length, you finish the game, before you know it.
Coming out of seeing this movie in the theater, I heard a couple having a conversation, where one party said that he wants to read and learn more about George Washington. Whatever flaws you might find with this movie, I cannot find a better recommendation than that. When a historical biopic makes you want to learn more about the actual historical figure than it does its job very well.
To me the most appealing thing about this film is the story that it decides to tell. The story here takes place pre-revolutionary war and pre-presidency. This is just the type of story that I love to hear about famous historical figures. Today too many biopics simply tell the stories that we have heard many times. By focusing on a story about George Washington that much of the movie going audience has never heard of, this film feels fresher and more intriguing than most current biopics. It of course helps that the story is well told here. The casting is fantastic. There are some big-name stars in the cast including Andy Serkis, Ben Kingsly and Kelsey Grammer. However young William Franklyn-Miller steals the show from all of them in the title role. He is fantastic and charismatic here and you fully buy him as a great leader. The way the character is written is also excellent. This movie makes it hard not to root for and identify with him. The latter is not something that is often seen with depictions of George Washington, but it is something that is the very heart of this film. What we see here is not the larger-than-life historical figure but a man who learns from his mistakes and becomes a great leader because of them. This is much more important and emotionally resonate than simply showing him after he matured and become the man we hear about today.
This movie does have too many moments that can simply come off as corny. This type of clichéd corniness feels out of place in a film that is supposed to be a depiction of real historical events. Much of the dialogue is sadly the same cliché corny dialogue that appears in too many biopics these days. This is especially bad in the scenes that acknowledge the racial inequalities and prejudices that sadly play a part in the history of an otherwise great nation. As much as I love my country, these should be acknowledged and addressed in any part of our history as ugly as they can be. However, the writing of these scenes is quite bad with too many forced lines of dialogue that simply take one out of the movie.
Despite some poor dialogue, this movie is an excellent cinematic portrait of this major historical figure.
Note: Sadly, there is still no short film before this Pixar movie.
Michael's Movie Grade: A-
A pure treat for Pixar fans.
I was very skeptical when I first heard of this film. The franchise's story has come to a conclusion twice and despite how much I love these movies, there seemed no need to continue the story. While this movie is technically an unneeded epilogue to an already finished story, it is a darn good one.
Jessie has been a franchise standout since her first appearance in Toy Story 2 (1999) and with this movie she takes center stage. If this franchise is going to continue, I think this is the way to do it, instead of focusing on Woody and Buzz, whose stories have been told and feel completed, turning the attention to other characters. Jessie is a perfect choice for this. She is a character that can be fun and funny, but she also has a sense of emotional depth. She received what is possibly franchise's most emotional moment when her backstory was told in Toy Story 2. This backstory is expanded upon here, in a very emotionally satisfying way. One scene revolving around her back story made me tear up in the way only Pixar can do.
The storyline revolves around Bonnie getting a new tablet device and spending less time with her toys because of this. Jessie of course with her back story takes this especially hard considering what the poor cowgirl has been through. Yet Jessie is not the only character, we create a strong emotional bond with. We also feel a major bond with Bonnie. This is probably the most I have ever connected with this character in any of her three movies. Here she is bullied by her peers for still playing with toys. Trying to seem more grown up and fit in she becomes ashamed of playing with her toys. This is a situation we can all greatly relate to. We all have felt ashamed of loving something that we truly love because someone might view us as childish or not want to spend time with us. This movie does such a great job of digging into this universal experience, creating some very emotional moments.
I great appreciated how this movie dealt with Lilypad (the tablet Bonnie gets). It would have been so easy to simply makes this character a stereotypical villain. Yet this movie went beyond that. Her only intention is to help Bonnie. Even if she goes about it in the wrong way, she does truly care about Bonnie, just as much as the toys do. The whole film takes a more complex stance than toys are good and tech is bad. Instead, it acknowledges that technology can be a great thing, but it is not a substitute for human imagination or social interaction.
As well as the great themes and emotional moments, this movie is also really funny. There were many moments here that I laughed out loud. The humor hits on a consistent basis here.
If I had one problem, it is about how the filmmakers found a way to bring Woody back into the story, after he left the gang at the end of the last movie, yet he didn't really contribute much to the story here. It kind of makes the ending of the last movie lose some of its emotional impact.
This film is directed by Andrew Staton, who was a screenwriter on the previous Toy Story movies and directed some of Pixar's most beloved movies including Finding Nemo (2003) and WALL-E (2008). Staton also co-wrote this movie with Kenna Harris. She had worked as a story artist on the Disney films, Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018) andRaya and the Last Dragon (2021) as well as the Pixar movie, Luca (2021). She was also the story supervisor for Inside Out 2 (2024) and worked as a character designer on the TV show We Bare Bears.
As a sidenote, after the passing of Don Rickles, rather than giving Mr. Potato Head a new voice actor, they instead use a few lines from previous Toy Story films. I thought this was nice as it is hard to picture anyone else voicing Mr. Potato Head. As another sidenote, I love the use of a classic song from Bambi (1942) at a very appropriate time.
Hello my friends and welcome back for another service of Cowboy Church.
Today's musical selection begins with the King of the Cowboys, Roy Rogers, singing The Circuit Riding Preacher from his and Dale's 1959 album, Jesus Loves Me. Circuit riders were real men back in the late 1700's and 1800's. They were part of the Methodist Episcopal Church and rode on horse across the early United States, preaching the gospel. Naturally this was a perfect subject for Roy to sing about as the lore was similar to that of the cowboy and Roy was a Christian. This song is set to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Old Republic with a few choruses of Leaning on the Everlasting Arms inserted in there.
This is followed by Ricky Skaggs with The Joshua Generation. This song comes from his 1999 gospel album, Solider of the Cross.
Afterwards is The Purple Hulls with No Doubt Salvation. This comes from their 2015 gospel album, Why We Sing.
Then comes Roy Drusky with Softly and Tenderly. The song was written by an Ohio businessman named Will Thompson in 1880. As well as writing gospel songs Thompson also wrote quite a few secular songs and parotic songs. When the songs he wrote were rejected by publishers he created his own company, Will L. Thompson & Company. This company would not only publish music by sell musical instruments. Softly and Tenderly first appeared in 1880's Sparkling Gems, Nos. 1 and 2, a collection of songs from the company. When evangelist Dwight L. Moody was on his death bed he told the songwriter, "Will, I would rather have written ‘Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling’ than anything I have been able to do in my whole life." This was appropriate as Will decided to make songwriting his career while at a meeting held by Moody.
Next is The Sons of the Pioneers with their 1948 recording of Read the Bible Every Day. This song was written by Tim Spencer, one of the group's founding members.
Afterwards is Jim and Jesse with Over in the Glory Land.
Today's musical selection ends with Gene Autry and Dinah Shore with their 1950 recording of In The Garden. This song was written by C. Austin Miles (who also wrote Dwelling in Beulah Land). As well as a hymnist, Austin's hobby was photography. He wrote this song in 1912 while waiting some film to dry in a cold and leaky basement. Miles had discovered earlier that he could read the bible in the red lighting of his darkroom and often did. This day he was reading John 20. He read about how Mary went into the garden to see Jesus' tomb. Her heart was full of sadness, but when she learned that Jesus had overcome the grave she was moved to great joy. This passage moved Miles as he read it, and this song started to come to him. Miles originally intended this song to be an Easter song and for it to be from the point of view of Mary Magdalene. Miles would later say about this song, “This is not an experience limited to a happening almost 2,000 years ago. It is the daily companionship with the Lord that makes up the Christian’s life.” Learning this story has made this song all the more powerful for me and I hope it enhances the power of this great hymn for you as well. The same day Gene and Dinah recorded this song (April 20, 1950), they also recorded a lovey version of The Old Rugged Cross.
Now for the 16th episode of The Lone Ranger TV show.
Now for a message from the reverend Billy Graham.
Psalm 87
Of the Sons of Korah. A psalm. A song.
1 He has founded his city on the holy mountain.
2 The Lord loves the gates of Zion
more than all the other dwellings of Jacob.
3 Glorious things are said of you,
city of God:
4 “I will record Rahab and Babylon
among those who acknowledge me—
Philistia too, and Tyre, along with Cush—
and will say, ‘This one was born in Zion.’”
5 Indeed, of Zion it will be said,
“This one and that one were born in her,
and the Most High himself will establish her.”
6 The Lord will write in the register of the peoples:
“This one was born in Zion.”
7 As they make music they will sing,
“All my fountains are in you.”
Thank you for joining me. Come back next week for another service of Cowboy Church. Happy trails to you until we meet again.
