Reviews by Kyle Ellis

I want to say first off that I never played part four of the series. I also never played the PSP games either on the PSP or when they were converted over for the PS2. I have played this one, part three and San Andreas. Of those three I enjoyed part three a whole lot, which is why I bought the other two. San Andreas had some good elements, but overall I just got the feeling of being completely overwhelmed in that one. I just could not enjoy it because while I was doing one thing other things kept popping up such as the time I am in the middle of a gang fight for territory and a message pops up saying my girlfriend feels neglected. This one was the perfect blend and totally cool setting as this one takes place in a Miami type city, great music as I loved almost all the radio stations and cool characters and things to do. Heck, in this one I enjoyed just doing cab missions, taking people here and there while listening to the music on the radio. The story is typical, as your guy has to take care of a lot of things and do missions for various people and like I said even if you do not touch the missions this one is fun as it is just interesting exploring Vice City. Granted, Liberty City was fun to explore too, I just like the setting, the time period, and just about everything in this one. Though I did win part three, never won this one, got close, but there was a glitch that apparently if you did not do the missions involving the printing press it somehow negated the final mission. Still, it was an overall awesome game. One thing the first one did a bit better was the weapons as I did not care for the only being able to carry a certain number of weapons, but that is one of the few complaints I had. I just enjoy this one, roaming the beach on a dune buggy, running over the occasional person and then evading the law. Just great, as was going to each building and checking out the pools and the guests of the hotels. You can even go into the local mall, fly a helicopter, and ride a motorcycle. Lots to do and you can have a lot of fun doing it.

Like most people reviewing here I was very skeptical about this game because of The Avengers game. I didn't even make it 3 hours into that game before I stopped playing and never touched it again. This game however, the first night I played it for about 6 hours and didn't notice it had been that long, I lost track of time with this game. Reminds of me when I was a kid and I would constantly be thinking about going home to continue playing the game because it was so fun and that's what I'm thinking about the entire time I'm at work. The game genuinely gave me a Guardians vibe, with the music playing in the background during combat and the way the team just speaks and interacts with each other, the ridiculous messes they get in and the ridiculous way they each have their own solutions to it was very much like the Guardians. Arguments felt genuine to their characters and not out of the blue. The way the characters look, when I saw the trailers and I told myself I hated it. I thought they messed it up just like The Avengers but when I started playing my first thought wasn't, "it's not that bad", it was "wow it actually looks really good". I love their character designs. I only have one thing that I don't like and it's that the characters can be stiff during cutscenes or dialogue sometimes and the animation just looks a bit awkward but this didn't degrade my enjoyment of the game at all, still a 10/10 for me. I can honestly say this game is pretty close to perfect for me.

Many of my childhood favourites have held up wonderfully, films like Disney's Beauty and the Beast and The Wizard of Oz. Howard the Duck is not one of them, in fact along with 1996's Kazaam it is one of those films that I cannot believe now that I loved as a child. It's not even so bad it's good, for me it is just excrement, and a fine example of a film that aimed to "quack me up falls fowl". It does start off alright, but the last forty five minutes especially is so weird, creepy and dull it spoils the whole movie on its own. The production values are not that good, the special effects in particular look as though they were made on the cheap. The whole film is poorly scripted with jokes that made me groan rather than laugh, the story is bizarre in a distasteful way and the acting is poor. Howard is annoying, Lea Thompson plays it straight to the point you want to give her a steroid shot and Tim Robbins mugs embarrassingly. All in all, a real mess. 1/10 Bethany Cox

By all means, Spider-Man 3 is not a bad movie, but the many flaws with the film make it the weakest of the series. But it is still enjoyable, however I did think the first two were better in terms of plot, characterisation and pacing. Well, there are a lot of good things. Out of the three films, this one is the best visually. The look of the whole film is mind blowing, with splendid special effects, brilliantly choreographed fight sequences and spectacular set pieces. The music is excellent, and the direction was efficient enough.

And the acting is very good, Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst are appealing as Peter and Mary-Jane and Rosemary Harris sparkles as Auntie May. Topher Grace is great as Brock but underused as Venom, but as Sandman Thomas Haden Church was note perfect and the best developed of the villains. James Franco is an improvement as Harry, and Bryce Dallas Howard is delightfully photogenic as Gwen Stacey. I loved JK Simmons as Jameson, in all three Spider-Man movies he stole every scene he appeared in.

However, there are a number of things that made it inferior to the first two. Basically and most importantly, and this was a similar problem I had with Pirates of the Caribbean:At World's End, it all felt a bit bloated. Two reasons made it so. One was too many characters. Primarily the villains, here, we get not one but three villains. While they were well performed, the character development of the villains felt rushed. Venom especially had way too little screen time as a result, and the final showdown between them felt a tad on the contrived side. Whereas you felt the menace of the Green Goblin and the tragedy of Dr Octopuss you are not always sure what to think here. Second, the plot as result to cramming too much in particularly with the idea of Spider-Man turning bad was rather convoluted, and was further disadvantaged by some surprisingly stodgy pacing. Other flaws were that the scripting lacked freshness and authenticity and the film was a bit too long.

All in all, it certainly wasn't bad. As a matter of fact it was enjoyable. But it could've been better. 6/10 Bethany Cox

Looking at how this movie looked in advertising, part of me wanted to avoid it. However, years later I gave it the benefit of the doubt, and while it is an uneven film it is nowhere near as bad as it could have been. The story is briskly paced, but rather predictable and thin in places and some scenes do feel a little rushed. There are some funny lines and gags, but also ones that rely on gross-out humour and come across as uninspired. The characters can have a tendency to be irritating and also to be stereotyped. However, the movie does look good with striking locations and the filming is more than decent, and there is an energetic soundtrack. In the dialogue and gags that work, they are actually quite funny. The direction is better than average, as are the performances. Martin Lawrence seems to be really enjoying himself, and it was nice to see Paul Giamatti in support. In conclusion, not great but not bad either. 6/10 Bethany Cox

It isn't completely faithful to the book, but for a good reason. The book has bits that you can't have in an animation. The animation is beautiful, the backgrounds rich in colour, and the characters beautifully drawn. The story is a very simple one, yet effective, and allows the songs and characters to take force. The songs and music by the Sherman Brothers perfectly match the breeziness of the film, with classics such as " Bare Neccessities" and "Wanna Be like you". Unlike some people, I liked the vulture barbershop, excellent harmonies. And what a talented voice-cast. Phil Harris was hilarious as Baloo, and Sebastian Cabot was brooding as Bagheera. Reitherman's son was good as Mowgli, and Louis Prima(who's not black so the racist overtones idea is ridiculous) was a riot as Louis. The real star was the perfectly cast George Sanders as the frightening and calculating Shere Khan. This is fantastic, if a little short, and avoid the sequel! 9/10 Bethany Cox

This film is beautiful, and superior to the 1996 live action version. The animation is just beautiful, and I delighted in seeing those puppies's tails wagging. Those puppies were very cute, and a lack of any voice overs in the 1996 version was sorely missed. The scenes like the Twilight Bark added a sense of poignancy to the well-written story.I also want to say, I absolutely love the book by Dodie Smith, and I am 16. Another high point was the villain Cruella DeVil(voiced to perfection by Betty Lou Gerson), who was truly diabolical in every sense. The dogs, Pongo and Perdy were very lovable, and their scenes with the puppies were often very touching. Supporting characters like Tibbs, Captain, Colonel, and of course Jasper and Horace were very well done. The songs, were not as memorable as the ones in the Jungle Book, but at least they were tuneful. In conclusion, a beautiful and entertaining animated film, that is underrated in my opinion. 9/10 Bethany Cox