The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (2006 Gamecube game)

The Legends of Zelda are games made for video gamers. They try not to be, it seems, but are so filled with inside jokes and self-references that it is inescapable. If you have played one Zelda game you have played... not all, but about half of them. Which is like fantasy in other genres. Once you start into fantasy, you find out quickly that most of them are very similar to each other. A fantasy writer is an artist with cliches so common they cease to be cliche, at least within the genre.

There are, of course, several sub-genres. American fantasy tends to be filled with gleaming castles while British fantasy has gritty, more realistically dark-age castles. Japanese fantasy, however, has flying castles. Everything is more epic in Japan.

My favorite is the British type. It is for this reason that Twilight Princess was so appealing to me. The graphical approach, at least, leaned more heavily toward British fantasy than anything inside the video gaming universe. Which can be oppressively narrow at times. There still is one true flying castle in Twilight Princess and many other points which rather detract from the experience (one of them being your primary weapon: The Master Sword, it looks like something a Power Ranger would use.) but it manages it better than anything else I have come across.

Zelda is the only game wich really attempts to be an "Epic Fantasy Video Game" story which isn't a rather dull RPG where one spends 90% of their time in tit-for-tat battles. And it is the most successful at creating this atmosphere. Even more so than Ocarina of Time, which has an even more Quintessential story line, Twilight Princess achieves this. The Zelda enthusiasts like Ocarina more, partially, I believe, because they find Twilight Princess to be less unique. The story is more unique. But it is true that this new game borrows about half its ideas straight out of ol' Ocarina of Time sometimes without even the slightest modification. If you have played Ocarina of Time, than this one may not really be worth the hours you'll spend playing it. If you've never played a Zelda game, this is a good place to start.

But beware: Zelda games can be outrageously annoying. The story is very linear and it keeps you on track by simply not allowing you, the player, to do certain things if it would interfere with the plot. Even if Link would otherwise be able to do it. Like jumping over a wall, climbing over a grate. Sometimes you will see your destination, and think of a very cleaver way to achieve it, but it isn't the one you are supposed to use, so it will not ever work. Quit trying now. There seem to be more of these you-are-not-allowed-to-do-that moments in this game than in others I have played. For people who like a lot of modern epicly sized games like Morrowind, you will find Zelda to be oppresivly one-dimensioned.

Having some little creature follow you around and tell you what to do is obnoxious as well; as is Link's amazing level of courtesy. There is one puzzle in the game which is only necessary because Link always, always, shuts the door behind him. If he left it open, it would be easy to carry cannon balls everywhere you'd need to go. He always obeys the oppressive thing that follows him and has since Ocarina.

I am impressed that Twilight Princess tries to be more cinematic, and tries to be emotional, but video games don't have enough practice it seems and the game fails. It also suffers from Disney Syndrome where nothing really bad can ever happen.

Spore (2008 Computer Game, Playing on Windows Vista Laptop)

Spore is a good idea and a fun game at times. But the execution is rather amateur. Actually, the execution is excruciatingly, unplayably amateur. I have come to expect that out of EA, but it is still disappointing.

I have a very high standard for a video game to look up to. If I ever finish playing a video game, then it is usually rated at least 9/10 by most sources. The worst part of Spore, and what renders it worthless, is the control which the player has. If it weren't for the difficulty in doing such simple things as walking forward, then I may have gotten a little farther.

Supposably, this game was retooled before it was released, making it less realistic, more cartoony, less to do with evolution and more casual; I find this a royal disappointment. I would have loved to see Spore developed by Maxis before they were swallowed by the piteousness that is EA

The Secret of Kells (2009 movie)

The Secret of Kells is a movie that not very many people know about. It was released to small fanfare in America and a very limited theater base. But if anyone has the chance to watch it, you will not be disappointed.

I hope. There isn't very much to be disappointed with in this movie. I would have liked to see more of the forest faery in the story, because I liked her a lot, but the limits put upon her make her more active in your own imagination. Unlike most movies I watch, The Secret of Kells works within the constraints of its length. It manages to move steadily, rather than quickly changing character as it was needed (like the new Alice in Wonderland...) The movie is a work of art, done completely in hand-worked animation without a computer. It is original and very "Beautiful" in more than just its graphics.

The Princess and the Frog (2009 movie)

Disney's latest for Princesses (in more traditional-looking 2D art style) is the "Best Princess Movie" they have made. It has a prince with his own character and role in the story besides a if-you-marry-him-then-your-life-wont-suck-anymore object; the princess as well has a character more dynamic than ol' belle. I find it, as a whole, to be a little better than their absolute latest princess movie, Tangled. Tangled definitely wasn't a horrible movie, but its vision of proper gender roles is more in line with it's aged brethren and its never-tangled plot disperses whenever the jokes slow down.Its life is in its humor and its running joke potential. It has good characters, but poor character relationships; a dynamic villain, who is not used. The Princess and the Frog doesn't fare much better in plot and romantic development (and even less in romantic development), but it leaves a lot less to be desired than its more expensive antecessor. There are more fun characters, and much better relationships and their villain was never so interesting that I wanted a more unique role for him.

Though, in all honesty, I'm not sure which one is funnier. Tangled was hilarious as long as it stuck to its jokes. It also has a dogish horse as their best character while The Princess and the Frog has a living shadow that would give Peter Pan's a villain on par with Hook.

Porco Rosso (1992 movie)

If I was more prone to calling anything a "favorite", I would say that Porco Rosso is my favorite Miyazaki movies. Or at least one of my favorites; it is a "Soaring" film. But as Miyazaki can easily be seen as one of the greatest imaginations in film history this would make Porco Rosso (if you accept it as the crown of his body of work) one of the greatest films of all time. But it isn't. If you can navigate your way through this paradox: though Miyazaki is one of my favorite movie makers, and Porco Rosso one of is best accomplishments, it is not, like Totoro and Spirited Away, one of the movies that makes Miyazaki so great.

Which is why I avoid "favorites".

I think what I appreciate about the movie so much is its ending. There are so few movies made today with a working ending. An ending that actually adds something to the story, that doesn't just happen to be when they ran out of tape or time. This is why I am so disheartened to hear that there is a sequel planned. I'd rather see a sequel to Ponyo which I found not more than average. I have no need to ruin a good thing with too much of it, which is what a sequel would do to Porco Rosso (a prequel is concieveable, but it could never match what makes the original good).

But we will see how Miyazaki handles it. He does tend to do things well.

Despite my gravitation to fantasy, what I like about Porco Rosso is its lack of fantasy. Porco Rosso is a good "anime" to show people who do not like anime. It has one fantastical concept, but it isn't actually all that important to the plot. It is just a humorful metaphor (and device. There are many good points about how Porco Rosso isn't really much of a 'pig') And a good one (except that bloody kiss....). Without it, the movie might be a little heavier that would be pleasant. But it doesn't actually affect the way the movie plays out, really. The historical relevance of the movie is also impressive.