This blog (headed by a bitter, cynical, observant countercultural fiend) shall make lists, make observations, create criticisms, and also recommend ideas concerning areas in music, movies, video games, television, the Walt Disney Company, and pretty much anything in particular that catches my interest.
For every twenty filthy disgusting R-rated comedy gems, there's one that stands out because of its heavy dosage of heart. Role Models isn't the sort of movie you'd expect to be the exception, but nonetheless delivers quality film-making, quality writing and acting, and plenty of life-lessons as well as raunchy humor to keep you laughing throughout. Paul Rudd's first script is full of his dry, sarcastic, witty brand of humor; and then we have the hilarious Seann William Scott in the sidekick role. Underneath the layers of profanity, sex jokes, cleavage lies life values and a hidden layer of sentimentality that seeps its way through the second and third acts. The transition is very slow and gradually actually improves the film as it rolls on.
Role Models follows two slackers, a bitter one (Rudd) and a rowdy, horny freebird (William Scott) being forced to community service after a mishap outside a school. For their community service, they have to enroll in a big brother-like program and take care of a kid for 150 hours. The task becomes hard because one of them is a major fan of the fantasy, medieval role-playing lifestyle, and the other is a foul-mouthed, misbehaving youngling with no respect towards adults or people in general. As they spend more time together however, they realize they have a lot more in common than previously assumed; and suddenly start changing each other's habits for the better.
The screenplay is helmed by four minds, with Paul Rudd providing his personal touch for the first time in his career. The payoff is magnificent, as the plot never dwells into formulaic, and most of the humor hits rather than misses. Unlike most modern rated-R comedies, some of the jokes are very low and come quickly, therefore passing by the viewer without getting a reaction. It takes some quick wit to nab the swiftly-delivered one-liners. Paul Rudd is perfectly cast as the lead character Danny, and performs with an overwhelming aura of selfishness, sarcasm, and subtle hostility. Seann William Scott is at his best when being second banana (See: American Pie, The Rundown) and is also perfectly cast as the wild, immature co-worker of Danny. Last but not least we must applaud Christopher Mintz-Plasse as he delivers another grand geeky performance that mixes humor with heart.
What separates incredible rated-R comedies like The 40-Year-Old Virgin and There's Something About Mary from stinkers like Scary Movie 2, Superbad, and My Best Friend's Girl is how much raunchy material is presented and its timing. In the first two films mentioned, there's squeamish and adult humor sprinkled throughout, but it's never overdone or overkilled. Role Models has a lot of profanity, a bit of sex, and a bit of crudeness attached; but these elements are never one-hundred percent focused on. Director David Wain knows how to keep the film from being unbearably crude and unwatchable by proving other ways to deliver laughs: whether it is with physical humor, snappy comebacks, and hilarious scenarios. The best bits are when Danny and Wheeler are having trouble adjusting to the behaviors of their "little brothers."
But then the movie dwells into deeper territory by providing insight into the reason why the little brothers are such a hassle to handle; and why these kids can potentially help our two main characters. Themes about life, love, family, and understanding the next individual are all too present. Nobody's bizarre and unique mannerisms are ever left unexplained. By the end you've gotten to know the characters so well, you can figure out their next moves. It's a sort of predictability that's actually refreshing. Of course, then we are all thrown off by the climax, which stages one of the funniest moments in 2008 cinema. The epic finale is long, but ludicrous, and wraps up the story very nicely.
Bottom Line: It usually isn't my nature to give a film with dozens of cleavage jokes a high score (especially with my hate affair with Dane Cook), but Role Models is surprisingly cute, surprisingly sweet, and delightfully hilarious and touching. You'll care for everyone by the third act, and will remain entertained until the very end. Unlike the average adult comedy, this one comes with a lot of values and adorable little moments that makes this worth watching more than once. Paul Rudd is a much underrated actor and entertainer, as we see him deliver on his first main comedic role. Here's to hoping we'll see much more of him in the near future. In the meantime, you'll do yourself some good by watching this gem.
"No, venti is twenty. Large is large. In fact, tall is large and grande is Spanish for large. Venti is the only one that doesn't mean large. It's also the only one that's Italian. Congratulations, you're stupid in three languages."
I am quite frankly sick and tired of you butchering quite possibly every single film from overseas. Your inability to successfully even mildly recreate the experience as if it were in its native tongue continues to dazzle me. Even the grandest of grand films from around the world become less bearable to watch thanks to the pitiful, gut-wrenching dubbing. To further your skills in watering down all sorts of movies, you even disallow the ability for some movies to make it to the United States with a mere addition of subtitles. Is it really that hard to just ship the film with their native language and the translation on the bottom of the screen? Really? Here is a list of things you should avoid when dubbing a movie from any non-English-speaking country:
1) Do not re-edit the film. The movie is 108 minutes long because the makers wanted it to be that way. Do not chop any "unnecessary" scenes
2) Do not remove scenes that actually further explains the plot. That is stupid. Very stupid
3) Do not attempt to add any humor into the movie. Your job is to only translate—not translate and have a shot at stand-up comedy.
4) Do not add or change the soundtrack. You stupid imbeciles, why on earth is there hip-hop music in a Jackie Chan film? That's like throwing in a performance of Swan Lake during one of the intermissions in a hockey game.
5) Do not fix the sound effects. Why are you fixing the sound effects!!?!?
6) Why are we not using Chinese-Americans to help dub Chinese films!?!??
8) Just don't dub the film. As a matter of fact, don't even follow these rules, because that would mean you are trying to dub. Don't do it, just allow the movie (in its entirety) to arrive here in the United States, and put it the reliable subtitles on the bottom. Please and thank you.
Despite Supercop being quite possibly the 38539th film to be ruined because of American dubbing, it remains an enjoyable film, and one that's quite different from the usual Chan fare. The film is about (after reading Wikipedia and IMDb because the dubbing sure messed that up) Chan going undercover with a beautiful agent (Michelle Yeoh) to track down a drug king.
The action is very intense, rougher than the usual Chan material; so if you can adjust your tastes, you'll be in for a wild ride. While the usual amount of well-choreographed fights are replaced by heavy action set pieces, the final half an hour will leave you absolutely breathless. If you are disappointed in the first 60 minutes, stick around for the last leg, when you'll see unbelievable stunt after unbelievable stunt. Jackie Chan's female version performs her best work here, as Yeoh combines grittiness with a hintage of sexuality that's very subtle but all-so-present.
Bottom Line: Supercop is not the best Jackie Chan work, but it still entertains and still will blow you away with some of the set pieces and amazing stuntwork involved. The typical Jackie Chan humor is replaced with intense and crazy action that extends from brutal hand-to-hand combat to guns and missiles all over the place. With that being said, the dubbing will hamper the quality of the film a lot, no matter how hard you try to avoid it. Maybe in the future we can figure out how to successfully translate movies in a way that can make everybody happy; but in the meantime we have to deal with disgusting hip-hop, terrible re-editing, bad voice work acting, and an all-around aura of obviousness that the translators didn't have a clue on what the Chinese filmmakers and Jackie Chan were trying to achieve with this film.
P.S. Stop dubbing movies. Please. Just subtitle them. Please.
This decade has been a bit of a disappointment in terms of television programs. After a decade of excellent cartoons, sitcoms, and dramas, the 2000s has been quite lackluster in terms of prime time. With few exceptions (My main one being ABC’s LOST) out there, I’ve turned my attention to video games and especially movies for entertainment much more often. However, there’s a television show out there that delivers some of the most entertaining television in recent memory. The Travel Channel has been on a roll lately with rising ratings and whatnot, but thanks to Man vs. Food, the Travel Channel and reality programming in general has reached new quality peaks.
Man vs. Food is easily, hands-down, the best new television show within the last two years. Well-edited, perfectly hosted, and with enough energy to generate Manhattan, this program is a wonderful breath of fresh air for television. While it isn’t for weak stomachs, the content is family-friendly, well-paced, and thoroughly enjoyable. The host is entertaining, caring, lovable, and has a love for food that most of us can only dream of having.
The concept is nice and simple: Adam Richman travels the country in search of food challenges that could make your arteries clog just witnessing the carnage. To add to the mayhem, he also scours the city in search of the more popular and successful eateries in the area. Unlike Andrew Zimmern, Richman doesn’t attempt to really gross out, he tires to expand your horizons as to what you eat and how you actually eat it. Man vs. Food focuses on quality as well as quantity. Richman has already on Season 1 introduced us to a dozen award-winning restaurants as well as over a dozen crazyinsane eating challenges. Along the way he interviews people, and also runs into celebrities from time to time—ranging from Gladys Knight to baseball star Kevin Youkilis. The spotlight is never hogged; Richman shares the camera with the scenery, the local folks, and of course the food.
The main appeal in Man vs. Food are the challenges in the end that pretty much prove that Americans are easily among the biggest lovers (and most creative crafters) of food in the entire world. The human versus food battles range from eating a 12-pound pizza to eating a 5-pound burger (plus 5 pounds of fries) to fighting a 7-pound breakfast burrito to even taking on spicy food so hot it can make people bleed. Adam Richman, despite his lack of competitive eating skills, rises to almost all the challenges and the results range from hilarious to gross to perhaps even uplifting. It’s just much too easy to root for him to win them all. Plus, why go against someone that introduces you to slices of pizza larger than babies and donuts bigger than your face?
Locations are scattered all over, never limited to any one type of food or one region of the country. He has traveled as far north as Seattle and Boston, and made his way all the way down to Atlanta, and all the way west to Los Angeles and San Jose. But have no fear, with so many lovely cities in the United States, I can guarantee that we won’t find an end to all the pursuing challenges; his main enemies are time, and his health. The only drawback would be if your city has yet to be featured in the program. Give it time, at this rate, he’ll be knocking on your door.
Bottom Line: The best new show on television, hands-down. The concept has been done before, but has never been done with such humor and bubbly energy. Adam Richman is the best host in all of Travel Channel, and remains one of the few modern shows I’m willing to watch multiple times. America is never seen in a negative light, as the subtle and hidden beauty of the diversity and creativity of the country sparkles throughout the all-too-short 30 minutes of the program. I wish this show all the success in the world, because it deserves it, and I’d hate to see another Arrested Development situation develop. Highly, highly recommend.
Fun when it wants to be, boring when it wants to deliver a message, Over the Hedge is no Madagascar, but is better than previous animated films, 8 June 2006 7/10 Author: diac228 (diac1987@netscape.net) from Orlando, Florida
Dreamworks, the anti-Disney, is a hit-miss animation company that sometimes delivers few of among the best animated films, but sometimes also flounder by delivering some stinkers. Shrek and Madagascar were excellent animated films that deserve to be in every large "best animated movies" list. But, there are also disasters like Shark Tale and also the disappointing Shrek 2. Over the Hedge is not a classic by any means, but it is entertaining enough to keep you awake throughout the short 83 minutes. The voice talent was all there, the writing was there, but the pacing kind of ruins it for a short time. Unfortunately, the sentimental value has to always be thrown in, and the movie totally slows down during those sappy, slow, unhappy moments. But, when a chase scene arrives, prepared to be dazzled and very amused. Thank goodness the third act picks up the tempo as it lifts the film from total mediocrity and dissatisfaction into a nice, charming film that is worthy of watching more than once.
Over the Hedge is about a mischievous raccoon named RJ that gets caught trying to steal food from an angry bear, and has a few days to come up with all the food after it all gets destroyed. In the meantime, animals that woke up from hibernation wake up to discover that most of their forest had been turned into a neighborhood. RJ tries to lure the dumbfounded animals into getting all the food he needs, but paranoid turtle named Verne and some surprising circumstances get in the way. A little-known fact about the movie is that it is actually based off a comic strip of the same name.
Kind of like what happened with Madagascar, the writing team didn't have to work much on the dialogue, since most of the humor is visual. Either way, they try to sneak by with a few one-liners here and there. Unlike Madagascar ("Well this sucks") the one-liners tend to fall flat. Also, the low points of the movie all happen in the first two acts, when they were just conversing, when the possums were not being funny, or when the themes and sad moments occur, which there unusually plenty of in the first half. Most of the laughs in the first half came from the squirrel Hammy, which actually wasn't as funny as the hyperactive squirrel Twitchy in the surprisingly funny Hoodwinked.
The action and the laughs totally come rolling in when the final act comes in, and the climax rapidly approaches. Almost every character has their moment to shine and deliver humorous moments, even the dry-witted, almost totally boring turtle. The action/chase sequences are well done, well choreographed, as they showcase moments that you really would never expect from any kind of movie. The voice talent finally flexes its acting and hilarity muscles in the final twenty minutes. Also towards the end we see Hammy at his fastest, and that most certainly was a delight. There is an underlying subliminal message in Over the Hedge, and it deals with America's obsession with food, big cars, and never-ending urge to fulfill its desires.
Bottom Line: Decent, but really gets good towards the end, which is quite the opposite from the typical summer movie, in which the ending usually falls kind of flat. While it is no Madagascar from the year before, it is still much better than Blue Sky's latest effort, Ice Age 2, and way better than Disney's previous effort, Chicken Little. Excellent casting here, even though they truly do not show their stuff until much later in the film, especially Allison Janney as the stereotypical angry, workaholic single woman. If you can sit through some of the boredom in the beginning the payoff will be sweet as we see one fun sequence after the other, ranging from a dog chasing some of the animals to modern-day-usually awful drive gone totally wrong. Dreamworks is heading in the right direction with back-to-back decent flicks. Over the Hedge: over-the-top, and out-of-control, when it wants to be.
After 2nd Viewing:
The movie remains a 7/10, but its message about America's ability to overconsume itself stands just as true today as it did back in 2006. The fact is how come we can spend money on theme park trips, movies, video games (All three things making a surprising amount of money this quarter) when we are in a recession and almost 10% of the population is unemployed? Little by little its creeping up that Bush has less fault towards the sluggish economy than we do as a society. Not saying Bush was wholly innocent, but its ridiculous the money we spend when we should be saving to prevent the country from slipping further. Over the Hedge nails it right on the head as to what Consumerism America does to us citizens; makes us quite vulgar and unattractive people. This movie ages quite well in its underlying messages.
In any sort of entertainment, you need to finish strong. Your song, speech, video game, movie, television show needs to finish out on top, wrap things up nicely---whether optimistically or pessimistically. Methods of entertainment can start slow, maybe even build slow, but should not, at any given moment finish slowly or in a weak matter. Watchman unfortunately fails to do this; and it's worse considering that the subject matter is such a highly-acclaimed one. While Watchman was a tough pill to swallow in the beginning and the middle, it becomes unbearably awful in the final act, and quite frankly demolishes any chance of this matching up to the comic book we so love.
Watchman is about a retired group of superheroes coming together after the murder of one of their own, The Comedian. With the silent investigation headed by Rorschach (Jackie Earle Haley), he reveals that the murder is part of something much bigger than just a random act of violence. In the meantime, the other superheroes are having a lot of trouble adapting to real life after their fame and fortune passed; while the United States is inches away from nuclear war. The themes explored here and unlike that of the typical comic book fare; themes of fate, God, destiny, war, apocalypse, and sacrifice are crucial to the entire plot and throughout the film remain a hot topic. David Hayter and Alex Tse had the tough job of being able to translate the massive comic book into film within a suitable running time.
Let's at least praise the effects. While a blue male bearing it all dozens of times isn't exactly to my liking, the special effects in Watchmen are indeed quite spectacular. While it lacks the visual style and edge of 300 or Sin City, they remain a sight to see. The highly stylized fights aren't as lengthy as Zack Snyder's previous comic adaptation, but are still fun to watch. The hits, strikes, and beatdowns are especially gruesome, cringe-worthy in some instances. Zack Snyder knows what keeps his audience riveted and sprinkles a few nasty fights from time to time to keep us on our toes.
The acting itself is grand as well, especially that of Jackie Earle Haley, who plays Rorschach. Not only is his character the best fleshed-out character, but also is the one that steals the spotlight the most with good delivery, funny one-liners, and more raw emotion than any other actor and actress on screen. Everyone else did a respectable job, although some of the extras are laughable when they shouldn't be.
Watchmen's downfall is definitely the complexity of it all. While a complex story is riveting most of the time, you must be able to guide the audience in a certain direction so that it doesn't look like the film is suffering a seizure and is mixing up the chronological order like shuffling of cards. The pacing of the film is extremely slow, and likes to reach into the past without giving you a hintage of warning. It becomes lingering and even annoying at times, although it does develop the main characters a bit more. The pacing is uneven because quick-paced fights are blending in with the slow scenes of excessive dialogue, backstory, and character progress. With the exception of Rorschach, there is little to care about, we don't feel much of a connection with the characters. Snyder did a decent job explaining a lot in a few moments (See the opening credits) but then adds unnecessary scenes and elongated scenes.
Then comes the third act. The entire film falls apart like a bad game of Jenga. The pacing totally grinds into a halt, the ending comes much too slowly, nothing is explained, no emotions will come out of you, there are unnecessary fights, and quite frankly we the audience just flat-out stopped caring for anyone. Literally, you'd have to have extensive knowledge of the comic book in order to have a better appreciation of the whole body of work itself. However, it's a flaw for us as an audience to have to do research in order to receive full enjoyment out of a film. People started walking out of the theater, people start squirming more in their seats, and as the credits rolled, silence filled the cinema.
Bottom Line: In order to watch the Watchmen and actually care, you must read Watchmen. It sounds very obvious, but The Dark Knight is a well-accepted and loved film, and I can guarantee you that most of the viewers hadn't honesty read a Batman comic book. The difference is we cared for Batman and his companions. In this case, we honestly don't, because they tried explaining so much, and chose the wrong things to explain—leading to characters with weak and little development, unnecessary scenes, and a lack of connection with our heroes. The themes are explored but not fully fleshed out, the plot itself is accurate but also lacks a true interpretation, and the final act just damages the entire film.
Zack Snyder has the energy to make comic books scream to life with entertainment (as proved in 300) but just didn't end Watchmen well at all. The ending may alienate some, but will frustrate more. 150+ minutes is long enough, no need to make it worse by dragging it by its knuckles. Beware of slow pacing and a very convoluted, complicated plot that will require previous knowledge, multiple viewings, and lot of patience.
While working on my article about gaming, I decided to dwell into the past to bring you a review of a game long forgotten, but still selling millions upon millions of copies. In celebration of the new DSi coming out, here's a review of one of the DS' best-sellers.
"Back to the Future" of gaming, New SMB mixes past and present with good results
August 13, 2006 - You can bash, argue, scream, moan, and complain about Super Mario, but there is absolutely no denying his appeal and impact on the gaming world. No other franchise out there is even close in terms of the amount of quality games released over the years. Mario has been in side-scrollers, adventure games, fighting games, puzzle games, and even educational games. But, one genre he hasn't been very present in lately, it has been the rapidly dying genre of 2-D sides-scrollers, which is responsible for cranking out some of the better games to ever come out; including Super Mario World, Sonic the Hedgehog, Donkey Kong Country, among others. Nintendo decided to trace back to its roots (what a surprise) by re-introducing Super Mario to the 2-D world again, a new, fresh, original game with the typical gameplay we grew up with and loved during the 80s, when Nintendo ruled the world. The end result is yet another great Super Mario game worthy of purchase, but do not expect it to be among the all-time platforming greats.
Like all Mario plots, this one is predictable, and very straightforward. Princess Peach is kidnapped and Mario must once again come to the rescue. Shows you what a man will do for some-anyways, moving on. If you want an overwhelming plot full of plot twists, surprises, and a fulfilling ending, go get a Mario RPG, because that kind of storyline usually does not exist in the Super Mario storyline. New Super Mario Bros actually is supposed to be a totally revamped version of the original hit; containing 8 worlds, not containing any flying abilities, and also featuring a flag at the end of the level. Sorry guys, no Raccoon suit or feather. Lack of Yoshi might be a bit upsetting as well.
The game itself is pretty lengthy; full of average levels and then topped with a few fortresses, castles, and ghost houses. While going through only six worlds can complete the game, there are two hidden worlds to attempt to find. Another little addition to completing the levels; there are huge coins located in every level, three of them to be exact. Finding them all unleashes hidden goodies. Sorry guys, no Warp Zone, and sorry, no Minus World either. There are warp cannons, does that help at all?
Super Mario Brothers was way ahead of its time in terms of graphics and animation. While New Super Mario Brothers fails to do this, it still remains one of the prettier games for the Nintendo DS. Using 3-D sprites in a 2-D game may look a bit bizarre if done incorrectly, but this game handles it well. There are some very nice effects in some of the levels, especially in the snow and fire levels. The game never suffers from slowing down or freezing up, whether it¿s the original quest or when playing the mini-games. In terms of graphics, one should not be as picky as in other categories, and Nintendo knows how graphics really doesn't factor much into the quality of a game; among the best games of all-time look like doo-doo when compared to some of the Xbox 360 disappointments. The Nintendo DS is the choice system for this title, not because of the second screen, but because of the technical abilities. The 3-D sprites that are all over the place could never be placed in a GBA cartridge. The second screen for the most part is useless, only with some importance when playing the mini-games.
New Super Mario Brothers plays like¿Super Mario Brothers. Quite frankly, it is easy to learn, and a breeze to master. NSMB becomes ones of those games in which you can pick up at any given moment and you won't have to remember what you did the last time you played. Part of the reason why it's a great fix for car rides or long waits is that you do not have to remember anything complicated about the game; you can swim, run, jump, and more or less that is about it. Keeping true to the original gem, there is no flying, and no Yoshi. While yes it's maintaining its roots, it would have been great to be able to soar above the clouds and to eat enemies with Yoshi himself. It also could not have hurt the game to add a little variety to the playcontrol to give new-school gamers something to cheer about. Can you imagine if some of the abilities in Yoshi¿s Island (egg throwing especially) and the abilities in regular Mario platform games intertwine in one production? The possibilities would have been practically endless.
One of the more recognizable soundtracks in gaming history and perhaps in all of pop culture is that of Super Mario. Whether it's the happy-go-lucky tunes of the regular levels to the gloomy and melancholy songs of the castle/fortress levels, the average gamer can recognize when a song is from a Super Mario level. That being said, they once again stuck to its roots in the audio department in this game. Nintendo took some classic songs and for the most part, remixed them all. While the original songs remain the most catchy and most memorable, NSMB doesn't sound bad at all. As a matter of fact, you can ever hear some vocals, as they hum and chant along with the beat on certain moments. Mario's voice was lent to him in the 1996 masterpiece Super Mario 64, and sounds relatively the same 10 years later. No complaining here.
Over 20 years ago, Super Mario Brothers finally gave hardcore gamers of the old-old school a challenge by providing over 20 levels without a save feature, and rarely ever had repetitive challenges. While at one point you are running in the grass, in the later levels you have to deal with different terrain, different enemies, and different obstacles. None of the games back then could offer that, Ms. Pac-Man had pretty much the same design from level 1 to level 99, and the same would go with Galaga. This was just one of the tons of revolutionary achievements of SMB. New Super Mario Brothers is not that difficult, but you will die many, many times.
There are 80 levels in the game, and pretty much half of them you do not even have to touch in order to beat the whole game. Aside from the regular levels, you also have ghost houses, fortresses, and castles. The fortresses lead to an easy showdown against Bowser Jr., and the castles leads to a battle against a gigantic boss. There are two main reasons why this game is a lot simpler than the average Mario game: tons of opportunities to get extra lives, and because of the items you can use. The mega mushroom can be saved for boss battles, and that makes the typically-already-easy fights even shorter into a point in which you laugh at its simplicity. There are mushroom houses in every world, and not just one or two of them either. All these houses leads to extra lives and access to power-ups like the mega mushroom and the fireflower (Yes, the fireflower is back!!). The levels themselves are much, much tougher than the boss battles, even if that is not saying much.
But, just because it may be a bit of a breeze to go through, doesn¿t mean the quest is over. There are two hidden worlds, over 200 special coins to collect, and a challenge mode to play after beating Bowser in the final stage. Might require four to five hours to beat the game without finding anything extra, it will take twice as much to find everything, guaranteed. What gave Super Mario World its lasting power is apparent here too, the desire to find all the extra levels. Sadly though, we do not have 96 of them like the SNES classic. Ah well, 80 is much more than what the average game offers, right?
Super Mario fans might be torn at this game for mostly minor reasons. For starters, the lack of several characters hinders the Mario look; the Koopa kids remain missing, as previously mentioned Yoshi is gone; Luigi has to be unlocked for some reason. Where is the love for Luigi? Wario hasn't been bugging Mario in a platform game since Super Mario Land 2, I think its due, he needs to wreck some havoc again, like in the good ol¿ days. Bowser Jr. just doesn¿t cut it, he really does not. While nostalgia does hit for the most part, a few more fun r eferences to past Mario games would have been nice, something that the Mario RPG series has been so good as doing. A lot has happened since 1992, the last time Mario starred in an original platform game (Super Mario Land 2: 6 Golden Coins) and it would have been good to see more of these changes happen in the NEW version of an older game.
Don¿t let the minor grudges fool you, this game is totally worth the money and remains one of the best platform games of this decade. Nonetheless, if you are expecting an instant classic, you might have to wait a bit longer. The bosses weren't tough at all, there were not that many hidden exits, and the lack of flying hurts a bit, after all these years of flying all over the place whether with a wing cap or a feather. Moving past all that, we are talking about 80 levels of fun gameplay full of obstacles and multiple ways of overcoming them. Unlike Mario Kart DS, the franchise doesn't take a step forward, but also unlike Madden, the franchise doesn't shift gears and runs totally backwards either.
Bottom Line: Don't expect a classic; just expect a very fun game with plenty to do after the original quest is over. Two hidden worlds, plenty of mini-games, a decent multi-player mode, and a grand total of 80 levels makes up for a few of the minor problems this game faces. But, when dealing with such a diverse and long-lasting franchise like Super Mario, there is bound to be complaints from all ends of the spectrum. What Nintendo, Miyamoto and the gang have to do is stop looking into the past and move on. Mix Yoshi's Island gameplay with Super Mario World gameplay, add tons and tons of levels, and right then and there we have an amazing game.
With the DS becoming a rising force, a sequel is apparent. Let Mario fly, give Luigi a chance, and for God's sakes, bring back the Koopa Kids and Wario. The Mario franchise does not always have to be just a goose chase after a mad turtle with a princess in distress; there can be so much more done. Either way though, New Super Mario Brothers is an experience matched by very few in the handheld department. While Mario Kart DS remains the cream of the crop in the handheld world, NSMB quenches our thirst of an original Mario game for at least some time. Do not just beat the game and quit, because you'll be missing out on a lot. Ladies and gentlemen; Super Mario is back.
