References -
"Maleficent" (2014): 55/100, ★★★; "Fantasy Forest" (2016): 77/100, ★★★★; "Prince of the Forest" (1967): 75/100.
Originally it was completely out of consideration, but after seeing passers-by repeatedly saying that "Fantasy Forest" is on the same level as this film, I finally couldn't hold back my curiosity.
As it turns out, curiosity killed the cat.
The most speechless, it turned out to be the picture that I thought was at least eye-catching. Much of the Neverland-related focus on the characters—such as the "Blackbeard" look and the outfit of the female warrior Tiger Lotus—exudes a gaudy and eerie aura. Is this Neverland, or a Dream Hair Salon?
Peter Pan and Captain Hook are okay, although the latter is a parody of Han Solo and Indiana Jones.
The special effects are indeed gorgeous enough, but getting lost in the dazzling skills from time to time is something that is difficult to get into after all.
As for the other two films, the special effects and application of "Maleficent" are not superior to this film, but the art design is a lot better; and "Fantasy Forest" not only has the special effects far better than the other two, the special effects serve Story and character usage concepts also go far beyond them.
While "Fantasy Sailing" is meaninglessly rendering the wonderland of Neverland, "Fantasy Forest" has solidly built a human jungle where characters can freely come and go.
Of course, whether the art design is vulgar or the special effects are just dazzling, if this film can come up with a story that is more than qualified or a character that is enough to attract the audience, it may be saved. Sadly, it didn't work out.
This leads to the question of the title: Why is there a half-part "Maleficent" between "Fantasy" and "Fantasy Forest"?
The answer is simple: 1. the characters; 2. the story.
"Fantasy Sailing" has many scenes that take boredom as fun. For example, the conflict between little Peter and the nun in the orphanage, the battle between the pirate ship and the fighter jet, the funny man with glasses, and the fight between Hook and "Pan" are all plots that are disproportionate to the amount of time spent. The twists and turns of Peter's search for his biological mother should have been the focus of describing Peter's psychological changes, but they were always quickly overshadowed by other contradictions. Peter finds his mother's letter, for example, but the camera then focuses on the ugly nun. With such a method, it is obviously the nun's face that makes people feel more deeply, rather than Peter's desire to know the truth about his mother. As for the next few times, I am too lazy to repeat them one by one.
And the emotional scene between Hook and Hu Lian, first of all, has no meaning, and secondly, this emotional scene, like many other bridges, should obviously give way to the relationship between Peter Pan and Captain Hook. After all, if the story continues, it will inevitably involve the breakup between Peter Pan and Captain Hook. And whether the breakup of friendship can affect people's hearts obviously depends on whether the friendship was originally firm or not - the film's superficial description obviously failed, and the serious box office hits also obliterated any possibility of sequel remedies.
"Maleficent", like this film, has a completely untenable story, but the character Maleficent miraculously holds up the whole film. Of course, the success of Maleficent is mostly due to Jolie's own interpretation rather than the shaping of the script, but after all, "Fantasy" does not even have such an actor to play a good role.
The story of "Fantasy Forest", after being greatly improved on the basis of the 67th edition of "Prince of the Forest", has successfully reached the qualifying line. If it weren't for the climax of the bushfires' handling of the intention of "fire" somewhat under scrutiny, "The Forest" could even be considered a good story. But in any case, such a story with very few scraps, a clear theme and a complete framework is enough to support the special effects of "Forest".
As far as the story is concerned, "Fantasy Sailing" is hardly even comparable to the 67th version of "Prince of the Forest", not to mention that the latter has a lot of interesting characters and songs to support.
In the final analysis, what can support "Fantasy Sailing" is nothing more than the so-called appearance and special effects. Passers-by who only care about these basically don't care whether the appearance is matched with the gaudy art design, and whether the special effects flow into the void of gorgeous and dazzling skills.
The so-called beauty is justice, the so-called gorgeous is excellent. Story and characters - sorry, don't care.
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