By Musarrat Rahman
Rumour has it that Disney will take a hiatus on making princess movies for a while, focusing their energy on their action movies (Yay superheroes!), so that would make Tangled their last Disney princess movie for quite some time (boo).
For those as happy-go-lucky as yours truly, you must've loved Disney movies growing up. The catchy dance tunes, the talking woodland creatures and inanimate objects, the handsome prince charming. Tangled is the Disney adaptation of fairytale Rapunzel and it brings this classic story to life.
Starring Mandy Moore as Rapunzel and Zachary Levi as Flynn Rider her handsome charming bandit, the movie is not your typical Disney themed 'damsel in distress' flick. The heroine is a feisty and independent kidnapped Princess who was taken hostage by a witch as an infant and kept in a tower where she was raised as the witch's own. The desperate King and Queen send out floating lanterns every year during the lost princess's birthday in hopes that she will see them and it will guide her back home and into their arms. Rapunzel sits on her ivory tower and watches the lanterns in the sky each year, not knowing what they were or why they were there but longing to find out. She begs her overbearing mother to let her out even if it's just for a day but never gets results so our independent princess takes matters into her own hand.
When handsome bandit Flynn breaks into her tower to hide from the law, she knocks him out and takes him hostage, stealing his possessions and hiding them form him till he breaks her out and takes her to the lanterns. The two steal off on a journey, both annoyed with each other but as you already know, that annoyance soon turns into friendship which soon turns into romance.
It has every single typical Disney aspect - a princess in trouble, a handsome young guy, a witch, a dash of adventure and a happily ever after. Disney movies may be very one dimensional but hey, they're Disney movies, nobody watches them for an intellectual debate.
For those who don't sit around all hoity-toity dissecting each and every part of a movie, this is a must watch. It's a feel good movie and great for a silly night in with friends, special someones or family.
Recommended for those who just can't resist their happily ever afters!
MUST WATCH TV
THE INBETWEENERS
By Orin
Teenagers and young adults are the hottest target market for most television shows, but shows produced for them are not the most thought through ones; which probably explains why out of the huge number of shows made, only a few are actually fun to watch or remotely relatable. Teen shows vary from those generic teen-dramas to the ridiculously over-the-top ones, and only a small minority is actually funny. This is where The Inbetweeners stands out: it's both hilarious and truer to teen age than most shows we see.
The story focuses on a slightly geeky guy Will (Simon Bird), who has to adjust to a public school from his private education and finds himself ridiculed by everyone. At the end of the year, when he nearly assimilates himself with the school, he manages to make three friends: hopeless romantic Simon (Joe Thomas), blabbermouth liar Jay (James Buckley) and the notoriously dim Neil (Blake Harrison). Their group is just above those who Jay calls 'freaks'; thus the name of the show. All that is on their minds are the girls they cannot have, the parties they aren't invited to and the alcohol they can't buy.
Almost all their efforts on womanising and acquiring alcohol ends disastrously and their craziness and desperation is more or less completely ignored by their parents and teachers who do not give a rat's bottom about what those 16-year-olds are up to.
The show's setting might seem a bit too mainstream, but the show is anything but. No joke is too much, even the obscene ones with their parents or disabled people. No amount of foolhardiness and desperation is too much, and nothing stops them from joking about it. The brilliantly crafted humour and dialogue is among the best you'll find in any TV show today; it is a show where almost nothing is off-limits, which is both its strongest and weakest point.
The show ran from 2008 to 2010, with three hilariously glorious seasons, but ended its run before it could get tedious, but there are talks of a spin-off movie, which will definitely be cheered by the fans.
The Inbetweeners is a show about the awkward teen-self that everyone misses after it's gone, and it does a good job being one. It's an absolute pleasure when you can just sit back to laugh like a maniac for half an hour without a worry in the world, awed by the terrifically filthy humour of the show.
Anime Review: 12 episodes, Season 1 (2010): Age Rating: 13+
THE WORLD GOD ONLY KNOWS
By Kokoro-chan
“…God only knows-
I don't need that kind of real things,
Feels like I'm lost in the labyrinth.
God only knows-
There must be the meaning of life,
Somehow unexpected happenings
thrill me.
God only knows-
Just believe in myself and my dreams,
Anyone could be a hero and heroine.”
(Opening)
That said, let's dig into the plot of this interesting anime-
Plot:
Katsuragi Keima-sama is a god. He is the holy Cupid himself, the angelic prince of romance, the charmer of all women, the mighty conqueror of… dating sims. Yes, Katsuragi Keima is the gaming world's Casanova, the undefeated kami-sama aka 'god of conquest' who has won the love of over ten thousand virtual heroines; and yet, ironically, has never even held hands with a single woman in real life. But does it bother him? Nah! After all, what is boring old reality in the face of his all-encompassing godliness? In fact so great becomes his fame that it ultimately reaches the realms of Hell. The chief of Hell, charmed by his tales of 'efficiency', strikes a deal with him. Keima has to conquer and capture the loose souls that have escaped from Hell and taken refuge in the troubled hearts of pretty women. The only catch is, as Keima finds out AFTER signing the contract, these are all real-life women, the kind our kami-sama has absolutely no luck with! “A god never backs down from a challenge.”- as Keima says himself, and there's the fact that betrayal of the contract would result in his death… ahem, so this is how begins Keima-kun's not-so-smooth encounter with the 'real' women, with Elci, a demonic assistant with a weird taste in cooking, by his side. Kami-sama is indeed in for a hell of a ride into reality, one that will forever change his ideas about his own world- “The World God Only Knows”.
Review:
The funny thing about most manga/anime is that their names often tend to be misleading; you never can tell what'll turn up on your screen just by looking at a title. 'Beelzebub', for example, features a baby crawling around without a diaper. You have no idea how much like an idiot this serious Seinen (horror/mystery/supernatural etc.) fan felt after seeing the naked baby named Beelzebub. Sigh.
Anyway this anime, again, has a title that's almost poetic, give or take a little hint of angst and sadness. And what do we get? Blasts of pretty-Moe (huge puppy eyes, cute faces, you know the drill) characters in cute costumes, a hilarious storyline, dialogues that are in places the ultimate mother of all drama and colourful animation that is highly 2010-standard. It's a pleasant surprise for the uninformed, albeit a little unsettling at first. But what makes the series a winner is that there is a subtle element of control throughout each and every episode. Like how it's Moe and yet not super-annoyingly Moe that seriously gets on your nerves.
Nor does it have a tad too many punch-lines like in 'Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi', or even 'Gintama'. It's a blend of everything that any other common anime of comedy/slice of life genre should have and yet presented in such a unique way that makes it a highly enjoyable watch for the viewers.
It's how ANN's Carlo Santos says- “By most expectations, anything involving ditzy demon girls and gaming-obsessed geekboys and a rotating line-up of high school beauties should have been the stuff of critical derision. Yet the show's sharp sense of humour, honest emotions, and polished production values prove that working with familiar clichés doesn't have to result in a clichéd product. With the right prodding and poking, any anime series can indeed become greater than the sum of its parts.”
TWGOK is a jewel in itself in how it manages to keep things simple and yet succeeds in entertaining the audience. Good music, great storytelling and cool gaming gadgets - a definite thumb-up and a worthwhile watch. The second season is scheduled to come out in April this year and this reviewer, for one, is eagerly looking forward to it.
Source: ANN
