sorceress – Movies of the Soul

Vampire Owl: Aren’t we the true masters of the universe?

Vampire Bat: I do not think that they are talking about the vampire universe.

Vampire Owl: Every universe requires its own masters.

Vampire Bat: We already have Uncle Dracula here.

Vampire Owl: Yes, even Vampire Elders are there, but they are all symbolic heads.

Vampire Bat: So, you consider us as the true masters.

Vampire Owl: Well, this is the only working universe, isn’t it?

Vampire Bat: The only true universe with relevance, yes.

Vampire Owl: And the only realm without the pure human evil.

Vampire Bat: The human evil has already reached our borders. There is not much of magic left that seems to stop it.

[Gets a thattu dosa and three cups of Munnar tea].

What is the movie about? :: Adam (Nicholas Galitzine) works in human resources, while keeping on searching for a certain sword and lives with his only friend Hussein (Christian Vunipola) in Oklahoma City. People think that him keeping on searching for a sword and telling everyone a specific story about his escape from another planet are parts of his nerd madness which he always had since he was a kid. The search for the sword would affect both his work and social life, as he even tells the same story when on a date. Obsessed with finding the sword due to his memories about being part of another strange world in which he lived as the prince and had come to Earth with a magic sword, Adam receives an anonymous tip in the form of a text message that the sword is located and he reclaims it at a comic store, running away with it. But the next day, he is arrested for stealing the sword, but the police car is stopped in transit on the highway when a strange creature attacks them and halts the traffic. The ape-like creature turns out to be Beast Man (Gary Martin) who had come from another world and chases Adam.

So, what happens with the events here as we just keep looking? :: As Adam keeps running, a woman in white comes to the scene, identifying herself as his childhood friend, Teela (Camila Mendes). She tells him that the sword had given her a signal when it was claimed and raised to the sky, seemingly provided the same signal to many others of their planet far away. In this planet named Eternia which was once ruled by Adam’s parents King Randor (James Purefoy) and Queen Marlena (Charlotte Riley), no longer maintains that peace and prosperity after being taken over by Skeletor (Jared Leto), his sidekick Evil-Lyn (Alison Brie) and a number of other evil minions. This loss after being defeated by a cyborg and weapons expert of Skeletor, Trap Jaw (Sam C Wilson) had also left the commander-in-chief of the army of Eterna, Man-At-Arms a.k.a. Duncan (Idris Elba) to severe depression and alcoholism, much to the dismay of his daughter Teela. After training so many people of the planet to defend the evil forces, he along with many others had fallen into disarray after Skeletor took over and unleashed chaos.

And what more can happen in this world of chaos and destruction unleashed by forces of evil? :: It was the Sorceress (Morena Baccarin) who sent Adam to Earth to save him and the sword from Skeletor, and as it was the original home planet of the queen a long distance away from Eternia, safety was guaranteed, but as a child, he had lost the sword only to be found now, triggering alarms all around the universe. Adam and Teela manage to outrun the Beast Man and escape in their spaceship in front of shocked humans who could do nothing but stare. Back home, the resistance forces against Skeletor who are not imprisoned by Teela leaving her defence outpost and bringing a strange man with the sword, imprisons her and Adam along with an alcoholic Duncan and a former combat robot reprogrammed as a cleaning robot, Roboto (Kristen Wiig). But they escape with the help of the robot and keeps the sword with them while the defenders of the resistance are either killed or captured by Skeletor’s forces. As they try to escape them and come face to face against Trap Jaw, it seems to be the end for them, but can they find a way to defeat him and his shooters against all odds?

The defence of Masters of the Universe :: The movie has some stunning visuals with the setting in a beautiful planet. The world is too good with the fantasy model buildings and the environment which makes it feel like a colourful paradise. Nicholas Galitzine makes a fine impact as the protagonist, while Idris Elba brings the fun. But the best impact is made by Camila Mendes as Teela, who remains a stunner in those action sequences with her movement and style, as the only one true character who is a born-fighter continuing to be so at all times. Jared Leto as Skeletor is a villain to remember, and gets the screen-time he missed as the Joker in Suicide Squad. Morena Baccarin who gets back after The Wrecking Crew gets less screen time even as such a significant character. Alison Brie as Evil-Lyn works nicely too as one never sees any evil this cute and strong in magic. The humour in the movie also remains so much fun, and the elements taken from cartoon are nicely placed here without too much darkness ever coming into picture. Adora a.k.a. She-Ra played by Lauren Saliu shown during mid-credits also keeps us interested as the one scene itself seems to bring lot of hope for a possible sequel about which we are still not that sure.

Positives and negatives :: This is a feeling of nostalgia, and as we had the cartoon of the same name running in Malayalam in this part of the world, there is no other superhero who had this much of an influence on us as children. We had to return home early from school and then we would successfully watch this one. In the case of the movie, people might find that this is a little bit too cartoonish and as more for the children, but those would be the people who forgot how they grew up watching this, and if Avengers, Justice League and team could be taken as full action, this could be too. The supporting characters here could have had some more time, while cutting some time from the moments spent on Earth. The final fight is lovely to watch, even though the moments back on Earth coming in between do not impress much. The quality of the computer-generated imagery losses some quality at times, but remains stable and stylish for most of the time. Use of more magic could have made the world look more charming, and even more shown as part of an exploration like in Avatar, as the design here never far behind.

How it finishes :: The lack of some seriousness might be the reason why it had the same effect as John Carter at the box-office, but one cannot forget the fact that it was one fine movie, and one of the best of that year. We can blame the strange movie-watching habits of the biggest markets of the movie which did not even make Pacific Rim a super-hit, but Asia serves that title well. All these movies surely did well in this part of the world, and one keeps wondering if a better trailer could have meant better result for the movie at the box-office. I would surely love to see its sequel with the lady superhero, but one has to wonder if the same would happen when the total collection is considered. But this is sure to do well on Amazon Prime Video, and that should also mean something to everyone. For now, this is a charming adventure and entertainer which does not have a dull moment once the scenes shift to the far away planet. The beautiful spectacle of a world with a classic adventure with battles to remember is not something that we can always see with this much charm. People can find cartoon-faults, but I find this to be something I should have watched on the big screen with all of its big screen splendour.

Release date: 5 June 2026
Running time: 140 minutes
Directed by: Travis Knight
Starring: Nicholas Galitzine, Camila Mendes, Alison Brie, James Purefoy, Morena Baccarin, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Kristen Wiig, Jared Leto, Idris Elba

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@ Cemetery Watch
✠ The Vampire Bat.

Ice and Snow :: Here is something from Robert Frost: “Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice. From what I’ve tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I know enough of hate To say that for destruction ice Is also great And would suffice” – I would remember those lines from the poet very often. It is only my second favourite from him after “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening”. Lets leave the fire to any of the fire elementals and fire-breathing dragons as that would be another story. Let bring ice and snow; as the poet would love to watch the woods filling up with snow, and also talk about that destruction by ice, we were given those thoughts about snow and ice, not something people of this part of the world are too familiar with. Yes, the interest in snow was nicely built up to such an extent that I had winter wallpapers on my desktop for a very long time – that started when I was a kid, and we had the latter poem to study in the earlier classes, and the only thing which I liked slightly better was “Daffodils”.

What is Frozen? :: All that talk about ice and snow would take me back to the only one animated movie in the theatre right now. There is nothing repulsive about that feeling, as I am not talking about that 2010 movie when people get trapped in the snow and get eaten by wolves. Well, that was a good movie too, but that kind of atmosphere never comes to the picture this time. I have always felt something about snow, but I have never seen it with my eyes or felt it. I have felt the temperatures close enough to zero degree Celsius, but never snow. Then I decided to experience snow in 3D with a movie, and from the current situation, I am pretty sure that it is the closest to falling snow that I can get. To add to it, this one is also the next brilliant animated movie from Walt Disney after Tangled. Brave was not bad, it was of inferior standard compared to the other Disney movies. The rest didn’t interest me either. But, after a three year gap, Frozen has made me fall in love with Disney yet again. It came in 3D and with the AC in the theatre, it was a world of snow, and it was alive with all the emotions.

The Setting :: The movie is set in the kingdom of Arendelle, a world of magic. It is the story of two sisters, the princesses of the kingdom, Anna and Elsa, with the latter having the powers to manipulate and control the elements of frost. But as the latter’s powers accidently hits the former while playing in snow, her life is only saved by a group of trolls who erase the memory of Anna and warns Elsa of her powers becoming too powerful for her to control. As days pass, Elsa becomes more of a recluse, afraid of herself and unable to control her powers and thus transforming her room into a snow world and keeping away from Anna who doesn’t know what keeps them apart. The doors of the castle are kept closed so that nobody comes to know about the secret. Anna also keeps to herself and the world inside the castle. The king and the queen takes special care to the fact that the balance is not broken, and the world remains the same.

What is it about? :: The action takes place three years after the death of their parents. The children have grown up, and despite the reclusive nature of Elsa, she becomes the default heir to the kingdom and has to fight her inner demons of frost to take over the throne. The gates of the castle are finally opened and people come in. Anna takes this as an opportunity to fall in love, as there would be celebration and she can search for her true love. She meets Prince Hans of the Southern Isles and falls for him. Elsa somehow manages to keep her powers inside until Anna tells her that she wants to marry the prince whom she just met. Elsa refuses to grant her blessings for her sister to marry someone whom she doesn’t really know much about, and as a result, there an argument which leads to the powers of Elsa coming out in the form of ice, and even reaching that extent that the whole kingdom is covered in snow and even the ships get stuck in the ice as she flees to the top of the mountains in the forest. But Elsa is feels herself responsible and is determined to bring her back with the help of a mountain man, a reindeer and a snowman.

The defence of Frozen :: It is the best use of snow and ice in a movie after Rise of the Guardians, and the best animated movie since the release of that one in December 2012. Well, that one had an ordinary box-office performance, but that won’t be the case of Frozen, one can say that. The movie’s most adorable part is its snowman. The movie’s treatment of the story and characters are interesting, as there is no big villain out there, and the snow queen doesn’t go the evil way. There are lesser evil people for sure, but none extreme. The act of true love is no longer romantic, and that is the best part- there should be sacrifice. There is also the stupidity for frail romance and the vain “love at first sight” theory mocked. The songs are beautiful and its visual treat is even more stunning. Frozen makes Brave looks like a little creature who can only say “precious”. How did that creature win the Academy Award for Best Animated Film is still a mystery for me – it was so empty with a lead character who makes people wonder if their sons and daughters are better as reckless, shameless children who defy their parents who know what is better? Well, our heroine here knows the importance of family.

Plus and minus :: There might be too much music for the elder people, even as the humour can keep them attached to the movie. It is also very loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen’s The Snow Queen (similarities are to be created rather than found). The heroine reminds one of Rapunzel of Tangled, not used to going out of her world and being in love with a random person whom she meets on the way while pretending to be courageous and smart. Yes, there is that reindeer instead of the horse and our snowman is indeed better than that chameleon. You will love his ideas about summer, that is for sure. Its a little bit of doing the same thing under disguise, but the fact that it is enjoyable, and there are some good addition makes this fantastic. Elsa is more like X-Men‘s Rogue controlling her powers only with her gloves, and there are trolls who are more like dwarves – funny ones for sure. If Anna catches out attention, Elsa melts our heart! If you don’t like snow, then this movie will lose its awesomeness of 3D snowflakes and everything visual. Yes, it is better than Despicable Me 2, the overrated animated movie of the year which was also very good.

How it finishes :: Frozen comes up with so much goodness, and the message of sisterly love and affection, and it supports one’s right to be different (even as the variation in the character of the so called chivalrous prince was rather too much). Its assertion that love for beauty is so much flawed, and its call for the society to accept the people with differences and also asserts one’s right to choose to be alone. It is only family that can deny the same. It is a true musical fairy tale in the form of an animated movie. Even as there could have been more in store concerning the cold and darkness (as said by Boogeyman in Rise of the Guardians), and there could have been more concerning the frost powers. But for now, we can be satisfied with the power of true love and all that ends well, and as they all live happily ever after – not that much of a spoiler there, as you all know how these movies are to end; even our snowman gets his own snow cloud to follow him during summer. It is our movie of this weekend – The Hunger Games releases here next week!

Release date: 29h November 2013 (India); 27th November 2013 (US)
Running time: 108 minutes
Directed by: Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee
Starring (voice): Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad, Alan Tudyk, Santino Fontana, Ciarán Hinds, Chris Williams, Jack Whitehall