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Dad's Diaper Bag Disney Movie Review Review Toy Story

Review of Toy Story 4 for Parents of the Toy Story Generation [spoiler free!]

Note: We were provided with a complimentary screening for this movie. All opinions are my own.

Welcome to the latest Diaper Dad Confessions movie review!  If you’re here to find out whether Toy Story 4 is worth taking your kids to see in theaters, or later on digital release and Blu-ray Disc, I’ll save you the effort now:  They’re gonna LOVE it. Go see it. It’s great.

In fact, for your kiddos, here’s an official Disney guide on how to make YOUR VERY OWN FORKY! (Trust me, after you go see this movie with your kids, and I’m sure you will, they’re going to want their own Forky – or rather, make their own Forky):

Click here to download – Make your own Forky! [PDF]
Review over?  Chances are you already want to go watch this movie regardless of this opinion, but if you are interested in whether this movie lives up to the Toy Story name, especially for adults who grew up with Toy Story in our lives, read on.  It’s no secret that the Toy Story franchise is a significant piece of modern animated cinematic history – and of course Disney·Pixar wouldn’t release a major motion release of this brand without ensuring it would continue and grow the love and appreciation audiences have grown to have over 20 years.  

And that, is what brings us to the focus of my review of Toy Story 4 – A parent’s retrospective on over 20 years of talking toys and the impact it has had on my story of parenthood.

The original Toy Story movie premiered on November 22, 1995. I was in seventh grade, and when I heard the first fully computer animated feature film was coming out, as an early computer aficionado (before doing so was ‘cool’) you better bet I was all about its release. While most others my age at the time simply a new world of talking toys, I was enthusiastic about this new era of digital animation and the promise of what computers would bring to entertainment. Months later, during an opportunity to come up with an individual special project of my own choosing. I chose to write a research paper on, you guessed it, the original Toy Story movie.  Sure, as a typical 7th grader I also thought the characters of Woody and Buzz were just plain cool – but I was entering teenagehood and my nerdy self was overcome with the idea of computers being the start-to-finish in the creation of this standalone masterpiece.

Fast forward to 1999. Toy Story 2 came out. With an ever-growing interest in technology as a career, my focus for the film’s first sequel was in just how much digital animation had clearly progressed in just a few short years. Sure, Buzz and Woody, along with newcomer Jessie and the entire gang played into a solid second storyline, but I was more compelled to TS2’s significant increase in detail, lighting, and general cinematic quality.

(Spoilers ahead for Toy Story 3 – but let’s face it, it was a 2010 film and you’re here to consider watching its sequel nearly a decade later)

Hyperspace jump again (yup, cross-Disney franchise reference) eleven more years to 2010 – time for Toy Story 3.  At this point I’m a father of 2, including a 4 year old who was HUGE into Toy Story. My interest in the franchise hit a crossroads – half me with continued interest in the *significant* jumps in digital animation quality after years of great Pixar hits. The other half excited about the ability to hand down to my children my love of these characters and the imaginative world of talking toys when we aren’t looking.  The joy in my oldest son’s eyes when he later got a robotic talking Buzz Lightyear for his birthday was just plain unmatched! And the initial fear he felt (oh let’s face it.. we ALL felt) when we saw the gang’s near demise at the dump displayed a sense of empathy I still have yet to see in my now-teenage son’s eyes for anything else. 😀 This sparked a dramatic epitome in the way I saw this beloved franchise: As a parent, I started to see Toy Story as a way to truly share a sense of joy and caring for a piece of entertainment with my own offspring. And the way TS3’s story brought a proper send-off for Andy’s connection with these toys. I now saw myself as a Toy Story fan in the sense that its filmmakers had primarily intended all these years – to empathize with the evolution we all take in our own lives, human and perhaps even those non-human objects we’ve come to hold so dear through our own growth.

So that takes us a full 9 years later – welcome to 2019. Never did I actually think Pixar would consider another continuation of this franchise. Andy’s moved to college! The toys have found their next generation to support with Bonnie. To me, it was a proper enough ending — or was it?  When TS4 was formally announced towards the end of 2014, the “adult” in me first said “okay, well that make sense.. From an Investor’s perspective. Of course they’d keep the money train of Toy Story running!” — but the storylover in me just couldn’t see it. Even when the trailers started pouring out over the past few months leading up to the release, I joined in on the quick laughs but still just didn’t understand where they’d take this story – and why they’d want to risk a well-appreciated franchise that already had a commonly-agreed proper ending.

Turns out folks, after taking 3 (of my now 6) kids to see this movie, I can truly understand why they’ve made this film. Sure, they’ve completed the story arc of our human pal Andy – and alluded that ‘the toys will be fine’ as they start a new life with Bonnie.  BUT… Have we really wrapped up the story of our main pal Woody? Despite all his adventures to support his ever-faithful bond with his humans, is it really enough just to say that ‘at least we know he’s moving on to continue his mission’? After TS3 my answer was a resounding ‘YES!’ — and now after watching Toy Story 4, I have to admit I feel kind of bad for making that assumption. Because Pixar has proven to us that we should have continued to care, all these years later, for what has happened to the fate of our western roundup toy star. And I must say, through yet another adventure of grand scale, we come to a proper story bookend for our main man Woody, galactic star Buzz, and all our Andy’s Room and Bonnie’s Room pals. We even find reprise in Woody’s original character love, Bo Peep, and meet some new friends along the way like Forky, Ducky, and Bunny.  (by the way, if by the time you come home from seeing TS4 and your kids aren’t already trying to make their own Forky, I’ll be shocked). These new characters add the proper amount of freshness to supplement the Toy Story franchise without doing too much as to upstage the appreciation value we already have for our existing toybox crew. This movie ultimately shows us that, while the first 3 movies tear at the heartstrings of what our children’s playthings do to affect our human lives, this 4th movie allows us to take that resulting love for these otherwise-inanimate characters and allow us to care for what ultimately becomes of their fate. I’d say *now* we have a proper ending for Buzz, Woody, and the gang – that is, should Pixar choose to call it good at this point. Sure, I would no longer be surprised if they decide to keep the train going for some or all of these great characters. But if they really are done this time around, my inner 12 year old feels peace for the fully-rounded story arc for these great toys.

And speaking of that inner 12 year old, who originally was enticed to this story for the behind-the-scenes reasons that brought these stories to life – 9,707 days from first movie release to this movie’s release – was simply so immersed into the story and the reality of how great today’s modern computer animation just simply *is* that I had finally been able to just appreciate the movie as it was intended: To share in this magical not-so-distant world with my children and the inner child of my own appreciation of the world of Toy Story from all these years. Great job Disney and Pixar – you knocked this one out of the park. All 4 movies in this franchise.

Go see it! If you’ve made it this far in my story / review – how can you not?  Disney and Pixar’s “Toy Story 4” ventures to U.S. theaters on June 21, 2019.

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Dad's Diaper Bag Movie Review Review Uncategorized

The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part – Spoiler-free Parent Review

Note: We were provided with a complimentary screening for this movie. All opinions are my own.

The phenomenon that kicked off the world singing about how “Everything is Awesome!” Is back, and while it is an adventurous, heartwarming story about how “Everything. Was. Awesome” and is now a story of how “everything is not awesome”, let me reassure you now – this movie, the sequel to 2014’s The LEGO Movie, is indeed… wait for it… AWESOME. This is my spoiler-free review of The LEGO® Movie 2: The Second Part.

TheLegoMovie2TitleThe LEGO® Movie 2: The Second Part is a solid movie that picks up right from the moment its original story left off, and takes us on a brand new adventure that still finds a way to surprise and amaze – Specifically, in ways I would not have imagined possible in a sequel following a movie that ends with such a surprise on what is actually going on in the world of Emmet. It does this better than I could have asked in any sequel: The LEGO Movie 2 fully embraces the audience already does know what is going on to control the world around Emmet and his friends, and runs full speed ahead embracing this knowledge. By doing so, The LEGO Movie 2 feels completely different in ways than its original film, self-referencing itself and making all new kinds of jokes to its own situation, that it could not have in the first movies until its apex where you find what all is really going on. I could not have asked for better in a sequel like this – and yet, by doing so I would have to highly recommend anyone watching the LEGO Movie 2 make sure to watch 2014’s The LEGO Movie first, and if they haven’t seen it recently – go watch it again first. While there is enough general fun humor, not to mention pop references GALORE (especially if it has ever been a franchise created in LEGO!), you’ll certainly appreciate this movie so much more if the various character backstories are fresh in your head walking in to this sequel.

UnikittyThat said, I was very pleased with how this movie appreciated what has happened to each character with the turn of events that transition from the first to this new movie, how they have each adapted (or perhaps not adapted?!) to the change in environment and the adventure to come through this film. I have to applaud the writers of The LEGO Movie 2 for clearly taking the time to embrace what each character would become in the events between these two movies, from Emmet, to Lucy, Benny, Unikitty, LEGO Batman, and all the others from the original (I’m talking to you, Mrs. Scratchen-Post!). RexDangervestAnd rest assured, we are equally at home with newcomer key characters like Rex Dangervest (without spoilers, let’s just say this guy is legit the embodiment of every non-Emmet character voiceover master Chris Pratt has ever played on the big and small screen!!), and QueenQueen Watevra Wa’Nabi (voiced by Tiffany Haddish, this new character embraces a level of character personification with LEGO that I remember doing as a kid, without the need for traditional minifig bodies to lock them down – would you believe in this film she manages to shapeshift into 40 distinctly different looks?! Love it!).

Beyond our lead roles, The LEGO Movie 2 also does well to embrace the vast world of LEGO itself, especially its huge range of both original and licensed characters and universes. Of its 523 unique characters in the movie, kids of all ages who have ever played with LEGO are guaranteed to find a smile in even niche references to LEGO characters they may have long forgotten about, or never knew was ever even made. Beyond that, as mentioned there are pop culture references that are sure to delight just about everyone. There was one particular reference to an entire list of franchises all related to a particular theme that made laugh out loud SO much, along with the laughter of fellow adults around me Which reference it is I’ll omit to avoid spoilers, but I so wish I could call out right now! Pop culture fans need to watch this movie, just to join in with me on this particular joke! I’m smirking right now typing this several days after my screening, thinking back to this particular reference.

EmmetAnd in the end, that’s what this movie is mostly about. It fully acknowledges the jokes and self-references to the lifestyle of LEGO that makes it so great and runs with it. And while the first movie did this so well, The LEGO Movie 2 takes it to a whole new level by further acknowledging that the audience now knows what is truly going on in the greater ecosystem and takes both its emotional rollercoaster and hysterical humor full blast using this knowledge. I could not have asked for any better in a sequel – because The LEGO Movie 2 does exactly what the first LEGO Movie has done with embracing why we as kids and kids-at-heart love about the play of LEGO, and continues to run with it while still managing to surprise us with its plot. My ten year old summarized his thoughts on the movie best, describing his thoughts on the movie as “so funny, but still found a way to teach us a great lesson. And its about being nice to your family, so that’s even better!” The LEGO® Movie 2: The Second Part is a family-friendly film that is worth a watch in theaters, as well as ownership when it later his home video. It complements the wonderful story of The LEGO Movie, and vastly expands its universe in the way only LEGO can.

Oh.. and if you thought Everything is Awesome was catchy, wait until you hear the soundtrack in this film. Remember how I said this movie fully embraces what made the first movie so great? Warner Animation Group managed to apply this to their “catchy” songs in this movie in the most self-referential way possible too! Get your Amazon Music / Spotify / Apple Music playlists ready folks, your kids will be asking you to playlist songs from this too (and if you’re like me you might hit play on these songs even without the kids around).

DiaperBagBoysAtLegoMovie2

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Dad's Diaper Bag Disney Finding Dory Movie Review Uncategorized

Finding Dory – Review and Family Activity Printables!

Note: I was provided admission to a screening of this film for this review.
All opinions stated are my own.

Well, hello there! It’s time for another edition of Dad’s Diaper Bag Confessions, guest posts brought to you by the male contributory arm of The Diaper Bag Confessions. In this post, I’ll share with you my SPOILER-FREE review of Disney Pixar’s Finding Dory.

I know many of you want to know the answers to a couple big questions. So, channeling my day job where I often have to take big complex situations and summarize into straight-forward executive summaries, here’s what I think most of you want to know:

  • Is this movie good = YES
  • Is this a proper sequel to the excellent Disney Pixar classic “Finding Nemo” = YES
  • Will my kids enjoy this movie = YES

Okay, now that you know the big points, let’s dig into this big list of “YES” Or is it.. “Nope! Nope! Nope! Nope!” (not a spoiler per-se, just an inside joke you’ll be in-on after you see the film) 🙂

FINDING DORY – Marlin and Nemo get guidance from a pair of lazy sea lions in an effort to catch up with Dory. Featuring Idris Elba as the voice of Fluke and Dominic West as the voice of Rudder, "Finding Dory" opens on June 17, 2016. ©2016 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

Is this movie good?

Oh man is this movie good. Disney Pixar has been knocking hits out of the park for a long time now, so we all know to expect some level of greatness with every release. But for me some Pixar animated films are great, some are amazing, and some are epic. Finding Dory fits somewhere between amazing and epic!

SO MANY STINGRAYS — In "Finding Dory," memories of her past are sparked for forgetful blue tang Dory when a stingray migration whizzes by her. Featuring the voices of Ellen DeGeneres, Albert Brooks, Ed O'Neill, Kaitlin Olson, Ty Burrell, Eugene Levy and Diane Keaton, “Finding Dory” swims into theaters June 17, 2016. ©2016 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Finding Dory has all the components of the best Pixar films… Captivating story? You got it. Witty and hilarious one-liners? Absolutely. In fact, it’s taking all my being to not quote them all here! I guarantee when you exit the theater though, you’ll be exclaiming all the silly character-defining lines that are running through my head as I type this!

Finding Dory carries forward the Pixar tradition of top-notch voice talent, welcoming Ellen DeGeneres (“The Ellen DeGeneres Show”) and Albert Brooks (“This is 40”) back to the sea as favorite fish Dory and Marlin. Joining the crew for this sequel includes Ed O’Neill (“Modern Family”), who lends his voice to “septopus” Hank, Kaitlin Olson (“It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia”) who voices whale shark Destiny, and Ty Burrell (“Modern Family”) voicing beluga whale Bailey. Portraying Dory’s parents Charlie and Jenny are Eugene Levy (“Schitt’s Creek”) and Diane Keaton (“Love the Coopers”). And while the story takes place not long after the events of Finding Nemo, we are talking 13 real-life years later. So we welcome 12-year-old Hayden Rolence (“Beta Persei”) who stepped in to help bring Nemo to life. And each of these characters, new and old, animate on-screen with such realism and intrigue, where you can see the hard work of Pixar’s many animation teams pay off in a great way for the entire cast on-screen!

FINDING DORY – When Dory finds herself in the Marine Life Institute, a rehabilitation center and aquarium, Hank—a cantankerous octopus—is the first to greet her. Featuring Ed O'Neill as the voice of Hank and Ellen DeGeneres as the voice of Dory, "Finding Dory" opens on June 17, 2016. ©2016 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

Is this a proper Finding Dory sequel?

This is what I am pretty sure most of us are watching for, at least among us who were old enough in 2003 to appreciate the depth of Finding Nemo’s heart-wrenching story (see what I did there? Ocean deep joke… Anyway..). I was more than relieved as the story unfolded, where we pick up not long after Finding Nemo left off. This time, the focus turns to our favorite Blue Tang Fish, in an epic adventure where she endeavors to find her family – and as an effect, herself. Finding Nemo was a heartstring-pulling, family-appreciating, family adventure whose story stands today as one of the most memorable among any animated film to-date. It would take an equally warming tale to truly do justice to Finding Nemo’s great storyline, and Finding Dory certainly EXCEEDS this standard. It unashamedly structures as a true sequel to Finding Nemo, even though the spotlight is truly for Dory this time around. Because it isn’t afraid to acknowledge itself as a sequel, Pixar was clearly focused on making it the best darn sequel that could be made for Nemo. It succeeds in answering so many questions in the Finding Nemo universe about Dory, even several questions I’ll bet you didn’t even knew you wanted to know about her!

DO I KNOW YOU? -- In Disney?Pixar's "Finding Dory," everyone's favorite forgetful blue tang, Dory (voice of Ellen DeGeneres), encounters an array of new?and old?acquaintances, including a cantankerous octopus named Hank (voice of Ed O'Neill). Directed by Andrew Stanton (?Finding Nemo,? ?WALL?E?) and produced by Lindsey Collins (co-producer ?WALL?E?), ?Finding Dory? swims into theaters June 17, 2016.

Another thing that was big to me as a Finding Nemo and general Pixar fan, I was curious to see how they would handle the major advancements in digital animation between 2003 and 2016. The untrained eye might not have taken any notice, but because digital animation has evolved SO MUCH in the past decade I truly believe many of us would notice if Pixar had simply done one of two very-valid options: Maintain a 2003-like animation quality & style to closely resemble what Finding Nemo looked like… Or just go all-in and acknowledge it’s 2016, and animate the sequel as such. I really believe the problem with the latter is that, whether we know it up-front or not, making a sequel 13 years later look as much better as animated movies in 2016 look, will take away from the plot that is supposed to occur not long after the original story.

FINDING DORY – Hank is an octopus—or actually a "septopus": he lost a tentacle—along with his sense of humor—somewhere along the way. When Dory finds herself at the Marine Life Institute, a rehabilitation center and aquarium, Hank reluctantly agrees to help her navigate the massive facility. Directed by Andrew Stanton, "Finding Dory" opens on June 17, 2016. ©2016 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

Instead, Pixar appears to do something pretty magical (as Disney movies do) where they blend an animation style that mimics very much what Finding Nemo looked like, but with just enough added detail that is possible in today’s standards to make you not feel like you’re just watching a decade-old film. But then, there are several scenes, particularly outside open ocean waters, that pull us in with so much fine detail and quality even more than the best digitally animated films of today – all while somehow blending back-and-forth without feeling like any of this is going on! I may be overthinking this, but I will say however they did it, they managed to pull off managing the risk of an animated sequel nearly a decade-and-a-half later.. Both in story and in technical advancement!

Will my kids like this movie?

"Finding Dory" introduces new characters to the big screen, including a whale shark named Destiny who's nearsighted, and a beluga whale named Bailey who thinks his biological sonar skills are on the fritz. Featuring Kaitlin Olson as the voice of Destiny and Ty Burrell as the voice of Bailey, "Finding Dory" opens on June 17, 2016. ©2016 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
Have you seen her?

I get the idea behind it, but I am surprised to hear a lot of people out there wondering if anyone as a kid after the 90’s or so, those who were old enough to understand Finding Nemo when it came out, would even enjoy this movie. All I should have to say is a quick reminder that this is a Disney Pixar movie after all – you know they’ll all love it! Will they get every joke or reference if they’ve never heard Dory “just keep swimming”? No, but that won’t stop them from appreciating Dory’s innocent lovability! Plus, this film is full of new characters, such as the “septopus” Hank, whale shark Destiny, and beluga whale Bailey – all those fun new characters stand on their own in this story! We took our youngest two (of 4) boys to see this movie, at the ages of 2 and 4 that I can guarantee were not around when the original came out! Sure, they have seen Finding Nemo at on home video, but at 2 and 4 even if they saw Nemo in theaters at first, Finding Dory would have been just as new to them regardless. This is truly a film for nostalgic Nemo fans to appreciate in parallel to the next generation of Dory fans to join in!

I agree with this so much that I’m sharing with you here a few free printable Finding Dory activities for your littles – enjoy!

Create Your Own Finding Dory Mobile Printable (PDF)

Finding Dory Maze Printable (PDF)

Finding Dory Connect-the-Dots Printable (PDF)

Finding Dory Coloring Pages Printable (PDF)

In Summary

So again – You’ll love this movie. Your kids will love this movie. And it more than just did Finding Nemo justice… It gives us a new love and appreciation for Dory’s story that we’ll be referencing for years to come!

djfamilyafterdory

Oh, and about the Short

BIG ADVENTURE — A hungry sandpiper hatchling ventures from her nest for the first time to dig for food by the shoreline in "Piper," a new short from Pixar Animation Studios. Directed by Alan Barillaro (supervising animator "WALL•E," "Brave"), "Piper" debuts in theaters on June 17, 2016, in front of "Finding Dory." ©2016 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.

I can’t leave this without a quick comment about the short film featured before Finding Dory. The short — “Piper” – touched my heart and visually fascinated me ALMOST to the fault of distracting my mind for the first couple minutes transitioning into the main attraction. Among my favorite Pixar shorts to date, including For the Birds, La Luna, The Blue Umbrella, and last year’s Lava… Piper is my new top fav. It’s beyond adorable, but what really did it for me was the incredible realism. I couldn’t help but think of how we continue to push the envelope of something artificial looking so real to the extent that you start to lose that clear definition/difference between what’s real and what’s not. There’s something about the ruffles in Piper’s feathers, the bubbles in the water, the sand… Oh the sand… until the birds started making faces in that anthropomorphic way I had to genuinely ask myself whether I was watching animation or video footage, and even then it was subtler unrealism as opposed to say, human-like in Zootopia (also a great film in a different way)! We’ve come a long way, and Disney Pixar is leading the path to the future of our animated entertainment.

And this isn’t a one-off masterpiece – some of these advanced techniques are clearly applied in the great animation we see in Finding Dory itself! I also saw this and Finding Dory in 3D – While Dory looked great in 3D (echolocation Oooh’s coming at ya!), Piper was truly the first animated film in some time that I truly recommend seeing in 3D! The last animation that utilized 3D this effectively was Walt Disney Animation’s “Get a Horse!”. So while most films these days I would suggest saving a few bucks and watching in traditional 2-dimensions, if you’re even somewhat considering it – go watch both “Piper” and “Finding Dory” in 3D!

FINDING DORY is now playing in theaters everywhere!


Like FINDING DORY on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PixarFindingDory

Follow FINDING DORY on Twitter: https://twitter.com/FindingDory

Follow Disney/Pixar on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/PixarFindingDory/ 

Visit Disney/Pixar on Tumblr: http://disneypixar.tumblr.com 

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Dad's Diaper Bag Disney Marvel Movie Review

Suit Up for Marvel Phase 3 – Review of Captain America: Civil War

Note: I was provided admission to a screening of this film for this review. All opinions stated are my own.

Welcome to the inaugural post of Dad’s Diaper Bag Confessions, the new male contributory arm of The Diaper Bag Confessions. I couldn’t be more excited to kick things off with my SPOILER-FREE review of Disney Marvel’s latest major motion picture release, Captain America: Civil War.

CivilWar56554b7d983ad

Get Ready

I’ve seen all of the Marvel Cinematic Universe films released to-date, with the one exception that I somehow missed out on Thor: The Dark World (…or I miiiiiight have rented it once on a flight and fell asleep watching it, if I can be honest)… Otherwise, I’ve got a good grasp on what’s going on with our favorite Avengers and other various Marvel movie characters coming in to Civil War.  However, in doing my homework before watching Civil War, I stumbled upon this article from Gizmodo that does a great job summarizing, without Civil War spoilers (though possibly some spoilers for previous films), where each known character is emotionally & physically at in the Marvel Cinematic Universe prior to this latest film. I highly recommend it as a separate primer before seeing this movie, though I suppose watching all the previous flicks wouldn’t hurt either!

Alright already – Suit up!

Let’s finally get to the point… I am SO glad to share with you that Captain America: Civil War is exactly what I expected out of a Disney-owned Marvel movie, and that is such a good thing!  Civil War is the next great Avengers movie we crave for and expect, and the transition to MCU Phase 3 that we need. Let me elaborate…

Disney-Marvel Goodness

If it’s anything we have come to know about Marvel movies since being independently developed through Marvel Studios and subsequently under the parent Disney ownership, it’s that we’re getting top-notch budget and quality in our ears and eyeballs with every release. Civil War is certainly no exception, and this is great considering anything less would be a big disappointment this far into the franchise. While some great movies out there become cult favorites on tiny budgets, that’s not what we pay to expect for this caliber of a film. Marvel cannot afford to step off the podium they made for themselves, from the original Iron Man motion picture in 2008 all the way through to-date, where big budget has consistently equated to quality writing, giant-but-believable special effects, and top-quality acting. Captain America: Civil war followed suit (haha, like a super suit) just perfectly, mixing thrilling action sequences with Hollywood’s best acting talent and tossing in light-but-punchy humor from end-to-end. The very opening sequence of the film draws us right to where we left off after Captain America: Winter Soldier and Avengers: Age of Ultron, quickly reintroducing us to Captain America, Iron Man, and most of the Avengers to-date using an action scene that was filled with explosions, tons of background information, and hilarious one-liners that inflicted humor to the entire theater I was in. The best part is that this movie managed to keep it dialed to 110% from that opening scene all the way to the credits (I’ll leave it to you to decide whether or not to stick through the end credits on whether Marvel continued their tradition of post-credit bonus teaser scenes). 😉

It’s a long movie, 2 hours and 26 minutes runtime not including your usual barrage of pre-film advertisements, so make sure you’ve hit the potty beforehand because you’re about to be in it for the long haul! I know that by the time I finally got out, it took a moment to settle back into reality (and out of the imprint I started on my seat) because it was just that immersive throughout the film.

Reach out!

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Falcon/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016I watched this movie in 3D, and while I am a strong believer that 3D in-general is losing its luster in the theatrical world, this opening scene alone gave me some good reason to appreciate 3D’s additional immersion. Without giving anything away, there was this one scene that captivated me merely because of how the film allowed us to feel how the flight of a particular character’s accessory was critical beyond the abilities of your full-sized super human. Again, I do think this movie would be just as enjoyable in traditional 2D, but this scene is certainly one among a few in this film where the 3D effect helps pull you in deeper to the action!

Welcome to Phase 3

For the uninitiated, Marvel’s Cinematic Universe (which from here forward you’ll see as MCU… because acronyms are cool) is notoriously structured in three phases.

  • Phase 1 is all about origin stories and laying down the early world of MCU as we start to understand and explore how the typical human-led world we live in is shaken up with the existence of other worlds, and humans on this planet with extraordinary abilities of various forms. Ever wonder how weird it would be for a flying Iron Man or freeze-restored crazy-old-but-still-young-adult-hot Captain America to actually exist in the world you and I live in today? Phase 1 was all about getting us as an audience to accept this alternate universe, introducing us to a world where Iron Man, War Machine, Hulk, and Black Widow exist among the rest of us.
  • Phase 2, on the other hand, starts to build us into why we should care about their existence, bringing us movies like Iron Man 3, Thor: The Dark World, and Winter Soldier… All movies that build onto deeper stories after the events of New York in the first Avengers movie – the movie that really set us into a global awareness of the existence of superhumans and aliens. We are also introduced to movies like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man, which brings in additional characters to MCU that serve supplemental or secondary roles, at least in the world to-date. All this culminates in The Avengers: Age of Ultron, which introduces us to yet a few more key characters while closing out Phase 2 acknowledging that we do indeed live in a world populated with superhumans and aliens, but cliffhangering us at the end of Age of Ultron (plus the post-credits at the end of Ant Man) on how we come to manage coexisting in this mixed-up world.
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  • By contrast, Captain America: Civil War gives us a proper dropkick into Phase 3, by diving our beloved Avengers into two separate groups, split based on a moral opinion and related decision that essentially divides us (both as in-movie characters and audiences alike) into a #teamcaptain vs #teamironman situation. This is also something I extensively love about MCU – in this event, we have an opportunity to see each of the current/existing Avengers and how their individual stories and sense of moral drive which side they end up joining. One side is driven by the confidence that freedom and autonomy is necessary to use their super powers to stop evil, the other side is driven by data-driven observations that The Avengers’ autonomy to-date has caused way too much destruction and unplanned deaths, and that government oversite is necessary to oversee that the Avengers keeps things “in check.” And while this may seem cut-n-dry, another reason I enjoyed this movie that the sense of evil/bad is never just clear & dry. I jumped into this movie with my personal affiliation to Team Iron Man, based on my following of his sense of morality and known individual decisions made prior to this movie, but I can assure you that more than once in this film I have had to question my own choice of which team to root for! You have to remember that at the end of the day, both “teams” are filled with Avengers, both original and new, and in their own ways each mean to do “the right thing.” There are clear enemies in this film, and they aren’t Avengers. But in the events that go down in Civil War, characters are still divided into teams by their morality differences, and you’ll find yourself questioning at least once (2-3 times likely) which team is more “in the right.” Perhaps that means that in the end, no one was right, or maybe both teams were right in different ways. You’ll have to see for yourself and I’d love to hear how others found themselves questioning/altering their favorite/aligned “team” throughout the movie! I encourage comments below, but remember to keep things SPOILER-FREE!

This division kicks us off on the start of a larger plot that will clearly carry us through Phase 3, and actually it introduces a few new branching stories that will all contribute to the greater actions that I’m sure will lead us into the Avengers: Infinity War movies scheduled for 2018 and 2019.

ALL the Avengers. Okay, minus some. Add others.

CivilWar56e1af9f673d5Marvel's Captain America: Civil War Spider-Man/Peter Parker (Tom Holland) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016

This includes new characters to the MCU, Black Panther and Spider-Man, who we already know have confirmed movies of their own focus & title in the next few years as part of Phase 3.  Black Panther is new to me entirely, but Spider-Man was of particular interest since prior to this movie I’m still largely influenced by Sam Raimi films where Tobey Maguire donned the webbed suit (circa 2002-2007). I didn’t get into the Marc Webb-edition of Spider-Man that featured Andrew Garfield in the same mask in 2012-2014. With these two established “versions” of theatrical Spider-Man stories out there, it was key that Marvel find a way to make a clean reset of the franchise for this key younger superhero. This meant that Civil War had to be yet-another origin story for both Black Panther and Spider-Man, and this movie amazingly managed to do well for both of them, smoothly integrating both characters into the fold of these growing list of Avengers.

Marvel's Captain America: Civil War L to R: Falcon/Sam Wilson (Anthony Mackie), Ant-Man/Scott Lang (Paul Rudd), Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans), Scarlet Witch/Wanda Maximoff (Elizabeth Olsen), and Winter Soldier/Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan) Photo Credit: Film Frame © Marvel 2016

In the meantime, characters only recently introduced towards the end of Phase 2 such as The Falcon, Scarlet Witch, The Vision, and Ant-Man managed to receive their fair share of supporting content so they too can integrate into the overall fold. And not to be left off, our Phase 1 mainstays of Iron Man, Black Widow, and Captain America continued to build upon their deep-rooted storylines in this film, heavily influencing key decision points through the story.

Phase 1 supporting characters of War Machine and Hawkeye even folded deeper in, with War Machine now a full-blown and influencing Avenger himself, and Hawkeye’s relationships with the various lead characters and his own story adding depth to this already deep cast of characters.  What may seem like a whole mess of individual storylines for each character here, actually resulted in the film in a symphony of subtle story blending in the midst of nonstop action – even writing this review, I reflect on trying to understand how this single movie managed to cram so many characters in with sufficient storyline and screen time for each, not feeling like we were just overwhelmed with character after character for the sake of doing so! And where blatant “hey, it’s THAT character” callouts were needed, the movie shined with the signature self-aware humor audiences have come to know from an Avengers movie.

Yes, this is certainly titled as a “Captain America” movie, and it certainly does The Cap justice in his own struggle and evolution kicking in to Phase 3, but you saw all the characters I listed off (and that’s not all of ‘em! I think..) – this is just as much an Avengers ensemble flick as the original and Age of Ultron! It’s also very much an Iron Man movie in its own right, driving much of what we want to find out about Tony Stark’s story to come in the films ahead. Even the few lead characters we’ve come to know so far that aren’t in this film, were called out as such knowing we’ll need to soon find out after this movie where they’ve been and what they’ve been up to.

Captain America: Civil War L to R: Captain America/Steve Rogers (Chris Evans) and Iron Man/Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) Ph: Zade Rosenthal ©Marvel 2016

So yes, Captain America: Civil War was everything I wanted / expected / anticipated and more. It’s the type and scale of movie that you didn’t need me to tell you to decide whether to go see it – You’ve read this far and I’m sure you knew before reading this whether you were going to watch this film – But I hope you find it reassuring that this movie does not disappoint!  For me, as a Marvel Cinematic Universe-focused fan, it gave me just enough closure to Phase 2 and all the intrigue and anticipation for what Marvel will do with the Phase 3 movies to come.

I also was excited to bring my good friend to see this movie with me, who unlike me is a long reader of most Marvel original comics and graphic novel series. Knowing MCU movies consciously take alternate paths based on the graphic novel characters and stories, he too had a blast with this film.  As I’m sure was their goal, we both cannot wait until the next few Marvel movies to come as we see what happens coming out of this next evolution into the divided Avengers world and the growing cast of cinematic Marvel characters!