Rabbit-7

This was, without a doubt, hands-down, my FAVORITE show when I was eight years old. I wish there were re-runs of it or videotapes. It seems like everyone my age (born around 1970) remembers this show. Yet the way it has disappeared, I'm guessing it was not a success. I suppose if I saw it today it would be really lame and the animation would look poor, but for me the music, direction, action and sound effects all combined to make a great show. It was anime before anime was big in America. And frankly, I don't like anime but I didn't mind it here. Probably because it wasn't true anime, it was just cheap, foreign-made animation.

It always amazes me...the number of people in IMDB comment boards who measure the film by what they expected when the film made no such pretense. For example, "Blair Witch Project" just gives a major case of the creeps instead of sending you to a psycho ward screaming in terror. In the same sense, "Deep Rising"...which clearly ran an ad campaign in which it looked like "Aliens" meets "Titanic"...should not be criticized for not being derivative!

Accept it for what it claimed to be: a creepy action/horror movie and then judge it on those terms. Yes, it borrows from "Star Wars"...so obviously, that I think it's intentional. The "you came in that thing" comment is a giveaway. And please, quit pointing out how similar this is to "Aliens"! Really, Sherlock? I'm so glad you're here to tell me, because the group of ultra-marines with nonstop ammo didn't give me a clue.

So let's quit sniping about originality and review its pros and cons.

The Pantucci character was good...he's definitely a good actor. Pantucci also has the best scene (giving the gun to the terrorist). My only problem with him was that he NEVER mentions his girlfriend after they board the ship! In fact, we don't know what happened to her. This was definitely a flaw in the script (especially since she was an interesting character).

The creatures were interesting and somewhat unique, with CGI of varying quality. But I really couldn't tell if they were worms or tentacles or what. The gory parts were well done.

I really wish that the film's promos hadn't revealed that the ship is deserted. This is one of those movies with few enough surprises that the good ones shouldn't be given away by the advertising.

The race on the jet-ski is a bit lame, both for the "tentacles everywhere" element and the "outracing an explosion" cliche.

The ending...I like the twist, although we know we won't be seeing a sequel. Again, Pantucci is far too positive considering his girlfriend most likely died a horrible death.

Taken on its own merits, this is a five out of ten. Worth renting once, maybe. (It almost makes me wish MST3K could poke fun at it.)

Truly an impressive feat, this animated special is quite a departure from the rest of the Charlie Brown series. Featuring rotoscoped footage of Normandy Beach and a reading of the poem "In Flanders Fields" by Linus, it will touch the hearts of adults while not being too gruesome for kids. If it were up to me, I'd require every person in America to watch this each Memorial Day, Veteran's Day and Fourth of July!