ajacayen-90247

As a cartoon lover, this show is definitely on my radar. After Netflix pulled off an amazing second and final season of Arcane and with the final season of The Dragon Prince coming before Christmas, I thought why not give this show a watch. If anything, Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld is not getting that much attention even before it's release - and it needs to because this series is absolutely good. I was expecting this to at least be decent, but it didn't need to go that far and entertain me so much.

For starters, Jentry Chau is a solid protagonist. She reminds me of Mei from Turning Red in which a curse has been brought down upon her which is fire power. And now, it's up to her on how she would be able to master them by not only fighting off evil creatures from the other side, but also trying her best to live a very normal high school life. I bought Jentry's personality and rooted for her whenever she is at an emotional low or trying to use the fire powers cursed on her for good.

The characters that assist her, Ed and Gugu, were great. At first, I was annoyed by Ed gives off Mister Mxyzptlk vibes from My Adventures with Superman. But as the show went on, the friendship that was formed between Jentry and Ed was real. Gugu, on the other hand, was a really interesting character. While I see her as someone trying to protect Jentry from understanding her past, you can't help but see where she is coming from as an aunt to her. She is not just one-sided character at all and that's what makes her so interesting.

The love interests, Kit and Michael were good enough as their interactions towards Jentry creates drama and tension, making it some sort of a love triangle. That being said, this isn't something that is being stretched out and just goes straight to the point. In terms of character, Kit was fascinating because of his dual side and how he relates to Jentry. However, even Michael also has problems in figuring out who he wants to be in life and that bodes well to Jentry too. There was a part of him that was left unexplained which is a flaw to his character but Michael still works nonetheless.

The show had a rough first episode. It had to set up everything regarding how Jentry realizes the curse, what is going on with Gugu, the reason needing to come back to where she came from and Jentry at least having control over her powers. But as the show went on in episodes two to five, it already found its footing and the pacing was consistent. But the highs were definitely in six to ten that did make me very emotional at times. I thought it was already over. But once I got to episode eleven to thirteen, it basically wrapped the story up as well as the character arcs for Jentry and even Gugu. It was really satisfying.

Don't get me started by the way when it comes to references because not only it gave off Star vs. The Forces of Evil vibes, it also had a lot of anime, specifically Naruto and even certain episodes that feels like Jujutsu Kaisen and even Parasyte: The Maxim. It also had some K-pop in early episodes like NCT 127. Also, each episode having a song was really cool to boost the action sequences and the animation was good, especially whenever the action scenes kick in.

For a show aimed at 10 years old and above, Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld did not hold back with the violence. Like characters being stabbed and eaten by monsters, the stakes were actually real which does make you care for Jentry and her friends, hoping that none of them would get hurt.

So yeah, Jentry Chau vs. The Underworld is definitely worth the watch, a recommendation to cartoon fans who just want to watch a good cartoon series.

IT HAS BEEN a while ever since I went to a theater to see a Marvel movie. Because of how uninterested I was, let alone how Quantumania and Love and Thunder hindered my love for superhero movies, I have become indifferent with the MCU. Fortunately, because of how cool the trailers look and the return of one of my favorite Marvel heroes alongside two other characters I am unfamiliar, I am curious to see how The Marvels would turn out, which is a sequel to Captain Marvel and Ms. Marvel. I would say that, for the most part, it is an enjoyable film but with major creative decisions that did not quite work with me.

Starting off with the positives, in my point of view, is Brie Larson's Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel finally having more personality. Unlike the first one where she felt too stoic and showing little to no emotions, here she was able to show off her soft side whenever she is interacting with the other two superheroes and as she tries to become a leader since she hasn't been able to manage a team yet.

Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan or Ms. Marvel was an absolute delight to see on the big screen. Even though I am aware that not a lot of people have seen her television show or may not have liked it in general, we cannot deny how much energy she brings whenever she was given the screen time. Even though some of her jokes did not land, you can see how she reacts to serious situations, striving not just to get appreciation from Captain Marvel but becoming a real superhero.

As for Monica Rambeau played by Teyonah Parris, there were moments from her that I thought she was cool whenever she was showing off her powers, especially when she is fighting together with Kamala and Danvers. But there are things that I felt were just unresolved or was like an emotional baggage towards Carol that just didn't work for me.

The rest of the cast was fine. The Khan family were all adorable and supportive to look at whenever they interact with Kamala, Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury is as good as always but Park Seo-joon felt like he was there but for no reason at all. But of course, like with almost every Marvel movie, the villain always tends to be underutilized. Even though Zawe Ashton did her best in her role as Dar-Benn, I wish she could have been better.

Speaking of "could have been better", the film's runtime, which is actually the shortest for an MCU film, truly affected the story. There are a lot of sequences that could have been expounded a lot more and the way the movie progressed felt too fast, like it wasn't giving enough time for fans to take in the information and just being spoon-fed a lot by Rambeau. This includes how the superheroes are switching in the first place and how they are able to track down following planets.

Not to mention that certain scenes in the second act felt so off and just trying to be funny for the sake of it - which is one of the major reasons why the MCU is already in a decline in terms of quality. I would not give out any spoilers but let me just say that it transitioned to genres that I did not expect and it actually turned me off for a while, just waiting for it to be over and go back to saving the universe again.

In conclusion, The Marvels is most likely going to make people even more turned off due to the creative decisions that were made, probably from the studio as shown in several videos on YouTube. But on my end, just ignoring how the franchise is being ridiculed as of this moment, I would say that the cast saved most parts of the film and in a way, was better than Captain Marvel and not as bad as people might expect - but could have been so much more.