nilsdula

With two more seasons confirmed, I hope the show improves a lot. Some scenes are painful to watch, but it's not because of the acting, which is actually above average for child actors, but due to the scripts, directing and editing.

Let's start with what they did right. The cast has great chemistry, the score is epic if a bit generic, the design of the monsters is awesome, and the costumes and set design of Camp Half-Blood are taken straight out of the book. The story is very faithful to the books, almost to a fault.

Unfortunately, what makes or breaks a story is some of what they got wrong. The pacing is way off. There's no buildup and the characters can recognize the monsters from a mile away. I get it's meant for children, but there are plenty of examples of shows aimed at that audience that are enjoyable for adults too. Suspense and stakes aren't inappropriate.

The VFX are good for the most part, but they are overused. Disney loves to use the Volume, but real life always looks much better.

In summary, the major areas that need improvement going forward are: writing (show, don't tell), editing and pacing, directing (storyboarding) and less reliance on VFX.

I still have hope that they can turn things around and they manage to make a compelling adaptation that we can be proud of, but there's a lot of work to be done.

The film started out strong. The "com" part of the rom-com started out witha bang during the first 30 minutes but when the romance started everything slowed down way too much and I lost interest.

The second act conflict and resolution didn't flow naturally and it seemed to be forced there to push the plot further. Joey King and Kathy Bates were standouts, and while the secondary characters had more plot relevance than usual, they were tossed asside quickly when they'd served their purpose.

All in all, it's a pretty solid watch with some funny moments especially in the beginning, but the lack of chemistry and lackluster pacing holds it back.