Godzilla Vs. Kong

“Hell….It Goes To Hell.”

Yep, things go to a special kind of Hell during Godzilla Vs. Kong (2021). Don’t get my words wrong here, I’m quoting a humorous part of the film in my heading, but a lot of things do fall apart, get smashed, burn, get hacked up, and ripped to shreds throughout this film. It’s exactly what one would expect from an all-out brawl featuring the two most famous titans in monster history. This film was loud, fun, stupid at times, and everything you need for a couple of hours to get away from reality.

In the movie, something provokes Godzilla to attack Apex Cybernetics in Pensacola, FL. The attack, which catches the entire world off guard, triggers in motion a series of events that leads to Apex sending an elite squad and King Kong on a journey to find a power source strong enough to use in a weapon to defeat Godzilla. The big lizard has other plans, though, and tries to stop King Kong thanks to an apparent longstanding rivalry between the families of the titans. The duo square off in two massive battles, but something happens during the second battle that throws everybody’s (titan and human) plans into disarray. When the dust settles, who is the final monster standing? Who is the real enemy? You’ll have to watch Godzilla Vs. Kong in order to find out.

Below is a spoiler-fueled review, so stop right now if you haven’t seen the film yet. If you have seen the film, carry on and be sure to tell me in the comments what you thought of the film. For those of you who haven’t seen it, my recommendation is to see this film, preferably on

This movie was fun. It’s loaded with a ton of Easter eggs that call back to previous films in the franchise and the classic 1962 film, King Kong Vs. Godzilla. The movie is essentially three slug fests sprinkled with a minute amount of human interactions and plenty of action and new creatures. If you’ve seen the film, you know that it can be extremely loud, extremely dumb, and extremely exciting, sometimes all at the same time.

The film features some very solid special effects. I especially loved the battle in Hong Kong. The neon city looks brilliant and is the perfect playground for two (and eventually three) titans to pound one another in while the humans looked on helplessly. The first battle between Godzilla and King Kong was more fun than I was expecting and the second battle, especially the grand finale where King Kong gets to show off his fury, blew me away. The big face off between King Kong and Mechagodzilla had me cheering out loud. I loved seeing King Kong beat down the giant robot.

The adventure to and in Hollow Earth was the low point for me in the film. I enjoyed it, I just wish that it would have been edited down just a little bit because despite all of the amazing creatures, the fight with the warbats, and the battle in Kong’s throne room, the sequence felt a little out of place. I do look forward to more films that take place in Hollow Earth and I hope that Godzilla finds his way down there eventually as well.

If anybody dislikes this film because the science is unbelievable, they are an idiot. If you have to justify the science in a movie that features giant monsters and robots, worlds within our planet’s core, or a big lizard can nuke breathe his way to the center of the planet, you have missed the point of a film that features such things. This movie is meant to be fun and that is exactly what it is from beginning to end. The science doesn’t have to make sense. The plot just needs enough meat on its bones to bring the two titans together so that we can watch them try to destroy one another. Heck, you could even argue that Mechagodzilla could be tossed into the next film instead of being used so quickly in this one.

As far as the human cast goes, they did a good enough job to get us to fight night. The standouts for me were Kaylee Hottle as Jia, Kong’s deaf companion who gets him on a level that no other human does, and Brian Tyree Henry as Bernie, the podcasting conspiracy theory Apex employee who figures out (with a little help from Madison and Joshua), that Apex is planning to unleash Mechagodzilla on the world and are using Kong in order to get the power that they need to pump the metal monster full of power. I enjoyed seeing Madison (Millie Bobbie Brown) and her dad, Dr. Mark Russell (Kyle Chandler) return even though they weren’t necessarily needed to make the movie work. Rebecca Hall, Shun Oguri, Julian Dennison, Eiza Gonzalez, and the rest of the cast also did great jobs.

I loved the “big axe down the throat of Godzilla” homage to a similar scene involving Kong jamming a tree down Godzilla’s throat in the original film featuring this duo. I also loved how at one point in the Hong Kong battle that the two titans were moving about the buildings in a way very reminiscent of the classic Godzilla films featuring miniatures of the city. I don’t know if that particular moment was intentional, but it reminded me of those old movies. Other highlights included Mechagodzilla sneaking up behind Walter Simmons (Demian Bichir) and killing him mid epic speech, Kong’s literal crushing of Simmons’ daughter (Gonzalez) and her crew mates aboard one of the H.E.A.V. vehicles, and Mechagodzilla splitting one of the Skullcrawlers in half. I loved the use of the Godzilla Spike Axe by Kong, the atomic breath of Godzilla boring through the planet, and so much more.

Was the film perfect? Absolutely not, but it was a ton of fun. It’s exactly what you’d want from a film featuring giant kaiju that blast radiation and swing giant power axes at one another. The action was fast and loud and in the end nobody really cared about any of the humans in the film. People watch this movie to see the big guys beat each other up and this film delivers that in spades.

I hope that you enjoyed my review of this film. Tell me your thoughts on the movie in the comment section. What did you like? What did you hate? Are you ready for another monster movie? Thanks for reading my post. See you again real soon.

NECA Defenders of the Earth: The Phantom

“The Beasts Call Him Brother, The Ghost Who Walks!”

I’ve been waiting a long time for a quality figure of The Phantom to hit store shelves. Those who have been following my blog know that I fell in love with the character years ago while reading the comic strips and watching the Billy Zane 90’s film as well as the classic serial featuring Tom Tyler in the iconic role. Unfortunately, finding an action figure of The Phantom that was both reasonably priced and looked good was difficult. Thanks to NECA, my wait for a good figure is over. They recently began releasing their Defenders of the Earth action figure line and while it’s not necessarily the classic version of the character that I love, it’s close enough to please me.

Released in 1986, Defenders of the Earth took three of King Features Syndicate’s most popular characters, The Phantom, Flash Gordon, and Mandrake the Magician, and teamed them up to do battle against Flash’s greatest enemy, Ming The Merciless, in a futuristic vision of 2015. Along for the ride was Lothar, Mandrake’s right hand man, and the children of all of the heroes (because bringing the kids along for battling a power hungry tyrant is sooooo safe).

So far NECA has released The Phantom, Flash Gordon, and Ming the Merciless. Originally available only at Walmart, the figures are now available in wide release. That being said, I’ve only found all three of the figures at one Walmart in my area. I found one lonely Ming figure at another Walmart and haven’t seen any figures at any other locations. Mandrake and Lothar will be released later. The packaging for the figures emulates the classic Galoob line from the 80’s and brought a ton of memories back for me.

I like this figure for the most part. It features over twenty points of articulation (although most of them are extremely stiff) and comes with a ton of accessories. The Phantom’s little sidekick from the cartoon, Zuffy, is included and he features quite a few points of articulation as well. Accessories include a blaster, two blaster “firing” attachments, one ring “power” attachment, three swappable right hands and one left hand. I really wish that there were two right hands and two left hands, but we get three righties instead.

The figure is beautifully sculpted but it does have a few flaws. For starters, the aforementioned stiff articulation makes me a little hesitant to pose the figure too much. I currently have him standing with his right fist in the air and that’s probably how he’ll stay for the time being. Another major flaw is that the figure appears to have been cast in purple plastic and the hands, boots, belt, face, and muscle shading was painted on after the casting. That’s fine, but as soon as I took the figure out of the box, the left hand (you know, the only left hand) had paint chip off at the wrist and the paint on the left ankle POA also chipped giving me two bright purple blemishes on an otherwise perfectly painted figure.

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Note the paint chip on the left wrist exposing the purple cast and the chip on the left foot at the top of the ankle doing the same. In the middle is a closeup of Zuffy.

I love the Phantom and really want to love this figure. However, at a retail price of around thirty bucks, I’d hope for better paint and looser articulation. My advice is that if you do buy this figure or any other figure in the line, keep it in the box. I will say that the Flash figure looks great and the Ming figure’s details are simply beautiful. I’ll probably get both of them sooner or later and I can’t wait for Mandrake and Lothar to hit store shelves. These seven inch figures look great, but McFarlane’s current DC Multiverse line is cheaper, just as beautiful, and features easier to move articulation. The Defenders figures are better than most of the Star Wars Black Series line in my opinion.

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A look at one side and the rear of the packaging.

Thanks for checking out my post. Let me know what you think about this line of figures in the comments section. Do you own any of these figures? How about the McFarlene figures? Drop me a comment!

Dime Store Reads: The Jackal’s Head

By Elizabeth Peters

Welcome to the second entry in my Dime Store Reads series. I picked up this book at a local Dollar General store for three dollars. In all honesty, the rack at this particular location was lacking. It was primarily romance novels and, to be quite honest, I wasn’t too sure if The Jackal’s Head was nothing more than a romance novel set in Egypt or more of a suspense/mystery novel. For my beloved readers, I took a chance on this one and the result was….just okay.

Thankfully the book was a legitimate suspense novel with just a little romance tossed in for good measure. The book was written by Elizabeth Peters (Barbara Mertz), a novelist who has written a number of popular book series and standalone novels and some nonfiction titles about ancient Egypt. It tells the story of Althea Tomlinson, the daughter of an archeologist who apparently killed himself, who returns to Egypt to uncover the truth about her father’s death and to expose the true villain that ruined her father’s career.

In the novel, Althea, called “Tommy” by friends, acquaintances, and a few enemies, receives a cryptic letter from Abdelal, her friend and her father’s colleague, that recommends she return to Egypt to meet with him. Not wanting to make herself known to others that might be in Luxor, she takes a job as a caregiver and assistant to a young lady, Dee Bloch, who is meeting her father, the very polite and very rich, Mr. Bloch.

Despite her attempt at going incognito, Tommy immediately runs into trouble with a man who used to be one of her father’s greatest allies, Dr. John McIntire, and his assistant, Mike Cassata. Tommy also discovers that Abdelal is dead and that his two sons, Hassan and Achmed, are the only connections left to him. She trusts Achmed, but not Hassan.

Soon enough, a scheme is uncovered that includes Nefertiti’s tomb, illegally trafficked Egyptian artifacts, and murder. Can Tommy clear her father’s name? Will she find Nefertiti’s tomb? Can she trust anyone? You’ll have to read The Jackal’s Head to find out!

Elizabeth Peters (Barbara Mertz), living it up in Egypt.

This was the first book by Peters that I have read. It is also one of her earliest novels. The characters are rather interesting, especially Tommy. As I was reading the book, I envisioned her to look like Evie from the 1999 film The Mummy even though Peters’ physical description of the character is nothing like Evie. Tommy’s relationships with other characters in the book are somewhat confusing to say the least. She quickly forgives one character for almost killing her and falls in love with him. She is assaulted in her room by another character but lets his actions slide. A third character in the story also makes advances on her, advances that she welcomes, despite the fact that she never really trusts him. All three of those interactions are bizarre in my opinion. Other reviews state that these relationships are a product of the times in which the novel was written (late 1960’s), but I don’t buy into that theory. The relationships don’t work at all to me.

The character of John McIntire comes off as an uber male chauvinist that has a hint of Indiana Jones in him. I just cannot like the guy no matter what he does. In fact, he’s a jerk for almost the entire novel, save for a couple of moments.

The build up to the book’s climax was excessive and rather dull. We spend a number of pages alone with Tommy as she attempts to find her way out of a tomb. She outwits herself a number of times and allows the villain to outwit her as well. The eventual payoff is just….blah. I wanted more than the ending provided when all was said and done. I picked out the real villain(s) early on in this novel and the revelation of their true identities came as no surprise. Despite this, I do recommend The Jackal’s Head and I do plan on reading more of Peters’ works in the future. Apparently her writing gets a lot better in the 1970’s.

Should you read this book? Sure. It’s not as exciting as Raiders of the Lost Ark and Tommy is a terrible judge of character, but the story itself is pretty cool. It inspired me to look up Nefertiti and her husband, Akhenaton, and learn more about them. I was already somewhat familiar with Nefrtiti, but I never knew that her husband was such a rebel.

Thanks for checking out my post. I’ll be spinning the bargain rack again real soon!

Robo Vampire (1988)

More Like Franken-Movie!

Every once in awhile my laptop takes me to bizarre corners of the internet. Sometimes those forays into wilder parts of the web prove to be fruitful, but most of the time I regret ever leaving the beaten path. For example, I recently discovered 1988’s Robo Vampire. Based on the film’s movie poster, it looks like Robocop has hopped over to Hong Kong to battle vampires and helicopters. Based on the actual movie, though, I’m not sure what the heck happened.

Just FYI, there are gonna be spoilers for this train wreck.

What kinda passes for a plot in this movie is that a narcotics agent named Tom Wilde is attacked and killed by vampires and drug lords during a drug raid. His body is scooped up by the agency that he works for and after a few alterations, he is transformed into a Robo Warrior that can apparently take out vampires but can’t handle powerful artillery. Tom is also supposed to be on a rescue mission to save another agent, but instead, he appears to wander around aimlessly through city streets, on the beach, in a sparse forest, and pretty much wherever else he wants to go while a hired man is also sent to find the kidnapped agent.

Drug lord guy.

A vicious drug lord has hired a wizard (yes, a wizard) who controls vampires (yes, vampires) to battle the narcs and believes that one vampire in particular (his name is Peter, Peter the Vampire) with a gorilla mask and a vengeful ghost girlfriend with a see-thru top can stop Robo Warrior Tom. Peter leads a squad of bunny hopping vampires that blow smoke on their victims and shoot firecrackers at anybody that gets in their way.

Peter, Peter the Vampire, and some random lady that shows up near the end of the film.

While Robo Warrior Tom is wandering around and fighting vampires, the secondary group successfully makes their way to the kidnapped agent (I believe her name was Sophie). They save Sophie, make friends with a criminal that tries to kill them (and give him a gun to boot), and are never seen again.

The kidnapped agent lady who I believe is called Sophie.

The final battle is between Robo Warrior Tom, Peter, Peter the Vampire, See-Thru Top Ghost Girl, bunny hoppers, and the wizard. Ghost Girl, ticked off that the wizard made Peter a vampire, battles the wizard. She gets so angry that she rips her top off. Exposing herself as she does, the wizard smears something all over her chest and she apparently dies…..until she appears out of nowhere and rakes the wizard’s eyes out, killing him. Robo Warrior Tom decimates the vampires and the screen turns a maroonish color with “The End” across it.

President of the Top Freedom For Ghosts Society.

This film is bad. It is apparently two films spliced together to flesh out the runtime. 1984’s Paa Lohgan was the source of all of the hostage rescue footage in Robo Vampire. It’s actually the better of the two films although there are a ton of plotholes in the story. The music is surprisingly well done in my opinion, but everything else is terrible. I do recommend watching it just to see how truly terrible it is, but you probably won’t want to watch it again.

The wizard guy.

If you’re in the mood for a truly terrible film, check out Robo Vampire. It’s currently available for free on the Tubi app. Watch it if you dare!

Thanks for checking out this post. Please leave some comments about this film, as I’m dying to know what everyone else thinks about it.

Merry Christmas!

Spin Master 4″ DC Comics Figures

All of your favorite heroes and villains….

Earlier this year I made a post that focused on Spin Master’s acquisition of the DC Comics license for toys. I mentioned that there were a number of new figures coming out in a 4″ line that looked really great. I recently acquired some of those figures and decided to give a brief review of them.

I managed to get my hands on not one or two figures, but five new figures released in the Spin Master The Caped Crusader line and the Heroes Unite line. I’ll focus on the Caped Crusader figures first and then move on to the Heroes Unite line afterwards.

The three figures that I received from the Caped Crusader line were Nightwing, Robin, and Catwoman. While they aren’t specific with which Robin that I received, it looks like a cross between Damian Wayne and Tim Drake, as it features the colors of both Damian and Tim, but lacks Damian’s hood. Because of this, I’m leaning towards Tim Drake. That being said, there’s also another Robin in this line that does have a hood but looks like an older version of Red Robin. In any case, the figure looks great.

All of the figures, including the Heroes Unite figures, come with three mystery accessories and a perforated collector card. According to the included pamphlet, there are rare versions of each accessory and multiple variants of coloration. The Catwoman accessories appear to be colored with the Septic Sludge variant. Of all of the variants it is my least favorite. The accessories just look dirty.

The Heroes Unite figures that I received were Shazam! and The Flash. Just like the other figures, they feature eleven points of articulation and come with mystery accessories. Shazam! is especially cool because one of his accessories is Billy Batson! Almost all of the other accessories are lame, but a Billy Batson figurine almost makes up for it.

The collector cards for all of the figures are pretty cool. I’m especially fond of the card that came with Shazam! It features the best artwork, but the Flash/Cyborg card looks pretty awesome as well. All of the figures are brightly colored and are very easy to pose.

Other figures in this line include King Shark, Bronze Tiger, Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman. All of them look awesome and they appear to be very popular as the shelves are emptying out everywhere. I’ve been looking for some of the other characters such as Aquaman and Cyborg, but they are proving to be difficult to find.

I hope that Spin Master continues producing these figures. They look great and are excellent as both toys for children and as collectibles. I plan on keeping all of them on my shelf at work and plan on adding more of these figures to my collection soon.

Let me know what you think about these figures. Do you have any of them? If so, which ones are your favorites? As always, thanks for reading my post. Look for more toy reviews in the near future!

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Thirty-One Days O’Horror: So Random! Halloween Special

Sonny With A Chance (2010)

Already well on her way to stardom, Demi Lovato starred in the Disney Channel series Sonny With A Chance. One unique aspect of the show (which actually spawned its own series) was that Demi’s character, Sonny Munroe, appeared on a show within the show called So Random!. That “show” was a sketch comedy series that featured an outstanding cast of young comedic actors that I’ll get to in a minute.

In Sonny‘s second season, a So Random! Halloween special was shown with Shaquille O’Neal as the special guest host and music from Lovato (as Sonny) Brandon Mychal Smith (as Nico), and Allstar Weekend.

The episode features sketches that include the Check-It-Out Girls, The Monster Under My Bed, Halloween Party Do’s and Don’t’s, and a comedic song, Making Babies Cry. Between skits, the cast is shown backstage in a couple of humorous moments featuring Shaquille O’Neal dealing with the anxiety of performing in front of a crowd and being helped by Chad Dylan Cooper (Sterling Knight).

Of all of the Disney Channel shows that I watched with my daughter while she was growing up, Sonny was one of my favorites. So Random! became its own series and it was enjoyable as well. Both shows had the same key cast members with the exception of Lovato, who moved on for health reasons before the third season of Sonny, which became the first and only season of So Random!, went into production.

This particular episode is light, funny, and not scary at all. The comedy is solid, especially for a children’s show, and is anchored by the solid performances of Lovato, Tiffany Thornton, Doug Brochu, Brandon Mychal Smith, and Allisyn Ashley Arm. Knight’s brief appearance as Chad is funny and O’Neal does a great job poking fun at himself and performing in the skits.

If you have younger children and want to give them something to laugh at without scaring them at all, check out this episode of Sonny With A Chance. It’s available on home media and on Disney+ at the moment.

Thanks for reading my post. I’ll have another for you tomorrow!

Hurricane Laura

My home was lost in Hurricane Laura. Please help out the people in southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas if you are able. Spread the word about the destruction left in Laura’s wake. We need help down here.

I still plan on blogging, but it will be sporadic. Please bear with me as I navigate insurance, FEMA, and everything else that is waiting for me.

A New Adventure

Cliffhangers: The Serial Talk Show!

I’ve recently begun a new adventure with Patrick Bennett of Pop Ninja! We recently released the first episode of Cliffhangers: The Serial Talk Show! In the series, Patrick and I will be taking a closer look at classic serials from the 1930’s, 40’s, and beyond, including some serials made in recent years! In the first episode, we have a general conversation about serials, who our favorite actors are, and chat with Bill Necessary, Serial Cosplayer and the most knowledgeable person I know when it comes to serials. Here’s the first episode for your enjoyment:

Future episodes will focus on serials featuring characters like the Phantom, Superman, Zorro, Flash Gordon, and more! If there are any particular serials that you want us to cover, let me know in the comments. I’ll be sure to post each episode here at Ken’s Alternate Universe and you can also find them on YouTube. Be sure to follow Pop Ninja on Facebook and on YouTube and be sure to follow Ken’s Alternate Universe on Facebook as well! Along with Pop Ninja, Louisiana Film and Video Art, Inc. also sponsors the series. Be sure to show them a little love on Facebook.

We’ve already shot a few episodes and Patrick is hard at work editing them and making them look great. Hopefully you’ll have as much fun watching the series as we did making it.

As always, thanks for checking out my post. I’m still working on Classic Horror, Focus On, Throwback Thursday, and all of my other standard blog posts. In fact, I’ll be posting a new Throwback Thursday post this week! Hopefully I’ll get to see a few of you out in the real world once this COVID-19 mess gets straightened out. Stay safe!

Extra! Extra!

While writing my post, Patrick contacted me to let me know that Episode 2 is up and running on YouTube. In it we cover the Batman serials and the more recent serial, Mystery of the Bat-Man by Ryan Bijan. Be sure to check it out as well. Heck, there might even be a certain “Discount” hero popping up for the show! Here’s the video:

Give “Cats” A Chance

You Need To Calm Down

In July of 2019, Universal Pictures released the first trailer for Cats, a film based on the long-running Broadway and West End musical. Unless you’ve been living under a rock since July of last year, you probably know that the web had a field day with the look of the human actors in the trailer who were turned into cats through the use of CGI. People complained that the cats looked too human or that they were downright creepy. Words like “nightmare,” “haunt,” and “horrific” littered tweets, Facebook posts, and every other social media outlet. When the film was finally released, the professional critics dug their claws into the film by telling everyone that it was the worst film that they’ve seen all year long. It seemed as if they were all battling one another in order to get in the smartest and nastiest digs at the film and/or its cast.

Guess what? They are all wrong.

This film is fantastic. It’s bizarre, wonderful, and most important of all, fun. While critics were analyzing each and every minute detail of the film in order to find yet another zinger to throw into a review that everyone will read, share, and, hopefully, get the critic recognized, myself and others simply paid for our ticket, sat back in our chairs, and let the film be whatever it would end up being.

We enjoyed it for the music, the breathtaking CGI shots of the moon, the Thames, and Big Ben, and for the catchy musical numbers that celebrated all of the featured cats. We found that elusive plot that all of the critics and naysayers couldn’t pinpoint. We laughed at James Corden, Rebel Wilson, and others as they commanded our attention in their respective songs. We watched as Jason Derulo embraced Rum Tug Tugger in all of his tomcat glory. Some of us shed a tear as Jennifer Hudson’s Grizabella belted out the epic song Memory and cheered on Laurie Davidson as his Mister Mistoffelees attempted to conjure up Old Deuteronomy (Dame Judi Dench) from wherever Macavity (Idris Elba) had her hidden away.

We looked beyond the uncanny valley, a term tossed around in more reviews than I can count in an apparent attempt for critics to appear intelligent, and saw these creatures for what they were: Cats. We sang the songs we knew and left the theater singing the ones we just learned.

In short, we enjoyed the movie. You might enjoy it as well. This film isn’t for everyone, but for those that it connects with, it will become something that you’ll want to watch over and over.

Mild Spoilers Ahead

The film opens with Victoria (Francesca Hayward) being unceremoniously dumped into an alley by her owner. The music playing throughout this sequence sets the ethereal tone for the entire film. Victoria is discovered by the Jellicle Cats, a gang of cats that question her through the song Jellicle Songs For Jellicle Cats in order to see if she can become part of their gang. They decide to allow her to join them conditionally and tell her about the Jellicle Ball, which is happening that very night. According to Munkustrap (Robbie Fairchild), Old Deuteronomy will choose one Jellicle Cat to ascend to the Heaviside Layer. Here, the cat can choose a new life and be reincarnated into whatever they wish.

From that point on, the film becomes a sequence of musical numbers that introduce all of the potential picks to ascend to the Heaviside Layer. We are introduced to Jennyanydots (Wilson), the Rum Tug Tugger (Derulo), Bustopher Jones (Corden), Skimbleshanks (Steven McRae), and Gus (Ian McKellan). We also catch glimpses of the mysterious cat, Macavity (Elba), and Grizabella (Hudson), an outcast that was once beautiful and is now forced into the shadows by the other Jellicles.

Victoria gets herself into a little trouble along the way with Mungojerrie (Danny Collins) and Rumpleteazer (Naoimh Morgan), a pair of cat burglars that show her how fun a life of crime can be when it’s done right. During this sequence we get to see Mr. Mistoffelees (Davidson) come to Victoria’s rescue whenever a dog attempts to attack her. Mistoffelees has an obvious crush on Victoria at the beginning of the film, and she begins to return the affection after he saves her.

The film comes to a climax at the Jellicle Ball. When Old Deuteronomy arrives to pick the feline that will ascend to the Heaviside Layer, it’s noted that all of the contestants have mysteriously vanished. Then a crescent moon descends from the ceiling. Seductively laying across it is Bombalurina (Taylor Swift), a vampy vixen that sings Macavity: The Mystery Cat. While singing, Bombalurina, Mungojerrie, and Rumpleteazer sprinkle catnip all over the Jellicles, sending them into a frenzy. Macavity appears and insists that he is the only choice to ascend to the Heaviside Layer, but Old Deuteronomy refuses to pick him. In anger he uses magic to whisk her away.

The Jellicles demand to know where Macavity has taken Old Deuteronomy and the other cats. Macavity and Bobalurina escape, leaving Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer at the mercy of the Jellicles. Victoria believes that Mister Mistoffelees can conjure Old Deuteronomy back. Mistoffelees doesn’t believe that he can do it, but with the support of the other Jellicles and through the singing of my favorite song in the film, Mr. Mistoffelees, he succeeds in bringing Old Deuteronomy back. The other cats are saved as well, and a certain feline (who’ll remain nameless) is chosen to ascend to the Heaviside Layer. Who is it? You’ll have to check out the film in order to find out!

I love this film. There are so many things that I love about it that I can’t list all of them. That being said, here are my favorite highlights and just a couple of negatives.

Pros

• The music. Good Lord, the music. It’s so wonderful, catchy, and easy to sing along with both during and after the film.
• The cinematography is brilliant. Bright neon colors and deep blues make for a beautiful backdrop to the wide shots in this film. The closeups catch all of the pain in certain characters’ faces as well.
• The story is chaotic, but simply listening to the songs and actually watching the film with an open mind makes it easy to pick up on the plot.
• The actors, save for one, all do excellent jobs. Laurie Davidson is the greatest surprise in this film and I was also very fond of Rebel Wilson and Francesca Hayward’s performances.
• The overall bigness of the film. It felt like I was watching a massive movie on the big screen thanks to the cinematography.

Cons

• While Taylor Swift definitely knows her way around a pop song, she struggled to fit into this film. She was miscast in my opinion, and her portrayal of Bombalurina was awkward. I understand why Universal put her in the film (to draw in young female viewers and a few older weird guys that want to see Swift as a cat), but she just wasn’t the best fit for her role. Vocally, she wasn’t up to par with the rest of the singers in this film, either.
• The lone new song in this film, Beautiful Ghosts, fails to make any real impact. Written by Swift and Webber, it’s the weakest track in the entire film. Both Hayward (in the film) and Swift (in the credits) perform the song, and while Hayward’s vocals are stronger, the lyrics just drag the entire performance down.

Yes, this film features singing and dancing cockroaches and mice. I understand that some folks might be creeped out by the look of the cats in the film. I’ll even admit that the CGI is a bit dodgy at times. That being said, this film is just too much fun to pass up. There has already been talk of the film becoming the next Rocky Horror Picture Show and, as far as I’m concerned, that sounds great. This film is bizarre, insane, beautiful, and fun all at the same time.

Give it a chance.

As always, thanks for reading. Feel free to give your own thoughts in the comments section.