Calvin and the Colonel Part 1

I'm back with reviews! It's been a while and I've found I miss having a chance to ramble a bit about various movies, shows and shorts that I've been watching. Today will have two posts since I was late in getting this one up last night.

I'm not too sure about who Calvin and the Colonel are, or their a history aside from the fact that it was made in Black and White and has a slightly dated feel to things. The following four 'shorts' are actually about 25 minutes long each and follows two friends Calvin and Colonel who are a bear and a....rat? respectively. Also constantly seen are Calvin's waitress friend, a Judge who gives bad advice to Colonel as well as Colonel's wife and sister-in-law.


So, first up Colonel's wife and sister-in-law decide it's time he had a job and promptly force him to work in television repairs. Colonel of course is less than pleased at having to work, but makes the best of it because he knows how much trouble he will be in if he gets fired. Of course, the dimwitted Calvin comes along to help out which only ensures things will go downhill. After getting an address mixed up, the pair wind up at the wrong house to pick up a television and wind up breaking it. Deciding to lay low, Colonel lets Calvin take the fall but soon gets what's coming to him for letting his friend take the blame.

Our second 'short' featuring the pair revolves around Thanksgiving when Colonel promises his 36 relatives that they can all come to his place for a turkey dinner in one year. Of course, he had hoped they would all forget about it after a year since he can't afford to feed that many people. When the dinner must go on, Colonel turns to his friend Calvin for money, but since he is just as broke they soon turn their eyes on a new plan. Having seen an advertisement where you get a free dinner if you buy a freezer, Colonel decides to take up that offer by writing a phony check with the intent of returning the freezer before it can bounce while still keeping all the free food. The store owner of course has other ideas and threatens to call the police if the food is not also returned, prompting Colonel to try and get the food back in time.

Our last two 'shorts' are pretty similar to each other in a way and revolve more around the sister-in-law who finds a man to marry in both shorts. In the first, Colonel becomes rather curious when his polka dotted sister-in-law starts going out every night, and soon learns that a 'polka dot bandit' is on the loose and quickly assumes it's the sister-in-law. Meanwhile, the sister-in-law gushes to Colonel's wife on how she has a man and that he will be coming over that day to see her. Things soon take a turn for the worst when it's revealed that the man is actually the polka dot bandit. The second short follows Colonel as he learns that the sister-in-law has a new man and that they want to marry, after figuring out he will get the spare bedroom to use however he wants, Colonel all but supports the marriage. Eventually, Colonel learns that if she get married he will lose out on the rent money she's been paying him, thus requiring him to go and get a job. Not wanting to work, he sets out to sabotage the wedding with the aid of Calvin, the Judge and a few friends. After successfully sabotaging the wedding before it can even start, Colonel's wife reveals that they would still have received the money regardless as the short ends.

Calvin and the Colonel isn't one of the worst series of shorts I've ever seen, however there's a slight feeling that I've seen this all done before and likely done better. The animation is pretty simple and the characters don't really have a whole lot to them.

Chipwrecked Shipmunks

Alright! So. Hopefully brevity shall be my friend this time as we wrap up the second of the Pi-Rats episodes that were released onto DVD. While out testing the new Ranger Boat, Gadget loses her focus and the Rescue Rangers wind up crashing on a deserted island. After crashing, the gang waits out three weeks for a rescue before they decide to actually try building a new boat to simply save themselves with. Dale and Monty of course don't really want to work, and thus 'search for supplies' while instead they explore the island and discover a treasure map which only fuels their laziness even more and leads them to wanting to find the treasure. The Pi-Rats of course show up rather quickly, which makes things difficult as Dale and Monty sabotage the newly finished boat so that they can try to hoard as much treasure for themselves as possible. The Pir-Rats discover that their treasure is being looted and suspect all of the Rangers, taking Chip and Gadget prisoner in the process while Dale and Monty fight over the treasure. In the end though, the pair saves their friends and everyone makes it to a cave just before a bad hurricane hits. For whatever reason, the Pi-Rats make peace with the Rangers and help them rebuild their boat using some treasure as the episode ends. This is....probably not a great episode since it highlights Dale and Monterey being a couple of greedy bastards for the entire episode and only fuels my dislike of Dale overall even more. Not the greatest episode to watch, especially compared to the series premier.

Piratsy Under the Seas - Rescue Rangers

A small note, this is actually Thursdays viewing, but the post itself is going up a bit late :) Rescue Rangers away! Chip an' Dale are pitted up against a band of cheese thirsty Pirats in this episode. While lugging garbage out to the bins, Dale slips inside just as the garbage man comes to take the trash away. Chip however notices this and rushes to get the rest of the Rangers so that they can rescue Dale from the barge loaded with garbage. While attempting to rescue him, Chip and Dale are captured by a group of unknown people who move through the water in a makeshift ship with a skull and crossbones flag. While underwater, Chip and Dale try to escape, though Billy the Squid chases after them and forces them to take shelter in a sunken ship where they meet up with the Pi-Rats. The Pi-Rats way of life begins to appeal to Dale who is fed up with all the work he has to do back home and quickly takes to their ways. The Pi-Rates choose him to lead the treasure hunt, where upon discovering it they tell Chip and Dale that they can no longer leave since they have seen it. Meanwhile, Gadget and the others are working to follow after their friends so that they can rescue them. They too however are chased by Billy the Squid, though Gadget soon disposes of him. She decides to have Monterey and Zipper go find their friends while she stays behind in the treasure room, where they landed, and works to build a new submarine for them to escape in. Monty and Zipper soon find the two chipmunks and after a successful disguise, manages to free the now caged Chip and Dale by pretending to be the old captain of the Pi-Rats. However, just as they are about to escape with Gadget, the old cabin boy discovers that the disguise is fake and a chase ensues. Ultimately, thanks to Gadget's brain, and Chip and Dale's efforts they defeat Billy the Squid and managed to unsink the ship by blowing the treasure out of the cannons. All in all this is a review that rambled quite longly for an episode that's probably only pretty average. >.< With that said let's move on to today's actual episode in the following post where the Pi-Rats return....

Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl

Yo ho, yo ho a pirates life for me...... So begins the trilogy of Pirates movies. It is difficult to know exactly where to start with these films.....the first is quite likely my favorite of the bunch due to how simple it is before the character of Davy Jones gets introduced and things start spiraling out from there. Let's begin with the key part, the story. For something that's based off of a dark ride the film wonderfully captures the pirates ride and provides a fun adventure even if it does feel like it runs longer than it is. The story centers around our three main characters of Elizabeth Swann, Will Turner and Captain Jack Sparrow. One day a golden medallion falls into the water with Elizabeth and sends out an eerie signal to the evil Captain Barbossa who raids the town she lives in and takes her away. Not wanting to lose the woman he cares for, Will Turner strikes a deal with the charismatic Jack Sparrow and the pair set off for Tortuga so that they can save Ellizabeth and so that Jack can reclaim his stolen ship from Barbossa. Now....a fair bit of the movie feels...repetitive. They go to the secret island where Barbossa hides out, they leave, they go back and do the island scene almost all over again. There is of course large changes between the two trips, but it just feels too similar to me. The fast paced action when it happens is always a lot of fun and the characters make it all enjoyable though and it doesn't fully detract from things. As for the characters perhaps the one biggest complaint I have is how Elizabeth is supposed to marry Commodore Norrington and yet in the beginning scene he looks so much older than her. In the present day, Elizabeth is now older yet Norrington still looks the same. The first scene we encounter Captain Sparrow is rather memorable and goes along quite nicely with the last scene we see of his as he sails away singing. All in all, this is probably the better of the three films since it doesn't tangle itself up in the story very badly and gives a fun, action filled two hours that landlubber and pirate alike will enjoy.

Polly Wants A Treasure

Spin it! Ahhhh, Talespin how I love thee. I mean. YAR me hearties! This be an adventure that only pirates can achieve! We be finding three main things in this here episode that make pirates great. Tricky traps in a cave, green parrots that talk and lots o' booty. When Baloo's attempt to make some quick cash doesn't quite workout, he winds up buying the sea chest of the old pirate Captain Onetoomany which contains the parrot Ignatz. Of course, Don Karnage is after the old chest and sends two of his crew, Dumptruck and Mad Dog to wreck Baloo's cargo in the search for it. However, they leave behind Ignatz not realizing that he is the map to Captain Onetoomany's treasure. Baloo, over the course of the episode takes a large disliking to the feathery stowaway until he is forced to work together with the bird when Don Karnage takes Kit prisoner. In the end, the treasure remains lost thanks to Baloo's bumbling accident when he releases a trap, though everyone makes it out unharmed. As far as Don Karnage episodes go, this might well be a middling one though it is still a lot of fun to watch. I do think though that nothing would be able to top his first appearance in the Plunder and Lightning series premier.

The Real Ghostbusters - Sea Fright

Yaaaar! It be Pirate Week! Due to time constraints ye be getting an episode review this time around. This episode of the Real Ghostbusters is one that I remember well from my childhood having taped it off of the tv onto a vhs one day. Due to this, it is one of the few episodes from this series I remember quite well and thus enjoy a fair bit due to the larger exposure to it. Also, it has pirates so how could you not enjoy this? After their treasure is found and placed in a maritime museum, Captain Jack Higgins and his skeletal pirate crew invade New York City on their pirate ship and promptly begin to plunder it before striking out to find their stolen doubloons. The Ghostbusters however are on the job and after a few encounters with the wily pirates, including an attempted ambush, finally manage to trap them. This episode was actually a bit fun because the pirates themselves seemed to provide a challenge to the heroes, managing to get the better of them a couple times before they were finally subdued. Watching the pirates interact with each other, and with the modern day city was rather fun including a part where two of the skeletal ghosts mistake mannequins for real women who they assume are not afraid of them. All in all this is an enjoyable episode to a great series.

The Snow Queen (Readers Digest)

This will be the first of two Snow Queen adaptations that I will review, though the second will take a little while to get to. I will start off though by first saying that the Snow Queen is probably one of my favorite stories from Hans Christian Andersen. This Readers Digest version is surprisingly faithful to the original story where it includes the talking flowers, the married ravens and of course the talking reindeer. The story of course is likely well known, an evil sprite one day creates a mirror that reflects the ugliness of the world, twisting and distorting things. One day the mirror shatters and two splinters enter the heart and eye of our main character, Kay. Kay soon is taken away by the Snow Queen who wants him to solve for her an impossible puzzle. Kay however has a good childhood friend named Gerda and she is quite set upon finding her friend even if it means travelling far and wide through the seasons to find the Snow Queens palace to rescue him. The movie falls just short of the hour mark and in a way I think this hampers it a bit since things can feel slightly rushed. The animation is fairly sub par, though it is still better than some of the old shorts I have been viewing as of late. The story itself is well told and I believe only deviates slightly from the story by excluding two lesser characters who help Gerda along her way as well as a small verse being dropped that the two children sing. The rest of it however seems fairly on track from what I can remember. Is it as good as the second version? Probably not, and most people under the target age range might not find a lot of entertainment in it.