Reviews WebVideo / Kickassia

I think Dr. Insano's role being anticlimatic is part of the joke there.

As for the others not being given a chance to rule Kickassia, I think the main reason (though I haven't asked) is because the thing was running too long already, and they wanted to wrap it up. But the ending had some really funny bits in it. I laughed out loud at Ask That Guy's cameo, and Santa Christ's bit with the Nostalgia Chick was also well-played. It's strange how surprisingly gentle he is at telling Nostalgia Chick she knows nothing about rising from the dead. And then he gives her an Othello.

And of course I also loved Nostalgia Critic's shooting the narrator (who's rambling pointlessly at that point)

The bad points are probably supposed to exist for Rule of Funny, as most of the movie reviews they post on the site are in comedic tone after all. But yes, it makes for some unusual pacing choices in the second half, and the ending did feel rushed. Oh, Dr, Insano couldn't defeat the Critic, but Santa Christ could? If anything, I'm sure they had a time limit to work with (they could only stay in the hotel room for a number of days, and their trip was nearing its end anyway). I'm sure that Channel Awesome, a group with a good reputation for dashing bad movies and games and KNOWS what makes a good one, would show their own skills for a change.

Not that the movie wasn't worth watching in the slightest! :)

The thing we need to take most into consideration is that it was essentially an 80-minute movie that they shot in 4 days with a crapton of people from all over the world. Even with its flaws (and yes, especially in the third act, there was a lot that left me scratching my head), it's still an amazing feat that they even got it done. Some of the errors indeed probably can be explained away by Rule Of Funny, but the rest could probably be explained by Rule Of Pressed For Time. So, yeah. It's not perfect, but it's certainly quite an enjoyable and fun ride, as you said.

Ma-Ti was, I think, a hallucination... the part of the NC that longed for the simple life...

"I think Dr. Insano's role being anticlimatic is part of the joke there."

I wouldn't call it anticlimactic. The fight was very entertaining and exciting. The problem is just that is has zero impact on the plot, despite of over an hour of build-up. And it's not only that. They add insult to injury by having Patkara defeating N. Bison with exactly zero effort in the end. I could raise the question as to why Dr. Insano didn't use more science to fight N. Bison, but a) I thought the fist-fight was pretty sweet b) He is insane (well, duh) c) He does use science (or, well, Sith Lord force powers) I know some people demanded more SCIENCE!!! - and the response to these was pointing out the fact that they had limited options. Personally, I think that they could have solved this problem doing something they did last year: Just show a shot of the Kickassia government-building and draw Neutro standing outside. Let Dr. Insano do a voiceover and have N. Bison's response be just push a button which somehow destroys Neutro (insert your own picture here, be it footage of the Death Star shooting a laser or just adding an explosion to the shot of Neutro standing outside). Then Dr. Insano runs in, yells "Ok, you want it this way? You can have it!" or something like that and they fight. They did something similar before, the Jesus vs. Jesus fight last year indicates that this was something they could have done, they just didn't have that idea I guess. But as I said that wasn't a problem for me, but I can see why some people were disappointed.

But as for Patkara, there really was no strategy here. The end of part 5 indicates that they had one, but really, all what happened is - Joe shoots at N. Bison - Lee punches N. Bison - Others show they aren't on his side - PROFIT! What doesn't work here is the ending feels just so rushed and disconnected from the rest of the movie.

And if Dr. Insano being completely useless was part of the joke, it didn't feel like it. A line of acknowledgement would have helped. If don't care if that would be an instance of Don't Explain The Joke, they did it for that Palin-bit and that took long enough. But Dr. Insano got nothing.

And you know, you can really respond to every criticism by saying "Well, that was the joke! You just don't get it!" Some of the cast of Space Mutiny claims that it was intended as a parody. Maybe Not All Dogs Go To Heaven is Family Guy's attempt to mock Mac Farlane's views on religion being constantly preached in the show. I also remember the Nostalgia Chick saying (I'm paraphrasing her) "Showgirls is a brilliant satire, so brilliant that none of us get it". I think my point is clear, namely that the Rule Of Funny defense only works if what happens is in some way funny and doesn't conflict with the viewer's expectations. If Dr. Insano would only be build-up in part 4 and if Patkara wouldn't have felt so rushed, maybe I would accept that Dr. Insano's failure is part of the joke. But honestly, if they hype Dr. Insano for 4 parts (which is over an hour), don't expect me to just accept his complete and utter ineffectuality once he's unleashed.

And as I said, given some of their limitations, this turned out impressive. But I don't think that "We couldn't control the lighting!" (one of the first things Rob Walker mentions in his response to this type of criticism) really is an excuse for weak writing.

"I wouldn't call it climactic." This is supposed to read "I wouldn't call it ANT Iclimactic." because I'm kinda stupid.

^You know, you can just edit your comment (icon next to your name).

"I think my point is clear, namely that the Rule Of Funny defense only works if what happens is in some way funny and doesn't conflict with the viewer's expectations."

And here you hit a snag—see, what people find funny is subjective. I found it funny in the ironic way, lampshaded when Spoony flippant remark of "I got better". The humor is that they were so over the top about his abilities and that he was in fact just that easily beaten and dismissed.

Patkara didn't actually defeat N. Bison—he and Joe run in claiming to have blown him up only to see he's perfectly fine. He just wants the credit. The fight with Isano was long enough and I have to say that adding Neutro wouldn't have helped since it just would have made it longer with another in-joke. The Jesus vs Jesus joke worked since you don't necessarily have to watch all the review to see why this would be funny.

That said, I agree with the review—I thought N. Chick was underused and felt forced in comparsion to the other plot points. It was an okay joke that falls even harder than it would have by itself—actually it could have been funny, but it seems out of place in the movie.

"And here you hit a snag—see, what people find funny is subjective."

I know. Read my comment again and you will find that I only talk about what I felt. I'm not claiming that no one would find it funny, but I and some other people felt this way. Dr. Insano wasn't easily beaten, he almost won. He was in the superior position the whole time until N. Bison cheated. Also, I think "Dr. Insano has a giant robot" isn't that hard to get into. And that was just my suggestion as to how to make the fight sciencier, simply to show that it wouldn't have required that much effort.

Personally, I think Insano should have defeated Critic then let the rest of the arc play out as it did with Insano in Critics place. Ideally, Insano would have won with Mad Science instead of fists but thats not easy to do.

And 3D Lee should have reverted to 2D Lee for a tragic Flowers For Algernon spoof.

I don't think the Palin jokes were that funny either. It would have been hard to find Nostalgia Chick a role in this movie, as unlike most of the team, she has a fairly sensible, down-to-earth reviewing persona. in her shows. Nearly everyone else is especially quirky and kooky by comparisson, so people can easily imagine them in crazy roles (like a gurning sycophant, or a Risk playing general). What the hell do you do with her? Seeing as how she is often portrayed as Nostalgia Critic's second, a Sarah Palin parallel must have come naturally to the crew.

If I'd have wrote it, I'd have made her the only sane person, dragged along and not caring what all these idiots were doing. She already sort of served that role.

She did, and remember that the Sarah Palin thing was a guise. She wanted to overthrow the Critic just like everyone else. MUAHAHAHAHA!