Addicted :P

First off, I’m a millennial. However, Philippines is a bit late on generations so I act like a Xennial sometimes. And I do enjoy a nice animated movie every now and then. I love Pixar movies a lot. Inside Out, The Incredibles are a couple of movie series that I love. However, the quality of most movies have dropped recently.

Companies have chosen to focus more on moral grandstanding and current events rather than to entertain. Sure, entertainment has always had a bit of politics mixed into it. For example, Popeye cartoons had American nationalism and pride for the US navy. But it was still about fun.

Which is why, K-Pop Demon Hunters was such a pleasant surprise for me. I really enjoyed how the movie was just a good story about 3 women who are K-pop idols fighting demons. Such a generic story line that would have been a snoozefest lost in the Netflix catalog.

Maybe it’s because of the lowered expectations I have had for the past decade that made this otherwise simple storyline movie into an amazing film. It had just the right amount of foreign culture mixed in with USA style entertainment.

I remember a similar concept that had some following but didn’t really make a big hit.

Turning Red was a movie released by Disney Pixar and it had the same elements of Korean culture in a western setting. It was a bit entertaining, but it wasn’t that memorable. Maybe because a lot of the elements were forced such as having a diverse group of friends, emasculated males, and woman so strong, grrrrr.

Maybe the words I am looking for is that a lot of recent movies feel like watching a lecture.

And Disney Pixar has been so anti-mothers/female authority figures as of late. Turning Red, Luka, and Encanto are examples. Even the new movie Elio has the same pseudo-antagonist female authority. And it is exhausting.

Back to K-Pop Demon Hunters

Enough of the ramblings. K-Pop Demon Hunters on the other hand was refreshing compared to the crop of movies in the past decade. I have always admired very simple storylines that didn’t have a twist every five minutes. A movie is supposed to tell a story and finish it in 2 to 3 hours. Sometimes having cinematic universe style storylines where in you’re supposed to hunt down one single detail because it might eventually spin-off to another movie can be tiring.

K-Pop Demon Hunters had a simple storyline that has been spun so many times. Trying to get it right is the key. How many times have we seen a trio of female fighters become so popular? Charlie’s Angels, Powerpuff girls and Charmed to name a few.

The refreshing part was, K-Pop Demon Hunters didn’t feel like a lecture. The movie aimed to entertain in 1 hour and 36 minutes. Honestly, that runtime was too short.

Then again, that short runtime may have made the movie more appealing. There really wasn’t any reason for the movie to drag on. The plot matched the songs so well. I believe that if it was a bit longer, it might cause the viewers to lose interest.

Nobody actually told me to watch K-Pop Demon Hunters. It didn’t even reach my FYP because I follow different topics in my social media. I was browsing Netflix, just bored and I kept seeing the movie thumbnail. I even scoffed at it because it looked like one of those Netflix animated movies that I call quick 3D movies that always had a cheesy plot full of politically correct moral topics with bad animation.

Maybe it didn’t help that the thumbnail I saw featured Mira’s face. And no offense, it looked like a cheap Tim Burton 3D clone. \

I clicked the thumbnail, fully expecting K-Pop Demon Hunters to be another cheap 3D movie and then… BAM!

The intro was amazing. The movie immediately started off on a high-note with the intro of first song, “How It’s Done”. I remember saying to myself, if this is the intro already, the quality of music is just going to go down. Maybe Sony wanted this catchy song at the front and the rest of the movie would suck.

Then “Golden” came, and again I thought, this song is what a movie ender OST sounds like. Golden had the music and lyrics that you usually see at the climax of the movie. Again, I was proven wrong when a lot of hits like “Soda Pop”, “Free” and “Takedown” came in succession. Like I said, I honestly thought Golden was the climax song. I was wrong again when Sony came in with “What it Sounds Like”. Now, that was a good ending song.

If you skipped the songs, then the movie plot may feel like it was too fast. However, the songs actually pushed the plot and made the movie feel pleasantly longer than it should. The songs are reminiscent of the music videos in MTV channel.

Basing on the listener counts, K-Pop Demon Hunters top song is Golden, which is what my favorite song is in the movie. Though, I would have my list like this:

1. Golden
2. What it Sounds Like
3. Soda Pop
4. How it’s Done
5. Takedown
6. Your Idol
7. Free

K-Pop Demon Hunters 2 in the Making?

From what I’ve read so far, Sony sold the movie to Netflix. I do hope it was that one movie only and not the whole IP. Netflix has a spotty record on making content without injecting it with the usual politically correct message. Like how they butchered He-Man. They advertised it as He-Man but somehow Teela became the main character. And was more buff than un-transformed He-Man. Bottom point, it was a gong show.

Now, I’m seeing Netflix promising a sequel… I’m not sure how I feel about it as they also said they would be making a live action adaptation to the whole thing. I sincerely hope they don’t do it. They should work again with Sony to make the sequel.

Still, I think Sony should just make the sequel on their own.

Well, this is the longest post I’ve done in quite a long time. I just got over the fact that WordPress doesn’t seem to like the justify alignment in their blogs anymore. Well, I can’t do anything about it.

See you guys next time!