With hundreds of movies being produced every day, there are bound to be good and bad. Since film critics and audience scores often rival, it can be hard to determine if a movie is good or not. Oftentimes, a movie’s poor initial rating can lead to it being ignored for months, years, or even completely. Many initial ratings given to movies are wrong and the movies are better than the score reveals. (Aidric Montanez)Released February 17th, 2023, “Ant-man and The Wasp: Quantumania” is a recent entry in the MCU, and was met with very poor scores from audiences and critics alike. The “multiverse” phase of Marvel movies gives many people mixed feelings and many people dislike the new side characters and overuse of CGI, especially in the environments and characters. Many people also believed the inclusion of Bill Murray was not necessary and was just to attract attention to the popular actor. While some of these are issues, this film is no different from most other Marvel movies, especially movies like Guardians of the Galaxy. The villain is less important, but still further teases future movies. The arcs of characters are very interesting, as it is seldom that events lead to characters needing new story arcs, especially in franchises this big. Overall while not perfect, Ant-man and The Wasp: Quantumania deserves a much better score than it got.Released June 10th, 2005, “The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D” was a movie that was very poorly received, and somewhat understandably at first glance. The use of 3D was a common movie gimmick at the time, and oftentimes movies will throw out story or art in favor of 3D. However, the use of 3D did not take away from the movie, as even without 3D other details remain. The overuse of CGI, which at the time was not great, is also a common plight with it, but it is a movie made for young children. When kids are that young, they don’t care about the quality of the CGI, only that it “looks cool”. If anything the way the art style is used could help how it looks. While the story is undoubtedly one of the more shallow parts of the movie, in this case, it’s so bad that it’s good, and at least somewhat intentionally. Many weird choices end up with comedic moments, which is good to have in a kids movie. All in all this strange movie is very memorable in many people’s childhood, and the lack of respect from adults is what ruined its rating.Released February 7th, 2014, “The Monuments Men” was a historical movie about people rescuing art stolen by nazis during WWII, which would have otherwise been destroyed. While movies about history have often gotten a bad reputation, this was done quite well. Recent movies such as Oppenheimer prove that it can be done well, and while I wouldn’t consider it quite that good, it certainly holds its ground. The main reason people don’t like it is because of how specific the event is, but there are only so many events to go over in history. In addition, between the impressive cast, great humor, and gripping moments, it is much better than it seems. It remains historically accurate while still remaining very interesting, and keeping a slow but steady pace throughout. While most historical movies I wouldn’t even consider watching on my own time, this one is interesting enough as an action/comedy that the historical elements hardly matter. While not a record-breaking movie, it is still an incredible historical movie.Released January 21, 2005, “Are We There Yet?” was surprisingly disliked. When I first saw it when I was younger, I was willing to rewatch it frequently. While now that I’m older I couldn’t really see myself watching it, when I was around the target age it was one of my favorite movies, which is far more important. One main complaint I see is that “Ice Cube” being the leading character wasn’t a good choice, but really I think it had no effect; I didn’t even know he was a rap artist until very recently. Another complaint is that the plot and humor are too much like other “road trip” family movies at the time, but I think it’s more like the perfect example of them. It really just bounces between different events in a way that works well for a children’s movie. While not necessarily unique, this movie definitely shouldn’t be considered bad.Released May 19th, 1999, “Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace” Was an interesting turn. With the 3 original Star Wars movies being phenomenal successes, it seems as if this one dropped off in many people’s minds. While many concepts, characters, and actors were loved, overall many people hated this movie as it failed to meet the high expectations of the next Star Wars film, and many felt it was too kid-oriented. While it certainly did use a lot of ideas that were cartoonish, I feel like it was done in a way that didn’t take away from the film. The added politics of the universe is perfect for a prequel that explains things and tries to keep both young and adult audiences entertained. However, one point that many people frequently point to and blame as the culmination of why this is a bad film, is Jar Jar Binks. Being an entirely CGI character that often got into trouble was very much leading to the kid-oriented idea, but it seems otherwise. If you look back, it was still directed by George Lucas, who made the first 3. The “No, I am your father” plot twist in Empire Strikes Back was one of the craziest twists in film history at the time. However, it seems George Lucas was setting up a similar, possibly greater plot twist for Attack of the Clones, and Phantom Menace was just the setup. It’s possible that after backlash, it was changed and that’s where Count Dooku, a strange and pointless character was created. However, based on things seen in what is a CGI character whose actions have to be intentional, as well as the strange setup, I think George Lucas was originally planning for Jar Jar Binks to be a Sith lord. I’m gonna stop here before I start an argument, but this movie is being misjudged for its rating.Overall all of these movies are still good in my mind, and likely many other people’s. What movies you like can come down to personal opinion, so you shouldn’t necessarily judge a movie by its rating.
