"If you must blink, do it now. Pay careful attention to everything you see and hear, no matter how unusual it may seem. And please be warned: If you fidget, if you look away, if you forget any part of what I tell you - even for an instant - then our hero will surely perish." (Kubo) I finally watched this the other day when I had free times, and ooooh boy was it worth it! Laika, the animation company behind this film, is known for their magnificent stop motion animation- and they certainly stepped up their game for this film. All the fights were fantastic and exhilarating; it's amazing what one can do with clay and computer effects. The amazing animation isn't all this movie has to offer! It has a fantastic story with plenty of plot twists that left me with my jaw wide open (some of which were for the better, others that left me in tears). The three main characters, Kubo, Monkey, and Beetle, were great on their own, and their little interactions were well placed by the writers of the movie. One of the best things in the movie has got to be the fact that it didn't have the happiest ending- a grim reminder that not all movies were sunshine and flowers. I seriously recommend this to anyone who didn't watch it because it might be too complex or too weird, a great watch!

"If you must blink, do it now. Pay careful attention to everything you see and hear, no matter how unusual it may seem. And please be warned: If you fidget, if you look away, if you forget any part of what I tell you - even for an instant - then our hero will surely perish." (Kubo) I finally watched this the other day when I had free times, and ooooh boy was it worth it! Laika, the animation company behind this film, is known for their magnificent stop motion animation- and they certainly stepped up their game for this film. All the fights were fantastic and exhilarating; it's amazing what one can do with clay and computer effects. The amazing animation isn't all this movie has to offer! It has a fantastic story with plenty of plot twists that left me with my jaw wide open (some of which were for the better, others that left me in tears). The three main characters, Kubo, Monkey, and Beetle, were great on their own, and their little interactions were well placed by the writers of the movie. One of the best things in the movie has got to be the fact that it didn't have the happiest ending- a grim reminder that not all movies were sunshine and flowers. I seriously recommend this to anyone who didn't watch it because it might be too complex or too weird, a great watch!

"Off with his head," the first quote that we juxtapose next to the heartless Queen of Hearts, and the quote that the book ends in. She seems like a merciless sociopath, cutting off heads if the roses aren't red. The only reason? Because she's from Wonderland. And why is the Mad Hatter so mad? Because he's from Wonderland. At least, those are the only explanations that we allow ourselves to believe in. "Heartless" by Marissa Meyer explores the concepts of the nuanced grey scale of good and evil, and I think her theme is that all humans are fallible, and that no one person is to blame. Watch Catherine as she morphs from the starry-eyed girl who dreamed of impossibilities to one of the most iconic villains in literature history. Get strangled in Cath's constant struggles and get ready to get your heart wrenched out of your chest. Watch yourself become entangled in the constantly resetting wars in the Land of Chess, and watch even the most innocent nursery rhymes become a haunting tale to grab onto your nightmare until the end of Time. And most of all, come to understand why the Queen of Hearts would cut off heads for the sake of keeping her roses red. If you don't read this book, I guarantee you will miss out.

I've read Marissa Meyer's previous series, Lunar Chronicles, and every one of the books in that series was outstanding. Marissa Meyer's literature skills were evident in all the books she had written. Unsurprisingly, I had high expectations of this book. The book did not fall short, but rather it exceeded my imagination though the amount of talent and thought put into this book. I must say, this was a unique story. I have never read anything like this, and the style that Marissa Meyer used was distinctive and refined. The plot was unlike anything I've ever known. Many books I have read in my lifetime fall along the same storyline with very little notable differences. Heartless, however, was written by a very creative author. You begin the book expecting "this to happen and that to happen ", but it isn't long before you begin to realize how wrong your predictions are. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys fantasy and a nice twist to the classic Alice in the Wonderland.

"I am Moana of Motusi. You will board my boat and restore the heart to Tafiti." (Moana) Words do not being to describe how I felt about this movie. I cried, I laughed, I cheered on the characters during the final battle. The main plot centers around Moana, the future Chief of her Tribe, going off into the ocean (against her father's wishes, I might add) to find the demigod Maui. She's doing this due to the fact that her island is dying because of Maui. The plot is a bit typical- a hero and her sidekick go to fix something- but Moana pulls it off in a creative and unique way, and even has an amazing plot twist near the end that I honestly didn't see coming. The animation is absolutely stunning- Disney has really raised their standards. The islands, for the most part, were colorful and full of life, and the ocean, for being an ocean, was bright and friendly. The music was catchy and emotional- shout out to Lin-Manuel Miranda for writing many of the songs- and the characters, even the main antagonists, were surprisingly likable. All in all, an absolutely fantastic movie, and definitely my all time favorite. If I hadn't watched it in one of the final showings, I would have gone back and watched it in theaters many times.

"I am Moana of Motusi. You will board my boat and restore the heart to Tafiti." (Moana) Words do not being to describe how I felt about this movie. I cried, I laughed, I cheered on the characters during the final battle. The main plot centers around Moana, the future Chief of her Tribe, going off into the ocean (against her father's wishes, I might add) to find the demigod Maui. She's doing this due to the fact that her island is dying because of Maui. The plot is a bit typical- a hero and her sidekick go to fix something- but Moana pulls it off in a creative and unique way, and even has an amazing plot twist near the end that I honestly didn't see coming. The animation is absolutely stunning- Disney has really raised their standards. The islands, for the most part, were colorful and full of life, and the ocean, for being an ocean, was bright and friendly. The music was catchy and emotional- shout out to Lin-Manuel Miranda for writing many of the songs- and the characters, even the main antagonists, were surprisingly likable. All in all, an absolutely fantastic movie, and definitely my all time favorite. If I hadn't watched it in one of the final showings, I would have gone back and watched it in theaters many times.