Reviews WesternAnimation / She Ra And The Princesses Of Power

Strange angle for a review to compare two completely different properties, but this was quite a compelling read nevertheless. Although Rian Johnson gave Reylo more of a genuine spark, the whole point of TLJ was yanking that away because ultimately, Rey is incredibly naive in thinking she can redeem this dude who will keep going down the wrong paths. I think Colin Trevorrow\'s original script treatment which denied Kylo Ren a cliche Vader-esque face-turn was the best move that could have been made.

But anyway, yeah, She-Ra. Will check it out at some point, probably. My interest is piqued.

@Thompson Haddock 9991 TBH I never had any intention of comparing the two but they had so much in common that I couldn\'t help but wonder if She-Ra was what Disney wanted their Trilogy to be like. But in regards to Reylo, I NEVER got why Rey would even consider giving him a chance. Just going off the first two films, not counting what happens in Rise of Skywalker, on the first day they meet, Kylo kidnaps Rey, attempts to torture via Mind Rape, kills her hero and surrogate father Han Solo Right in Front of Her, beats up her best friend Finn right in front of her and attempts to beat her into submission to get her to be is student.

Then, what is either a few days or a week later, Rey, for no given Reason, decides that she can Save Kylo, that he is can be saved and this is all based on, him being nice to her, telling her that he killed Han, his own father, because he was a bad parent and that Luke tried to kill him. There\'s nothing in the film that suggest that the Force Bond is influencing her opinion on the matter so it\'s pretty much Rey taking the world of a killer, whom she knows nothing about, over her own common sense.

With Adora she at least knew Catra since before they knew how to spell, and has clearly been in love with her all that time. And we, the viewer, have also seen the good in her and seen how she regrets her actions so when she switches sides she it feels real. Kylo shows no real regret for his actions, spends the whole Trilogy harassing Rey and hurting those close to him so when he makes a Heel–Face Turn it feels forced because nothing has led to this moment.

Even in Trevorrow\'s Duel of the Fate, Kylo still makes something of a Heel Face Turn when chooses, of his own free will, to heal Rey and tells her the truth about her origins. Sure, he still acts like a twat throughout DOTF but no matter what, he always seems to turn back to the Light Side and always for rather contrived reasons.

Catra needed to lose all she had, her Empire, her friends and be confronted with the fact that she was the one who drove those she loved away before she even Considered joining the heroes. Catra is a lesbian Catgirl from Outer Space and she is one of the most complex characters I\'ve ever seen which is more then I can say about Kylo Ren who\'s the grandson of Darth Vader.

I disagree completely: Even as early as the first film its clear that Kylo has a lot of internal conflict that only grows throughout the trilogy. And if we are being completely fair, Vader manages to redeem himself even after torturing his own daughter, torturing Han Solo, killing his own mentor, killing Luke's friends in dogfights, and also standing by whilst an entire planet is blown up. Vader might as well have been a killer robot until the last movie, but Kylo shows guilt and self-doubt from the get go.

Anyway, this is a review about Shee-Ra, which I'm miles away from finishing. I feel this review spends a little too much time comparing it to another movie franchise that has vague similarities, and not enough time talking about why the show is good on its own terms.

@maninahat With respect, I really can\'t agree. We\'re Told he feels regret for his actions but we\'re never Shown that. We\'re told that he regrets killing his father from Snoke, we\'re told that he feels conflicted about his actions from Rey and but we\'re never shown this outside of him being hesitant to kill his mother. Everything else is only expressed in Supplementary Material and I\'m not counting that as it wasn\'t put in the films themselves.

As for Vader, there\'s no question that he does a LOT of F#(ked up $#!t but we see his internal conflict throughout Empire and Return (not so much in Hope but he only has about 8 minutes if screen time) and in his case the people he hurt were combatants in a war and he does it simply because it\'s his job. Please note I NOT defending what Vader does as it IS Wrong and his redemption comes at the cost of his life which, given his arc throughout the first two Trilogies does fit his journey.

But here\'s the real problem, I do agree with you that Vader\'s redemption was, in the end, a little to easy but that is a bit more excusable because Lucas had just wanted the series to end so he could be with his family so he had to end the series with Episode 6. Disney has no such excuse. Kylo\'s redemption comes just as easily only he did all he did for power and, again, never really shows much regret for his actions.

To go back over to She-Ra the two have a lot more in common then it might seem. Case in point, let\'s take a quick look at the arcs for both Adora and, of all characters Finn. Both are former members of an Evil Empire who defect once they see the evils of said Empire first hand. Both join the Rebels due to a personal connection they form with heroes on the side of the Rebels and both are people who have a connection to a Powerful source of Magic.

Adora also has a lot in common with TDST main protagonist Rey, both are people who basically turn out to be the chosen one, both are first thought to be seemingly nobodies but are later revealed to have a connection to a former Evil Empire and both have a complicated relationship with the series chief antagonist.

I\'m not the only one who\' noticed this as shown in this article.

https://www.cbr.com/she-ras-finale-is-the-rise-of-skywalker-done-better/

And to be honest, I\'ve noticed this similarities before the article in question was posted. Season 4, for example, is strangely similar to The Last Jedi both in terms of plot and character arcs. Glimmer\'s arc in S4 bares a Strong Resemblance to Holdo\'s in TLJ. Glimmer is a high ranking member of the rebels who is forced to make tough choices which include withholding information from loyal soldiers. In the end, said loyal soldiers go on a quest to retrieve a hacker, of sorts, to try and save the day but in the end it turns out to be pointless. By the end of it Glimmer and Holdo\'s plans, along with the mistakes of the other heroes due to their distrust, nearly destroys the very rebellion they\'re trying to save.

Catra\'s arc is S4 also has a LOT in common with Kylo\'s, both usurp their respective Emperors and become the de-facto leader of their Empires but in the end, they end up making a series of bad choices that and fail in their respective tasks. And, skipping ahead, both are themselves usurped by a more powerful villain who has a more powerful war machine.

Both S4 and TLJ also include the destruction of a Iconic Weapon but, Anakin\'s lightsaber and the Sword of Protection and both include a hired gun turning on their employers for money and because they saw who the winners in this fight would be.

The article I\'m linked here goes over the similarities between S5 and ROS so read that if you wish for more information.

My point is, comparing a reboot of a spin-off of He-Man isn\'t as strange as it seems. The two have just enough in common that comparing them is rather easy, for me at least hence why I posted the review I did.

However, if you don\'t see the same thing I understand and respect your opinion. :)

I\'ve had similar opinions to how She-Ra handled similar character archetypes and themes as the Star Wars Sequels and did them all way better.

@Vert Melon Such as?

I was agreeing with you with that post, so I\'d only be repeating what you said.

Fair enough, but there\'s always something that I couldn\'t include or might have missed in my comparison/review and I\'m always open to anything someone else can bring to the discussion. :)

What is TDST an abbreviation for?

The Star Wars "sequel trilogy" consisting of The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker.

@Iuka Sylvie It\'s an abbreviation for The Disney Sequel Trilogy. I can\'t outright call TDST the Sequel Trilogy as their are actually Two Sequel Trilogies to the Original Trilogy of Star Wars. The Trilogy that was produced by Disney and the Novel Trilogy written by Timothy Zahn known as The Thrawn Trilogy (which, IMO, is VASTLY superior to TDST and you really should be reading it).

The review has some valid points about the sequel trilogy's shortcomings, but this review is about She-Ra, not Star Wars, so you should limit how much you talk about the latter.

Incidentally, I notice that your review is, at 4,219 characters, about 40% longer than it should be. Abbreviating The Disney Sequel Trilogy as TDST was a good way to save space, but cutting down the references to Star Wars would have been even better.

@Valiona My overall reason for including TDST in comparison with She-Ra was due to just how similar the two are so I figured why not kill two birds with one stone?

Not to mention that She-Ra doesn\'t completely undo everything the characters of He-Man did and make it so that everything the original characters had done was completely pointless.