Steven Universe The Movie EXPLAINED: The Clickbaity was to say Review/Recap/Breakdown/Other thoughts

after months of anticipation and jokes about xj9 and cuphead the Steven universe movie finally arrives as the not epilogue to Steven universe's not final season set two years after the heavily debated change your mind now sixteen year old Steven has gained a pink letterman jacket a deeper voice as well as a neck for basically what comes down to a musical version of an anime filler movie in the sense that we are introduced to a new villain that no one has mentioned before creates some devastating but temporary havoc and by the end nothing appears to have changed but apparently this movie's events will have consequences in the following season I wasn't sure how to cover my numerous thoughts about this movie so I opted to just cover all of it first of all this is a full-blown musical so if you're not a fan of musicals and you're not a fan of Steven universe there's nothing for you here if you're a fan of musicals but only when they're good I say give this a shot the movie begins with like seven curtain pull backs is that a Broadway thing and a beautiful painting aesthetic credit sequence reminiscent of early Disney films complete with storybook while the Diamonds serenade about Steven the Great and caring Savior interesting choice considering the ones Steven saved a big chunk of the universe from was alright it was them the three diamonds implore Steven to take pink diamonds place and live with them in a song in the style of 1930s female harmony trios [Music] but clearly Stephen can't leave the situation fast enough there's an adorable moment that confirms that Stephen and Connie are still a thing though a relatively innocent thing before she departs the movie for the most part and Stephen sings the quintessential movie musical introduction that establishes our location situation and major players the Bonjour of this movie Stephen sings that now that the Empire has been settled and the diamonds have been pacified for now but nothing else bad can possibly happen and now he at the ripe old age of 16 has arrived at his happy ending I'll give him a week I'll give him 11 minutes the gems echo this sentiment by each singing verses about their own difficult confusing pasts and how everything is better now partially for the benefit of new watchers but also because it will be important later this segment has a lot of nice touches like Stephen popping into lines main to then pop out of Lars is he okay with that him using his bubble to go downstairs that Lars is selling his ube roll onion has not aged and we see the construction of little homeworld be presumed residents of the newly healed gems and where we see the always welcomed and never used enough bismuth lapis and peridot after Steven picks a flower and kisses it to make it grow back he talks about how perfect everything is and how much he doesn't want anything to change and is immediately on set with the all-too-familiar occurrence of a strange flying space object held by a mono colored light projection of Iraq yelling incredibly vague accusations that probably have to do with his mother this magenta Merrie Melodies Harley Quinn played by Broadway actress Sarah Styles will be revealed later as spinel and as we saw on the trailer this character is completely different from every other character in the show because she's animated in the style of 1930s era rubber-hose animation her entire character has connections to old cartoons from the later design that is basically magical girl Mickey Mouse even her song is in the style of 1930s ragtime but updated to an electro swing and it is a Bop one of the best and singable out of the movie that'll be entertaining enough on its own just to see a somewhat limited version of this style there are moments of use and execution of this that are just gorgeous everyone thank animator takafumi hoary not to mention just seeing how these powers shake up the action choreography but we'll soon learn the real reason why this character is animated in this way she also has this super scary lightsaber scythe weapon suck at whatever the third movie is called that paired with her unusual powers she uses to quickly dispatch of the gems before Steven takes her out with her own weapon doesn't seem to affect Steven though I guess that weapon is made out of gem ship jail cells except that he notices that his powers aren't working the way they should it's not long before the gems start to reform but it's a clever touch here that you know something is wrong the minute that pearl is the first also oyster shell pearl I'm ashamed I didn't get that turns out the effective spinel weapon has essentially restored all of the gems to their factory settings with no memories outside of the knowledge of their basic functions except for Emma fist who akin to her power seems only capable of imitating people Pearl's song hilariously titled system boot pearl final three might be one of my favorites or at least my favorite moments because it's an incredibly simple and catchy instructional video Eska melody it seriously has the same sort of tone that a Sesame Street song has talking about the letter J complete with this cheeky look at the camera the whole scene is just really funny especially when pearl ironically pledges her eternal servitude to her formal love rival who is appropriately uncomfortable but the clincher is when spinel gets rebooted pearl explains that her intent is to be a best friend and provide entertainment hence another reason for the rubber-hose and why her default personality is now overly giggly aggressively intrusively friendly interrupts people constantly with ineffective jabs at comedy and requests to play childish games and is completely unaware and unconcerned with how much she's inconveniencing everyone around her oh good it's everything I hate about Pinkie Pie except of course for the part where she's the most interestingly animated and of course here that it's done intentionally wait a super-powerful character who spontaneously appears wanting to be best friends with the main character oh no it's worse she's a self-insert Mary Sue I'm kid in fact spinel during this time is successful at being the kind of character that can be perceived to be annoying in universe but comes off as funny and endearing to the audience a delicate balance only achieved by characters like Johnny Bravo pinky and not Minetta now you would think with the main three gems essentially out of commission this would be a great opportunity to spend more time with the b-squad gem specifically peridot right unfortunately not really their function in this film is essentially to find a way to deal with spinel z' deadly planet injector off screen while Steven carries off the rest of the movie wherever know there is an incredibly amusing moment where the 3c spinel is friendly form after being told she just tried to kill Steven Wow quick turnaround it took me months to stop trying to kill Steven I say took me a day and a half but this is where the film starts to drag slightly it is the understandably emotional low point where Steven freaks out about everything going wrong before he collects himself to actually do stuff however while I do like musicals I do get part of the reason why others don't like musicals is because of the tendency for songs to feel like they're holding up the story and credit given almost every one of these songs is used well to keep the story moving forward whether it's replacing dialogue that needed to be said anyway being diegetic Lee used in the narrative itself or at least was something else important and usually visually impressive is happening this is one of the situations where this probably could have just been a 20-second conversation that's now stretched into two minutes and also it's one of those we can do it as long as we stick together songs and MLP has kind of bottom to me out on those but in that vein it is still one of the better ones because it's lyrics are not deliberately broad and vague and I especially love how bismuth takes the lead on it as one of the original crystal gems to talk about how awesome they are and boy is she so good at making you feel motivated and powerful also this song is basically the movie in a nutshell I'm tired of always being the one that has to do things child we are the crystal gems we handle but now we also have to deal with everyone's movie amnesia which of course means that it's going be fixed in the most movie amnesia way with a journey down memory lane of series highlights almost like this was originally conceived to be a nostalgic series look back slash epilogue it's technically a step up from a clip show but a step below the avatar play that is a bit of an underwhelming tropi plot point for such a highly anticipated movie however for a story that ultimately was intended to be about how far they've come and the importance of change this is on topic and I know that part of the reason why the trope is you so often is because it's just a really good setting for a lot of really entertaining moments in situations I always enjoy seeing Ruby and Sapphire separated and watching them gradually reconnect and refuse is just adorable and a nice change that this time it's sapphire that tries to save Ruby and the song and the imagery when they refuse for the first time is just lovely and it's kind of funny to see splash paint garnet as naive and clumsy the red wire or the blue wire now it does seem like the intention wasn't that the gems would be fixed merely by reminding them of what they've done but how they've changed however this is somewhat muddled in the execution part of him at this past struggles has been rooted in her confidence in being her own unique person hence the imitation and what cures this is imitating Steven but at least some of that is reflected in the song in the way that she starts by replicating Stevens cadence exactly and eventually developing differing harmonies and her own words we got a sweet little tap routine another old school musical staple and when she finally regains enough to turn back we see her flux into all of the bizarre forms she took in the episode reformed later garnet isn't insta-fix by fusion but by truth I think it is supposed to be love but in the moment she puts a very strong emphasis on the word truth because it's tangentially related to what's going on with spinel at the time something about how relying on the people you love can help you face a harsh reality yeah that basically works but pearl really is the only time I think that intent was really pulled off properly she's not reverted by Emma this turning into freaking rose quartz what gets her is reminding her to live for herself rather than depending on someone else to give her life purpose hence the song independent together where she fuses with amethyst as equals oh and how is this brought about Steven and Greg fuse into the first appearance of stag this Johnny Bravo epitome of manliness new fusions are always a joy and I am so happy for Greg his music and voice are brought to life by rock musician Ted Leo who frequently duos with Amy man whoo hey plays Opel so that all worked out there have been thoughts on why a fusion between a father and son is acting this suggestive because it's practically a stereotypical thing for rock stars to do music is a huge part of their bond and stag is the literal personification of Greg and Stevens larger-than-life style of performance fusions are an experience after all Plus even if they are expressing hormones its toward the audience not each other I mean did you not see that Lee did usually that's the sexual part I'm more confused why the fusion of Greg and Steven is this ripped I mean I know that fusion makes you exponentially stronger but who really oh and when pearl flexes back we see her in her pilot form and with that it's finally time to properly talk about spinel as at this point we finally learn about her history when she starts to regain her painful memories she was originally made to be pink diamonds best friend and they used to play together all the time then when pink was finally given her earth colony rather than take spinel with her she told her to play the standing very still game and promptly bolted and naive innocent spinel played that game for 6,000 years waiting for her officially making spinel the poster child for the dangers of ghosting when somebody loved me everything was beautiful this is the other purpose of depicting her with the rubber hose animation style because it's a form of entertainment considered to be outdated except for homogeneous parodies and stylistic video games something that was just seen as surface-level silliness and wasn't capable of being intelligent deep or complex why should I care about this piece of entertainment that's incapable of feeling basically pink diamond is representing the people who either just have a very low opinion of animation as an art form or the ones that apparently exist that literally cannot connect emotionally to animated characters because they're not real what neither is live-action stuff that's all flickering lines on a screen spinel song recounting this is heavy and wrought with pain and it's another neat touch that like her heart gem turns upside down in the cheapest way possible so do her eyelashes to become tear streaks after hearing this story we get another priceless line that Steven is not at all surprised that his mother did this but now we get the usual Steven universe villain treatment you don't have to be this way all you need is new friends starlight glimmer I get people's frustration with this trend however steven has in fact not been able to win over every one of his foes and most of the ones he has did so over a semi believable length of time or just cleared up a misunderstanding people's big issue really is about the diamonds which is warranted also the cluster the cluster was solved very abruptly for the amount of build-up it had but here's an interesting twist on that usual song and dance for spinel it arguably works too well at first as she's currently vulnerable spinel seems to go on the emotional rebound and decides that Steven really is going to be her new bestie and there's still 25 minutes left so I'm sure this will go well and after Connie suddenly reappears with an Acura reference spinel agrees to shut off the injector then that Stevens flippant remarks that he just wants to forget that all this happened as well as his general consistent dismissive body language genell's trust issues flare up again and she feels Steven was only nice to her just so she would do what he wanted o spinel honey that's the main reason anyone is nice to anyone I mean she's not technically wrong that is the role that kindness plays in society in general we act nice and don't kill other people so other people act nice and do not kill us to put it in a cynical simplistic way that actually got me thinking there's speculation on where a friendship gem got a planet annihilating superweapon in what could have been as short as 20 minutes and well it's pretty telling that how it starts and stops is by a technique that only these kinds of gems can use and the fact that she calls it her injector is is that actually what they're for do they manipulate beings with friendliness and then murder their planet oh the darman's glee to have her back is so much worse now oh and of course remember when pink diamonds Pony Sona wanted to befriend John de Lancie literally for the purpose of using his power but I have used for discourse magic if it can be reformed to serve good instead of evil yes that digression was totally necessary because Steven isn't like that Steven does genuinely care about people even people who are about to kill him however I do appreciate the mild acknowledgment that caring about somebody's well-being is not the same thing as liking them or wanting to be close to them something made very clear by Steven's interactions with the Diamonds and even his own cold body language towards spinel he has after all only barely tolerated her antics all day because he had to and it's not as though he forgot what she did and he didn't even thank her when she saved his life but that's not really Stevens deal in this movie I said he's been more methodical with these kind of situations in the past but right now he's impatient and exhausted the reason he keeps harping on about his happy ending is because he is so completely done with this bit no matter how many times you save the world it always manages to get back in jeopardy again sometimes I just wanted to stay saved and that's not unreasonable he just finished a two-year diplomacy mission during which he was undoubtedly constantly pacifying the worst tendencies of 3-space dictators with the powers of atom bombs it's understandable that he at least wanted a break in fact speaking of getting someone to do what you want and then bolting the first scene of the movie and it's not like he owes the Diamonds anything but did he really think the Diamonds were gonna let the conversation end there Oh in this moment where he tries to talk to spinel during her rampage just reads I am so sick of always being the understanding one oh and then she punches him in the face that was showing Stevens blood is the most graphic that this series has ever gotten so sure under various stressors Steven unintentionally acts a bit dismissive and naive what Steven naive no but because spinel is still laden with a boatload of abandonment issues it's enough to make her think that Steven is going to leave her or even reboot her again which sets are off into a rage what follows is a fascinating visceral reaction because this is the kind of twisted logic that your brain can go through when you're psychologically distressed spinel zijn band inment hasn't just wounded her trust it's late in her with self-hatred I mean why would pink leave if there wasn't something wrong with her so Steven also must find her lacking and in this state even repulsed and after what she did he must hate her he wants to erase her she even goes Steven into attacking her because that will prove that he's the one in the wrong and she's just protecting herself she's essentially constructing a mental reality that will make her anger and desire to hurt and punish justified but I'm a little flattered that he likes the old main stupid and with that one sentence spinel has explained the appeal of moai and thus the song true kind of love which I think I finally get now the lyrics are very much about spinel about hardship and blaming other people and the true kind of love is about self love garnet has learned to love herself as garnet and now she's responding to spinel self-hatred telling her to take an honest look at herself because only after facing a harsh truth can you start to heal and love yourself I originally found this song really repetitive and it is but I love its lyrics about trying your best even when you're suffering Plus that techno lounge style is iconic garnet and I guess it sounds peaceful enough that it counteracts the terrible imagery of Beach City being destroyed by Duncan rumba blood and man those flying sparks sure do look like cherry blossoms don't they and this time when the crystal gems fought her they were beating her not simply because they were a teen but because they can adapt and learn and grow and spinel who literally stood stagnant for thousands of years is stuck in the past but finally the message of the movie sinks in for Steven the universe doesn't care if you've saved the world how many times and as long as you're alive it will continue to make things difficult and you can either sit still and complain about that or you can try to make it better starting with you and it's the same with spinel just because the universe sold you a raw deal doesn't mean you deserve to take your anger out on innocent people that's just a subtle reminder to all of the people in the forum's talking about how spinel was in the right the whole time you know I came here to take my anger a bunch of strangers the final fight between spinel and Stephen is amazing between Stephens new techniques like his bubble boxing gloves spinel hijacking even more moves from Luffy and again the animation to pull it off an interesting twist on the use of ridiculous usually funny toon abilities to inflict some really aggressive violence plus the music on top of it makes this an exceptional climax and again showing that half of Stephens job as the universal peacekeeper is just being a literal human shield that can take the brunt of others violence and anger what makes part of the show's message really hard to imitate and the song change invokes a much more encouraging sentiment than the somewhat egotistical idea of change your minds focusing on being willing to change yourself rather than actively trying to change the mind of someone else Stephens voice flipping from his head to his chest voice is a little distracting but I relate too much to give him grief for that in about 20 seconds after saying that Stephen can't make everything better by singing her anger hai finally deflates and she's able to look at herself and admit that this is not what she wants to be another thing we haven't really seen from a Stephen antagonist is one who's truly remorseful but like addicts compulsives and certain mental illnesses admitting that you want to be better is just step one and Stephens specifically for various reasons is such an anger trigger for her that she probably should have been around him for a while but then who can she start over with [Music] okay so the somewhat narrative Li convenience solution that both of Stephens problems with the diamonds and spinel are fixed when they go off and flock off together is interpretation dependent in terms of if this move is progressive or regressive for spinel and the one hand it does seem ideal part of the reason why the Diamonds loved pink was that she was fun and while pink herself gained amusement from discovery and new things which is why she grew so bored with spinel the others are not predisposed to seek out their own fun and need it to come from an outside source and spinel gets to be a court jester I guess which sounds like something she'd enjoy so that seems perfect also both of their song styles are from the 30s and they probably prefer things the way they were 6000 years ago admittedly at least that one lyric makes a lot more sense now but serially and part of the series whole thing is having a caring and reliable support system that can help get you through a lot of hardship and help her to trust again this could be that but are the Diamonds really capable of doing that and then you remember that all four of them have a history of violence they're trying to overcome and that they could just as easily negatively impact each other as positively especially since it's both concerning and highly appropriate that white diamond continues to be very unsettling you can really tell that it's an effort for her to fight against her natural terrible instincts which I guess means she is trying actually no it feels so in genuine that it's more like she's faking it which is honestly my headcanon I still find it way more likely that she's deliberately putting on a facade until she can take revenge on this creature that humiliated her and disrupted her empire because that's the kind of thing an actual dictator would do and hey she's got a pink replacement now and it's not like he's a real diamond the half-breed in fact doesn't it kind of seemed like spinel could be the maniacal pink diamond that they've always wanted then finally after wery established that Steven can in fact so literally fix the damage to the earth by kissing it he'll reprise up here we are in the future but with new insight our last classic musical reference and scene so Steven universe the movie is mostly fantastic for television produce musical originally made to be a finale that now isn't the fact that this was originally made to be a celebratory epilogue or at least function as one is very apparent as such it is somewhat narrative Lee unambitious and the second act is a mild dip just because it does tread over so much familiar ground which was its intention but still but overall its presentation is so enjoyable its look is gorgeous the music is all beautiful varied and fulfilling the references to musicals are adorable of course it was great to see stag but it really is spinel that makes this movie / animation is spectacular the use of its style is a clever and heartbreaking metaphor by itself and her sympathetic arc could stand in for many people's experiences there are various debates and interpretations to be had which is part of the fun of Steven universe anyway now that we know that this isn't going to be the end I look forward to seeing how they're gonna follow this up it at minimum another year and a half so what did you guys think of Steven universe the movie comment like subscribe etc and you stay incredibly shiny Animaniacs [Music]

Channel: CellSpex

Views: 1,833,460

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Id: rJetmldX12w

Length: 25min 32sec (1532 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/chickenflippers]

I like the comparison of the Diamond's harmony to an older (1930's?) style I didn't know existed. Another neat callback that ties up kinda neatly when the Diamonds bond with Spinel.

[u/just4thelolz]

Funniest part to me

[u/Soootthecatt]

I love this YouTubed! And this video keep up the good work Celly.