So I went to Warcraft for the second time on Saturday, just like I said I would. It was still amazing. We saw it regular this time, no fancy 3D IMAX. It was weird, some of the images that looked cheesy in the IMAX (the gryphons flying), looked okay in the regular viewing. Watching the movie didn't change my opinion of it at all, and this time the people in the theater seemed to appreciate the humor in the movie more than the ones in the first viewing did (although, if you ask critics, there was no humor whatsoever in the movie). What I wanted to talk about today is the promotion that Blizzard and Regal Entertainment are running together, and see if any of you had the same experience that my husband and I did.
So one of the things that had some people really excited for this movie were the promotions that Blizzard has going with various theater companies (you can check those out here, and sorry Canada- you aren't included for some reason), and the fact that if you log in within the two months of its release, you get some cute transmog items from the movie (two items from each faction, plus an achievement). The deal with Regal states that anyone who buys a ticket will get the a code for a digital download of the game, plus if you pay with your Regal Crown Club card, you get a chance to win two tickets to BlizzCon. Great, right? Except, we bought four tickets and got one code. The guy at the box office said he was only allowed to hand out one code, but the way Blizzard words it, it sounds like every ticket is supposed to get a code. Now if you check Regal's website, they word it a bit differently, and its vague enough that it fits with the one code only policy. We have a lot of WoW accounts anyway, but we were going to give the downloads to our kids, so it was a bit of a bummer to have to pick which child was going to receive it. Have any of you run into this problem with the promotion? I was just curious if our theater was just trying to regulate their supply (because the codes are only handed out "while supplies last", and since they're the only Regal in town, I imagine they need the gimmick to take sales away from the other theaters we have here), or if that is in fact the promotion, and Blizzard was misleading.
And if you still haven't seen the movie yet, you really should. Ignore all the critics horrible reviews and just go see it. Its not a wannabe Lord of the Rings, its not a disaster of epic proportions. Its visually stunning, and if you have any sort of WoW knowledge, things will click for you and you will understand the movie. And more than likely, you will want to play once you're done watching it, even if you haven't played in years (and I think that's exactly what Blizzard wanted lol).
So I know what you're thinking, this is about a WoW related thing, shouldn't this be a WoW Wednesday post? Yes, it probably should, but I don't want to wait until Wednesday to talk about this awesome movie, and movies do technically fall under the Poppin' Off umbrella, so here we go!!
This movie has been ten or so years in the making, and let me just say, it was well worth the wait. I loved it. I'm pretty sure I can do this spoiler free, but just in case, if you haven't seen the movie and don't want any inkling of anything that happens, please come back to read this after you've seen the movie.
My husband and I saw it Thursday night in IMAX 3D, and the visuals were stunning. There were lots of familiar cities and landmarks in it (Dalaran, Stormwind, Ironforge, Goldshire, Karazahn, The Dark Portal....there are some I'm forgetting I know), and it was so cool to see them on a big screen. It was like being able to take what you see in the game and just become one step closer to fully being in it, if that makes sense.
The movie is based off of Blizzard's game Warcraft, not World of Warcraft, so this has caused some problems for people that do play WoW. They're basically saying that the movie doesn't stay true to the lore, but I guess that it does stay true to a lot of the original game's lore, not the current lore we all know now. Also, when any book or game gets turned into a movie, usually studios will streamline some content to either make the film flow more fluently, or to explain or simplify things for people that might not have read the book/played the game, and are just coming to see the movie. Does that mean that everyone likes it? No, but as long as you understand it, you can accept it, move on, and appreciate what the movie has to offer. And this movie offers a lot, an engaging story line, top notch graphics (although there was a few times I wondered if they just threw a toy gryphon across the screen lol), and pretty good acting. The characters were well cast, although I wanted to punch the Queen of Stormwind in the face. Shes played by the girl that plays Tulip in Preacher, and just after seeing her in that panel at WonderCon just made not like her as a person, so it ruined the character for me a little bit. However, King Llane is played by the guy that plays Preacher, and he just does a great job. Hopefully with them working together on so many things, his charming personality will rub off on her. Overall though, all of the characters were really well acted- it was nice to see.
My favorite character was Lothar- he was everything you'd expect an Alliance solider to be. He had some dry humor and wasn't hard on the eyes, so that was a plus. I have to give it up to Khadgar too, he definitely showed that mages are more than just vending machines! Also, there are some very strong female characters for those of you that complain that WoW never includes them- Draka, wife of Durotan and mother of Thrall, is a fighter until the very end, and of course there is Garona, the half breed who basically has an Alliance heart but a Hordie face who is fierce in every way she can be. There are two little CGI's that are just adorable too- a Murloc has a cameo and baby Thrall.
Critics have panned this movie- they all hate it. I think they hate it because they've never played a Warcraft game and don't understand what the movie is supposed to be. I think fans of the game will love it. And the movie ends open ended enough that there can easily be a sequel (or five.....). It does end on a very cheesy note (ever wonder what a baby Thrall growling at you would sound like? you'll find out), but I don't really know how else they would have ended it. There was so much story that you see during it (and really, that you play through game-wise), that there isn't a good place to just stop. But like I said, I loved the movie, and we're actually going to see it again on Saturday, and take our kids this time. If you love Azeroth and everything surrounding it, and you want to see more of these movies made- let the movie studios know! Go out and see Warcraft this weekend!
I was at Toys R Us yesterday trying to find some cute wrapping paper for my daughter's birthday presents, and instead I found these super cool Warcraft toys!
I didn't buy any because March is our poor month (my son's birthday was last Sunday, this Sunday is mine and my daughter's), but I was so excited to see them there that I was deep in my picture taking before I realized that there was this old lady staring at me (I'm usually pretty self conscious about stuff like that). Oh well, blog lyfe right?
The toys are pretty neat looking- they really tried to get detailed with them, even on the little guys (even though that wasn't super successful). Prices are $9.99 for the set of two little ones (Durotan vs Alliance solider, Lothar vs Horde warrior, Alliance solider vs Horde warrior and Lothar vs Garona), $24.99 for the bigger individuals (Blackhand, Durotan, Medivh and Lothar), $24.99 for the weapons and the Lothar vs Blackhand deluxe set (they come with a gryphon and frostwolf).
Any fellow WoW players excited to see Warcraft merchandise becoming a little more mainstream? Do you have high hopes for the movie? Let me know in the comments!
