70 minutes

So, I watched two examples of what can be done with 70 minutes of time.

Get Smart's Bruce and Lloyd Out of Control: Set during the events of the Get Smart movie (with very weak links), this chronicles the adventures of the two gadget makers Bruce and Lloyd trying to get one of their inventions out from the hands of bad guys. And watch them hook up with women. This is clearly an amazingly callous piece of film-making, attempting to cash in on the big movie... and it is extremely terrible. No actual humour, despite many attempts at jokes, and the characterisation of all the characters varies from line to line (and indeed there seem to be a few scenes missing as well). A complete waste of time.

Hellboy Animated: Sword of Storms: Japanese folklore comes into play as two demons, Thunder and Lightning, make an effort to become freed from a sword they were trapped in. Hellboy is the one to save the sword, and the others have to deal with the real world impacts. Ron Pearlman, Selma Blair and Doug Jones return to lend their voices to the characters, and the story is entertaining and the animation is fitting. (How like Mike Mignola's comic it is, I'm not qualified to comment.) Nice wee movie.

What is telling is that I cranked up the speed on Bruce and Lloyd to get through it quicker. Not so for Hellboy. Two takes on using 70 minutes to tell a story... two completely different outcomes...

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