The constant need for a funny talking or cute animal sidekick. Sometimes it just feels incredibly forced. 'We are not so different' speeches, when they are clearly VERY different. Out of boredom, I watched the finale of Ben 10 Ultimate Alien a while back. Vilgax tried this with Ben. It was pretty bad. Speaking of the Ultimate Alien finale, it was pretty terribly written. They summoned their world's version of alien freakin Cthulhu, and nothing incredibly epic happens. The Forever Knight with Azmuth's Sword turned out unable to defeat him, so he goes Ultimate Waybig and that wasn't even cool. Another thing? 'I'm going to kick your butt' or some variation is used waaaay too much in Western animation. I know you can't curse, but there is such a wide array of vocabulary that it just seems lazy. Anyways, it turns out Vilgax, who was serving alien Cthulhu the entire episode, betrays him and absorbs his power. What does Ben do? Use the same freaking sword that didn't work on Space Cthulhu 20 minutes ago. And it worked. Lack of death. I don't want to make anything super dark and gritty, but a huge part of characters like Superman and Batman's ethos is that they never kill. They always do everything in their power to see that justice is served. They are not above the law, they are not punishment, they are justice, plain and simple. But when no one else at all kills, it just takes the meaning out of it. One of the best story arcs in Justice League was definitely the alternate timeline where Superman does kill Lex and they become the Justice Lords. The next bit of criticism is most focused on Japanese anime and manga, but it can be applied to other things too. 'Remembering what your old master said, allowing you to do some crazy power just when you need to most' is pretty bull crap. Talking to enemies about friendship being 'literally' what beats them. Watching a filler arc of one of the few anime I watch, and one of the protaganists is able to somehow be faster than the person whose special ability is freakin' speed. How? Because people who are running to save their friends are faster than people running away from their fears. What. Just like... wow. Fanservice. One of the huuuuge reasons anime is not incredibly popular outside of Japan, in my opinion. It is a huge alienation to anyone who isn't a weaboo. I don't care about the impossibly sized breasts of animated characters, I really don't. If you desperately need that, the internet has tons of it, but it is damn annoying when I need to get into a couple pages of a manga and find out it is one of those chapters that I can't read in class without the people behind me thinking I'm a freak. Along the same lines, female anime characters constantly doing a small wink or a tilt their head to the side with their eyes closed. Ohmygoodnessstopitisnotsomeincrediblyattractivethingnoonedoesthatinreallife.
As I think on it, one of the better love stories in movies I've seen in the past five or so years was How To Train Your Dragon, but only in light of the TV series. In the film, the love story between Hiccup and Astrid operates on a sort of on/off switch that I swear makes her go from hostile to going steady after her cruise on Toothless (a good icebreaker admittedly) and then ramps up a bit at the end. In the TV show, while they obviously like each other, the two of them still haven't moved past the awkward teenage flirtation stage yet. For the most part, the awkwardly tacked on love story is like a cancerous tumor: unsightly and poisonous to the work as a whole.
Obi Wan: "Use the Force, Luke." Luke: "Oh great... voices in my head. Now I need a CAT scan." But, yeah, I agree. Like when they remember something insignificant their master did earlier in the story, like tiddlywinking a coin or something, and the hero then suddenly realises he can use that trick to defeat the bad guy at the last second. Master's ghosty memory voice: "Remember when I farted when we first met and you choked on the smell? Well, you can use that fart ability now to overload the chemical sensors on the bomb so it doesn't detonate and destroy the city." And so once again the day is saved, thanks to the Power Pump Gas... Often it's only there to give the hero someone to rescue later.
See I don't mind that so much since a good rescue is a reasonably decent way to kick off the climax but I'd like to see more movies where this kind of dialogue occurs: I'd like it even more if when they do arrive at the Doom Fortress, our love interest has indeed through sheer skill, tenacity, cunning or just the overpowering level of fucking awesome she possesses, has done exactly that.
You guys also reminded me of the lack of logic protagonists seem to work a few times in movies, putting their loved ones above the world. If they're between killing the mass-murderer, overpowered megalomaniac of a villain and saving their wife, they go for saving their wife. Are you freaking insane, protagonist? Suppose you'll save your wife, but the villain survives. Who do you think the villain will kill now that he survived, you goddamned moron? If you had killed him, none of this would have happened. Another plot-point that constantly pisses me off too is how amazingly stupid people seem to be around Genies. No one takes into account the fact they can twist your wish based on grammar: First off, always use your first wish just to say "I wish all wishes from this point forward are interpreted according to the wisher's will and his will alone." DONE [and there's the entire point of the Wishmaster series going through the window...]. If he only grants one wish, use that one wish to do what I say [because c'mon, imagine his face].
'Chosen One' storylines It seems every other film these days is about one, and I grow bored by it. It was the basis for Tim Burton's 'Alice in Wonderland,' 'Snow White and the Huntsman,' and even 'Avatar.' Most of the time, the chosen one just stumbles into things, declares they are not the chosen one, and then accept this path mere seconds before they are supposed do their chosen-one task. It's one reason I despise the upcoming 'Oz, the Great and powerful.' Someone asks him, 'Are you the great man we have been waiting for?' and you even see a statue behind him. If the 'chosen one' would at least prove themselves, I might buy it. Jake Sulley just didn't prove himself 'worthy. It seemed like he got everything so bloody easily, ruined the natural order of bloodlines/mating in the tribe. One has to wonder if he'll ever spill the real reason why he tamed the big red-colored flying beast, or just leave it to their shaman that 'it chose him.'
I mean when it's an unnessary side thing they throw in to soley appeal to a bigger audience, Most recent example I can remember right now is the Yogi bear movie for kids (it was the last kids movie I saw with this problem) The movie focus should have been solely on Yogi, Boo-boo, and Ranger Smith trying to save the park, but otta nowhere comes a love interest for the ranger that serves no purpose other than time filler for the movie.
