Hello, and welcome to another “Honest Review.” I realize that you are probably looking at the title of this movie and are thinking, “What the heck? I’ve never heard of this movie!” Well, let me give you some background.
This movie exists on two websites (blip.tv and thatguywiththeglasses.com), and is directed by the fabulous Doug Walker. Doug has already formed his instant fame online with his famous series “The Nostalgia Critic.” So, here came another feat to direct. He has other movies besides this one, but nothing is as good. Trust me when I say that Doug is not only an excellent director , but a great actor and writer as well.
This movie, as you guessed by the cover, is heavily sci-fi, with comedy sprinkled in. The actor list would be too long for me to get into, so I will say their names along the way. Let’s get started, shall we? Let’s review “To Boldly Flee” (contradictory much?).
Anyhow, we begin with Paw (Paul Schuler) sitting on his car, as he hears some odd frequencies from another planet coming in. Don’t ask me how this is possible from an Earthly laptop, but it just is. He then goes to his friends Joe Vargas, Leo Thompson & Lewis Lovhaug to discuss what he has heard. Something big ends up happening, for this is the comeback of Nostalgia Critic’s (Doug Walker) old and supposedly dead friend, Ma-Ti (Bhargav Dronamraju). Before Lewis can even think about leaving, a robotic and evil version of himself comes in and locks him in the closet. Uh oh.
Speaking of Doug, he has a psychotic enemy named Terl (Noah Antwiler), who is trying to get him arrested. Nobody would take a fake alien from the movie “Battlefield Earth” seriously, so the Nostalgia Critic was only placed under house arrest. However, we see that Noah has the spirit of “Ma-Ti” trapped inside of him, so the Nostalgia Critic and the others try to get to it. After getting all of the information they need, and the Critic realizing that the house arrest anklet is nearly impossible to bypass, he decides to create a spaceship to go to the source . . . The “Plot Hole.” This is where Ma-Ti is being held, so he can basically mess around with the planet however he wants.
Anyhow, after the spaceship has been built, it’s up, up, and away . . . To Nostalgia Critic’s house? I suppose that’s a clever way of working around the house arrest, isn’t it? All kinds of antics ensue while up on the ship, but let me explain the most important ones:
1.) JesuOtaku (Hope Chapman), after a shock from a machine her and CR (Chad Rocco) were building, she turns incredibly intelligent and begins to build all sorts of crazy machines to help Nostalgia Critic (Doug) out.
2.) Noah gets kidnapped, only to be saved by his friends SadPanda (Julien Diaz), Sage (Bennett White) and . . . The Nostalgia Critic in a Judge Dredd outfit? Awesome.
3.) Terl and Zod (also played by Doug) capture one of the shipmates, the Cinema Snob (Brad Jones). Not awesome, considering he’s the one who knows how to fix the missiles that were deactivated.
After all of this craziness happens . . . Oh wait, I’m forgetting someone, aren’t I? Lewis’s robotic version of himself, of course. Oh, he just goes and turns Nostalgia Chick (Lindsay Ellis) and Todd in the Shadows (Todd Nathanson) into robots. The oblivious Nostalgia Critic ignores this completely (for humor, I suppose), and allows Noah (the actor playing Terl) to be hooked up to a machine. This machine will allow the others to go into Noah’s mind, to “see” Ma-Ti ask him some questions. Good, but I’m still confused about why the Nostalgia Critic didn’t do anything about the obvious robots standing right in front of them! This is not answered as Film Brain (Mathew Buck) enters Noah’s mind, to go to see Ma-Ti and ask him some questions, mainly to get the answer as to what Ma-Ti wants Nostalgia Critic to “remember.”
Meanwhile, Cinema Snob confronts the “Executor” (“Emperor” spoof) of the ship, which Terl and Zod help to run. Cinema Snob converts over to the bad side, making one of his friends on Nostalgia Critic’s ship seem to shiver. Luke, Cinema Snob’s friend, tries to get Cinema Snob back over to the good side, and does so when he goes over to Zod and Terl’s ship to fight the “Executor,” and wins.
All the while, everyone on Nostalgia Critic’s ship is now under a different commander. Phelous is telling the Nostalgia Critic’s crew to attack the enemy Zod and Terl’s ship. This attack includes the infamous Mario “blue shell,” created by JesuOtaku (Hope Chapman), Paw , and CR. HOLD ON. While all of this is going on, Nostalgia Critic is going to the “Plot Hole”, which I guess is a gateway to the “real” world… As the Nostalgia Critic meets his writer… Doug Walker himself.
Okay, here we go:
Cinema Snob: He turned back to the good side (Doug’s), along with Luke
Zod, “Executor”, and Terl (Noah): All killed with the assault from the crew of Nostalgia Critic’s (Doug’s) crew… Rather quickly, I might add.
Nostalgia Critic : Tries to go into the “real world”, but claims that it is probably just as “phony” as the world he’s in.
Happy ending? You bet! Everyone is re-united and the villains (Zod, Terl, and “Executor”) were all defeated forever. Well, the only bad thing is that Nostalgia Critic had to sacrifice himself over to the “Plot Hole” in order for it to die down, and allow everyone else to be safe.
My Final Take: Honestly, I am not that big of a fan of Sci-Fi, but this movie was amazing. The actors did an excellent job, Doug Walker himself is an amazing writer, the special effects (as expected) were well done, and there were only slight nitpicks to pick out.
Nitpicks: Okay, for one, how did Paw’s EARTH laptop pick up signals all the way from SPACE?
Second, if the “Plot Hole” was left alone for so long, why didn’t it take over space? (I guess Mathew really did tame the “Plot Hole” after all!)
Lastly, if the Cinema Snob knew the technology of Nostalgia Critic’s ship well enough, wouldn’t he sort of know the villains’ (Zod, Terl, and “Executor”) ship too? If so, why didn’t he just escape before the three could take in away?
FINAL RATING: I give this movie a SOLID 10/10. If you have at least 3 hours to spare, give this a watch. I’d recommend it highly.