Tuesday, September 3

Steven Universe The Movie - Review

 Summary:
If you haven't seen the complete series of Steven Universe, the movie is simple enough to understand and summarize the series. Steven is the son of Pink Diamond, one of the four monarchs of Homeworld, a planet of living gemstones. Pink Diamond gave up royalty as the guise of Rose Quartz to escape the abuse and royalty to save the Earth from destruction. Rose Quartz later gave her form for Steven to live. Steven has three gemstones that helped raised him: Amethyst, the free-wielding one, Pearl who was made to serve and now learning to care for herself, and Garnet, who is the marriage of Sapphire and Ruby, which is frowned upon by Homeworld. 

Two years have passed since the last episode "Change your Mind" and Steven is now 16. Litte Homeworld is being built alongside Beach City for the uncorrupted Gems and the off-colors Gems. Lars is working at the Big Donut again and Sadie is continuing the rock band. The four protagonists are happy and don't want a thing to change and that's tempting faith when Spinel (Spin-el) arrives for revenge. She has the rejunivator which 'resets' Garnet, Pearl, and Amethyst. It hits Steven, physically as a human it doesn't affect him but does affect his gem powers. Steven hits Spinel and she reverts to her 'factory settings' of being a clingy best friend.

\Spinel also injected poison into the Earth to kill it off so that's the ticking clock. And four to five characters have lost their memory. Steven, his dad Greg, Lapis, Peridot, and Bismuth try to jog the memory of the gems. In the process, Steven also brings Spinel's memory back and we find out her sad backstory that has to do with Pink Diamond. Steven has had to deal with the mistakes of his mother and Gems trying to kill him. The point of the story is that it will never end. Even though he wanted his happily ever after, he found out his story will continue. 

Review:
This is not what I expected. The whole movie was shrouded in mystery, even down to Spinel's name. I was expecting something direr than Steven just talking down another Gem to a redemption arc. Some fans thought Spinel would be a failed Pink Diamond or Steven had to shatter her.  It was what was expected that Steven would talk and calm down the villain. This one was harder than any other and had more fight in it. I like the conclusion with Spinel staying with the Diamonds. The songs are addictive and stick with you. I loved the fusion of Steven and Greg---Steg. It is sad that we didn't see the most anticipated fusion of all... Peridot and Lapis. You would think if the main 3 gems would be out of the picture, we would get more focus from Bismuth, Lapis, and Peridot. 

Also, I noticed that the treasure box in Lion's mane was open, along with other eagle-eyed fans. There are plenty storylines to still wrap up for a Season six like Jasper, the treasure box, Peridot/Lapis fusion, why Bismuth's look changed and so much more. So Season 6 hasn't officially be announced. Rebecca Sugar is tight-lipped. If the show was over, I guess she would say the show was over. And they would have a 'series finale' like Adventure Time had. Fans are suspecting that season 6 will be the last season. If the movie was the end, it would be a proper sendoff. I would definitely love seeing 'slice of life' episodes of "Little Homeworld" and other new interactions between humans and Gems. So for fans and non-fans, it's good. I was expecting something more Earth-shattering and emotional upheaval and maybe something controversial.  Since Steven Universe is mostly inspired by Anime, this reminds me of Anime movies that are one shots but this continues the story and is a stand alone.