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Sunday, October 19, 2014

Film Enimga: 31 Days of Monster Mania: Day 16: Ultimate Spider-man: Web Warriors Halloween Special

Written by Stu Cooper

Last year I covered the Ultimate Spider-man Halloween special which ended up being incredibly entertaining. Last year Spider-man had a run-in with a werewolf,Frankenstein, and Dracula! It will be hard to top that. This year's special is called "Halloween at the Museum" and apparently features an animated version of a Disney show called "Jessie". I don't keep up with modern children's shows other than a few cartoons, so I have no idea who these people are. It really feels like those old Scooby Doo specials where they have a random celebrity appearance like the classic Batman or Harlem Globetrotters. These kids are not quite as cool. Although immediately I notice one of the kids in the group is in a Doctor Octopus costume, which gave me a brief smile.

The special starts with Jessie and her group touring a local museum late at night. The group accidentally messes with an archaic sword and it activates some kind of ghostly spirit. The spirit collides with Spider-man, and the opening credits hit! Definitely feeling like a scooby doo episode. Messing with the sword ends up waking up a witch who thanks the group for their help, then immediately threatens to destroy and conquer them all. Spider-man quickly subdues the witch and doesn't take her seriously. She gets free of her webbed restraints and proceeds to go psychotic. She casts a spell that causes parts of the museum to come alive!

For some reason this museum is full of the most nightmarish exhibits imaginable starting with a giant worm that attacks Spider-man and Jessie. Also There's one kid in Jessie's group who seems to be a gigantic Indian stereotype. He makes mention that in his homeland, they have cobras instead of worms. Cause he's Indian...get it? Pretty low-brow stuff. The next monster they encounter is a gigantic Jack'O Lantern demon who I'm assuming is the Ghost of Sleepy Hollow. Also a bit unusual that any museum would have a Sleep Hollow exhibit, but I went with it. Later Spider-man beats up some cave men who kidnap Jessie, then he immediately has to fight living dinosaur bones. It seems to be a "Best of" random Scooby Doo-esque villains.

After running the museum gauntlet Spider-man, Jessie, and friends are confronted by the evil witch again. The witch remains confident she'll conquer the world despite the fact that Spider-man just whooped all of her monsters. The witch demonstrates her power by summoning a gigantic dragon to attack the group. While Spider-man fights off the dragon, Jessie uses the special sword to battle the witch. Jessie throws down a bunch of one liners and whips out some Sailor Moon fighting moves, tho she is not a super hero. Despite Jessie's fighting skills the witch shrugs Jessie off and vows to black out the sky, and turn the world into a modern Camelot. After befriending the indian boy, the dragon decides to turn against the witch and distracts her while Jessie puts the sword back into the magical spot. This imprisons the witch once again. Basically teaching the lesson that you should never...ever touch the museum exhibits.

The special goes by rather quickly and is only 30 minutes compared to last year's one hour special. This special felt pretty generic and definitely aimed at a younger audience. Not much to take from this special, and no legendary villains or monsters to be impressed by. I would say this is a sad excuse for a Halloween special and you'd be better off seeking out the "Spider-man and Friends" Dracula episode or last year's special. If you're a fan of the Disney show Jessie, you may feel differently. The special mainly focused on her and since I've only seen that show in passing, I had little frame of reference for it. It seemed pretty lowbrow and dumb, but then again this is a children's show. Give it a shot if you see it on a Saturday afternoon.

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