Halo Legends

I decided to join Netflix and give it a try with the 1 movie at a time offer (you can get more at a higher monthly fee).  There are a number of people I know who joined and are pretty happy with the service.  Besides, it seems like good fit for me - the convenience of picking out a movie online, waiting for it to arrive in the mail, having a postage-paid envelope to send it back in, and the ability to stream movies online as well. That sure beats having to wait in line or spend hours at the video stores looking for "just the right movie".  Besides that, with Netflix I don't have to worry about the movie being due back by certain time or day.  It's also a lot cheaper than paying for cable TV which just gives me hundreds of channels of nothing interesting to watch.

The first movie I got from Netflix was the HALO Legends movie.  I'm not a video gamer so I don't really know much about Halo but my son does and I thought it might be cool to watch something he gets into.  (Am I a cool mom or what?!) 

The movie contains seven stories about the history of HALO.  What I thought was interesting about the way this was made was that the stories were presented in different animation styles.  Check this out:

One story was presented in a more traditional Japanese anime style. (I don't know if there are any special terms used to describe it).  I just describe it as the kind where the people have small noses and large eyes.  

Another story looked like a more common American cartoon style.  You know, just like the techniques used in American favorites like Scooby Doo or the SuperFriends.

This kind of water-color style animation that was used in one of the chapters was new to me.  I thought it was artistic, although my kids weren't too impressed by its visuals.  Story-wise, that part of the movie was a very dramatic chapter.

Another style of animation used reminded me of the Final Fantasy series.  This style used more realistic looking depictions of people.  Makes you feel like you're not watching a cartoon at all sometimes.  And they always seem to make the females look so hot! 

Overall, the Halo Legends movie was pretty good. It gave my kids and I an understanding of the origins of Halo and a more in-depth feel for the characters from their background history.  I'll admit, the movie wasn't exciting enough to make me want to become a Halo gamer but it did bring about an enjoyable two hours with my kids who normally wouldn't sit still for that long for other movies I want to watch.