July 23: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

"An aspiring supervillain must balance his career and his pursuit of a beautiful do-gooder."

Directed by: Joss Whedon, Rated: NR, 42 minutes

Now some of you may be giving me some slack for considering this a movie, but I truly believe it is. It can be at least considered a short film, and while it's half the length of most movies, it's a hell of a lot better than most stuff that comes out these days. Also, I have been incredibly busy and wanted something short and awesome, and whenever Neil Patrick Harris is involved, one cannot go wrong. Throw in the sexy Felicia Day, the "hero" Nathan Fillion, and a handful of other recognizable faces and Dr. Horrible is so fun to watch. 

From the opening evil laugh to the final scene, Dr. Horrible is damn good. 

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is a musical about Dr. Horrible, a super villain wannabe that tries his hardest to fill the world with evil. Unfortunately for him, he continually runs into the douche-bag hero, Captain Hammer (Fillion) who's incredibly full of himself and basks in the fame of being "super". Dr. Horrible also finds himself at a loss of words when he meets Penny (Day), a girl-next-door who's seemingly perfect. Dr. Horrible tries his hardest to win her over with his evil deeds, but Captain Hammer continually gets in the way, even gaining the interest of Penny himself. Of course, this pisses Dr. Horrible off and he decides the only way to win Penny over is to kill Captain Hammer. The story is simple, smart, and gets right to the point. Not to mention, every single song in the movie is incredibly catchy and will linger in your mind for days. It also features a great variety of music, never really settling into one particular genre. 

Even The Evil League of Evil likes a good song. 

The best part of the film is the cast. Neil Patrick Harris is incredible as Dr. Horrible, and seeing him in his natural setting, singing and performing is a joy to watch. He's so likable that you want him to win, even though he wants to take over the world and destroy mankind. And, as I've stated multiple times before, a hero is only as good as his villain. In this case, the hero is the villain and the villain is the hero (that makes sense), and Nathan Fillion fits his narcissistic, cocky role brilliantly. He is the complete opposite of Dr. Horrible, even though he represents good, and you can't help but want to see his face frozen off with Horrible's freeze ray. Felicia Day is beautiful as Penny, and as she's fallen into her nerdy little niche, she knows how to steal my geeky little heart. Joss Whedon is a lucky man, as he seems to have every breed of actor at his disposable, and uses each of them to great effect. 

 It was very hard trying to pick one picture of her, but I settled on this one. 

Dr. Horrible is its own little masterpiece, and leaves you aching for more. The entire thing ends on a somewhat cliffhanger, opening up to so many different possibilities of what could happen next. There have been plenty of rumors floating around the inter-webs that Whedon is indeed working on a sequel to Dr. Horrible, with a bigger budget and possible theatrical release. While I love the idea, I hope Whedon keeps the film contained, as the low-budget simplicity of Dr. Horrible is what adds to its appeal. If you haven't seen Dr. Horrible already, go out and watch it immediately. It's on Netflix, on sale for a few bucks at Walmart, and even on Youtube.

The Good:

three leads kicking so much ass in each of their tiny big roles, and a soundtrack that is an instant classic

The Bad:

seeing such a nice guy like Fillion play such a jerk so well

The Ugly:

the whole film is just too short, you immediately want and demand more stories from these characters, as well as more songs and evil laughs

Overall: 9.0/10

Trailer: