As a good chunk of you already know, I have a... complicated look at Netflix original movies. Not all of them have been bad, but they do tend to plaster the "Netflix original" sticker on a lot of real crap. I'm not going to list of examples again, but there is just so much garbage under that name it's kind of a miracle if any film goes into "Good" territory. Which brings us to Arlo the Alligator Boy, which was released rather quietly, compared to Klaus, which everyone was going crazy over, I have only ever seen other animation fans talk about this movie, and even then only a few. To be fair, I heard good things about it, and it's not like movies released on Netflix have spectacular premiers or anything, I'm just saying I've not seen a lot of people talk about this movie. So, is it the next Klaus? or is it just another Pets United?
My first major compliment towards this movie is that it looks beautiful. All the backgrounds are stylized in such a way to look like illustrations in a children's book, and the colour palette is very warm and pleasing to the eye. The characters look a little flat on the backgrounds, like they were cel drawings, but it's not too distracting, and there is a lot of great shading, so overall, the movie is visually wonderful.
Another thing I can praise this movie for is how well it's paced. There are a lot of moments that just let the scene be quiet, no dialogue, just the ambient noise of the setting and the music. Though, this movie does have the same issue I have with the Steven Universe movie, in that there are a lot of songs and they don't feel spaced out enough. The song sequences look amazing though, and the songs do sound great, so maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a musical.
I also really enjoy the characters, Arlo is a very sweet boy, kind, enthusiastic, naïve... he's SpongeBob, but with a voice less people will find grating (I love SpongeBob but that is a truth). A lot of the side characters get some very humorous quips and Jonathan Van Ness plays this amazing pink ball of fur that is just amazing.
Speaking of, the movie does have a little humorous edge to it, I don't think got laugh out loud funny, well except for one gag, but even still it wasn't unfunny, but I think it was just funny enough to balance out the... insanely dark moment. Like, a guy is literally dragged away screaming by a beast covered in shadow, and while the rest of the movie doesn't get that dark again, more emotionally heavy, and I can respect that. Above all else this movie has my respect.
While I don't think this movie was incredible, honestly give me a few more viewings and my tune may change, I think this movie was cute, heartwarming and overall a fine viewing. It's kind of the Steven Universe movie done right, but with a theme taken from The Greatest Showman, and while I definitely prefer that movie, I think this one was pretty good. I say that this movie comes recommended, and while I was not in the mood for this kind of movie, darn it, I can not deny that it was a cute and wonderful little movie.
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