2022 Has so far been an... interesting year for animated movies. The first notable release was The House, which was an anthology film, then there was that new Ice Age atrocity, then there was all the bad takes on Turning Red (including one which I think has quite frankly gotten enough attention) and then two movies from the last year made more notable this year, and that only truly applies to one of the two. I don't think this has been a bad year so far, there are two movies this month I still have yet to see, but so far not many movies have really been amazing, and the ones that could have been are being released next year. So, with the opportunity to see the latest theatrical animated movie, one that actually was meant to come out this year, of course I'd have to do a First Impressions on this one.
Going into this film, I did not have a lot of expectations, I expected a cute and entertaining family film and I got a cute and entertaining family film. It is not a bad movie, I'd say it's pretty good, but I would not say it was great.
So, what did I like about this movie? Well, for starters the animation and art-style was excellent. DreamWorks does not usually attempt different art styles in their movies, so this was an interesting looking film in their catalogue. The cel shaded feel gives this movie a unique look as most movies don't typically opt for this style of CG. The cel shaded look is typically reserved for video games more often than not. Sure we did see something like it in Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse, but that was stylized to look like a comic book. I am interested in seeing what the influence of both of these movies will be, whether or not we'll be seeing more movies with a similar look or not.
The acting is fine too, there aren't a whole lot of ultra-recognizable names in this movie, there's Sam Rockwell and Awkwafina, I also recognized the voice of Richard Ayoade of The IT Crowd and there was also Alex Borstein, most notable for voicing Lois Griffin on Family Guy. That being said, everyone did a good job with their roles and there weren't any bad line reads, so all-in-all the acting gets a pass from me.
Where the movie doesn't win me over is the plot. It is not a bad plot, but a rather predictable one. I saw this movie with some friends and after a while me and one of my friends just kind of figured who the true villain was gonna be, and then the characters are in prison and there is this ultra awesome black masked warrior that shows up and kicks all of the police officer's butts. I kind of figured which character was behind the mask immediately after they showed up. Ultimately, there is not going to be a whole lot about this movie's plot that will wholly surprise you, but that doesn't really take away from the rest of the movie's strengths.
As a whole, the movie was an entertaining time. I'd put it with the Sonic the Hedgehog movies or Angry Birds 2. I don't think it will be regarded as one of the best movies of the time, animated or otherwise, but it is still an entertaining enough watch. I've watched a fair number of movies this year, and a lot of them were dark, The House, The Batman, Studio 666, Everything Everywhere All at Once, okay that one wasn't dark, but it was weird and a bit obtuse, either way there is nothing wrong with watching a more basic, but entertaining movie every now and again. If there happens to be a sequel to this movie, I wouldn't mind checking it out. I can't say this is a very high recommendation, but I definitely do recommend it. No real surprises for avid movie-goers, but it's fun and entertaining, not bad at all.
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