Well, we're getting there, it's almost the end of the year and burnout is setting in, among a bunch of other things because the second half of this year was to put it mildly, not very good for me, so if it seems like I just picked this no name, no audience, no anything movie because it was available on Tubi, looked like a bad movie, and is less than an hour and a half, you'd be right. Usually I try to have some kind of reason I chose a movie to review, but I'm gonna be honest I am very much looking forward to that January off of movie reviews so forgive me if I need something that looks like an easy target. I have reviewed a couple movies that were available on Tubi, some good, some not, let's see where this one falls.
The plot of this movie is Foodfight, and I am only half-kidding when I say that. The movie follows a bunch of crayons as they enter the world of Color City during the night time when their owner falls asleep. Two of the young kid's sketches enters the world and begins to cause trouble by blocking the rainbow waterfall that gives all the crayons their colour, and a few of the crayons, including the timid and afraid of everything Yellow, because fear and anxiety are the colours I associate with Yellow, but I digress, must travel through dangerous lands to reach the top of the waterfall and stop all the crayons from losing their colours. Straight up, this movie is boring, it doesn't tell it's story in an interesting or creative way, and there are a couple scenes that just drag on for an unnecessarily long time. I don't mind movies with unoriginal plots, but you got to have some kind of hook or twist, Klaus had great character arcs, this movie has the bare basics.
The animation of this movie is ugly, it's kind of got that Garfield Gets Real quality to it where it just looks really off, but I would actually argue this movie as being worse looking, because how do you make crayons look ugly? The whole movie has that cheap CG look to it that looks gummy, like those gummy candies of like Krabby Patties and stuff, or like a cross between plasticine and gummy bears, I dunno it just never looked good to me. It doesn't help that lip sync is only about half-synced to the dialogue, it's synced in a way that you can almost pretend that it's properly synced but if you're paying any kind of attention you can tell it isn't. I will say that it is bright and colourful, and on some level I guess I should be less critical of movies that are obviously made under a tight budget, except first-off, I can't find a budget for this movie so I can't definitively state if it is a budget movie, and secondly a limited budget does not excuse the fact that they made tipped cylinders look absolutely awful, I'm sure most studios can make an animated anthropomorphic crayon that isn't completely ugly.
I have to assume that this movie had a decent budget because the voice cast has some fairly recognizable names, okay they aren't the most expensive names in the industry but Christina Ricci, Owen Wilson and Wayne Brady aren't nobodies, plus veteran voice actors like Jess Harnell, E.G. Daily, David Kaye, Craig Ferguson and Tara Strong among others, then again I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't much out of this movie either. I'm gonna be honest, Christina Ricci is terrible in this movie, she's done some voice acting prior and since, so I'm going to assume that she was not given the best direction, but she just doesn't give good reads at all. She voices the main character so she is the main voice we hear, though her singing voice is done by Tara Strong, pretty obviously to be honest, it sounds exactly like Twilight Sparkle.
It doesn't help much that the characters aren't that interesting. Like I said before, the choice to make Yellow the timid and anxious one is, not entirely out of keeping with colour theory, but I mostly equate yellow with cheer and excitement. Other than that, you have your standard geeky nerd, your doom and gloom fun-sponge, your hot-headed and sarcastic jerk with a soft spot, and hey, a geeky know-it-all professor who sounds like Jerry Lewis? Umm... Simpsons did it? They do give some of the characters arcs, but they're very basic, and in some cases it doesn't even seem like they had any kind of change in character. I think the only thing that would have made this movie worse is if this was theatrically released in any capacity, because apparently it was given a limited theatrical release.
Sometimes, to get back on track, you gotta hit an easy target, and frankly I almost feel bad for criticizing this movie, it's such an easy target. It almost feels like I'm punching down, like this movie is not something attached to a massive multi-media franchise, it's not from a major animation or film studio, it's not an independent project that is overly confused and tries to be something more than the creator is capable of, but by the same token, it really isn't anything. It's a bland story with bland characters and ugly animation, like come on, I couldn't have picked an easier target if I tried, outside of some of those knock-off animated movies from Vídeo Brinquedo or WowNow Entertainment. Is this movie one of the worst? Well... I guess it's ultimately harmless, I can't see this being really offensive to anyone outside of those who think animation is more than a tool for keeping little kids quiet, and honestly even at that level I can't muster that much ire towards this movie, there just isn't anything to get mad at. I don't recommend this movie, but at the same time, if you desperately need something to keep your little ones quiet, well I can think of worse movies.
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