Glitch Pitch Pilot Play: The Gaslight District vs The Amazing Digital Circus

April 18th, 2025, Good Friday. That was the day that GLITCH Productions premiered the pilot to their latest show, The Gaslight District. I've gotta say, this show was pretty hyped, the trailer got a fair bit of attention on social media, and on the pilot's premier date, amassed 3.6 Million views. To put that into perspective, that is almost 0.5 million views away from surpassing the teaser for another Glitch Production, Knights of Guinevere, the show that Owl House creator Dana Terrace is working on with Glitch. The teaser for that show was published on January 17th, and it has amassed 4.1 Million views, as of The Gaslight Districts release date. I'd say that the hype reminded me of another Glitch Productions show, but that would be untrue, from my perspective The Amazing Digital Circus kind of came out of nowhere and caught me off-guard. I've never heard of GLITCH productions until then, though I might have heard of Murder Drones, but it never really stuck in my mind.

So The Gaslight District pilot premiered, I checked it out, I liked it. Genuinely, I do like it, I would definitely rank it higher than the pilot to LS Mark's show Catching Up. The Gaslight District pilot is about a crime family in a post apocalyptic world pulling off a major heist, stealing "The Human Egg", which is problematic because one of the members, Mel, is prophesized to bring the end times to this world. I gotta say, I am definitely engrossed in this world, these characters and this scenario and I definitely want to see where it goes from here. I do really like this pilot... but do I love it? It's got everything here, good characters, great artstyle, fantastic premise... and yet, I don't know if I love it. Why?

I hate to do this... seriously, I genuinely do not want to make this comparison, but I think it would be pertinent to compare it with The Amazing Digital Circus pilot. To be absolutely clear, I am not making this comparison to bring down The Gaslight District, I think The Gaslight District is a good pilot and absolutely warrants a viewing, this is entirely an examination of why I had strong feelings for one and not the other. This is self interrogation, not an indictment of any pilot or show.

It would be wise to begin with what both pilots got right, and that is character designs. I can't say that either show has wholly unique character designs, but they absolutely stand out even among similar character types. What separates Ragatha from Raggedy Ann? Well Ragatha has a simpler style dress, she has a shirt button for an eye, and a less round head shape. What separates Mel from other Mummy type characters? She has red eyes, big gloves and boots, and also she doesn't have zombie green skin. Both shows have recognizable and identifiable characters, and that may be one of the reasons I'm not as much a fan of The Gaslight District. The characters are identifiable, and I've seen them before, the protective but loving father, the rambunctious daughter, the shifty-slimy side character. Granted these are not bad takes on the characters, in fact I actually really like Mel and Mud quite a bit, but I've seen them before.

"So what?' I hear you asking, 'It's not like the Amazing Digital Circus has wholly original characters either."
You're absolutely right, if anything the characters may be less original in Amazing Digital Circus, because let's see, a rabbit character who likes pulling tricks and getting under people's skin? Yeah, Jax is pretty much just the next "Trickster Rabbit" character, made popular by the likes of Br'er Rabbit or Bugs Bunny, but an archetype that has existed since Native American Folklore. Amazing Digital Circus does not have the most unique characters either, so it clearly is not the characters. Besides, it wasn't until episode 2 that the Digital Circus crowd got any real depth, so it's highly likely that the same will happen with The Gaslight District.

Maybe then it's the artstyle? Amazing Digital Circus has a much more colourful and cleaner artstyle than The Gaslight District does, but that is kind of the point, The Gaslight District is a gross, disgusting looking show, and it is meant to be. Amazing Digital Circus was meant to look like a more polished early 90s 3D animation, that is the artstyle that fits with that show. Gaslight District is meant to be an ugly looking show with violence, disgusting imagery and other nasty stuff. I think the moment I knew that I was not going to hate this artstyle was when Mud coughed up a bullet for his rifle in the opening, that was gross, absolutely, but it's the kind of gross that sets up the world and character. Really, I think The Gaslight District is visually more interesting than The Amazing Digital Circus, solely because it is darker, grittier and grosser.

I mean really, on a technical level The Gaslight District is fantastic, I really do like a lot of the visual flairs that give it almost a comic book kind of feel, like I can see this pilot being adapted into an amazing comic book, it took me by surprise when The Amazing Digital Circus was announced to be adapted into a manga, but I would not be surprised if a comic book adaptation was announced for The Gaslight District. Plus, the music is great, maybe not as memorable as The Amazing Digital Circus, but it might grow on me, and the voice acting is once again perfectly cast. Allanah Fitzgerald really did capture that spunky and rambunctious vibe of Mel, Jason Marnocha as Ken was just a role I can not imagine a person in the booth, it really did seem like that voice was meant for that character. of course, Michael Kovach is also in this, but he's in every webshow by now.

So, I guess the truth of the matter is, I just prefer the kind of Show The Amazing Digital Circus is a lot more than the kind of show The Gaslight District is. The Amazing Digital Circus is a dark comedy with a more psychological edge to it, whereas The Gaslight District is a crime drama, the video description for the pilot even says as much. I love me some crime movies, but I'll admit I'm pretty basic with the genre, The Shawshank Redemption and The Usual Suspects are my two favourite crime movies for example. The Amazing Digital Circus on the other hand reminded me a lot of things like The Gregory Horror Show and The Stanley Parable, and I am just going to gravitate more towards that kind of thing, I think. I definitely think this is the kind of show that I will grow to love as it goes along, but it's probably not something I would have checked out if it wasn't associated with Glitch Productions.

Again, I don't want anyone to come out of this thinking that The Gaslight District is not at all worth watching, it absolutely is, and I really can see arguments for people saying it's better than The Amazing Digital Circus. Honestly, I think it has the potential for being better than The Amazing Digital Circus, but I think I'll still like The Digital Circus just that tiny bit more. Still, I am absolutely down to seeing more of The Gaslight District, I have no worries that it will get picked up and we'll get a good selection of episodes. So, right now I may not love it, but I am open to the possibility of the show making me love it. Well Glitch Productions, you seem to have another hit on your hands, keep up the fantastic work,

First Impressions; Garfield, Thelma and FoodFight!

2024 has been a... slow year for animated movies so far, and frankly it's also been an uneventful one. Like I can't think of any releases that I think everyone is going to talk about in years to come. Like, say what you want about Wish, we'll be talking about that movie forever. April has been completely dead for any major animated releases, but now that Summer is almost here, we're going to start seeing some more releases, so hopefully this slow start will actually build to something. It's telling when one of the more notable releases in this stretch of time is a documentary about a movie from 2012. That all being said, what were my initial impressions of the new releases?

The Garfield Movie
Released: May 24th, 2024
Portion Written: May 26th, 2024

From the trailers, I assumed the worst part about The Garfield Movie would be Chris Pratt as Garfield, he just doesn't have the same kind of inflection as Lorenzo Music did, or even Bill Murray did. Little did I know, that the movie would actually be one of the biggest disappointments of the year. Honestly, the movie isn't "bad" per se, it has some good elements, but nothing that really made me think "Yes, I will absolutely watch this movie again".

The biggest problem with Garfield is that, by the standards of Garfield, this movie is pretty weak. I think back to all those specials from the 80s, and think about things like in the Christmas special, Garfield at the Arbuckle farm and listening to Grandma talk about her late husband, or Here Comes Garfield where he remembers good memories before Odie is taken to be euthanized, or in Garfield on the Town where he says goodbye to his mother, those were emotional gut punches, and Garfield looking at the tree his father watched him in and realizing he was always there, it just didn't hit as hard.

I should also bring up the fact that there are repeated flashing light sequences in this movie, so yeah, be warned if you have photosensitive epilepsy or have any light sensitivities.

Overall, while this movie does have good moments, as a whole I just don't think it really works the best. I can slightly recommend this one because, it isn't awful, and it's still Garfield, but as a whole I just don't think it really worked.

Thelma the Unicorn
Released: May 17, 2024
Portion Written: May 27, 2024

Sometimes a movie or something comes out that I just have to ask myself... "Am I becoming a jaded grump?" It always the kind of movie that I watch the first few minutes of and can guess what the plot is going to be and what the theme and message is. I guess there isn't anything really... wrong with movies like this, or Wish Dragon, or Next Gen, it's just that I don't really want to watch them. I had the same issue with Klaus, that I found that I knew exactly where the story was going, what arcs the characters were going to have, and what the theme of the movie was going to be. I guess ultimately there is nothing wrong with this movie or it's message, I just wasn't as into this one. Do I recommend it? Eh, I guess... again I don't think it's really harmful or insulting, just milquetoast and average.

Rotten: Behind the Foodfight
Released: May 2, 2024
Portion Written: May 29, 2024

Any animation fan who has been on the internet for the past ten years should know about the movie Foodfight. It is infamous for all of the reasons, and to list them all would be to review the entire movie... It's on my list. Sometimes, you have to wonder, how does a movie end up becoming so disastrously bad?

This documentary, uploaded onto YouTube by user Ok So..., discusses the history of the infamous animated flesh wound, as well as dispelling some rumours, and frankly... it kinda just seems like this movie was actively sabotaged, I don't want to spoil things too much, but it definitely sound like the director had no clue how to... be a director, just in general, forget directing an animated film. There is a lot of information about this movie in a neat and concise little package that is available for free online. Even if you are have absolutely zero interest in Foodfight, and frankly I don't blame you, I almost recommend this documentary as, like a how not to make a movie thing, like the documentary shows how the movie was made, how people who worked on it felt while making the movie and basically do not follow the footsteps laid down while making it.

Rotten is a fascinating look at one of animations most fascinating... look I have a rule about swearing so that limits things I can compare Foodfight to, just give this documentary a look.

I guess it also says a lot that the highest ranked movie of this selection is said documentary about a movie from 2012. It's honestly kind of foreboding that the two movies I've liked the most this year were Kung Fu Panda 4 and Rotten, like I'm really hoping that there is something else coming this year that will impress me... and I highly doubt it's gonna be Moana 2.

Well... what can I do... Fare-thee-well.

First Impressions, January to March: Orion, Kung Fu Panda, and The Casagrandes

You know, doing singular First Impressions is fine, I don't mind doing it, but it doesn't really help that much when I don't have scheduled releases for them. So, here's what I'm gonna do, I'm going to do what Crash Thompson does... or did. For those unfamiliar, Crash Thompson is a music reviewer on YouTube, most notable for his series How To Get Into, Bad Album Covers, and some old series about a dorky alt. rock back from the 90s nobody's ever heard of. When he was doing reviews of new releases, he did a series called FIMI, which is an acronym which I will not be revealing because I have a rule about swearing. Basically, he compiled a bunch of albums that were newly released and gave his thoughts on them in a quicker... well "Quicker" manner than full on reviews.

So I'm gonna do something similar, because A). This let's me talk about more movies, B). This lets me have an excuse to keep things short, C). I can post this on a scheduled time instead of randomly, and D). I can add to this every time I see a movie. Basically, I'm going to introduce the movie, give the release date, and I'll also give you when I wrote that particular portion of this blog, so if I make an observation or prediction, I don't have to tell people which bit I wrote before or after the other. So, now that I have explained how this all worked, let's get to the actual movies.

ORION AND THE DARK
Released: February 2nd, 2024
Portion Written: February 6th, 2024

Oh DreamWorks, literally the day before this movie was released on Netflix, I called DreamWorks one of my favourite animation studios, and that is still true, but... it's movies like this that make me hesitate a little. Orion and The Dark is a pretty bad movie, it's a story within a story movie, like The Grand Budapest Hotel, but like... it made me think more of that Simpsons episode "The Seemingly Never Ending Story", which mocked this kind of story telling. If only the story telling was this movie's only problem. The comedy of this movie was not very funny, one of the entities is meant to induce sleeping in people, and they do this by smothering them with pillows, chloroforming them and hitting them with hammers... I'm sorry, this isn't funny, I get the joke, but that doesn't mean it's funny. I also wasn't a huge fan of he art style, but I think that's mostly just a nitpick.

I kind of expect this movie to be really divisive, like a "Love it or Hate it" type movie, but unlike something like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas which achieves this by being both enjoyable and horribly uncomfortable, this movie does it by virtue of... being just complicated enough to make others feel smug, I guess. I'm just saying, don't be surprised if people take the Rick and Morty meme and use it to make fun of this movie's fanbase in the future. (Remember I'm writing this portion in February.)

I can't really recommend this one too much, on the bright side, this is also like Ruby Gillman in that I can see a really good movie in here... but I think I actually prefer Ruby Gillman to this one.

KUNG FU PANDA 4
Released: March 8, 2024
Portion Written: March 10th, 2024

From one of DreamWork's lesser movies, to one of their better franchises. After having done a whole marathon of the previous Kung Fu Panda movies, I was all set for this one. Kung Fu Panda 3 was, in my opinion, a solid way to end the series and a fourth film just kind of felt unnecessary, plus the advertising did this movie zero favors, look at this point the only people who don't know that the Kung Fu Panda movies are more than dumb Kung Fu comedies are young kids and people who don't respect animation. I'm just saying, Frozen II could have an awesome trailer, but a Kung Fu Panda movie needed to have one that only emphasized the lamer jokes of the movie?

Thankfully, DreamWorks... usually know what they are doing, and the team behind Kung Fu Panda 4 really gave us another fantastic movie. Admittedly it is not as good as two, or even three, but those are tough acts to follow. Ultimately, it is worthy of being a Kung Fu Panda movie. It once again, feels like a more natural continuation, sort of... I feel like this part of Po's story is rushed, I mean yeah, eight years is not that short of time, plus there was an entire series that took place after three, but like... it doesn't feel like that long has passed. Besides that, admittedly tiny nitpick, I had a good time with this movie, I liked the new character, I liked Po's conflict, and as usual the action scenes are pretty top notch, honestly the fight with Lord Shen from two may have some competition as my favourite fight scene in these movies.

I did kind of miss the Furious Five, a lot of what I loved about the other three movies was Po's relationship with the Five, but all in all, I can't say I'm disappointed. I don't think I can Highly recommend this one, but it's a tough call. Hopefully the next DreamWork's movie will be excellent.

THE CASAGRANDES MOVIE
Released: March 22, 2024
Portion Written: March 25, 2024

You know, this is my first dive into anything Loud House related, because I never really watched any episode of The Loud House or The Casagrandes, and I missed out on the Loud House movie. So, my first impressions are... wow this was boring.

Really, boring is the best word I could use to describe this movie, boring and predictable. Every joke in this movie was something I've seen before, and there are no new twists on them, and as soon as the opening with the modern slang talking ancient God was finished, I knew exactly how this story was going to go. If you're curious, just watch A Goofy Movie and Hercules at the same time, guarantee it's a more interesting experience.

I missed out on The Tiger's Apprentice and the new Megamind movie, I don't guarantee I'll get to them before the year ends, this era of streaming is... kinda stupid honestly, but that's a rant for a different day. I have heard that I'm not missing much on either of them, but still. So far, the movies released have been, meh, like if Orion or Casagrandes are my pick for worst movie of the year, than I'll genuinely be surprised, maybe I'll try and get around to that Megamind movie soon. Regardless, this is still the early months, all the major releases are going to be coming out more towards the summer so I can't really say I'm too disappointed so far. So, how would I rank this set of movies?

Orion gets a Not Recommended
Kung Fu Panda 4 gets a Recommendation
Casagrandes gets a Not Recommended

With all that said, I've got a movie review to write. Fare-thee-well.

Editorial: The Amazing Digital Circus Pilot is Fantastic

 

The 2020s have so far been a pretty fantastic decade for independent animation. Thanks to animation software reducing the barrier to entry for many users, and the viewer-base for online content only really going up, a lot of people are taking a stab at creating their own animated series, this isn't new to the 2020s, people have been making online animated web-shows since the 1990s and it has become much more popular with channels like Eddsworld, Mondo Media, and the Disney of the internet, Rooster Teeth, and no that is not mean as a compliment. Honestly, it's kind of because of this that I've stepped a bit away from internet animation, save for the shows I'm already a fan of like Death Battle or Red vs Blue, it's kind of that we're spoiled for choice and short on time so we have to pick and choose what we want to give our time to, we all have our preferences to what we want to spend our time on. Yet, something drew me into The Amazing Digital Circus, and if I'm being frank, it was entirely the response the pilot has received, people are going crazy over this show, excited about the amount of views it's gotten in three weeks, already making fan theories and so much Rule 34 art already... just so much.

To be fair, I absolutely see why people have been going crazy over this, because this is such a fantastic pilot. It advertises itself as, if I may quote the video description, "A psychological dark comedy about cute cartoon characters who hate their lives and want to leave", and frankly, I don't think I can sum it up better than that. It's kind of like a cuter, and funnier version of The Gregory Horror Show, a cult anime that is also a psychological dark comedy, but it's a very different kind of show. The Gregory Horror Show is very much shrouded in metaphor and symbolism, and it is very dark. The Amazing Digital Circus, as of now, isn't as full of metaphor and although it definitely has a darker edge to it, visually speaking it is very bright and colourful. It also reminds me a little of one of my favourite video games, The Stanley Parable, which also has a bit of a psychological edge to it.

Speaking of the visuals, let's start there, because the animation is absolutely amazing. When people talk about stylized CG animation, this is the kind of stuff we're talking about. It gives off the vibes of an old uncanny computer game, the kind of games that stuff like Baldi's Basics took inspiration from, but a lot more polished. Which is amusing, the opening splash logo look like a PlayStation One title screen, and the whole pilot could have looked like that, honestly the fact that they chose not to go that route is very respectable. Anyone could have made it look like an old PC or PS1 title and claimed "Stylization", but that trick doesn't really work for animation like it does video games, and even then it doesn't work all the time for video games. I think where the visuals really shines is the character design, each character looks distinct, unique, and memorable. I've been watching MrEnter tear into High Guardian Spice, and for the life of me I can't remember which character is Parsley, Sage, Rosemary or Thyme in that show, I just remember them as "Pink", "Blue", "Elf" and "Dwarf". Not here, I can easily put a name to the design of Caine, Jax, Pomni, Ragatha, Gangle, Zooble, Kinger and Bubble, and can list of personality traits, like Kinger being a nervous and unstable wreck, and Jax being an unapologetic jerk... I think he's my favourite.

Which is a perfect segue into the comedy. I think my main issue with dark comedies is that they focus a lot more on the "Dark" than they do the "Comedy", though honestly this one kind of skews in the opposite direction, but there are two things I have to keep in mind; Firstly, this is a pilot, more episodes are potentially on their way and we may get some much darker episodes in the future, and secondly, even if we don't, the show is still funny. Jax is probably my pick for funniest character, but Kinger and Caine both had equally hilarious moments. Pomni herself is a great protagonist, I do want to follow her as she tries to escape the circus, or slowly becomes consumed by it. Ragatha is probably my favourite non-humourous character though, that is my favourite character beyond how funny I find her, you can tell she is clearly as sucked into this world as the others, but she still tries to be kind and friendly, I hope nothing but good things happen to her, they say knowing full well nothing good is going to happen to any of the characters in the future. It also helps that the voice acting is perfect, all the characters were perfectly cast. Lizzie Freeman as Pomni, Michael Kovach as Jax, Amanda Hufford as Ragatha, and Alex Rochon as Caine? Alex Rochon, former Countdown YouTuber, formerly known as The Autarch of Flame, was Caine? Well that is just point number "Okay I've lost count of how many points this bloody pilot has" to add to why this pilot is awesome. All the cast did an excellent job, absolutely disappearing into their characters.

The Amazing Digital Circus is a wonderful show with loads of potential, I really want to see where this show goes. Will it get darker? What is in store for the characters? What is Caine's deal? Very much, this is a show I will have to keep my eye on, and the fact that it's an independent internet series, allowing it to have few restrictions, means that it is bound to be a very unique show. I'm really hoping this series becomes the next big piece of indie animation, it was funny, dark, had wonderful characters, fantastic animation, there really is nothing bad I can say about it, I mean I guess I could nitpick, but you know what, I don't really want to. I want to see more of this show, I want to see a home media release in the future, and I want to have one of those Pomni plushies... I know what I'm going to pester my family for Christmas for. I'd say "Go see it", but at 78 Million views on YouTube... you already have! If you haven't, this pilot gets a High Recommendation from me. I eagerly await more, MORE!

First Impressions: Toopy and Binoo The Movie (2023)

Sorry guys, this is not a blog about the new Ninja Turtles movie, I'm just kinda done with that franchise. After being told I didn't have taste because I dared to not like the first episodes of Rise, I'm kind over the whole franchise. Hope everyone enjoys it, I'm skipping it. So instead, I went to see Toopy and Binoo, because I... screw it, I like these movies. Movies for young kids based on properties for young kids, they can be calm and relaxing watches, like the previously reviewed Blue's Clues and Little Bear movies. I'm not gonna lie, I think these kinds of movies are nice to watch if they're done right, and while I don't think they're up in the higher echelons of animated movies like Felidae or Treasure Planet, they still have some value to watch. Was I expecting anything out of Toopy and Binoo? Absolutely not, I expected a not-so-good but ultimately harmless kids movie, and I got a not-so-good but ultimately harmless kids movie.

Toopy and Binoo is a French Canadian book series that was made into an animated series in 2005. Funny enough, there was another French Canadian book series that was made into an animated series... You know, that kid's who's four, and each day he grows some more? Yeah, Caillou probably tanked any reputation Canadian pre-school shows could have, and I'm not going to act like Toopy and Binoo is like, Blue's Clues or Bear in the Big Blue House, it's a show for little kids made by people who only expect their audience to be little kids. I've seen a few episodes, and ultimately the show is not great. I do have to wonder why this movie got a theatrical release, no seriously, it has a theatrical release, why? I mean, I'm not going to argue that some movies don't deserve the grandiosity of a theatrical release, but I am going to say... why did a movie based on a pre-school property that hasn't done anything since 2006 get a theatrical release, I'm genuinely curious.

It's not like the movie looks that much better than the show, admittedly I don't remember much about the show, but other than the locations, the characters all look the same. I mean, this is equally a good and bad thing, because it looks like the show so it won't be odd looking to any fans of the show, but I have to think that people wouldn't really pay the theatre price to see a movie that doesn't look any better than what they can get on TV. Really though, that is just the surface level, honestly the backgrounds and locations are kinda nice, I wouldn't say they're absolutely stunning, but they aren't unappealing to look at, I may not be impressed by it, but it's not bad.

Sadly, the characters can't really have the same said about them. Most of them are just really annoying, they all have negative traits pushed into an annoying degree, Toopy himself is just unbearably narcissistic, one character is attached to her phone so much that I can't help but wonder if this is a jab at Gen-Z, two characters are annoyingly cowardly, one is annoyingly entitled, the only main character that isn't annoying really is Binoo, and that's mostly because he doesn't talk at all. I do tend to like silent characters like Gromit or the Cobbler in the Recobbled Cut, usually because it gives the animators the task of trying to communicate to the audience exactly what the character is thinking. I don't really get too much of that with Binoo, mostly because the art-style really does limit what can be done with the animation. On top of that, the characters don't really go through much of an arc, when they change by the end, we don't really see exactly how they got from point A to B.

Honestly, the movie isn't bad. It is just a movie for really young kids, and it's made exactly like that. There is a moment where everyone is worried about waking up a giant monster, but when it wakes up, it just cries. Okay, they didn't want anything that could be upsetting to the audience, okay, but there really is nothing challenging in this movie. There is no real emotional hook or gut punch, there's nothing like Steve feeling depressed about not finding one of Blue's Clues, or Little Bear and Cub going through dangerous territory to reunite Cub with his lost parents. All we get is Binoo really wanting to find his plush toy, I can see this being like, a twenty-minute special or something, not an hour long feature. There is also a minor running gag about these two characters who are meant to be identical twins, and all I can say is... Muppets did it much better.

Again though, I went in expecting a not-so-good movie, and I got a not-so-good movie, but it was ultimately harmless. Maybe some kids might start imitating some of the characters, but other than that, I can't think of anything really harmful to kids, I just think that when they grow up, they're not going to really have anything to come back to with this movie. I can definitely think of worse movies, honestly this one is going to rank really low on my worst animated movies of the year list, if it ranks at all. If you have really young kids and you want to keep them quiet for an hour, their are worse ways to do that, if you want to show your children something that they can come back to, The Little Bear Movie is on YouTube on the Little Bear - Official channel, so you can show them that instead. Do I recommend this one, even slightly? Not really, it isn't unwatchable, but it also isn't worth watching.

First Impressions: Nimona (2023)

 

Well this is a movie that I never thought I'd really get to see. All the way back in 2021, it was announced that the film adaptation of ND Stevenson's graphic novel, Nimona, was being shelved after the closing down of Blue Sky Studios. It was speculated, and I think pretty much confirmed, that Disney cancelling the project had something to do with it's heavy focus on LGBTQIA+ characters, which I did hint at in my previous blog about it's cancellation, and lots of people began to believe after it was revealed that Disney CEO Bob Chapek had funded the Censorship Bill in Florida. So, when it was announced that Netflix was picking the movie back up, everyone who was excited for the movie was thrilled, though I did have some minor reservations... who am I kidding, I was hyped.

Netflix, for all the crap I give it, does take a chance on a lot of their Netflix Original movies, which was very evident in 2022 with the release of so many weird, unique and fascinating movies that were all really good. It actually gave me a lot of hope for Nimona, and quite frankly, I've got to be one hundred percent completely honest with you... you aren't buying this build-up are you? Yeah, this movie was really good! Like, really good, so good I want to break my no swearing rule, it was that good.

To be fair, it isn't the graphic novel, which... you know, that seems obvious, it's a movie, but in the sense that this is almost completely different from the original book. I can't help but bring up Coraline again, another movie that I felt wasn't much the book, but why did I like Nimona instead? Well, at its core, Nimona is still Nimona, the themes and characters are still relatively the same, whereas Coraline's theme was portrayed differently between the book and film, which I think changed exactly what the main idea was. What is the theme behind the Graphic Novel? That villains can be disguised as heroes, and what is the theme of the movie adaptation? Relatively the same thing, at least that's the theme I got out of the book. At it's core, Coraline was just different enough to bother me, while Nimona was just similar enough to not bother me, if that makes sense.

That being said, there are omissions from the book I do miss, like that scientist character that Ballister met at the convention, it was a big character thing for him to actually have a new friend after becoming the villain. Also apparently they changed his last name to Boldheart, which I think does kind of muddy the theme a little it, the entire point was that he was meant to appear as the stereotypical villain, right down to his name being Blackheart. I'm a little indifferent to the change of the climax, it is nicer that on some level Nimona is still in control of herself, and it was very heart-wrenching to watch, but at the same time, giant monster movie destruction is always going to be missed. I also kind of missed a lot of the medieval touches in the book, but it does kind of fit. The book was so medieval that future technology seemed out of place, while the movie was so future that medieval stuff seemed out of place.

To be absolutely fair, there is some differences from the book I did like. For starters, the gay subtext between Ballister and Ambrosius is now officially context, yep, they are one-hundred percent gay in the movie and I love it. They are not shy about it either,  right from the introduction of these two, you can tell they are absolutely in love. Plus, it really does feel like they did simplify a lot of the graphic novel, and for good reason. Like Nimona's backstory is different, but it works and her having a defined backstory is nice, where in the graphic novel we did have to infer a lot. Also, their plan in the graphic novel was a bit complex, so it's nice that the movie has a simpler plan that gives us more time for Ballister and Nimona to interact.

And yes, let's talk about Nimona the character, because she is fantastic. Nimona still does have some LGBTQIA+ and Non-Binary aspects about her character, but something else I picked up was some autistic aspects. The way she describes Shapeshifting, it kind of sounded very similar to stimming, and honestly, I really do think that was intentional. On top of that, Nimona was still the same spunky and energetic character, and her silly side is always on display. Seeing her when she's hurt is genuinely hurting, and when she's having fun, I'm having fun alongside her. Nimona has translated very well into film and animation, and may actually be one of my favourite characters in both literature and cinema, maybe the first character to be both.

Nimona was really good, I think this is in the running for best animated movie of the year. I mean, the only other candidate is Suzume, and honestly, I think it's gonna be a close call. We'll see how the rest of the year turns out, but I'm calling it right now, Nimona is gonna rank very high on my list of the best animated movies of 2023. It was fun, thrilling, genuinely heartbreaking, a solid enough adaptation, and honestly, it's just so good to have this movie out finally. Nimona really needs to be seen, watch it, immediately. Honestly, I do kinda hate that it isn't a Disney film, because I would have loved to see this in theatres, but then again... Disney might not have let this movie be this movie, so I'm happy to sacrifice a theatre experience for a movie as good as this.

Also, I want to give a huge thank you to everyone at Blue Sky, who put a lot of effort into this movie before they were unceremoniously shut down, and thank you to everyone who brought this film back and worked hard to make it such an amazing film. Thank you all, for everything.

First Impressions: Ruby Gillman Teenage Kraken (2023)

 

Yeah, I'm not taking back what I said about this poster, it is easily still one of the worst movie posters I've seen. However, a poster is not a movie, and ultimately the DreamWorks animated feature about Krakens, Mermaids, Teenagers, and Family Drama is... I mean I like it... I think. I think I like it. Maybe? Yeah, I do. Or maybe I like the concept and ideas alongside some parts of the movie. Maybe I like what it could have been? Yeah, I have thoughts, complicated thoughts. I mean, it is a good movie, but the ultimate question isn't do I think this movie is good, the question is do I recommend this movie, and... I think I do? I mean, I want this movie to do well, but like... would I recommend this movie straight up? I want to say I can recommend this no strings attached, but I mean, do I actually?

Okay, what do I like about this movie? Well, for starters I do like the concept, a teenaged kraken trying to have a normal human life while also being a creature from the sea that everybody hates... Wasn't that the basic idea of Luca? Young creatures from the sea trying to have a human life while the humans hunt their kind? Hmm... I should give that movie a watch, regardless, concept is great. On top of that, I do also like Ruby's relationship with her mother, I do believe her mother genuinely loves her and wants to do what's best, but it's just that what's best is not really clear. I also love that Ruby's crush also genuinely likes her, and has from the start. Genuinely I hate when a character has a crush and that crush only acknowledges them after they've done something incredible. On top of that, I think the modern setting really works in this movie, and the animation is absolutely wonderful, when Ruby's kraken form is glowing, it's genuinely very pretty, and does a lot to make the dark seas more visually appealing.

So, there is stuff I like here, it's just... there's also stuff I don't like. I did say I liked the concept, but the story itself... I said that Elemental focused on the wrong aspect of the story, and that goes double for Ruby Gillman. If this story was just Ruby and her family trying to find a balance between human life and kraken life, I would be so down for it. Yet, they have to have a war with mermaids, and royalty and Ruby makes friends with a mermaid, and would it spoil anything if I say you can probably tell where it's going? Yeah, this is one of those movies where I really didn't want what was going to happen, to actually happen. Unlike Elemental though, where I don't ultimately think the predictable things really dampen my enjoyment of the story, I think it kinda does in this case. Ruby's family dynamic and conflict about being human or being kraken is more than enough.

I don't know, maybe I'm just tired of being able to predict how stories turn out. I realize this is a "It's tough to be powerful" kind of complaint, but like, when you watch a lot of movies, you do start to pick out clichés, tropes and familiar story beats, and it ultimately wouldn't hurt to have those familiar things presented in a new way, or at least, something that was done really, really well about it. Again, going back to Elemental, it was a very predictable story, but the relationship between the two leads was done really well, enough for me to overlook the weak story. With this movie, I don't really think any part is done exceedingly well, it's serviceable, it meets its quota, but it really could have been more.

The stuff with the war, the mermaids, the trident, that stuff is fine, but the stuff with Ruby and her family and her life on land and her friends, that is all stuff I wanted to see more of. Watching this movie did give me a couple Turning Red vibes, and I don't really think I'm the only one who will come to that conclusion. Maybe they went in a different direction to avoid comparisons, but like I wouldn't have minded this movie being a bit more like Turning Red. So, again, I think I like what this movie could have been more than what it actually is, but I do like what it is. It's just, I think the whole is weaker than the sum of its parts. Do I recommend it? I mean... I guess? I'm not one to disguise the fact that I am not ahead of the curve and I can make dumb calls when it comes to First Impressions. This is partly why I don't count these as actual reviews, and why I did a rereview of Wonder Park.

I think ultimately, I do have to recommend it on some level, if only because I do want people to form their own opinions about something. Even then, the parts I did like about this movie, I genuinely did like, and even the parts I wasn't a fan of, I didn't completely hate. This is definitely a movie I will have to rewatch when the time comes because my current feelings are pretty complicated. I like parts of it, I dislike other parts, I don't think the whole movie is all that bad, but at the same time I don't think it's all that great, but I also don't want to say it's somewhere in between either. Is it a well made movie? yes. Is it entertaining? Again, yes. Maybe I'm missing something, maybe I just need to give it a couple more watches, but ultimately, I can recommend it on some level. Consider this a high Slight Recommendation. Like in the same camp as movies like Raggedy Ann and Andy: A Musical Adventure.

First Impressions: Elemental (2023)

Elemental is one of those movies that everyone had thoughts on, from the concept alone people had questions, thoughts and criticisms. There was just one major thing though, for a good while we didn't really have much to go off of on what this movie really was. The first teaser was a brief showcase of the world this movie took place in, and even then not by much. It showed us two things, that this was a world full of elementals, and that fire was not very common here. We got a more detailed trailer afterwards, but exactly what this movie was, we still weren't sure. We knew it had something to do with prejudice, maybe? Honestly I probably should have drawn this conclusion earlier, but it did seem like Disney was trying to market this as a second Zootopia. However, those are the trailers, and trailers, even fantastic ones, are not whole movies, so how was Elemental as a movie?

Ultimately, Elemental is a good movie. Not great, not spectacular, honestly it is kind of bog standard for Pixar, but it is a good movie. I think the unsure expectations are what will really keep people away from checking this movie out in theatres, that or theatre prices. This movie is not another Zootopia, sort of, themes of prejudice are still prevalent, but the movie is ultimately not about prejudice in the same way Zootopia was. That being said, it's also not a wholly original story either, you can still find elements from modern Disney in this movie. I can't say it's about intergenerational trauma, this isn't another Encanto or Turning Red, but similar themes are there.

When it comes to world building, I'd say that Element City is about on par with Monsteropolis, but that still puts it leagues above Onward. Anyone even remember what Onward's city was called? I never really got the urge to want to explore this city, or really see how it worked. That being said, this movie's world is quite neat, I did enjoy seeing how the homes for the water folk were made, and I quite liked seeing how sports were done in this world. Some of the technicals, like the trains running on water, and there being canals to catch spills from the ships are nice touches, and of course the movie just looks beautiful, so that is a plus towards the worldbuilding as well.

However, neither the themes nor worldbuilding is this movie's strength. The strength lies completely in the relationship between Ember and Wade, and while the arc is again, not wholly original, it is well done and well-made is always going to last longer than unique. I liked seeing why these two fell in love in the first place, Ember admiring Wade's ability to connect with people and Wade admiring Ember's creative thinking. Ultimately, I wanted to see them together, I wanted to see them have all the fun experiences together, I wanted them to be happy. I think Elemental focused on the wrong side of the story, the engaging bit wasn't how everyone else saw Wade and Ember's relationship, the engaging bit was the relationship.

Saying that Elemental is a standard Pixar film, should be seen as a testament to how high Pixar's standard's really are. Remember this is the studio that gave us Toy Story, Finding Nemo, Up, The Incredibles, so when Pixar releases a film that's good but not great, it can be seen as them slipping up. Pixar's output has been pretty full of slip ups and mixed opinions, I loved Toy Story 4 but a lot of people see it as unnecessary, Turning Red has a lot of controversy attached, Lightyear is the lowest rated Pixar movie that isn't in the Cars franchise on Rotten Tomatoes, Brave and The Good Dinosaur are seen as Pixar's worst movies, and Onward was rather generic. Pixar is still able to put fantastic movies out, but I think it's okay that they put out something that is just "good" as well. So no, this isn't in the upper echelons of Pixar movies, but it's still in a comfortable space. I can see Elemental being someone's favourite Pixar movie, but not a lot of peoples. Even still, I give this movie a solid recommendation.

Also, how have I never used the world "Echelons" before?

First Impressions: Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (2023)

 

Easily one of the best animated movies from the 2010s has got to be 2018's Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. It was fun, exciting and unique amongst the rest of the animated releases that year. It wasn't my favourite, I still think Isle of Dogs is the best animated movie of 2018, but this was easily a close second, and it was a lot more impactful on animation than I anticipated, the 2020s, so far have been one of the best years for stylized animation, beyond just Computer Generated 3D animation, and I do think this was, if not the catalyst than where the ball got enough momentum. So, of course a sequel would be highly anticipated and there would be a lot of expectations on this movie. It not only has to stand up compared to the first movie, but it has the challenge of any sequel, which is that it has to stand on its own... Kinda like Miles Morales... funny how that is fitting.

Immediately, the first thing that hit me was the opening scene with Gwen and her father. After seeing it, I thought I sat through a whole mini-movie, like I would have been satisfied if it was just the opening segment. You know what I'm about to compare it to next, yep, this movie's opening was almost as good as the opening to Up. Legitimately, it was that good, I think I'll give the point to Up by just a tiny margin, but that just kinda shows the talent that went into this movie for the opening sequence to be on par with what is often regarded as the greatest opening to an animated movie of all time. Of course, now one would imagine that with an opening so good the rest of the movie would falter by comparison. Right?

While I won't say that this is as good as the first movie, you do have to understand that was a really high bar in the first place, the animation was a bit more stylized, especially in Gwen's world, and especially on the characters, seeing Spider-Punk in such a very distinct style was super cool, and seeing the scene with Miles towards the end, all his memories coming back, it was so cool. Truthfully, there is so much about the animation I want to talk about but, holy moly, I really want to keep this spoiler free. So many cool bits of animation, blending, live-action integration, it's all very cool.

On top of that, I liked seeing where all these characters went, Peter B. Parker became Spider-Dad and was just amazing to watch, seeing where Miles is, where Gwen is, it was all so engaging. I was sitting there, in the theatre, and what was in my seat's cup holder? Warm Sprite, I often forgot I had my drink right next to me, and my friend stopped eating their snacks we were that invested in what was going on. On top of that, seeing all these new spider-men, not just Spider-Punk, but also Miguel O'Hara, Jessica Drew, Pavitr Prabhakar, Spider-Byte, Scarlet Spider, Web-Slinger, and so many other Spider-mans... Spider-men? Spider-mans that... quite frankly I think only those who are DEEP into comics and Spider-Man lore can really appreciate, though they were good for a good chuckle at the utter ridiculousness of things like Spider-Rex, which I thought they were already digging deep for Spider-Ham. Hey, if you guys can name every Spider-Man variant out there like I can name every member of Donald Duck's family tree, this may be a movie for you.

Also J. K. Simmons comes back as J. Jonah Jameson, which is a plus.

So, do I have any issues with this movie? Yes, I have one very big glaring issue, this is part one of a two-parter. Why does this bother me? Because it means that I have to wait another year or so to see how this story concludes. This is one of those movies I would have been glad to see a full three hour cut of, it was so gripping and exciting that knowing that I can't finish this story right now is irritating, is this how it felt to wait for the Lord of the Rings sequels? Like, people who saw Two Towers in theatres and had to wait a whole year before The Return of the King, is this what it felt like? Still, don't let that stop you from seeing this movie, easily it is one of the best animated movies... Hell, one of the best movies of the year so far. It is kinda nice that 2022, despite being a bit of a dry spell for animated movies, it is nice that most of the one's we've gotten have been really good. I'm excited for the rest of 2022's releases... particularly one... you know which one.

As for Across the Spider-Verse, do I even need to say it's a High Recommendation? I'm considering this as mandatory viewing if you want to get into animation.

First Impressions: The Super Mario Bros. Movie (2023)

I'm going to be honest, I hate Illumination Studios. I have not seen all of their movies, and I doubt they're all terrible movies. However, Illumination is easily the poster boy for "Safe" movies. The kind of movies that are so inoffensive and non-threatening that they straight up annoy me. So, I was actually kind of excited for The Super Mario Bros. Movie, as surprising as that sounds, because the trailers and screen-shots of the movie made it look so much different and more unique from the rest of Illumination's output. So I waited with anticipation and high, but reasonable expectations. I was not expecting something like a Secret of NIMH or a Felidae here, honestly if Illumination made a movie on par with either of those, I'd would be beyond amazed, but I was kind of expecting Illumination to take a risk, be bold and raise their bar by a lot, and did they accomplish that?

Truthfully, The Super Mario Bros. Movie is... somewhat what I expected. By Illumination's standards it is a very risky movie, but that is by Illumination standards, which is a bar so low it's practically in the Earth's outer core. Secret Life of Pets 2 and Minions: The Rise of Gru were not awful movies, but they were fairly safe and formulaic. Not that this movie is not formulaic at all, but it isn't as predictable as Minions 2 was. Minions 2 had the recognizable pattern of the standard family film, the third act break-up that is meant to be emotional only to bring everyone together in the end because "Hey, I didn't really mean what I said". There is a bit of a third act break-up here, but it isn't played with a misunderstanding or a emotional low point... sort of. It was more a consequence of the action. Plot wise, I do think Illumination stepped out on a limb here, a baby step maybe, but still a step.

Of course, no discussion of this movie is complete without talking about the voice cast, namely one Pratt by name of Chris. Chris Pratt is the voice of Mario and... he's fine. Yes, it would have been nice if we got Charles Martinet as the voice, but Chris Pratt does fine. Charles Martinet is not forgotten in this movie, being the voice of Mario's Dad, which is a nice touch. Honestly, my biggest issues with the voice actors lay with Cranky Kong and Bowser. Cranky Kong's actor was fine, but he sounded way too young for this role, I always imagine Cranky with a Red Green kind of voice, old and grizzled without a hint of wisdom. as for Bowser, for the most part he's actually fine, great even, but when he sings he often slips into Jack Black's regular voice, and that is just distracting. I love Jack Black, and I do think he was a good casting choice for Bowser, but moments like that did pull me out of the movie a bit.

Honestly though, those were my only complaints. Everything else is fairly good. The animation is colourful and does its job pretty well, the story moved at a good pace, and the characters were pretty well written. Avid Mario fans are also going to enjoy spotting references all over the place, with things like Pauline's cameo, Foreman Spike and his hat saying Wrecking Crew, the Dragon Coin from Super Mario World and the shop from Mario Odyssey, plus references to other Nintendo properties like Punch-Out and Kid Icarus. Some references I would have loved to see would have been mostly characters that could appear in a potential sequel (Wink wink) such as Wario, Waluigi, Daisy, Rosalina and Toadsworth, who relly should have been on the council of Toads, but I digress.

On Twitter, Crimson Mayhem put forth the question about Illumination making a movie based on The Legend of Zelda. Honestly, I will still need a tad bit more convincing for that. Not that I don't think Illumination can pull it off, but they really should get some more experience with video game adaptations before I'm fully on board. Honestly, I think now would be the best time for a Zelda movie, since video game adaptations are finally getting quality releases, with the Sonic movies being enjoyed by games fans and general audiences, and this movie being pretty solid. Is it the big risky move I was expecting from Illumination? Not really, but to be fair, I was kind of expecting a lot there, wasn't I? The fact that this movie is better than "Watchable" is quite frankly astounding on its own. I'm hoping this isn't just a fluke, but I doubt it's a sign of things to come. I can say this movie gets a solid Recommendation from me.

First Impressions: Mummies (2023)

 

2023 has been off to a rather slow start for animated movies. Sure we have a lot of anticipated releases, but that will be starting in April, January to now have had very few mainstream releases, really there was The Amazing Maurice and The Magician's Elephant, and I really only count those because other animation reviewers talked about them. Mummies is the first animated movie of the year to be released theatrically, at least for me. It is interesting to think, of the amazing amount of hyped releases, the first one to get the theatrical release is a movie that I don't really think anyone was anticipating, but maybe it will be like a hidden gem, a potential overlooked classic, so what did I think of Mummies?

Well, good news, it isn't the worst movie I've seen, and I have doubts it will end up as the worst animated movie of 2023, but it was pretty bad. Mostly due to the plot, and how clichéd it is. I don't mean that as "Oh this plot is overdone" kind of thing, I mean this plot is full of clichés. Name them, Dance Party Ending, Lovestruck idiots babbling, Fake out death, False Climax, Mopey Dopey broken hearted misunderstandings, all of that is in this movie. Oh, and the plot is centered around a couple that "absolutely do not love each other, and never will be in love because they obviously and forever will always dislike each other". I guess on the one hand there are some clichés they do avoid, like the main character isn't a generic everyman at the bottom of society who wants more in life, he's a former celebrity, and rather than making him vain, narcissistic and pining for the glory days that are so clearly behind him, they actually set him up as a fairly nice person. Though, the Princess character is as standard as they can come.

Speaking of characters, the voice actors did okay, I think my only issue was Sean Bean as the Pharaoh, not that he does a bad performance, but because the character's design was very clearly begging for a Patrick Stewart or a Brian Blessed, someone with a deep and powerful voice. I miss Christopher Lee. Anyway, the actors all do decent jobs, can't complain too much, even if the performances don't add a whole lot to the characters. That being said, the animation is also partly to blame for that. The animation is standard, not to visually impressive. It looks... kinda like Wonder Park actually. It isn't technically bad animation, it just looks generic and doesn't really "pop", I guess that's the right word. It looks like how I would imagine Illumination movies looking.

I think the only saving grave of this movie is the humour, and even then only one joke really got a big laugh out of me. It was a reference to the infamous botched restoration of the Jesus portrait, you know the one. Other than that one visual gag, nothing really got much of a laugh out of me. I think little kids might find it appealing, but I can't imagine it really sticking with them. With the amount of anticipated releases coming out, I would expect this movie to be forgotten rather quickly. I guess the music isn't that bad either, the major pop song that this movie was clearly built around is tolerable, but this movie plays Nickelback, and not only that, but "Far Away", that is... easily one of my least favourite songs I've heard, not their worst ("Something In Your Mouth" has it beat by a mile), but I can't stand it. And before anyone asks, yes, they play "Walk Like an Egyptian" by The Bangles. That is something someone would suggest as a joke, not in earnest.

Again, I can't say this is an awful movie, on a scale from one to five, with one being mediocre and five being hot flaming garbage, I'd rank this movie at a two. It is a very clichéd, generic looking, mediocre movie. I think it is mostly harmless for children, but I don't think "mostly harmless" is really that ringing an endorsement, not even for a planet. I guess dull and boring can be worse than actively terrible, but I'd rather watch a harmless movie I'll forget about than a genuinely unwatchable movie that sticks with me and makes me angry just thinking about. So if this is the worst animated movie of the year, this may turn out to be the best year for animated movies of the 2020s, but I ain't holding my breath on that one.

First Impressions: Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)

I don't think there has been a more anticipated release for 2022 than Guillermo Del Toro's Pinocchio. It seemed like every little scrap of information about it made everyone far more excited for the movie. Guillermo Del Toro was immediately a draw, and him adapting such a famously dark story as Pinocchio was enough to draw a crowd, then add in Stop-Motion, throw in a production credit from The Jim Henson Company, and also give us Ewan McGregor, which come on, how would that not be a draw? I can't think of a movie that excited more people than this one. Of course, any movie that lives on hype usually dies by hype, but I think it's safe to say that this is easily the best Pinocchio movie of the year.

Yeah, high praise when you consider the direct-to-video movie and the Disney remake are not exactly high bars to jump over, but all in all, this movie was pretty good, not great, but pretty good.

I think my biggest issue would be the story, since you can kind of tell what is going to happen. They brought up that the Cricket would be given one wish at the end, and I immediately knew what he would use that wish for, that being said, it did take a few interesting turns, like Pinocchio going to this land of Death, that was pretty cool. The story taking place during war-time Italy surprisingly did more for the story than just being a depressing backdrop. No, this is not accurate to the original text, but it does seem like nobody really wants to tell a book accurate Pinocchio story any more. Pinocchio is kind of like A Christmas Carol in that regard, everyone who wants to tell the story will want to try and put their own spin on it, and I think that is pretty neat, but we don't really have that many book accurate versions of Pinocchio, even the Disney one takes its own liberties with the story.

That all being said, I did like the way the plot moved, I felt Pinocchio was a really well done character as well, you can sense that he is a good kid, just naïve and doesn't understand a whole lot. I should also talk about the animation. Netflix really had an interesting year with animation didn't it? They did Apollo 10½ which was all rotoscoped, they did Wendell & Wild which was stop motion, and they did the Scrooge movie that was a total animation trip. I feel like Netflix is spreading their wings a bit more with the kinds of movies they produce and distribute, and they are getting more A-list releases, which is fantastic. The animation for this movie is really good too, sometimes I forgot it was stop motion and thought it was really stylized computer animation.

So, this easily has to be the best movie Netflix released all year, right? Well, no. I still have to give that honour to Wendell & Wild, and honestly, Apollo 10½ comes in second. I just thought that Apollo 10½ was a very unique movie, a fascinating look at 1960s culture through the eyes of a child, and did some very interesting things with the rotoscope technique. The Sea Beast would probably be my third, since I found that one a really exciting action/adventure, though it too had a fairly predictable plot. Not that del Toro's Pinocchio isn't a really good movie, but I think I'm more impressed by the technical aspects of the movie than actually entertained by it.

That being said, I do think this is the movie that will finally lead Netflix into the right direction with their A-Game. Netflix has been seriously lacking in real A-list releases. Sure, they had Klaus, and I could argue Arlo the Alligator Boy as an A-list, but almost everything else has been D-List at best. The House is definitely a B-tier release, but almost everything released since has been A-tier quality. I think the only exceptions that I watched were Scrooge: A Christmas Carol and Marmaduke, the former being a solid B-Tier and the latter being absolute unwatchable garbage, but I think Pinocchio fit's nicely in the A-tier, and I feel that Netflix is starting to shape up. I think movies like Duck Duck Goose and The Larva Island Movie will be, not necessarily a thing of the past, but less common to see on Netflix's service. Which is good because Nimona is set to release in 2023, and I am stoked. It really does seem like Netflix is the best distributor for Nimona, and del Toro's Pinocchio kind of proved that. I can't really recommend this movie enough, this is one of the few times the end result somewhat lived up tot he hype.

First Impressions: Strange World (2022)

 

Disney has had a... fascinating year in 2022, hasn't it? They began this year by releasing easily the worst movie of the year, and they have been making misstep after misstep. From mishandling Pixar releases to releasing subpar trailers, it really does seem like Disney was in a... whatever kind of state this year. Of course I would be remiss if I did not bring up the fact that Bob Chapek was let go as CEO and Bob Iger came back, I think that is just the peak of how strange this year was for the Disney corporation. I guess it wouldn't be so rough if they released something that was a total "Wow" movie, something that was really great. It really feels like the best movie they released all year was The Bob's Burgers Movie, which wasn't bad, but like, if that is the best movie you release all year, than the year really is not your best. However, the latest movie in the Disney animated canon has been released. This is the high point of Disney's releases, because this is the one that everyone can get into, kids, parents, animation fans, the lot, everyone can be excited for a release in the animated canon, so how was Strange World?

It was okay.

This is not a Raya and the Last Dragon okay, I did enjoy this movie, but this just kind of felt like a standard animated movie. It's the kind of movie I feel is the standard of what is expected of Disney movies today. Remember Encanto? That was a really good movie, it felt different from the rest of Disney's catalogue even though it really wasn't that much different. This is the opposite end of Encanto, it feels the same as other Disney movies, but it has some things that make it stand out. I've heard this movie described as "By the Numbers" and I do have to agree, not that I could really predict every point this movie was going to hit, but like, nothing was surprising. I feel like the best movie to compare this to would be Klaus, which was a good movie, but very predictable. While this movie wasn't as predictable, it also wasn't as good. Klaus got away with the predictable plot because of the great characters and unique animation, and since Strange World doesn't really have either, you aren't really left with a whole lot.

Not that the characters are bad, they're just kind of standard. They kind of spell out the arc the father is going to have to go through, they spell out the arc his son is going through, and they do these arcs well, but like, if you're going to do something that's been done a thousand times, you should aim for better than "done well". Like that Scrooge movie I talked about in my last First Impressions, we've seen A Christmas Carol done dozens of times, so it decided to do something a little bit different, and I think it succeeded, this one feels like its going through the motions. It's story, characters and themes are not wholly unique, and that isn't bad, because they are done well, but that is all they are, done well.

I think what made Encanto really work was that it was more of a twist in expectations, there was no real villain, there was no grand adventure that needed to be taken, there was no huge climax, there was no big reveal. Encanto wasn't atypical of Disney's output but it was different, Strange World really isn't, especially since this movie has a reveal. Disney's reveals have usually been for their modern villains, like Hans, Bellwether and so forth, but those aren't the only reveals, and Strange World's reveal is... I don't want to say it's stupid, but like, I feel like you could have told this story without the big reveal.

So, where do I stand on Strange World? It is a good movie, but like, it just kind of fits in with the big conglomeration of mush that is 2022's animated feature line-up. It really does seem like a lackluster year when a reanimated project and two movies that were film festival releases from last year warrant spots on the "Best of the Year" list. 2022 has been the year where the bad releases weren't that bad, and the good releases weren't that good. Like, what movies could be on my bad list? Luck, Pinocchio: A True Story, DC League of Super Pets, Paws of Fury, none of these movies are that bad, like they're bad but they are mostly the bland and boring kind of bad. Meanwhile the good movies mostly ended up being the "it's okay" kind of good, and Strange World really falls into that category. Do I recommend it? On some level, yeah, but I can't say that it's a strong recommendation, it's the kind of recommendation where I say, "If you have some time to kill and want something that isn't bad, check it out." That really has been the theme for 2022's animated movies this year, hasn't it?

First Impressions: Scrooge: A Christmas Carol (2022)

It's December, that time of year we all start to put on our favourite Holiday classics. Rudolph, The Grinch, Charlie Brown, Home Alone, maybe you're one of those people who watches Die Hard on Christmas, I don't judge, but everyone has at least one Christmas Carol movie in their holiday rotation. Maybe it's The Muppets version, maybe it's the Mickey Mouse version, maybe it's the one with Alastair Sim or George C. Scott. Plenty of classic Holiday movies to enjoy, and Netflix has released yet another holiday movie that may or may not be a classic. You know, I'll be honest, though I had my issues with Klaus, I thought it was still pretty solid, so will this adaptation of A Christmas Carol fall into the same line? or is this the one to break Netflix's winning streak of 2022?

First and foremost, I must be real, do not treat this as a straight forward adaptation. The iconic story is still intact, but it is very clearly its own interpretation. While dialogue is definitely based on the book, it is not lifted from the book word for word. I actually quite enjoy this change, and while I'll miss some iconic lines, at the end of the day, it is nice to see a much more unique take on the story. It is not just another retelling, it takes some liberties, it makes some changes, it becomes its own thing. It's not just A Christmas Carol but with The Muppets, it's not just A Christmas Carol but with some extra scenes, it is not just A Christmas Carol but traumatic, it is its own version of the story, and I do have to respect and admire that. I feel that if you are going to adapt a story like A Christmas Carol, an old story that has a countless number of adaptations, at some point you are going to want to deviate from the book in some new ways, and the ways they did were interesting.

One of my favourite changes was The Ghost of Christmas Past, they kept the candle motif, but they gave her a very snarky personality and I absolutely loved it. The Ghost from the original story was always typically portrayed as ethereally distant, a straight-laced "Here are the facts" kind of person. Here, she is a lot more enjoyable to watch and they do have fun with her being a candle made of wax, having her shapeshift. They also change the Ghost of Christmas Present a bit, he feels a bit more like the Muppets version where he is just a bundle of good cheerful vibes, but at the end instead of him just dying, they actually make him become the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, now that is ingenious, I genuinely thought that was an excellent idea.

I also think the characterizations are good. Scrooge is a bit tricky to get right, but they definitely got close with this version. He is a bit like the Michael Caine portrayal, where he is the good man buried underneath years of pain, though with Caine it came out a bit stronger since we actually saw his character arc. We see him go through his past and then he's cracking jokes with Christmas Present, he has his awkward dance and is excited to see the festivities of the holiday. This one feels a bit like Caine mixed with George C. Scott. I should give special mention to Luke Evans, who managed to be a good casting choice for Scrooge despite me never thinking he could pull it off. Somehow this movie succeeded where the 2009 adaptation failed.

I mean that in more ways than one too. The 2009 version tried to be thrilling by amplifying the darker aspects of the story, to the point where it became too dark and the pleasant moments failed to balance out properly. Here, the thrilling stuff they added was well done, could be much for a young child but not too much. It is that kind of cool sort of creepy where you're scared, but you can't quite take your eyes away. The 2009 version was also just unpleasant all around, the spirits genuinely felt spiteful and angry, but here, they feel very playful, and their jabs at Scrooge feel like, well playful jabs. While there are some dark moments in this movie, it never gets as dark as the 2009 version, so I do think this is good to show kids, it fits in with kids movies from like the early nineties.

So, is this one of the greatest versions of A Christmas Carol of all time? Well... no, there are some things that do hold it back. The technical aspects are a bit lacking, the animation is kind of that generic looking CG, but when you don't have the budget or expectations of a studio like Disney or DreamWorks you do get a bit of leeway. The songs are pretty hit and miss, the opening song and the song in Christmas Future are a bit lacking, and The Ghost of Christmas Present's song number is lyrically lacking, but gets by on just being a vibe, it's not an "It Feels Like Christmas", but it's in the same ballpark, to be fair the rest of the songs range from "Not great but hits to notes" to genuinely really good. Then we get the stuff that I also could have done without, namely the flashbacks. Throughout the movie, there are small scenes that show stuff we have previously seen, usually to connect what happened in Scrooge's past to what happens in Scrooge's present. I feel like this is unnecessary, kids are much smarter than we give them credit for and I do think they could make the connection with something familiar, especially within the same movie.

That all being said, I actually quite enjoyed this movie. I think I would rank it as my fourth favourite adaptation of the story. The Muppets is first, than Alastair Sim, than George C. Scott, then this one. Mickey's Christmas Carol follows closely, it's a good short, but it is a bit too condensed for my liking. I do feel like this one tries to be its own version of the story and succeeds at trying. If you want a straight forward adaptation, I'd go for one of the big three, but if you are getting tired of the straight forward adaptations and want to try something that is, identifiably A Christmas Carol, but not trying to be a true adaptation, I say give this one a go. I really have to say this, Netflix you have been on a winning streak for animated movies this year, you do have some duds, but overall, I'm impressed with your output.