Good or bad, Fixed is important.

Okay, this is going to be a short summary of my thoughts on a certain topic. Recently the Genndy Tartakovsky adult animated feature film "Fixed" was released and prior to that it had a large group of detractors. People were calling this movie "Sick", comparing Genndy to John K, and all around making a lot of claims about this movie and how depraved and degenerate this movie was.

Full disclosure I have not seen Fixed as of yet, I have been really slacking in my job this year, but regardless, this is not a post about the quality of the movie, rather about how I think a movie like this is important. What is the one thing I always say about animation in stories like this, "There is a stigma towards animation", I say that because animation is constantly being pigeon-holed as "Children's entertainment", and this doesn't just mean viewers dismiss it as "Low art", it also means that companies disregard it because "It's just for kids, nobody cares". If AMC treated Breaking Bad as badly as Nickelodeon treated... literally any of their cartoons, but for example sake let's say Legend of Korra, chances are they would not have gotten away with it.

Of course the question is, "How do we destigmatize animation?" and the answer to that is really simple, but also really complicated. For the most part, animation fans are doing alright, supporting "K-Pop Demon Hunters" and "The Day The Earth Blew Up" is absolutely how we should do it. However, let's not (For want of a better word) kid ourselves, these are movies meant for kids, maybe older kids, maybe young teens, but still meant for younger audiences. Animation is never going to leave the stigma behind if the only things coming out in animation are predominately meant for kids and young teens. We need more adult animation, and I mean beyond X Rated pornography, and South Park and Family Guy clones, or even online content. We need proper mainstream adult animated properties, especially feature films.

This is not to say that adult animated features are exceedingly rare in this modern day, we see things like "Cheech & Chong's Animated Movie" or "Anomolisa", but are those "Mainstream" or are they more of a "If you know your stuff" kind of movies? Genndy Tartakovsky is a mainstream name in animation, even if you don't know the name, you know Samurai Jack, you know his work on Dexter's Lab, you know Hotel Transylvania, he's not a name like Richard Williams or Rob Renzetti, he is probably up there with Walt Disney and Stephen Hillenburg. Him making an adult animated feature, one that reportedly is not tame at all, is actually very good to help destigmatize animation. Even if the movie isn't good (Though I've heard good things about it), it does say to other animators that they don't have to be stuck in these holes they are put it, they can experiment, leave their comfort zone, and get notoriety for it.

I actually think it's kind of refreshing to see Genndy Tartakovsky go in this direction, and I do think that "Fixed" is a good thing on the art side of animation. Of course, on the business side, "Fixed" is probably going to be a nightmare, with studios green lighting more animated features that have adult content, but miss the point of what made them liked in the first place. We can, and should, celebrate the artistic achievement while dreading and criticizing the corporate directions that will come of things.

Anyway, those were my thoughts on the matter, again, whether the movie is good or not, and again I've heard good things, I do think that "Fixed" is important to animation as a whole, and also trailers suck, but that's a topic for another time. 

Wallace & Gromit: Where Vengeance Succeeds and Were-Rabbit Fails

I have said it before, I am a huge fan of Wallace & Gromit. They were an instrumental part in shaping my love for animation. As a kid, you really enjoy the slapstick and goofy gags, but as an adult, you really do appreciate the cinematography and the writing, as well as the slapstick and goofy gags. So I, like many fans of the Claymation duo, was pretty excited to see that they were not only getting a new feature film, but there would also be a returning villain from the shorts. True, I did have some reservations, avoiding the trailers meant that I was not going to have an opinion on Ben Whitehead until I actually watched the movie, and, y'know there is always that bit of hesitation when a movie for an old I.P. is announced, like that voice in the back of your mind that keeps saying "They better not have messed this up, they better not have messed this up!" and it's always there at the back of your mind. So, with all that said, what did I think of the new Wallace & Gromit movie, "Vengeance Most Fowl"?

I think it's better than Curse of the Were-Rabbit to be honest. Curse of the Were-Rabbit was not bad, but it did have a few shortcomings that really kept me from fully loving it. While I don't fully love Vengeance either, I think with a few more watches I might grow to.

First thing I want to talk about is the movie on its own merits, because I do want to discuss why I think it's good on it's own before I compare it to the previous movie. Vengeance Most Fowl is almost like a love letter to Wallace & Gromit fans in places, lots of small references like Feathers McGraw clicking on the Moon for a Captcha asking about cheese, because the moon is canonically cheese in the Wallace & Gromit universe, or even the farmer from Shaun the Sheep cameoing, they're all really cute nods that aren't intrusive to newcomers. They are exactly as a nod to fans should be, something cute that fans will chuckle at without constantly winking to the audience. On top of that, I do think Ben Whitehead did a good job replacing the late Peter Sallis, I mean he did so in the Tell-Tale games, which I haven't played that much of, but I think he did a really good job in the movie. Plus, the cinematography of this movie, Feathers McGraw was the perfect antagonist to bring back because the camera and lighting work perfectly to make this adorable little penguin one of the most intimidating villains on screen, which is a joke in and of itself. Plus, I really like the diversity of the movie, they don't bring major attention to the fact that Wallace has an Indian neighbour, or that the new police character is also likely Indian or Arab, it just is a thing that is accepted, and that's great.

So, why do I think it's better than Curse of the Were-Rabbit? Well first off, my biggest problem with Were-Rabbit was that, when the third act rolled around, it wasn't as fun as the first two acts, and I believe that is largely because in act three, Wallace & Gromit became just Gromit. Gromit is a fantastic character, don't get me wrong, but a lot of the entertainment and comedy from Gromit comes from his interactions with other characters, and Gromit didn't really interact that much with others in most of Act Three of Were-Rabbit. Here, Gromit is very rarely far from a character to interact with, Wallace, Feathers, even the new Gnome Robot gets some good scenes with him. The scene where Gromit is spying on Feathers as he escapes the zoo, only for Feathers to look his way and wave him off, that was really good.

On the topic of Feathers, yeah, there is a reason he is one of most beloved characters in the Wallace & Gromit franchise, the immediate joke of such an adorable little penguin being treated as such an intimidating presence is, on its own incredibly hilarious. This movie really ups that joke with great camera work and character animation. Matt Groening, in A Grand Night In: The Story of Aardman, called the introduction of Feather McGraw in The Wrong Trousers "Hitchcockian" even noting a specific scene that he has always wanted to ape from The Simpsons. Just imagine, all that admiration from a thirty-minute short film. I can see an argument being made that it's a lot more heavy handed now, where as there was a simple elegance to the introduction in The Wrong Trousers, but I think that it fits. Again, the joke is just so fantastic, there are genuine moments that I was laughing because of how well they played their cards in making this penguin an intimidating menace.

Speaking of the visuals, I kind of prefer the look of this movie to Were-Rabbit too. It looked fantastic, don't get me wrong, but there is just something about Vengeance's animation that vibes with me better. It genuinely felt like perfect middle ground between the original short films and feature length polish, I don't know how to explain it. I think the only nitpick I have with the animation is this very obviously CG explosion at the end of the climax, which looked rather out of place and uncanny. I get why they did it though, it was undoubtedly much easier, possibly cheaper, to do it in CG than to do it all in Claymation, but it just didn't mesh. Still, that is like, the one nitpick of this movie's visual look, the movie looks fantastic, polished and just as charming as the original short films.

I don't want this blog to come off as "Now that this movie is out, Curse of the Were-Rabbit is no longer worth watching" because that simply isn't true. Were-Rabbit is still a really good movie, it just had a few shortcomings that I think Vengeance Most Fowl managed to evade. Both movies are still really good, but if I had to pick which one was better, I would have to pick Vengeance Most Fowl. I feel like Were-Rabbit tried to be a lot bigger than it needed to, while this one was just as big as it needed to be. Still, I must recommend watching the original short films first, just to get a good feel of what Wallace & Gromit is. I still think A Grand Day Out and The Wrong Trousers are the peak of Wallace & Gromit, but I'll admit, this one comes pretty close.

First Impressions; Despicable Me, Sandy Cheeks and Ultraman

I have to wonder, at what point can we call a year "Bad" for something, like did people decide that 1980 was the worst year of Pop Music in 1980 or only after a few years have gone by? It's easy to say that 2024 is a mediocre year for animated movies now, but we're just over half-way through, but like, what really has there been animation wise? 2023 was a pretty empty year for animated releases, but at least there were good movies released then. 2023 was no 2022, but it had some good stuff, but what has their been for 2024? There's been Inside Out 2, Which I still have yet to get to, and Kung Fu Panda 4, which seems to have gotten a mixed reception. It's telling when the best animated movies released are sequels and a documentary about a notoriously bad animated movie. Still, we have some new releases to talk about, so maybe we'll see something good?

Despicable Me 4
Released: July 3, 2024
Portion Written: July 28, 2024

I mean… it’s an illumination movie, what more needs to be said? Okay, that is a bit unfair, it's not like Illumination makes movies that aren't worth talking about, it's just... I feel like all my major problems with this movie are the same problems I have with the rest of Illuminations line-up that I've seen, it's just not trying to be anything that great. Granted, this is probably on the lesser side quality wise, and that mostly falls to the story. There is just too much going on, and a lot of stuff that just doesn't really get much of a resolution. The kids have a Karate class and that goes nowhere, the wife becomes a hair-stylist and that goes nowhere, the Minions become super-powered and that also really goes nowhere despite it being the most advertised aspect of the movie. I was waiting for them to show up in the climax and when they appeared I was like, "Ah, this is all this subplot is going to amount to, alright." I mean seriously, the Minion stuck in the vending machine had a more rewarding pay-off.

I feel like the story would have been better if it was just Gru and Poppy or Gru and Maxime, because I can imagine the former being a fascinating character study of Gru deciding whether he wants to return to being a villain or if he wants to stay with his family, and the latter would be a standard, but fairly entertaining, family-comedy film. Do I think this is the worst animated movie of the year? Honestly, no. Illumination movies just don't really get there for me, again they don't try to achieve greatness, and the benefit to that is that they also never hit absolute failure either. I can't really recommend it, but like... it's pretty innocuous.

And if anything, it got "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" stuck in my head, so thanks for that movie.

Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie
Released: August 2, 2024
Portion Written: August 2, 2024

At least it's better than Sponge on the Run.

Okay, that's a bit harsh, because I'm gonna be honest, I didn't think this movie was awful. There were some gags I actually liked here, even some dumb ones, like they almost felt like classic SpongeBob gags, and I'm not gonna lie, I did like Sandy's family, though I also just like Johnny Knoxville so take that for what it's worth. Is this movie great? No, it does have some issues, some of the effects, most notably the live action mixing were noticeably off and uncanny, the human actors just didn't feel right, the songs aren't really anything I'd want to listen to, I really don't get what the obsession with this stylized Computer Animation is, I think it looks ugly, and the movie is kind of... there. I mean, I wouldn't classify it on the same level as a movie like Mummies, but like, it really isn't something I'd probably come back to, but you know what, it is better than Sponge on the Run. I'll make jokes about its content, like Squidward being a bisexual furry (Only half kidding), but I don't think it's that bad, I can accept this movie's existence as a SpongeBob movie, albeit not a good one. I can't really recommend it on any real level, but like... I can't say I didn't have some enjoyment out of it, I'll go "Slight Recommendation" but take that with a grain of salt.

Ultraman: Rising
Released: June 12, 2024
Portion Written: August 17, 2024 (I watch these sporadically, shut up!)

On some level, I do have to admire this movie. There are elements here I can really appreciate, like the stylized animation, the choice to have a grey morality, honestly even the character relationships and drama I can kind of admire. Despite that though, this is kind of just another one of those movies where I have to ask, "Am I just getting jaded?", because I did kind of peg how a lot of this story was gonna go, for an Ultraman movie, I didn't assume that the movie I was gonna be reminded of most would be Mr. Baseball of all things. Even the animation, though I do recognize it as being of high quality, it often does just come off as Spider-Verse-lite. Still, I can't say this is a bad movie, it's quite well done, it's just, I think I would just rather watch The Sea Beast. I dunno, this was just another movie that failed to grab me, maybe I just had high expectations. Do I recommend it? Yeah, I arguably is one of the best movies I've seen all year, but like... honestly, if this is it, than this year just seems ready to accept the title of "Worst year for animated movies".

The Imaginary
Released: Dec 15, 2023
Netflix Release: July 5, 2024
Portion Written: August 25, 2024

Yet another movie that I just have to ask myself if I'm becoming too jaded or if the movie is just genuinely not that good. Something about this movie just does not entertain me, I dunno, maybe it's how the movie looks, something about the art-style and animation is just not pleasant to me, it's like putting an anime face on a real human head sometimes. Maybe it's the villain, who is holding onto an imaginary friend as an adult, which has a bunch of implications regarding the theme, maybe it's just that I wasn't a huge fan of Spirited Away, that could be a factor too. I dunno, something about this film doesn't sit right with me. I guess I'll withhold a full rating for now because, I mean how can I really rate a movie when I can't describe my reaction towards it? This... is a first for First Impressions, a movie I just straight up can't really articulate myself with, bound to happen sometime I guess.

Yeah, this year isn't looking to great for animated films, and if I'm being honest, I'm not really looking forward to the rest of the line-up for this year. We've got Moana 2, Mufasa: The Lion King, and The Wild Robot, and honestly, I'm most dreading The Wild Robot. Hopefully I'm wrong on that one, but I dunno, this year's track record has been unimpressive so far. I don't even know if I'll be able to do a best list... maybe a "Movies that weren't complete trash" list... I'll think of something.

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.

Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood (2022) - A Unique and Mesmerizing Animated Film

Maybe I was a bit hard on 2022's line-up of Animated Movies. To be honest, going through this year, what feels like an absolute dry spell for animated cinema, it has me looking back at the previous year, kind of with rose-tinted glasses. I'm looking back at movies like The Bad Guys and even Lightyear, and just thinking about the stuff I liked, kind of wishing that something new will come in 2023. We've had a fair selection of movies, to be fair, but it really seemed like 2022 was just this big explosion of animated experiments in cinema, stuff that we haven't seen before, and will probably never see again. It kind of makes sense, considering the major events happening in 2020 and 2021, but it does seem like 2022 had a particularly bad swing, but still ran a home run, if that metaphor makes any sense. It should have been evident what kind of year 2022 was going to be, when the first selection of animated films were released, The House, Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wilde, Turning Red and Apollo 10½: A Space Age Childhood.

Apollo 10½, at it's core, is a look back at life in the 1960s, and what it was like for a kid to grow up there, specifically in the Houston area in the late sixties, during the turmoil of the war, political unrest and the conflict with the Soviets. This movie follows two major perspectives at this time, a child's perspective of being surrounded by the excitement of the space race, and being in the middle of such a culturally significant time, and a fantastical, pseudo-alternate history story of a young boy being enlisted in a space program to head to the moon in a rocket that was accidentally made to small for the Apollo 11 mission. The mix of reality and fiction lends itself to a very fascinating movie, with the nostalgia of the sixties being front and centre. Now, I am not a sixties kid, I stated in my last post I just turned 25, so I'm really more a 2000s kid. However, I myself am feeling a bit nostalgic for the 2000s era. I'm remembering it a lot as the era of massive movies, engaging television, and video games galore. I imagine if I did some nostalgic look back at the 2000s, it would probably be akin to how this movie does it.

And I mean that in more than one way, because this movie does not romanticize or sugar coat the sixties that much. It was a tumultuous era, it was full of issues and practices that would not fly today, dangerous games, no massive concern over safety, they do not hide the fact that this era had its ups and downs. It's not like when Disney looks back at what he was nostalgic about, it is very upfront about the kind of things that went on in the late sixties, and all from a child's perspective. It can feel a bit like hand-waving or giving lip service to these awful things, but honestly the movie itself puts it best, when you're a kid, the bad stuff usually seems to be confined to the television. It isn't really a celebration, nor is it condemnation, it is just the era, and I love that.

The acting is top notch, Milo Coy, the actor for the main character, did an excellent job, and of course, Jack Black was always great as the narrator and older version of the lead. There is also a good mix of familiar names, and lesser known names, which is always nice. That being said, some of the sound mixing was a bit wrong. There were times the narration was drowned out by a loud sound that probably should have been in the back, like I get they wanted to emphasize how loud the sound was, but I feel like there was some way you could do that without getting in the way of the narration.

Where the movie shines the most though is the animation. Richard Linklater has done animated films before in the past. He usually makes experimental, rotoscoped animation. Rotoscoping is a form of animation where you draw over what is already filmed, like animating a filmed person or animal and making them something else. Ralph Bakshi did this for the 1970s Lord of the Rings movie I previously reviewed, but if you want good rotoscoping, that is of high quality throughout the entire movie, this is a good movie to check out. They don't just do the lazy thing and only animated the characters, when everyone is watching a movie they also go over that with a bit of rotoscoping, so it looks like part of the universe and not completely out of place. Linklater also did Waking Life and A Scanner Darkly, both movies I want to check out some day, if this movie is any indication, I think those films will be worth checking out.

Apollo 10½, is a truly remarkable movie. I think this should have been the point where we knew that 2022 was going to be an interesting year for animated movies, maybe not a good year, but an interesting one regardless. It's kind of a shame I didn't get around to doing a First Impressions on it. I ranked this movie as Number 3 on my list of the best animated movies of 2022, which, honestly may have been a bit generous, I would definitely say that The Sea Beast is a better movie, and since I have to put Puss in Boots: The Last Wish on that list now, I'd probably rank this at Number 5 currently. Still, it is a really good movie, with wonderful visuals, a nostalgic feel and some excellent acting. It really is something special, and I give it a solid recommendation. I don't think it will be a lot of people's favourite movie, but it is one that will stick in your mind.

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.

Editorial: Netflix... yep, this again...

The irony is sickening, last year I was almost nothing but positive about Netflix. Their animated film output last year was phenomenal, to the point where I actually said, or at least implied, that I was happy Nimona was being put on Netflix. Well, guess what everyone is saying now, that Netflix is a bad service with bad business practices and doesn't deserve Nimona. Okay, fair is fair, I don't think anyone actually said the first part and I've seen only one person say that last bit, but you get my point, right? The year was 2022, I had little bad to say about Netflix and finally decided that they may be turning over a new leaf, and not even in the next year, literally during the same year, everyone began turning on Netflix. Why is that?

Admittedly, my disdain for Netflix has always been from a movie-goer perspective. Netflix seemed to have the strategy to place their name on any pile of garbage and hope that enough people watched it to earn a profit. Pets United, The Larva Island Movie, Duck Duck Goose, and lest we forget about the poorly marketed dumpster fire that is Cuties. Even when Netflix released a good movie, like Arlo the Alligator Boy or Klaus, I mean I liked those movies, but I wouldn't say they're some of the greatest animated movies of all time. Klaus was good, but it wasn't as good as Treasure Planet or even something like Felidae. Maybe it's because 2022 was so devoid of anything spectacular, that I was giving heaps of praise to Netflix for producing so many unique kinds of movies. Apollo 10½, Wendell & Wild, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, very unique movies that were different from most of the rest of the 2022 line up. This however, completely ignores the other aspect of Netflix, the shows.

Netflix played host to a variety of different types of shows, and being in the animation community, lots of people gravitated towards shows like Dead End: Paranormal Park and Inside Job, which a lot of people really liked. Inside Job stands with a 91% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and a 7.7 Rating on IMDb, meanwhile Dead End: Paranormal Park stands with an 86% audience score, a 100% on the "Average Tomatometer" (BTW, that looks like it should be pronounced Tomay-TOM-itter), and a 6.9 on IMDb. Granted, none of that is a measure of quality, but it is a measure of popularity, and these shows were clearly popular. You don't get a 91% if you're not popular on some level. So clearly, Netflix would see these ratings and think to give both shows more seasons right?

Oh my goodness, if they actually thought that, one; I wouldn't be writing this, and two; you wouldn't be here. Netflix decided to cancel both shows because... actually I don't know, but I'm sure it's a stupid reason, because of course it would have to be, it's Netflix. This is the streaming platform that thought that Vanguard's movies were good investments, I don't think there is a single brain cell working at the executive table at Netflix. Cancelling these two shows, despite their popularity, is like Disney cancelling DuckTales... oh wait... Disney did that too... and that's why we're stuck with the divisive finale. Oh ho.

All of that however, is just the moist pork and asparagus cake compared to the salt and vinegar frosting that is Netflix's password sharing policies. According to DiscussingFilms, Netflix has introduced a new method to keep people from being happy, forcing users every 31 days to log in on a home Wi-Fi network, or else have the account blocked. Now, does Netflix have the right to implement this? That's not the question, the question is "how is this a good idea in the first place"? All it's going to do is make even less people use Netflix. There are plenty of users who use a shared Netflix account because they can't afford their own, or are spending their money on another service, or they're, you know, trying to buy basic necessities because they get paid so very little. Netflix seems to be under the impression that when it comes to decided whether someone wants to have food or Netflix, they'd choose Netflix. The reality is, if someone had to choose between food, rent, utilities and Netflix, Netflix would literally be the first thing to go, because who the actual Hell would choose getting to watch Duck Duck Goose when you have no food, no shelter and no electricity to watch it with?

The irony of it all makes me sick, but I guess at the end of the day, a string of quality does not support the heavy weight of awfulness. Netflix's disrespect to animation, complete buffoonery of password sharing deterrents, and selection of awful, awful "Netflix Original" movies, really does mean that at the end of the day, the joke was on me. Giving Netflix any amount of slack was a joke at my expense, and I should not have been at all surprised when people began saying things like "Netflix doesn't deserve Nimona". because at the end of the day... they're right. Nobody deserves Nimona really.

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: 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.

First Impressions: Wendell & Wild (2022)

 

Henry Selick  is easily one of animations biggest directors, having directed movies that have breeched both the mainstream and the cult fanbases. From The Nightmare Before Christmas to Coraline, Henry Selick's movies are loved by animation fans all over, and with a collaboration with Jordan Peele, who has also produced beloved horror movies of recent years, it seems this would be a match made in Heaven. How could it possibly go wrong... Oh right... Netflix.

As I always say when I talk about animated movies that go directly to Netflix, I do not have high expectations of them. Yes, they have distributed some really good stuff, Klaus and Arlo the Alligator Boy were good movies, but the amount of absolute garbage they also peddle kind of outweighs the good stuff. Simply put, Netflix seems to stick their name on any crap and hope it's watched by enough people. Duck Duck Goose, Pets United, The Larva Island Movie, Vanguard's absolute unwatchable pieces of test animations like Gnome Alone and Fearless. They put their brand on absolute piles of unredeemable garbage and I seem to be the only one who acknowledges them. That being said, I know it is not entirely Netflix's fault, a lot of these movies are just movies they put their branding on, not actually ones they had made for them, and fair is fair, while I missed Appolo 10½ and The Sea Beast, they are both on my catch-up list, the reaction to both of them has been positive, so it does seem like this year, Netflix has upped their game this year.

So what about Wendell & Wild, is this movie any good? Is it another The House, or another Riverdance? Well, neither, it's a Wendell & Wild, and Wendell & Wild is good, damn good even.

I have said it before, I will say it again, the animated movie line-up this year has been mediocre at best. Not that The Bad Guys or Lightyear were bad movies, I enjoyed them fine, but they weren't really special movies. It really says something that my favourite animated movie of the year, was a film-festival release from 2021. Wendell & Wild is no Marcel The Shell With Shoes On, but it's in the same ballpark. The big issue with animated movies this year is they all seem to play it safe, Minions 2 is a prime example of this, being a movie that offered little in the way of challenge or depth, but offered decent enough entertainment value to make it less of an agonizing sitting. Marcel and Wendell & Wild both offer deeper stories and characters which make them stand out in a year where the best animated movie that wasn't released in a previous year, prior to now has been The Bad Guys, an entertaining movie, but a predictable one.

Wendell & Wild is another child-friendly horror from Henry Selick, but this one is PG-13. There is a stigma around the PG-13 rating now-a-days, since the PG rating has been given to movies with little more than one measly, and not even funny, adult joke. Yes Frozen, everyone will be howling with laughter at a foot-size joke, and while I won't say this imagery is on par with 1980s PG-13 movies, it can still be a lot for young kids. The images of corpses being brought to life, death and some darker themes do warrant this movie not being a standard G rating. On top of that, if anyone knows how to do child friendly horror, it's Henry Selick, Henry "Adapt the Neil Gaiman novel where a monster tries to sew buttons into a child's eyes to steal her soul" Selick. Even if I don't really like Coraline, I respect it immensely. I guess since this one isn't an adaptation like Coraline or James and the Giant Peach, the only thing I have to compare it to is, Henry Selick's other movies, and I think it has earned a spot amongst them all.

On top of that, the soundtrack is fantastic, the minute I heard X-Ray Spex play in the movie, my ears perked up and my hopes were raised. Germ-Free Adolescents is an amazing punk album and if you can, pick up a copy on Vinyl. However, I'm not here to talk about X-Ray Spex, but the rest of the soundtrack has some excellent songs on it. On top of the soundtrack, I also really like the themes of the movie, and I do think they are important for, not just kids, but also adults. Lots of people struggle with traumatic memories, guilt and the fallout of both, so it is nice to see this theme be tackled in a movie that is meant for, not little kids, but slightly older kids, kids who may be going through similar emotions or situations.

What can I really say, this was the kind of movie I needed to watch this year. After so many safe animated movies, I think it was time that Henry Selick and Jordan Peele came in and showed what animation was truly capable of. This was an excellent, risky and poignant movie, and I think... I think... I can't believe I'm saying this but... I think Netflix has the best new animated release of the year. it felt weird to say that, Netflix, the company that put it's name on Animal Crackers of all movies, giving us arguably the best animated movie of the year. Is someone at Netflix reading this blog? Well, doubtful, but The House and Wendell & Wild both released this year, and Nimona is set to release next year, and honestly, my hopes are getting pretty high for Nimona, it does seem Netflix is doing something good. What an absolutely strange feeling.

First Impressions: The House (2022)

 

Netflix, Netflix, Netflix. I have made my thoughts on Netflix quite clear in the past, they peddle a lot of crap under the "Netflix Original" brand and if they don't shape up they are going to go down the same tube as Steam, with really the key difference being that Steam is a store-front, having Steam is free and buying your games is what costs you. Netflix is a service, you pay for the service of watching movies and TV "for free", which is a whole argument in and of itself but that is irrelevant. Netflix has released some good movies in the past, Klaus and Arlo the Alligator Boy were good movies and could have really meant something for Netflix, if they didn't share the same spotlight as trash like Pets United, Duck Duck Goose and Vanguard's dumpster fires of animated movies. It really does say something that a lot of the big animation reviewers I follow like Cellspex and Animated Antic, rarely even talk about these movies with a few exceptions. Netflix has gone from the king of the hill to desperately sticking its name to anything to stay on top.

So I consider myself obligated to look at The House, a brand new anthology film brought to us by Netflix and Nexus Studios, a studio that is most likely known for music videos and a couple short films under their belt. I can't really find a full list of their work, not even on their official website, but it does look like they aren't strangers in the industry. The House caught my eye from Cellspex, who tweeted about it and said she was glad to see another animated horror entry. On top of that, it was a stop-motion feature and an anthology film, both of which I am eager to talk more about on this blog. So we have another entry where I'll be asking the question, does this sink Netflix's reputation even lower? Or can it help save them?

As mentioned prior, The House is an anthology film, consisting of three stories that revolve around a peculiar house. I guess I'll give you my initial thoughts on each story and then give a more general overview of the movie.

Our first story follows a poor family of four as they are given the opportunity to move into this fantastic new house. However, things start to go strange as they spend their first night in the house. I do have to say that the atmosphere was delightfully unsettling, with all the little ways that we can tell the parents are getting a bit too sucked into this world. It's almost like a Twilight Zone episode in a way, I'd actually really be interested in seeing what an animated Twilight Zone series would be like, but regardless this was a good first story to the movie. I really can't go much more into it without spoiling it, so while I do have some nitpicks, those delve into the spoiler zone, and unlike Onward, my feelings about this segment do not hinge around one big reveal.

The second segment follows a developer, who is an anthropomorphic rat, as he preps the house for a showing. The atmosphere in this one is perfect, the white noise of the place is all that you will hear in the background for most of it. The hum of electronics and the sounds of the street perfectly give us the setting and the mood. Anxiety is the main mood of this segment, and it can make this a bit of an uncomfortable watch, and there is also a segment where the lighting is a rapidly flashing array of colours like a really bad rave. It also has a really strange musical dance sequence, which was actually kind of cool. The music was actually pretty good and stop-motion dancing is usually going to be a fun sight, especially for fans of this form of animation. I'll be honest, I sort of skimmed through this one, the anxiety was a bit too much for me, but still, this was a neat little segment with an end that I genuinely did not see coming.

Our final segment focuses on the house surrounded by a flood, while the landlady, who is an anthropomorphic cat, wishes to fix the place up for more tenants while the ones she has are unable to pay rent with money. Then a strange friend of one of the tenants arrives and completely upends her plans. This one is a lot more sad bleak than the other two. While the first one was more of an unsettling horror and the second one was more of an anxious one, this is more of a bleak one. Even the ending doesn't come off as a happy one. It is not really the unhappy ending of the last two, but not the happiest either.

You know, it's kind of amusing in a way that this is the first movie I see of the year. In the last bit of 2021, I was getting antsy, I wanted to move out and get a place of my own, and 2022 is the year I plan to start planning. I feel like this movie has the overall these of materialism, how the things we want can consume us. It's somewhat fitting that the final story has the happiest ending of them all, showing us there is a way, there is hope. There is hope. However, that is just my interpretation, so take that with a grain of salt.

I do have to say that the animation of the movie is excellent. I feel like Stop-Motion animation is getting more recognition now-a-days, with the popularity of Laika. That being said, stop-motion is often pigeon-holed into one of two categories; a stop motion movie is either a horror or horror adjacent movie, or falls into the realm of uncanny and unsettling visuals. I do like Laika because they did try other non-horror genres with Kubo and Missing Link. That being said, the directors of these segments definitely knew how to use the visuals to their advantage, with the first segment having a soft look to it that made the actual story a lot more unsettling.

Overall, I did enjoy The House. I can't say it is one of my favourites, and I'm not anticipating it to be one of my favourite films of the year, but it's a well made movie that I do think does deserve some recognition. I will give it the caveat that this is not a movie for kids, I hate that I have to give that caveat but it is what it is. I think my only point of contention is that every article I've looked at said this film was a dark comedy, and I really don't see it, but that may just be me. I don't think this movie will bring up Netflix's reputation for myself, but I don't think I'll be too bent out of shape over people giving it tons of praise and acclaim. It's no Klaus, but it's in the same boat as Arlo the Alligator Boy, and there is nothing wrong with that. If you want a good, unsettling movie, I give this one a recommendation.

First Impressions: Arlo the Alligator Boy (2021)

 

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.