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. 

Top 20 Worst Movies I've reviewed (100 Reviews Special)

I've had multiple ideas about how to celebrate one-hundred reviews, and I settled on the idea of going through and listing the five worst movies from each quarter. Then I decided to just to a traditional top 20. It was a fairly last minute choice, but I like writing lists, and this felt less convoluted than the other option. If I had to pick one word to describe this batch of one-hundred movies, I would use the word... challenging, a lot of the movies I reviewed were movies I probably would not have watched if I wasn't doing this blog, movies that I had to find something new to talk about, and of course, movies that were just unwatchable trite. After one-hundred movies, one is bound to come across some distinct varieties of garbage that you probably never thought were even possible until you actually saw them. Some aren't so bad, like a used dryer sheet or a crumpled newspaper, and some are even unique pieces of garbage that you almost want to admire, but at the end of the day, I didn't really care for any of these movies, and I'll be happy to not really think about them afterwards. These are the worst movies I've had to review for this blog.

Also, please enjoy the new thumbnails I made, I have updated every one of my previous reviews with these thumbnails and I wanted to use them here.

20. The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie

Of all the movies on this list, this one is probably the one I want to put here the least. There was a time when a movie like this was an ingenious idea, compiling some of the best shorts and tying them together in a narrative, a little more involved than the original Disney Package Films, no? Ultimately, watching this movie made me really wish I was just watching the original shorts, cutting pieces off of the ends, putting them in a not so great order, it really made this movie suffer. You can find complete collections of every Looney Tunes short by era, character, animator, I mean you can probably find compilations for what title cards the shorts have, so the base question becomes if the new animated content is worth it, and frankly... I don't think so.

19. The Transformers: The Movie

Oh... this one is not going to make me any fans. I ultimately couldn't put Fun and Fancy Free on this list, despite being the worse movie, I've grown an attachment to it, there was a reason it was the first movie I reviewed on this blog, so I have to appreciate it on some level. The same can't be said for The Transformers movie though, it's just a sloppy movie with a messy plot that only existed to bring us to some admittedly alright action scenes, overly detailed designs, and a wildly out of place centerpiece single for the soundtrack. Plus, not every vocal performance was the best, sorry Orson Welles, but this was not the great curtain drawn for your career was one would hope. I know this movie is nostalgic for a lot of people, but that is the thing about nostalgia, it betrays you more than you think it does.

18. The Swan Princess

You know, the funny thing about this movie is, it's so uninspired and dull that as I was writing my review of it, I actually began to second guess myself. Not because this movie is secretly brilliant, but because I genuinely could not remember if the problems I brought up were genuine problems or if I was just blowing stuff out of proportion, and that was literally seconds after I watched the darn movie. One of the most shameless attempts to steal Disney's thunder, the movie had poor pacing, awful songs and animation that was... meh at best. I don't see why this movie needed an endless amount of sequels, but I'm glad they all went straight to DVD.

17. Open Season

Picking the fifth worst movie from the fourth quarter of reviews (Reviews 76-100) was a toss up between this, an uninspired and generic kids movie, and Silver Circle, a poorly made, mediocrely written movie that was a political statement before it was entertainment. In the end, I'm kinder to smaller scale productions, and Sony Pictures is not a small production. Honestly, I said this was one of my favourite movies as a kid, but even then I remember realizing that the movie wasn't that good when I was still young, maybe early teens, don't quite remember when. This is just not a movie that sticks with you, and frankly it is the perfect movie to begin an animation studio with. Like I said with Mummies, bad gets forgotten but mediocre at best movies that are inoffensive and not too challenging stick around, because they're perfect for doing something as a family, anything as a family. Open Season is not the worst example in this regard, but it's up there.

16. Robinson Crusoe (Otherwise Known As: The Wild Life)

Speaking of uninspired, mediocre at best movies that are inoffensive, unchallenging and just perfect for watching when you want to watch a movie, but not necessarily any movie. Absolutely bland, forgettable schlock that you only put on to entertain the kids while you do anything else. It's an agonizingly dull sit through and easily in the list of worst "That Kind of Movie" films, yeah, I'm gonna start calling movies like this, Open Season, Mummies, UglyDolls "That Kind of Animated Movie", the kind that you think of when you think of "Animated Movie". Anyway, there really isn't much else to say about Robinson Crusoe, it's such a forgettable experience, I only remember one scene where Crusoe just stared at a Tapir's waving butt for a couple seconds... like what were they doing with that shot?

15. Space Jam

Of all the movies that don't work, the one I'm most perplexed about is Space Jam. What is it about this movie that didn't work? Was it the writing? Was it the directing? or was this just an idea that was dead on arrival? I guess it's a combination of the writing and directing, because it is a fairly uneven movie, the good elements are not good enough to distract from the bad elements surrounding it including the dated CG integration, the humour that is trying but just isn't that funny, the subpar acting of Michael Jordan, the subpar character of Lola Bunny. Honestly, this is one of those movies where the soundtrack is ten times better than the actual movie, let's just be real.

14. Wonder Park

I was initially kind to this movie, because while it was a generic, bland, and not very well written movie, I thought the creativity was good and would maybe inspire some kids. I was much kinder to it than other reviewers were, then I gave it a rewatch and found that those reviewers were actually right. Honestly, Cellspex and MrEnter both have done better jobs at explaining why this movie doesn't work than I could, and most of the points I could bring up would just be their words, or Animated Antic's words. Well, at the very least I can say... I'm not budging on Detective Pikachu.

13. Tom and Jerry: The Movie

What a strange way to make a movie based off of two beloved animation icons. Giving them the benefit of the doubt that the orphaned girl looking for her father, the evil family members, awful songs, characters that were mute suddenly speaking, Rip Taylor, the thrilling chases and around the country adventures were all necessary for this movie to be made, that the only way they could have made a Tom and Jerry movie was to have all of that stuff put into it, at least make the comedy good. This movie had some of the worst slapstick I've ever seen. Nothing felt right, nothing felt like there was any weight to it, the reactions didn't feel right, it just didn't feel like a Tom and Jerry movie. Take this plot and replace Tom and Jerry with, Mickey Mouse or Felix The Cat, and that would solve a good twenty percent of the issues with this movie, not enough to make it good, but enough to make it... less bad.

12. Disney Princess Enchanted Tales: Follow Your Dreams

I mean, what is there to say about this movie? If we can even call it that. It's two stories that really don't understand the morals they're trying to teach, with mediocre animation and voice acting. This was one of, if not the last of the Disney direct-to-video movies and it has been rightfully forgotten. They were actually planning a whole series of these movies, and there is a trailer for the second one on the DVD, which would have featured stories with Mulan and Cinderella. Someone get that to the Lost Media Wiki, might be the only thing talking about in regards to this movie.

11. Hercules & Xena - The Animated Movie: The Battle For Mount Olympus

Oh direct-to-video awfulness, there is a reason most critics ignore direct-to-video nonsense in favour of the stuff released cinematically. Though there are some excellent movies released straight to video, this one clearly isn't one of them. Awful animation that uses budget stretching tricks from animation in the sixties, some of the worst facial expressions in animation, and some of the lousiest songs ever in a pseudo-musical, it makes sense why Hercules and Xena were never featured heavily in animation, since this attempt was so misguided and awful, it actually enters "So bad it's good" territory, seriously, if you love movies like Birdemic, The Room, or Plan 9 From Outer Space, give this movie a watch, it will make you laugh.

10. Felix the Cat: The Movie

You would think the feature film debut of one of animations icons, one of the earliest animated characters to grace the silver screen and a major figure in animation history, would be a little bit more respectful of all of that history. Annoying, poorly written, nonsensical, it truly is amazing how badly you can mess up an idea as "Movie with animation icon", it would be like making a Mickey Mouse movie, but instead of having him go on an epic adventure, he sits at an office desk and does tax filings all day. Actually that movie would probably be better than this, solely for being less annoying. Honestly, I should have given this movie an Avoid rating, just for being a slap in the face to animation lovers, but then again, I don't think that many people are really upset that a Felix the Cat movie ended up being this awful.

9. My Little Pony: The Movie

I wanted to give this movie a fair chance. I am a former Brony, I had some fun with the 2017 movie, I love me some animation history, I thought at the very least, this movie couldn't be an agonizing watch. Well boy howdy was I wrong! Not only was this movie an insufferable sit through, it was also everything I hoped it wouldn't be. Shameless marketing, pandering to the target audience, and the usual amount of disrespect to the actual voice actors whom we would actually watch this movie for if we were fans of the original show. Poor Charlie Adler, Nancy Cartwright and Russi Taylor, among others, were not given opening credits, but the awful performances by Cloris Leachman, Madeline Kahn and Rhea Perlman were warranting of opening credits. At least The Transformers movie had some good action scenes, this movie couldn't even get a decent filler scene.

8. The Thief and the Cobbler

Okay, forget the fact that this movie had a production nightmare and ended up being taken from the hands of the original creator, let's just look at what this movie is. It is a gorgeously animated pile of garbage that was re-edited in a manor to better befit that of a Disney movie and completely ruined what could of been a great magnum opus of animation. However, let's add that production nightmare back into this equation, because not one, not two, not three, not four, not five, not six, not seven, not eight, not nine, not ten, but eleven people who worked on this movie died before it saw the light of day, and poor Vincent Price died only a month after this movie got a major release. I repeat what I said about Paws of Fury, there are some movies I'd rather not have than have in as a sorry state as this. Thankfully, the Recobbled Cut exists, and it is leagues better, so find that online and give it a watch.

7. Storybook Classics: The Hunchback of Notre Dame

The best thing I can say about this movie, is that I found it for dirt cheap, but even then I think I spent too much on it. One of the most befuddling movies I've ever seen, befuddled by how the managed to boil any complexity down to plain, flat and boring characters. I am especially befuddled by the video and audio quality of the movie, as the DVD I purchased looked and sounded no better than a standard VHS, it even had that background hiss that VHS Tapes have. Add to that annoying voice work, and some admittedly good visuals absolutely ruined by the lack of any upscale in quality, and you have a movie that I am... honestly surprised I managed to write a review for, even one that was rather phoned in.

6. GoodTimes Entertainment's Cinderella

Why is this one of my most viewed blogs? Either way, with the vibes of "We only made this movie because Disney was in the midst of a renaissance and we wanted some of their pie", this movie was easily prime material for this list. Honestly, it's not even the fact that it's clearly a poor attempt to take some of Disney's video release money from deceived elderly relatives that puts it on this list. It's on this list by being an even worse knock off than one could imagine, ruining the moral of the Disney version, adding in a bunch of cartoony crap that makes the movie even worse, and such poor animation that it gives direct-to-video animation a bad name. Why is it not in the top 5? Honestly, I'm kinder to direct-to-video movies than theatrical ones, but make no mistake, this is still avoid rating territory here.

5. The Magic Voyage

Usually, when ranking my worst list, a big part of my decision making is this one thought, "Would I rather watch this movie, or that movie?". Of course there is a lot more that goes into it than that, but when the ranking becomes tricky, that is usually what settles it. Would I rather watch The Magic Voyage over the next movies on this list? Yeah, yeah I would, because even though it's obnoxious, poorly written, bizarre, filled with unnecessary scenes, a complete disregard to actual history, and one of the worst dub jobs I have ever watched, honestly I can't even say it's well put together, it at the very least wasn't a painfully agonizing experience that could be equated to Vogon poetry.

4. The Barbie Diaries

I would normally hold a spot in the top five for a movie that had a major release. A bad movie, I find, is so much worse when it hits the cinemas. Like, yes it is partly an elitism thing, but straight-to-video and television movies are so much easier to ignore than a movie that is released theatrically or released on a major streaming platform. In the scale of ignorable, you have Theatres, Major Streaming Release, Minor Streaming Release, Television Movie, Direct-to-Video, and then you have movies only released on YouTube or something. The Barbie Diaries actually managed to be so bad, I would call this movie an insult to Television movies. Holy crap, the animation of this movie was so primitive, even by the standards of 2006, when actual TV shows from earlier years and for lesser properties, managed to look way better. The plot was vapid, the characters were bland, it was an amalgamation of everything I hate about High School movies. No, I don't hate this because it's a Barbie movie, I hate this because it is a terrible movie, and I'll bet it's also terrible by Barbie movie standards. I can't even call this movie "So bad it's good", it's not entertaining, it's infuriating. If someone makes you watch this movie, they want you to atone for something you did. This movie certaintly is not Kenough.

3. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within

I... can't muster the hatred for this one as much anymore. Don't get me wrong, it's still a really bland and boring, poorly written waste of a promising license, and I absolutely can't stand it for all those reasons. This movie was so phenomenally boring that I don't think I'm using the word improperly for the purposes of hyperbole, I genuinely think that the boringness of this movie is a phenomena that needs to be studied. How does a Final Fantasy movie not only have nothing to do with Final Fantasy, but also manages to be an absolute dull as a butter knife snore fest? Are we sure this isn't like... an SCP that escaped the laboratory and disguised itself as a movie to feed on the souls of the people it bores to sleep? So yeah, this is a boring movie, but the worst I've watched for this blog? Bland, boring, poorly written and wasting a promising license is pretty bad, but it ain't really infuriating.

2. Ferngully: The Last Rainforest

I know this movie has its fans, but I honestly don't get it, this movie is awful. It's one of the blandest, most boring, preachiest movies I have ever seen. "But it was about saving the environment", yeah and? Just because the intention is good doesn't mean the end product is any good. "but Robin Williams!" Yes, but this was not one of his better performances, I miss him too, but that doesn't mean everything he did was gold. "Tim Curry, and the songs", look, you can keep throwing out excuses, but nothing actually changes the fact that this movie is a boring, formulaic, preachy, and shameless product of the 1990s, easily one of the worst movies I ever had to sit through for this blog. It was so close to being number one, but I do have to relent that on some level, it was made with good intentions, I think you know where I'm going with this.

1. Duck Duck Goose

I mean, you probably saw this one coming. A movie does not earn the title "Worst animated movie of 2018" by being mediocre, though mediocrity is easily one of the biggest flaws of the movie. With some of the worst comedy I've ever seen in an animated movie, this was the movie that made me realize that Netflix would stick their name on any old garbage and hope enough people watched it to make a profit. Unlikable characters, wasted voice talent, this movie almost makes me regret getting into animation, and I'd say Jim Gaffigan could do better, but considering he went on to do Playmobil: The Movie, maybe that would be wrong. Ferngully was a bad movie that was at least intended to have good intentions behind it, I can't think of any other intentions behind Duck Duck Goose than making a movie that will keep children quite, and I have zero respect for movies like this.

Despite all the garbage I watch, I am still really thankful for this blog. For every Duck Duck Goose or Ferngully, I'll get the chance to check out something that would genuinely surprise me, or a movie that is just a comfortable viewing experience. These past one-hundred reviews have really let me explore the medium I love, and really let me step out of my comfort zone. Honestly, even though these movie have been really bad, I can't say I regret starting this blog, or continuing on with it. These past few years have been an interesting experience, and I wouldn't want to trade it in for anything else. So, to all of you who have read this, even if this is your first time reading, thank you, because knowing that someone reads this makes the experience just that tiny bit more worth it.

Honourable Mentions:

1. A Christmas Carol 2009 - So close to being one of the worst, but the stuff that is good just keeps it from being on here.
2. Once Upon a Forest - I mean... it's better than Ferngully.
3. Monster High: 13 Wishes - If this were a proper movie and not a TV Special repackaged as a movie, it might have been okay.
4. The Three Caballeros - Frankly, I wouldn't be on America's side after a movie like this.
5. Cats - Honestly, this movie is over hated.
6. Rock-A-Doodle - Don Bluth... why?
7. A Christmas Carol 1997 - Yeah, they're both on this side of the list, not even Tim Curry could save this one.
8. Silver Circle - Not every piece of lost media needs to be found.

The Top Five BEST Animated Movies I watched in 2023

 

You know, doing a list of the best animated movies is always difficult. Not picking the movies or even ranking them, honestly that is usually the easy part, and I do love when that is the difficult part. Unfortunately, when that is the easy part, the hard part is finding anything to really say about these movies. Like, you probably know why these movies are good, or you have probably heard people say similar things about why these movies are good. I guess you could make the same arguments about Worst lists, but I always find it much easier to explain why something doesn't work than why it does. I mean, I don't need to be a mechanic to see a broken chain on a machine, and I don't need to be an animator to know that some movies just don't work.

You know, I've been told a couple times that "You should learn to do something before you criticize it", well I learned how to animate, it's actually made me more critical of animation. In some strange way, you would think that would make me better at recognizing good qualities in movies, but ultimately, these type of lists aren't about what is "good" or "bad", those are things that measure the quality of the writing, acting, animation, cinematography, choreography and everything that goes into the movie, lists like these are ultimately about whether or not we liked these. Sure, some movies don't work and are "bad" because of that, but if that was the case one hundred percent of the time, Plan 9 From Outer Space would have faded into obscurity years and years ago.

None of this is really relevant to the list proper, all of it is really to say "If this list feels underwritten, please know I tried", on with the show.

5. Elemental

Is Elemental one of the "best animated movies of 2023"? Honestly... no. It's a good movie, but it is kind of a weak entry in Pixar's line-up. I'll be damned if I don't respect it a lot though.

Elemental seemed to be doomed from the get go, everyone was worried it would be Onward again, or Zootopia again, the trailers were not that great (Though really most animated trailers are pretty bad now-a-days), and on opening week the movie was underperforming like mad. Yet, someone at Disney or Pixar had faith in this movie, and... against all odds it did pay off. Elemental was a sleeper hit, and people seem to agree it's a fine movie. It's the kind of movie that I'm glad succeeded, because it does lessen my worries about Pixar's treatment by Disney.

This actually is similar to last year's list where I put the SpongeBob SquarePants Movie Rehydrated at number ten, where even though I wouldn't argue it as one of the best movies, I had enough respect for it to want to give it a shout out. Elemental deserves a shout out for... not being Onward.

4. The Boy and The Heron

The Boy and The Heron is an interesting movie. It's interesting in that, I do like it, but I also kind of hate it. I mean, it's a Miyazaki movie, and his standards are usually pretty high. I love the slower pacing and quiet ambience of the movie, it's pretty much a hallmark of Ghibli movies that they're gonna take more of their time and have plenty of moments where you just let the scene sink in. Honestly, Miyazaki is kind of like the anti-Baz Luhrmann in my opinion. I think the moment I knew I was going to put this movie on my best list was a really small scene, just the lead character lying on a bed and breathing. The animators actually animated his body rising and falling to his breathing, and that's the scene, it's not really a scene you would find in any typical American animated film, though I can't say that for absolute sure.

But the second half, I honestly really began feeling the length of this movie, like the first half, nearly an hour went by and it felt like ten minutes, but the second half went by and it felt like an hour went by. It kind of became a movie akin to Suzume or Night is Short, Walk on Girl at the end, just a bizarre and strange trip through... something? I did like those movies fine, but this isn't really what I watch a Ghibli movie for, I watch Ghibli movies because they are usually ambient and let the mood sink in, and it's not like the second half wasn't that, it just expected us to take in a lot of stuff at the same time. I mean, it is definitely a movie worth watching, but I don't know if I'd say this is Miyazaki's "Magnum Opus".

Oh yeah, I also watched the Subbed version, in case anyone is Curious.

3. Suzume

Between The Boy and The Heron and Suzume, I think I have to pick Suzume as my favourite anime movie this year, even though it is technically a release from last year and it got a theatrical release in the West this year, look one day release dates aren't going to matter too much for most people.

Suzume is the kind of movie that really shows what animation can be and can do. It is a visual delight that has charming characters and an interesting story. This is from the same guy who directed Your Name and The Garden of Words, so if you're into Makoto Shinkai's work, I think this is definitely gonna be up your alley. If you're new to his work, I don't think this is a perfect starting place, but being a newcomer myself, this movie definitely tells me to keep my eye on his future works.

2. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

Poor Spider-verse, forever stuck as my second favourite animated film of the year. Into the Spider-Verse was just topped by Isle of Dogs, and now Across the Spider-Verse ranks as number two on this list. Like last time, it was a pretty close call, but there are a couple things that keep it from being number one.

Across the Spider-Verse genuinely feels like this was what the first movie was building towards, little things that carried over from the previous movie and a deeper exploration of this universe-portal technology all feel like a natural step for these movies, and the introduction of these new Spider-Heroes like Spider-Byte, Spider-Punk and Spider-Man 2099, among others is fascinating. Spider-Verse, both into and across, feel like movies made by people who love Spider-Man, and it shows. The focus on Gwen is also a welcome shift, but it doesn't take away from Miles' story, it balances out, and it gives me high expectations for the second part.

Which brings me to why I can't justify putting this film at number one. Production sounds like it was a bit of a nightmare for a lot of the staff on this movie, to the point where the second part is said to be delayed from it's original 2024 release. This is a good thing, I would rather have a movie be made under fair conditions than not, and I hope that 2023 is a wake-up call to many executives and filmmakers that the staff that don't get their names celebrated are just as important to the film.

I can't justify putting Across the Spider-Verse at number one, because there is one movie that has a better ending to it's production nightmare, and don't act like you didn't see it coming.

1. Nimona

I mean... how could I not have chosen Nimona as my favourite animated movie of 2023? It has been my most anticipated movie since it was announced, and all my fears and worries have been quashed by a string of fortunate events. I was worried Blue Sky was involved, than they made Spies in Disguise, a really good movie. Blue Sky shut down, then Netflix picked Nimona up. I was worried about Netflix's involvement, then 2022 had a string of really good Netflix releases, so finally the only worry I had to deal with was that this movie would not meet expectations.

Nimona was everything I wanted it to be, fun, exciting, dramatic, and kept the theme of the book. Sure I would have liked a more one-to-one adaptation, but I like to view them as the same story told two different ways. I compared it to Coraline in my First Impressions blog, saying that Nimona was a different story but kept the theme close to the book that it didn't feel that different. Really, the only thing I can say I didn't like about Nimona, is that it isn't a complete one-to-one adaptation, but that does mean that the characters, animation, story and writing are all such top notch work, it stopped mattering that Nimona the movie was different from Nimona the graphic novel.

Congratulations Nimona, you crawled out of Development Purgatory and became one of the best movies of the year. Your success makes me hope for two things, that Bob Chapek is kicking himself that he's the reason this can't be a Disney movie, and that other cancelled projects have a shot at redemption. Looking at you Warner Bros.

Open Season (2006) - A Rather Uninspired and Basic Kids Movie

 

Nostalgia is a dangerous thing, be wary of it. Those fond memories you have are not entirely based on quality. When everything was new and exciting, you will remember it as better than it was, simply because it was new and exciting, but always remember that memories can be deceiving, and it is best to acknowledge when what you are nostalgic for, is not really that good. By all means, hold onto the precious memories, but do not let them cloud your judgement of your future, your now, for as the Tragically Hip song goes, "You can't be fond of living in the past, 'cause if you are than there's no way you're gonna last". I am not above admitting that Open Season was a movie I enjoyed as a kid, but as time has moved forward, I've not come back to this one in a long time. Is there a reason I've left this movie behind alongside other aspects of my childhood? Or is there something worth growing up with?

The story follows Boog, a Grizzly Bear as he is relocated from his shelter home back into the woods after an incident. A deer named Elliot with a missing antler tries to get him back into his home before open season starts, which causes more problems for everyone involved. As a plot, it moves along alright, the only nitpicks I have are like really minor things that don't really matter. Like, there's a point where Boog is meant to find something in his teddy bear, which he finds because of hearing them break, earlier in the movie he throws his bear at something, and there is not a breaking sound. Again, it's a really minor thing that doesn't really matter, but the rest of the movie is uninteresting to the point where I'm left wondering about stuff like this because it's much more interesting. Which falls mostly on the fact that the plot is not really unique, and the characters aren't interesting.

I'm not really invested in these characters, and I think part of that is because they're really standard, Boog is a character we've seen before and nothing is really done that differently with him. He's the fish out of water, out of his element, and the only thing that really separates him from other characters of this type is that he's a bear. Elliot is your annoying moron sidekick, and that's it. There's some stuff about him being kicked out of his herd, but I can think of way better idiot sidekicks in animated movies. I think another part of it is the voice acting, no offense to Martin Lawrence and Ashton Kutcher, but they're voices do not really match the designs. Martin Lawrence's voice fits the pampered and tamed side of Boog, but I don't really buy it when he's supposed to be angry, it's just kind of too smooth for that, and Elliot's design just does not fit Ashton Kutcher's voice. It's a shame because the rest of the cast isn't bad, especially Gary Sinise, who plays the hunter Shaw, and he's really the only character I wanted to watch in this movie. The rest of the cast is okay, Gordon Tootoosis, Patrick Warburton, Billy Connolly, not bad choices, and they do solid jobs, but we're not spending most of our time with them.

That really is about the best I can say about the technical side of this movie, because the animation and soundtrack are both uninspired. The animation really has that early 2000s first feature vibe to it, it really does look like this was Sony Pictures Animation's first animated feature, which it was, so I can't be too hard on the animation, but when you look at their future films, with movies like Hotel Transylvania and their stylized CG animation, the jump in quality is just too noticeable. It isn't terrible animation, but it's on par with the time period. Similarly, the soundtrack isn't awful, in fact I do kinda like the opening song, but most of the other songs are just kind of generic and I feel they only used because they couldn't use similar sounding songs by R.E.M., it's like this movie saw Shrek, and wanted to have the dollar store version of its soundtrack.

On top of being really "2000s" in the animation and soundtrack, it's also kind of generic kids movie humour, admittedly there were some jokes I chuckled at, like when Boog drops Elliot off a cliff, only for the camera to reveal he caught him, that was a cute gag. Otherwise, most of the humour just did not hit, and it wouldn't, it was a movie made for kids in the 2000s, it wasn't really designed to grow up with them. This is the kind of children's movie I can't stand, it's the Duck Duck Goose or the Swan Princess, the kind of kids movies that are made just to entertain kids and not enrich them. I do think both of those movies are worse than this, Duck Duck Goose was taken to an almost insulting degree and The Swan Princess was a theatrical knock-off, and both of which irritate me more than this movie ever could, but that's mostly because this movie is just... uninspired.

The biggest crime of this movie is that it aims moderately and barely reaches the bar. The animation, soundtrack, characters and story are all uninspired and basic, it's not hard for me to imagine this movie being the favourite of many kids, but it isn't hard for me to see them forgetting about this movie either, because there isn't much in this movie that sticks with you. Some might argue that a boring movie is worse than a bad movie, and on some level I agree, but that implies that all kinds of "bad" and "boring" are the same, I mean, is this movie boring? Yes, is it worse than Duck Duck Goose? The Barbie Diaries? Felix the Cat? The Magic Voyage? Well, I'd much rather watch a movie that is uninspired and boring than any of those, so in this case I'd argue that a boring movie is better than a bad movie, but that doesn't change the fact that it's still a bad movie. I can't recommend this one, maybe if you have little kids they'd be entertained, but they'd probably be just as entertained with any other kids movie. I have some memories with this movie, but I don't think I'll be making any new ones.

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.

Spiderman: Into The Spider-Verse (2018) - Was it worth all the acclaim?

 

December, 2018, one of the most anticipated movies of all time was released into Theatres. This is rather strange when you consider that this was an animated feature, and a western animated feature at that. Yet, everybody that was into animation was excited for this movie, and everyone loved it. One of the highest rated animated films on Letterboxd, ninety-seven percent on Rotten Tomatoes, eighty-seven on Metacritic, best animated feature at the Academy Awards and African-American Film Critics Association, swept the Annie Awards, best Animated film at the British Academy Film Awards, Best Animated Feature Film Award at the Golden Globes, and so many other awards that it would just be a waste of time to name them all. Fifth highest grossing animated feature of 2018, and forty-seventh highest grossing animated feature of the 2010s. It got recognition and people loved it. Three years later, after all these years, was all of that praise warranted?

Miles Morales is a normal everyday kid, he's at a school he doesn't like, he is embarrassed by his dad, and he's awkward around some of his classmates. While hanging out with his uncle Aaron he is bitten by a radioactive spider, and he freaks out, especially since he also witnesses the death of the real Spider-Man and gets caught up in one of Kingpin's plots. However, by some freak accident, he is able to learn the ropes thanks to the help of some other Spider-heroes who similarly got caught in Kingpin's plot and dragged into Miles' universe. It is your standard superhero origins plot with the twist that he is helped by multiple alternate universe heroes, mostly Peter B. Parker and Gwen Stacey, but the film also has Spider-Noir, Penni Parker and Spider-Ham. I don't think this plot is going to really surprise you if you know the beats, but it's well written and flows well enough for that to not be an issue.

Okay so... I am not a big comic reader, I love Tintin comics and I am not unfamiliar with comic books, but I feel there is a large learning curve to them and they feel like a big commitment, so I am not going to go into a lot of detail on these characters. Overall I enjoyed them, Miles I feel has a more realistic arc of someone learning to be a superhero, he's in over his head, he gets anxious, he goes through the pains and prides of it all. The real key to his character is that, while he's trying to be Spider-Man, he only really gets it right when he incorporates his own identity into the persona. Peter B has a cute arc of his own which gets tied into his mentor relationship with Miles. I feel like they tried to give Gwen her own arc, about accepting friends after her tragedy, but I don't really think they pulled that off too well. Side characters are also really fun, Aunt May was fun, the other Spider-heroes were charming and Miles' family were really loving and caring. I do think Kingpin was kind of a bland, generic menace. Yeah they gave him a goal and a backstory, but I can't really think of any moment I was really intimidated or even that entertained by him. I quite liked the other villain of the movie, Olivia Octavius, she was the one with the more entertaining moments.

I gotta give some special credit to the voice acting, Shameik Moore did a wonderful job as Miles and I loved the fake voice he put on at the end as Spider-Man as to not give away his identity to his father. I think the rest of the cast was perfect, I took one look at Mahershala Ali and I thought "Yep, that was Aaron", it was like casting Kurt Russel as Wyatt Earp, and Brain Tyree Henry and Luna Lauren Velez were perfect as Miles' parents, Lily Tomlin was almost unrecognizable as Aunt May, seriously how do I always fail to pick out her voice in a movie? John Mulaney and Nicolas Cage were also very perfect as Spider-Ham and Spider-Noir respectively, and the late Stan Lee made a posthumous cameo in this movie, one of his last.

Now let's talk about the animation. When I talked about the 2017 DuckTales series, I said that it looked like a comic brought to animation. Well, this movie is that, but with the budget of a cinematic venture. It looks really good, and it goes beyond the stylized characters and settings. The colours really pop, even when the entire screen is full of neon colours, it's all so beautifully done. I am a bit more forgiving towards 3D animation than some others might be, I don't think every 3D animated film could have been done in 2D, or at least done as well in 2D. While yes, this movie would look a lot more like a comic book if it was done in 2D, it would also have looked very different. Imagine this movie looking like 2017's DuckTales and you might start to see why 3D was the right choice for this movie. I also have to mention the use of different art styles for the different Spider-Heroes. Spider-Ham looking more cartoonish with brighter colours, Penni Parker being in a more anime style, and Spider-Noir being in a thick black and white colour scheme. Yet, they never felt too out of place. I think everyone agrees that the animation is the main selling point of the movie, but is that the only reason to see it?

Going back to the question I posed at the start, was this movie worth all of the acclaim it received? While I will not argue that this movie is perfect, because I don't think it is, I do think that this movie did earn all of the praise. While the animation is amazing, the movie does not sell itself on animation alone as it also has a well-done story, likeable characters, an excellent voice cast, and some really well done scenes and moments that stick in your head. I really have to give it to everyone behind this movie, it was a risk, sure comic book movies are getting more recognized now-a-days, but this was a comic book movie with a minority lead and was an animated movie from Sony Pictures Animation following a string of not so great releases. The fact that it was not only good, but also as good as it was, honestly do I even need to say that this movie is a High Recommendation? Is it perfect? No, but it is recognized as it is for a damn good reason.

First Impressions: The Angry Birds Movie 2 (2019)

I was not expecting to write another First Impressions blog so soon, but here we are, with the second Angry Birds movie.

You know, I had no real expectations for this movie, I kind of expected it to just be another Secret Life of Pets 2 situation where, it was harmless, but near unwatchable because of the sheer amount of nothing that was happening, that for the record is why I did not write a First Impressions on Secret Life of Pets 2. So with my low expectations, and the fact that I have yet to see the first movie, it should not surprise anyone that I really enjoyed my time with this movie, yeah I know, a comedy movie being enjoyable, what is this crazy world coming to? Next you'll tell me that a Disney movie will be successful! </sarcasm>

All joking aside, this is a really funny movie. So many of the jokes had me howling with laughter. I think the joke that made me fall in love with the movie's humour is when the hatchlings end up in space. Yes, they play David Bowie's "Space Oddity", but the total absurdity of the movie's humour is what I love about animation. Not just that you can make fantasy a reality, but because you can get away with absurd, inane or even down right stupid jokes and concepts. I mean, the disguise the characters use in the movie is ridiculous, and it moves so unconvincingly that it on its own is silly, but then you have the fact that everyone thinks the disguise is not only a real person, but also that it is challenging them to a break-dancing competition, that is ridiculous and I love it. This might be the funniest animated movie of the year. I mean, what else is there really?

We have Missing Link, which was fine, but was not super hilarious. We have UglyDolls which, no. Wonder Park which is also a no, and Norm of the North 3 which doesn't even warrant acknowledgment.

I won't say it was all direct hits, but I think the jokes were more hit than miss.

But that is the humour, how about the rest of the movie? Honestly, it's fine. I did enjoy the characters, and the main plot of the movie. There were some scenes I could have done without, like the speed dating scene, but even then I do have to admit, the main character arc is an important one. I do think that while the humour is the strongest aspect of this movie, the plot and characters are not weak aspects on their own. If anything the weakest aspect was probably the reveals, not that they were bad reveals, but that they were just the weakest part of the movie.

Really, everything else was fine. I loved the villain, I thought she was highly entertaining and fun to watch. I almost wish they gave her a villain song just to spend a little more time with her. The side plot about the hatchlings trying to retrieve some unhatched eggs they misplaced was super funny, those poor baby birds could not catch a break, and I dare not spoil the whole thing for you.

As a whole, I was really surprised at this movie. What I was expecting to be a lousy, quick and dirty movie for kids, ended being a movie I laughed at more than so far any other movie I've seen in theatres all year. While I would love to give it a High Recommendation rating, I am going to dock a couple points just to be safe. The thing with comedies is that, some of them don't hold up, so come next year, I'll take a second look at this and see if I am correct in my choice, or if not. Either way, I still recommend this for any animation enthusiast out there.