Trolls World Tour

September 17, 2025 in ★★, computer-animated films, Dreamworks films | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Walt Dohm
Release date: April 10, 2020
Rating: ★★
Review:

Dreamworks’ 2016 Film ‘Trolls’ was a bit of a surprise, given the fact that it was based on a pretty ugly Danish toy line from the 1950s. Despite its lackluster origins, the film was an unforeseen outburst of color, textures and music, even spawning a major hit (‘Can’t Stop the Feeling!’) for Justin Timberlake, who voiced Branch, one of the main characters.

‘Trolls’ nevertheless was nothing remarkable storywise, but compared to its successor, ‘Trolls World Tour’ still by far the more interesting movie. ‘Trolls World Tour’ is even more colorful and more tactile than its predecessor, but its plot is disappointingly lazy, conventional, and frustratingly inconsistent (more of which, later).

There are even two obligate breakup scenes, neither of which makes sense, and the film’s obvious morale is even explained to us by Poppy at the very end. What do they think at Dreamworks? That their public consists of complete morons? Even a six-year-old could have distilled the message from the story. There’s a pinky promise, which is introduced with much bravado, but which remains inconsequential, after all. At one point Branch convinces the villains to side with him, but we don’t even see how he manages to do that.

These are just a few examples of an annoying lack of storytelling skills demonstrated in the movie.
In fact, problems already start with the film’s premise: ‘Trolls World Tour’ throws the world building of the original movie completely overboard to install a new one, in which there are five more troll kingdoms, all based on a major music genre. Given the wide range of music that exists in the world, the idea of a mere six kingdoms is absurd to begin with, but soon becomes apparent that this world building is not only incomplete, it’s highly inconsistent.

Of all genres imaginable, especially jazz is painfully lacking, only represented by one character exemplifying ‘smooth jazz’, while all world genres are diminished to three sets of isolated characters, representing K-pop, reggaeton, and… yodeling. Now, as a Dutchman, I was pleasantly surprised that the yodeling featured came from the hard rocking seventies hit ‘Hocus Pocus’ by Dutch group Focus, but otherwise, frankly, it makes no sense. Why do these characters lack a kingdom of their own? Why did they become bounty hunters (for that’s what they are)? What of all other genres imaginable? Where are those trolls?

The major genres in the other kingdoms hardly fare better than jazz however: classical music is represented by 18th- 19th century orchestral music only, funk and hiphop are merged as if it were one genre, and the dance depicted is of the poppiest sort imaginable. Rock, meanwhile, looks mostly like an evil metal kingdom, led by a punky princess, whose story ark (she has no real friends) is both forced and neglected. I liked country land, led by a Kelly Clarkson voiced character, most, especially because the textile background art was most apparent in this world.

For this background art is the real star of the movie: all troll landscapes are made of textiles, even the water at the edge of a pond has a frayed edge. While yawning at all the obligate antics of the characters, these background images kept me smiling and in admiration throughout the picture.

But of course, background art cannot save a film with such a weak story as ‘Trolls World Tour’ has, and the end result simply is subpar. It’s a shame, for obviously, a lot of talent has been wasted on this picture, not least the great music stars like Anderson .Paak, George Clinton, Mary J. Blige, and Ozzy Osbourne who have lent their voice to this lackluster product. And let’s not forget the animation talent. For example, when Poppy realizes she might not have been a good queen after all, this is a piece of excellent character animation, but we don’t care, nonetheless, because the emotion is forced into the plot, and has no logical place in the narrative. ‘Trolls World Tour’ is full of such moments and can best be quickly forgotten.

Watch the trailer for ‘Trolls World Tour’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Trolls World Tour’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD

Onward

September 10, 2025 in ★★★, computer-animated films, Feature films, Pixar films | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Dan Scanlon
Release date: February 21, 2020
Rating: ★★★
Review:

‘Onward’, Pixar’s 22nd feature film, was the first of a series of four originals after a decade of sequels (the 2010s saw seven sequels compared to a mere four originals), making the 2020s a more interesting decade than the 2010s were. Unfortunately, Pixar’s return to original stories didn’t necessarily mean their films got better. ‘Onward’, at least, is not a bad film, but it never becomes great, either. The movie just lingers in mediocrity, relying too heavily on tried formulas and cliches.

‘Onward’ takes place in a fantasy world populated by elves, unicorns, centaurs, fauns, manticores and so on. But like the human-less worlds of ‘Monsters Inc.’, ‘Cars’ or to a lesser extent the later ‘Elemental’ the makers haven’t made any effort to make this world a really original one, turning it into just another lazy version of suburbia America. The whole idea of ‘Onward’ is that it used to be a magical place, until technology took over, making this world as bland and devoid of magic as ours.

In this world we follow teenager elf Ian, who’s designed as your average clumsy insecure teenager, a sort of Linguini from ‘Ratatouille’ (2007), but blue and with pointed ears. Ian also is one of those protagonists that all too often recur in animation films: one that has lost a parent (see also e.g. ‘Kung Fu Panda’ (2008), ‘The Good Dinosaur‘ (2015) and ‘Abominable’ from 2019). On his birthday Ian makes some resolutions to become a better person, but they are all thwarted, until his mother gives him and his quirky elder brother Barley a gift from their deceased father…

What follows is a truly dangerous quest in which the two brothers must team up to restore their father for just one day. This they do accompanied by their dad’s two legs, for that’s all what Ian managed to retrieve from the spirit world in the first place. Barley’s extensive knowledge of magic, which he got from playing a role game “based on reality” is a great help during their quest. Unfortunately for Barley, despite all his knowledge of magic, he hasn’t got the magic skill, but Ian has.

With their quest the two brothers not only restore magic to their world, Ian also comes to realize that his older brother is not only an annoying looney to be ashamed of, but much more to him. And yet, a more interesting and more original yet sadly underdeveloped character than either two brothers, is Ian’s and Barley’s mother, who comes into action and who dares to take risks to save her boys.

The brothers’ magical quest stands in huge contrast with the mundane world they live in, and the studio never really manages to wed these two worlds. In the end, the whole concept of a fantasy world turned mundane remains a forced and unconvincing one, and that one gift from a random father could restore magic to the entire world is anything but believable, even within the fantasy context.

Moreover, as said, the film relies too much on tropes to tell its stories. The magic in ‘Onward’ feels like a direct copy from the Harry Potter’-films with its use of spells. There is the obligate breakup scene, one that is particularly painful, because by that time Ian should have known better. And then there’s a curse, which actually stands in the way of a plot that should concentrate on the relationship between the two brothers, which the film mostly does, but to which, to me at least, the whole magic idea seems superfluous and unnecessary.

Of course, the power of animation is that it can show impossible things like elves and manticores, but for once, I believe that the film would be more courageous if it would tell the story of two real brothers living in American suburbia, bonding together after the death of their father. For this is the essence of the film, meaning that the fantasy part, despite driving the plot, is mostly fluff. Despite the final resurrection of the father being a beautiful moment in the movie, the film just doesn’t manage to pluck one emotional string like ‘Monsters, Inc.’ (2001), ‘Wall-E’ (2008), ‘Up’ (2009) or ‘Coco’ could. Pixar certainly could do better, something they would luckily prove with their next feature, ‘Soul‘.

Watch the trailer for ‘Onward’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Onward’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD

The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part

September 3, 2025 in ★★★, computer-animated films, Feature films, Warner Bros. films | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Mike Mitchell
Release date: February 2, 2019
Rating: ★★★
Review:

One of the surprises of 2014 was ‘The Lego Movie’, a surprisingly funny and sophisticated movie, making clever use of the source material, and transcending by far the product placement it actually was. Its huge success spawned the equally great ‘The Lego Batman Movie’ and the much weaker ‘The Lego Ninjago Movie’ (both from 2017), but one had to wait for five years for the true sequel: The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part.

This second movie immediately starts with a new threat to Bricksburg, the city in which Emmett lives, this time from the planet Duplo. In a toddler’s voice the new arrivals claim: “We are from the Planet Duplo, we are here to destroy you”. After some mayhem we jump to five years later, in which Bricksburg has apparently been destroyed and rebuilt as ‘Apocalypseburg’, a Mad Max-like post-apocalyptic world in which according to his girlfriend Lucy there’s no place anymore for niceness and optimism, although Emmett is still full of these things, despite having nightmares of “Armamageddon” (sic).

To make matters worse, a new, almost indestructible alien arrives with the name of General Mayhem, messenger of the shape-shifting Queen Watevra Wa’Nabi from the “Systar System”. What follows is another adventure full of references to other movies (e.g. The Wizard of Oz), which takes place both in the LEGO world and in live action, and in which Emmett meets a though guy called Rex Dangervest, who teach Emmett to grow up, or does he?

Unfortunately, this movie strives too hard to play a similar trick to the LEGO world as the first film, but it does all too obviously so. For example, we could see the origin of ‘Systar system’ from miles away. A huge talent like Maya Rudolph is wasted on the live action scenes, which remain formulaic and unspontaneous. The film’s message, too, is brought right in your face and lacks all the subtleties of the first film. There are some nice touches (for example, Bruce Willis playing a Lego version of himself, some nice 2D animation and a couple of pleasant songs), but overall the film never transcends mediocrity, despite all the evident effort. Thus one must conclude that after two films most of the inspiration for LEGO movies had died out.

Watch the trailer for ‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘The Lego Movie 2: The Second Part’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD

A Fitting Gift

August 27, 2025 in ★★★★, Black and White Films, Bray Productions films, Silent films | Tags: , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Unknown
Release date: May 7, 1920
Stars: Judge Rummy
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

Tad Dorgan’s Judge Rummy was a comic strip that run from 1910 to 1922. Between 1918 and 1922 it was also an animated cartoon series, directed by the likes of Jack King, Burt Gillett and Grim Natwick, who would all become animation legends, and, surprisingly, Gregory La Cava, later director of live action comedies like ‘My Man Godfrey’ (1936) and ‘Stage Door’ (1937).

I’ve no idea who’s responsible for ‘A Fitting Gift’ but the animator has a very pleasant animation style, with unexpected touches of metamorphosis, original staging, and surprising movements.

In this short Judge Rummy wants to buy a gift for a girl he admires. His friend Silk Hat Harry suggest a corset, but Judge Rummy is too bashful to enter, so Silk Hat Harry suggests the two dress as women themselves, but then Judge Rummy’s wife appears. The gags themselves in this cartoon, one including a homosexual stereotype, are pretty trite, but as said, the execution is much fun, making this short a pleasant watch.

Watch ‘A Fitting Gift’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘A Fitting Gift’ is available on the Blu-Ray-DVD combo ‘Cartoon Roots: The Bray Studios Animation Pioneers’

The Tale of a Wag

August 25, 2025 in ★★★, Black and White Films, Bray Productions films, Silent films | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Walter Lantz
Release date: March 9, 1920
Stars: Jerry on the Job
Rating: ★★★
Review:

Jerry is on a job at a train station, where his boss is plagued by a mosquito. Jerry knows just the way to get rid of the little pest, or does he?

‘The Tale of the Wag’ is a nice little cartoon based on one simple idea. The animation is full of surprising details, like Jerry using his crest as an arm to scratch himself, or Jerry shaking hands with the thought balloon that contains his idea. These little touches rescue an otherwise rather run of the mill short.

Watch ‘The Tale of a Wag’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘The Tale of a Wag’ is available on the Blu-Ray-DVD combo ‘Cartoon Roots: The Bray Studios Animation Pioneers’

The Best Mouse Loses

August 22, 2025 in ★, Black and White Films, Bray Productions films, Silent films | Tags: , , , , , | 1 comment

Director: Vernon Stallings
Release date: March 3, 1920
Stars: Krazy Kat
Rating: ★
Review:

Compared to other cartoonists working at the Bray studio, the work of Vernon Stallings is certainly subpar. His Krazy Kat cartoons are crude and simple, and lack the sophisticated animation of an Earl Hurd or the inventiveness of Walter Lantz.

‘The Best Mouse Loses’ is a very short cartoon in which Ignatz Mouse goes into a ringed boxing match. Arbiter Krazy Kat lets him win, much to Ignaz’s chagrin. Both the premise and the execution of this cartoon are poor, and the animation is only interesting because of some strange body elongations not seen elsewhere.

Watch ‘The Best Mouse Loses’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘The Best Mouse Loses’ is available on the Blu-Ray-DVD combo ‘Cartoon Roots: The Bray Studios Animation Pioneers’

How Animated Cartoons Are Made

August 20, 2025 in ★★★★, Black and White Films, Bray Productions films, Silent films | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Wallace Carlson
Release date: September 6, 1919
Stars: Dreamy Dud, Wallace Carlson, John Randolph Bray
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

Young Wallace Carlson parodies his own work in a short funny film starring himself.

If anything the film shows that animating a cartoon is a lot of work. Most telling is the scene in which Carlson photographs a huge pile of animation drawings. The intertitle ’48 hrs later… ‘ says it all.

The cartoon itself, ‘Dreamy Dud’, which Carlson plays to an unimpressed John Randolph Bray , is not half as funny as the live action sequences, and only demonstrates that Carlson belongs to the lesser gods of animation. His animation style is crude and formulaic, with little sense of timing.

Watch ‘How Animated Cartoons Are Made’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘How Animated Cartoons Are Made’ is available on the Blu-Ray-DVD combo ‘Cartoon Roots: The Bray Studios Animation Pioneers’

Bobby Bumps’ Pup Gets the Flea-Enza

August 18, 2025 in ★★★, Black and White Films, Bray Productions films, Silent films | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Earl Hurd
Release date: April 23, 1919
Stars: Bobby Bumps and Fido
Rating: ★★★
Review:

‘Bobby Bumps’ Pup Gets the Flea-Enza’ is a funny take on the devastating Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-1920. In this cartoon Bobby Bumps and Fido both think Fido’s got the influenza, while he only got a flea (depicted as a black devilish little man).

The humor is mild, but Earl Hurd once again demonstrates to be one of the best animators of the era. Every shot and move look smooth and elegant. The best gag may be the visit to the horse doctor.

‘Bobby Bumps’ Pup Gets the Flea-Enza’ is available on the Blu-Ray-DVD combo ‘Cartoon Roots: The Bray Studios Animation Pioneers’

Feline Follies

August 8, 2025 in Uncategorized | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Otto Messmer
Release date: November 9, 1919
Stars: Felix the Cat (as Master Tom)
Rating: ★★★
Review:

‘Feline Follies’ sees the birth of the biggest cartoon star of the 1920s, Felix the Cat. In an age when most cartoon stars were more or less human, Felix the Cat was not the first animal cartoon star (that honor has to go to Krazy Kat), but he was the first original one (as Krazy Kat originally was a comic strip character) and the most famous of all before the advent of Mickey Mouse, paving the way for countless animal cartoon stars to come.

In his first film Felix is called ‘master Tom’. While he dates a white kitten named “Miss Kitty White’, the mice run havoc in the kitchen. Felix gets the blame and flees the house, but his girlfriend appears to have loads of children. Seeing no other way out of his misery, Felix commits suicide using gas…

When compared to the earlier Charlie Chaplin films, Otto Messmer already shows a greater amount of creativity in ‘Feline Follies’. The story may be loosely composed, it’s a clear one from start to end, and not just a string of gags like the earlier Charlie Chaplin films were. But more important, one of Felix’s trademark mannerisms, his tale changing into a question mark, already appears a few seconds into the film. Later, the two cats create steps out of musical notes. Metamorphosis gags like these would play an important part in the series, adding to its wonderful atmosphere.

Master Tom/Felix is a singular star from the start, not somebody’s pet. And like Charlie Chaplin before him, he’s a tramp, living outside, without regular food and shelter. ‘Feline Follies’ is no great cartoon in itself, but it sure shows potential. Indeed, although ‘Feline Follies’ was conceived as a standalone cartoon, made to help the Earl Hurd studio out, the film was such a success, distributor Paramount requested another one, and later a complete series. With his third film, Felix got his name, and the greatest cartoon series of the 1920s was born.

Watch ‘Feline Follies’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Feline Follies’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘Cartoon Roots: Otto Messmer’s Feline Follies’, the DVD-set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1933-1938’ and the DVD ‘Presenting Felix the Cat’

Charley at the Circus

August 6, 2025 in ★★, Black and White Films, Pat Sullivan films, Silent films | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Otto Messmer
Release date: October, 1919
Stars: Charlie Chaplin
Rating: ★★
Review:

‘Charley at the Circus’ is an entry in Pat Sullivan’s Charlie Chaplin animated cartoon series.

As the title implies, the complete film takes place in a circus, and involves gags with Kewpie the Strong Woman, Mitzi the fat lady, a flea circus and a bearded lady, and Pauline the noseless goat. Notice the throwaway gag on the upcoming prohibition.

As with the other Charlie Chaplin shorts, the animation is crude and stiff, but at least this film profits from a running gag of a heavy guy chasing Charlie Chaplin. Nevertheless, there is no hint of greatness in this cartoon, and it’s clear that animator Otto Messmer still had to find his vibe.

‘Charley at the Circus’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘Cartoon Roots: Otto Messmer’s Feline Follies’

Charley at the Beach

August 4, 2025 in ★, Black and White Films, Pat Sullivan films, Silent films | Tags: , , , , , , | 3 comments

Director: Otto Messmer
Release date: October, 1919
Stars: Charlie Chaplin
Rating: ★
Review:

Pat Sullivan’s Charlie Chaplin animated shorts were a short lived series, spanning only two years (1918-1919) and about 16 films. ‘Charley at the Beach’ is one of the last and shows that some Charlie Chaplin’s mannerisms were transferred surprisingly well to the animated screen.

Indeed, Pat Sullivan’s Charlie Chaplin shorts were supported by the great comedian himself. Chaplin gave the animators thirty or forty photographs of himself in different poses and with these the animators could copy several of his movements. Sullivan’s prime animator was of course Otto Messmer, who a month later would create Felix the Cat.

According to Messmer his work on the Chaplin cartoons greatly influenced his work on Felix (Felix – The Twisted Tale of the World’s Most Famous Cat, p. 38), but to be honest, compared to the later Felix the cat cartoons, the animation on Charlie Chaplin is remarkably stiff and primitive. Moreover, in these Messmer makes a lot of use of text balloons, even when the images could speak for themselves, like in the hot dog scene.

‘Charley at the Beach’ is little more than a string of unrelated gags at the beach. Messmer even goes for some throwaway gags on fish. Unfortunately, several of the gags are misogynistic (Charlie Chaplin is a peeping Tom, and there’s some fat shaming) and one is even racist: when Charlie discovers a girl he fancies is black, he quickly swims away. The result is a pretty tiresome and boring film, and nowhere we can detect Messmer’s great talent, yet.

‘Charley at the Beach’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘Cartoon Roots: Otto Messmer’s Feline Follies’

The Tantalizing Fly

July 9, 2025 in ★★★, Black and White Films, Bray Productions films, Max Fleischer films, Silent films | Tags: , , , , , | 1 comment

Director: Max Fleischer
Release date: October 14, 1919
Stars: Max Fleischer, Koko the Clown
Rating: ★★★
Review:

Max en Dave Fleischer were two true animation pioneers. In 1915 they invented the rotoscope, which they patented that year. With rotoscope they could capture live action movement as drawings on paper. Their first rotoscope tests featured Dave Fleischer in a clown suit, and these were the origin of Koko the Clown, star of ‘Out of the Inkwell’ series.

The two brothers started to make these shorts for J.R. Bray from 1919 on, but they only became a real series in 1920, and Koko got his name much later, in 1923. ‘The Tantalizing Fly’ is but the second ‘Out of the Inkwell’ short, yet it already shows the merit of rotoscope and the brothers’ imaginative way of storytelling.

In ‘The Tantalizing Fly’ Max Fleischer is hindered by a fly while drawing Koko. He tries to swat it, but hits Koko instead. Then it’s Koko’s turn. He tries to lure the fly by drawing a bald sitting man, but only manages in hitting the man instead of the fly.

The idea of an animator drawing a character is as old as animation itself, and clocking less than four minutes ‘The Tantalizing Fly’ is frustratingly short, leaving room for just a few gags, but Fleischer’s mix of animation, rotoscope and live action is fun to watch, and shows that the two brothers were among the most interesting animation film makers of their time.

Watch ‘The Tantalizing Fly’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘The Tantalizing Fly’ is available on the Blu-Ray ‘Cartoon Roots: The Bray Studios Animation Pioneers’ and on the DVD-set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1933-1938’

Bobby Bumps Puts a Beanery on the Bum

July 7, 2025 in ★★★½, Black and White Films, Bray Productions films, Silent films | Tags: , , , , , | 3 comments

Director: Earl Hurd
Release date: December 4, 1918
Stars: Bobby Bumps and Fido
Rating: ★★★½
Review:

In ‘Bobby Bumps Puts a Beanery on the Bum’ Bobby Bumps and Fido answer to an ad ‘boy wanted in to help in kitchen’ from the ‘Quick Lunch Beanery’.

What follows is a rather aimless string of gags, most remarkable of which is one in which Fido makes a cat eat its words by rolling up the cat’s speech balloon and shovel it down its throat. The cartoon ends all too abruptly, when Bobby pours ink over the cook who chased him out of the beanery.

More interesting than anything of this, however, is the opening scene in which a hand draws Bobby Bumps lying down in perfect perspective. Bobby Bumps helps the hand coloring him, only then follows Fido and the scenery. The Bobby Bumps cartoons were drawn elegantly anyhow, making them stand out of the 1910s crowd, and even though ‘Bobby Bumps puts a Beanery on the Bum’ isn’t the best entry in the series, in this respect it’s now exception.

Watch ‘Bobby Bumps Puts a Beanery on the Bum’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Bobby Bumps Puts a Beanery on the Bum’ is available on the DVD-set ‘Popeye the Sailor 1933-1938’

Hypotézy (Hypotheses)

June 20, 2025 in ★★★★, Czech Republic, European films | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Vladimír Šilhan
Release date: 1963
Rating: ★★★★
Review:

‘Hypotézy’ is a film on how landscapes would look like if we were on other planets.

We watch beautiful paintings of a hypothesized Mercury, Venus, Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Ganymede, Saturn and Titan, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto. Mars is shown as a planet with a possibility of life, while the moon sequence uses a little animation. The whole film is rather poetic and thoroughly enjoyable despite consisting of still images mostly.

Watch ‘Hypotézy’ (unfortunately Czech only) yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Hypotézy’ is available on the Blu-Ray of ‘Ikarie XB-1’

The Snail and the Whale

June 18, 2025 in ★★★½, computer-animated films, European films, United Kingdom | Tags: , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Directors: Max Lang & Daniel Snaddon
Release date: December 25, 2019
Rating: ★★★½
Review:

‘The Snail and the Whale’ is yet another Magic Light Pictures production based on a Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler book. Like all the books and films based on them since 2009’s ‘The Gruffalo’ the film is told in rhyme. But because this adventure takes place mostly at sea, there’s much more CGI involved than usual, and the film thus is less tactile than Magic Light Pictures earlier productions.

The story is cute and shows that even the smallest can make a difference. Yet, the film is less compelling than say ‘The Gruffalo’ (2009), ‘Room on the Broom‘ (2012) or ‘Stick Man’ (2015) and that’s because of the source material, which just isn’t on the same level of story telling. The small gags present in earlier films are also lacking, and for a too large part we just watch the little snail enjoy its travels without anything else happening.

The animation, of course, is top notch, and the designs are, as always, appealing, although the human figures are much less interesting than the animals, and the whale is rendered rather straight. You can also sense the difficulty of the interaction between the two animals, because of the gigantic size difference. The result is a charming film, if not among Magic Light Pictures’ best works.

Watch the trailer of ‘The Snail and the Whale’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘The Snail and the Whale’ is available on DVD

Spies in Disguise

June 16, 2025 in ★★★, Blue Sky films, computer-animated films, Feature films | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Directors: Troy Quane & Nick Bruno
Release date: December 4, 2019
Rating: ★★★
Review:

In the opening scenes of ‘Spies in Disguise’ we are introduced to young boy Walter Beckett, the son of a single mom, who’s a police officer. Walter is a ‘weirdo’ to his class mates, but secretly a genius, inventing all kinds of surprisingly peaceful weapons for his mom. Fourteen years later, he has found employment at ‘H.T.U.V.’, a non-existing American spy agency, as one of the inventors cooking up new weaponry for the organization’s spies.

Superstar among these spies is Lance Sterling. Voiced by Will Smith, Sterling is a black version of James Bond: clear-headed, cool and on the cocky side. But things quickly turn against him, when an unknown villain takes his identity, and Sterling becomes hunted by his own agency. To redeem his name, he unwillingly has to team up with Walter and his pacifist weaponry, which includes a very unlikely transformation of the hero…

‘Spies in Disguise’ was adapted from the 2009 animated short ‘Pigeon: Impossible’ and is for the most part standard spy fare, taking place in faraway places like Mexico and Venice. The buddy theme is also tried material, and there are the obligate scenes of almost every American animated feature film of the era, like the obligate breakup scene, and a ‘all hope is lost’ moment. No, the most original aspect of ‘Spies in Disguise’ lies in its strong pacifist theme. As Walter puts it: “when you fight fire with fire, we all get burned”. Even the villain, who certainly meant the worst, is spared in the end.

Artistically the film remains on safe grounds. The human designs are dull and uninspired. For example, Walter is yet another variation on ‘the clumsy young man’ design, akin to Linguini in ‘Ratatouille’ (2007) or Johnny Loughran in ‘Hotel Transylvania’ (2012), while Lance Sterling is too clearly modelled on Smith’s coolest film roles, like that of agent J in ‘Men in Black’ (1997). The rest of the designs are on the angular side, without ever venturing into bold stylization. The color palette is perhaps the most interesting aspect of the film.

Unfortunately, Blue Sky wasn’t allowed to show if it could venture into more exciting territories, because ‘Spies in Disguise’ was the last feature film by the ill-fated animation studio. When Disney bought 20th Century Fox in March 2019 it acquired the animation studio with it. Of course, Disney had no use for yet another animation studio, and thus ‘Blue Sky’ was closed in 2021, officially due to the consequences of the covid pandemic…

Watch the first trailer of ‘Spies in Disguise’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Spies in Disguise’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD

Marooned

June 9, 2025 in ★★★½, computer-animated films, Dreamworks films | Tags: , , , , | 1 comment

Director: Andrew Erekson
Release date: September 27, 2019
Rating: ★★★½
Review:

In the Dreamworks short ‘Marooned’ a little robot on the moon dreams of going to Earth. He tries to build a rocket to achieve his goal, but then he finds another robot in the moon dust…

‘Marooned’ is a cute little short full of subtle character animation and silent comedy. One quickly identifies with the little robot and his plight. Moreover, the short excels in pleasant looks: the moon is rendered in stark contrasts, and the whole short has a particular neo-fifties look. Even the Earth looks stylized.

The only criticism I have is that not every action is staged that well: some little scenes are harder to follow than should.

Watch the trailer of ‘Marooned’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Marooned’ is available on the Blu-Ray and DVD of ‘Abominable’

 Kimi to, Nami ni Noretara (Ride Your Wave)

May 16, 2025 in Anime, Asian films, ★★, Feature films, Japan | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Masaaki Yuasa
Release date: June 10, 2019
Rating: ★★
Review:

One of the most interesting animation directors to come from Japan is Masaaki Yuasa. He brought us very idiosyncratic movies as ‘Mindgame’ (2004) and ‘Night Is Short, Walk on Girl’ (2017). Both features have striking visuals that make them stand out within the vast anime canon.

‘Ride Your Wave’, Yuasa’s feature film from 2019, is remarkably normal compared to these earlier features. True, the human designs are strangely elongated, there are some distorted shots, and strange perspectives, and the color designs are brighter than usual in anime, but the background art is much more standard anime fare. The story, too, has nothing of the mind-blowing qualities of the earlier features. In fact, ‘Ride Your Wave’ is a disappointingly normal love story with a supernatural element, an almost obligate story ingredient in Japanese feature animation.

‘Ride Your Wave’ tells about a surfing girl who falls in love with a fire fighting boy, but then disaster strikes… Yuasa uses standard montage techniques to tell of the lovers’ bliss, and equally standard flashback techniques and repetitions of what people had said to make his message come across. This makes the film all too explanatory and heavy-handied. In fact, there’s little to enjoy in ‘Ride Your Wave’ besides the designs and some shots, and the film doesn’t rise above the standard fare. From Yuasa we certainly expect better…

Watch the trailer of ‘Ride Your Wave’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Ride Your Wave’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD

Tenki no ko (Weathering with You)

May 9, 2025 in Anime, Asian films, ★★, Feature films, Japan | Tags: , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Makoto Shinkai
Release date: July 19, 2019
Rating: ★★
Review:

In 2016 Makoto Shinkai rightfully scored a huge hit with his feature film ‘Your Name’. This film’s successor, ‘Weathering with You’ from 2019, unfortunately isn’t half as good.

Like ‘Your Name’ the film is well made, sporting intricate background art, beautiful lighting and fine animation, if not particularly outstanding. But the story, with its high level of spiritualism and its bizarre ending, leaves much to be desired, not in the least because it overstretches its own believability. This already starts with the film’s premise: that Tokyo has been shrouded in rain for months, without any chance of the sun. In this depressing environment there is Hina, a girl who is able to pray for the sun, if only briefly and only locally…

But Hina is not the main protagonist of the film and even remains pretty enigmatic throughout. This is reserved for Hodaka, an sixteen years old boy who has run from home and tries to find his luck in Tokyo, only to discover that this is quite hard without having the legal age to work or a proper identity card. Hodaka is the narrator of the story, and we largely watch the events through his eyes.

Perhaps because the story tells about teenagers the emotions run free in this film, and these are at times quite overblown. One almost rejoices when reality finally checks in with the youngsters’ fantasy life.
Much happens during the course of the film, but little of it makes sense, least of all the aftermath, in which Tokyo is flooded after all. I can’t make head or tail of Shinkai’s tale or his message, and I was for most of the time quite bored. This of course left ample time to admire the background art, but these beautiful sceneries can’t save a film that succumbs under its own pretentions.

Watch the trailer of ‘Weathering with You’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Weathering with You’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD

Missing Link

May 2, 2025 in ★★★★½, Feature films, Stop motion films | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Director: Chris Butler
Release date: April 7, 2019
Rating: ★★★★½
Review:

Laika’s ‘Missing Link’ is the second of the three animated yeti features of 2018-2019, the other two being Warner Bros.’ ‘Smallfoot’ from 2018 and Dreamworks’ ‘Abominable’ from 2019. ‘Missing Link’ easily is the best of the three. The stop motion animation is much more interesting than the rather generic computer animation of the other two studios, and the story much less predictable.

The originality already starts with the fact that not yetis but a bigfoot, christened ‘Mr. Link’ from Washington state is the central character of the film. We follow him, his ‘discoverer’ Sir Lionel Frost and Frost’s former love interest and widow of a fellow explorer, Adelina Fortnight, on an unusual quest.

The year is 1886 (we know that because we see the Statue of Liberty being under construction), the year before the European powers would divide Africa between them on the Berlin conference , while in North America the once extremely abundant passenger pigeons were being killed in huge numbers to certain extinction.

This age, in which discovery equaled oppression and slaughter, is exemplified by Sir Lionel Frost’s adversary, Lord Piggot-Dunceby, head of a club of explorers Sir Lionel Frost desperately wants to join, despite the fact all members despise him. This club represents the world of white supremacy and male chauvinism, but Sir Lionel Frost shows he’s made from different material, and the whole film sends a message of love and respect for our fellow creatures, being man or animal, man or woman, or whatever.

‘Missing Link’ does not score high on believability. First, we must accept that Sir Lionel Frost is more interested in discovering than in really studying his findings, despite his few tendencies to do so. Second, we must accept that the giant ape-like Mr. Link can wander through the world unnoticed, simply because he has put on some clothes. Third, we must accept the great lengths to which Lord Piggot-Dunceby goes to thwart Sir Lionel Frost’s plans, not only hiring an assassin, but even completely discarding a huge discovery which could have made him famous if he would steal it from Frost. Fourth, there’s an exciting vertigo scene, which unfortunately throws all plausibility out of the window. In this single scene our heroes should have died multiple times. The film makers don’t even show us how our heroes survive their predicament.

But what the film lacks in believability it makes up in characters and story telling. Both Sir Lionel Frost and Mr. Link are interesting characters, with Mr. Link being instantly likeable, while Adelina Fortnight defies the normal love interest cliches, being much more of an independent woman, steering her own course. There isn’t even a breakup scene in sight, that obligatory staple scene of American animation films of the 2010s.

The characters are much helped by great voice acting. Hugh Jackman (Sir Lionel Frost), Zoe Saldana (Adelina Fortnight), Stephen Fry (Lord Piggot-Dunceby), Timothy Olyphant (the assassin Willard Stenk) and Emma Thompson (whose character I won’t reveal here) all do an excellent voice job, but it’s Zach Galifianakis who stands out as Mr. Link, making him both polite, shy, naïve, enthusiastic, gentle, sweet and open at the same time, without forgetting to make him funny, too.

Being a Laika film, the stop-motion animation is, of course, of the highest quality. Especially the character animation should be mentioned as outstanding, but also impressive are the action scenes, highlight being a long chase scene on a rocking boat.

Understandably for a film showing such wide vistas as the Ocean and the forests of Washington State there’s a large dose of computer animation and computer-generated background art involved, which unfortunately make the film’s looks a little more generic than desired. But the film surprises most in its sunny color palette. ‘Missing Link’ is so much more colorful than all former Laika films, perhaps because it has discarded all horror elements, otherwise so omnipresent in their filmography. Thus, the film has very pleasant looks, and is a joy to watch from start to end (yes, even the end titles are lovely). I certainly hope the studio will retain this direction of more colorful tales and sceneries.

Watch the trailer of ‘Missing Link’ yourself and tell me what you think:

‘Missing Link’ is available on Blu-Ray and DVD

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