Lurker > PrinceKaro

6. The House

Karo: 3
Evillord: 4
Ermine: 4
Mythiot: 5
Red: 6
Johnbobb: 7
Plasma: 19
Inviso: 20
Suprak: 25

Total: 93

Karo: An anthology film features three different stories that (supposedly) take place in the same house.
The first features a family who strike a deal with a very sus architect to live in a house he builds for the for free which I'm sure is just out of the goodness of his heart and won't come with any dire hidden costs or anything.
The little girl is the only one who seems concerned with the whole situation, and her parents begin acting increasingly weird until they... turn into furniture?
It is creepy and well directed, though it seems really off in style and tone from the other two segments. It's not bad or anything, it just seems like it doesnt fit with the rest of the anthology.
The second is about a house renovator trying to get an old house just perfect, a task that quickly spirals out of control into a Sisyphean battle against an invasion of insects. Mental breakdowns ensue.
This is probably the weakest of the three, and the lack of any characters for the protagonist to interact with for a lot of the segment (other than phone conversations with his 'girlfriend') seem to leave it with a feeling of something being missing.
However it is the third segment that is the main event, in which a landlord struggles to make ends meet in a city flooded by an unspecified catastrophe. They also are all cats because it is fucking cute shut up.
So beleaguered landlord Rosa tries to get rent from her eccentric tenants and we are treated to some of the greatest dialogue ever in an animated movie. From the first interaction between Elias and Rosa you know this is going to be something special. Everything is so perfectly timed for the maximum humor without being overbearing. from shy fishercat Elias to expressive hippie Jen to bohemian drifter Cosmos, each character comes with their own undeniable charm (and unending annoyance to Rosa).
As the movie goes on we realize that Rosa is actually the one who is crazy, as she works fervently to repair a building on the verge of being swallowed by floodwater, and continuously bugs those around her for rent in a world where money has likely lost all intrinsic value. This adds a whole new dimension to the way the other characters relate to her, they aren't just being dicks but rather they are trying to help her. Be it Elias' insistence of the value of fish, or Jen's gentle reminders about the reality of the current world, they gradually chip away at Rosa's stubbornness and let her come to terms with everything.
The message of the story could be interpreted as anything between moving on from the death of a loved one to conservative denial of global warming and neither would be wrong. It is a thought-provoking delight that is probably my favorite thing I watched on this list, and it being shackled to the other two shorts is the only reason the anthology as a whole loses out on the top spot.

Evillord: Netflix calls this anthology black comedy, and while there are definitely some funny parts, like the bizzarre grunting and breathing of the weird contractors in the first part or the delightful musical sequence in part two, I'd really say it's horror, at least until part 3 transitions into a bittersweet drama. They're all tied together by the titular house, an almost eldritch entity with a will of its own, which changes so much in the eras between segments that it's almost unrecognizable. I enjoyed all three episodes a lot but I think they get stronger as they go. The first is a simple, well-paced and unnerving tale of claustrophobia and isolation. The second opens as an all-too-real depiction of a developer trying to sell a house he's put his life into to the utter indifference of everyone around him, then descends into hilarious insanity with the aforementioned music scene, the dentist plot twist, and a great ending. The third examines obssession and letting go of the past with a put-upon landlord named Rosa and her deadbeat tenants living through apocalyptic flooding. I was impressed by how effectively the film held my sympathy to Rosa early in the segment, making her tenants seem incredibly frustrating (one responds to being asked for rent with the words "are we still doing that?"), but shifted my perspective as it became more and more clear that the world is ending, Rosa's dreams are impossible, and money probably isn't even in use any more. The surprisingly happy ending to this segment gave a sweet sense of catharsis to the whole trilogy, wrapping up generations of suffering with a sense of meaning and release.

Ermine: I was almost certain that this film would be my #2 and maybe it really does deserve to be there. The difference between my 2, 3 and 4 are like one point. Some days I might prefer this over the others. I think this will do quite well with everyone else though so I'm not too bothered by putting it slightly lower (4th is still super super high!).
Surprisingly enough, I enjoy all three stories here, I'd rank them Third > Second > First. That's not to say the First is bad in any way, it's just not quite something that is tailored to me, whereas the other two are.
I looove how eerie and spooky the whole thing is and the animation + art style is top notch.
The reason I enjoy the third act the most is because I just enjoy the characters more here as well as their relationships. I would have really enjoyed a full movie with Rosa and the other residents. In particular, I really enjoyed Elias.
The moment when Elias leaves the house to go out on his own and Rosa is checking his room, finally sees that he liked to draw and had drawn Rosa. Jen comes up behind and Rosa comments that she didn't know he could draw and Jen just replies with "Didn't you?". That moment right there is just like damn, man.
It's just cool to see the different effects, life-ruining effects that The House had on these people, and, I'm glad that the tale ended up having a happy ending. Especially after the first two acts definitely did NOT.
Oh yeah! Credits theme is freaking awesome, I love this song.

Mythiot: *no writeup submitted*

Red: This is an oddly dark movie, feels almost twilight-zone esque involving various characters experiences with the house. It can be weird, creepy, but it does a great job of honestly just investing you in what exactly is going on with the weirdness. I was definitely on board for the weirdness, not going to complain about the rats or cats, though perhaps at times it touched just a bit too weird for its own good.

Johnbobb: 3 > 1 > 2, super creepy and I dig that

Plasma: Not sure if this one sucked or if it was just too artsy for me. Either way, each of the three stories felt about 5-10 minutes longer than necessary, as if the writers were stalling to fill 30 minutes.
The first one was the best of the trio. The characters were worth caring about, the disappearing staircases were creepy, and the ending with the father and mother turning into a chair and curtain was the movies standout moment. I couldnt wait to see where things went from there, but then I learned I was watching a story collection.
Second story was meh. Ratman was unlikable, the plot ran in circles, and the dentist twist was a misfire. Ending was good, with the misshapen rats overtaking the house.
Third story was also meh. The landlord has no paying tenants, she accepts fish and lucky rocks for payment, and therefore she cant afford to repair the house. So she sucks at landlording. Then she kicks out Catman to make room for nobody, and the story ends with the house pulling a Balamb Garden and vacating the property.

Garnet

Eiko

Outlier:

Inviso: 209
Plasma: 178
Ermine: 155
Evillord: 154
Johnbobb: 145
Suprak: 137
Mythiot: 135
Red: 123
Karo: 108

7. The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales

Evillord: 3
Suprak: 4
Ermine: 5
Red: 5
Karo: 7
Johnbobb: 12
Mythiot: 15
Inviso: 16
Plasma: 27

Total: 94

Evillord: What a funny movie. I love the art style so much, the coloring is so lovely and the characters are all so clear and cute and full of visual personality. And the voice acting, oh my God, that wolf sounds so HOT! The cast have such great chemistry that I was sure this couldn't be their first appearance, and it does turn out these stories are adapted from equally delightful comic books by Benjamin Renner, though the framing device of the farm animals putting on a play is unique to the film.
The title story, where an edgy fox becomes the mother of three baby chickens, is definitely the strongest, mainly because of just how successful the film is at making the chicks, who get confused into thinking they're dangerous and predatory juvenile foxes, lovable and adorable. The other two tales are based on the classic comedy dynamic of two enthusiastic but incompetent troublemakers (a duck and a rabbit), with a straight-man in the form of a pig who tries to stop their antics and usually ends up being the one to get hurt in the process. There's a great variation in the final story where the lazy guard-dog tells the pig to just let them be and that they'll learn on their own but he can't seem to stop himself from meddling with them. It's definitely not profound or revolutionary, but it's all executed so well that it's super fun and cozy. I hope they make more, I would love to see these characters again.

Suprak: *no writeup submitted*

Ermine: This film is just plain fun and cute and wacky characters. The animation and art style lends incredibly well to that as well. I am a BIT sad that the Fox wasn't really in the first and third act because he's definitely the best character. It seems odd the movie would be named after him when he's only the main character of the second act. Granted, it is longer than the other two acts, but I was about done with the pig, rabbit and duck after the first act, I didn't need more of them in the third.
Not to say I didn't enjoy the first and third act, they just weren't as funny or interesting as the second.
Nothing too crazy here. Fox is great. Animation and art is great! Simple and fun stories but... ultimately not too much to sink your teeth into with this one.

Red: A bunch of animals put on a few shows. It is kind of a clever setup, and we'll see characters pop up repeatedly in the 3 different shows. The highlight is the second but I would say all 3 are compelling enough to keep interest. Each of the shows just has a good bit of heart mixed in with a light hearted setting that all just felt like they continually hit good notes.

Karo: A compilation of three stories about a group of animals that live around a farm in the countryside, some of whom are so brain-meltingly stupid that it is miracle that they lived to be this old.
The first story features a trio of critters who must take over a stork's job of delivering a baby to her parents, and almost immediately engage in all sorts of horrifically unsafe and neglectful things with the small child which culminates in them accidentally mailing her to China.
The second is about a fox who kidnaps some chicken eggs in order to raise them to be eaten, but ends up becoming their impromptu mother, which is very cute though I feel the interactions sometimes end up being a mite too similar to Despicable Me.
Third is is the pair of idiots taking over Christmas after accidentally 'killing' a decorative Santa and that goes about as well as you'd expect.
The animation style is charming, and the characters always play off each other very well. I think it would make a very good TV series, and in many ways it already feels a bit like one.

Johnbobb: This is a really cute movie with goofy physical, occasionally dark humor and an extremely pleasant art style. Is this why people like Wallace and Gromit movies? Overall just a really fun time from start to (mostly) finish. The Christmas story wasn't the best, but still enjoyable either way. Just French enough.

Mythiot: *no writeup submitted*

Inviso: I wasnt expecting to enjoy this, but gosh darn it, I kinda did. This movie was essentially an anthology, telling three, cutesie little stories about a bunch of barnyard animals putting on a play for an unseen audience. I think it works in that regard: the three stories are all decent at worse, and the characters are cute and fun. The opening story is about trying to deliver a baby that a lazy couldnt be arsed to do himself, and we get some fun moments of comedy as the duck and rabbit are completely incompetent and forcing the pig straight man to deal with their shenanigans against his will. The same goes for the final story about rescuing Santa Claus, and both of these stories are a little out there in terms of introducing the stork and Santa as fictitious elements.
While the bookend stories were fine and cute and whatever, I appreciated the central story, from which this movie gets its title. You start out with a hapless fox who no one takes seriously, even as hes trying to kill and eat chickens, and hes basically being bullied into doing the wolfs dirty work, since the farm is genuinely frightened of the wolf. But the fox steals some eggs, only to discover when they hatch that the chicks imprint on the first thing they see as their mother. Hilarity ensues as this fox is trying to raise the chicks so that he can eat them later on, but theres a cute transformation as he realizes that hes scared of the wolf and the chicks show him unconditional love, so he does everything he can to protect them by the end of the story, including standing up to the wolf once and for all. Its just really cute, and I liked the happy ending of shared custody with the chicken mom.

Plasma: Uninspired, sterile, and tamely British. The art style reminded me of Rockos Modern Life, but sadly these tales could never match up with even the weakest episodes of the classic Nickelodeon show. Aside from the three chicks thinking the fox was their mother, I found little to latch onto here. Things play out predictably, and the framing device doesnt add anything other than a cheap excuse to lump three snoozer stories into a single package.

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Garnet

Eiko

Inviso: 200
Plasma: 158
Ermine: 153
Evillord: 150
Johnbobb: 140
Suprak: 134
Mythiot: 127
Red: 121
Karo: 108

8. The Little Prince

Ermine: 7
Inviso: 8
Suprak: 8
Karo: 9
Johnbobb: 9
Plasma: 12
Mythiot: 19
Red: 19
Evillord: 20

Total: 111

Ermine: Very cute little film! I absolutely love the little plush fox and ended up buying one on Amazon or something later.
The third act of the film kind of goes off the rails and whilst this is the most we got out of the cute fox, I will admit it didn't really fit the tone of the rest of the film. The emotional beats never really hit me that hard. I was like, yes this part is supposed to be sad, but I'm just not really quite feeling it.
Overall though I still enjoyed this one. Cute storytelling and likable characters.

Inviso: This one really got to me. I wound up crying like, three or four times during the films runtime, and one of those revolved around a goddamn FLOWER. Ill admit, the opening seemed kinda cheesy to me. Very standard overbearing (but trying her best) single mom, trying to run her daughters life down to the minute, including uprooting their family to a new house, just to get her into an exclusive private school. And then theres the wacky neighbor that helps the girl broaden her horizons beyond regimented life choices. Its when the neighbor and daughters friendship is revealed and everything goes south that the movie really picks up.
I was already expecting this senile old man to suffer some sort of health problembut not SO early in the movie, and certainly not IMMEDIATELY after the girl had a huge falling out with him over being disappointed in his storys ending. But this all leads to her going on a quest to find the subject of that story (the titular Little Prince), which has her fending off the black and white world of adulthood in an almost Coraline-esque nightmare-scape. Its a bit on the nose, but still, the movies theme revolves around kids just being kids and not getting stuck too far in a grown-up world that they didnt choose to live. The Prince had become an old loser, and it took the girl to bring him back to reality, to the fantasy realm from whence he came. Its just a well-told story, and like I said, it had some very emotional beats that it hit and got me choked up several times over.

Vis Cry Count 2: The whole sequence from the little girl yelling at the Aviator, to her returning home to see the ambulance outside his house, to her biking through the rain to the hospital.

Vis Cry Count 3: When the Little Prince returned to his planet, to find that his Rose had long since passed away.

Suprak: *no writeup submitted*

Karo: An adaptation of the whimsical book about the little boy who lives in space without a spacesuit and has romantic fantasies about flowers, told in past tense through the lens of a relationship between an overworked girl and the sketchy old man who lives next door.
The flashback/fantasy segments are rendered in this amazing paper mache stop motion, while the 'real world' is unfortunately in less-than-stellar CGI that gets the job done but is nothing special.
Thankfully, the story is where this movie really shines, the characters are incredible, and they engage in surprisingly deep discussions about life, death, and growing up.
I do have one gripe about the Girl's mother and how her psychotic, abusive, and neglectful behavior is just handwaved away. Sure, there is some vague implying near the end that she is becoming more involved with her daughter's feelings, but I really wanted to see more than that.

Johnbobb: that prince wasn't even that little

Plasma: Loved the setup with the girl and her micromanaging mother, but I wasnt a fan of how this movie hopped back and forth between storylines. That said, I did like the relationship between the girl and her neighborits a nice story about outcasts finding friendship. And that scene where the stars are freed from the glass chamber was mesmerizing to watch.

Mythiot: *no writeup submitted*

Red: We've got a lot of parents on this list putting their kids in physical danger, but this one might just take the cake for most pure emotional damage. Forget having a life, forget having any sort of personality, have a completely filled list of everything you will do in life forever, no exceptions. There is some pretty harsh child abuse going on here. But our little girl here is going to sneak away, hear some stories from an old man very much destined to have his mortality come into question, and she is going to learn there is more to the world than studying for a school that is way too harsh to be slightly effective. Oh and shes going to somehow reconcile with her crazy mom on a whim and also still attend definitely not creating well adjusted children academy. The story in the middle with the little prince is harmless enough but the movie never really lands the overarching plot.

Evillord: If you ever doubt the global dominance of the English language, remember that this French-Italian take on Antoine De Saint-Exupry's *chef-d'oeuvre* is in English. This is not really an adaptation so much as a sequel to the book, where a little girl with a high-strung mom has a life-changing meeting with the original narrator of The Little Prince (here called "the aviator"), years later. The aviator is the local eccentric and talks about how he's never found anyone interested in his story, which is funny since it is globally recognized as one of the greatest children's books of all time and has been translated into almost every language. There is a highly truncated version of the Prince's story told with stop-motion animation which ends up being the best part of the movie both visually and emotionally. I like that the new story eventually leads to an adult Little Prince who has forgotten the moral of his own story, there is a small amount of boldness in that, but this would be more valuable if it was used to change or re-examine the ideas in the book, which it doesn't really do. Mr. Prince transforms back into The Little Prince and helps the girl understand the original point of the book instead. This main plot ends up feeling like a fairly bog-standard children's animated film without nearly as much charm as Saint-Exupry's beautiful book, so it just ends up being a bad version. With all the time and effort that went into bringing such a beloved story to the big screen like this, it's a real shame. This might be the film where I feel the most powerful need to insist that people read the book instead.

Outlier:

Inviso: 200
Plasma: 154
Ermine: 152
Johnbobb: 139
Evillord: 138
Suprak: 134
Mythiot: 116
Red: 110
Karo: 107

9. Flee

Evillord: 6
Mythiot: 7
Red: 7
Johnbobb: 10
Suprak: 11
Karo: 13
Ermine: 18
Plasma: 18
Inviso: 28

Total: 118

Evillord: A deeply affecting true story about a family of Afghan immigrants trying to make their way to Europe to escape the mujahideen invasion. There are enough traumatic scenes in this film to change a person's perspective on the politics of refugee status and immigration, particularly the harrowing sequence where a boat full of refugees, after a long and terrifying journey, get sent back to Russia by a Norweigan cruise ship and the Estonian border police, where they are extorted for the last of their money. It further explores the long-term consequences of these experiences for the life of its subject Amin, who finally arrives in Denmark but has to live a lie in fear of deportation. Still, there's enough relief in the portrayal of Amin's family and their love for each other that it's a moving, human experience instead of just being miserable. One of my favorite scenes, near the very end, is when Amin comes out as gay to his family. There is so much tension, I was really worried that after everything else he had suffered, Amin would be rejected by the family he had relied on through his hardships because homosexuality is "unacceptable" in Afghanistan, but the resolution almost ends up being funny, when his older brother takes him to a Swedish gay club and tells him "we already knew".

Mythiot: *no writeup submitted*

Red: I'm usually not one for real stories of horrible events(Especially in animation), but I thought Flee did a good job of finding a middle ground of showing how dangerous and frightening some of the experiences and journeys here were without needing to get so graphic that it ever hit the point where it was just trying to be unncessarily uncomfortable. It was an oddly gripping story of a personal and family struggle to escape some of the horrors of the world.

Johnbobb: this was a very good movie and I have a lot of thoughts about it that I don't know how to really put into words.

Suprak: *no writeup submitted*

Karo: A documentary about the life of a gay youth in 1980s Afghanistan and the attempts of him and his family to escape the rising jihadi forces in the country.
The narrative is gripping and people involved are compelling to such a degree that I cared very much about what happened to them, and humanizes the oft-maligned immigrant in a manner that the world could use right about now. It is an excellent and well-directed work of storytelling.
So wait, then what is the problem with this, and why is it not in the top ten? Ah, well, that would be the animation, which is not good, to put things mildly. No folks, there is nothing wrong with your internet connection, that stunning 5 frame per second rendering is the way the movie is supposed to look. Character movement is excessively choppy and janky to such an extent that cant even be explained away by the film's low budget, and it detracts greatly from the overall experience. It is like the director treats animation as nothing more than a blunt tool to protect the anonymity of the protagonist and this makes me angry.
Still, one cannot discount the power of the story and it remains an exceptional movie overall, despite it failing at being a work of animation on just about every level.

Ermine: Overall the movie is FINE. It's really not my thing, but I'll say that I wasn't a fan of the storytelling in this. I had absolutely zero interest in the present-day stuff and occasionally found it difficult to follow when it would jump around from scene to scene. If it had just kept it to the retelling of Amin's tale, this probably would have fared a slight bit better. Not much, but at least a little bit.

Plamsa: These animated war documentaries arent my cup of tea. I get that the animation exists because it wasnt possible to use live footage, but seeing a true story told through animation creates a weird disconnect for me. Anyway, I preferred Flee over Waltz With Bashir because Flee focuses on one person instead of juggling multiple perspectives. The spectrum of emotions was stronger here as well, and the ending was satisfying.

Inviso: This one, ultimately, just didnt leave a whole lot of impression on me. I feel bad about negatively comparing it to another film on this list that shares similar traits, but those similarities are exactly WHY this stood out as an inferior film, for my tastes. Long story short, I just didnt find this documentary all that interesting. I feel bad saying that, because its a biographical tale of a gay Afghani refugee trying to make a life for himself in the Western world, but thats just the thingbiographies are already hit-or-miss subjects for me, and the less important the person is to the world at large, the less likely I am to care about their story. Ive never felt compelled to read a memoir, and thats what this felt like. Also, unlike that other film I mentionedI dont see why this needed to be animated. The animation was choppy, and it wasnt like it offered the potential of fantastical recollections of eventsit was so straight-forward that it made animation dull.

Mog

Garnet

Eiko

Outlier:

Inviso: 181
Plasma: 145
Ermine: 143
Johnbobb: 138
Evillord: 135
Suprak: 132
Mythiot: 114
Red: 108
Karo: 103

10. Birdboy: The Forgotten Children

Johnbobb: 1
Evillord: 5
Karo: 8
Ermine: 8
Mythiot: 10
Suprak: 19
Inviso 21
Plasma: 23
Red: 23

Total: 118

Johnbobb: 10/10 fucking incredible, no notes. Seriously, wild and creative movies like these that I would never see otherwise is a big reason I participate in these lists.

Evillord: Adaptated from the Spanish comic Psiconautas by Alberto Vzquez, set on a once-idyllic cartoon island after a nuclear disaster. It's certainly a dismal film - Birdboy himself is simultaneously drug-addicted and demonically possessed. No one in this desolated setting really comes off as a good or a bad guy, it's all flawed people doing what they need to do to survive. We get to know a fisherman piglet named Zachariah who is friends with Birdboy and struggling to support his ailing, sometimes abusive mother with his job rendered almost impossible because the factory disaster wiped out all the fish. He gets robbed of what little savings he has by the other principal characters, Birdboy's sweetie Dinky and her two friends, who are trying to get the fuck off the island. All of these characters remain complex enough and are treated with enough empathy that it makes the story both compelling and interesting to think about, and the emotional tone is balanced out by some beautiful, almost video game like sequences of Birdboy adventuring, which with the film's lovely 2D artwork put me in mind of Hollow Knight. The sort of satirical Catholic angst at the heart of the film, especially with Dinky's family and their dog dressed up in a gimp suit which they insist is their good child, was an interesting element, though I have to admit I felt a little too detached from Spanish culture to quite get it.

Karo: A handful of animal kids who struggle to find happiness in a semi-post-apocalyptic world, and they go through an astounding amount of trouble to find a way off their island when they could have just asked the pig boy for a ride on his boat (or stolen it), but I digress.
Themes of drug addiction and mental illness play a large role in the story, and the characters involved are always treated with a commendable amount of humanity. There are also some bits about genocide and ethnic cleansing of the avian animals. Did I mention that this is a very dark movie?
The plot seems to meander in places and could have used more focus, but that does not detract much from the film's haunting beauty. Sadly the animation isnt the greatest but it makes the most of things though stylization and direction.
It is Animal Crossing after atomic armageddon. It is a perfect fusing of the cute and the macabre by up and coming director Alberto Vasquez and I look forward to what he has in store for the future.

Ermine: I really really REALLY wanted to enjoy this one more. The artstyle was very striking and intriguing (except for the super close-up of hands or feet that were super gross for no reason). I love how different and unique the film feels, along with its characters but almost immediately when you start watching the film, your first thought is, "Oh, how are all of these characters going to die in brutal and disgusting ways?" and I could never really get that thought out of my head.
I'm not sure if that's what the writers were intending on but I couldn't shake that ever and was just waiting for the ball to drop on every character being brutally murdered in some way.
Thankfully it never really happened, but ultimately, I really didn't enjoy or feel anything from the ending of the film. Birdboy dies (as expected) and then the movie kind of just ends. Alright?
We don't get a hopeful ending and we don't get a bleak one. It just kind of ends. Alright then...
Still mostly enjoyed my time with the film. It was pretty dece!

Mythiot: *no writeup submitted*

Suprak: *no writeup submitted*

Inviso: I dont really know how to express my feelings on this movie. On the one hand, its just bleak and depressing, and honestly? It creeped me out in its tone and animation style quite often (Dinkys dad and dog are nightmare fuel), and theres just a never-ending string of sadness. From the pig guys mom dying because a parasitic spider left her, to the fox kid getting beat up and called a thief multiple times (despite only thieving ONE TIME), everyone is just miserable and trying to find some way to get a better life in this horrible post-apocalyptic world. That being said, even though the plot was a disjointed mess at times (with far too many minor subplots going on with little pay-off), I was still fully onboard watching it, for the most part. I kept hoping for a happy ending, and even though I didnt get it, I was invested through and through. Also, as a final note, Sandra deserved more screentime. Her weird, inner psychopathy was brought up several times, but it wasnt explored as much as it should have been.

Plasma: The art style reminded me of Hollow Knightwhich is a plusbut the story is a train wreck that left me feeling nothing but boredom and confusion.

Red: I'm going to be honest, I was never sure where this story was ever trying to go. We've got multiple plotlines that kind of meet up, but also are never necessarily completely fleshed out, sometimes get uncomforably weird, and then we've got the rampant drug use and child drug use. All masked with somewhat strange animal characters. While the screwed up world definitely had me curious where they were taking it, the world was uncomfortable in a way I definitely didn't enjoy and with it being somewhat nonsensical and poorly paced I can't say I particularly enjoyed the experience.

1. ???
2. ???
3. ???
4. ???
5. Turning Red
6. ???
7. ???
8. ???
9. ???
10. Ron's Gone Wrong
11. ???
12. Strange World
13. ???
14. Sing 2
15. My Father's Dragon
16. Vivo
17. Wendell and Wild
18. Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood
19. The Girl Without Hands
20. Waltz with Bashir
21. Lightyear
22. The Sea Beast
23. The Willoughbys
24. The Hobbit
25. Yellow Submarine
26. Ne Zha
27. The Angry Birds Movie
28. Early Man
29. DC League of Super-Pets
30. Sita Sings the Blues

Mythiot posted...

Oh, #10 and #9 are tied in points! Tiebreaker is first and last rankings added together, right?

Tiebreaker is first and last rankings removed

So we have our top 10!

The Little Prince
Birdboy: The Forgotten Children
The Big Bad Fox & Other Tales
Marona's Fantastic Tale
Encanto
Flee
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio
Puss in Boots: The Last Wish
The Bad Guys
The House

good job guys thats almost my entire personal top ten

Outlier:

Inviso: 170
Ermine: 141
Evillord: 130
Plasma: 132
Johnbobb: 129
Suprak: 123
Mythiot: 114
Karo: 101
Red: 95

11. Apollo 10 1/2: A Space Age Childhood

Plasma: 4
Inviso: 10
Red: 12
Evillord: 14
Ermine: 14
Suprak: 15
Mythiot: 17
Karo: 18
Johnbobb: 20

Total: 124

Plasma: If you told me back in April that an animated 60s pseudo-memoir would be one of my favorite entries on this list, I wouldve said, Wow, the other 29 must be horrendous! and then avoided this project altogether. But thats why I love these Gauntlet projectsbecause they force me to try out things Id otherwise ignore.
Im not someone who gets nostalgic for the 60s, but this story drew me in right from the start with the little details: the kickball game, sticking your nose in the chalk, making frozen sandwiches on an assembly line, tucking beer tabs in the cans, the Abominable Snowman taking a smoke break All these details made the story vivid and real to me. And somehow the details are delivered in a way that gives the story a sense of progression and makes the characters endearing. I really felt like I was a part of this family for ninety minutes.
My only issues here are the pacing (occasionally draggy) and the whole Apollo 10 1/2 framing device, which initially made the story seem like it was going to be sci-fi rather than a 60s coming-of-age story. But you know what? Those complaints are minor, and the good far outweighs the bad here.

Inviso: This was a cute movie. It wasnt necessarily the most exciting film, because ultimately it was a slice of life about the life in and around Houston during the space race. But I think what set it apart from a lot of slice of life films weve watched across numerous lists is that there was a certain level of humor that translated to me as an American viewer that perhaps didnt land for me the same way when watching slice-of-life films from other countries. I never felt bored watching this, because the narrator was just interesting enough to sell what would easily have been a spectacularly mundane life story. Honestly, the central conceit of a top secret moon mission for a ten-year-old barely felt relevant to the film for me. I was just far more engrossed in the stories of his childhood, and I think I would have been fine without the framing device of the movie. It was still really solid for me though, and it was nice to see a movie about a child where I didnt hate the child for being a complete and utter brat. I think thats the benefit of having a future narrator look back on their past, as opposed to having a child as a character in the moment: theyre more able to look back on things through a lens of maturity.

Red: This would have worked so much better without the dumb child goes to the moon plotline. Those scenes never felt like anything but out of place. This probably has no reason to be an animated movie but honestly all of the real experiences and the telling of what the world was like at the time of the moon landing were really well done. Generally interesting. But this gets dragged down hard by I guess trying to be kid friendly and making up dumb shit about the moon. We already have enough dumb moon conspiracies out there we didn't need a fake story about a fictional moon landing. This would have worked way better without it.

Evillord: Richard Linklater's third animated feature to use a sort of 3D analog to rotoscoping - most of this movie was filmed in front of a green-screen and then sort of animated over. It doesn't look very good outside of a few sequences with alternative styles.
The movie is a boomer's varied recollections of the years leading up to the Moon Landing, interspersed with a fictional account of himself being the true first person to land on the moon as part of a secret NASA mission. The intent of this is apparently to show both a reconstructed version of the Lunar Mission itself and the perspective of a child who watched the landing on TV through the same character. There is an admirable amount of specificity in both stories, but the childhood anecdotes end up being more interesting while I found myself itching to alt-tab during the slow lunar lander scenes. It successfully provides an evocative snapshot of the era and its pop-cultural fascinations and gets you immersed in some comfy nostalgia, but there are no tremendous emotional highs or wildly creative ideas and I would be surprised if I rewatch it or even think about it much in the future.

Ermine: I actually don't hate the animation and art style of this film! It's kind of neat!
That being said, I think this film struggles at what it wants to be. If you want it to be the dream of a kid wanting to go to the moon, then let it be that, if you want it to literally just be the story of a kid growing up, then let it be that.
I was actually more interested in the tales of him growing up than his dream of going to the moon. Everything to do with the launch and moon itself, I really just didn't care.
The problem though then is the length of the film. From like minute 10 to minute 40 I was actually like hey, this isn't that bad, all of these little stories of him growing up were kind of interesting and pleasant to watch... and then it kept going... and going... and going... and then it finally gets back to the dream stuff and by that point, I had completely lost interest and didn't care anymore.
Meh.

Suprak: *no writeup submitted*

Mythiot: *no writeup submitted*

Karo: A young kid in the late 1960s imagines(?) that he is secretly selected for the space program and then goes about his daily life in the way your parents probably did during the era of space race hysteria.
It is animated via the rotoscoping technique, which I have mixed feelings about, but it works well in this context for the most part and they did a good job at keeping the creepiness to a minimum.
I'll have to say, for being basically boomer nostalgia the movie, it is more interesting than you'd think. There are a lot of satirical shots taken at the 60s and the film remained entertaining throughout for reasons I cannot fully place.

Johnbobb: Making this animated despite basically being a live action movie is an interesting choice, and as it turns out a necessary one, because the spruce of color distracts from the fact that 90% of the movie is narration. Seriously, I like Jack Black, but for a lot of this it might as well be a podcast. The story itself is a fun one, but man does it drag at times. Not something I think I'm gonna watch again.

Top tier pic

Vanille

Garnet

Eiko

Outlier:

Inviso: 169
Ermine: 138
Evillord: 127
Plasma: 125
Johnbobb: 120
Suprak: 119
Mythiot: 108
Red: 94
Karo: 94

Inviso: I found this movie to be largely dull and unremarkable. Its one of those childrens movies that, rather than go the childish comedy route of like, fart jokes and toilet humor, it instead hopes to succeed on the merits of bright colors and a plethora of cutesy animal characters (who arent necessarily fun or charismaticbut rather their designs just look like theyre meant to appeal to children). Its really hard to explain, because ultimately, it was very difficult to care about anything that was going on. It didnt help that you have like, these two primate characters who are kind of treated like the main antagonists of the film, and their main personalities are calm and serious (the boss gorilla), or rash and angry in a really muted way (the monkey). Plus, the message just feels like Life sucks, kids, and even though you think theres an easy solution to every problem, sometimes other people know more than you and can fix things better than you can. Dont get me wrongthats not an inaccurate lessonbut its also really dull for a kids movie.

12. My Father's Dragon

Ermine: 2
Plasma: 10
Red: 10
Mythiot: 11
Karo: 15
Evillord: 15
Johnbobb: 22
Suprak: 22
Inviso: 25

Total: 132

Ermine: I'll start off by saying that I'm a bit sad that I watched this with a group of people and not on my own. Nearly everyone else in the call was hating on it and after finishing, I couldn't help but feel it really didn't deserve the hate. Thankfully, I DID give this a second watch so I could form my own opinions properly and I'm glad I did because this is definitely the best film from Cartoon Saloon (Yeah I'll fight you.)
The first 20-25 minutes are... I don't want to say a slog, but I'd be lying if the film isn't nearly as interesting without Boris being introduced. I think the drama between Elmer and his mother is fine, it helps set everything up, but the cat just feels off and my god do I hate Soda. Terrible terrible character. Thankfully, after Elmer gets to the island, that's when the movie starts to pick up with Boris' introduction.
I think what works so well about Boris is that he plays off and with Elmer so well. He's too in your face and gets on Elmer's nerves and I love their dynamic. I think their story together and growth together is by far and away the best part of the film. Boris is "annoying" and goofs off way too much but I can't help but be endeared by him, I think the VA they chose for him was a perfect fit.
One thing that boosts this film that little extra bit for me is the main theme. The song that Boris starts whistling for Elmer. It's such an eerie but hopeful theme and later on you get a beautiful sequence with the theme as well as added vocals.
The plot is simple and that's OK. I think the weakest part of the film is absolutely the supporting cast. The cat, the dumb whale Soda, all of the gorillas. Most of them aren't "bad" but they definitely play second fiddle to the main two, in Boris and Elmer.
I had this film between second and fourth a bunch of times but I'm sticking it here as my second favorite because I think it deserves it and I know it's going to get a bunch of lower ratings by probably everyone else. Gotta stick up for the underdogs, especially so since this is my favorite Cartoon Saloon film.
Oh! Let's do a Cartoon Saloon film ranking!
My Father's Dragon > Kells > Breadwinner > Wolfwalkers > Song of the Sea
Yes, I'm aware that nearly everyone else would have this in the complete opposite order, which is why I gave the ranking to begin with. Wolfwalkers and Song of Sea made me feel nothing. My Father's Dragon did! Just give me characters I can become attached to with some good music and you'll win my heart.

Plasma: Though Im bummed they abandoned the real world mother-son story, the fantasy adventure was fun, vivid, and charming. It gave me Studio Ghibli vibes, and it was great seeing the kid taking initiative throughout.
Not sure why this story needed to be told from the perspective of a daughter we never got to meet. Weird choice of framing devices here, and most of the initial storyline ended up going to waste.

Red: Possible the most pointless title of the least, there isn't really a father here, I mean, there is, but its thrown away in such passing as an afternote that I'm not sure why they went in that direction. Some odd choices here for sure, starting with a plotline of a mom and son having to come to terms with needing to move out of a failing town and into a big city. They live under an evil landlord who, in the most unrealistic event on this list, is going to get a mini-redemption arc. I appreciate that we eventually abandon the "main character child solves the problem" by explicitly showing that they get the answer to the problem wrong. The story on the island is mostly good fun but I'm not sure there is ever really much of a strong connection made with the real world side of things.

Mythiot: *no writeup submitted*

Karo: When a family falls on hard times, a young boy looks for a way to help his mother make money and many illogical leaps of thought later, he ends up going to magical island to catch a dragon because why the fuck not.
However, Boris isn't really the best dragon, hell, he isnt even a remotely adequate dragon. He's less a dragon and more Barney the Dinosaur, or at least what Barney would be like if his head was repeatedly concussed with bricks a half dozen times. As is too often done, they try to portray this idiot as endearingly dumb, and I will state once again that stupidity is not endearing, and I invite anyone who feels differently to spend 10 minutes at a Donald Trump rally.
Though the backgrounds are as pretty as ever, the art style of the characters themselves is off putting, and doesnt evoke the same feelings that the studio's previous fantasy films have. It looks like some unholy fusion of Wind Waker and Littlest Pet Shop and if I have to watch one more scene of Elmer's dead soulless eyes staring blankly off into the void I think I will scream.
The movie is salvaged by its final act featuring a heavy emotional climax between Elmer and his dragon though with a rather dubious moral where Elmer puts his trust in a character who I wouldnt trust to wipe his own ass and learns... not to be a tryhard, I guess? It's weird.
Unfortunately, a great deal of the movie features a lot of mindless wandering in the way that characters in animated movies do to kill time when the writers don't know what to do next, and I really thought Cartoon Saloon was above that.

Evillord: Good old Cartoon Saloon. It's hard not to want to champion anyone who is holding out for 2D animation these days. The visuals in this movie, though, don't stand out nearly so much as the wispy style of Wolfwalkers, where the sketches were half left in. The story is about the son of a single mother who learns a valuable lesson about the hardships of parenting by having to look after the world's shittyest and most annoying dragon. The Dragon is on a once in 100 year (or is it 10 year?) quest to save a place called Wild Island, with the hitch being that the sage tortoise who guided all the previous dragons is dead. For a while I thought it was building up to a moral about letting go of the past and accepting that some dreams can't be realized, with the little boy having a backpack full of merchandise he wants to sell when he re-opens the store his mother used to own and instead using it all to get through the adventure. This would've meant the animals on wild island accepting that their island is doomed and Boris the dragon never realizing his dream of becoming an "After-Dragon." Maybe that would've been mildly more interesting, but instead the moral is more about trusting others and admitting to your fears and weaknesses. With both leads being annoying, the best character ends up being the antagonist Seiwa, who while misguided and constantly harassing the protagonists is consistently shown to be a well-meaning community leader who goes as far as he can to help his people, and the best scenes the musical sections with their more folkloric imagery.

Johnbobb: My Father's Dragon does what a lot of "pretty good but not amazing" animated movies do. Starts really strong and emotional, has some goofy time filler in the middle, and then ends strong and emotional again. Love the art style. Kind of has vibes similar to crossing Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts with The Jungle Book, only without matching the personality of either. Boris is annoying for the sake of being annoying, because what's an animated animal-led movie without an annoying sidekick that gets a sudden serious resolution. Again, love the art style though.

Suprak: *no writeup submitted*

Outlier:

Inviso: 156
Ermine: 128
Evillord: 124
Plasma: 123
Johnbobb: 110
Suprak: 109
Mythiot: 107
Red: 92
Karo: 91

13. Ron's Gone Wrong

Plasma: 7
Suprak: 7
Karo: 10
Inviso: 14
Red: 15
Ermine: 16
Johnbobb: 18
Evillord: 23
Mythiot: 26

Total: 136

Plamsa: Initially it appeared that RGW was gonna be a creatively bankrupt sci-fi tale about a kid buying an iPhone Robot in order to fit in, but Rons defectiveness sent the story in some intriguing directions. It felt like a modernized take on E.T., and the movie has plenty of heart, not to mention the willingness to look deeper into its supporting cast. Ill admit the worldbuilding is shaky, the villain is cartoonishly evil, and the final act was pretty absurd, but for the most part I loved this one.

Suprak: *no writeup submitted*

Karo: In a near future everyones smartphones are turned into egg shaped robots and quite surprisingly Dr Robotnik is not involved.
In order to be cool kid in school you have to have one of these 'B-bots', and when our protagonist finally gets one he is dismayed to find out it isn't... working quite right.
You see, due to physical damage, 'Ron' cannot connect to the internet, meaning all company protocols for safe and sane B-bot operation go out the window and chaos ensues. Ron has freedom of thought but zero knowledge or experience to go along with it, which leads to him being 'helpful' in a number of horrific ways which includes, but not limited to: nearly murdering a child, publicly sharing Barney's toilet training pics, and sending friend requests to drug addicts and QAnon cultists.
In case you couldn't tell, this has a bit more edge to the humor than the offerings of Disney and Pixar.
As the connection between the two grows, Barney realizes that Ron is better the way he is rather than just thinking like everyone else. Barney didn't need a connection to social media, he needed a friend, and the online social platforms he desired were fake, vapid and only caused hurt. Holy fuck, it is like someone took every negative feeling I have towards social media and made a movie about it.
Anyway not-Apple decides that Ron is a security risk and a legal liability and seeks to have him destroyed and replaced with a 'proper' B-bot, leading up to a very touching ending where Ron sacrifices his consciousness to become a friend for all the children of the world.
All in all, it's a very good first film from a new animation studio and I can't wait to see what they will come up with in the future.

Inviso: This feels like an amalgamation of Big Hero 6s weird, Apple-esque BFF, Mitchells vs. the Machines whole modern day tech toys against a family of old schoolers attitude, and the Emoji Movies desperation to truly capitalize on the current era of social media bullshit. Despite this, I think the movie turned out about as well as it could. There was some definite cringe, namely when it came to Rich and Savannahs channels, and the social commentary was a bit on the nose (especially the Steve Jobs corporate businessman), but I think the film did ultimately have a heart to it. Amidst all of the social media noise, this is the story about a weird kid that has trouble making friends, and in a roundabout way, he makes the greatest friend of all. Barney doesnt always get along with Ron, but I think thats kind of the messagefriends dont need to just be there for you as a perfect sycophant, and thats what made Ron so special. Plus, this movie ultimately gets some extra points for the cry factor.

Vis Cry Count 7: When Ron, on low battery, carried an asthma-riddled Barney out of the woods to save his life, at his own expense.

Vis Cry Count 8: When Ron sacrificed himself and Barney said goodbye, all to make everyone else happy the way Barney was with his friend.

Red: You want smart phones? Nah. You get smart friend AI which knows every little thing about you and will be your best friend. Unless you are the only poor person on the planet then you get a broken outdated model that will attempt to destroy the world. Honestly, its hard to look at the world today and think anyone on the tech side of this is altruistic, the CEO would be evil, the guy convinced he could give everyone robot friends that also know everything about them is probably also evil. None of this would be as good as they say. But you know, it was released a couple years ago so no one really saw this coming. But we will settle in the middle here and say this is a fun story about weird robots and kids learning that things not being entirely perfect can be kind of fun. Not spectacular, a little conceptually on the nose with society in a way that gets a little uncomfortable, but not a completely horrible movie.

Ermine: I'll go ahead and say it. The ONLY thing keeping this movie from my bottom 10 is the fact that Ron is a good and fun character and is the lifeblood of the film as a whole. Every other character in this film is trash and the plot / story is so thin and one note... maybe I should put this lower...
Eh.
Despite how uninteresting and underwhelming the rest of the cast is, the film as a whole is fairly inoffensive. I enjoy Barney and Ron's relationship and how it grows and changes over the film. And hey, I'll also go ahead and say that Ron > Baymax.

Johnbobb: There's a lot of dumb in this movie, but there's also a lot of heart, and sometimes that's a hard line to walk. It's also a little out of touch with reality in many ways and (like many movies) doesn't understand much about how virality works or what the population of an average public school can afford for their kids. It does do a good job portraying the lengths a major corporation will go to out of greed, but of course there's also the one rich designer with the heart of gold and blaaaah. It's not a very good movie, but there IS good in it.

Evillord: I feel like I've seen this same movie thirty times in my life. It's another children's film with the same 3D animation as every American animated feature where half of the script feels like out of touch corporate execs trying and badly failing to understand the kids of today. Most of the kids in this movie, besides the main character, are never seen doing anything besides making social media posts. To be fair, exaggerated as it is, that is the main point of the movie and central to their arcs. This film is about an obvious pastiche of Apple creating an iFriend, with the villain an incredibly on the nose evil CEO who rants about how much he loves money but hates children and ethics every time he's on screen, but he's counterbalanced by a shy, nerdy idealist CEO named "Mark" and the solution to the central conflict isn't to have kids ditch their consumer electronics but just to modify them slightly. It falls firmly into the comfort zone of "let's critique the obvious world-ruining flaws of capitalism but we're ultimately owned by Disney so be sure not to critique them TOO hard".
As I sat through this adventure about a short brown-haired boy with big ears and his friend, a defective and possibly dangerous robot learning to develop its own sense of identity, the realization gradually dawned that I was watching an extremely poor man's version of The Iron Giant. At least the Bulgarian grandma is funny, and I'll give them that the robot, with his goofy marketable face and focus-testedly adorable naivete is actually a little bit cute.

Mythiot: *no writeup submitted*

did they really just give eviolite to a pokemon with 115 base defense and one of the best typings in the game?

gamefreak plz

Mario

Garnet

eiko

Outlier:

Inviso: 155
Ermine: 125
Plasma: 117
Evillord: 114
Johnbobb: 105
Suprak: 103
Mythiot: 94
Red: 90
Karo: 88

14. Waltz With Bashir

Mythiot: 3
Suprak: 5
Evillord: 8
Johnbobb: 8
Inviso: 18
Karo: 20
Plasma: 22
Ermine: 23
Red: 30

Total: 137

Mythiot: *no writeup submitted*

Suprak: *no writeup submitted*

Evillord: An animated documentary in which Israeli soldiers reflect on the 1982 Lebanon War, and especially the Sabra and Shatila massacre, with themes about the nature of memory and dissociation as a coping mechanism. This was one of the more disillusioning war movies I've seen in terms of how clearly it communicated that most of the soldiers had no idea what was going on at basically any point in the war, and that even those with years of training, including officers, were driven mostly by fear and panic during the real fighting.

Johnbobb: This was a difficult one to watch, and the emotional whiplash of going from Sing 2 and The Angry Birds movie to this is hard to even quantify. I was expecting sad, dark and even deeply depressing indie films to show up on this list, but what I wasn't prepared for was an animated documentary depiction of a real massacre shown and explained in full violent detail. I'm simultaneously glad I watched it but it's hard to really explain how I feel about it in a way more than just "I'm very sad now, and my view of the world is just a little bit worse than it alreadty was"

Inviso: On the one hand, its hard to classify this as an animated film, because its only animated in terms of providing scenes that would otherwise not be possible in a straight-up documentary. You cant capture someones memories or internal thoughts in a live-action documentary. Sure, thats the point of a documentary and the talking heads and all that, but still. But yeah, its still animated, and enters into realms of magical realism for those memories, in ways that might not work otherwise. Now, Id never heard of this particular conflict before, so seeing it play out in vivid detail, with people recounting the horrors and trauma they lived through, was bad enough. But then that ending. Like, everything was building up to it, and stilljust seeing it play out, and the wails of wives and mothers, suddenly VERY REAL in news footageI started crying. This movie just kept getting more and more intense as it went along, and I appreciate it for that.

Vis Cry Count 1: Like I said above, I started UGLY crying at the end of this movie. Just the dissolve from animated wailing to news footage was horrifying.

Karo: So this is like a semi-documentary about an Israeli soldier who lost his memory due to PTSD and goes around hearing the war stories of his old military buddies in an effort to remember.
They did a good job of finding an art style that could capture the horrors of war, but something about the animation itself just seems... off. The reason for this is simple: Waltz with Bashir is not the rotoscoped film that it pretends to be, but is instead largely animated in Adobe Flash. The thing is, Flash is a shitty animation method with immense limitations, and to try and use it in a serious film with realistic human characters is just asking for trouble. The uncanny valley is strong with this one, I'm afraid.
It is a compelling story with an astoundingly powerful anti-war message that is hobbled by some terrible production choices that prevent it from reaching its full potential, and that is quite a shame.

Plasma: Love the art style, and some moments were truly gripping and horrifying, but overall this didnt click with me. I wish I had come into this one with better context. When it started bouncing around between different characters/storylines, my attention blipped.

Ermine: This film was too long and it's only an hour and a half. Not that it ever was going to do that well for me, but I was at least a little bit interested in Ari's tale of recovering his memories to remember what happened during the war. It just kept going on and on and never really felt like it was building up to anything.
Also nudity, because we gotta have nudity in these types of movies. It makes them more realistic, y'know! Every single time with one of these films there's always parts where they have to focus on it for some reason. I'll never understand it.
Yeah, not for me. And even for the people that it's for, I can't really see it being that incredible for them. Next.

Red: Are we anti-war? Are we trying to show the horrors PTSD inflicts on soldiers? Are we trying to be sympathetic to a bunch of Israeli soldiers that likely would have also done horrible things if they were in the wrong place at the wrong time instead? Some of them that did do horrible things. Am I supposed to feel sympathy for you when you tell me you couldn't go kill a human but have no problem slaughtering a bunch of innocent dogs? I've got a lot of problems with the messaging in a lot of these movies but Waltz with Bashir and its attempt to garner sympathy for horrible people just doesn't sit right with me. I don't want to pretend to know the intent here, but at worst there is a decent argument to be made that this movie is trying to absolve Israeli soliders of the horrors they were in fact a part of just because they weren't directly involved. At best, we're trying to say they were indirectly involved but still deserved sympathy because they were young and naive. That still isn't a good message. Don't try to make me feel sympathy for people that don't deserve it, because it isn't going to work.

Rikku

Garnet

Eiko

Outlier:

Inviso: 151
Ermine: 116
Plasma: 109
Evillord: 108
Johnbobb: 99
Suprak: 94
Mythiot: 83
Karo: 82
Red: 74

15. Wendell and Wild

Johnbobb: 3
Inviso: 11
Evillord: 13
Mythiot: 13
Suprak: 14
Karo: 17
Red: 17
Plasma: 21
Ermine: 28

Total: 137

Johnbobb: This is the kind of movie where despite its flaws I know for a fact I'm gonna be watching it on Halloweens to come. It's funny and weird and just an absolute joy to watch start to finish

Inviso: Its weird, because normally, I feel like the last movie I watch on these lists tends to be like, either extremely good or extremely bad, just to truly cap off a long list of movies. But Wendell and Wild is likeits middle of the road for this list. Its definitely on the weirder side of things, and it has that Coraline style, but with Key & Peeles comedic sensibilities. As such, theres a certain level of jankness and griminess to the animation itself, and I acknowledge that my opinions on grossness are impacting this ranking. But at the same time, I appreciate the humor and blatant on-the-nose nature of making a villain who looks exactly like Donald Trump as a greedy, evil, capitalist land developer (with his bitchy wife), but I also liked Raoul, and how Siobhan came across as vapid, but she was really a good person at the end of the day. It was a decent movie overall at least.

Evillord: An aesthetic fusion between Nightmare Before Christmas/Coraline director Henry Selick and the Key & Peele duo, whose voices and likenesses are also used for the titular comically inept demon brothers. The story focuses heavily on criticism of systemic American issues like the school to prison pipeline, private prisons, and corporate greed in general, centered on a company with the rather on-the-nose name of Klaxon Korp. Things end up resolving so neatly and perfectly, with Klaxon ruined, its CEOs in prison, and the communities they've destroyed rebuilt, that it feels naive, though, more like a guide for kids on protest and lobbying than an affecting portrayal of these heinous manifestations of capitalism and the damage they cause. There are definitely a few too many lore ideas to fit into a single movie, leading to some anti-climactic resolutions like the fight against the demon daddy who quickly and peacefully agrees to go home. It also suffers from the presentation quality issues that are apparently common to Netflix animation - the voice acting is just not up to snuff in that opening trauma sequence. It's definitely not as clever as Get Out or as captivating as Coraline. Still, it's a fun, energetic, and inclusive movie with likeable main characters, especially the badass demon nun.

Mythiot: *no writeup submitted*

Suprak: *no writeup submitted*

Karo: A troubled orphan randomly discovers she is a 'hell maiden' who can do a lot of weird shit that wasn't explained too well, and thus she decides to engage in a spot of necromancy with the help of her new demon friends.
The titular characters in question are not only annoying and unfunny, but they are irrelevant as well. They have no purpose in the film other than being a convenient way to bring dead characters back to life and feel more like Kay and Peele unnecessarily inserting themselves for kicks into a movie they were producing. They put as much of a strain on the movie as the dipshit gargoyles did to Hunchback of Notre Dame, and I am constantly like can we please just enjoy Kat's compelling story without you two herping and derping all over the place?
The human children are wonderful, I feel great care was take not to make their characterization cliched or stereotypical based on their backgrounds, and also features what I believe to be the first transgender character in a mainstream animated movie from this country so hurrah for that.
A lot of zombies and evil corporate fuckery later, the plot climaxes in an incredibly stupid and forced friendship is magic moment where there's this demon hunter who was imprisoning and torturing Satan's children for decades but decides to give them up because Satan seems like such a caring dad. Satan is then like oh you're such a nice guy and everyone is buddies now for some reason? Are they all fucking high or what.
Anyway the gist of this movie is it needed more scenes with the kids, less scenes with the demons. Making the supernatural elements more mysterious and unexplained would have honestly served the narrative better anyway.

Red: Not sure in the slightest why they decided to title this "Wendell and Wild", they are easily the worst part of the film, two annoying demons that conveniently get high on suspicious looking, umm, hair cream, that they discover can also raise the dead. I think this movie ends up being surprisingly fun with the zombies and the evil corporate messaging, but also severely misses the mark when it comes to consistent characterization. So many characters flip flop their personalities or just get reduced to "not as bad as they seem" without necessarily being given enough justification or notification. But Wendell and Wild being both annoying, incompetent, along with being tied in with the aforementioned inconsistent, really drag this down. Hell the whole of the endgame plot is setup because they happened to dig sideways instead of straight up. They succeed at being intentionally infuriating. The hellmaiden plot or whatever, it isn't done well. So many things you just have to accept for plot convenience. There is some oddly good messaging baked in here, but you have to look over a lot of garbage to see it.

Plasma: There are a lot of creative ideas heretoo many, in fact. At times it felt like the writers were trying to set a Guinness World Record by cramming in as many storylines, characters, and wacky concepts as possible. It made for a messy movie, but thankfully the stop-motion animation was well done and Kats journey had heart.

Ermine: This is one of those films where all of the characters just feel a little bit off and are all unlikeable. The plot is so... I wouldn't say confusing, but it just doesn't make any sense at all and oftentimes you are just like "what?".
So you have these two idiot demons who use this weird hair cream stuff to bring things back to life and want to make an amusement park for some reason or another. That's never really elaborated on because it's such a weak plot and motivation point.
Except this cream works completely differently in nearly every scenario... for no reason at all. It completely revives a bug, no issues at all. But then when it revives people, it's different each time? Kat's parents get off scott-free, they get to look and act almost like normal, except when it revives the dead Klaxon members, they look and all act like zombies? For some reason? I don't get it. Why? Why wouldn't they act like their normal selves like literally everyone else who got revived did?
Because ZOMBIES FUNNY HAHA SO FUNNY! Fuck off.
Once again, the humor falls so incredibly flat for this film, I don't even think I chuckled once, and at nearly 2 hours of runtime, god this was a slog to get through.

I still consider you a friend red even though we haven't interacted a whole lot recently.

I assure you that you are not the only person who feels these feelings, and things will get better, at least somewhat.

I speak from personal experiance from my pre-B8 days, and though it was not quite the same kind of betrayal as you detailed, I think I can understand how you are feeling right about now.

Sorry, I'm not really good at these kind of comforting things, but know I'm always there if you need me.

Peace, love and eevees

Odyssey

Outlier:

Inviso: 147
Evillord: 106
Plasma: 103
Ermine: 103
Suprak: 93
Johnbobb: 87
Mythiot: 81
Karo: 80
Red: 72

Karo: A kindhearted youngster seeks to end centuries of bloodshed between humans and monsters by befriending a creature and showing all the adults how wrong they are. Whoa whoa, wait, doesn't this all sound awful familiar to you? Yup, I just described to you the literal plot of How to Train Your Dragon. This movie doesn't even try to hide the shame of plagiarism, I mean, even the design of the main sea monster is highly reminiscent of Toothless the dragon.
It was very hard to get emotionally invested in the story when it is just exactly the same thing I've seen already only inferior, and the only question remaining in my mind is who the hell did Chris Williams have to suck off to get this nominated for best animated feature.
They may be nothing really wrong with this film from a technical standpoint, and indeed, it checks every box and crosses every t in regards to animated movie production. But it ultimately ends up forgettable and soulless and devoid of any reason to ever watch it for the first time, let alone again.

Inviso: First off, this movie had such a weird animation style for me. I know its hard to explain, but it just felt like 3D animation from like a decade ago. It wasnt outright TERRIBLE, but like, it just didnt feel like it was up to par with other major studios. Disney and Pixar and Dreamworks have kinda reached this point where they can at least design human characters that look crisp and clean, and look polished in their animation stylewhile this animation gave me vibes of an early effort by a bigger and better studio.
With that out of the way, this movie just didnt do a whole lot for me. Its way too long for an animated filmor at least, its way too long for an animated film with as straight-forward and bare bones of a plot as this movie has. Its basically Moby Dick, except its a kids movie, so the monster is actually quite pleasant if you give her the chance, and the plot revolves around showing the world that the monsters are good. Thats fine, and it CAN work, except that was just so little in terms of comedy aside from like, a few pithy scenes. Instead, the lightheartedness of the film was largely contained to cute child/monster interactions between not just the titular Sea Beast, but also this weird and honestly unnecessary blue mini-monster that was JUST in the movie to be a cute animal sidekick.
But the BIGGEST flaw, like I said, is that the movie is too damn long. And I think you can attribute like half an hour of the runtime to a completely hamfisted political statement from the writers. The movie spends a ton of time world-building how theres a war going on between humans and sea beasts and there are whole crews of hunters that are essentially mercenaries who go out and wage war for the king and queen. And then a subplot comes up where the royalty decides they dont think the hunters are getting the job done, so theyre instead going to bring in this MASSIVE warship to handle things moving forward. This leads to a competition between Captain Crow (essentially Ahab) and the soldiers.
This subplotgoes nowhere. The warship shows up again VERY briefly and is utterly destroyed by Red (the main sea beast), and its only purpose seems to be that it exists to needlessly cause harm to Maisie? Now, I might be overanalyzing this kids movie, but that whole subplot feels like it exists ENTIRELY to critique likethe military industrial complex. Its this big, flashy ship that harms innocents and is ultimately useless. It serves no other purpose in the plot of the film.
But thats not all. Youd think that the big climax of the film would be Red versus the hunters or versus the soldiers or SOMETHING. And while thats a part of itduring the final sequence, Maisie has this moment where shes been reading tales of hunter heroism all movie long, and after interacting with Red, she kinda realizes the tales are exaggerated. But then she sees the royal quest and notices that the crest is printed on every one of the history books that paint the sea beasts as irredeemable monsters. So, the true climax of the film is Maisie calling out the king and queen for lying and forcing anti-sea beast propaganda on the peoplefor reasons? Its not well-explainedits just that the king and queen were lying to manipulate the population? Again, it just feels like a hamfisted political statement that doesnt contribute anything to the plot. Its SO bizarre the more I think about it.
This should have been the easiest possible story to tell. You have two options, really. First, Maisie and Jacob learn that Red isnt the monster they believe, and then they need to face Captain Crow and defeat him in his single-minded obsession with revenge. They KINDA did this, but its such a brief moment that it doesnt feel like a fully realized conclusion. OR, the hunter crew goes after Red, and as a collective they realize Red isnt so bad, so they need to team up with her against the soldiers and their warship. But instead, the conflict just feels so surface-level, and it all wraps up far too easily or quickly.
Ultimately though, I will give one bit of praise, in that I was never outright BORED watching this film. I may have started flagging in my attention towards the end, but for a two-hour movie, the fact that managed to maintain a JUST steady enough pulse to keep me engaged is something worth praising.

16. The Sea Beast

Ermine: 9
Suprak: 9
Mythiot: 14
Red: 14
Johnbobb: 15
Plasma: 16
Evillord: 18
Karo: 22
Inviso: 24

Total: 141

Ermine: This is a very average film with some cute and fun moments... but not much else.
One thing that stuck out to me is how poorly written the main kid character was. Maisie? Was that her name?
Anyways. When we first start the film and are introduced to this child, she's kind of a brat and full of herself. You know, like all annoying kid characters are, at least to start... and then she stows herself away on the ship.. and within maybe a couple minutes? Her character COMPLETELY changes and all of a sudden she just knows everything and is the perfect little child, having the answer and doing the right thing at all times.
What the hell happened? Have we heard of writing character development? Because I don't think the writers have! You don't introduce a character like that and then INSTANTLY, for NO REASON, have her completely change and be perfect in every way. The whiplash I got from this stayed with me throughout the whole film.
Also, I was waiting for the little Blue beastie to have some importance in any way, but nope, he did nothing but just be cute the whole time. Wow, what a let down.
A lot of negative here but there's really not much else to focus on. The good stuff was fine. Movie looked good and was overall pleasant to watch. I think it could have done a whole lot more to stand out, but eh, it was fine.

Suprak: *no writeup submitted*

Mythiot: *no writeup submitted*

Red: Little girl tags along with mr bland to discover that surprisingly the sea beasts werent all evil all along. Seriously, our captain to be might be the most generic "hero" on the entire list. Hes got the most generic look, hes destined for greatness but has to learn something new(From a child of all things) to eventually reach his destiny or whatever. With a predictable plot, this movie really drags itself out to unnecessarily close to 2 hours long. We open with this competition between traditional hunters and a ship decked the fuck out with cannons. Spoilers the cannon ship is worthless and cant serve its purpose. So our "hunters aren't needed" plotline was a waste. The hunters need to go to a creepy poison vendor to apparently in bad form kill the beast which is supposed to bring bad juju or whatever that will never really materialize in meaningful form. Our two split off heroes learn quickly the beasts aren't bad, except you know some of them are kind of murderous but lets gloss over this because its convenient. There was just a habit to gloss over details for what ultimately was a basic plot that we've seen before.

Johnbobb: It's How to Train Your Dragon, but with a bigger dragon, and also the typical adult man/young girl friendship that, while cute, is always weirdly common in movies. Seriously, how often do you see the opposite, with an adult woman hanging out with a little boy as unlikely friends? Anyway, this movie is very good, even if it's definitely no HTTYD.

Plasma: The animation was fantastic, but the story was meh, and the ending was so ridiculous that I thought I was watching Training Day.
The core problem with this movie, however, is how generic it feels. I mean, what distinguishes this particular group of pirates from others? They dont have a unique code or special style or anything like that. Theyre just people playing dress-up on a boat. Then you have Jacob and Maisie, your typical cynic-idealist duo that gets stranded on a deserted island until the not-so-nasty Sea Beast bails them out. From there, the movie is a snoozer until the Sea Beast gets captured and dragged back to the evil king and queen. In the finale, the Sea Beast proves nonviolent, and thats enough to convince every dedicated beast-hunter to immediately abandon their hostility toward all other beasts. Yeah, okay, sure.

Evillord: An interesting near-miss of a movie. It has a lot of the ingredients for a solid animated flick - the narrative is interesting with some complex characters. There's a heroic sea captain and father figure turned misguided Captain Ahab analog. The two central leads have a nice progression as initially-enthusiastic sea monster hunters who learn the error of their ways, then fight against the monster-killing culture they were born into, through an unlikely friendship with the sea beast on the poster (though I do feel they decide the monster is friendly a little TOO easily). There's an emotional conflict between the Captain Ahab guy and his adopted son over what to do with the monsters and a cool first mate lady who also goes through self-doubt regarding whether she is doing the right thing and if it's too late to change. The setting is also realized with a lot of love for old-timey nautical and pirate aesthetics including funny yo ho ho dialog. It just doesn't quite come together to make an actual good movie. Part of this is because the story is a little too big even for a two-hour movie (with twelve minutes of credits). The ending wraps things up WAY too quickly and neatly without exploring the specifics of how the huge culture shift the heroes cause might really change the world. Was the monarchy abolished or reformed, and if the former what became of the King and Queen? What did all the hunters do with their lifelong career rendered invalid? What did the curse the Captain Ahab guy took on himself to get a big gun to shoot the sea monster with actually end up doing? The viewer is left without any answers to questions like these that could've made the narrative feel more complete and more interesting.
Secondly, the presentation just isn't very good, especially the audio. Captain Ahab doesn't have a commanding or intimidating voice, the fight scenes fail to convey a sense of excitement or urgency because the music is super bland and neither the actors nor the stiff CGI models can sell it. Some stormy seas with dark skies would've also helped create a much more captivating and moody atmosphere - Moby Dick itself was melodramatic as fuck to its benefit with long descriptions of sailors struggling against the wrath of whales and the sea at once. In contrast, most of the fight scenes in this movie take place on sunny days with calm seas. The atmosphere just doesn't match the mood of a hectic battle against an awe-inspiring aquatic colossus. It ends up being best in the brief underwater scenes where almost all the shitty audio is muted - there's a great image of a wounded, colossal sea monster sinking into the black depths of the ocean and threatening to drag the shadow of a tiny man down with it near the start, and another cool shot of the two main characters noticing the unblinking eyes of Red staring up at them when they're underwater with her, but apart from these moments the emotions the film was shooting for never transferred themselves over to me because of the presentation issues. I'm actually tempted to suggest that someone, someday, should try and remake it, but alas this version just isn't very good.

Smash

Cindy