Movie Reviews

My thoughts on three movies I’ve recently seen. As always, this is just one person’s opinion.

Sonic the Hedgehog – Like many people, the first trailer left me pretty worried about this film, and not just because of Sonic’s awful design; it looked generic, a standard-issue family film. Thankfully, the design was fixed, but while the finished film has an unexpected and welcome sincerity about it, and is a lot less reliant on cheap toilet humour than I’d feared, it’s still pretty generic. The characters are shallow, the plot’s simplistic, the beats are familiar; it does very little new or original, and thus doesn’t really distinguish itself. The best element is Robotnik – Carrey’s lost none of his manic brilliance – and the only moment that got a real reaction out of me was the mid-credits sting. Pleasant, but you’re always wondering what could have been if the executives hadn’t been so controlling. Maybe we’ll find out in the sequel. 6/10

Rock Dog – In contrast, here’s a film that’s actually a lot less generic than it might at first appear, not least from the slightly cheesy title. Yes, the core plot’s a pretty standard Hero’s Journey, and yes the villains are Evil Wolves, but the film has a gentle warmth, personality and charm all its own, an endearingly innocent and genuine Hero in Bodi, likeable supporting characters – Angus Scattergood the standout, Eddie Izzard clearly having a lot of fun with the character – and wonderful music. It’s obvious a lot of care and attention was given to this film, not least in the character design and the subtle animation details, and the only real detriments are villains that, while fun, could have been richer, and that we see so little of Darma and Germur. I can’t help thinking another ten or fifteen minutes of running time, a little more room to flesh things out, would have helped. Interested to see how the reported sequel turns out. 7/10

100% Wolf – The central idea of this film is cute, and a positive take on wolves is always welcome, but the execution is sorely lacking. Everything, from direction to character design to animation to plot, is a muddled and chaotic mess. This is a film that plays out a big, multi-werewolf-transformation scene by barely letting you see any of the wolf forms. This is a film that keeps lobbing more and more things at you, including three antagonists, but never takes the time to tie it all into a coherent story. This is a film with a strain of tasteless humour that peaks in a scene rivalled only by the equally bad Angry Birds for sheer yuck factor. Arguably the worst aspects, though, are the flashes of potentially interesting things that never go anywhere. A frustrating, noisy misfire that thoroughly squanders its potential. 3/10

Rating Netflix Animated Series, Part 2

Since the original blog, two of the series mentioned have had new seasons added, so I’m updating my thoughts to suit. I also, criminally, forgot a show, and will correct that oversight here. As always, these are merely one person’s opinions, and there will be spoilers.

Hilda – After two years, possibly two and a half, a second season has finally been released. In preperation, I rewatched the first, and while to begin with I was just as swept up as I had been originally, as it went on things began to register, niggling things that detracted, and in season two, unfortunately, they not only persisted but deepened a little.

The first thing I noticed was that the characters, while pleasant, weren’t actually all that deep, and moreover didn’t grow much at all; Hilda, David and Frida are pretty much the same at the end of season two as they were to begin with, barring random bursts of stroppiness on the part of the main character. The second thing was how plot-driven things could be. It’s not to the same extent as Kipo, for example, but it’s still noticeable, and does detract a little.

The third and final thing, and this is actually a little disheartening, is that the show doesn’t actually follow through properly on it’s premise and tone. This is best illustrated by a character, and an episode. The character is Ahlberg, introduced at the start of season two, and given a lot of prominence, with Hilda keen to investigate him. Sadly, he never evolves beyond a stock puffed-up poser, a shallow antagonist who ends up little more than a throwaway joke, not at all warranting the initial build-up. The chapter structure belies how little truly meaningful continuity there actually is.

The episode is Chapter Nine: The Deerfox, in which Hilda is suddenly being rather neglectful of her pet, Twig, which prompts him to leave home. It’s a familiar premise done in somewhat lazy fashion, with no prior setup, unless Hilda’s argumentative and petulant outbursts are meant to count, and then they throw in the painfully cheap trope I complained about in the original blog, the Evil Wolf. It literally just exists so Hilda and Twig have something to save each other from, in Hilda’s case by tricking it into hurling itself off a cliff and down into a ravine, to its apparent death, in a sharp, jarring contrast to her usual approach and, as noted, the show’s own tone and premise.

Don’t get me wrong. Hilda is a good show. It’s just not as good as it could and should be, thanks to the issues detailed, as well as its diversity being little more than skin deep. In many ways, it’s actually playing things pretty safe – imagine how the Lindworm could have played if they’d followed through on the potential of the shifting, multiplex voice rather than reducing it to a simple her, for example – and ultimately doesn’t seem, much like Glee, fully committed to what it’s espousing. A shame, especially given the cliffhanger ending to the inexplicably double-length – nowhere near enough of substance happens to warrant it – last episode of season two. Revised score: 7/10

Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts – The third, and presumably final, season dropped, and I figured I’d give it a chance, see if it could actually make something of itself. Sadly, it didn’t. In fact, it got worse. This show’s trajectory is very much like that of the three Godzilla animes, in that the first installment is solid with promise, the second stumbles, wasting some of that promise, and the third falls flat, squandering it completely. Nothing lands, nothing carries weight, nothing ultimately matters. If She-Ra and the Princesses of Power is proof positive of what rewards can be reaped when you do the plot and character hard graft, Kipo is proof positive of how badly you can flop when you don’t. Revised score: 5/10

Aggretsuko – I sincerely regret forgetting this one in the original blog, as it too is proof positive of the rewards you can reap from doing the plot and character hard graft. While technically an ‘adult’ animated series, it eschews the usual graphic and crass style of such things for a more restrained approach, and it really pays off. It is somewhat of an acquired taste, with its offbeat premise of an office drone unloading her stress through death metal karaoke, but try it and you’ll find an engrossing mix of quiet charm, genuine heart, wry, often knowing, sometimes cheerfully absurd, humour and wonderfully drawn characters full of emotion, flaws, hopes and narrative agency and who actually grow. All this deepens in season three – funny how often third seasons are pivotal – which is properly enthralling, and builds to a fantastic last episode that is both powerful and changes things up in serious and seriously satisfying fashion. This show just keeps getting better, and I cannot wait for season four. 9/10