Reviews by
“I may be pregnant with the next Jewish-Italian Messiah!”
I see many people having a problem with the age gap, which it is indeed problematic and unnecessary, he could have been closer to her age, plus Joe should be jailed for his actions, but the movie doesn’t portray it as romance nor romantic, let alone something correct, but as coming of age; coming of age for a deeply troubled teenager with religious delusions and a hugely irresponsible mother. Charlotte is longing for control of her life, for stability and a father figure in her life; first looking for said stability in the rituals and traditions of religion, as well as control of her life by choosing said religion herself, instead of something that has being forced upon, like all decisions in her life so far, and being attracted to older men for the later. The movie doesn’t condemn it directly, but for some reason it seems like people want the movies or the characters to talk directly to the camera and condemn these kinda things, instead of letting us use or own critical thinking. Bad things, illegal things, morally questionable things happen in life, daily, not all of them are punished as they should, many of them are normalized, sadly; these things get portrayed in movies as they are in real life, but it doesn’t mean the movies endorse these actions. Random thoughts: The movie looks beautiful. I forget Bob Hoskins is British. Kate probably wouldn’t win a swimming competition in real life, she’s tiny. I wonder how many movies depict or talk about JFK’s shooting. They left the girls alone in New Year’s Eve. :c
Visually Stunning
Visually stunning, the great beyond, the Jerrys, Terry, the zone, the black and white outline places, loved it; it has some of the most striking elements in all the Pixar movies. The story, although it has a good message, felt recycled and predictable, the "egotistical protagonist redeems himself and turns good in the last minute" is something that I don't like at all and Pixar has done it multiple times. Really enjoyed the first half of the film, while the second one felt flat to me, but it still ends up being an enjoyable film, one that could have been a little more.
“I am the great traitor. There must be no other.”
“I am the great traitor. There must be no other.” A descent into madness fueled by delusion of grandeur and incompetence. Certain films touching the theme of “discovering new worlds” tend to sensationalize or romanticize these aspects, taking away from what actually happened and what was done in those places, usually by giving us a hero that changes sides and realizes their actions were wrong. There are no heroes in Aguirre, nor there are any redeeming qualities in its characters. It is full of delusion, greed, subordination and obsession, hunger for power and riches being lead by ignorance. Aguirre show us how our social structures fail outside the places we know, or outside its natural context, and how not questioning those structures and failing to adapt lead us to our own demise. An emperor with no power, a priest with no followers, an empire constituted by a raft and no land.
Decent
Enjoyable. It’s Invader Zim, nothing much else to say. If you liked the series you are gonna like this too. Didn’t feel as nostalgic as I thought it would feel. It has its funny moments and it keeps the essence of the original series. For me it felt more like a long episode that a movie, but that’s not a bad thing.
Trippy aesthetic
Trippy aesthetic. The shadowing and coloring are pretty and it gives a soft vibe. Really like the funky visuals and designs, especially the clothes, the creatures and the technology. The score compliments the visuals nicely. It feels too slow and too fast at times, there’s some anticlimactic moments by how fast they happen, and other parts don’t feel well explored. The worldbuilding is interesting but it keeps me wishing for more. Still, very creative and imaginative.
They didn't do it again, lol.
It’s a good step in the right direction if they want to keep doing stuff like this, a good introduction for people that had no familiarity with this kínd of media, but it relied too much on the interactive part, and the meta stuff was too in the face for the majority of it. You don’t want to go full David Cage with these things. Good interactive or “choose your own adventure/story” games or movies should be able to tell a good story even if you take the interactive part away from it.
Misses
I understand what they tried to do, but I think the way they did it was real bad. As somebody else in this site said, this looks like something that would go viral on Facebook 10 years ago. I feel like nothing really happens and that this was not the best way to portrait a sensitive topic like this. The musical choice is odd and feels so out of place. Aesthetically, the animation style is not for me, it feels unfinished, soulless and boring.
Pretty
Very beautiful film aesthetically. Rinko Kikuchi did a great job with her character, and the themes touched in the movie are some that really resonate with me. I enjoyed the premise and the vibe of the film, although I think it was missing something narrative-wise, it felt lacking in that aspect and that’s why I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would. Overall a pretty, enjoyable film that could have been a little more, but I still like it for what it is.
“The difference between our childhoods is I had you.”
“The difference between our childhoods is I had you.” As someone who many times growing up had to act like the older sibling (even though I’m not, but the eldest was as absent as the father), the last scene between Nora and Agnes feels bittersweet and too close to home. “There I was. I’d ruined everything. I was alone, lying there, crying. And then, for the first time, I sat down and prayed. It’s hard to explain. I don’t know who I prayed to, but I said it out loud: “Help me. I can’t do this. I can’t do it alone. I want a home.” And just as Nora, I’ve been in that helpless stage, (although I never prayed, but did beg to the void), where all you want is to not feel and be alone, to just have a home and a safe place, as well as looking or expecting for amends to be made, even when knowing it won’t happen, at least not in the way you think you need them or want them to be, and settling for a lesser way, because you know some people won’t ever change their ways.
Keep Traditional Art Alive
That bible verse at the end and the fact that is not actually stop motion, hmm. It’s technically nice, it looks pretty but the plot feels so bland. If you want stop motion style why not just do it in stop motion. We don’t need more animation shying away from traditional art, that’s how we lost old 2D animated films, hand drawn movies. Maybe it takes less time, yes, but, is it worth it? Call me conventional or exaggerated, but, do we want everything replaced by computer generated movies? This is a step closer to having Hallmark Christian animated/stop motion slop.
