ndunsmo

This is the first time I've actually bought a feature film on Youtube, simply because after what I've heard of this one, I decided I didn't want to wait for the DVD release, even if it is only roughly a couple of months away.Now, for those unaware, there are two things worth note about this one. First off, this film was released last year in which it premiered early at the Annecy Film Festival where it won the Cristal Award then was released in its country of Australia in October. The other major thing, and the big thing that really made me want to see this was that it was directed by Adam Elliot, the same director who gave us the 2009 film, Mary and Max. For anyone who hasn't seen/heard of this, it's an incredible and touching film showcasing a very realistic long-distance relationship between two outcasts.And this film carries that same charm. Despite tackling some very dark and at times purposely uncomfortable subjects, it has this very calm and gentle tone to it. Even during

So, like I mentioned before, it seems like Aardman Studios is on a bit of sequel kick, and while I did love Farmageddon and liked Dawn of the Nugget, I'm really hoping they go back to original works after this one.  But even so, Aardman has only produced one film that I can honestly say wasn't great, and even that was still good.  And yeah, Wallace and Gromit's big return to film is terrific. So, unlike Dawn of the Nugget, rather than being a sequel to a film, this is a follow-up to one of the duo's most popular shorts, The Wrong Trousers.  And much like the Shaun the Sheep films, you don't really need to have seen the shorts as this does provide enough backstory for audiences to understand it.  There really is no denying Feathers McGraw might very well be this franchise's best villain, so to see him make a comeback was certainly great. Of course, as is expected, the writing is on-point.  It follows the formula of the classic shorts to a T, but I wouldn't expect any less.  Wallace

Alright, before you ask why I'm already making this, as far as I'm concerned, I have seen every animated film this year.  Yes, I know this is cheating and goes completely against my obligation, since, yes, despite what Disney wants us to believe, this is an animated film, but after much deliberation, I've decided not to see Mufasa... in theaters, anyway.  I'm still somewhat interested if only because this is a unique idea that I'm surprised has never been done before, but at the same time, I'd rather wait for the Disney Plus release.  I'll still review it after I watch it, but just not this year. Anyway, for the most part, I'd say this was a really good year for animated releases here, that is as long as you include every streaming film and foreign release..  Admittedly, the last string of films could have been better, but there was one that I found great during that time that also capped off the year's lineup for me but also, another one I didn't think was great when I first saw it I

So, to start this off, I thought this movie was phenomenal. I had a great time with this. I'll get into why I feel the need to stress this as there is something I need to address after I go into the reasons I loved this film.For those unaware, this serves as a prequel to the Rings trilogy, adding some new lore to the world. And I feel it succeeded. The story is very well-told, the characters are well fleshed out. And on top of that, despite so much graphic imagery combined with many dark and dreary settings, it's gorgeous.What really stood out to me was that despite being a western production, they got Japanese director, Kenji Kamiyama on board to, what else, direct. Because of this, the film is animated as if it came from Japan with full watercolors and everything. And because of this, even the darkest of images still look beautiful and really pop. And naturally, being a Lord of the Rings film, the score is fantastic.Honestly, my only criticism, the one thing that prevented

So, everything about this screamed generic. The promotional image Netflix used, the generic title, which granted I think was generic by design, but it still set off a few red flags. I went in expecting nothing more than a typical Hallmark Christmas film, nothing really special but an okay distraction. The critical reception certainly didn't help either.However, as it opened up, I noticed this was produced by Locksmith, a relatively new animation studio that gave a really strong first impression with Ron's Gone Wrong, a film that was shockingly pretty great. And while I wouldn't put this on that level, I was very surprisingly charmed throughout the whole thing. It's nothing revolutionary, I wouldn't say it's something you absolutely have to watch, but I was smiling throughout most of it and even got a few light tears here and there. And yeah, a lot of it is kind of manipulative and a little bit schlocky, but I oddly had no problem with that. This is just a really likable feel-good film.

As I said before, something I found alarming about this film is that it was originally going to be a TV show but then was changed to a movie with the exact same plot but shorter run time. All this did was remind me of those direct-to-video 'sequels' that were just 3-4 canned episodes of a TV show put onto a VHS tape and labeled as a movie.Well, I have good news and bad news regarding that. The bad news is that, yes, this definitely feels like the direct-to-video sequels that plagued the 90's and early 2000's. The good news is that its quality is more along the lines of Disney's better DTV sequels, in that it's not bad. But it's still pretty average for the most part.The funny thing is it suffers from the opposite problem I had with Spellbound. Whereas that film started off average but got progressively better as it went along, this actually started off really engaging, but got progressively more underwhelming as it went along. In fact, it's kinda the same problem I had with Atlantis 2:

So, this film has not exactly been receiving positive attention since it was announced, and in all fairness, I wasn't expecting much either. It looked okay at best, and as I've said before, Skydance Animation has not impressed me so far. Though that said, I can't help but find it a little unfair that some have decided to dismiss everything from the studio purely because John Lasseter is their producer. Barring the fact that producers have little to no involvement in a film's creation, did everyone just forget that not only was he behind most of Pixar's most beloved films but also helped kickstart the second Disney Renaissance? There's a difference between being a bad person and pumping out a bad product, I'm just saying. That said, the film didn't exactly have the strongest start. It seemed like it would be the average film it appeared to be in the promotional material. It felt like one of those films that takes an interesting premise and ruins it with lame writing. (I've never heard

So, I've said this before, and it bares repeating. Hunter X Hunter is one of my all-time favorite Shonen Jump series, my number two to be exact. I got into the manga quite some time ago but didn't watch the anime until a lot later. So as you can imagine, I got pretty excited when I saw the two feature films, The Phantom Rouge and The Last Mission announced for a Netflix release. However, there is something I was unaware of, mostly because I didn't really wanna spoil myself, despite these films having been released way back in 2013. (Seriously, they both came out in Japan the same year. Isn't that weird?) It's that both films are very polarizing among the fandom with many even recommending that fans avoid these films like the plague. One thing that's kind of a red flag is that I've found the only people who actually love these movies are the most die-hard of HXH fans, like, the kinds of people who will just love anything this franchise does no matter what. For everyone else, the more

This kinda came out of nowhere. I think I might have seen one ad for this in the theater, but I can't be too certain. Prior to my trip to the theater, I noticed the critical reception was generally decent, and to be perfectly honest, I'm not entirely sure why.Alright, I'll get the positives out of the way right now. For starters, the film looks fantastic. The textures, animation and character designs are all really good. I especially love how the titular lead has little hairs all over his snout, and I can't even imagine how much time and effort went into fully rendering all of that. On top of that, there are some intriguing ideas, most notably Hitpig himself not being a good guy at first, spending a pretty good portion of the film as more of a neutral party mostly doing terrible things all to keep his business afloat. I also like how this is one those family films that doesn't really seem to care about the target demographic as there are quite a number of adult jokes in this, including

So, yeah, I've said before I don't typically seek out films like this. It's the biography of singer, Pharrell Williams. Up until now, I haven't been that familiar with his music, well, except for Happy since, you know, it was made for Despicable Me 2. So why did I go to the theater to see this? Because it's animated, and I have an obligation.And honestly, that was certainly a very interesting choice, having the entire film animated with Lego figures. Definitely a unique approach for the first theatrical Lego film since Warner Animation lost the rights to producing Lego films. And, yeah, admittedly, this did make the film a lot more entertaining. I was fully invested in this very familiar but uplifting story.Alright, to go into a bit more detail, there is a lot of life and imagination put into this film's visuals. It uses animation to represent how Pharrell sees colors in his mind's eye when listening to music, and it really pops. The music video segments are very well done as they feel