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Xico’s Journey – Two Scenes Tell You A Lot

In the first scene nothing of significance happens. Just an annoying kid messing up and then trying to get those she has put out to help clear up the mess she made. There are huge issues apparent immediately. The animation is odd and off putting, as is the style – and certainly not something you’d use in a feature. The titular character (the dog) has been relegated to third wheel at best. The dialogue is unnatural and the beats follow-on is random and unconvincing. It is jarring, and not by intention. I’ve never seen anything that so much did the opposite of adding up to something. There are other inconsistencies too, such as that guy who laughs at self and with crown when his underpants on the washing line are there for the world to see, but in the next shot we see him he is having quite a different reaction. This is not just an animation error, as this sort of thing is happening low-key with other characters too. So then we get to the second scene. The villain is overly over th...
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Toys In The Attic – A Strange Masterpiece

This is the first film I have watched in a long time that has any true vision or creativity. It reminds me a bit of the Nutcracker Fantasy, only the plot keeps going. It is weird and creepy, but in a good way – especially that villain, in a way I can’t explain. It could potentially be watched as an occasional alternative to Corine.  The obvious comparison would be Toy Story, but if it was darker with Lord Of The Rings level world building. The animation variation and ambition is something I have never seen since Yellow Submarine.  It isn’t a film that can satisfy you in a normal way, or leave you with that light-hearted positive feeling, but it satisfies in its own ways – maybe how a sad ending can be satisfying if it is done well enough.  It actually reminded me of some of the experimental animation techniques I came up with and tired while at college. I have never seen any other film use anything remotely similar until now. Just goes to show I could have done something ...
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From Kopa To Kion – For Anyone Who Needs It!

-Disclaimer: This isn't an opinion post so much as a research-based post to help people. I give context, examples, and explanation but my approach here is neutrality- Kopa is Simba’s son from the Six Adventures books released shortly after The Lion King’s release, however, the writer did not know that Simba’s cub would be raised at the end of the film, hence why this cub and Kopa look so different. The books are considered semi-canon. Fluffy, as dubbed by the creators, is Simba’s cub raised at the end of the Lion King. While officially ungendered, given the context of the film, and the ways he keeps to real life lions, plus coming full circle, and the film being called The Lion King, we can assume that we are being shown the next king. In real life, prides are run by one or more male lions. T anabi is the name given to Fluffy by a fan-fiction writer from the mid-nineties. The name stuck for many fans, with a lot not realising its origin, or that Tanabi and Fluffy are one and th...
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Psycho-Pass: Providence – Finally Something Decent To Watch!

Psycho-Pass: Providence is absolutely brilliant. It does everything nothing else can do. It is dark, without being grim. It has multiple poignant deaths, without being depressing. It has a sad ending, which is still satisfying. It makes you think and has a message – naturally, and through storytelling – not by being forced. My only complaint today is that I don’t know what happens next!
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The Red Turtle – Boring Is The Least Of It

Let’s start by saying there are only about five shots of the titular character – at least as a turtle. I knew better than to hope this movie was an animal fantasy film, which was good, because it wasn’t even really fantasy, more surreal satisfaction. Uncanny valleyish, actually. And not in a good way. There is basically no story at all until about three quarters of the way through the film, and once there is, it just gets weird and, well, stupid. I knew that it wasn’t going to be my favourite film of all time when I realised Studio Ghibli was involved – I simply don’t get on that well with their storytelling style – but it you hadn’t known this was Studio Ghibli, you never would have guessed. What’s the opposite of putting all their previous work to shame? Well, it’s that. I’d barely say there was character design or art style at all. More what you get when you have neither. The animation was . . . mostly walk cycles – you know what you’re supposed to avoid where you can as an animator...
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KPop Demon Hunters - The Lower Target Bracket

For me, an eight-year-old watching KPop Demon Hunters is like an eight-year-old reading Twilight. They like it, but they don’t truly understand it (not that Twilight has that much to understand!). To find that the lower end of KPop Demon Hunters target bracket is that age group seems ludicrous to me. When I first saw the film I assumed it was aimed at teenagers, and was glad companies were finally doing what I thought they should have been doing all along – and I am no teen, or eight-year-old! They say films and books ‘find their audience’ and to me, that’s what happened. While objectively there is nothing unsuitable for children this age (assuming you are talking up to them as, say, anime generally does), it does feel too deep and dark to be purposely aimed at them. Everything about the film from the direction, to the dark tones in the art work among the colour etc screams teens or older. Truly, it is verging on Young Adult (general sense, not publishing sense!). In fact, to me it...
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Rebutting Disney Innocence Over Kimba - A Few Thoughts

Surprised I haven’t got to this sooner in a way. Someone wrote something on DA saying Disney didn’t copy Kimba because it would have been a bad business choice. This sounds a very innocent viewpoint to have, and while I wrote a few points in a comment then (only indirectly addressing the subject), it set me on the track of writing a proper piece related to that and the topic in general.  First off, as we can see from the modern day, Disney doesn’t care about their reputation. Or at least, it isn’t their main priority. There is mountains of evidence that Disney did copy it all over the internet, from comparing images, to script that’s the same, to white Simba concept art. All the characters have an exact counterpart who very frequently looks very similar too.  There’s also the well known fact that half the people working on it thought they were working on a Kimba remake. This at least means, Disney were copying it, even it were a misunderstanding of sorts. Kimba’s creator and D...
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