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39 Movie Reviews

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Nicely done, but a few issues...

4/5

I was pleasantly surprised by many elements of your animation. I thought it had a nice sense of pace and style and the music worked really well. I also appreciated the use of custom sprites. They were well done and a much-needed break from the norm.

Now to my annoyances. :)

I recently had a mini-rant on the NG forums about common things that annoy me in Flash cartoons. Your cartoon is a good example. First of all, I am so sick of Mario movies, especially ones that take place in the world of SMB and feature large-scale battles and major character deaths. It is getting old fast. Yours, while done well, sadly falls into that category of "been there, done that".

Second, I'm tired of overly long credits. Yours weren't *too* bad, and at least there was that last bit of animation at the end. But still, credits should be kept to a minimum. Most people won't sit through them.

There were a few minor technical issues as well. The rain effect seemed off to me. And the Toad sprites looked like they only had one eye - was that supposed to be a side view? But, like I said, these were minor issues in an otherwise excellent animation.

I really enjoyed this, as well as your previous work. I just hope you can find a new twist next time, or try something from a different game again. (I mean, you did a Clu Clu Land cartoon! Now *that's* something you don't see every day!)

Psycosis91 responds:

I'm glad you enjoyed it, even with the few annoyences. I have to agree with you on the 'been there, done that' factor. SMB movies have been done to death. The long credits thing, also, I hate seeing in a movie unless it's for a reason. I do have a record of having long credits (Megaman's Massacre for example) but this time it was becuase there was an extra little bit afterwards. The rain is just really a lot of lines that loop, I might make sprited rain for future movies, and the toad sprites, yes they're ment to be a side view.

Thanks for the review.

That was different...

3/5

Don't know why, but I really found that funny. It's obvious that you made it quickly (simple animation, no play or replay buttons) but it still looked pretty nice.

More brilliance from Skaijo!

5/5

Once again, congrats on Front Page, Daily Feature, and that great score. You've struck gold again!

Where do I begin...you have a unique visual style that is creative not only in your use of color, but your selective lack of color. It's one of your defining visual characteristics and it makes a noticeable impact. Your character designs, while rooted in anime (not my personal favorite style) go beyond that. You make them all yours. Your characters are well-delineated and expressive.

The animation itself is smooth and precise. Whether it was tweens or frame-by-frame, it all flowed together into a cohesive whole. The best compliment I can give is that when I watch it, I'm not taking notice of or nitpicking the animation. I'm just enjoying the ride. What I especially enjoyed was the extra effort you went to with the character movements. When they were jumping around the screen, they remained consistent and on-model. Great work. Even your use of broken lines with variable thickness, both on the characters and the backgrounds, helps to create a visually dynamic environment. Your animations continue to improve and I can't wait to see what you'll come up with next.

Your use of camera angles and movements are striking, although it probably doesn't look as nice on slower computers due to the high frame rate. Not your fault though. :) Even your text and menus are slick and highly unique. I'm also glad you included some extra features along with the main 'toon. If I had any AS skills I would love to include some extras with my animations. Teach me someday, will ya? :D

Probably the biggest weakness would be in the sound department. The sound mix between the dialogue and music seemed to favor the music and made the dialogue a little hard to hear. I know you lowered the music volume somewhat, but this area still needs some work. I do a lot of audio work myself and I know full well the difficulty of finding the right balance. Overall though, I don't think it really hurt the animation at all.

The dialogue itself was good and quite funny in spots. I'm glad you went to the additional trouble of having someone translate and double-check everything for you. It's that extra step and attention to detail that really makes a difference. I wish some American animators would bother to check their own dialogue once in a while. :) The voice acting wasn't bad - it wasn't too emotionless or too over the top. Hickory's voice was a little too low-key for my tastes though - when you're attacking someone with a sword you shouldn't sound like you're getting your nails done. :) Your use of Bonobo's music was good as usual. It's another choice that makes your animations all your own. The sound effects were sparse, but appropriately used.

Now, on to the story. If you've learned anything about me, then you know I'm looking for a good story first. I'll ignore poor animation if there's a good storyline behind it all. And your story is a good one. It wasn't totally clear to me on first viewing, but after watching the deleted intro (which you should have kept up front) it all made perfect sense. That's probably my only issue with the story. Otherwise, I liked the setup and I wouldn't mind seeing a continuation. It's a good springboard for a variety of different story opportunities. I even liked your in-jokes to previous cartoons and freeze-frame style text. You have a good sense of humor and I like seeing it come out in your cartoons. I hope you take advantage of what you've begun and continue on.

Michael

P.S. Forget what anyone else might say, the killer blue squares were AWESOME.

Blink and you'll miss it!

3/5

Nice artwork and character designs. And as a fan of classic cartoons, I appreciated your choices of sound effects. However, it was far too short. Sometimes short and simple can work, but the animation was so brief that it didn't make an impact.

I'm not saying it was bad in any way, just too short. Your style of drawing is fresh and the material was funny. You just need to expand on it. Looking forward to more.

Interesting concept

3/5

I found the concept very interesting. I may not have completely understood the meaning behind it, but it at least made me think.

For a moment, I thought the second person falling was going to land on the first one, killing him, thus explaining the life and death signs being pointed to the same place. But I was wrong, and from that point the story got a little weird and I don't think I got the whole point, but it's a nicely made piece nonetheless.

The style of artwork was nice, although I could see the background clouds behind the people - were they supposed to be transparent? The animation was decent, and the use of camera angles was very creative. The choice of music really added to the whole style of the Flash, good work there.

Hope to see more like this soon.

Wow. Just...wow.

5/5

That was really moving. The simple graphic style and use of music were pitch-perfect. And the story was simply heartbreaking. I got chills all over. Excellent work.

My only complaint would be the dodgy audio quality of the little girl, but it's not a huge flaw and I can certainly overlook it when it comes to the power of the story. Again, excellent work.

Good, but a bit long

4/5

You've definitely come a long way in the animation department. It's almost on par with the Rise of the Mushroom Kindgom series. I was also impressed with the quality of the voice acting. Really well done, although you should consider equalizing the voice tracks' quality so it's harder to tell that the voices were recorded separately. Still, good work.

My only complaints were in the story department - there wasn't much to the story, and it dragged in places. The dialogue was generally good and most of the jokes worked. It just needed some more depth.

Also, the large file size is very prohibitive and might keep people with slow connections from watching it. Just my two cents.

Looks great, but a fart joke???

3/5

I was hoping for more out of this, and I was looking forward to it too. Like all your flashes, it's graphically flawless, and the sounds are mostly appropriate. But resorting to recycled toilet humor after everything you've done before is disappointing. And it wasn't even particularly funny.

It still looks and sounds great, and I would like to see another one in this style though.

Brilliant!

5/5

The long-awaited and brilliant conclusion to an epic. Definitely worth the wait. And I'm very picky about giving out my 5's. :)

The thing I love most about your whole series is the use of music. Your musical choices are absolutely perfect and help create the mood you're going for. Even when the songs are from different films, you manage to blend them together seamlessly. I have to give you credit for your audio skills. The same goes for the sound effects - you know exactly when they're needed and when they're not.

The graphics are a step up from the previous installments. I could see the extra effort with the lighting and effects. It's amazing that you didn't resort to making custom sprites - but somehow the simple nature of the characters and their animation still works. I'm a little disappointed that you didn't use the Toad sprite from SMB1 (the SMB2 sprite looks a little out of place), and the lack of animation on the Princess is noticeable. Maybe a few custom sprites would have helped here. It's not a big deal - I'm much more interested in good stories and characters than fancy sprites.

The plot unfolded the way I expected it to... for the most part. I won't give away the ending here, but it was definitely very unexpected. (I will say, I was waiting for one of the Toads to walk up and say "Our princess is in another castle!" I think that kind of twist ending would have really worked.) But you stayed the course, and I applaud that. Excellent, excellent work.

Now the big question is, what will you do next?

Didn't work for me

4/5

I don't know why, but for some reason this cartoon didn't really connect with me. It had all the elements for success - slick animation, well-defined characters, clever dialogue - but it didn't seem to jell for me. I think it may have been the somewhat bizarre choices in music and sound effects. They were a little off-putting and took me right out of the story.

The voices were passable, and the sound quality was sharp. I wasn't too thrilled about some of the adult humor and language, it didn't seem necessary for the story. But some of the dialogue was very funny (the lobster getting crabs, the "Golden Girls" bit, pretty much everything the fish said).

Despite my issues, it's a very well-done animation and I'd like to see more.

I'm a ridiculously talented cartoonist, writer, and semi-professional filmmaker who uses none of that talent while working at a grocery store.

Michael DeSanto @Bad-Atom

Age 42, Male

Cartoonist & Writer

Cloudy Ohio!

Joined on 12/28/03

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