20160114: Animation Review--Expelled from Paradise

Name: Expelled from Paradise (2014)
IMDb: link to IMDb

Genres: Adventure, Animé, SciFi    Country of Origin: Japan.

Cast: Wendee Lee as Angela Balzac, Steve Blum as Dingo Kajiwara, Johnny Yong Bosch as Frontier Setter.

Directed by: Seiji Mizushima.  Written by: Gen Urobuchi.

The Three Acts:

The initial tableaux: This animated feature is set in the year 2400 AD.  In the past, great destructive actions destroyed much of surface-based human civilization.  Since then, humanity has rebuilt itself as digital entities that exist on server networks that are located in orbit around Earth.  This cyber universe is called DEVA.

There is an unexpected hack into the computers of DEVA.  The hack is instigated by a surfaced based person, 'Frontier Setter.'  Third Security Officer Angela Balzac is sent to the surface to deal with the problem.  She is sent in a material body supported by a powered exoskeleton with high speed computer links to DEVO in orbit.  Computers monitor her health and keep her in good shape.  Her ground contact is Dingo.

Dingo and Angela take an immediate dislike of one another. To compound this, huge sandworms attack early on, and the communications link Angela depends on for health and information retrieval is broken.  What to do?  Complete the mission.

Delineation of conflicts: The hacker has secrets that they wish to keep secret.  Angela and Dingo are tasked with ferreting this out, and correcting the situation.  This is trickier with Angela's links cut.  Once Dingo and Angela find the hacker, everything changes, and the pair have new challenges to deal with.

Resolution: Perhaps the next in human evolution was not a step forward.

One line summary: Battle for humanity's survival in 2400 AD.

Statistics:
  a. Art: 7/10 As low polygon art goes, this is pretty good.

  b. Sound: 6/10 Some of the voice work sounded hollow.  The music was variable: much of it was simplistic (not a compliment), electronic, and uninteresting.

  c. Voice Acting: 7/10 The three principal voice actors were fine, with Steve Blum the best.

  d. Screenplay: 5/10 The discussions of the 'next step' in human evolution were deeper than usual, which I liked.  Toward the end, though, the film degenerated into substandard music, lots of explosions, improbably outcomes, and hurried art. At that point, it looked way too much like Gundam action.

Final rating: 6/10

20140713: Animation Review--Marksmen

Marksmen

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American animated television mini-series, 2013, NR, 85 minutes, action, animation.
2. IMDB: Under 5 ratings.  Estimated budget, 500,000 USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: no records at all.
4. Netflix: 2.2/5.0 from 3,253 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Michael Benaroya.
6. Voice actors: Bruce Barker, Tom Kennedy.


2. Setup and Plot
1. A post-apocalyptic war breaks out between two cities (New San Diego and Lone Star, TX) following the collapse of the old US government.


2. New San Diego has some high tech, drones, satellites (the few remaining), and uses solar for energy.  Lone Star uses oil and guns.  Lone Star appears to be running out of oil, and so decides to conquer NSD.


3. Lone Star's treachery gains them an early advantage, but NSD's tech superiority catches them up.  Maintenance problems (post apocalypse, after all) foul up both sides.


4. Who comes out on top, or do both sides lose?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Poor animation meets Pyrrhic victory in post-apocalyptic Southwest.
2. One star of five.


4. Scores
1. Art/Animation: 2/10 Horrible.  Panning over still layers with clumsy assembly.  Character faces never move.  Uninteresting, uninspired, ugly, and primitive.


2. Sound: 4/10 Sometimes adds to the story.


3. Voice Acting: 4/10  Some of it was OK, but most was not worth listening to.


4. Story: 2/10 A good 8 minutes of story stretched well past breaking to 85 minutes.  Fighting, betrayal, destroy scarce resources, repeat.

20140410: Animation Review--The Croods

The Croods

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American animated feature length film, 2013, NR, 98 minutes, animated, comedy.
2. IMDB: 7.3/10.0 from 92,482 audience ratings. Estimated budget: 135 millions USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 70% on the meter; 78% liked it from 184,720 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 4.2/5.0 from 2,115,656 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Kird De Micco and Chris Sanders.
6. Starring: Nicolas Cage as Grug, Emma Stone as Eep, Catherine Keener as Ugga, Ryan Reynolds as Guy, Chloris Leachman as Gran, Clark Duke as Thunk, Chris Sanders as Belt, Randy Thom as Sandy.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Setup: which planet, don't know.  Time: not so sure when.  We follow a stone age family  who are evicted from their cave by geologic activity.  Grug is the father, Eep the teen daughter, Ugga the wife, Guy the perspective mate of Eep, Gran the grandmother, Sandy the young sister, Thunk the clueless brother, Belt the monkey pet of Guy.


2. Guy knows how to make tones from a sea shell; he teaches Eep.  Guy knows that geologic cataclysms are to come; he warns them all.  Guy knows how to make fire; he uses it to save the family.  Guy knows the value of shoes, which lets him get free of the obnoxiously stupid family, at least temporarily.


3. Guy negotiates with the family to learn new things to get to a new home.  Grug grows jealous when leadership migrates from Grug to Guy.


4. The family eventually loses its acceptance of caves as a place to live.  Grug and Guy bond during an incident with a tar slick, but the dangers are not over yet.


5. Does the family find its way to a new home that is at least relatively safe?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Stone age family uses wits and luck to find a new home.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Art/Animation: 10/10 Brilliant.


2. Sound: 8/10 The incidental music is a bit florid at times, but still good.


3. Voice Acting: 8/10 Leachman, Cage, and Reynolds were fun.  Stone was OK.


4. Story: 8/10 Good humour through most of the story, plus a poignant ending.

20140318: Animation Review--Iron Man and Hulk: Heroes United

Iron Man & Hulk: Heroes United

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American animated feature length film, 2013, PG, 71 minutes, animated, adventure.
2. IMDB: 4.6/10.0 from 509 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: no entries, not even a stub.
4. Netflix: 3.6/5.0 from 100,247 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Leo Riley.
6. Starring: Adrian Pasdar as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Fred Tatasciore as The Hulk, David Kaye as Jarvis, Dee Bradley Baker as Dr. Cruler/Zzzax, Robin Atkin Downes as Dr. Fump/Abomination.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Dr. Cruler and Dr. Fump intend to overcome Hulk's strength advantages using the Abomination.  So they capture Hulk, betray the Abomination, then try to squeeze all the energy out of them.  That does not quite work.


2. Cruler and Fump manage to create a glowing ball of energy that has a primitive self-awareness.  It feeds on energy.  Stark uses the EMP (electro magnetic pulse bomb) on it, and seems to put it out of commission, but not really.


3. Hulk gives Stark a lot of trouble.  Then the ball of energy, Zzzax, takes over more and more parts of Stark's flying fortress.  Hulk has no problems dispatching the mandroids, but Zzzax gets into the reactor.


4. Can Tony and the Hulk get out of this one?  If they do make it, who did more damage, the bad guys or Hulk and Iron Man?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Terrible animation; not that good a story.
2. One star of five.


4. Scores
1. Art/Animation: 0/10 Amazingly ugly and incomplete.  Looks like old school 3D, and not good old school.  Too flat, too few polygons, too much loss of contrast, and so on.  Looks like a giant step backwards.  What's with that, Marvel?  Did I mention lack of contrast?  Looks a lot too much like the first Tron, only with slightly more colour.


2. Sound: 6/10 Mostly OK.


3. Voice Acting: 2/10 Talking, articulate Hulk?  Sorry, no.  The voices for Fump and Cruler give the impression of feckless, bumbling idiots.  Adrian Pasdar was OK as Stark; David Kaye fine as Jarvis.


4. Story: 2/10 Stupid dialog.  Drs. Cruler and Fump seem to be woefully stupid, and Hulk too clever.  The story, such as it is, is not compelling.  Hulk figuring out the root cause when Tony Stark does not?  No, thanks.  So, the EMP is supposed to solve any awkward situation?  We go directly from fighting Zzzax to fighting wendigos in foggy church yard?  What is that?  Worst of all, the easter egg at the end indicated that a sequel was in the works which will have the same terrible production values and stupid dialog.

20140318: Animation Review--Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Star Wars: The Clone Wars

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. American animated feature length film, 2008, PG-13, 98 minutes, animation, adventure.
2. IMDB: 5.7/10.0 from 31,520 audience ratings. Estimated budget, 8.5 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 18% on the meter; 39% liked it from 160,314 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.5/5.0 from 856,956 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Dave Filoni.
6. Starring: Matt Lantner as Anakin Skywalker, Ashley Eckstein as Ahsoka Tano, Christopher Lee as Count Dooku,  James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Nika Futterman as Asajj Ventress, Tom Kane as Yoda, Dee Bradley Baker as Rex, Catherine Taber as Padme Amidala.


2. Setup and Plot
1. This film is a story in its own right, and it serves as an introduction to the animated series that followed it.  The characters Asajj Ventress (Dooku's assassin) and Ahsoka Sano (Anakin's padawan) are introduced in the film, and are regulars in the animated series that follows.


2. The Republic is at war with the Separatists.  The Republic armed forces, composed of clone soldiers and sailors plus Jedi commanders, is fighting valiantly against the droid forces often led by Count Dooku.


3. In order to secure passage in the Outer Rim, the Republic must deal with Jabba the Hutt, whose son has been kidnapped by Dooku's henchmen.  The Jedi work and fight to free the small Hutt, while Ventress and Dooku's forces counter them.


4. Senator Padme Amidala contacts Jabba's uncle Ziro the Hutt on Coruscant to try to resolve the issue.  However, Ziro is in league with Dooku to overthrow Jabba and replace Jabba with Ziro as head of the Hutt clan.  Ziro captures Padme, and things look worse.


5. Can Padme escape Ziro?  Can Anakin and Ahsoka deliver the Huttlet safely to Jabba, or will Dooku's elite droids capture her?  Will Anakin defeat Dooku?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Animated Star Wars segment set between live action movies 2 and 3.
2. Seven of ten.


4. Scores
1. Art/Animation: 9/10 As good as the sound is bad.  The motions were a little stiff.


2. Sound: 5/10 Wow!! The sound level difference between music (too loud by far) and conversation is just too big and the up/down jumps occur frequently.


3. Voice Acting: 9/10 Nicely done all around.


4. Story: 7/10 Some of the dialog was a little raw, like the remarks between Ahsoka and Anakin.  Otherwise, it was competent adventure material, opening to middle to exciting conclusion.

20140318: Animation Review--Iron Man: Rise of Technovore

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Japanese animated feature length film, 2013, PG-13, 88 minutes, animated, action, scifi.
2. IMDB: 5.2/10.0 from 1,813 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No Score Yet...' and 35% liked it from 506 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.6/5.0 from 43,803 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Hiroshi Hamazaki.
6. Starring: Norman Reedus as Frank Castle/The Punisher; Matthew Mercer as Tony Stark/Iron Man, Eric Bauza as Ezekiel Stane/Technovore, Kate Higgins as Pepper Potts, Kari Wahlgren as Maria Hill, James Mathis as James Rhodes/War Machine, Clare Grant as Natasha Romanov/Black Widow, John Eric Bentley as Nick Fury.


2. Setup and Plot
1. This is an anime version of an Ironman story, late teen/adult style.


2. Tony Stark is about to launch a surveillance satellite.  Someone does not like this.  They set about to blow up Tony's properties near the launch, and draw him into a one on one fight.  Further, they kill his long-time friend and ally, Rhodes, and many people near the launch.


3. Fury sends Black Widow to fetch Ironman.  They have a chat, then Fury tells him he is in custody.  Ironman decides to leave.  Fury sends a lot of people after him.  Ironman evades most of them, but Black Widow gives him a harder time before he disables her plane.


4. The bad guys in this film are a small group who think of technology as a set of false idols, and particularly blame those who create more technology.  So Ironman is high on their list, and his satellite is a prime target.


5. Tony meets with Pepper to get intelligence.  SHIELD surrounds the place, but Tony escapes.  He finds a lead in Pakistan, and meets up with Punisher.  They zero on Ezekial Stane.  SHIELD catches up, and Hawkeye screws Tony's suit with his arrows.  Punisher helps him get away, with Black Widow and Hawkeye in pursuit.


6. Ironman follows Stane's efforts to China.  He discovers more about the powerful weapons that Stane has, namely the technovores, which invade high tech gadgets and take them over.


7. Does Ironman find the ultimate goals of the enemy behind all this?  If so, will he stop that goal from being accomplished?  Will Tony make nice with SHIELD and Pepper?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: A good Tony Stark story, told anime style.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Art/Animation: 8/10 Good by anime standards, but occasionally had the washed out look.


2. Sound: 7/10  The lip synching was not the best.  The music's sound level was way off.  Most of the time the voice actors' words were clear enough.


3. Voice/Acting: 7/10 I liked the performances of Norman Reedus, Matthew Mercer, Kate Higgins, and Clare Grant.  The work of Eric Bauza and John Eric Bentley I did not care for so much.


4. Story: 8/10 Rather nice.  Had transitions beginning to middle to end that were reasonable to follow.  Has some pleasant surprises toward the end.

20140317: Animation Review--AniMen the Galactic Battle

AniMen: the Galactic Battle

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Chinese animated feature length film, 2012, unrated, 86 minutes, animation, adventure.
2. IMDB: 3.6/10.0 from 27 audience ratings.  Spoken language on Netflix was English.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No Reviews Yet...', and 'No score yet...'
4. Netflix: 2.8/5.0 from 56,610 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Xu Kerr.
6. Starring: Bruce Boxleitner as General Moss, Steve Blum as Colonel Steel, Keith David as Sergeant Brass, JB Blanc as Captain Hered, Ogie Banks as Sergeant Gator, Jim Cummings as Xanthor.


2. Setup and Plot
1. This is a space opera rendered using 3-d animation objects.


2. In some galaxy, at some time or another in the history of the cosmos, two sides fight in space.  The Swarm is a single race that has huge numbers.  Many of their members seem to be fairly stupid insect forms that are fitted to combat.  The leaders are few in number, but good at coordinating the hordes of underlings.  The other side is mostly made of humanoids with two arms, two legs, one head, who walk and run upright.  So they are sort of like humans, but still look nothing like Earth humans of the present day.


3. In the opening, General Moss on the humanoid side (the Starworld Alliance) is gathering some sort of intelligence against the Swarm in the form of chips.  He succeeds at that, and narrowly makes his escape at the cost of the lives of several underlings.


4. The scene switches to scenes of militarised non-Swarm life.  We see some training with armored suits.  We switch again to space battles.


5. General Moss returns to the Alliance side during the battle.  Everyone seems concerned about keeping him safe.  The elite 'Triton Force'  is made up of armed flying armoured suits (like badly designed Gundam), and are allies of Moss.  Xanthor is the main leader of the Swarm that Moss and company face.  Xanthor wants to kill Moss and get the chips.  The Triton Force wants to protect Moss and get the chips to the Alliance.


6. So, who comes out on top?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Looks like an old video game made into a movie.
2. Two stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Art/animation: 4/10 About 40% of the runtime is just beautiful, visually speaking.  Then the rest of it is iffy or poor, as in mid-1990s poor.


2. Sound: 4/10 The voice actors were miked OK, but incidental music and sounds were not really effectively used.  The synchronisation of mouth movements and words was rather bad, as often happens in the mixed language setting.


3. Voice Acting: 5/10 There were professional voice actors involved. Bruce Boxleitner and Keith David from live action movies come to mind, as do the veterans Steve Blum from Cowboy Bebop and Ogie Banks from Ultimate Spiderman.  Most of the lesser parts were poorly handled by much less skillful voice actors.


4. Screenplay: 0/10 Terrible.  Full of poor one liners that are not funny.  The script seemed to be an afterthought.  The flow of beginning => middle => end was nowhere near smooth.  The chain of command in the Alliance military seemed to be entirely broken.  The ending was nonsensical.  The main thread of the film was abandoned rather than resolved.

20140312: SciFi Review--Starship Troopers

Starship Troopers

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Japanese/American animated feature length film, 2012, rated R, 88 minutes, scifi, thriller, horror.
2. IMDB: 5.9/10.0 from 6,383 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No score yet...', and 49% liked it from 902 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.3/5.0 from 58,396 audience ratings.
5. Directed by Shinji Aramaki, screenplay by Flint Dille, from a novel by Robert A. Heinlein.
6. Starring: Luci Christian as Carmen Ibanez, David Matranga as Johnny Rico, Justin Doran as Carl Jenkins, David Wald as Hero.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The film's name comes from Robert A. Heinlein's 1959 novel, Starship Troopers.  A live action theatrical film of the same name was released in 1997 directed by Paul Vanderhoeven, followed by Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation (2004, straight to video), and Starship Troopers 3: Marauder (2008, directed by Ed Neumeier).


2. The book was excellent, the first movie was good, the second movie sucked rocks, and the third movie was somewhat better than the second.  This Japanese movie is truer to the American novel than the 2nd or 3rd movies.


3. The Terran Federation consists of humans who are fighting hives of giant insect colonies ruled by intelligent queens.  The initial point of contention for this film is on an asteroid.  On the asteroid is the Terran Fort Casey, which is under attack by a colony of Bugs.


4. The huge warship John A. Warden is docked at Casey.  The Warden has become infested. The much lighter vessel Alesia arrives for evacuation if needed.  The high-ranking psychic Carl Jenkins (played by Neil Patrick Harris in the first film) has taken command from Major Hero just before the Alesia's arrival.  The Mobile Infantry brought by the Alesia join with the survivors of the Warden to try to retake the Warden.


5. Through a series of misadventures, the Alesia is lost, and the Warden is taken over by the Bug queen.  The Bug-controlled Warden heads to Earth (Terra) to start infestation and eradication of humanity there.  The few surviving Mobile Infantry aboard the Warden contact General Rico in orbit around Earth.


6. Will the remnants stop the infestation?  Will Carmen get another command after losing the Warden?  Will Carl's treacherous actions be revealed, or will they be classified as 'research essential to the war' against the Bugs?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: As good as the first film, but with different strengths; looking forward to a sequel.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Art: 9/10 About 60 percent of the time, I thought this film looked wonderful. The other forty percent, I thought it looked fine, but the movements were a bit wooden/slow.


2. Sound: 9/10 No problems.  Loved the music in the closing credits.


3. Voice Acting: 9/10 Just fine.


4. Story: 7/10 The film was set as a film for adults, just as the book was and the first film was.  It is animated but it is rightfully rated R, just as the first film.  I do wish that more exposition had been done about the class warfare between the psychics (the entitled one tenth of one percent) versus everyone else.  Perhaps the biggest positive I could say is that I would like to see another one from the same group (Japanese/Korean, not so much American) who seemed to understand the material well.  The next film should be about whether Carl Jenkins' research was actually worth the betrayals that he wrought against his allies in the Navy and the Mobile Infantry.

20140309: Anime Review--Chrome Shelled Regios

Chrome Shelled Regios

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. Japanese animated television series, 2009, TV-MA, 24 episodes, anime.  Spoken word is in English (or Japanese).
2. IMDB: 7.2/10.0 from 134 audience ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 'No Reviews Yet...' and 'No Score Yet...'
4. Netflix: 4.2/5.0 from 268,238 audience ratings.
5. Directed by: Chris Cason.
6. Starring: Todd Haberkorn as Layfon Wolfstein Alseif, Monica Rial as Felli Loss, Brina Palencia as Nina Antalk.


2. Setup and Plot
1. This anime series is set on a planet that is not Earth.  Most of the planet is desert with poisoned air.  There are nomadic cities (called Regios) that travel across the deserts searching for minerals and water.  Cities are all walled and fortified, but some have large, skilled military contingents; others do not.  The cities share the desert with Contaminoids (Funimation's translation of 'filth monsters' in the Japanese), which have three life stages, and seem to enjoy killing any normal organic life.


2. Layfon was a Keeper of the Heaven's Blades in the military city of Glendan.  That is, he was one of the most elite fighters in a city dominated by the military arts.  He leaves Glendan (in disgrace, we later find out) and moves to the academic city of Zuellni.  He hopes to found a life for himself in business, and never do any military activity again.


3. Unfortunately, Kalian Loss, the president of the student council, dragoons Layfon into the small military arts section of the university.  As much as he tries, Layfon cannot hide his facility at using all three types of the magical energy kei: external (projectile weapons), internal (for rapid healing), psychokinetic (for telepathy, clairvoyance, and telekinesis).


4. Layfon is inserted into the 17th platoon.  To help with expenses, he works at night cleaning and maintaining some machine works with Nina Antalk, who is also his platoon's leader.  Kalian's sister Felli is an adept at using psychokinetic kei, and Layfon has many interactions with her.


5. Over the course of the series 24 episodes, Layfon and Nina get to know one another; Felli and Layfon do as well.  The 17th platoon gains status as Layfon merges into the team and starts to show his talents.  The Contaminoids wreak all sorts of destruction, including killing every human in one of the Regios.  Extermination of a city releases the  'electronic spirit' associated with the city; the spirit is then called a Fallen One.  The Fallen Ones create all sorts of destruction.


6. In Glendan, the Queen charges Leerin (Layfon's childhood friend from a common orphanage) to take a Heaven's Blade to Layfon.  Leerin is monumentally bad at doing this.


7. So...do the romances (Layfon and Felli, Layfon and Nina, Layfon and Leerin) get anywhere during the series?  Will the Fallen Ones be helped to find rest?  Will the Contaminoids destroy any more cities?  Will Layfon stay in Zuellni, or return to Glendan?


3. Conclusions
1. Link to episode by episode descriptions: episodes
2. Link to overview of series:  overview
3. One line summary: Swords and sorcery meet high technology on an alien planet.
4. Three stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Art: 8/10 The episodes consistently look good.


2. Sound: 3/10 Oh, ouch! One needs to crank the sound up to hear the dialog, then return it close to mute to survive the music during the opening and closing credits and the mid-episode inter-titles.


3. Voice acting: 7/10 The voice performances for Layfon, Nina, Kalian, the Queen of Glendan, and the Queen's agents were rather good.  However, many of the lesser female characters had annoyingly screeching voice registers, and were hard to understand.  I recommend using subtitles, even if one has an English version playing.


4. Story: 6/10 There are several themes in the series that I did not refer to above, and at least two dozen named characters.  Some of the themes basically went nowhere, either because they were abandoned or because they were underdeveloped.  It also seemed to me that there were entirely too many characters.

20131107: Animation Review--The Painting

The Painting (le tableau)

1. Fundamentals, reception.
1. French animated feature length film, 2011, NR, 76 minutes.  Spoken language is French, subtitles in English.
2. IMDB: 7.1/10.0 from 999 user ratings.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 80% on the meter; 73% liked it from 912 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.1/5.0 from 1,887 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by: Jean-Francois Laguione.


2. Setup and Plot
1. The Painting is about a painting in a painter's home.  The painting is incomplete in several ways.  The painting has a chateau, a flowering garden, and a dangerous forest, plus a multitude of characters.


2. The characters are divided into (Toupins, Pafinis, Reufs) or (Alldunns, Halfies, Sketchies) in English.  In the conceit of the film, the Toupins (completed, fully painted characters) decide they should rule the proceedings, treating the Pafinis (part finished) badly, and enslaving the Reufs (rough sketches).


3. The protagonist is Lola, a 'Halfie.'  Her Halfie friend Claire has fallen in love with a completed character, Ramo.  Ramo tries to speak against the bad behaviour of the Alldunns in the chateau, but is shouted down.  Claire is imprisoned.  Lola, Ramo, and a Sketchie named Quill escape the painted through a perimeter weakness in the forest.


4. Once outside, the painting style shifts to a mixed one.  Our heroes keep their form and colours, but the outside is rendered in strongly realistic terms.  This is executed quite well.


5. The trio interact with characters in the painter's other paintings.  Eventually they find that they can paint themselves.  They speak with the painter's self-portrait, and gather up paint and brushes to take back the the painting of origin.


6. Their return increases the chaos for a while, but levels out the inequalities.


7. The ending where Lola again departs the painting and speaks with the painter is just delightful.  There is another shift of mixing styles which is also well done.


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Another fine recent animation effort from France.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Art/Animation: 10/10 Breath-taking.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.


3. Screenplay: 10/10 Loved the imaginative story with interesting infrastructure, and beautiful ending.

20131107: Animation Review--Tales of the Night

Tales of the Night (Les contes de la nuit)

1. Production Fundamentals; reception
1. French animated feature length film, 2011, NR, 83 minutes, aspect 1.78; fantasy.
2. IMDB: 6.5/10.0 from 655 audience ratings.  Spoken word is English, which was rather unexpected; English subtitles.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 78% on the meter; 60% liked it from 2,114 audience ratings.
4. Netflix: 3.4/5.0 from 19,089 audience ratings.
5. Written and directed by Michel Ocelot.
6. Starring: Julien Beramis as Boy, Marine Griset as Girl, Michel Elias.


2. Setup, Plot
1. The film breaks into six separate adventures.


2. Night of the Werewolf. Being a prince and a werewolf in the 15th century.  Happy ending on this one; murderous deceit receives justice instead of monetary reward.


3. Jon Jon and Beauty Not Knowing.  On a Caribbean island, Jon Jon explores a deep cave which is the country of the dead.  The only other living being is the princess whose name is Beauty Not Knowing.  Jon Jon befriends the 3 monsters he was warned to kill.  The father of the princess sets him three tasks.  The 3 monsters help him through the final tests.  Jon Jon goes back to his girl friend in the land of the living.


4. The City of Gold. The Boy saves The Girl from being a human sacrifice, but at a cost.


5. Tom-Tom Boy.  Set in a village in the African bush.  Everyone in the village tells Tom-Tom Boy to learn something useful, and to get lost in the meantime.  He saves an old man's life out in the wild.  This man is the custodian of the magic tom-tom, 'whose rhythms no one can resist.'  He plays for the custodian, who teaches him to do more with it.


6. The Boy Who Never Lied.  Set in Tibet.  Two kings each wager half their kingdoms on whether or not the Boy can be made to lie.  The princess volunteers to help her father get the Boy to lie.  The Boy's horse speaks; the princess' mare can sing.  The lying princess acts sick, and claims that she must eat the heart of his talking horse.  The horse, Melonge, gives up his life so that his heart can be claimed.  The Boy serves up the heart, but the princess leaves with the heart untouched.  Ah, sadness.  But the Boy and his king are rewarded, and the princess admits the vileness of what she has done.


7. The Young Doe and the Architect's Son.  Zachariac, the sorcerer, has a young ward, Maud, who falls in love with the architect's son, Thibault.  Thibault climbs Zachariac's dread tower to rescue Maud.  He encourages her to agree to marry Zachariac, with the understanding that Thibault will interrupt the process before it is complete.  Thibault and Maud escape via a secret trapdoor in the cathedral.  Zachariac renounces Maud, and changes her into a doe who only runs from Thibault.  Thibault and his father's friend find the palace of a fairy ally of the architect.  Can they complete the resolution?


3. Conclusions
1. One line summary: Fairy tales done very well using an old style and modern techniques.
2. Five stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Art/Animation: 10/10 Though only in one style, wonderful throughout.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.  Liked the incidental music.


3. Acting: 10/10 Beautifully voiced.


4. Screenplay: 10/10 Difficult and wonderful.