Coming off of the decent if inconsistent Tales From Sanctuary City trilogy, director Ricard Cussรณ’s latest is a major switch-up, both textually and visually. Textually, it’s adapted from an IP that has been doing the rounds semi-regularly for the past two decades, becoming toys, a comic book, a Flash game and even an Xbox Live Arcade download before making it to the big screen.
Visually, however, is where things get really interesting. While Australia has been experiencing something of a boom within the animation industry over the last several years, thanks in no small part to studios like Animal Logic and Flying Bark, this still manages to look like nothing else I’ve seen this country produce thus far. Not even the Sanctuary City movies come anywhere close to this.
Put simply, I can’t recall if a CGI-animated film actively got me to check if it was animated using anything else before, because if I was told that this was a proper stop-motion production, I would’ve easily believed it because it genuinely looks that good. It has a similar simulated jitter that the LEGO Movies have to emulate stop-motion, and there’s plenty of Henry Selick and Aardman worship going on in the creative side of things.
The texture work on the characters and set design is simply bonkers, and the design work across the board is very expressive and, again, makes it stand out from a lot of other animated films. A billowing cloud of leaves taking the form of a forest deity, fireflies with bodies like lightbulbs, all manner of hybrid animals that make up the populace; all great stuff. The studios behind this are apparently working on a Combat Wombat sequel next, and hot damn, does that sound like an amazing idea after seeing this.
As for the story, it’s a bit of a jumble. It follows the titular Scarygirl (Jillian Nguyen) as she makes her way from her beachside home into the big city to rescue her father Blister (Rob Collins) from the villainous Dr. Maybee (Sam Neill). Her personal arc focuses on her embracing her outsider status and rejecting any notion that she needs to change, either biologically (being part-human, part-octopus) and psychologically (she’s a tinkerer, whereas her father is more of a naturalist).
There’s also a prominent environmental bent to the story, which admittedly hits an odd note with the imagery that ties taking power from the Sun to environmental damage (sounds like a once-removed half-thought-out FaceBook status about the evils of solar panels), but still fits the overall mood of the story. Then there’s the touches of GOTG Vol. 3-esque embracing of imperfections, with Dr. Maybee shown as someone obsessively trying to create ‘perfection’ through animal experimentation, and a subplot about bounties for octopus hunting involving a very Jabba/Han Solo-ish dynamic between Tim Minchin’s Chihoohoo and Remy Hii’s Bunniguru. Bunniguru’s Egg sidekick is hella cute, though, and I like his little proverb book; reminds me of Harvie Krumpet.
The whole thing feels like it’s throwing everything it can at the wall to see what sticks, between the eclectic presentation and the grab-bag storytelling. It can get more than a little chaotic at times, even considering how straight-forward the story ultimately is. I can still see younger audiences getting into this for sure, and for older animation enthusiasts, it makes for an interesting little curio that could be a sign of things to come for our neck of the woods in animation.
No comments:
Post a Comment