Introduction
Hello, fellow adventurers! Blaziker is back for the final animated movie adventure of the first half of 2025, and we got six animated movies to cover, so let’s not waste any time and explore them!
The first movie, My Grandfather’s Demons, is a Portuguese animated movie about a successful designer living in a big city who, after the death of her grandfather, realised she felt she has not been connected ever since leaving her homeland. My Grandfather’s Demons is yet another stop-motion animated movie, and that alone was worth checking it out, especially after I found out it was debuting in Singapore as part of the European Film Festival Singapore this year. The question is: is this another proof of the resurgence of stop-motion animation?
The second movie, Lost in Starlight, is Netflix’s first Korean animated movie, based on a popular web comic series. Set in 2050, this movie tells the tale of a star-crossed romantic between a female astronaut who left Earth for her space mission on Mars, leaving behind her boyfriend who remained on earth. South Korea is becoming another emerging country in the Asian animation scene that has produced some top-quality animated movies, including Leafie, a Hen into the Wild which I highly recommend. However, with them only beginning to ramp up its domestic efforts, how will this Korean animated movie fare?
The third movie, Ejen Ali: The Movie 2 is a sequel to a movie based on the popular Malaysian animated series and this time, Ejen Ali pilots a new armoured suit as part of an unsanctioned project within his agency, but with a new threat on the rise, Ali and his team are on the move to stop those threats from coming to fruition. If I were to be honest, I was not planning to see this movie, especially coming from a Malaysian animated movie that goes hard last year with Dongeng Sang Kancil, instead planning to cover a Netflix animated movie. However, given that the said movie, The Twits, is less likely to be released it its planned June date, I decided to swap that out for this movie. Will this be a good decision from my side?
The fourth movie, Super Charlie, is about a baby born with super powers at odds with his ordinary elder brother but must set aside their differences to defeat a supervillain on their own. I had been venturing into the weird and wacky world of Nordic animated movies, and after covering one wacky animated movie with Spermageddon earlier this year, now I must tackle another weird and wacky animated movie, this time in Sweden instead of Norway like the last time. Will this be yet another good animated movie from that region?
The fifth movie, Masameer Junior, is the next movie in the Saudi Arabia based series based on the cartoon of the same name, with the main trio of the Masameer series embarking on yet another adventure to find paradise after their teacher warned them of the consequence of their sins of the past. I got to see the first Masameer movie back in 2020 when it dropped on Netflix, and personally, it was not to my liking, but I appreciate the level of boldness the movie has, especially coming from one of the most conservative countries in the world in Saudi Arabia. Will the second Masameer movie redeems the series for me?
The sixth and final movie, K-Pop Demon Hunters, the new Sony Pictures Animation movie, focused on three K-Pop idols who are secretly demon hunters to protect their fans from the supernatural entities, but they must now face their biggest threat yet: a rival boy band who are demons in disguise. Sony Pictures Animation had been on a role with so many great animated movies since Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, thanks to their output of top-quality movies such as The Mitchells vs the Machines, Wish Dragon, Vivo and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse. With their next movie also landing onto Netflix, will K-Pop Demon Hunters be yet another fantastic movie into Sony Pictures Animation’s catalogue?
Without further ado, on to another animation adventure!
My Grandfather’s Demons
Key Information
- Director: Nuno Beato
- Animation Studio: Sardinha em Lata
- Country of Origin: Portugal, Spain and France
- Rating: PG13
- Release date: 24 May 2025 (in Singapore as part of the European Film Festival Singapore 2025)
Trailer
The Review
When it comes to Portugal, “low-key but genuine” are how I would describe Portugal, especially when it comes to them at the Eurovision Song Contest. The songs they generally sent to the annual singing competition have traditional roots that pay homage to Portugal and are true to their own beliefs, making quite an authentic experience that is true to them. This is also true for My Grandfather’s Demons, and that is the movie’s biggest strength, but also possibly its biggest turnoff.
Let me provide you with some bad news: if you are expecting a bombastic animated movie just like most of the animated movies I had covered, especially for the mainstream and the family-friendly foreign CG animated movie market, then I am sorry to say, this movie will disappoint you. Rather than relying on exciting moments that left an impact, this movie has many subtle and small changes throughout the entire movie that cumulate into one cohesive and well-rounded story, and that is the biggest selling point of this movie: My Grandfather’s Demons is very low-key, yet oh, so Portugal.
The movie’s subtlety also extends to the characters, who are mostly normal people of the village where the movie takes place as well as the main character who moved away to a big city, away from her grandfather who was the scorn of that village. They have great personalities, they do not overstay their welcome, and the voice acting is mostly excellent. While the comedy is very low-key just like the movie, the pacing could have been more well-rounded because there were some moments where almost nothing happens, but I am not complaining about this movie’s chill atmosphere either.
The animation style is a highlight of this movie. While the movie actually utilise stylised CG animation for the first few minutes, once the movie heads to the village where it transitions to its puppetry stop-motion style that takes over the village, there is a lot of craft and care in how the characters and backgrounds move, how it creates atmosphere with its unique designs and how fluid but rugged this movie felt. Stop-motion animation creates a sense of craftsmanship that is very difficult to execute in computer generated animation when done right, and My Grandfather’s Demons had this style down to the science.
The soundtrack, which also utilises traditional Portuguese instruments to create this unique feeling soundtrack complements the homeliness this movie provides, like the soundtrack creates a warm hug as I embrace more about the intricacies of the village where most of the movie takes place. As for my level of enjoyment, while the pacing could have been better, I was overall very calm and relaxed over the movie’s atmosphere, which is a well-needed break from the usual in-your-face type of animated movies that dominate the landscape. Sometimes, you need movies like My Grandfather’s Demons to break the tension between animated movies so that you do not get tired of animated movies in general, and this delightful charm from Portugal hits the spot.
Overall, I am going to be honest, I was not expecting much from this movie, but if there is one thing I am certain, is that it is a mistake to write off Portugal, whether it is the animation or Eurovision, because My Grandfather’s Demons is just a great animated movie that does not rely on theatrics, but instead rely on the subtle and low-key elements that make it quite a calming animated movie. Sometimes, you just need the slower and calmer animated movies to cut the tension from the intense and exciting ones, and My Grandfather’s Demons is a perfect palette cleanser of an animated movie!
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Lost in Starlight
Key Information
- Director: Han Ji-Won
- Animation Studio: Climax Studios
- Country of Origin: South Korea
- Rating: PG13
- Release date: 30 May 2025 (on Netflix)
Trailer
The Review
I have seen great animated movies from South Korea that show that this country is not just an outsourcing animation giant. I mean, this is from the country that produced Leafie, a Hen into the Wild, one of the most underrated animated movies of all time, mind you! Yet, here we are, talking about Netflix’s very first Korean animated movie and honestly… They should continue picking up more great quality animated movies from South Korea, because Lost in Starlight is easily one of my most favourite animated movies of the year so far!
If you are a huge fan of Korean dramas, particularly Korean romantic dramas that dominate the TV series for so many years, especially ones that made your parents cry a whole lot, you would be delighted to find a top-tier Korean romantic drama condensed into an animated movie format. What’s great about this movie, though, is that rather relying on classic cliches you get from even the very best Korean romantic dramas in existence, this movie combines different genres into one wholesome and cohesive romance that stands out. It combines sci-fi elements and also musical elements that make this romance such a delight to watch, and as such, the romantic element felt wholesome, down-to-earth, relatable and above it, so endearing. It also helped that the pacing is so well-set and the comedy is both genuine and hilarious without distracting the entire story.
It also helped that the characters are so endearing and have fantastic character development. Seeing the budding romance between astronaut Nan-young (Kim Tae-ri) and her accidental musician boyfriend Jay (Hong Kyung) throughout the whole movie is what makes Lost in Starlight so well-produced: you are with them throughout most of the movie with enough backstory and showmanship between both characters that you are actually seeing two actual human beings having a growing relationship. That is also helped by how fantastic the voice acting is, especially in the Korean dub.
The animation is equally spectacular, with some of the best backgrounds of any animated movie this year. The colouring and blending of 2D and 3D elements gave an astronomical illusion that plays with your mind throughout the entire movie, and the hand-drawn elements are incorporated so, so well with the entire movie. I love how minimalistic, yet well-appointed the animation style is. Yes, it’s not the most exciting animation style of this year, but the animation is easily one of the best of the year in terms of both style and function, and finding an animation style that excels in both is rare these days.
The soundtrack is also fantastic as rather than the usual generic pop nonsense most animated movies commit the sin of, the soundtrack is more low-fi and uses more softer pop to create a beautiful and romantic atmosphere that fits the movie’s themes so well, resulting in a soundtrack that is less bells and whistles, but on purpose to create the desired environment for the movie to thrive. I respect movie soundtracks that change up its music genres just to make sure it fits the movie, and this is one of those. As for my level of enjoyment, I was enjoying this movie so much that as I was about to arrive at home, I sat down at the ground floor lobby just to watch through how the movie ends. It’s rare for movies to embrace you so much that you had to find somewhere else to quiet down and watch the movie, but this is one of those rare moments. Imagine if this movie was released in theatres instead of Netflix, then I would be sitting firmly from start to finish.
Well, well, Lost in Starlight is further proof that South Korea has finally broken out of its old shell as just an animation outsourcing giant just cannot produce their animated movies well domestically, because this movie is simply amazing. Almost everything in this movie works well, and it also has an emotional weight that has a fantastic payoff; in fact, just like any great Korean romantic drama, this movie has everything you would expect from that, except in movie form. It’s a shame this was relegated into Netflix, because Lost in Starlight deserves to be seen in theatres, and should be seen by as many people as possible.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Ejen Ali: The Movie 2
Key Information
- Director: Muhammad Usamah Zaid
- Animation Studio: WAU Animation
- Country of Origin: Malaysia
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 5 June 2025 (in Singapore)
Trailer
The Review
So, I got to see this movie in Malaysia one week before its Singapore release and already, on its debut week, Ejen Ali: The Movie 2 ended up being the highest grossing animated movie for the week in Malaysia. As someone that has never watched a single episode of the Ejen Ali animated series nor the first Ejen Ali movie, it’s safe to say that watching the movie blind might not be the best idea, because this movie will call back at past moments in the entire franchise, thus making the exposition duller especially for someone new to the series.
However, if you judge the movie on its own, I honestly thought this movie actually did something for me, and is that Malaysia might have finally realised how to produce a proper animated movie. It’s not the same level as Dongeng Sang Kancil which I covered last year, but it is one of the better family-friendly foreign CG animated movies, that’s for sure.
First off, the writing may not be something brand new, especially for an animated movie centring about a secret agent who also happens to be a schoolkid, but for what it presented about the overreliance on technology and artificial intelligence (and no, not the generative A/I tools type of crap, proper artificial intelligence), especially when this comes to play in the third act, which turns an otherwise decent animated movie into a close to great animated movie I can vibe with. While comedy is quite so-so, the character development is pretty good and the voice acting is not that phoned in either. It’s not the most mind-blowing writing, but it does the job.
The animation, while not as impressive as what I would hope, is clearly of high quality, just that I wish this movie embrace more than just the typical computer-generated animation we had seen for so long. The action sequences are great, but there are moments where the animation took some shortcuts which resulted in a slight decrease in the animation quality. Still, for what I was given, the animation in Ejen Ali: The Movie 2 is better than most of the family-friendly foreign CG animated movies I had covered, which admittedly is a low bar to clear anyway (see my essay on the Americanisation of Non-Mainstream Animated Movies to understand why).
I also feel the soundtrack is pretty good and also did a better job than what I had thought and did not overstay its welcome. As for my level of enjoyment, clearly, this is a movie not made for an animation adventurer who wants to venture out to new territories for more out there animation just like me, but it’s clearly a movie for fans of the Ejen Ali series, which was why I felt left out. Still, if you judge the overall quality, I was honestly having a good time with this one.
I got to say, maybe this is a movie not meant for me which explains why I did not like this movie as much as the biggest fanboys of the Ejen Ali series, but what it does confirm to me is that Malaysia is now capable of producing good quality animated movies that are competitive with other great animation industries around the world when it comes to theatrical animation. Let’s hope Malaysia embraces more than CG animation to do just that in the future.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Super Charlie
Key Information
- Director: Jon Holmberg
- Animation Studio: A. Film Production
- Country of Origin: Sweden
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 25 December 2024 (in Sweden)
Trailer
The Review
On the surface, this should be an animated movie that I should be hating, because from the concept and the preview I got from it when I first about Super Charlie at Cartoon Movie 2024, this felt like yet another commercialised and Americanised animated movie from a foreign country, which if you have seen that essay I referenced earlier on, would understand my gripes behind those movies. However, the crazy part is that I actually find myself entertained by this movie way more than expected.
Let me get this straight: a Swedish animated movie about a talking baby who was born with superpowers might feel way too juvenile for the animation buffs like myself, and at the beginning, it felt like it. This is a movie that I should be hating a whole lot, especially when the movie relies a lot on animated movie tropes, animation utilise computer generated animation, the soundtrack is nothing special and some of the characters felt obnoxious.
However, I cannot deny that I was admittedly entertained by how weird and wacky Super Charlie is, which goes to prove the weirdness of most Nordic animated movies in general. Even if I don’t think most elements gel well together, what I got was a surprising entertaining and not so obnoxious animated movie that embraces the weirdness so well. The characters are at least memorable, though usually for the main characters only. The animation is at least competent and not that low-quality, and most importantly, the comedy is not that offensive and juvenile to the point where I had to hate this movie for being so low-brow.
Yeah, in conclusion: I should be hating this movie, but I did not. This and Spermageddon prove that the Nordics are crazy when it comes to producing animated movies. I should not be surprised, though I am more surprised at how much I liked this movie despite being everything I wanted to hate about it…
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Masameer Junior
Key Information
- Director: Malik Nejer
- Animation Studio: Myrkott
- Country of Origin: Saudi Arabia
- Rating: NC16
Trailer
The Review
I am honestly… Confused about Masameer Junior. This is both the best, and the worst animated movie I had seen this year, and given I was disappointed with the overall result of the first Masameer movie, I was worried that this movie is not for me. The verdict: Well yes, but actually no.
To explain what had happened, the writing for Masameer Junior is all over the place. The writing is very offensive, with it breaking the black comedy scale with it poking fun at offensive stereotypes, crude insults that deserve its more mature writing, and pacing that was not consistently in tune. This movie also has a lack of character development as you do not see the growth from the main trio of the story throughout the movie, and the animation style, while of substantial quality, may be too crude and ugly for some, which I don’t mind, but I do mind the overall clash of character and background designs throughout the movie.
However, despite everything I wanted to complain about it, Masammer Junior also succeeds in bringing the movie to its absolute limits. There is no denying how bold and crazy this movie felt for me, and even if some of the jokes are offensive, they are actually hilarious enough for me to not just get it, but also made me laugh a lot through the movie’s runtime. It’s clear the creators of this movie (and the original Masameer animated series and the movie) do not give any effs about censorship and keeping in line, especially given this is from Saudi Arabia, one of the most conservative countries in the world.
Overall, while I hated Masameer Junior for its lack of technical competence and brilliance, this is also why Masammer Junior is so memorable and enjoyable. It’s a movie that will divide its audience, but at the same time, unite those that can take a joke and have fun with its overall crudeness. If you want to see a satire that knows what it is doing, Masameer Junior is available on Netflix, but if you can’t take a joke, don’t see it. Masameer Junior only works for certain demographics, but given how it succeeds at doing that, I think the creators did their job well.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
K-Pop Demon Hunters
Key Information
- Directors: Chris Appelhans and Maggie Kang
- Animation Studio: Sony Pictures Animation
- Country of Origin: United States
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 20 June 2025 (on Netflix)
Trailer
The Review
It is easily understandable that this movie was delayed for some time, before it finally dropped onto Netflix, because it needed some more tweaking… before this movie became an absolute giga banger!
Honestly, I could not think of a 2025 animated movie that makes it so easy to give it a perfect score apart from Ne Zha 2 and Spermageddon, because K-Pop Demon Hunters is a banger from start to finish! Obviously, the writing is some of the most fun writing I had seen for a 2025 animated movie, from the well-rounded and top-tier writing that left me gasped with every twist and turn from start to finish, which easily switches between funny and thrilling with so much ease. The jokes are hilarious and not too distracting (with well-timed gags that made me laugh from start to finish), the pacing is perfect and obviously, the characters, man!
I could honestly never get enough of the Huntrix girls, from the stoic and sarcastic Mira (May Hong) to the chaotic rapper Zoey (Yoo Ji-young), and of course the iconic Rumi (Arden Cho), who also has an arc with one of the demons who happened to be part of a demon boy-band (Ahn Hyo-seop). Seriously, the characters are so well-developed and full of joy and personality, and the voice acting is just as perfect. You can tell everyone involved had so much fun working on this movie together, because this is an entertaining movie from start to finish!
As usual, Sony Pictures Animation perfected their already perfect stylised CG animation that they had adopted since Into the Spider-Verse, and the style is an over-exagerrated style filled with so many iconic animation moments. The colouring in this movie could not have been more on-point thanks to its clear contrast between Huntrix and the demon boyband of the Saja Boys. The action sequences are just as thrilling and on-tune, playing with both lighting and change of frame rates to make some sequences more different but with purpose, resulting in an exciting animation style that just wants you more.
And yes… The soundtrack is unsurprisingly a giga banger! It is very easy to see why Netflix hype up the songs so much, because pretty much every music track is a banger. It is honestly very difficult to decide which is the best, but whether you prefer the hard-hitting Huntrix with “How It’s Done” or the Saja Boys’ chill vibes with “Soda Pop”, there is a song in this soundtrack for everyone to enjoy. If none of the songs ended up in my top 5 most favourite songs form animated movies this year, then 2025 would be a very good year for animated movie songs indeed.
Unsurprisingly, I enjoyed this movie a damn lot, because there is not a single nitpick I could even come up with. Everything in this movie is perfect, and with so many great moments, there is never a dull moment in K-Pop Demon Hunters.
Obviously, go see this movie, because K-Pop Demon Hunters would keep you wanting for more, and if you want to get into the world of K-Pop, well, this movie is your ticket to the K-Pop culture. Your very welcome.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Conclusion
Clearly one of the better Rundowns we had this year, there were two top-tier animated movies with Lost in Starlight and K-Pop Demon Hunters that are an absolute joy to cover, and shows that yes, this year has been another great year of animation so far!
Thank you so much for joining me on this adventure. As much as it feels comfortable to be on this beautiful Mother Earth, unfortunately we need to travel to another dimension because we just received word that there was a boy abducted by aliens, and it is time we had to save him at all costs! Until next time, see you on the next adventure!
