Introduction
Welcome back, fellow adventurers, to the second part of my third 2022 animated movies rundown. After the T.I.A. building is saved (albeit barely due to the chaos Mortadelo and Filemon caused earlier), let us head back to our adventure, shall we?
(Oh, and if you are wondering where Part 3a is, click here)
In part 2 of the rundown, we travel back to medieval France for the coronation of a commoner disguised as a princess, before returning to the present, specifically Egypt, for mummy shenanigans. We then take a road trip to a nearby Great Wolf Lodge to spend the last days of summer together, and finally two more trips, one to eradicate an island of evil spirits with the help of a doctor who specialises in warding them off, and then to the seas to find schoolchildren trapped in an island of an abandoned housing complex, drifting in the Pacific Ocean.
Let the long adventure continue!
Pil’s Adventures (2021)
Important Info
- Director: Julien Fournet
- Animation Studio: TAT Productions
- Country of Origin: France
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: 2 December 2021 (in Singapore theatres)
Trailer
Rating
Taking place in a medieval French town, it stars Kaycie Chase as a young villager who disguised herself as a princess to save the heir, poisoned and turned into an animal, and stop the Regent from taking over the entire kingdom.
This movie came out last year in Singapore theatres, but for some reason, I did not watch it. Maybe it was because that it does not look interesting and that Golden Village (the main distributor) did not promote much of it. Anyway, TAT, the same studio behind The Jungle Bunch franchise, as well as Terra Willy (a 2019 French animated movie), animated movie. Personally, I find their works to be decent, but not worth talking about, and with low fanfare, I decided to watch it now to see how it is.
Honestly, in a similar vein to Luck, I thought Pil’s Adventures is fine. The story plays it safe but does not have any major plot holes and uneven tones to annoy the adult moviegoer. While the characters do not offer much, they are personally not annoying and the voice actors did a fine job. As for the animation, it is above average and has some good action sequences that would leave the moviegoers hooked, even if it looks like any other animated movie.
Sometimes, it is ok to be a safe, generic animated movie as long as the movie’s execution is satisfactory, and that is what Pil’s Adventures is for. With better-than-average animation and some decent animation, this is an animated movie that does not offer much, but does enough to satisfy the children audience.
Rating
- Story and Characters: 2.5/5
- Animation: 3/5
- Special Sauce: 2.5/5
- Overall Score: 8/15
Rating: Ok
Tad the Lost Explorer 3: The Mummy Adventure
Important Info
- Director: Enrique Gato
- Animation Studio: Lightbox Animation Studios
- Country of Origin: Spain
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: 25 August 2022 (in Singapore theatres)
Trailer
Review
The third movie in the Tad the Explorer series sees Tad back on another adventure. After he accidentally unleashed a curse that endangered his new companion Mummy (from the second movie) and his two pets of Jeff and Belzoni, and abandoned by the new archaeological team, he, Mummy and his two pets set off on an adventure in search of the Emerald Tablet to reverse the curse.
I have two questions coming to this movie. The first question was “Why are we having a Tad 3 when it is not popular outside of Spain?” And the second question happened after my screening, which was “Why do I like it more than the original?”
The Mummy Adventure (or The Emerald Tablet and The Curse of the Mummy as the 2 alternative titles in other countries) follows the same formula as the first two Tad movies: Tad and his friends (usually with female companion Sara and his two pets of Jeff and Belzoni) go on an adventure to find an artefact with some hidden power or curse, and hilarity ensures. I personally feel most will be tired of this formulae plot, but I found it endearing because it is a great fodder for whatever crazy idea Lightbox came up with. This time, Mummy (from the second movie “The Secret of King Midas”) comes along and his hijinks got Tad into trouble, but at least I had fun with him, given that I had checked out the second one.
Also, the animation looks a bit better than the first Tad movie. In fact, I reckon this is on the same animation quality level as Capture the Flag (the only Lightbox animated movie that is not part of the Tad series). Perhaps it is because the character designs are much cleaner, or maybe there is more budget put in the background and character animation that I found it to be better than what I thought. Anyway, considering the first Tad movie costs around 8.5 million Euros, the animation in Tad 3 looks definitely 3-4 times that budget.
At the end of the day, do we need another Tad the Explorer movie? Probably not, but as long as it is good, I can recommend it slightly. Tad the Explorer 3 is a substantial animated movie that can be annoying but hits the stride when needed. Still, one must wonder whether Lightbox will do another original animated movie. Given Capture the Flag, personally their best work, is the only non-Tad movie on their resume, I wish they do more original stuff than focus on the Tad the Explorer series…
Rating
- Story and Characters: 2.5/5
- Animation: 3/5
- Special Sauce: 2.5/5
- Overall Score: 8/15
Rating: Ok
The Great Wolf Pack: A Call to Adventure
Important Info
- Director: Chris Bailey
- Animation Studios: Six Point Harness and Anima Estudios
- Country of Origin: United States of America
- Rating: G
- Release Date: 5 September 2022 (on a limited release in America, and available on YouTube for a limited period)
Trailer
Review
Directed by Chris Bailey (one of the directors of Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank), The Great Wolf Pack: A Call to Adventure is a special, 45-minute animated movie to promote the re-design of The Great Wolf Lodge’s mascots that came out on YouTube for a short one-day premiere (which, yes, I watched its premiere in the early hours of the morning). With the help of a magical geyser, the Great Wolf Pack enters other whimsical worlds where they put their power to overcome various obstacles coming their way.
I’m not going to sugar-coat this, but if you ask me to state my five least favourite animation studios right now, Mexico-based Anima Estudios (who somehow was not initially listed in the company credits section of the movie’s IMDb page) would easily be one of them. Not only are their various animated movies very weak due to their stiff and uncanny animation (be it in CG or in 2D-style Flash animation), but their writing in their movies is more horrendous.
Fortunately, despite their presence and its brief running time, The Great Wolf Pack is surprisingly decent. Perhaps it was because Six Point Harness (the same studio that produced the Oscar-winning short film “Hair Love”) is the movie’s producer that the movie, despite its rushed plot and some animation lag, is more enjoyable than some feature-length animated movies that came out this year.
For a short, 45-minute animated movie meant to promote the re-design of The Great Wolf Lodge mascots, The Great Wolf Call: A Call to Adventure is substantial enough, despite its rushed plot and some noticeable animation errors, courtesy of another botched animation effort from Anima Estudios. Thankfully, the fantastic re-design and production makes it slightly better than some of the longer, feature-length animated movies that came out this year.
Rating
- Story and Characters: 2.5/5
- Animation: 2.5/5
- Special Sauce: 4/5
- Overall Score: 9/15
Rating: Decent
Goodbye Monster
Important Info
- Director: Huang Jianming
- Animation Studio: Daysview Animation
- Country of Origin: China
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: 8 September 2022 (in Singapore theatres)
Trailer
Review
Yet another Chinese animated movie announced out of nowhere, based on the classic Chinese literature piece Shan Hai Ji (Classic of Mountains and Seas), animated by the same studio who previously worked on Bobby the Hedgehog (a terrible obscure animated movie Saberspark had covered) and with no Letterboxd page whatsoever, a banished healer returns to the island he destroyed years ago to seek redemption and cure the island’s residents of a dark illness, which honestly, is pretty vague.
Given that it has a Douban (the IMDb of China alongside Maoyan) score of 6.6 out of 10 (which puts it on par with Spycies, which has a 6.0 score), I was expecting Goodbye Monster to be as enjoyable as Spycies in terms of overall quality (based on the fact that a majority of their ratings are at a 3 out of the 5-star range). However, unlike Spycies, which I enjoyed a lot more than I thought, I did not feel any vibes with Goodbye Monster.
My biggest issue is that the entire movie experience felt disconnected to me. Maybe it was because of the uncohesive writing that relies on Donghua animated movie cliches, an annoying main hero, a rushed story with lack of development and resemblances to concepts from other Donghua movies and even an element from Raya and the Last Dragon. I do not mind movies copying elements from other animated movies, but I do mind when animated movies cannot string those elements together to make a cohesive narrative.
This is despite relatively improved animation from Daysview Animation, who did that Bobby the Hedgehog movie. Not only are the character visuals very interesting, but the action sequences are also fun, if a bit too dark for my liking. I love the design of the spiritual elements and the environments, it is just that the animation has to deal with such a broken story that did not go anywhere.
Animated movies are frustrating when there is a great idea or two that unfortunately are not utilised to their full potential, and Goodbye Monster is one of those movies. In spite of creative visuals and a relatively improved animation quality from the same studio behind Bobby the Hedgehog, what let the entire movie down was the lack of cohesion in the movie’s writing, which explains the annoying main character, the underdeveloped story and failing to properly utilise familiar tropes found in other, more successful Donghua movies. This movie, like the dark spirits corrupting their victims, left me cold in the darkness, void of emptiness. A massive shame.
Rating
- Story and Characters: 1/5
- Animation: 4/5
- Special Sauce: 1.5/5
- Overall score: 6.5/15
Rating: Mediocre
Drifting Home
Important Info
- Director: Hiroyasu Ishida
- Animation Studio: Studio Colorido
- Country of Origin: Japan
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: 16 September 2022 (On Netflix)
Trailer
Review
Animated by Studio Colorido, the same studio that brought us Penguin Highway and Netflix’s A Whisker Away, Drifting Home centres on a group of schoolchildren who found themselves drifting off in to the sea on an abandoned housing complex (via mysterious means). Confronted with these changes, they must navigate their way back home on this interesting complex that has a life of its own as well as memories of these children’s past, back when that housing complex is full of activity.
I had a first taste of their work with A Whisker Away, and while it slightly falters in the writing side, the visuals and the storytelling make up for it. Drifting Home, in a similar vein to Apollo 10 ½, this movie hits hard for me. I love movies that feel nostalgic to me, and this movie has more than the nostalgic memories the two main characters/siblings of Kosuke and Kumagaya. Their sibling conflict, plus the strange concept of an abandoned housing complex drifting in the middle of nowhere and the emotional tensions during the second and third acts makes me surprisingly emotional, in a good way. In addition, despite its 2-hour running time, the pacing makes it easier to watch through than some animated movies with shorter running times.
However, while the writing is tighter and has more enjoyable characters compared to A Whisker Away, what blows Drifting Home out of the water is the animation. Even though the biggest strength of A Whisker Away is the creative and interesting animation moments, Drifting Home beats it in terms of its beauty. The simplistic designs are great fodder for gorgeous backgrounds and set pieces that blends well with the water animation. Maybe it was because my laptop has an OLED screen that the animation pops even more, but I did not see much animation mistakes or weird animation moments. It goes to show that for an anime movie released by Netflix, the overall quality punches above its weight.
Drifting Home may be yet another Netflix anime movie, but the emotional depth this movie brings with its visual and nostalgic storytelling, plus the beautiful animation and fun and well-developed characters, makes it a must-see. Despite the current state of Netflix’s animation department, when they are serious about bringing in great animated movies from around the world, they can bring in hidden gems like Drifting Home. Do not underestimate this movie.
Rating
- Story and Characters: 4/5
- Animation: 5/5
- Special Sauce: 4/5
- Overall score: 13/15
Rating: Fuego
Conclusion
Given that there is not much animated movies going around from mid-September until around November, I needed to take a break and to pursue other matters that are as important in my life, so maybe between then, I may look back at other animated movies of the past and how they influenced me in my perception of international animation, or return to a story that I had abandoned a year back, but found the motivation to write it again.
I will see you on the next adventure and until then, k thanks bye!
