Introduction
Hey, hey, fellow adventurers! Blaziker is back for another animated movie adventure, and once again, we are covering more movies, and how many? Four. That is right, we are covering four animated movies!
The first movie, Miaculous: Ladybug and Cat Noir, The Movie, is, of course, a movie adaptation of one of the most popular French animated series of all time, and chronicles the origins of the new superheroes to save Paris from an unleashed supervillain. Let me be clear, I am very unfamiliar with the Miraculous series, but I am aware of how super popular this beloved series is. Given this will be my introduction to the franchise, will it convince me to join in the fun?
The second movie, Regue Chicken, is a 2015 Colombian animated movie that garnered interest thanks to one of my favourite animated movie reviewers, Saberspark. Produced and directed by beloved Colombian auteur Dago Gracia who had produced and written loads and loads of shows and movies for his home country, Regue Chicken is about two teenage chickens from different backgrounds in love with each other, as they went on an adventure to discover who they are in Colombia. Regue Chicken is a movie that has a level of infamy thanks to Chilean YouTuber Huérfano Producciones, who delivered a 44-minute rant of this movie. However, now that I got to watch an English-subbed version of this movie thanks to Saber himself, is that bizarre discovery worth it?
The third movie is yet another Netflix original animated movie, The Monkey King, co-produced by the King of Comedy himself, Stephen Chow, directed by the director of the 2014 stop-motion movie The Boxtrolls, Anthony Stacchi, and co-animated by China-based Pearl Studios, who got Oscar-nominated in 2020 for Netflix’s Over the Moon, and Reel FX, the studio behind the likes of The Book of Life, Rock Dog, Scoob and Netflix’s Back to the Outback. The Monkey King is the adaptation of the classic Journey to the West story about a mischievous monkey warrior battling demons, gods, and warriors. We had seen endless adaptations of The Monkey King, whether in Chinese or Western media, but will this be yet another hit in the Journey to the West adaptations?
The fourth and final movie on this rundown is Argonuts, also known as Epic Tails. Once again animated by TAT Productions (who worked on Pil’s Adventures which I covered last year), when the Greek god Poseidon threatens an ancient Greek city, an unlikely rat and her cat friend join forces with the Argonauts to save the city from Poseidon’s wrath. Like TAT’s other movies, this was way under the radar, but had a limited release in the European continent, but now, with access to this interesting flick via a YouTube rental, how will TAT’s latest movie fare under my wrath?
Only one way to find out, let the 6th animated movie rundown of 2023 begin!
Miraculous: Ladybug and Cat Noir, The Movie
Key Information
- Director: Jeremy Zag
- Animation Studios: Zag Animation, Fantawild Animation
- Country of Origin: France
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: 28 July 2023 (On Netflix)
Trailer
Story and Characters
Let’s start things off with the story, and if you want to convince moviegoers to check out the Miraculous animated series, you would need great writing to convince people to do that. Unfortunately, Miraculous co-creator Jeremy Zag (who directed this movie) might not have understood the message.
For starters, the writing definitely felt somewhat one-dimensional, which is puzzling given the numerous storylines the Miraculous series had gone through, some good and some bad. In fact, there were certain writing decisions that puzzled me, even though it was supposed to be a straightforward superhero origin story about the most beloved French superhero in the history of French media.
From the questionable dialogue and voice acting, to the sudden musical numbers (more about the soundtrack later) and the constant flirting between Ladybug and Cat Noir throughout the whole movie, the Miraculous movie felt slightly incoherent if we are talking about how well developed the story was. Speaking of, the pacing, unlike other problematic foreign CG animated movies, felt WAY too fast such that it affects the story and character development.
It is baffling that for a series that spans 5 seasons, Jeremy Zag somehow was unable to control how far this movie went off the rails at times, but despite this, there were not too many annoying elements that made this movie such a slog to watch.
Animation
While Zag Animation helped out with the animation just like the the Miraculous series, another animation studio helped out, and that is China-based Fantawild Animation. If you had not heard of them, I bet you would have heard of the Boonie Bears series, one of the most popular animated franchises in China, which was also animated by them. Not to mention that this movie was made on US$86 million, perhaps the most expensive French animated movie of all time. Fortunately, the large budget was clearly well spent on the animation, because the animation is beyond spectacular!
While the character designs are nothing to write home about, even if they have decent number of details and have some personality, the animation quality of the action sequences is simply superb. Despite the frantic pacing, the animation manages to keep up with the pacing, providing non-stop action that makes it a thrill ride. Also, there was a lot of depth into the detailing and texturing of both the characters and the backgrounds that is on par with a lot of the great mainstream animated movies we are getting so far.
Honestly, the animation is simply top-notch, even by the high standards of French animation in general and I honestly feel it is up there with some of the best animation for any foreign CG animated movie of 2023 so far, even when comparing to perhaps the best foreign CG animated movie based on animation quality alone, Deep Sea.
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
Now, I am not sure why Jeremy Zag thought of this, but I do remember that the original Miraculous series did not have any musical numbers. Why are there musical numbers in this movie?
Don’t get me wrong, the soundtrack is not the worst of 2023 (that still goes to Mummies), but the musical numbers are not only out of the place, but some of the songs are somewhat annoying. I know this movie serves to provide an introduction for non-Miraculous watchers, but even so, it felt very out of place in a movie like Miraculous.
As for my level of enjoyment, I was mixed about it. While I love the animation sequences, I found myself baffled at the questionable writing so much that I found myself doubting whether I was genuinely having a great time. Still, it was not as painful to watch as Rally Road Racers for sure.
Overall Thoughts
I am not sure what Miraculous executive producer Jeremy Zag was smoking, but whatever he was smoking in the making of his Miraculous movie, I am still debating whether I would want what he was having.
Considering this is basically a remake of one of the most beloved French animated series of all time, I can understand the hype behind it. This movie has action galore, with gloriously fun action sequences and well-paced action that keeps the momentum going. However, the somewhat one-dimensional writing with unintentionally hilarious but shoddy dialogue, phone-in messaging and questionable musical numbers kept it from being a great animated movie or as an introduction to the Miraculous series for those unaware.
As a standalone origin story movie, this is a well-realised animated movie with basic writing issues, but even so, it is not as enjoyable as what I would hope unfortunately.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Movie Rating
Regue Chicken (2015)
Key Information
- Director: Dago Gracia
- Animation Studio: Dago García Producciones
- Country of Origin: Colombia
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: 4 June 2015 (in Colombia)
Trailer
Story and Characters
When I heard about some previous viewers who do not like the movie’s story, I was embracing for terrible writing in this movie, but despite this, I was pleasantly surprised by how decent the writing is.
Let’s start off with the bad about the writing, and there was a lack of logic and flow within the movie’s storylines, which is perhaps its weakest element. Regue Chicken suffers from a lot of plot holes and unexplained elements, and some moments do not make enough sense! This came ahead towards pretty much the final 20 minutes where a lot of moments came absolutely out of nowhere, to the point where I was laughing over its unintentionally hilarious moments. I also wish they could have focused more on the death sport aspect in Gabriel’s MMA roots.
However, in spite of these writing issues and the lack of cohesion, there was something endearing about the movie’s writing that makes it stand out, especially if you compare it with a few animated movies that kept it safe this year. Regue Chicken takes risks in producing a Telenovela set in Bogota, Colombia about two chicken teenagers with tragic backstories who fell in love, thus making it authentically Colombian to a certain extent. That main romantic storyline resulted in Violeta and Gabriel’s romance throughout the movie being the highlight of this movie. In fact, this movie shines when it comes to doing something different from other mainstream animated movies, even with the clear lack of budget, but more about it later.
Speaking of characters, the two standout main characters, the female orphan chick Violeta (Michelle Guitterez) and the male chick Gabriel (Raul Guitterez) both have great chemistry and well-realised storylines and makes up some of the other annoying and hammed-up supporting characters. In addition, the voice acting is pretty terrible, but given the voice actors involved probably do not have professional experience in voice acting, I am willing to let them off the hook for now.
Animation
Considering this was produced and animated by a Colombian animation studio, and that Colombia is not well known for having a decent-sized domestic animation industry, it was inevitable that the animation is not going to be great. Still, for what it was worth, the animation, despite being technically cheap, looks so much better and more pleasing than other animated movies this year. Rally Road Racers, anyone?
Technically, this movie does not have great animation. There were obvious animation mistakes throughout the movie, such as slight lip syncing issues and animation continuity errors. However, despite the animation being not technically great, the styling in Regue Chicken has a level of personality that is enough to carry the movie.
I find the character designs to have a level of charm, especially given we are getting more bird-based animated movies and series coming out soon, such as Migration, Richard the Stork 2 and Iggy the Eagle. It has a similar style of charm to the bird characters in the very obscure Canadian animated series D’Myna Leagues, which I feel might be the main inspiration behind the designs in Regue Chicken. Also, the action adds a level of dynamism into the otherwise cheap animation, and this already makes it stand out compare to other animated movies with worse animation this year.
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
Given that this movie took place in Colombia, it was not so surprising that the soundtrack uses a reggaeton-based soundtrack which is popular there. Unfortunately, the annoying, sometimes repetitive reggaeton tracks is this movie’s weakest point, as it significantly lowers my level of enjoyment in this movie. I wish they could have used lesser reggaeton tracks in the movie, and pace out the remaining tracks so that these songs do not riot in my ears.
With that said, I somewhat enjoy this movie! For all its faults, Regue Chicken is way more enjoyable than what the 1.8 IMDb score suggests. Yes, I was sometimes rolling my eyes over its illogical moments, but for what it is, Regue Chicken excels in providing a uniquely Colombian animation experience, which is a rarity these days.
Overall Thoughts
Let me be fair, Regue Chicken may not be a technical masterpiece, but it is a movie that I would rather watch again than other lackluster animated movies that came out this year like Rally Road Racers or even last year’s Marmaduke and The Soccer Football Movie.
While Regue Chicken suffers from a nonsensical plot, annoying characters with terrible voice acting, cheap looking animation and a terrible soundtrack, Regue Chicken excels in being a risk taker in showcasing a decently made animated movie about two teenage chickens in love. It has more than enough entertainment for people to talk about for years to come and is proof that no matter which country it is from, as long as the animated movie is enjoyable, people would go round to recommend this one.
However, I recommend you watch Regue Chicken only if you are willing to turn your brain off and watch it with no exceptions whatsoever. Trust me, you might like it more than I did.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Movie Rating
The Monkey King
Key Information
- Director: Anthony Stacchi
- Animation Studio: Netflix Animation, Pearl Studios and Reel FX
- Country of Origin: United States, China, Hong Kong
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: 18 August 2023 (On Netflix)
Trailer
Story and Characters
Coming to this movie, I had a lot of doubts about this movie, especially because we do not need any westernised take of one of the most beloved stories in Chinese folklore. Most would know that westernised Chinese animated movies are generally not good, and even the best of westernised Chinese animated movies like Pearl Studios’ previous movie, Over the Moon, fail to capture its Chinese audience when it was released theatrically in China since Netflix was banned there, especially with better and more exciting Chinese animated movies such as Deep Sea, which I recently covered.
As someone with experience in the classic Journey to the West story, the dumbing down of the Monkey King story for the global audience was a very low point in the story. Almost everything about this movie felt very pandering, even going as far as to calling Monkey King’s iconic cudgel/staff a “stick”. Many times. I know other reviewers would point out other valid issues, but the translation of this story was close to insulting for me.
Another thing I do not like about this movie has to be the lack of control in the pacing, and there were times where I was begging for the movie to slow down, but almost every scene in the movie is fast-paced with no signs of slowing down to catch my breath. Great animated movies can control the pace and play to the beat of the drum, but this one does not. It also did not help that the story felt predictable, and while generic stories do not pose a problem for me, execution matters more, and there were issues with it.
Still, what lacks in the quality of the scriptwriting was made up for in the characters, especially with how it interprets its characters. In fact, Jimmy O. Yang’s interpretation of the Monkey King was so great, it was a stark contrast to his lifeless performance as Zhi in Rally Road Racers which I covered some time ago. His Monkey King captures the mischievous and rebellious attitude of the original character and was the only part of the transition from folklore to this movie that I enjoyed, even with all the noise in the writing.
However, Bowen Yang, my goodness! He turned up a notch as the Dragon King, especially with that musical number of his, making him one of the most fun villains of any animated movie from this year so far. Honestly, the overall cast of characters was great, and even Stephanine Hsu had a decent performance as the Mayor’s wife, in spite of only getting around five to ten minutes of screentime.
Also, given this was Pearl Studios we are talking about, I have to compare the voice acting in both English and Mandarin dubs and, in a similar vein to Wish Dragon, both dubs are great (especially Bowen hamming it up in the most Bowen Yang way possible), but the Mandarin dub was less annoying for me, so I stick to it if I were you. However, even with fantastic characters and voice acting performances, that still does not make up for the overall poor screenwriting.
Animation
Considering Pearl Studios and Reel FX team up with the animation, I was expecting some great things from these two experienced studios, and holy cow! I did not expect this top-tier animation from these two studios! I knew they were great, not this great until now!
Just like with Deep Sea, The Monkey King embraces both realism CG animation in the styling of its characters and backgrounds with the stylized CG animation in the action sequences, and while it did not live up to the same level as Deep Sea. The visual storytelling keeps up with the movie’s frantic pacing and has a level of energy that is reminiscent of the two previous Netflix animated movies before it, Nimona and the aforementioned Miraculous movie. Some of the visuals felt slightly off, but I was willing to forgive those shortcomings when the animation is this great.
It is not just the action sequences and character designs that are exciting, but the colouring in this movie is spectacular. Sparks of colours fly throughout the movie, especially in both the “stick” and the climatic sequences, this making it a feast for your eyes. I could honestly go on with the other elements in animation, but you get the idea.
I know, I have covered previous animated movies with great animation but bad or mediocre writing, and we always have to ask this question: can great animation save bad writing? This time, the answer is not so clear for me, because again, the animation is stunning, but with so much noise and distractions in the writing, do they lower the quality of the animation as well?
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
I love a good movie soundtrack, and the score is just as fun as the movie’s visuals, as do the surprise musical number sung by Bowen himself as the Dragon King. Honestly, why isn’t Bowen Yang in many other animated movies? He has previous voice acting experience, but most are usually animated series, not movies, so why was he carrying this movie hard?
Anyway, other than the soundtrack, the sound design is shocking great for a Netflix animated movie. Sure, I watched this movie with a soundbar, but the sound effects exploded as much as this movie, so every action sequence throughout this movie has an impact which makes the action livelier than what I imagined. Seriously, not many animated movies care about sound mixing, so that was honestly a breath of fresh air.
As for my level of enjoyment, I had doubts over this movie, but I was into the flow throughout the movie. Sure, the writing is a huge issue, but with the high-quality animation, characters and soundtrack, I honestly do not mind at first, but the writing was so bad, I kept questioning myself whether I did enjoy this movie. While I eventually enjoy this experience, the fact that it took quite some time to decide on it is usually not a good sign.
Overall Thoughts
It is not everyday that I felt frustrated over an animated movie despite the positives, but that was what happened with The Monkey King.
While I have tons of fun with its visual storytelling, a fun cast of characters with great voice acting performances and a well-tuned soundtrack with great sound mixing, the poor-quality script in The Monkey King is so problematic that it lowered the overall quality and enjoyment for this movie. It honestly feels that for what it was worth, and given the people involved, I was expecting way more from this movie, but alas, this did not materialize sadly.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Movie Rating
Argonuts
Key Information
- Directors: David Alaux, Eric Tosti and Jean-Francois Tosti
- Animation Studio: TAT Productions
- Country of Origin: France
- Rating: PG
- Release Date: 25 January 2023 (In France)
Trailer
Story and Characters
Having covered three animated movies on this rundown so far, I was not expecting much from Argonuts given the studio involved in this movie, especially if you had watched their previous movies such as The Jungle Bunch, Terra Willy and Pil’s Adventures (which has a TV series being pitched onto Cartoon Forum). This was a movie that was meant to be a throwaway animated movie just to relax for what I endured, from a combination of work, study for upcoming examinations and of course, reviewing countless animated movies.
However, even I am surprised at the fact that of all the movies in this rundown, this has my most favourite script of the four, even though let’s face it, there’s still weaknesses within its writing.
First things first, there were various moments where the movie takes itself way too seriously and the English dubbing was particularly bad (though I should not be surprised given that less experienced voice actors were involved). In addition, there was a lack of certain story elements that would have round up this movie’s story well, and some of the comedy was lost in translation, given this was a French movie.
That being said, Argonuts excel in putting a spin on Greek mythology, from Greek gods watching on betting on Poseidon delivers his reckoning, to Jason and his barebone Argonauts crew struggling and ninja rats. Loads and loads of ninja rats. The cast of characters, even with the bad English dubbing, have more than enough personality to carry the movie forward, and there were certain ideas that I find it to be genius.
Even with a somewhat poorly convinced script, there was more than enough cohesion of ideas to carry this movie’s writing forward, even if it is another of those typical generic family-based animated movies that the animation community is tired of.
Animation
I had only watched one previous TAT Productions movie before this, and that was Pil’s Adventures. It was the definition of a “fine” animated movie that goes somewhat nowhere, but in the case of Argonuts, the animation surprised me in that despite lip-syncing issues due to the English dub, there were some creativity with the animation.
First things first, Argonuts have a surprisingly excellent flair in background animation, and I am not kidding. In fact, the detailing in the backgrounds was such a 180 from the partially lifeless background animation in Pil’s Adventures, although I was not too harsh about it. The visuals, despite being generic looking, is on par with the likes of other competent European CG animation studios like nWave Studios and another French studio making its mark, Mikros Animation, who has co-animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, a bonafide hit.
Besides the visuals, I thought there were some interesting character designs that make this movie less generic than ever thought, and the animation quality is mostly well executed. It does not blow anyone away with the animation in this movie, but it gets the job done.
Soundtrack, Other Elements and Level of Enjoyment
While 90% of soundtracks in foreign CG animated movies range from outright terrible to just forgettable, there was something about the soundtrack in Argonuts that I cannot pinpoint that makes it addicting. Perhaps it was because it was a mainly poppy, bombastic soundtrack from lesser known musicians that reminded me of decent soundtracks from similar, not well loved non-mainstream and foreign CG animated movies like in Rock Dog and Capture the Flag. Either way, despite being almost not special, the soundtrack is shockingly good.
As for my level of enjoyment, given that it was a stressful workweek for me, Argonuts was exactly what I needed to take a break from. Sure, there were moments that I did not like, but the movie was so well-realised despite having a bizarre concept that I simply went with the flow. This movie is definitely not for everyone, but I have a feeling that Argonuts is meant for those looking to dip into the world of foreign CG animated movies, even if there are other foreign CG animated movies that I would recommend for you to start with.
Overall Thoughts
Of the four movies in this rundown, this was the one that I have the lowest expectations in, just like with Regue Chicken in this rundown. However, this unironically because way more enjoyable than what I anticipated.
While I have similar issues with the previous TAT Production movies, such as this movie taking it way too seriously at times, questionable voice acting in the English dub and other structural issues with the writing, what I got was a ridiculously intriguing animated movie that prides itself in spinning Greek mythology as we know it, with a better than average cast of characters with decent character development, the best animation work TAT has ever produced and a shockingly fun soundtrack.
Yes, it is what we call a generic kids animated movie, but at the same time, you need a movie that does not take itself too seriously to enjoy yourself, and that was exactly the purpose Argonuts serves.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Movie Rating
Conclusion
Whew! Four animated movies, done! I cannot believe that all four have similar things going for it: the writing in all these movies are not the best, but the animation was their saving grace. Still, all four of these animated movies are far ahead of other poor animated movies that came out this year, so at least these movies are worth trying out.
Anyway, since it is a long way away until the next animated movie comes out in theatres, why not I throw back to a classic animated movie that I need to talk about? Just like with Dino Time last year, it is time to review an old animated movie that I enjoyed at that time, and my gateway into foreign CG animated movies. I will see you on the next adventure, and until then, k thanks bye!
