Introduction
Hello, fellow adventurers! Blaziker here and today, we got yet another Rundown to cover and this will be my last Rundown before I begin a brand new chapter in my Masters journey. Before that, however, there are six more different and interesting non-mainstream animated movies to cover, of which four debuted at the Annecy International Film Festival during this year or last year’s edition! That’s right, this Rundown is an Annecy special!
The first movie, Little Emma, is a westernised Chinese CG animated movie focusing on a miniature girl and being the only human character is her hometown, who sets off on an adventure to discover her origins. Well, there had been animated movies that I had no plans to talk about it simply because they are not worth talking about, let alone watching it, and this was supposed to be one of them. However, when this movie was unexpectedly released online just like with Giants of La Mancha in the previous month, I had some curiosity over what on earth that movie was about, especially since the ever-reliable Viva Pictures/Viva Kids had picked it up for theatrical release in the US. With this unexpected find, is this actually worth discussing about?
The second movie, Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds, is a French-Belgian animated movie about two sisters who founds themselves transported into a world created by their children author neighbour where they discover a wizard who can control the wind, and must find their way back to the human world before the transformations in the fantasy world became permanent. Given I am getting more into much more abstract and interesting feeling animated movies that pushes the boundaries of animation, I had some plans to watch it some day, but I did not expect myself to see it this soon. Will the hype be worth it?
The third movie, Ghost Cat Anzu, focuses on a girl who moves to a countryside to live with her monk grandfather where she befriends an imaginary ghost cat who becomes her guardian after the girl. This is a movie that featured at the prestigious Annecy International Film Festival, and from the trailer, I knew this was worth looking out for. Will this unique adventure to the Japanese temple be an interesting sight?
The fourth movie, Una Aventura Gigante (or A Giant Adventure), directed by the infamous Eduardo Schuldt, a Peruvian director with a bad track record of animated movies, where two kids lost in the middle of a desert must find their way back to their parents with the help of mythical creatures from the Nazca culture. While I had been spending a lot of time watching and enjoying non-mainstream animated movies from Europe and Asia, it seems Latin America is still gripping from its own crisis of mediocre feeling family-friendly animation that goes nowhere. Given I had covered Giants of La Mancha earlier this year to an unfavourable rating, is this yet another Latin American animated movie dud?
The fifth movie, The Sloth Lane, is the 5th movie in the Tales from Sanctuary City franchise, and this time, after a storm destroyed their home, a family of sloths, with their sacred book of recipes, migrated to Sanctuary City to begin their food truck business. Just like with the two previous movies, The Sloth Lane debuted at the Annecy International Film Festival under the “Annecy Presents” selection just like with Panda Bear in Africa in the previous Rundown, making this Rundown some sort of an Annecy special and I heard that this is the best from this series so far. Will The Sloth Lane be the best of that series?
The sixth and final movie, Ozi: Voice of the Forest, was also an Annecy movie but from last year, and it focused on an orphaned orang-utan who uses her newly acquired skills as an influencer to save her forest from deforestation. When it comes to which European animation studio that has the most influence when it comes to family-friendly CG animation, France-based Mikros Animation is the studio that cracked the formula in producing top-quality mainstream animated movies on European animated movie budgets, basically smaller budgets. In fact, they had already done so earlier this year with Orion and the Dark with DreamWorks. With another animated movie co-produced by then, will Ozi prove that Mikros Animation is the one to beat?
So without further ado, let the 14th 2024 Animated Movies Rundown begin!
Little Emma
Key Information
- Director: Leo Lewis Liao
- Animation Studio: Gold Valley Films
- Country of Origin: United States, Ireland and China
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 6 September 2024 (in the United States)
Trailer
The Review
Given its unexpected and unannounced release, there were fears from me that this is yet another disposable animated movie not worth discussing further and, indeed, Little Emma felt just like that. In fact, spoiler alert, four of the other five animated movies in this Rundown are so much better, I will just go straight to the point.
Regarding the movie’s writing, this movie felt like it was not made with much care because of the lack of cohesiveness in the movie’s story and themes, further hampered by its poorly written dialogue and comedy and poorly conceived characters that do not have much development with terrible voice acting to boot.
The animation style is at least watchable to a certain extent, but despite its fairytale setting, some of the character rendering does not look polished, animation movements are stiff at times and it just not look interesting enough, even for family-friendly foreign CG animated movie standards.
Minor elements are not worth discussing, but for my level of enjoyment, I might have covered animated movies I like less compared to Little Emma, but for 2024 standards, it just felt not acceptable for a poorly conceived animated movie to exist in that year, especially when the quality of family-friendly foreign CG animated movies are getting better year by year.
Overall, Little Emma is a barely watchable animated movie that felt half-hearted and not competently produced either. You are better off with some of the other animated movies I had covered this year that are least worth more of your time than this one.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds
Key Information
- Director: Benoit Chieux
- Animation Studio: Sacrebleu Productions (and many other studios)
- Country of Origin: France and Belgium
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 13 December 2023 (in France)
Trailer
The Review
Considering I specialise more in reviewing family-friendly animated movies, whether from the big Hollywood animation studios or non-mainstream animation studios which I covered way more from, it can be tiring to see most of them being kind of similar in terms of story beats, reliance on typical conventions and so on. However, this also means that whenever a family-friendly animated movie does something different to the formula and does it very well, that makes such movies stand out more. Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds is that type of family-friendly animated movie.
Despite its simple concept, Sirocco lays the groundwork with well-developed writing that is void of any plot holes that threaten to rattle its foundation, with well-planned pacing that allows the viewers time to breathe and get immersed in this fantasy world and the movie’s characters. Despite it not having a lot of jokes, it makes up for that with the quality level that does not try too hard, but delivers original comedy that feels very fresh. The characters are well-layered and well-developed, with voice acting that does the job too.
However, it is the animation that takes centre stage, as this feels less like a commercially produced animated movie, and more like 1980’s The King and the Mockingbird, thanks to its fantasy elements and immersive environments that modernise such an old-school animation style for the 21st century. The result is a high-quality and imaginative animation style that is rare to see, even in top-quality French animated movies except for maybe this year’s Chicken for Linda. Unsurprisingly, both movies are family-friendly animated movies with unique animation styles that make them stand out.
The score is excellent and plays in tune with its fantasy elements, but what stands out is the sound editing. Honestly, while sound editing and mixing is a minor element, you can tell the sound editors involved put a lot of care into that, because with every moment, the sound editing is such that you feel you are in the fantasy world and not in a theatre or at home, which was why this movie felt more interactive than expected. As for my level of enjoyment, considering my speciality in covering family-friendly animated movies, it honestly feel refreshing to see such a movie that does not feel condescending, but takes me on a wild carpet ride that feels breathtaking with every new scene.
Overall, I honestly cannot fault much about Sirocco and the Kingdom of the Winds because with such a well-developed story, fantastic animation and an epic score, how could I? This is the family-friendly animated movie animation studios should strive for, one that was made with a lot of love and care, and not with unnecessary “follow the leader” tactics by disrespecting its audience. It is rare to see such a movie that families and animation buffs like myself can enjoy together, but Sirocco managed to do just that, and that deserves high praise from me.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Ghost Cat Anzu
Key Information
- Directors: Yoko Kuno and Nobuhiro Yamashita
- Animation Studios: Miyu Productions and Shin Ei Animation
- Country of Origin: Japan
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 19 September 2024 (in Singapore)
Trailer
The Review
Ghost Cat Anzu suffers from a couple of writing errors where some of the movie’s side plots are not properly resolved, and that resulted in the story feeling slightly unsatisfying. It also did not help that the pacing sometimes is a bit too slow for my liking, a shame given its rather interesting concept about spiritual creatures.
However, the other elements of the movie’s writing helped to make up for its shortcomings, mainly its messaging and interesting characters that embody the spirit of this movie (pun intended), and this movie has immature, but hilarious and well-timed comedy that makes this slice-of-life a joy to watch. It was fun seeing the main character of Karin (Noa Goto) and the ghost cat Anzu (Mirai Moriyama) develop as the story progresses from the weird to the sometimes ludicrous.
In terms of the animation, considering I had covered a whopping 56 animated movies with Ghost Cat Anzu becoming my 57th, it is insane that this is probably the only animated movie utilising rotoscoping as its animation style, and here, the animators involved utilised this style to its fullest potential. The character and background animation brings a lot of charm and intrigue that turns this otherwise mundane town into one that is more interesting than expected. With every sequence, I get entranced with how its animation brings a new level of charm with its concept that makes Ghost Cat Anzu stands out. Watching the behind-the-scenes content of how they turned the live-action footage into the animation form, it shows why rotoscoping remains a popular animation technique even to this day, even with its simplistic animation style.
The music score is great, and I do not have much to say about its minor elements, but as for my level of enjoyment, despite its shortcomings in the writing, I still had fun with how comforting Ghost Cat Anzu was. It is quirky, yes, but it also felt like a warm hug that Anzu himself gave to me, even if he also farted at inappropriate times. Even with some of its immature undertones, this will hit the spot for those wanting something quaint.
Overall, while Ghost Cat Anzu is not as top-tier as what I would hope, it is still a fantastic animated movie that is worth giving a shot if you like rotoscoping, quirky animation and huge cats or spirits. Given we had already explored an animated movie starring an orange cat, I think Anzu has an upper hand this time.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Una Aventura Gigante
Key Information
- Director: Eduardo Schuldt
- Animation Studio: Alligator Entertainment
- Country of Origin: Peru
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 12 January 2023 (in Peru)
Trailer
The Review
Given this was my first time covering an Eduardo Schuldt movie and that most of the Latin American animation community had warned so much about him, it was a “curiosity kills the cat” type of moment where after I watched that movie… Yeah, I can understand the hate behind his works, as Una Aventura Gigante is just… bafflingly terrible.
Honestly, where do I begin in terms of its writing? From the lack of cohesion and sense in the writing that made this maddening to follow through, to the poorly developed “comedy”, the bafflingly nonsensical scenes that do not add to the story at all (like the memed “Ayy Sebastian” dance), the over-reliance on pop-culture references and the poorly developed and bland characters with terrible voice acting performances, I do not know whether there is any semblance of “writing” at all.
The animation is also poorly executed, especially one meant for theatrical releases. The rendering in its characters and backgrounds are very amateurish and felt half-hearted, as do the boring and uninteresting character and background designs that make Una Aventura Gigante more like a mockbuster animated movie than one that is produced for theatres. In fact, seeing such poorly rendered animation in 2024 is unacceptable.
I do not give much care about the movie’s minor elements, although it is worth noting that the music score makes use of pop tracks that further cheapen the experience. As for my level of enjoyment, given how many unintentionally hilarious scenes and memes Una Aventura Gigante produces, it goes without saying that this was enough for me to actually give some points for laughing at this movie’s terribleness.
Overall, Una Aventura Gigante is another proof that until the Latin American animation industry gets their act together and starts actually produce better and more interesting animated movies, I am afraid that with this and Giants of La Mancha, this region will continue to get ridiculed for its poor quality animation. I am hoping for good Latin American animated movies in the future but until then, Wawa…
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
The Sloth Lane
Key Information
- Directors: Tania Vincent and Ricard Cusso
- Animation Studio: Like a Photon Creative
- Country of Origin: Australia
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 25 July 2024 (in Australia)
Trailer
The Review
Talking about the writing, and in pretty much every Tales from Sanctuary City movie, I always have an issue with the writing, although that is par for the course for most family-friendly foreign CG animated movies that I cover, which boils down due to lack of the necessary resources which I discussed in an essay last year. Here, this movie felt slowed down in the second act and there were some issues in tying its only side plot into the movie into its main story. Plus, it’s also the same structure having a female protagonist and a CEO/big boss villain, although thankfully, the next Sanctuary City movie in The Lost Tiger will have a male protagonist at long last. With that said, just like with Combat Wombat: Back 2 Back, the writing is solid enough.
I honestly love that this movie went for a somewhat simplistic approach, focusing on a family of sloths operating their food truck business in Sanctuary City, which actually makes it such a calm and chill animated movie as compared to the other Sanctuary City movies. Focusing on good food and chill vibes did resulted in the movie slowing down during the second act, but it made up for thanks to the charm from the sloth family itself. There is a fantastic contrast between the main sloth character and fast sloth Laura (Teo Vergara), the stern mum/supreme chef in Gabby (Olivia Vasquez), the dancing papa Luis (Benjamin Gorrono) and the chill but lazy, artistic brother Mani (Facundo Hache Herrera) that makes this movie such a joy to watch when they appear.
It also helped that this movie has some pretty good jokes and while not all land, the jokes are overall very solid and do not degrade the overall quality of the movie. Plus, some of the characters from the previous Sanctuary City movies returned in minor roles just like in the previous movies, so of course, that is a tick if you have seen the series.
The animation, however, received an upgrade as this went for a more stylised and stop-motion feel just like with Scarygirl, which I mentioned in my review of it was one of the biggest surprises of 2023. It seems the animators at Like a Photon Creative learnt a lot from it and applied whatever that works in the animation to The Sloth Lane, resulting in better character and background designs, exciting action sequences and a more free flowing animation style that works so well. Honestly, the animation is easily the best of the Sanctuary City franchise so far, and I am so happy this series gets an upgrade in that department.
While I do not have much to say about the movie’s minor elements, as for my level of enjoyment, I do enjoy it as much as the second Combat Wombat movie. Both are definitely upgrades and were released after Scarygirl, which could be why both of these movies are noticeably better compared to the first three Sanctuary City movies. Honestly, it is not a top-tier animated movie by any stretch, but for what it is, I find The Sloth Lane to be charming.
Overall, while I have some problems with my return trip to Sanctuary City, I honestly feel this is by a whisker, the best animated movie from the Tales from Sanctuary City movie so far. Even with the writing issues I highlighted, The Sloth Lane is still a delicious plate of wholesomeness about family and food thanks to its chill vibes, a well-developed main cast and easily the best animation work Like a Photon Creative has done in the series, to the point that it can compare to the animation in their only non-Sanctuary City movie with Scarygirl.
Honestly, I will come back for seconds, because the Romeo Flores family delivers something worth craving for, especially for the next Sanctuary City movie in The Lost Tiger.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Ozi: Voice of the Forest
Key Information
- Director: Tim Harper
- Animation Studio: Mikros Animation (with GCI Film and GFM Animation)
- Country of Origin: United Kingdom, France
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 3 October 2024 (in Singapore)
Trailer
The Review
Writing quality in most family-friendly foreign CG animated movies still has a long way to go before the quality starts to get better, but at least Ozi gets it right when it comes to the writing. Even though this movie relies on typical animated movie tropes and that this story is something we had seen before, what matters is the execution of its concept, and the writing is properly developed with good pacing that makes it quite a breeze to watch. Despite some moments of cringe, I felt this movie did not feel bloated for me as there were moments where they showcase enough depth to make this movie a worthwhile watch in theatres.
I also do not have much to say about the characters since the characters are overall decent. I thought utilizing Ozi (Amanda Steinberg) as this orphaned orang-utan who can communicate with humans via sign language was a good touch and shows a human side of her even if she is a typical protagonist we had seen before. Her companions with Chance (Dean-Charles Chaoman) and Honkus (Urzila Carlson) are good enough side characters for Ozi and honestly, the voice work is also well done. Not much complaints about the other characters either.
However, when it comes to any Mikros Animation movie, I expect the animation to be at least great, and the animation in Ozi is just that. I mentioned many times how much Mikros Animation is carrying the animation quality by being more daring with its stylized CG animation as shown in Orion and the Dark and even a mediocre animated movie like The Tiger’s Apprentice, and while they held back a bit, the character and background designs are very gorgeous to look at and the styling is just as solid as all the other Mikros Animation movies, even if the style is not as dynamic as their other movies.
I have little to say about the other elements, but as for my level of enjoyment, while I can be admittedly lenient to most family-friendly foreign CG animated movies since their overall standards are not as high, Ozi clears that bar quite easily. I had some fun with this movie and it showcases that family-friendly foreign CG animated movies can be great if the execution is better than what the concept shows.
Overall, while Ozi: Voice of the Forest is not as high of standard as other surprisingly great family-friendly foreign CG animated movies of this year, I would still recommend Ozi to the family audience. It is a great animated movie for the families with its decent writing, fantastic animation and an overall great time. What more do you need from a movie about a sign language speaking orang-utan?
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Conclusion
As I said earlier, you might as well call this Rundown an Annecy special, because to repeat myself, of the six Animated movies we explored today, four came from the prestigious international animation festival. Ironically, these four are the most enjoyable to explore from the Rundown, while the other two are not worth it unfortunately.
Thank you so much for joining me on this epic Rundown before I begin my Masters journey at the University of London, but when we return, it is time to do a “special” Animation Adventure, one that I had been dreading to do, but given it has been 5 years since its theatrical release, I think it is about time I cover this movie one more time before I stop covering this cold brew because I do not want to give it any more coverage. You will see what I mean, but until next time, see you on the next adventure!
