Introduction
Hello, fellow adventurers! Blaziker is back after starting his studies and in anticipation of the upcoming French Film Festival Singapore, we are going to get through four movies today just as a pre-festival appetiser before we get to the good stuff, shall we?
The first movie, Richard the Stork 2, continues where the first movie left off as Richard, Max and their friends travel to an unknown town in the desert and find themselves face to face with an evil peacock hellbent on finding the Great Jewel. Earlier this year, I had covered the first Richard the Stork movie and personally, I did not like it. The first movie felt poorly rendered and was just created with not much thought to the audience. Hence, when the sequel was announced from its Cartoon Movie 2023 preview, I was not looking forward to it, and now that I have seen it, will it change my mind?
The second movie, White Snake: Afloat, is the third movie in the famed White Snake movie series, and with the White Snake sisters reuniting after 500 years. With the sisters living in a new world together with Xiaobai from the first movie, they live together as a new threat looms to tear the two sisters apart again. I had a soft spot for Light Chaser Animation Studios, the studio responsible for not just this series, but also some of my most favourite Chinese animated movies so far, especially with last year’s Chang An. Will the third movie in this series be another hit, or will this threaten Light Chaser’s standing as the premier Chinese animation studio?
The third movie, Gracie and Pedro: Pets to the Rescue, stars a pampered dog and a street cat embarking on a journey after being separated during a cross-country move. A lot of you adventurers would know that of all the types of animated movies I covered, the type I covered the most are the foreign CG animated movies and at this point, I would have known most of the prominent players in this field. With that said, Gracie and Pedro was produced by first-time animation studios with no known personnel in charge, except for the celebrity cast that is. With so many unknown variables at play, how will this fare in its first litmus test?
The fourth and final movie, My Freaky Family, is yet another family-friendly foreign CG animated movie, seeing a young girl named Betty who struggled to fit in with her unconventional family. As she approached her 13th birthday, she discovered a hidden family secret that would change her perspective forever. Let me be clear again: while I enjoyed covering many animated movies around the world, even the family-friendly foreign CG animated movies like this one, there comes a time where I wondered whether I should be doing that, and this movie is one such example. This is especially given that the animation studio behind it, Telegael, was involved in the infamous 2016 animated movie Norm of the North. With this, will this be yet another terrible family-friendly foreign CG animated movie to avoid?
Let’s hope this adventure will not make us feel nauseous, because this adventure starts now!
Richard the Stork 2
Key Information
- Directors: Benjamin Quabeck and Mette Tange
- Animation Studios: Knudsen Pictures, Walking the Dog and Den Siste Skilling
- Country of Origin: Germany, Belgium and Norway
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 23 March 2023 (in Germany)
Trailer
The Review
As mentioned in the introduction, I had covered the first movie this year and needless to say, I did not like it personally, but that is not surprising given the number of mediocre animated movies from Germany for the past few years, so much so that I often call Germany a European animation wasteland. While I would say the same things about the sequel, at least this is an improvement compared to the first.
First things first, compared to most animated movies of this year, Richard the Stork 2 is very bog standard in terms of how Americanised feeling this movie was. This movie has over-reliance on classic animated movie cliches without trying to give them a fresh twist, it has a pop and hip-hop heavy soundtrack that does not add much; the animation is still not as lively and well-incorporated as other similar family-friendly foreign CG animated movies with higher quality animation, and it has the same overall vibe as the first Richard the Stork: it is a Rio imitation.
With that said, however, the sequel has some redeeming elements that make it an upgrade compared to the first. An obvious hit for me is that at least the animators involved are much more competent compared to the first as this has better rendering compared to the first. Sure, this movie also utilised some similar animation sequences as the first, but there is more vibrancy to both characters and backgrounds that at least make some sequences a standout.
I also liked how much care has been taken to most of the characters, even if these characters are similar to similar character archetypes. The voice acting (in the French dub because I could not tolerate another bad English dub of a foreign CG animated movie) is decent and compared to the first, I was not that frustrated over this sequel’s existence.
Still, the fact remains that animation studios in Germany need to really reflect over their complacency in actually producing a good animated movie for once, because like with most German animated movies, Richard the Stork 2 is not something worth re-watching for me. Other countries, even those with a smaller population than Germany, have produced better quality animated movies than pretty much 90 to 95% of Germany’s recent animated movie output, and it goes to showcase the stagnation of the German theatrical animation industry. Until German animators start to get serious and branch out of the typical mediocre stuff they produce, Germany will continue to remain the black sheep of the European animation industry.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
White Snake: Afloat
Key Information
- Directors: Chen Jianxi and Li Jiakai
- Animation Studio: Light Chaser Animation Studios
- Country of Origin: China
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 10 August 2024 (in China)
Trailer
The Review
I had been fortunate enough to cover the first two White Snake movies, so going into the third movie in the series, I was excited and scared at the same time. On one hand, I was looking forward to a third White Snake movie, but on the other hand, I was genuinely scarred it will not live up to its lofty expectations like with the first movie. After seeing this movie, while I was right it was disappointing, I still think it is a great enough animated movie.
In terms of its issues, there were a good number to walk through. If you have seen the first two White Snake movies, then the third one feels like those two movies, which inherently is not a bad thing. However, what compounded this issue was that White Snake 3 did not re-invent much to stand out compared to the rest of the franchise, resulting in such a familiar but tired story. The same thing occurs with the slow pacing, especially given it is a two-hour animated movie, the writers could have cut off 10 minutes of filler content that does not enhance the story. I also feel the characters are well-developed, but not enough for them to be memorable, and the voice acting to be just fine for top-tier non-mainstream animated movie standards.
Still, the animation is just as amazing as Light Chaser’s excellent animated movies like with Chang An. Even though this movie used similar animation sequences from the other two White Snake animated movies, the animators at Light Chaser know how to make the most picturesque background animation possible, with well-crafted day time and nighttime sequences that resulted in an aesthetically pleasing and exciting animation style that is well and beyond most foreign CG animated movies of this year. Just like with all Light Chaser movies, the musical score is excellent, using more traditional sounds and Chinese orchestra instruments to produce a culturally rich and exciting score that makes this movie so enriching.
Given it is the third movie in the series, I was expecting new elements and exciting twists to make this movie fresh and unique compared to the other two White Snake animated movies. Unfortunately, it felt like the team at Light Chaser had run out of ideas to move this story forward, which is a shame, since I really wanted to see whether this story goes. I just hope they returned to the old days where they continuously produce hits like the first White Snake movie and Chang An, or at least branch out of their Chinese folklore storylines and produce something outside of their comfort zone that show everything why they are not to be messed with.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Gracie and Pedro: Pets to the Rescue!
Key Information
- Directors: Kevin Donovan and Gottfried Roodt
- Animation Studios: Ferin Post Production and Polycat Visual Effects
- Country of Origin: Canada, South Africa, United States
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 18 October 2024 (in United States)
Trailer
The Review
Knowing absolutely nothing about this movie and the creators behind it is always going to be a huge risk, and given I covered so many obscure animated movies in my lifetime, I was ready for what was to come. Still, by the end of the movie, I was amazed at how terrible this movie was!
First things first, the writing is terrible. There were moments where I was bored out of the experience, although it was because I had covered so many similar movies to Gracie and Pedro that I knew it would be a copy-paste type of a situation. Gracie and Pedro overused animated movie cliches to the point where it kind of ticked every box on that list, the lack of cohesion and control in pacing means I was not focusing much on the movie. It also did not help that the comedy is terrible even though a couple of jokes landed, and the characters are mostly annoying with terrible voice acting to boot.
The animation is also very bad too. While it is not the most unwatchable animation I had seen this year, the animation quality in Gracie and Pedro is unacceptable for theatrical animated movie standards! The rendering in both characters and backgrounds felt cheap, with a lack of detail, and even the animal fur animation feels half-hearted, if I were to be honest. Some of the movements do not feel natural and overall, the cheap-feeling animation, while far from the animation from some of my least favourite animated movies of this year so far, makes it baffling that it ended up in theatres despite that low level of animation.
While the music score in itself is nothing to write home about, the songs in that movie are pretty annoying and poorly composed. There is a diss track in this movie that was so bad and came out of nowhere that I literally gagged. The sound editing also amped up the annoying sound quality in this movie as well. As for my level of enjoyment, while it is far from the worst thing I had seen in 2024 so far, it amazed me that Gracie and Pedro exists when there are other family-friendly foreign CG animated movies that do most of the stuff they did so much better. Seriously, who was the target audience for this movie?
Overall, I do not need to say much about my overall feelings about Gracie and Pedro: Pets to the Rescue, but while it is still at least watchable to a certain extent, there are many family-friendly foreign CG animated movies that are higher quality and more engaging compared to this one. Needless to say, avoid this.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
My Freaky Family
Key Information
- Director: Mark Gravas
- Animation Studio: Telegael
- Country of Origin: Germany, Ireland and Australia
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 31 October 2024 (in Australia)
Trailer
The Review
I am going to be honest, I was not expecting much from My Freaky Family, especially given that Telegael, one of the studios that contributed to the infamous Norm of the North. After seeing the movie, while it is yet another mediocre family-friendly foreign CG animated movie, this is not as big of a disaster as what I would have thought.
In terms of the writing and characters, I thought the concept provided was solid, and in the hands of experienced writers, there is a good fairytale-style script that I can imagine and indeed, there were some moments where its fantasy-inspired writing brings a rather fresh spin to the typical story structure. Unfortunately, the concept felt very watered down, which makes this story not that memorable. In fact, I kind of forgotten most of the movie as I was writing my review.
It also did not help that the pacing just feels too slow for me, resulting in moments where it just felt too boring to get through. In addition, even though the characters are an interesting bunch and some of the characters have a good level of development, but because of how lacklustre the writing was despite not being terrible, I did not remember much about the characters either.
As for the animation, while the writing is not a disaster of sorts, the animation is a bigger issue for me. While we are seeing improvements in the quality of most family-friendly foreign CG animated movies throughout the years, we still see poor quality animation in some of such movies, and this is one of them. Sure, I had seen worse animation in worse animated movies this year, but the animation styling just feel unnatural and not well-rendered enough to hide the cheapness in both the character and background designs.
This movie also has some weird animation sequences that made me laugh unintentionally, which kind of made this movie less sufferable compared to other animated movies that I scored less so far this year. I do not know the animation was just not up to scratch from my perspective.
The soundtrack and the sound editing just felt weird and the oddity in these elements made this movie somewhat more enjoyable due to the lack of cohesion in both elements (although let’s face it, the songs in Gracie and Pedro are even worse). As for my level of enjoyment, while I was enjoying My Freaky Family for how weird and unintentionally funny this movie was, compared to other and much better family-friendly foreign CG animated movies I had covered so far, such as The Inseparables and Katak: The Brave Beluga, this was not good and I did not enjoy much of it.
Overall, My Freaky Family is the same old family-friendly foreign CG animated movie schtick I kind of expected, and it’s such a shame that while we are getting more proper family-friendly foreign CG animated movies that are least attempting to stand out, this weird movie is not freaky enough to be as such.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Conclusion
Well, it was the 2024 Animated Movie Rundown of all time and honestly, I am glad we made it out of this weird and uneventful adventure, because in the next adventure, we are getting back to more proper animated movies. Strap in, because this is an absolute marathon for the rest of 2024!
I cannot wait to share my next rundown because this will be one hell of an adventure! Until next time, see you on the next adventure!
