Introduction
Why hello, fellow adventurers! Blaziker has returned for yet another Animation Adventure, and today, after hopping across various animal brains, we got four… interesting animated movies to cover…
The first movie, Tafiti: Across the Desert, is an animated movie about a meerkat and his unlikely friendlship with a bush pig, as they went on an adventure across the desert for a cure for his poisoned grandfather. As what I had mentioned a couple of times this year, I am moving away from covering too many disposable family-friendly foreign CG animated movies, but that is not stopping me from covering a few of these that are interesting to me. In the case of Tafiti: Across the Desert, this is directed by Nina Wels, a director I am familiar with given I had covered one of her previous movies, Latte and the Magic Waterstone, which I find it to be one of the very few German animated movies that does not suck so hard. With that in mind, is Tafiti: Across the Desert another rare German animated movie that is good enough for me?
The second movie, The Myth of Maracuda, takes place during the Stone Age where a mysterious, extraterrestrial and magical bird named Maracuda crash-landed onto earth and befriended a terrible hunter. If you think the German animation scene is a big animation black hole, you have not seen how big of a black hole the R****an animation scene is. They used to have some very interesting and dark animation works that showcase the best of Soviet Union-style animation, but ever since R****a began abandoning that identity in favour of Americanised imitations, the quality of R****an animation decreased significantly. Will The Myth of Maracuda dispel that fact, or will it continue to prove how hopeless R****an animation is today?
The third movie, Extinction, centres on an Iranian boy who embarks on a rescue to save a Malayan tiger from being shot down by hunters on a precarious quest. Extinction interests me for one and only one reason: It was part of the 2024 Annecy Film Festival in the Annecy Presents category, the same category where one of the best animated movies of that year, Look Back, somehow ended up in. With very poor reviews about it, was Extinction deserving of its Annecy presence?
The fourth and final movie, The Pout-Pout Fish, is a movie adaptation of a storybook of the same name about a grumpy fish and his hyperactive sea dragon pal. Considering my run-ins with that American chaotic animated movie distributor in Viva Kids, it’s not surprising I am covering another one of their movies, but this time, we are also seeing a familiar face since this is animated by Like a Photon Creative, the Australian studio responsible for Scarygirl and the Tales from Sanctuary City series (which I had covered in depth). So, is their latest movie an upgrade, or a grouchy downgrade?
Well… Let’s get this weird adventure started, shall we?
Tafiti: Across the Desert
Key Information
- Director: Nina Wels
- Animation Studio: Little Dream Entertainment
- Country of Origin: Germany
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 4 September 2025 (in Germany)
Trailer
The Review
For those who had just began reading my blog, you would know I have a personal vendetta for German animated movies in general, and that is because most of their animated movies are just mediocre, Americanised-feeling family-centric animated movies that are not only a waste of time for most animation fanatics, but also prove how big of an animation black hole Germany is, especially compared to most of the rest of Europe (well, except for one other country, but we will get to it later). With that said, for all my problems with German animation, Tafiti: Across the Desert is at least good enough for most family-centric moviegoers, which is the bare minimum if you ask me.
The one thing Tafiti does it right that most German animated movies are unable to even accomplish is the execution, and despite how straightforward and simple the writing is, there is some surprises and decent humour that keeps me entertained enough to make me forget that I am seeing a German family-friendly foreign CG animated movies. It also helped that most of the characters are not as sufferable as I feared, and while the movie could have benefitted with a slightly longer runtime to make me connect with the characters more, the writing is surprisingly decent, which you cannot say for most German animated movies out there.
Additionally, despite the generic feel with the animation style (which I had highlighted in my essay about the Americanisation of non-mainstream animated movies previously), the animation is solid and has less glaring animation errors compared to most German animated movies out there. Some of the background animation looked surprisingly stunning and rendering is decent, but it is not in the same level as Grand Prix of Europe, and Latte and the Magic Waterstone (coincidentally, Latte is directed by the same director of Tafiti) as the animation in both of these similar German animated movies looked much better. Still, for German animated movie standards, Tafiti gets the job done.
The minor elements are pretty much not worth discussing in detail but they are as decent; as for my level of enjoyment, I thought I was not going to enjoy this movie, but to my surprise, I found myself indifferent. This is a solid enough animated movie for families, and it is one of the better German animated movies out there, which puts it above most poorly executed and lower quality German animated movies for sure. However, one of the better animated movies from Germany is Tafiti, you know the animation industry in Germany still has a long way to go.
Overall, while Germany still remains one of the biggest animation black holes in the world, at the very least there are still a handful of German animated movies that are passable enough, and Tafiti: Across the Desert is thankfully one of them.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
The Myth of Maracuda
Key Information
- Director: Viktor Glukhushin
- Animation Studios: CTB Film Company, Skazka Animation Studio
- Country of Origin: R****a
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 1 May 2025 (in R****a)
Trailer
The Review
There are certain countries that I am not looking forward to covering when it comes to animation output, and R***a is one of them. Unfortunately, as what I feared, it seems R****a is still stuck in the past with its overall animation output.
While it is not as egregious as Cats in the Museum, my 2nd least favourite animated movie of 2024 which comes from the same country, The Myth of Maracuda still has many of the same issues in most badly executed family-friendly foreign CG animated movies. For one, the writing is sub-par with how underdeveloped the story and its characters are, making it less interesting for typical animation fans to cover. This movie is also unfunny and felt unfocused with the ideas it was trying to convey, and the English dub voice acting, as expected, is terrible.
The animation does have some decent animation sequences and its character designs are at least interesting, but that does not excuse lower quality rendering and obvious frame skipping, which resulted in the decrease in overall animation quality. Honestly, if the animators embrace its style and go hard on it, it would make for a better animation style, but unfortunately, the animation just did not stick the landing for me.
The minor elements are not interesting enough to discuss, about, and as for my level of enjoyment, compared to some family-friendly foreign CG animated movies that are significantly better than the usual standards, such as Chickenhare and the Secret of the Groundhog this year, The Myth of Maracuda was not enjoyable for me. Sure, Charlie the Wonderdog is also technically flawed with its elements, but I enjoyed how much of an iconic mess that movie was; here, I felt bogged down by how generic-feeling and poorly executed the entire movie was for me.
Overall, while there are many foreign countries that are moving away from further digging into the Americanisation of animated movies and are focused more on forging their own identity and create their own animated movies that are truer to their identity, there are unfortunately some countries that are still stuck in their old bad habits, and R****a is one of them. You are better off with the classic Soviet-style animation that makes this country better known in the animation field, and just avoid most of, if not all, their modern Americanised imitations altogether.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Extinction
Key Information
- Director: Hadi Mohammadiab
- Animation Studio: Honar Pooya Group, Magic Picture Films and All Rights Entertainment
- Country of Origin: Iran and Malaysia
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 27 June 2023 (in Iran)
Trailer
The Review
After seeing Extinction, this is what I do not want to see in future animated movies, and that is poor-quality family-centric foreign CG animated movies that are not good enough for even the target audience in mind, and unfortunately, Extinction is one of them.
Where do I begin with this one? While the concept feels fairly interesting to me, the execution is so terrible, it makes an otherwise promising concept feel poorly conceived! The writing and pacing are all over the place, which makes it very difficult for me to engage much with this movie. Furthermore, there is little story and character development for me to connect, and Extinction has some of the worst dialogue of recent memory, even by family-friendly foreign CG animated movie standards. Worst of all, despite being another bad English dub of a family-friendly foreign CG animated movie, Extinction might have one of the most annoying voice acting performances of the year so far. Honestly, the writing is just very amateurish all together.
Additionally, the animation feels half-baked, with a lack of proper rendering that makes the background and character elements look cheap, and the movement animation has a ton of lag throughout the movie. Sure, the animation at least is watchable for some part but given that we had seen a good number of family-friendly foreign CG animated movies with much better animation compared to what I saw in Extinction, it is just not strong enough to be in theatres.
The minor elements are as bad too, with some random songs in this movie that just feel out of place for a movie with a seirous concept, and as for my level of enjoyment, it just feels like an incoherent mess to me. The fact that this was selected to be shown at the 2024 Annecy Film Festival is a huge misstep from the Annecy Film Festival committee. Given the prestige this festival has among the animation community, Extinction is not worthy of a spot there.
In conclusion, with how nearly unwatchable this movie was as an overall package, I think it’s fair to say that with so many better family-friendly foreign CG animated movies that are more worth your time, including Dongeng Sang Kancil which is from Malaysia, one of the countries where this movie was produced, Extinction should remain what its title suggests: Extinct.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
The Pout-Pout Fish
Key Information
- Director: Ricard Cusso
- Animation Studio: Like a Photon Creative (with Cosmic Dino Studio)
- Country of Origin: Australia
- Rating: PG
- Release date: 1 January 2026 (in Australia)
Trailer
The Review
I am going to confess something: seeing the early reviews of this movie, I was not as optimistic over The Pout-Pout Fish, especially given it looked quite inferior to The Lost Tiger, which was the movie before The Pout-Pout Fish from Like a Photon Creative. With that said, sometimes I have to own it up and said “I am wrong.” This is one of those moments.
Yes, this movie is something we had seen many times before. Yes, the familiar and generic story and animation style might be off-putting for most moviegoers already. And yes, this is a definite downgrade compared to some of the Like a Photon Creative animated movies I had already covered, including Scarygirl which, like The Pout-Pout Fish, was distributed by Viva Kids. However, this movie did its job well, and that is already better than most family-friendly foreign CG animated movies I had covered.
While the writing is not the most comprehensive and felt surface level at times, there were more than enough entertaining moments in the writing, especially since there were jokes I genuinely laughed at. The pacing is decent, although the ending felt a bit rushed to make me connect with the writing. I liked some of the characters, including casting Nick Offerman as the titular fish, which was a smart choice. He sells the role very well, and the other voice acting performances are good too, none of which are as good as Remy Hii as Archie, a character I was not expecting to sympathise with before the final act, but here we are.
The animation is also the usual, generic bog-standard CG style we had seen in many, many family-friendly foreign CG animated movies, which is disappointing considering the same studio adopted a very cool stop-motion looking CG style adopted in Scarygirl, The Sloth Lane and The Lost Tiger. However, for what it is worth, the animation is also well executed. The overall quality looked very nice, and I loved how colourful and detailed most of the backgrounds and animation sequences are. Honestly, I can guarantee there are many other family-friendly foreign CG animated movies with that style that are much worse.
The minor elements are just there, and as for my level of enjoyment, I was not expecting much from this movie considering The Pout-Pout Fish is such a familiar style of animated movies I had specialise in covering for a very long time. However, I will admit, I enjoyed this movie way more than I should, mostly because it is technically competent, it has entertaining moments that made it less of a slog, and most importantly, Viva Kids once again prove they knew what they were doing with how extensive the marketing for this movie was compared to their previous movies. Maybe my essay about it might have given it some inspiration.
Well, colour me surprised, but I am happy to report that The Pout-Pout Fish has more than enough quality moments to make up for this generic and familiar family-friendly foreign CG animated movie that the animation industry is striving to move away from. With that said, given this is from the same studio behind Scarygirl, I expected more from Like a Photon Creative, but alas, it is what it is, and The Pout-Pout Fish did the job to entertain its target audience.
Blaziker’s Hot Sauce Rating
Conclusion
I got to admit, this was not a great Animated Movie Rundown for sure, but at least it goes to show how unpredictable my animated movie adventures go. There are some adventures worth going for, and others that are just not worth the risk. However, I enjoyed those adventures for the same reasons.
Well, I think it is time to update on a previous essay I had written, because after covering four Americanised feeling animated movies, it is time to bring back the topic on the Americanisation of the non-mainstream animated movie scene, and how the industry seems to be moving away from this issue, and fast. Until next time, see you on the next adventure!
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