Edison and Leo (2008) -

The animation is right on target, the characters have plenty of character and the story isn’t just straightforward in this animation movie. Some scenes looked a little rushed and reminded me of Robot Chicken episode, but even that didn’t detract from the overall movie. So why the low rating?

Well, there really is no point in watching this well-made movie. It’s not a nice family picture, since there is some seriously graphic violence and sexual material in it that makes it unfit for the young. But the story doesn’t have the depth, background or sufficiently rich ideas to recommend it to your friends, more so since you’ll be sending them to see stop-motion animated puppets.

If such a movie is to succeed, it needs to tell a good story in an inspired setting like Strings (2004). Or it needs to have memorable and loveable characters like Wallace and Gromit (1995). Policital satire also works, as in Team America: World Police. But Edison and Leo is a somewhat simple story about the unknown (and fictional) side of Edison and his family background.

It’s well-made, with nice effects, sound and voice-acting, but I really can’t think of a reason to go see it and I would only recommend it if you really like animation or if you don’t care about brutality and (mild) sex in the movies your kids watch. They might learn something…

From Inside (2008) -

John Bergin has delivered an impressive piece of work, if you consider that most of it is his own doing. A feature-length story of a woman on a train, traveling through a wasteland with nobody around to tell the passengers where they are, where they are going and why they are here. The movie is sufficiently vague to allow many interpretations and for some, maybe a bit too vague.

I really enjoyed the first half, but after that I started to feel little new in the way of ideas and images was being added, without the questions posed sofar going anywhere near an answer. A bit of a missed chance in my opinion, since the world the movie is set in evokes more than enough questions worth exploring.

Just so you don’t go and get disappointed: be aware that a large part of this movie consists of camera movements on stills, paintings, drawing and other static material. The narrative is driven by a (good) voiceover and camera movement and this may be a bit tame if you were expecting visual spectacle. Some of the more dynamic scenes are very atmospheric in their own way, but some of the viewers disliked the stark contrast between relatively clean computer graphics and the freehand drawn scenes.

Original and creative, this is not for everyone and I won’t tell you more about it, because I think this is a story best enjoyed with as little information as possible…

Waltz with Bashir (2008) -

In this animated documentary, Ari Folman makes very effective use of animation. It’s not just stylistic, though many of the scenes are sleek, colorful or even hallucinatory thanks to the style of animation that reminds me of woodcut prints and Flash animation. But by showing you scenes with extreme violence or under poor circumstances in stark animation, the movie takes away the grit and filth that would just detract from what is going on and why people are acting the way they are. Read more