In 2018, Sony took us Into the Spider-Verse, with a film Animated Views called a “game-changer”*. It won the Best Animated Feature Oscar, was the first non-Disney movie selected by our readers as the best of the year, and made a ton of money. So a sequel was a no brainer. But Sony has never been one to shy away from exploiting their Spidey film rights as far as possible, so it wasn’t too much of a surprise when they announced two sequels.

The first, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, picks up about a year and a half after the first film. Miles has grown into the suit, both physically and talent-wise. But being Spider-man takes a toll and he misses the friends he made who went back to their own universes. On her version of Earth, Gwen is struggling alone with her responsibilities and has issues with her father. When they discover a secret society that moves across dimensions to keep things in balance, they both want to join for their own reasons. What happens next? Ummmmm…**

Let’s discuss the first of two elephants in this multiverse. When the film title was originally announced, it was called Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Part One. A few months later, the “Part One” was removed and “Part Two” was officially retitled Beyond the Spider-Verse, with both halves being made simultaneously. So going in, savvy viewers knew we weren’t going to get the complete story this year.

Other made-as-two-part films have threaded this needle in different ways. Back to the Future II and III took two mostly separate stories and weaved them together with a cliffhanger ending sandwiched between. Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame (originally titled Infinity War Parts One and Two) took one epic story, and strategically divided its story elements over two films. These two series of movies worked well because the first part did the job of being both a satisfying and freestanding film that was also able to setup a followup.

Across the Spider-Verse chose a different path. The filmmakers took one long story and just arbitrarily cut it down the middle. Despite its massive runtime, the entire movie is just a big setup for part two. There is almost no plot point resolved in this first half.

That’s not to say the setup isn’t interesting or entertaining. The half of the plot we do get is leading to something good. I was definitely left wanting to know what happens next. But I also felt somewhat cheated due to getting only half of a film. If the credits started rolling on The Little Mermaid right after Ariel makes her deal with Ursula and you were told to come back next year for the rest, you’d wonder why you even bothered to watch this half now rather than wait for the whole thing.

The second issue that can’t be ignored is the length of the film. At two hours and twenty minutes, Across the Spider-Verse is the longest animated film in Hollywood history. Arguably, only two other major studio animated films have ever crossed the two hour threshold***, so not a common event. Even with the amount of animation released seemingly increasing exponentially over the past 30 years, runtime is not something studios have been willing to experiment with. The fact that Sony allowed its filmmakers to not only split this movie into two pieces but also make the first half so long, would hopefully imply they had confidence that the most would be made of all the extra time.

Unfortunately, that faith may have been misplaced. As I’ve already stated, the plot is not uninteresting or unentertaining. Not by a long shot. There is, however, too much filler. It’s like once the animators got the permission to not worry about runtime, they used that leeway to stop editing the story they had, rather than to fill the extended time with more story. Over and over, scenes drag on well past what is needed. The opening scene runs so long that when the title card finally shows up it’s almost a surprise that we’re still so early in. A later scene features a needlessly slow moving device that we watch way too long before a character notes the ridiculous speed in a throwaway joke. An excessively long chase scene seems to be the main plot of a third of the film. There was so much room to tighten up this story, that the runtime feels more like an ostentatious luxury than a necessary requirement.

Looking past all that, most of the other aspects of the film are pretty great.

The brilliant and unique animation style of the first movie is continued here, with mostly similar results. With each different dimension of the Spider-verse getting its own distinctive look, there are plenty of beautiful visuals. But occasionally the effect felt forced or not up to par with the original. The music of the Spider-Verse is fresh and fun. But the audio mix of some of the dialogue really could have been a lot better.

The voice actors were the best parts of the film. The returners (Shameik Moore as Miles Morales, Hailee Steinfeld as Gwen Stacy, Brian Tyree Henry as Jefferson Morales, Luna Lauren Vélez as Rio Morales, and Jake Johnson as Peter B. Parker) step back into their roles without missing a beat from their great performances in the original. And the newcomers (Oscar Isaac as Miguel O’Hara, Jason Schwartzman as The Spot, Issa Rae as Jessica Drew, Karan Soni as Pavitr Prabhakar, and Daniel Kaluuya as Hobie) easily rise to meet their level.

I need to reiterate that the half of this movie we do get is not bad! My complaints are more with the length and pacing, and the choice to not give the audience more of a standalone film. I’m sure when these two parts are watched back to back, the experience will be amazing… and I’ll be the first in line for tickets! But I’m only able to review the half that we were given and not what might be Beyond.

After being betrayed by rogue con artist Forge Fitzwilliam, widowed bard Edgin Darvis and his barbarian companion Holga Kilgore plan to get back at their former associate and reclaim Darvis’ daughter Kira. Fitzwilliam has become Lord of Neverwinter and he’s bringing back a popular, yet controversial event with high-stakes betting that will fill his vaults with riches beyond imagination. The ideal target for a heist. Darvis and Kilgore enlist the aid of half-elven sorcerer Simon Aumar and tiefling druid Doric. But in the background is Sofina, a red wizard setting a nefarious plot into motion that leaves the group having to deal with more than just breaking into a heavily guarded vault.

One of the biggest hurdles in adapting Dungeons & Dragons into a film is that there is no one plot to be based off of. It’s generally up to the players to create their stories and how they would play out. Supplemental material have been released over the years offering pre-made content, from world settings to adventure ideas, for players to use. As such, there’s numerous options to choose in developing a film. For Honor Among Thieves, Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley went with telling an original story and based it within a popular setting called The Forgotten Realms. This has helped settle on a nice mixture of options for the presentation.

Most stories within the fantasy genre tend toward an eventual “saving the world” plot. To have Honor Among Thieves be more unique, the filmmakers instead are telling a heist that happens to be set within a fantasy world. This allows for emphasis to be on developing the characters and less on spending time having to flesh out the world when it is unnecessary to do so. If there’s any lore to be told, it’s because it’s something that will benefit the characters. Thus there is a purpose to the group spending time learning about and trying to locate a magical item called the Helmet of Disjunction as it will help Aumar break the powerful enchantments placed upon the vaults.

Another big hurdle has been how to portray the game’s mechanics and spirit. The mechanics is perhaps the hardest at bringing to life as much of how things work are not visual. This led the previous feature film to make spell casting inaccurate to how they’re done in the game so that it could be apparent on screen that such is happening. Honor Among Thieves is interested in the mechanics and figures ways to showcase them with delightful results. Aumar possess a token that brings a dead creature back to life. It is alive only long enough to answer five questions, then it is dead for good. What can be a conundrum is that it answers any five questions spoken aloud.

Honor Among Thieves captures the spirit of the game in realizing its key component: fun. More often than not, films in the fantasy genre tend to play with such seriousness that they run the risk of being droll and stiff. The other direction is to spoof the genre, lampooning the troupes to a corny degree. Goldstein and Daley instead looked to find a middle ground in which things are not taken with great seriousness, but it’s not a mockery. This is exemplified with Xenk Yendar, a human paladin the group seek the aid of to find the Helmet of Disjunction. But though they are in awe of his stoic prowess as a true heroic figure, his mannerisms get on their nerves very quickly.

Adding to the fun factor is the wonderful performances by the ensemble cast. Chris Pine captures the charm and occasional vulnerability of Darvis. Michelle Rodriguez hits the right beats playing the tough and warm Kilgore. Hugh Grant perfectly personifies the deliciously despicable Fitzwilliam. Justice Smith works quite well as the neurotic Aumar. Sophia Lillis is lovely as the unpredictably endearing Doric. Regé-Jean Page seems to be made to portray the righteous Yendar. And Daisy Head stands out superbly as the devious Sofina. Often in these films an actor’s presence can overtake the character. Here the whole cast embody their characters very nicely.

What’s also fun are the Easter Eggs fans of the game can discover. They’re utilized in such a way that audiences unfamiliar with Dungeons & Dragons don’t need to feel like it’s something very important, which happens to hilariously be spoofed in the film when Sofina explains in few words how it is the vaults are enchanted to a pair of delegates who just take her for her word. There’s quite an Easter Egg late in the film that’s sure to bring a smile to fans, which I won’t reveal even though clips of it have been shown already. And I was howling over a credited cameo appearance and how it’s done both visually and its part in fleshing out the backstory of one of the characters.

It’s almost a given that Honor Among Thieves would be special effects heavy like the first Dungeons & Dragons film. Whereas the previous film relied on the effects to carry the film, this film uses just enough that they do not hinder the storytelling. A lot of the visual effects animation is done for Doric whenever she uses her wild shape ability to transform into a creature. There’s a fantastic escape sequence that evokes being a single take shot in which she’s changing between herself and into various animals while trying to avoid getting captured. It’s impressive by itself, but made more so because it serves the plot in showing how dangerous the heist is going to be.

The visual effects are used quite well in bringing to life the many races and creatures that previous adaptations hardly touched upon. While they don’t play major roles, their presence lends itself to showing that there’s more than just humans, elves, and dwarves. There’s the eagle-like aarakocra and the aptly named dragonborn conversing with the characters. One of the most recognizable creatures within Dungeons & Dragons is the owlbear, brought to life is Doric’s preferred wild shape transformation whenever in combat. There’s even a unique use of a red dragon that’s wonderfully done with great animation making it all the more fresh and fun.

Honor Among Thieves is so much fun that it’s few flaws can be overlooked very easily. It tries not to be a spectacular epic like The Lord of the Rings trilogy. It flirts with going for the scope one would expected from the fantasy genre, but doesn’t quite go all the way. This can be either a good thing or bad depending on one’s interests. Same can be said with keeping the world-building at a minimum. While it would detract the story, digging deep into the history and lore of The Forgotten Realms would be enchanting to those interested. I may have to listen to it a few more times, but I found the score by Lorne Balfe to be merely pleasant and I’m not entirely sure how memorable they are. Again, these are minor criticisms that are forgivable for a film that’s difficult to dislike.

I’m hopeful that Goldstein and Daley have developed a blueprint on how to adapt Dungeons & Dragons into a feature film and make it work. Honor Among Thieves doesn’t take itself too seriously, yet it also avoids being a parody of the genre. The narrative benefits character development over unnecessary world-building, allowing for audiences to enjoy things happening and their servicing the storytelling. The animation is very nice and the overall visual effects do a wonderful job of bringing to life creatures and races from the game that had yet to be showcased on screen before. It is just a fun movie to watch from start to finish, having managed to roll a critical success.

There are Popeye cartoons, and then there are Popeye cartoons. The good stuff, as many fans know, are the black and white Fleischer theatrical shorts of the 1930s through the early 1940s (plus their three color two-reelers), which began just a few short years after Popeye first appeared in the Thimble Theatre newspaper comic strip. The subsequent color shorts from Famous Studios (essentially what became of the Fleischer studio once Paramount took them over) in the 1940s and 1950s are still pretty good, but cannot match the amazing quality of the Fleischer ones, and over time the Famous offerings devolved into largely formulaic and bland cartoons that many fans don’t mind forgetting. And next came the television cartoons and a further, inevitable dip in quality.

Popeye animated cartoons initially entered people’s homes via television syndication of his theatrical shorts; but King Features Syndicate, the owner of the character, hoped to grab a bigger piece of the profits by producing their own series of cartoons for mainly television exhibition. The result was a package of 220 cartoons of variable quality. “Variable” might be charitable, as many fans would describe these shorts – on the whole – as cheap, poorly-animated, mistake-filled messes that offend the eyes and heart.

Ah, but Popeye superfan Fred Grandinetti would like to remind us that the KFS cartoons were not all bad, not at all. Many were decent, and a few were even pretty good; and even the bad ones are interesting in their way. He has touched on this topic previously in his book Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History, but he has now expanded on the topic considerably in his new book, Popeye The Sailor: The 1960s TV Cartoons. Bear Manor media is offering the book in hardcover and softcover editions, for anyone for wishes to have some help in navigating through the many KFS cartoons.

One might say, “Fred has watched them all, so that you won’t have to!” However, as you read the book, you will inevitably be curious to watch these cartoons, either to appreciate some fun Popeye action, or to pick apart the worst of the worst. Regardless, the cartoons are an important part of television history. I previously reviewed a DVD set of these cartoons, and I can confirm that the quality ranges from poor to good, and none of them can match the best of the theatrical output. The reasons for the differences is explored in Grandinetti’s book, as he describes the production history of the cartoons and the players involved. We learn of how the cartoons were farmed out to several producers, in studios across the US and Europe. It may surprise some that many of the folks involved were well-respected pros, like Jack Kinney, director of many a classic Disney short. Directorial talent, however, can only go so far, and Grandinetti details how budget, time, and the availability of animation talent adversely affected this series.

Anyone with even a passing interest in the squinty-eyed sailor should find the text interesting, as it delves into a brief history of the character in comics and animation, then proceeds to describe how the KFS cartoons came together. The main players, like Kinney, Gene Deitch, Larry Harmon and others are given concise biographies, and the various studio circumstances are described. Spin-offs of the cartoons – including merchandise and exercise campaigns – are discussed, participating television stations are identified, and there are plenty of trade ads presented. Ratings and profits are highlighted, and the success of the shorts is celebrated. This is a basically a treasure trove of TV cartoon history- and that’s all before we get to the bulk of the book, which gives a synopsis for each cartoon, consisting of a solid one or two paragraphs each, in which we learn of the story but also any trivia or animation mistakes related to the short. Most helpful in our appreciation is that the cartoons are divided by studio, and the directors are identified, with Grandinetti pointing out differences in how the series was handled depending on who worked on each cartoon. This scholarship is most welcome, as we learn to understand that this was not a uniform glob of cheap cartoons, but rather the product of many hands in several places.

This makes for a fun and informing read on a lazy Saturday afternoon, likely to be followed by seeking out the cartoons themselves either on DVD, or on YouTube, where they have all been uploaded onto the official Popeye channel. With that kind of availability, and a helpful text that contextualizes each short, it’s a great time to re-evaluate the KFS Popeye cartoons.

I usually synopsize a movie in the second paragraph of my reviews. But for this movie there has been a question lingering that probably should be answered up front: how does this film connect to the Toy Story canon? That’s answered right at the beginning with text explaining that in 1995, Andy saw a movie featuring the fictional character Buzz Lightyear. He loved it so much he got the action figure for his birthday that year. We’re then told, “This is that movie”.

The story follows Buzz Lightyear and his fellow space rangers as they divert from a mission to explore an uncharted planet. They end up stranded after an attack from the local flora and fauna destroys their hyperdrive. Buzz makes it his single-minded mission to fix what he sees as his mistake. The rest of the crew decides on a different course. So Buzz is forced to rely on a small group of ragtag rookies to try to get everyone home.

The plot is a fairly by-the-numbers and straightforward story. There are no big surprises and the tension is never dialed up very high. Unlike many other Pixar features, there is really no strong emotional through-line driving viewers to feel the highs and lows along with the characters. That means no tears this time out! But it also means we don’t care as much about what our protagonist is going through. On top of all that, it’s also not an extremely funny film. Sure, there are laughs throughout. But it’s more action-adventure oriented than comedy-based, which might be surprising to some fans.

Now you’re probably reading that and thinking, “Predictable, lacks heart, and not funny? So it’s pretty bad, huh?” Well, not really! It’s actually a solid little film. Plotwise, the writers have given the characters realistic motivations and interesting conflicts. So rest assured that this is not a boring story. Emotionally, the characters are moved to make the choices they make for personally important reasons. And those are explored. And we can understand their differing points of view. True, it never rises to the point of making you feel personally invested, but that doesn’t mean the characters themselves aren’t. And a lack of non-stop laugh-out-loud humor doesn’t mean something isn’t fun. The filmmakers have crafted a film that is very different than what you might expect from Pixar. That alone doesn’t make it bad, but adjusting expectations might be a good idea.

Another story-point I want to mention are the references to Buzz Lightyear from the previous films. The writers have done their homework! Catching all the little things that explain or at least call-back to what toy Buzz did or said was a lot of fun. As a bonus, (and without giving much away) after the film be sure to consider the journey Buzz went through in this film; recap it in your mind… (I’ll expand on that in the comments if anyone would like me too!)

I am not saying the animation in Lightyear was bad, because it absolutely was not! But looking back I can’t really recall anything blowing me away or even standing out much. We may just be at a point where their quality is so good so often that we’re used to it, maybe even spoiled.

Michael Giacchino, who is no stranger to animation, sci-fi, or action adventure films, gets to put his considerable talents on display here, and it works well. Themes stand out, but occasionally things do get lost in the background.

One of the biggest fan reactions at the announcement of this film was the replacement of Tim Allen with Chris Evans as the voice of Buzz Lightyear. I thought this was an understandable decision since technically these are two different characters, and was willing to give Pixar the benefit of the doubt. That was the right call. Chris Evans wonderfully channels some of Allen’s vocal mannerisms and inflections while lending the character a lot more gravitas. James Brolin is a nice choice for Zurg. Keke Palmer and Dale Soules are solid sidekicks. Pixar director Peter Sohn is a lot of fun as a robotic cat named Sox. I’m a big fan of Taika Waititi. In movies like Jojo Rabbit, Thor, and Free Guy his eccentricities melded into his character. Here, though, I felt like Buzz Lightyear just had Taika Waititi hanging around with him. Fun maybe, but a bit distracting.

Overall, this was an enjoyable movie. Did it really need to be made? Perhaps not, but it’s here and it’s easily better than some of the other things we’ve had to sit through in recent years. Does it measure up to the rest of the Toy Story legacy films? No, but to be fair, that’s a high bar that hardly any follow-up from any studio for any franchise has ever been able to do. Should you see it? Yes, it’s definitely worth the time. Sure, it’s not the most buzz-worthy film in the Pixar vault. So maybe go in with your expectations lowered to just infinity.

The Bad Guys are one of the most feared and successful criminal enterprises in town. But when a moment of doubt by their leader gets them nabbed, the quick-thinking Mr. Wolf gets them a chance at redemption — if they can pretend to be good while supposedly being reformed.

The story centers around a heist, and the filmmakers have gone out of their way to get the various tropes of the genre right. Adult fans of films like The Usual Suspects or Reservoir Dogs will be smiling at all the nods while they watch with their children. And while the tone is definitely kid-friendly, the plot itself has not been dumbed down for their sakes. Not being able to see where things are going too easily is vital for a film with so many twists and turns, allowing both grown-ups and kids alike to get caught up trying to figure it out before the end.

For an animated film about bad guys becoming good guys, it would’ve been easy to lay on the moral message too thick. Thankfully, the writers don’t fall into the trap. The Bad Guys aren’t that bad when they’re being bad, but they’re also not that good when they’re being good. Their personalities aren’t defined solely by which side they’re on — they’re the same people they always were, just with some different motivations at different times. In other words, (mild spoilers ahead:) they’re still fun and interesting characters by the time we get to the inevitable happy ending.

While a compelling story and interesting characters are vital to good movies, it’s the addition of humor that helps really set apart the most enjoyable animated films. Here, The Bad Guys delivers the goods. A lot of the heavy lifting comes from the way they play with the conventions of the genre. For example, the cliched “hacker” character who is always seen typing away furiously is a tarantula — so when typing away furiously isn’t cutting it, her laptop ridiculously sprouts more keyboards allowing her to use more hands. The stereotypical “master of disguise” character is a giant shark — who no matter the disguise always looks like a giant shark… but still always fools everyone.

The animation is a departure from the DreamWorks norm. Rather than perfect CG models and effects, the film has a more hand drawn feel, like a mix of their usual style with Into the Spider-Verse and Looney Tunes added in. The overall effect is charmingly beautiful, but also gives the entire production a lot of energy and fun it wouldn’t have had with just out-of-the-box, plodding CG. Character animation is stellar across the line-up, with each extremely varied role (wolf, shark, tarantula, shark, piranha, fox, guinea pig and more) all getting distinctive touches that make their persona feel unique and fresh compared to all the others.

The voice crew assembled for this team is what really elevates things past “just a kids movie” into a really good heist film. Sam Rockwell as Mr. Wolf, Marc Maron as Mr. Snake, Anthony Ramos as Mr. Piranha, Craig Robinson as Mr. Shark, Awkwafina as Ms. Tarantula, and Zazie Beetz as Diane Foxington voiced characters that could have fit in with the cast of Ocean’s Eleven without missing a step. As good as all the other components of the movie were, like a good heist, I’m not sure the filmmakers could have pulled it off without this crew.

It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed an animated film this much in theaters… and much, much longer still since that film was from DreamWorks! Like their title characters, it’s great to see them leaving their bad days behind and moving on to do good.

The Legend of Vox Machina is a retelling of the adventuring party from the first campaign of Critical Role. Vox Machina is made up of naïve half-elven druid Keyleth (Ray), cynical human gunslinger Percy (Jaffe), gentle gnome cleric Pike (Johnson), contemptuous half-elven rogue and ranger twins Vax (O’Brien) and Vex (Bailey), meathead goliath barbarian Grog (Willingham), and debauchee gnome bard Scanlan (Riegel), along with Vex’s bear companion Trinket. When they’re introduced, the party is hardly the sort of ragtag mercenaries to be considered as the saviors of Tal’Dorei, the continent upon which they call home. They’re more concerned about getting whatever coin they can get. It is out of desperation that they answer the Sovereign’s call for aid against a growing threat of darkness and as a result they find themselves in way over their heads contending against powerful forces of evil.

At its essence, Dungeons & Dragons is a group of people coming together to collaborate and improvise in their telling a story. The Dungeon Master serves as a guide and the players roll dice to determine how affective their actions are with the results impacting how the story goes. Thus the success of Critical Role can be attributed towards the storytelling abilities of Mercer as Dungeon Master and the others participating, with an emphasis on world-building and using the results of their dice rolls to create thrilling moments. An episode of the broadcast averages between 3-5 hours. The show’s first campaign, from which The Legend of Vox Machina is based off of, ran for 115 episodes. This provides hundreds of hours of content from which to use in adapting the stories told into a thirty-minute episodic series, not counting the hundreds more from the games played before they started broadcasting.

Working with the Critical Role party on tackling what would be a daunting yet intriguing task are a team of writers headed by Brandon Auman and Jennifer Muro. Together, they have labored to craft the overall narrative in a fashion that allows for viewers unfamiliar with Critical Role to be able to jump in without worry while pleasing those who had been engrossed in the fantasy adventures every Thursday night for years. To that end, they are successful in making The Legend of Vox Machina enjoyable to watch for any one interested in what all the fuss is about. Effort is taken to make sure that the series did not fall into the usual trappings in adapting material into another medium, spending time to allow for the stories and characters to develop while making sure only pertinent moments and events are presented. All the while the action would move along at a comfortable and exciting pace.

The first season is made up of twelve episodes. The first two episodes take a major event from the original home games, utilizing it to serve as the foundation upon which to reintroduce Vox Machina and set about their eventual growth as the unexpected saviors of the land. The remaining episodes adapt an early story arc from the broadcast, establishing Percy’s haunting and tragic backstory against a thrilling gothic drama of revenge and revolution. Both stories provide a fascinating exploration of Tal’Dorei and its inhabitants, presenting a realm of unique wonder and beauty destined to enchant viewers to want more as the series progresses. Much of the appeal lie in how familiar fantasy elements are mixed with modern influences, sewn together to create a majestic world that stands out from similar settings without being too different to be disconcerting for any one to watch.

Tal’Dorei may be vast and colorful, the world-building doesn’t overshadow the primary characters and their development. Both narratives flow at even paces so that the personalities of each party member could shine and remain true while acting upon whatever situation they found themselves stumbling into. Percy receives the most attention given the importance his heartbreaking backstory plays through the majority of the first season, though some of the others manage to receive enough of the spotlight for them to flourish with their own personal stories. The biggest highlights would be the evolution of Keyleth from shy girl to experienced warrior and Pike’s balancing between her friendship with the party with her devotion to her deity The Everlight. Despite the many flaws of which a few would often be proud of having, they are truly be characters audiences can grow to care for.

Of course, the biggest attraction to the series is that it is bringing the Critical Role stories to life through animation. To that end, they enlisted the services of Chris Prynoski and his studio Titmouse, Inc. Having worked on a vast array of shows in a wide variety of visual styles, the animation crew at Titmouse were more than up to the task of realizing a world and its inhabitants that had been created with the roll of some dice. Bringing aboard character designer Phil Bourassa, they are able to wonderfully redefine the look of the characters to move gracefully in animation while managing to maintain much of the features fans have adored over the years. Applying the same approach to the animated features of DC Comics superheroes in being illustrated with a stark graphic look with some fluidity to their motions, there’s a believability to how alive the characters are presented on screen.

The visual look of Tal’Dorei as a whole is lovingly made with a great many frames worthy of being paused so the beauty could be admired. The colors are quite vibrant, even when scenes occur in darkness and shadows. Like the storytelling, the art designs take the familiar approaches of the fantasy genre and infuse elements of modern aesthetics to create a fascinating sight of a world that is unique as it is comfortable. As is with how Mercer would describe actions in the broadcasts, there’s a great deal of inspiration from many of the anime and video game titles the cast had done voice work on. From the framing of fight scenes to the occasional exaggerated effects of character movements or reactions, they add to setting the visual approach of the series further apart from similar fantasy programs. It’s enough to elicit some awe at how everything comes together swimmingly.

Even with the original premise having been voice actors playing Dungeons & Dragons, it cannot be understated how fantastic the performances are throughout the series. The core cast took the lines they had spoken before in the broadcasts and elevated them with some really dramatic deliveries. Kudos to Jaffe as he upped his game ten-fold in adding greater weight of pathos to Percy. Ray is an absolute delight, hitting all of the right notes for Keyleth throughout her evolution. Even Mercer, voicing characters such as the antagonistic Sylas Briarwood, would pour himself into delivering wonderful performances. They are bolstered by a star-studded ensemble supporting cast that includes David Tennant, Dominic Monaghan, Grey Griffin, Esmé Creed-Miles, Khary Payton, Kelly Hu, and more, bringing their A-game to help breathe magnificent life into the majestic world of Tal’Dorei.

Alongside the fantastic vocal performances is an outstanding music score by Neal Acree. The seemingly typical epic orchestra melodies that would generally accompany pretty much anything set within the fantasy genre are given unique arrangements that set it apart from other similar scores. Be it the inclusion of electric guitar riffs during exciting battles or the use of organs as part of the gothic horror themes played when exploring Percy’s haunting backstory, the music does wonders in elevating and bolstering the scenes to greater heights of thrilling drama. For kicks, there are a couple songs by Riegel thrown in to play along with his character being a bard. Much like Scanlan in general, some of the songs are fairly lewd in how they are performed, but they are nonetheless quite funny and once in a while help in lightening things up in the middle of situations that are otherwise serious.

The Legend of Vox Machina is the latest in a growing breed of animated programs aimed specifically for adults. The show revels in very adult themes and content due in large part to the influence of the anime and video games the main cast previously worked on and Mercer applied to the Critical Role broadcasts in great detail. These include some really ultra violence, very heavy profanity, and a couple sexual situations present. It’s enough to be quite shocking at first, certainly when the series kicks off with gory mayhem upon the first minute. While the writers do a lovely job adapting the material and ensuring growth and development with the storytelling, pacing could at times feel a little slow even considering that hours of roleplaying is being crammed into thirty minute episodes. And a couple of the main characters, in particular Grog, do not necessarily have much in interesting personal story arcs.

The unimaginable success of broadcasting the Dungeons & Dragons games played by animation voice actors has led to a dream fulfillment far greater than any one could have thought possible. The Legend of Vox Machina gloriously reintroduces and retells the stories of the characters and world first developed in a tabletop roleplaying game amongst friends, transforming into an animated series lush with majestic visuals, thrilling narratives, and colorful characters that any viewer, regardless of any familiarity with Critical Role, could watch and become emotionally invested in. Presented is an inspired and unique world of wonder brought to life with breathtaking, graphic animation and vocal performances that were delightful and magnificent to hear. The Legend of Vox Machina is crafted with great love and passion, resulting in a show that is nothing less than a critical success.

Unfortunately for me that meant taking a bit of a break from reviewing movies here at AV. I still watched them though. So instead of leaving 2021 as a big black hole in our review coverage, we thought why not just end the year off right with a quick review recap of some of the big studio releases!

Since it’s been a while (and for any newcomers) here’s how I rate movies. I give films two scores: an Overall score based on artistic merit like you’d see at any other review site. And a Fun Factor score, rating the movie purely on how entertaining it was. The scores are on a scale of 0 to 10, with 0 being the worst of the worst, and 10 the best of the best. Those scores are saved for the very rare movie that really deserves them. I think I’ve only awarded those scores twice in 15 years. From there I determine if the movie was poor (1 to 3), average (4 to 6), or good (7 to 9).

The first two films listed I did a full review of earlier this year. The next seven are new reviews.

I know your scores will probably be different than mine. So feel free to tell us what you thought of the films of 2021 in the Animated Views Forum!

March 4th / FORUM DISCUSSION

I reviewed this movie back in March. Read the full review here.

BOTTOM LINE: With a mess of a story, a spinoff angle that felt forced in, and an over-the-top and embarrassing attempt to canonize the main character, there’s no denying fans of the show deserved better. Feel free to run from this sponge.

March 5th / FORUM DISCUSSION

I reviewed this movie back in March. Read the full review here.

BOTTOM LINE: So much potential. An unplumbed setting for an animated film, a deep and interesting foundational legend to build off of, a good message, amazing animation, a great cast of actors, and all the resources Disney can provide. All of it squandered because somewhere along the way, someone suggested they give audiences a pop princess rather than a hero on the regular.

April 23rd / FORUM DISCUSSION

HEADLINE: A surprisingly touching film about the straining bonds between a father and daughter… set during a techno-pocolypse!

STORY: The Mitchells vs. the Machines is a very funny movie, but right from the start shows its heart. The story centers around a father and daughter who just can’t understand why the other doesn’t understand them — even though they are both more alike than they seem to think. The tension between them is exacerbated as the daughter is about to leave home for college, and both want to leave on good terms. When that doesn’t seem likely, dad suggests a cross country family road trip to her school. While that alone is an idea ripe for drama and comedy, the end of the world gets thrown in as well. And it mostly works! The ending gets rushed and a bit too “deus ex machina-y” for my taste, but fits well enough with the manic energy of the rest of the film. What really gives the movie it’s emotional heft is something that a lot of animated stories (which are usually aimed at kids) ignore: parents. Parents get short shrift in a lot of animated films. But here, not only does the father learn to see and appreciate things from his daughter’s point of view, she is encouraged to take a step back from the hustle and bustle and other distractions of a teenagers life to really see and comprehend what he has sacrificed for her.

ANIMATION: The visual style was interesting. While obviously computer generated, the animation for humans and backgrounds incorporated hand-drawn elements that gave them an even softer look when compared to the sleek robots. Think Into the Spider-Verse (also from Sony) but instead of a comic book overlay, more of a pencil sketched look. Additionally, the entire film is punctuated with animated extras throughout, as if the main character, an amateur filmmaker, was putting in special effects for a YouTube video. For small example, when characters hug, a hand-drawn heart might appear between them. Or for a bigger scene, the film may go into a freeze frame while the entire screen is covered with meme-ish GIFs and captions. These were sometimes cute, occasionally cringy, but mostly ignorable.

MUSIC: The movie was so fast paced and frenetic that I didn’t really notice the score. Obligatory pop songs are scattered throughout, usually as stingers to a joke or big moment.

ACTING: The casting for the film is solid across the board. The father/daughter dynamic is captured perfectly by Danny McBride and Abbi Jacobson, with Maya Rudolph and Mike Rianda bringing in support as the rest of the family. Olivia Colman, Fred Armisen, and Beck Bennett are great as several of the title Machines.

BOTTOM LINE: A lot of fun, but with some real emotional depth.

June 18th / FORUM DISCUSSION

HEADLINE: The Little Mermaid meets Cars meets Ratatouille? OK, not exactly, but weirdly close!

STORY: The plot is fairly simple, but crafted extremely well. Luca is a sea creature who wants to explore that shore up above but who’s parents forbid it. Alberto is a sea creature who lives on land with a collection of human gadgets and gizmos aplenty. (When out of the water they appear human.) Luca runs away, befriends Alberto, meets a human girl named Giulia, and the three team up to enter a local race that will allow the two secret merman to buy a Vespa and explore the rest of the above-water world. The story is sweet and fun, and the conflicts are not too heavy or emotional. One of my favorite sources of friction in the film is the triangle between the three young leads. The story takes place in that innocent time of childhood before kids are aware of romantic entanglements. So having a girl come between the two boys, but in a strictly platonic sense, made for a unique plot line. The climax of the story came a little too fast and the resolution didn’t feel completely earned. I really think extending the fairly short 95 minute running time was needed to give the audience a proper ending.

ANIMATION: The animation in Luca is very different from the Pixar norm: almost cartoony, with wide open mouths that move to the sides when characters are in profile, and arms and legs that sometimes look like they’re being controlled by puppeteers. That’s not a knock. It works well with the film, given it’s lighter tone… and the fact that their mouths kind of look like fish!

MUSIC: The score helps underscore the setting, which is important when the setting is so important to the story. But it doesn’t do much more than that.

ACTING: I enjoyed the main characters’ performances all around. Jacob Tremblay nails Luca’s naiveté and curiosity, Jack Dylan Grazer gets Alberto’s misplaced confidence and secret loneliness, and Emma Berman portrays Giulia’s excitement and indignation just right.

BOTTOM LINE: A lovingly well made piece of light entertainment.

August 6th

HEADLINE: Musical monkey on a mission with Lin-Manuel Miranda.

STORY: Vivo is one of those types of films from studios not named Disney, Pixar, or DreamWorks that always worry me, especially when they feature singing/rapping animals! But, like a lot of recent Sony animated films, this one was a pleasant surprise. The plot has the too often used cartoon road trip as its foundation, but doesn’t fall into the episodic trap. The journey is interesting enough, has some fun characters along the way, and isn’t too predictable. The film has a fairly solid emotional core that by the end will have you actually caring about what happens to the characters.

ANIMATION: Sony Animation is not slacking in the animation department vs their competition. The overall art style here is fun and colorful and character designs are varied and interesting. We even get some wonderful hand-drawn styled animation throughout where the original CG-renderings get a 2D-makeover that doesn’t feel like it was done in a slapdash manner, but with care for the format.

MUSIC: Lin-Manuel Miranda writes some great music, but he is a very infuriating lyricist! Whenever I listen to one of his song scores, they always feel… unpolished. There’s always a song or two that are good to great, then too many that seem like he didn’t finish them in time so rushed out the last few verses. Also he has a few stylistic choices that grate, like just narrating action rather than being lyrical, repeating words and phrases too much, structuring the song with too many different sections, using filler words to get the lyrics match the melody, and thinking that having an up-tempo song that is so dense with words that it’s incomprehensible is clever. All that is true here. But thankfully the ratio of “works” to “doesn’t work” is more on the plus side than usual.

ACTING: While I originally didn’t think Miranda’s voicing of the title kinkajou was a good fit with the character, it did grow on me as the film went on and by the end I enjoyed his performance. Ynairaly Simo was sweetly annoying as the hyper Gabi, which is not a dig but a complement! And Juan de Marcos González and Gloria Estefan bring some gravitas to the roles of old musical partners who try to reconnect after years of denying their feelings for each other.

BOTTOM LINE: Vivo may not be an Oscar contender, but it is entertaining and made with care — far beyond the assembly line animated fare studios sometimes churn out without regards to quality knowing they’ll still make money.

October 22nd

HEADLINE: Another surprisingly touching dystoian-esque take on the role social media play in our lives.

STORY: Barney and his friends have grown apart over the years since elementary school, with their online lives seemingly subsuming their real lives in a race to create content and generate clicks to show how popular they are. Without a device of his own, Barney is a digital and IRL outcast. When personal social media robots become the next craze, his family finally gets him one, whom he names Ron. But it’s defective and doesn’t have the proper algorithm for friendship. So Barney has to teach him how to be his friend. The writers do such a wonderful job of almost surreptitiously demonstrating to Barney and the audience that friendship is not a one way street. Social media, which only shows part of our lives and doesn’t involve any real interactions with those commenting and liking, is literally that one-way street — which makes building a true friendship difficult. Kids experiencing relationships through their phones isn’t necessarily a bad thing. During the pandemic and lockdowns it was a life line. But Ron’s Gone Wrong reminds us that may have forgotten (or maybe teaches those too young to have realized) that it’s the people on the other ends of these devices that we should be forming bonds with, not the devices themselves. Even better, it does it without getting preachy. And to top it all off, it’s a very funny movie!

ANIMATION: While the animation in Ron’s Gone Wrong is great, it’s not distinctive or different than what any other good studio is putting out. However, Ron’s animation is noteworthy. The animators and writers did a wonderful job with the somewhat limited ways in which the he can show emotion and interact with others. This, along with the vocal performance, are the reasons why Ron is such an endearing character.

MUSIC: Another film where the music was perfectly serviceable but not particularly memorable or even important to the plot.

ACTING: I’m always surprised when I enjoy a Zach Galifianakis movie performance so much because I usually just think of him as a big goofball. But he is a very good actor in just about everything, and his role here as Ron is no exception. And Jack Dylan Grazer plays well against him as Ron’s owner Barney. These two center the action and heart of the film and are an important part of why the story works so well.

BOTTOM LINE: A movie with a message that doesn’t make the message the movie. All while being a lot of fun.

November 24th / FORUM DISCUSSION

HEADLINE: A magical mess of a movie.

STORY: The Madrigal family lives in a magical house, and each one of the family members is gifted a magical power when they reach a certain age. Everyone but Mirabel. She does however start to notice that the magic seems to be fading in the house and among her family — a fact everyone else want to ignore. And that’s basically the plot. There is no antagonist. Why the house is magic is never explained. Why Mirabel has no power is never explained. Why the magic is disappearing is poorly explained. One major plot point that is finally revealed is later ignored. In the end everything that went wrong is magically fixed with no explanation as to how or why. This is such a mess of a movie that I’m having trouble trying to even explain what’s wrong with it since there is not much plot to talk about.

ANIMATION: Despite the story issues, Disney can almost do no wrong when it comes to animation these days. Stunning scenery, amazing effects, compelling character designs. They got it all right. Especially praiseworthy was the Casita. A house that was both magically alive and rooted in realism as a building (for example, not just going all out by adding hands, feet, and eyes) was a fine line that they tight-walked beautifully.

MUSIC: Lin-Manuel Miranda writes some great music, but he is a very infuriating lyricist… Everything I said above for Vivo applies to Encanto’s songs as well. But the ratio of “works” to “doesn’t work” isn’t as high. Germaine Franco’s score, however, is nice: fitting to the setting, functional to the story, and just fun.

ACTING: One big problem in Encanto is a glut of characters, so many that they all get very little meaningful screen time. All were fine in their roles, but again, due to sheer numbers and the running time, they don’t get a lot to do. The one character who gets the most time, Stephanie Beatriz as Mirabel held the movie together almost single-handedly with an enthusiastic performance.

BOTTOM LINE: What in the world was that? “Let’s make a movie about family love. That’s a plot, right?”

December 15th

HEADLINE: Monsters fighting monsters. What else do you want?

STORY: Monsters fighting monsters. What else do you want? Seriously, this is a basic, by-the-numbers story about a sports league where monsters representing different cities fight other monsters representing other cities. The townsfolk get behind their monsters and root for them fanatically. The monsters have a coach who works to train them. That’s basically the story… and it’s not that bad! The plot is your cookie cutter sports cliche movie: a washed up player tries to live up to the legacy of dad with a unexperienced trainer on a team far removed from its glory years to attempt to win a championship from an unbeatable opponent who has disrespected them all. It’s every sports movie you’ve ever seen with absolutely no surprises. But again, if you accept that, it’s not that bad. Not great, but entertaining enough for something most of us weren’t expecting much from.

ANIMATION: Like the story the animation is not bad, but nothing will wow you. While the monster designs are fun, the human characters look too stiff.

MUSIC: Some stock pop songs (including the obligatory Eye of the Tiger and Tubthumping) and not much else.

ACTING: I love Will Arnett. He’s one of the funniest guys in show business. But his voice is so distinctive that it sometimes takes me out of the film for a moment. Changing it up just a little bit like his roles in Horton Hears a Who and The Lego Batman Movie would go a long way. Geraldine Viswanathan brought some much needed emotionality to the film without going too far with it or losing the character’s gruffness. And Terry Crews was a lot of fun and the egotistical champion Tentacular.

BOTTOM LINE: Monsters fighting monsters. What else do you want? A good choice for a rainy day when you want to relax and enjoy a movie but not think too hard or feel too much!

December 22nd / FORUM DISCUSSION

HEADLINE: Another one!?

STORY: You know how almost every animated movie ends with the characters all singing a pop song and dancing as the film goes to the end credits? What if the entire movie was the characters all singing a pop song and dancing as the film goes to the end credits? And then what if they made a sequel to that film? Sing 2!

ANIMATION: Illumination does have some great artists. Colors pop, movement is fluid and natural, sets are fantastical, and the art is top notch. Please give these wonderful artists something better to do with their talent.

MUSIC: Pop song after pop song after pop song.

ACTING: Matthew McConaughey is a good actor. I have no idea why he agreed to be part of this! But I will admit his performance is better than this film deserves. Like Will Arnett, he has a distinctive voice, but does an incredible job of hiding it with a voice that doesn’t feel fake at all, but is almost unrecognizable.

BOTTOM LINE: Ugh.

I’m going to skip the usual intro here and cut straight to the chase: Santa Inc. is bad. Like, really bad. Like, almost inexplicably bad. And based on the talent involved, I really wanted to like it. Both Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen are more than capable of being hilarious, and I’m game for raunchy yuletide comedy when done right. I should also stress that I’m very easy to please when it comes to Christmas specials and TV shows. Even the supposedly mediocre ones usually make me happy. So it’s kind of a big deal when I say I hated this.

And I’m clearly not alone. Santa Inc. has emerged on HBO Max without too much of a marketing push, and the only headlines the show seems to be making for itself are based off of how much people don’t like it. So what went wrong? Let it be known from the start that Santa Inc. is strictly for adults, and the show tells you this almost immediately. Within five minutes of the first episode, there have already been at least 15 strong profanities and a joke about how more Americans believe in Santa than they do in the holocaust. Moments after that, a reference is made to the size of Prancer the reindeer’s junk. Then there’s more profanity. Lots more profanity. Then there are “jokes” about women being sexually assaulted at work. And even more swearing.

Gee, I wonder why more people aren’t loving this…

Make no mistake. I am no prude by any stretch of the word, even when it comes to holiday entertainment. Robot Chicken has had plenty of hilariously dark Christmas specials over the years, American Dad! has brilliantly turned Santa Claus into a villain hellbent on killing the show’s main characters, and Family Guy’s Road to North Pole is required December viewing in my book.

But all of these examples had good jokes, all of them knew how to balance the crassness with warmth when needed (okay, maybe not Robot Chicken), and all of them didn’t simply think that characters using bad words constantly was enough to count as a punchline. Santa Inc. is a bafflingly misguided affair, trying to go out of its way to demonstrate just how crass it can be (an extremely rude word for female private parts is used at least once), while also wanting to show off just how “progressive” it is without feeling even remotely organic about it.

Yes, Santa Inc. wants to have it both ways–striving to offend its audience while also trying to provide some social commentary about women in the workforce. Handled well, this could work, but such a feat is a delicate balancing act which the show simply isn’t capable of pulling off. Nothing about the political comedy feels sincere. Characters will shout “my body, my choice!” at each other for no apparent reason. A positive shout-out is randomly made out of nowhere to Tonya Harding (I’m sure Nancy Kerrigan would beg to differ on that, but I digress).

And just how “feminist” can this series really consider itself when it includes a joke about Candy being unable to find her “rape whistle” at a time when she thinks she needs it? It all just comes across as hypocritical and even borderline upsetting, creating a sense of constant tonal whiplash which is hard for the viewer to get over even when the jokes do work.

And there are some laughs to be had here, but they come so inconsistently that it’s almost surprising when they do happen. Silverman is a very funny person, and she gives Candy plenty of comedic energy, but it’s a shame the material she’s given simply isn’t that good most of the time, or that the character becomes so unlikable after a certain point that it’s hard for the audience to want to root for her. Actually, that can be said for almost everyone on this show (save for a chubby college intern who works for Candy who is probably the only person in this series truly deserving of happiness).

Santa is largely a jerk here, which is a shame, since Rogen has a lovably dopey voice that would be capable of making him quite warm under the right circumstances. And I haven’t even mentioned Candy’s terrible mother (who constantly gets naked around her daughter, and fair warning to the sensitive, this show does have graphic stop-motion nudity), or her perverted, money-obsessed grandfather who would’ve felt like a badly dated Jewish stereotype years ago.

And that’s another problem–there’s no reason to want anyone on this show to succeed (apart from, well, the aforementioned chubby college kid). Santa Inc. is frequently stressing that Candy isn’t deserving of the mantle of Santa because of the way she treats her family and friends (even though they are making unreasonable demands of her), but also wants the viewer to be “outraged” if she doesn’t get the position. This makes the narrative “tension” tedious, as there’s no reason to care if she actually gets the job or not, since the show is constantly telling us that both potential outcomes would be a very bad thing.

All of this is a shame because a lot of work clearly went into making this. All animation fans know that stop-motion is a back-breaking labor of love for those who have the patience to do so, and the production values are quite impressive and smooth here, even if the series does essentially look like an overlong Robot Chicken episode. The designs of the North Pole and its characters are largely appealing (though I personally can’t get over how much Candy looks like The Count from Sesame Street for some reason), and there are a ton of great sight gags, usually involving stuff going on in the background, or small details like a striped prisoner uniform being made out of Christmas gift wrap. It’s just heartbreaking that all of this talent and effort was used on a series as lazy as this.

And yes, “lazy” is sadly the best word that can be used to accurately describe Santa Inc.. It has no idea what kind of show it wants to be, but it knows what kind of show it wants to be viewed as. Throughout the show, it’s made apparent that Santa is eager to make Candy his successor, but his primary motivation for doing so is all of the praise it will get him from the press for being the most “woke Santa” ever.

Ironically, that’s exactly what Santa Inc. is doing. It wants for people to look at it and go “wow, look at all of the bad words they’re using in this female-driven comedy” or “wow, the political themes of this show are really forward-thinking and current” (and, yes, the series seems to think it’s the first time anyone has ever pointed out that a lot of old white men are in charge of companies).

But that’s not enough. You need more than shock value alone to be funny, and you can’t call yourself “forward-thinking” when your show has a gay character who is a pathetic stereotype. That’s not how you create holiday magic. But it is how you give the streaming equivalent of a lump of coal. Bah humbug indeed!

Within the world of Runeterra, upon the continent of Valoran, there are two neighboring cities: Piltover and Zaun. Once before, the cities were united. Over time, Piltover would prosper and thrive from progressive technological advances. Zaun, on the other hand, descended into filth and ruin while struggling to survive. Divisions festered and before long a terrible battle between the cities left many lives lost. An uneasy truce was brokered and some form of co-existence was left in place, but that fragile peace is now in danger of shattering with the discovery of hextech. The mixing of magic and science has allowed Piltover to grow to greater heights and is leaving Zaun further behind. But placed in the wrong hands, hextech could be far more terrifying as it is majestic. With chaos and destruction seemingly inevitable, the destinies of many lives from both sides come barreling into a catastrophic collision course.

Arcane functions as a stand-alone narrative, so it is not a necessity to have even known anything about League of Legends beforehand. Obviously, those who are knowledgeable of the game would be more perceptive to details and would identify Easter eggs. But it’s clear from the start that the series is designed for everyone to watch, not just players. The game lacking a narrative is perhaps helpful in that there are not a lot of restrictions upon the series towards the storytelling and the world-building. While the game’s champions have pre-established backstories, they were less about being definitive than they were to give them personalities. Arcane serves to flesh out the champions who hail from Piltover and Zaun, bringing them to life in a way that they transcend all medium. I rather believe that when people think of League of Legends going forward they’ll think of the champions as they are in Arcane.

The series is developed by Riot Games creative director Christian Linke and creative designer Alex Yee. They are also among four people who shape the overall story. The other two consisting of senior narrative writer Connor Sheehy and the one outsider brought in to provide fresh perspective, Ash Brannon. Brannon brings along experience from mainstream animation, having previously been a co-director of Toy Story 2 and later director of Surf’s Up alongside Chris Buck. Working together, all four have managed to carefully craft the narrative to ensure that it would appeal to viewers unfamiliar with League of Legends while also satisfying the interests of fans. Moreover, they have placed their focus on making the emotional and exciting tale work so as to pull at heartstrings in fascinating and unexpected ways. It’s very clear that everyone is putting forth their best efforts and it shows quite magnificently.

Arcane concerns the origins of only a small fraction of the over 140 champions in League of Legends while also managing to introduce new faces specifically for the series. The result is the showcase of an ensemble cast of characters. At best, five featured champions from the game receive the most attention in the spotlight. Viktor is a scientist who wants to help mankind, but the terminal illness he has suffered since childhood pushes him to the brink of desperation. Jayce believes wholeheartedly in the potential of what mixing magic and science can do, leading to his discovery of hextech. He is then suddenly thrust into the dangerous waters of politics and is losing sight of who he really is. Caitlyn seeks to escape the shadows of her aristocratic parents, going so far as venture into law enforcement. She gets more than she bargained for upon seeing what the world is like outside of her sheltered life.

The heart of the story, though, centers on sisters Vi and Powder. Being orphaned has forced Vi to do what she can to survive the harsh realities of the world. She’s street-wise and quite strong for her build, but has a short temper and lacks patience. This is to protect herself from feeling vulnerable, particularly if she feels helpless to protect those she cares for. A heart-wrenching tragedy separates them and it is years before Vi is able to look for Powder. Unaware that time and the underbelly of Zaun have shaped the little girl into a whirlwind of mayhem known as Jinx. But even the most vile of people are afraid of just how unstable she truly is, and perhaps always was. Jinx is one of the faces of League of Legends. The game presents her as charming despite being chaotic, drawing inspiration from Harley Quinn. Arcane takes a darker turn, going deep in exploring her schizophrenia that results in some very heavy pathos.

The series is directed by Pascal Charrue and Arnaud Delord. Two of the three founders of the European animation studio Fortiche, they are no strangers to League of Legends as they have worked on many music videos and animation shorts promoting the game. For those projects, they utilized the game’s visual aesthetic to create some lovely work. Arcane has given them the opportunity to explore their creativity in full and push the animation in a completely different direction. League of Legends is generally seen as colorful, clean, and vibrant. Arcane, on the other hand, is saturated, dirty, and graphic. This enhances the dark atmosphere of the story while allowing Charrue and Delord the chance to showcase a bold style that is mesmerizing to watch in motion. And it is through this show that the directors and their animators shine as unique visual storytellers who have great ideas to show and tell.

The world is brought to life with a fascinating mixture of computer generated imagery and traditional hand-drawn animation. This results in some amazing visuals that are breathtaking to watch, such as smoke emerging from an ignited torch or particularly when Jinx’s schizophrenia starts to overwhelm her. The animation elicits further awe from an astounding utilization of the cinematography. Incredible scenes such as the many fist fights Vi finds herself getting into or the various experimentation Viktor conducts are sights to behold and played out wonderfully. Even subdued moments such as those establishing a growing bond between Vi and Caitlyn are displayed lovingly. Everything comes together so well that they evoke the precise emotion of the scene and the viewer is able to feel it. To call the animation beautiful would be an understatement. It’s actually hard to describe in words just how good it is.

The characters are voiced by a delightful ensemble cast. Hailee Steinfeld perfectly matches the stubborn strength and aching vulnerability in Vi. Katie Leung is heavenly as the soothing and determined Caitlyn. Kevin Alejandro finds the right compelling tones for Jayce. Harry Lloyd in excellent as the suffering and desperate Viktor. Even the voices to a couple original characters have managed to stand-out nicely. Jason Spisak is magnificent as Silco, a man whose willingness to do bad things to achieve his goals masks surprising sympathy. JB Blanc is outstanding as Vander, a street-weary former revolutionist who houses Vi and Powder as children and struggles to maintain peace all-around. But Ella Purnell really shines the most as Jinx. The crackle in her voice adds weight to some amazingly dramatic moments of sorrow and insanity. The cast as a whole do a phenomenal job bringing their champions to life.

Music has played a major part in the popularity of League of Legends and it’s no different with Arcane. Composing the score is Alexander Temple, Riot Games senior composer, and Alex Seaver, a well-renowned musician known by the stage name Mako. The two more than deliver on the challenge of bolstering the drama and intensity of the narrative, creating melodies that are haunting as they are wonderful to hear. Their music adds that extra layer of ambience to further bring the world all the more alive on top of what is visualized. The presence of pop songs, particularly those of the electricpop genre, may not please everyone depending on their tastes. Truth be told, they’re minimal and they are at least nicely woven in so as not to be too distracting. I rather liked “Enemy” by Imagine Dragons as the main theme and the use of “Guns for Hire” by Woodkid is excellent in enhancing the scene it plays through.

Aside from the apparent divisiveness over the pop songs, the one worry about Arcane could be how dark the narrative is. League of Legends is generally colorful and tends to evoke fun despite the competitive nature of the game. Arcane is heavy and surprising emotional. There are light-hearted moments to be sure and not everything is all dour. But when the drama hits, it hits so hard that it will knock viewers down, wait patiently for them to get back up, and then knock them down again. Being the heart of the story, Vi and Jinx go through a great deal of challenging situations in their respective journeys and they often come out worse for wear spiritually. The increasing intensity of Jinx’s schizophrenia does not help. The majority of the episodes end on cliffhangers and they’re quite the doozy. Arcane is tear-jerking, presenting the notion that trying to achieve the idea of hope will have tragic consequences.

Arcane is a marvel to behold. There are not many video game adaptations that have been all that well received over the decades. This show eclipses them all, standing alone in a league of its own. The careful attention in crafting the narrative have resulted in an emotional story that is wonderful as it is heartbreaking. The animation is majestic, mixing computer generated imagery with traditional hand-drawn illustrations to display visuals that are breathtaking and awe inspiring. The champions are developed with great fascination and brought to life by a delightful vocal cast of performers. The music score is as haunting as it is beautiful, regardless of how one might feel about the presence of pop songs. This is one of the best shows to be created and it is merely the beginning. In managing to bring everything together so magnificently, Arcane is definitely an animated series that is, above all, legendary.

Reagan is a technical genius who is quite ambitious and takes her job so seriously that it edges her closer to becoming a psychopath. But while she’s good at her work, her people skills are in the toilet. As a result, management has forced her to share leadership of her team of unruly misfits with yes-man Brett Hand. Brett’s desire to always be liked by everyone is so great it brings to light how badly naive he is over what he is getting himself into. And while that’s enough of a headache for Reagan to deal with on any given day, she is also having to house her father Rand, the former CEO and co-founder of Cognito, Inc. whose unrelenting paranoia had gotten him fired for nearly exposing the Deep State as well as getting divorced from her mother.

Almost right off the bat, there’s going to be inevitable comparisons between Inside Job with Rick and Morty. Visually speaking, Inside Job follows along the recent path from some adult animated programs by looking as simple and as clean as possible so as to make the series as a whole rather pleasant on the eyes to watch. This also allows for more emphasis in surprising audiences during moments design for shock value. They are wisely not as often used in the show so that the impact hits just right in bolstering the narrative. And when they do happen, the animation is quite top notch. This is showcased in such scenes like one where multiple clones that are released from storage then begin to mutate and merge into a massive monstrosity.

The thing that really makes the look of Inside Job stand out from other shows is the visualization of the conspiracies at the heart of the show’s lore. There’s a combination of the familiar and spinning to the conspiracies each episode highlights, from the JFK assassination to the moon landing and beyond. In finding that middle ground to present something different, it’s an opportunity to spin them further visually. The moon landing conspiracy creates a fascinating approach that results in unique designs to take advantage of the unexpected twists. The episode also shows something that could conceivably be built towards later, displaying just a glimpse at how the Atlantis legend is played with. This adds an interesting appeal to refreshing ideas.

But while the visual approach to the conspiracies is fascinating, they take a backseat to the actual narrative, merely serving to highlight a specific obstacle Reagan faces in her social life. Exploration of the JFK assassination being the backdrop to her tasked with determining who in the company she should fire. An important social event with shape-shifting lizards bringing to light Reagan’s discomfort with hugging. The moon landing is the basis for her wanting to literally create space between herself and her father. With this much focus on Reagan, it means that the weight of the show hinges on how well she is developed throughout the series. In all honesty, Reagan ultimately comes off as one of the most fun characters I’ve seen in recent years.

To say Reagan is socially awkward would be underselling just how damaged she really is beneath the surface. While she progressively becomes open-minded to being more outgoing than she is introduced as, she has passed the point of no return in her ambition to eventually be in charge of Cognito, Inc. thanks in no small part to terrible parenting by her father and even her mother. The result is an amazing hodge podge of a personality that is equal parts megalomaniacal and equal parts endearing. Even at her worst there’s a feeling of wanting to root for her to overcome so that she’ll feel somewhat better at the end of the day. Reagan’s appeal is further enhanced by an outstanding vocal performance from Lizzy Caplan at the top of her game.

There is a downside to this. As great as Reagan turned out to be, all of the other characters have on the whole not been developed all that well. The team of misfits are essentially just there and don’t seem to have much purpose. This is certainly the case with Gigi, who heads the media manipulation, and Andre, the biochemist who gets off on the drugs he makes. There are attempts to examine Glenn, a human-dolphin hybrid super soldier, and Magic Myc, a psychic mushroom-like organism from inside Hollow Earth, but these are brief, secondary, and less interesting. There’s also JR, the current CEO who comes off as a duplicate to Stephen Colbert, but he too is limited to merely bossing Reagan and only slightly has a secondary plot near the end.

Brett and Rand have managed to get some legs as far as their development goes, though much is to do with their voice actors giving some great performances. Brett’s arc of being the a goody two shoes adapting to a work environment dedicated to deceiving the general public is slow and lacking actual progress. His only purpose seems to be to bring out a caring side to Reagan. If not for the vocal performance of Clark Duke emphasizing the naivety in a charming manner, the character might come off more of an annoyance. For Rand, it’s all about the vocal performance by Christian Slater. Putting a spin on the crazy old man act results in some of the most hilarious antics on the show and is quite fun to watch butting heads with Reagan.

While this review covers the first ten episodes that were available as of writing and that perhaps a lot more can be done once additional episodes are made, I can’t help but feel a strange sense that there was some rushing in the making of the show aside from the care that clearly went into developing Reagan. Creator Shion Takeuchi was a writer on shows such as Regular Show, Disenchantment, and Gravity Falls, so she has a good sense for storytelling. And she has the support of Gravity Falls creator Alex Hirsch, who serves as an executive producer and co-wrote an episode. In general, the writing and how the episodes are shaped is good. But there’s a lot to take in and maybe too much focus on Reagan to allow other characters to breathe.

Inside Job is a show that is worth checking out. The animation is very nice and there’s some great spinning of the conspiracies toward fascinating directions. It features one of the most fun characters in Reagan Ridley despite a personality that is as much conceited as it is appealing. But because there’s an absolute focus on her, most everyone else take such a backseat as to be greatly unimportant in the grand scheme of things. The hope is that Inside Job will get more episodes and time will be allowed to develop the other characters a lot more as well as further explore the conspiracies so that there is a proper balance to Reagan’s development. There’s great promise to this series and is one that Netflix will hopefully not cover up.