Magma Cat Music

Ultimately, this movie is basically a shorter, less chilling, less interesting version of the series ‘The Act’. Of course, the two main actresses were amazing, but the script felt lazy and left so many unanswered questions. What happened to Chloe’s dad? Why would Diane want to make her stolen daughter so ill when her real child had already died from illness? And why would she chain Chloe up in the same room as all her incriminating files? Because of the Netflix description, I guessed the ending before I’d even started watching. For something labelled a ‘Horror Film’, the only part that really chilled me was when Diane was revealed sitting in the dark while Chloe was using the computer. That being said, the tension throughout was very well done. Essentially, Run was a decent, fast-paced watch, but I wish they’d allowed more time to develop the main characters and experiment with more overall detail to the plot.

Honestly? After watching this, I felt sort of empty. And it left me full of questions. What is the history between sea monsters and humans? Why on earth do sea monsters turn human when on land? Why didn't they know Italian fluently? And how did Luca suddenly get so much better at cycling than everyone else in only one clumsy week? Some of the animation was gorgeous, and the idea of fish in the sky was a cute touch. The town was charming enough, and I liked the hints of Italian culture peppered throughout. But I seriously didn't care one bit about the characters. Luca was a good kid with a rebellious streak, and that was about it. Oh, and the villain was the most two-dimensional bully stereotype yet. No character arc, no reason as to why he was so mean, nothing. I was expecting him to end up being a sea monster just trying to fit in, which would make sense as to why he was so desperate to win the race and keep the town's favour. But no, he was literally just a human bully with nothing else to do. Finally, the lack of charisma and character development nearly killed me. It was nothing like the classics of Wall-E, Ratatouille or Toy Story. I didn't laugh, and I didn't cry. It was the exact same formula as every other children's movie out there: kid disobeys parents, finds out that the forbidden world is actually great, and has a happy ending. Altogether, it's a meh. It's one hell of a pretty picture, but there's not much going on behind the canvas.