Tom Freeman

A quick and concise black comedy with a variety of interesting and well-acted characters and two great performances at the helm. It takes its initial concept and bends it in ways that sets it apart from other works like Groundhog Day, Happy Death day, etc and, despite being inherently repetitive, never becomes boring or loses its sense of energy and flow. Definitely worth the short watch.

A harmless show that is certainly visually interesting however fails to deliver in explaining the evolution of the creatures it’s designed down to the fact that even the Earth life it attempts to draw parallels to don’t effectively illustrate the why the creatures are the way they are (some having no link at all). I’d recommend watching Life Beyond II: Museum or alien life instead. It’s a lot shorter, free on YouTube and does a better job explaining how certain evolutions can occur without limiting itself to trying to explain ridiculous creature designs (instead using them as a visual aid). Overall, as I said, it’s harmless, it’s very visually interesting (even if a lot of footage gets reused at times) and the segments on Earth and the segments exploring other worlds are perfectly fine on their own, they just don’t link up the way they should.

Great performances all around (especially from Anya Taylor-Joy and Marielle Heller), an absolutely gorgeous and fitting score along with cinematography that, though not always particularly spectacular, is still interesting and far from stale (making up for its simplicity with some appropriate running motifs). The story itself is engaging with an interesting exploration of addiction and is shockingly effective at making a chess tournament edge-of-your-seat intense. Even when this show does something that’s been done before, I still think it does it in its own way that is more effective than most others. It’s earned the hype and is honestly one of the best shows on Netflix currently.

What a gorgeous film. I’d honestly say this is my favourite animated film I’ve seen in a while. It feels like a storybook brought to life in terms of the unique style of Cartoon Saloon and the folky, mythical, legendary story it actually tells with this wonderful, fast paced energy to the plot and characters that makes it so entertaining, never feeling like it wastes time. It utilises the medium to its full advantage with some amazing action sequences, an interesting use of perspective and most notably in the way it’s used to show the senses of the wolves, especially in a scene that I would call the turning point of the film as, after this point around the end of the first act, it becomes a lot less cliched and something much more than an average kids film. It honestly keeps getting better as it goes on, never losing its momentum. The music was vibrant and perfect for the film, though silence also effectively led to some very atmospheric scenes (especially the opening). There is one theme that feels a little overused but it is a great theme and there’s enough variation that I’d be nitpicking to call it a problem. The characters are a joy to watch aided by great voice performances, my favourites being that of Eva Whittaker (Mebh) and Sean Bean (Robyn’s father). There were points where it was funny, action-packed, incredibly emotional (I cried at some moments but I am a bit of a whimp) and even violent at times with a sense of danger and consequence established quite early on that helped keep me invested in the conflict (though it is very much still a children’s film). It’s rare that I see a kids film that feels as though it had a story it wanted to tell and has its own, distinctive way in which to present it. I could watch this forever and find new things to love about it. I’m hoping it wins best animated feature at the Oscars this year as it’s the best animated film I’ve seen so far this year and Cartoon Saloon deserves a win but unfortunately Pixar’s ‘Soul’ came out so it might not stand a chance. I wouldn’t mind it getting nominated for best score as I think that was another great element of the film. If you have even the slightest bit of interest, I beg you to check it out, it truly is one of the best movie viewing experiences I’ve had so far this year.