Vert's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Tale Teller]

... utterly fantastic, amazing stuff. This is such a traditional piece of animation, traditional in it's story, it's themes, even it's execution (to some extent), you could even call it old-fashioned. But it doesn't <feel> old fashioned, quite far from that, it feels fresh, vibrant and delightful!

Normally I would give a long, detailed analyses in this part of the review, but I want for time, want badly... so let me just focus on a few things instead, fairly briefly:

- Firstly, really well animated and drawn, I really liked pretty much everything in this aspect, from the backgrounds, to the character designs (a lot more diverse than what you normally create, I'd say), to how the tales differ in animation and drawing style. Great stuff!

- Secondly, great narration, pure and simple. And the music, although a tad too melodramatic for me, still pretty much worked, thanks to the overall heart the animation has.

- Finally, nice poem composition, it has a good rhythm and the story, although a traditional sort of story, works very well and is interesting to listen to.

So, apologies again for the briefness, but I felt this is such a splendid animation, I had to leave a review, even if a short one like this, it reinforces my belief that NG, for all it's flaws, still has great gems to be found!

Cheers and kudos!

[Sign here]

... excelente, realmente excelente, essa animação é fascinante do começo ao fim e é provavelmente a melhor que você já criou Golfinho (e coautores!), meus parabéns. Permita-me detalhar minha critica:

- Com relação a animação em si, wow, a qualidade é altíssima. O nível de detalhes nos desenhos é ótimo, tanto durante os 'close-ups' como para as cenas mais distantes (claro que nem tudo é super-detalhado, mas vocês escolheram muito bem que elementos e quando torna-los mais detalhados) e a animação é ridiculamente fluida do começo ao fim. O FPF que voces fazem é realmente ótimo, de alto calibre!

Os 'backgrounds' nos acts I, II e final são talvez um pouco esparsos demais, poderiam ter mais elementos neles, mas o do III ajuda compensar. E gostei bastante das cores do act III, ajudam a dar um elemento surreal a animação como um todo. Certamente, a qualidade da animação e dos desenhos é o melhor aspecto de "sign here".

- A musica foi sabiamente escolhido, e serve muito bem ao proposito de deixar o que estamos vendo com um tom sinistro, perturbador e perturbado. Ela é meio repetitiva, mas como a animacao e relativamente curta, isso acaba não sendo um problema. Os efeitos sonoros são bastante esparsos, mas bem usados e bem escolhidos também.

- A estória é bastante intrigante e bem desenvolvida. A estrutura de 'Acts' nos deixa curiosos por saber que tipo de climax haverá, e a sequencia cada vez mais surreal e sinistra de eventos que cada um dos Acts traz, deixa uma sensação insólita e perversa. E digo mais, cada Act individualmente, graças em grande parte por conter cada um um pequeno twist inesperado, é interessantíssimo de se ver, o que demonstra que essa animação tem um roteiro (assim por dizer) sólido.

(Alias, Golfinho, você modera suas tendencias escatológicas nessa animação, usando-a apenas como um 'pucnh-line', e isso ajuda a torna-la ainda mais potente graças a isso; espero que no futuro você possa continuar criando animações que não abuse demais da escatologia)

Em resumo, muito, muito bom mesmo, uma animação intrigante, muito bem feita e que realmente merece renome e elogios, todos que ajudaram a criar recebem meus aplausos!

[HAPPY VALENTINES DAY! | Root & Digby]

... a quick review, which I normally detest doing, but you and this series deserves it. ^_^ This is a great series, overall, simple and quick, but funny, joyful and oh so pleasant to watch. :) Allow me to detail my review:

- The animation and drawings are very simple, but well suited and done. Most of the series is just a bunch of talking, involving little movement, so to speak, but whenever there is animation, it's well done. I like the design of the characters, they have a fairly original look to them, and well suited to their personalities.

The backgrounds are quite nice too, the contrast with the characters is perhaps a little bit jarring at times, but mostly it looks nice, with the pastel painting and textured surface look. Very childlike and nice. ^_^

- Sound effects and music... well there's not much of both, not enough to comment on. But the voice acting is excellent, the voices incredibly well suited for the characters, and with some truly great performances and delivery. Root sounds so joyful every time, is wonderful! And Digby sounds mature, big brother like and factual, it's great. :)

- The stories are super simple, just sketches really, but funny and interesting and fun and fairly <original> sketches! Seriously, there's a lot of joy to be had in watching most episodes, despite it's simplicity, and you make excellent use of the personalities of Digby and, above all, Root.

On that note, great timing on the humour too, you normally know how deliver the punchlines really well, and know how to punctuate them with visual elements excellently.

All in all, just a great series. I subscribed to you a few months back or so, and haven't regretted it in the least. Consistently funny, cute and fun bite-sized animations that really cheer me up. For all that, cheers and kudos! :D

jerbjpg responds:

Oh wow, thanks for the review! The time you took to say all that means a lot! It's great to hear feedback and I'm really glad you are enjoying the series so far!

I'm definitely looking into adding more music in the show, but I don't know how or what I want to do with it currently. The series evolves gradually as we continue to make it,and I'm happy you are there for the ride :)

[depressing stories]

... terrific stuff, I'm very impressed with this one. It's an surprisingly ambitious, if somewhat simple and short movie, that manages to do an awful lot in just 2 minutes. Allow me to detail my review:

- The drawing style is very simple for the 3 segments, it's only a step above stick figure, but the animation is extremely fluid and you've made one very stylish movie to boot, so top marks on this aspect. Take the backgrounds, it's as simple as it gets, but the few times the backgrounds matter, such as in the 'rain' and the factory, you pay just enough attention to make them fit.

I also really liked the intro and outro via the cyclops, she's very well drawn and animated, with a pretty unique and interesting look, and the intro and outro serve to create a surreal, but somehow very logical link between everything. Overall, despite it's simplicity, I enjoyed the drawings and I definitely feel that you deserve kudos for the very well done animation throughout.

- Music, well, there isn't any, really, so I can't comment on this aspect...

- ... but the sound effects, oh boy, you made excellent use of your sound effects, both those that serve to illustrate and punctuate scenes, i.e., the short musical snippets, the background chatter, the film projector sound, and the ones used for specific on-screen actions, such as the dying sound, the footsteps, etc. This movie has some excellent sound design, it really does, you seemed to have spent a good amount of time with this and it's paid off, as it really serves to make the movie all the more powerful.

- On a similar vein, the voice acting is excellent, I love how you've mixed the two voices and added appropriate distortions, it's unworldly without being too alien.

- The stories themselves aren't wholly original, I've certainly seen other tales of how people think others see themselves, of how the requirements of a job can lead to distortion of ourselves, and, of course, how the loneliness of rejection feels, and they barely qualify as stories in so much that they're very, very short.

But you present these stories in a very original manner, surprisingly original, and in a compelling and interesting way, which is why the movie works. We've not used to having shapes tell us stories like that, and you make use of their proprieties to convey emotions and feelings very well. I also think that length of the movie is spot-on, at most you could have added one more story before it would be a bit too much, and I like the flow, both of the movie and of each story itself.

So, keeping my review short, this is a very well made, somwhat simple, but highly effective movie that's very interesting to watch and has some real ambition to it.

For all that, cheers and kudos! Look forward to your next work. :)

dylan responds:

"I can feel your halo halo halo
I can see your halo halo halo
I can feel your halo halo halo
I can see your halo halo halo"

- beyoncé, 2008

[TD-This Too Shall Pass]

... this is your best one yet, Dave, absolutely stunning. More heartfelt, honest and poignant than most 99% of things out there, and I'm very, very impressed by the narrative and art for this one. Let me detail my analysis:

- The art, yikes, this is quite possibly your effort yet, in so many ways. To being with, the 'mortality' illustration is tremendously powerful in itself, despite it's rough edges, and I absolutely love the contrast between the more sombre and more humorous illustrations, where, for once, a plain simple white background works beautifully to enhance the difference in the situations. Also, the slightly different character styles the sombre / lighter sections have is a great, subtle way of making each scene look different without being jarring.

I also loved the use of shadows throughout, you really make them work, again despite the rough edges, they help to create an atmosphere of melancholy and sadness, and it all just works really well. Big kudos on this aspect.

- Your narration remains very compelling and your voice acting is very good, undoubtedly helped by the fact that your narrating, well, your life. We can really feel the emotions for each situation, and you have talent for infusing a bit of deadpan snark even in a difficult situation, without making it seem as if you are making light of them, thus making these absurd and grim situations almost comical, without actually being so.

- The story is, of course, very sad, and a excellent reflective piece. It's clear, not just from this one, but from all your works so far, that you have reflected quite a bit in the situations that you went through, so despite each work being 'overflowing' with your opinions, these are interesting and reflected-upon opinions, that, even when we disagree with them, are more than worthwhile hearing... indeed, without them, these works wouldn't, well, work! They're at the heart of what drives the TD series and makes it so good.

And this is one personal story that really gets to me, it really does. Not because of any similar, personal life-experience, but just because there's a honesty in the way you say things, pointing out the clichés that might be expected and why they didn't happen to you (without disparaging the clichés, just dispelling the notion that they apply / are appropriate to that situation), and them proceeding, instead, of highlighting the feelings that you did have at that time, so that it all just feels real, true, if you know what I mean.

This is, of course, true in every story you've told in this series so far, but here these qualities shine brighter than ever before and I really do feel that you've done an outstanding piece of work for this one; even the title is a great choice and fits with everything else tremendously well.

- In terms of the set-pieces, it's almost impeccable, but only almost. The intro segment, where you transition from explaining who Sidney is into what she had done, doesn't quite work and it leaves the viewer quite confused for a few seconds; so unless that was intentional, it almost breaks the mood of the piece (although I kind of see what you were aiming at). But all the other set-pieces, the drive, the wait, the bed, the subway and home, have an excellent flow to them, they smoothly work with each other, and the timing and length of each is spot-on.

So, overall, I honestly feel this is your best piece yet, Dave. Although (and I must make this clear, since I didn't mention it before) I <do> feel that your artwork, narration and story skills are improving and have improved significantly since you've started this series, and that this work has the best of all them so far, this isn't the real reason why this one shines more than the others.

No, I think it's because the story that you're telling here, more than any before, is one where your biggest strengths in narration, story and artwork, have a chance to make a bigger impact than before.

For all that, kudos! Congratulations! And I eagerly await the next instalment of the TD series.

Raziberry responds:

That was one hell of an analysis. Thank you for your thoughts on the video. I will endeavour to do even better in the future.
Cheers!

[Three for a Death: No Evil 012]

... so, this will have to be an atypically short review from me, but I had to reinforce something I've written before, because I really want to make this clear to you, Betsy: you're a magnificent storyteller, above all things. Let me briefly detail my review first, and then move on to that:

- Firstly, in terms of animation and drawings, this movie is a bit weaker than most of your previous ones, I think. It's a little bit less polished, and has a few scenes where the frame-by-frame just seems less fluent than previous ones. The drawings are a little bit rougher too, although the backgrounds remain of high quality as usual and, to make it clear, most of the movie has the (fairly) high standards you normally put into your movies, it's just disappointing it's not quite on par with some of the previous ones. Also, sidemouths and blackness to mask action equals :(.

On the other hand, love how you've incorporated the 'Mexican day of the dead' designs! They look odd, slightly out of place, but sufficiently close to the rest of your general design that it's nor jarring, just alien.

- Music, well, it's the usual great use of music, which really adds to the atmosphere, as does the brief wind and wood instruments. You really are great at using them!

- Voice acting has that great range of accents and voices of past movies, which is always very satisfying. Angel's voice actress is slightly off, compared to the rest, but she's still quite competent, and I always enjoy them a lot, overall.

- Good set-pieces, good camerawork and good transitions. :)

- And, above all, great storytelling! I love, love, love how you use your stories not just to further the plot, not just to introduce interesting new characters, not just to explore and mix-up fascinating myths from the New World, not just to tell compelling and interesting stories, but also to explore your characters, introduce new facets to them, adding depth and characterization to them.

Basically, you're a storyteller at heart, you have the gift for creating excellent stories, truly original and compelling ones, and you've chosen an excellent medium to tell them, but I'm fairly confident you'd be able to succeed in doing so almost anywhere you choose to express yourself. It's a rare gift too, far too many creators now a days have no talent, or no interest in developing a talent, for creating stories, and, instead, just opt for mindless repetition and regurgitation of things done by others before, or opt to simple try to induce base emotions like laughter, disgust or anger.

As such, I consider myself very, very lucky that you've continued to venture forth with the No Evil series and I'm always looking forward to the next instalment; your gift and your decision to share that gift should be cherished and praised!

Kudos! Cheers! And do let us know once that Patreon is up. ;)

(Whew! Much longer a review than I originally intended... ^_^ )

[TD-Days Go By]

... been a very long time since I've left a review, but this series has been so excellent so far, that I felt this is an good point to do so. This is episode, like all others, is sincere, honest, heartfelt and downright funny look at your past. Allow me to detail my review:

- I really like your art style, it's fresh and interesting, and I like the colour palettes that you use, that make the images really come to life, despite the fact you basically don't use shading. The drawing style is excellent, although a little crude, it works because it's just about sufficiently stylized, with those lovely thick lines, that it all fits.

Have to say, the one thing that's a bit more mixed bag are the backgrounds, or the lack of them. When you include backgrounds, they tend to look excellent, but far too many scenes lack them altogether, which is fine, in many ways, as it simplifies your work a lot and allows for a quick turn around, but it can be a little bit noticeable.

The lack of animation, by the way, is a non-issue, but only because your drawings are sufficiently rich and detailed that it's nice to have a chance to look at them for a few seconds.

- Your voice acting is spot-on. You've managed to put a good amount of emotion in the right places, and the narration pace is excellent, it's a steady pace, with a good deal of range of, well, emotions, that it's fun to listen to.

- The script, though, is the real killer, you've done a terrific job at being honest, upfront, self-depreciative, funny and clever. The overarching story is well told, as it becomes progressively more and more clear where things are headed, but it's the focus of each episode, how you dissect them and gives us your thoughts, that make it all glue together.

So, in the end, this has been a great series, fun, funny, interesting, <insert of the adjectives above>, that's very well illustrated and narrated. I'm sincerely hoping you'll choose to continue to tell us your story, as your travails, although obviously painful to you at the time, have been absolutely fascinating to watch.

Cheers and kudos!

Raziberry responds:

That was probably the most thoughtful and thorough review of my work ever! And such kind things to say. Wow. Thank you!

[Wrip an' Vinkle: No Evil 010]

... since drak231 has decided to leave a review starting with "I've been on NG for awhile now. More than 10 years actually." and then proceding to just explain his disbelief at the this movie, without actually reviewing, I thought it was my duty to respond to that.

I've been on NG for awhile now. One more year than drak231, in fact. And I have seen many, many movies that were technically excellent and polished to a mirror shine in it's drawings and animations. Some of those movies were also excellent, some were poor. But rarely, far too rarely, do I have the privilege to see a movie that has a heart; that has a passion behind it, that has genuine creativity and originality. And your movies, bar none, have all that, this one included. But I'm getting ahead of myself, allow me to detail my review:

- Animation was good, although a bit rough. When you're careful about it, you have some excellent fpf stuff, that's of very high quality, smooth and with few errors; but sometimes it's a little bit rough and it's clear that you haven't spent too much time on it.

Still, given the overall style of drawings that you use, that's slightly messy (specially your backgrounds) but very stylish, this is pretty much a none issue, the less-than-perfect animation sits well with everything else and perhaps even enhances things.

I also really like your character design, every one of them is very unique in the way they not only look, but move and speak and it's a pleasure to see such diversity in a movie.

- Music-wise, oh boy, it's just all around excellent. The songs you use are terrific and fit the stories you tell so well, it's a fantastic fit. I mean, you have this subdued, almost relaxed tone in your movies, that stems from the stories and the the animation itself, and the songs you choose, all full of guitars and wind instruments and harmonicas, complement that so well, it's incredibly impressive.

And the sound effects are expertly used too, I love how you punctuate things with short musical bursts; when it comes to sound design, you really are top-notch.

- Voice-acting and singing is, for the most part, terrific. I love the accents of your voice actors, and how they can express a lot of emotion too (contempt, joy, a wide spectrum!) and the range of actors that you use; most of the voices fit the characters tremendously well and really add to everything.

Having said that, there are a few lapses and weaker efforts here and there, but the main characters, the most important ones whom we have to really care about, they sound fine-to-good. And the singing, oh what great singing, very soulful and sincere.

- But, really, what it comes down to is your stories. You have wonderfully original stories to tell, at least they're original to me(!), that reference things I'm barely familiar with, and that have real heart, real love, that have characters who have realistic emotions, conflict and reconciliation that stems from situations anyone can relate, that are, above all, so enjoyably light (in the best sense of the word!), that they draw you in and just wow you with their delicate, intricate and beautiful nature.

I don't know how you do it, I really don't, but that gift for original storytelling is so rare, that it must be cherished and praised and I'm so happy when I see a new movie of yours come out, since I know I'll have the chance to really enjoy myself for a little while.

So, to sum things up, this, like all of your movies, might be a bit rough in some places and might not be the most technically amazing movie around, would still miles ahead of 99% of what's out there by the virtue of your storytelling alone; the fact you're also very talented in so many other areas and make good use of your talents (and everyone else who contributes!), is the icing on the cake.

Cheers! Kudos! I can say with sincerity, that I look forward to your next endeavour! And I hope your movies get the attention they deserve.

^_^