Vert's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[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!

[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!

[Smash Bros. Gone Wrong]

... not a proper review, for which I apologise, instead, here's some tips and where you can improve things. Firstly, the voices, please re-record the voices and dramatically improve the recording quality, Link and Mario's voices are grating and extremely unpleasant. Look up some voice acting tutorials for recording, for example RicePirate's 'VO Home Studio: Space'.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/590285

Please have a look at some recording tutorials, and NOT just the one above.

Secondly, please try to improve your script. This animation provides nothing new, that hasn't been seen before in many, many places. Yes, Toad looks like a mushroom and yes mushrooms are a power-up; this observation has been done many, many, MANY times before, so it provides no humour. Same with Mario being 'addicted to mushrooms' or Sonic being fast. And PLEASE don't use canned laughter like that, it's utterly incomprehensible, unless it's a very poor attempt at 'ironic humour'.

The one attempt at originality that I could see here was Toad's 'speech', but that was very poorly executed and I couldn't tell whether it was supposed to be funny or clever or what.

Thirdly, the animation is a bit weak, needs more work, especially if you're going to use some FPF stuff (such as the cape) which need a lot more frames to look half-decent. But, even more so, the quality of the drawings varies a lot, some horrible (Mario's face looked terrible in the 'shrooms' part), some ok (hopefully you didn't simply trace them). Go for more consistency in the way characters look and try looking up some drawing tutorials.

And don't just randomly incorporate a 'Oney face' like you do; it's not funny, it's not original and it just looks bad; especially since you don't seem to understand how to use it effectively.

Finally, fix the aspect ratio, it's clearly wrong and we can see the 'white space' above and below that we aren't supposed to see.

Having said all that, I don't want to discourage you, not at all. This is an impressive animation for someone who's clearly starting out and you show both promise and ambition; the simple fact that you tried to do some FPF and it turned out merely poor, as opposed to downright bad, is a good sign.

You also tried to vary the camera angles, including some dynamic stuff, tried to incorporate some original elements, it's all much more than I'd expect from a a clear begginer, so kudos on that, and I hope to see some truly good animations in the future.

Above all, practice, practice, practice.

Raccatoons responds:

Thanks for the tips. I'll record better lines next time. You're right actually, I didn't really think about it as I was making it but this is really unoriginal. I was just so inspired by the works of artists like Arin Hanson and Max Gilardi that I wanted to make something of the sort. I lost track of what I myself should be doing and didn't stay true to what I'd like to watch.
Some of the animation was lackluster because I'm a novice animator and still require training.

I greatly appreciate your critique and hope you'll stay tuned. I'll be practicing.

[Infiltrator v1.0]

...

... this is going to sound harsh, so please bear with me, but this is almost a very good movie, but only almost. It has a great deal creativity and originality and good overall flow and timing, but it's basically let down because you overuse some animation short-cuts and/or animation style that simply wasn't as good as everything else. Allow me to explain:

- The drawing quality is pretty good and I do like the overall style you use, especially for the characters. It's quite original and everything has enough detail so as to stand-out nicely, although because you only use very muted colours throughout, you might have taken advantage of that to be able to highlight anything of interest by giving them bold colours, although that's only a suggestion.

The problem here is the animation itself. Firstly, there are several noticeable off-model drawings of yours characters that are very jarring, especially given the overall serious tone that you went for, as they sometimes suddenly look fat or very distorted. But not only that, you overuse several animation short-cuts, such as having a semi-static scene, that requires very little actual animation, last for too long and then have scenes that have real action in them, last way too short.

A perfect example of the latter is the corridor shooting sequence; you focus far too long on the defenders shooting whilst standing still and the initial reaction of the attacker, but when the attacker finally does get to cover, the sequence is so short that we barely understand how he moves.

I know that this is also down to a conscientious style choice that you went with, that does give a certain punch to the more 'animated' sequences, but it's not one that I like, so unfortunately, I felt a little let down by the movie in this aspect. But, to make it 100% clear, doesn't mean it was bad, far from it, it's just that compared to the quality that's visible in everything else, the only 'ok' animation stands out as the worst aspect of the movie.

- The music was pretty good and it fits the movie's tone well, it has some nice 'crescendo' parts and is just fun to listen too. Overall coordination between the on-screen action and the song was pretty good too, you made good use of the song.

- The story isn't really anything special, but that's besides the point; this is an action movie where what matters are the set-pieces. And the set-pieces, although a somewhat cliche, do have plenty unique twists to make them genuinely interesting (such as the faces, the way 'rage' is created, the interface instructions, and so forth).

So, overall, this is a good, but only good movie. It has a lot of things going for it, such as very creative twists, interesting character and overall design, really good soundtrack and good flow, but it's let down by some unpolished animation and the by the use of too many animation short-cuts.

But, to end in a positive note, this animation does show a great deal of potential and I can honestly say that I am looking forward to seeing what you'll come up with in the future!

^_^

tap5y responds:

Thanks very much for the detailed review!

[Nap]

...

... I like this, I like this a lot. It's a bit rough around the edges and uses a few too many shortcuts here and there, but it's wildly imaginative and interesting, with a good soundtrack to boot. Allow me to detail my analysis:

- Graphically that was, on average, very good. I like the pseudo-rotoscoping style that pervades the whole animation, not to mention the actual rotocosping in the beginning, and the animation is refreshingly fluid for the most part. I mean, when you're focusing on the main character(s), their movement is very smooth and looks great.

However, not all is perfect, as it's quite evident that it wasn't as fun to animate the sheep themselves, some of the background movement that they have clearly lack the attention to detail and polish that you dedicated to everything else and you a couple of animation shortcuts to produce the illusion of movement where there is none.

It's only so evident because of the contrast with the on-screen action and maybe that was the intent (dreams are <weird> sometimes), so this may be unfair criticism and, in any case, the pros far outway the positives. I specially liked the creativity in the scenes being shown, you can translate your imagination well.

- Soundwise, really good stuff here. No sound effects, but none were needed, as the music not only fit the overall movie well, but also punctuated the scenes perfectly as the coordination between the on-screen action and soundtrack was spot-on. Quite possibly the strongest aspect of the movie itself, so kudos for it!

- Storywise, nothing too new or clever, but I like the flow of it and I thought that the overall length was also well picked, it's just long enough to tell a quick story without becoming tiresome. Let me put it like this: you wanted to tell the story of a short nap and it's dream within and, from that perspective, the story accomplishes this in a interesting way. It's a simple objective, but you hit it with stride.

So, overall, despite a few flaws, this is a interesting and well made movie that's very inventive visually and has a great soundtrack and (some) excellent animation; with a few less shortcuts and a bit more polish, it could have been exceptional itstead of just very good.

Cheers!

Spillkaidah responds:

As i've said in a few other responses here, i acknowledge the shortcuts completely and i agree it's not where it could be. I need some more experience with deadlines and time allocation. Also, none of it was rotoscoped, but i appreciate your faith!

Thanks for the extensive review.

[Repercussions of Evil]

...

... pretty good stuff here, specially the quality of the drawings, although I'd question some of the decisions you made for this movie, which I'll elaborate below:

- The drawing quality and animation level is pretty high throughout, especially for the characters themselves. The backgrounds could have used a little more work sometimes, but the biggest issue on this aspect (in my opinion) is actually due to the inconsistent drawing style; you mix some highly atmospheric and stylized drawings (with shadows, mono-colours and whatnot) that are mostly static, with some more 'standard' stuff for the animated parts.

Now, that's not too much of a bad thing, but it is jarring to see the different styles mixing like that, it makes us unsure on how we should look at the movie (but more on that later). Still, as I mentioned before, the animation/drawing quality is pretty high and is pretty polished (even the tweens you use) making this aspect the best of the movie. Special kudos for the 'father animation', that was particularly good.

- The audio is a bit of a mixed bag, the music is well selected and fits well (i.e., good choice of remixes), as our the sparse but well used sound effects, but the voice overs... well, it's complicated. The voices are well recorded and sounds appropriate with a good-to-decent delivery, but we what was the tone you were going for? Was the narration meant to be over-the-top or were you playing it straight? Both?

- In fact, let me address this question now: was the movie meant to be funny by playing the Chimera's story straight, by being over-the-top or by inserting original humour? I mean, the ending scene and 'atmospheric' scenes are clearly reaching for the first (and play things almost too straight, it's particularly jarring), the 'father/son' scene achieves the 2nd really well and the 'colonel warning' and 'plasma cracker' scenes go for the 3rd.

It seems almost like you couldn't quite decide what to do with the material and this inconsistency weakens the overall movie, despite the fact that each individual segment is pretty well made. Heck, even the character design seems to reflect this (compare the Cyberdemon with everyone else, for example). Something akin to the sum being greater the whole, unfortunately. Next time I'd recommend that you go for one, maybe two different things and try to stick with it.

So, overall, this is a pretty good movie that has polish and is pretty good in each separate aspect, but is inconsistent in what style and what it seems to be trying to achieve, which let's it down a bit. Still, it's another step up and showcases your talents pretty well, so kudos!

Galneda responds:

Thanks for the awesome review!

The tone really was all over the place, but I had the idea in my head that by playing the absurd story straight would have subtle humor in it's own. That anyone who would take Chimaera's story seriously was just preposterous. It also served as practice for me to try out a dramatic voice (an earlier attempt would be the Dickneck Trailer, by means of comparison.)

This was a project for "Advanced 2D Flash Animation" and the only thing advanced about it was our professor demonstrating uses of the bone tool. I didn't learn anything new except how to make a replay button thanks to a friend sitting next to me. Because of this, I also used this flash as a platform to expirement with different styles...suffice to say, I guess that's why I didn't really focus on an overall tone, but I absolutely agree with you that the clashing styles can be a little jarring.

Having said that, I'm grateful that neither of the styles outright sucked, in your opinion! lol

I aim to outdo myself with each flash, so I hope you like whatever comes out next! Thanks again for taking the time to view and review.

[Green riding hood]

...

... not perfect, but with a lot of heart and passion, this is a pretty good movie. It does use one too many animation shortcuts, but that's more than compensated by how interesting and fun it is! Anyway, allow me to detail my review:

- Graphics, well, a bit of mixed bag here. I like your drawing style, it's pretty clean and somewhat minimalistic, but it's nice to look at and just works with some nice details here and there. Backgrounds were a bit sparse and you did re-use them, but it's a lot better than, say, just a white background. Your characters look great too, it's very easy to see the Wolf as a 'sexy predator' and Green as something of an average Joe, and their facial expressions are very clear and well done.

The animation itself varied greatly in quality. The frame-by-frame stuff you did, such as the Wolf's movement and Green Hood's fall in the 'two path forest' part is excellent, being fluid and detailed, so kudos there! Even the tweens you use are, for the most part, well done and fit the overall movie well.

However, the chase sequences are a little bit off, particularly when we see through Green Hood's eyes as he looks backs and you use a static piece of background that's slowly pulling back and shaking to convey a sense of movement; it's a simple technique that's easy to do, but doesn't look very good, specially since you're pulling back so slowly, but when we see Green Hood running, the background is flying past him. Also, as you mentioned, the last two scenes or so are off lesser quality when compared to everything else.

Nevertheless, if I criticize this point so heavily, it's only because your fbf stuff is so good that I feel that, had the whole movie been done as such, this would have been an exceptional animation. And it still is much better than average!

- Your choice of soundtrack is perfect, it's a great Franz Ferdinand song that fits the tone of the movie well. I like how you coordinate the on-screen action with the song as, for the most part, it works really well (such as the intro!).

However, in one or two parts, you stretch a single piece of action, such as Green Hood running from the Wolf and then into the branch or he untying the ropes, a bit too much; you probably should have tried to change our perspective of the action from some other angle or simply shown something else. Again, if I'm critical, it's because when you got it right, it looks great!

- The story is an interesting and fun twist on the familiar fairytale. I like how the characters interact and the story plays out, it gives a few clever twists that keeps things interesting and you manage to convey a lot without using any sort of dialogue. It also flows, for the most part, well and because the song isn't too long, it's also short and to the point.

So, overall, this is a pretty good movie that has some excellent parts and some, well, slightly lazy parts, but nevertheless is interesting, fun and well made enough that it should be deservedly on the front page, so cheers and kudos! I can't wait to see what new movies and/or animations you'll bring us in the future.

^_^

gusana responds:

Thank you!!! I loved your critique, this is what i'm talking about n_n Yeah some parts were made quickly because the lack of time.

[Captain Planet Rampage]

...

... Chris, I've told you this so many times that I've literally lost count on how many times I've said it, but it's worthwhile repeating once more: you are one hugely talented artist, seemingly capable of producing animations with such a high level of quality effortlessly in a way that <shames> your pears. No really. The quality of this animation, in all aspects is just superb (and what I present now has been said before, but you deserve to hear it again!):

- The animation is fantastic. You are one of the few artists who can really draw and animate people speaking in a realistic manner, since we actually see the whole facial expression moving when people speak (as opposed to just their mouths). And characters' emotions are wonderfully clear, as their faces present details upon details (btw, have you ever seen Great Teacher Onizuka? There's something reminiscent of that anime in your style). The faces Cpt Planet has in this animation are amongst your finest ever, ranging from the hauntingly agonizing to the sinisterly terrifying.

But not only that, character movements are smooth too, your coloring / lighting is great and gives us all sorts of nice shades, your backgrounds are pretty well done (all more so since you actually create them), your drawings are impressively 3 dimensional and there are all sorts of great details all round.

I've never used this term before, nor am I qualified to give it out, but I'd deem you a <master> animator, as it shows, time and time again.

- Your character design, as always, is original and interesting, with a great deal of diversity, even minor characters are more than just stick figures and seem to have a significant deal of depth into them.

- The voice work is superb, as always. Your stable of voice actors, including yourself, are constantly producing good and diverse voices. You use sparse, but excellently well placed sounds effects that really spice up your work. And the Greasy Moose band is always making either spot-on songs that fit the scene really well, or songs that are so completely in opposition to what we're seeing on screen that it comes from the other way and somehow works even better.

- And, of course, the meat of the meal here are the stories. You have a great imagination, capable of producing Crazy Awesome moments all-the-freaking-time, on par with stuff like Axe Cop or Dr McNinja, but with a more mature approach and a sometimes biting satirical edge. It's tightly scripted, it shocks us with the unexpected twists, it has some excellently crafted dialogue and it's genuinely amongst the funniest things I know off.

And that's what makes your movies so special. Because, you see, you not only have the talents of a fantastic animator, but you have really, really funny and interesting stories to tell, a combination that's pretty much unrivaled.

So, in short: I was laughing and/or grinning virtually non-stop throughout this movie and it gave me massive amounts of glee and pleasure to watch it; I wholeheartedly enjoyed it for all it's aspects and it just shows the brilliance that you are.

I've completely lost my perspective on your movies, Chris, as I can no longer offer any sort of constructive criticism (which is bad, since any good review should offer some, so as to 'further the art'); I simply enjoy your stuff so much that I must be completely glossing over any and all problems they might have. I'm not even sure if I should keep reviewing them, as I'm not sure I can offer new and / or original comments.

And, on a final note, if you're ever looking for a voice actor (in particular, if you need someone who can do accents), drop me a line; it'd be a personal honour to work with you.

Sexual-Lobster responds:

i've read some GTO, and yeh the expressions the artist used were one of the things i liked about it.

thanks vert, for taking the time to write your review, and i'm really pleased you liked it! i was really unsure if this one was going to hold up as it was quite different in story style to my usual fare, so its nice to know.