This is a blog I've created to post my personal 'reviews' of animated films and series, as well as other random animation/art-related stuff from time to time. The reviews are of the films/series as a whole (story, characters, directing, music etc.), not just their animation. The main aim is for me to just get my thoughts down somewhere but also hopefully to learn and develop as a would-be animator and storyteller.
If anyone does ever read anything on here, I'm well up for a chat about it and hopefully the blog gets more people into cartoons.
I haven't had any kind of formal study of art, animation, film, directing etc. I just really like cartoons, so my opinions will probably be ill-informed a lot of the time (especially in relation to writing/storytelling). If I am wrong about something though, I'd honestly love if someone more knowledgeable could comment/message and explain why or maybe even just point me in the right direction.
Lastly, there are hella spoilers in every review.
How I tend to think about things I watch:
How I tend to think about things I watch:
1. I really care about the story.
I absolute value the destination over the journey. I really appreciate strong messages and themes, great character development etc. but there's got to be a good plot for me. This is probably the biggest factor in deciding the made up scores I give things.
1a. Similarly, I do not like questions being left unanswered. Any writer can create a seemingly unsolvable mystery. Good writers will actually solve them.
2. I want a definitive answer
2. I want a definitive answer
Leaving it for viewers to decide what message they take from a story is fine but making the viewer decide what actually happened (ambiguous endings/cutaways etc.) is wack and lazy. I believe writers should actually write - that means the whole thing.
3. I believe everything in the story should be explained (or implied) on screen.
3. I believe everything in the story should be explained (or implied) on screen.
Any story (other than a genuine sequel/spin-off) should be completely understandable to the viewer in and of itself. Rewarding dedicated fans with extras or creating additional content should embellish a story - not complete it.
