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Heavy Metal
After seeing the South Park episode a week ago, I knew that I was going to have to watch these movies in order to fully appreciate it. So I have now watched the first one. It starts out being a little confusing, but once the story telling style has been done a time or two, it comes together quite nicely and is a pretty entertaining film.
I enjoyed the animation style. It wasn't purely cartoonish, even though it had a lot of cartoonish points. But the car, for example, at the beginning of the film is actually very realistic as compared to some of the later animation in the film. And I think the combination of the realistic animation there, and the more standard animation that is often used throughout the film is done quite well. It offers a little more to look at and think about when watching the film.
Also, the music in this film is right up my alley. I'm a big fan of the heavy metal from the mid '80's and bands like Blue Oyster Cult, Grand Funk Railroad, Sammy Hagar, Black Sabbath, and Nazarath. So I enjoyed the music a lot. It is interesting to see movies done purely with rock music and heavier rock music as, in general, that type of music isn't usually purely the back drop for a film.
The story(ies) in the film was interesting. As I said, it seems to be disjointed at first, but once you figure out how the disjoint is working, it actually comes together quite well. The various stories are all quite interesting, and definitely seem to work well in telling the whole story. It is a little bit confusing as to whether or not the Loc-Nar is telling tales that are going on simaltaneously through time for it, or what exactly, but the story/message is fairly clear in how it ends.
Overall this isn't a bad adult cartoon film. It has its moments and while a slightly larger budget wouldn't have hurt it, it definitely didn't need it badly. It was entertaining, and the soundtrack was very good. The idea in the film did come through in the end, so that was also nice, but it wasn't an amazing film. Even with the strong points that I listed, it was fairly average. The animation while unique, wasn't great, and the the story comes more as an anthology (and not an extremely well done one) then anything else.
Overall Grade: B-
Story: C
Acting: N/A
Audio/Visual: B (because of the sound track)
After seeing the South Park episode a week ago, I knew that I was going to have to watch these movies in order to fully appreciate it. So I have now watched the first one. It starts out being a little confusing, but once the story telling style has been done a time or two, it comes together quite nicely and is a pretty entertaining film.
I enjoyed the animation style. It wasn't purely cartoonish, even though it had a lot of cartoonish points. But the car, for example, at the beginning of the film is actually very realistic as compared to some of the later animation in the film. And I think the combination of the realistic animation there, and the more standard animation that is often used throughout the film is done quite well. It offers a little more to look at and think about when watching the film.
Also, the music in this film is right up my alley. I'm a big fan of the heavy metal from the mid '80's and bands like Blue Oyster Cult, Grand Funk Railroad, Sammy Hagar, Black Sabbath, and Nazarath. So I enjoyed the music a lot. It is interesting to see movies done purely with rock music and heavier rock music as, in general, that type of music isn't usually purely the back drop for a film.
The story(ies) in the film was interesting. As I said, it seems to be disjointed at first, but once you figure out how the disjoint is working, it actually comes together quite well. The various stories are all quite interesting, and definitely seem to work well in telling the whole story. It is a little bit confusing as to whether or not the Loc-Nar is telling tales that are going on simaltaneously through time for it, or what exactly, but the story/message is fairly clear in how it ends.
Overall this isn't a bad adult cartoon film. It has its moments and while a slightly larger budget wouldn't have hurt it, it definitely didn't need it badly. It was entertaining, and the soundtrack was very good. The idea in the film did come through in the end, so that was also nice, but it wasn't an amazing film. Even with the strong points that I listed, it was fairly average. The animation while unique, wasn't great, and the the story comes more as an anthology (and not an extremely well done one) then anything else.
Overall Grade: B-
Story: C
Acting: N/A
Audio/Visual: B (because of the sound track)