I think anyone who rated this above about a 2 must have seen the cast, rented it for their kids and left the room.
My family spent the first ten minutes watching the movie trying to figure out what the blue critter was. No ears, a stubby tail, giant cheeks, and blue. Is it a graphic representation of the "spirit of the forest?" Then how come it's so clumsy and incompetent? Finally one of the characters referenced it by name, oh, it's a gopher. Nope, probably never would have figured that out.
The animation is awful, it looks like the outtakes from another movie, before the final animation layer was applied.
The dialog, or translation of it from the original language, is trite and distractingly odd. I could forgive the occasional weird comment, but the whole movie is a series of weird comments. Several scenes were nearly disgusting or curiously inappropriate, I kept thinking I was going to have to cover my kid's eyes, but then at the last minute it turned and just skirted the edge.
The characters aren't anyone I'd care about, when the two flies were swallowed by a cat, and I was so happy! I wouldn't have to endure them anymore! Unfortunately their adventures continued.
About 45 minutes into the movie my husband and I were finding it so unbearable we paused it to ask the kids if they still wanted to watch. Our 9 year old agreed she didn't like the movie but the 7 year old wanted to see what happened, for about ten more minutes, then she confessed she didn't care either. We watched to the end on x4 speed, which is how I'd recommend watching this movie.
Yes, in the English version the voices are done by a wonderful cast. But that doesn't make up for everything else this movie falls short in.
My family spent the first ten minutes watching the movie trying to figure out what the blue critter was. No ears, a stubby tail, giant cheeks, and blue. Is it a graphic representation of the "spirit of the forest?" Then how come it's so clumsy and incompetent? Finally one of the characters referenced it by name, oh, it's a gopher. Nope, probably never would have figured that out.
The animation is awful, it looks like the outtakes from another movie, before the final animation layer was applied.
The dialog, or translation of it from the original language, is trite and distractingly odd. I could forgive the occasional weird comment, but the whole movie is a series of weird comments. Several scenes were nearly disgusting or curiously inappropriate, I kept thinking I was going to have to cover my kid's eyes, but then at the last minute it turned and just skirted the edge.
The characters aren't anyone I'd care about, when the two flies were swallowed by a cat, and I was so happy! I wouldn't have to endure them anymore! Unfortunately their adventures continued.
About 45 minutes into the movie my husband and I were finding it so unbearable we paused it to ask the kids if they still wanted to watch. Our 9 year old agreed she didn't like the movie but the 7 year old wanted to see what happened, for about ten more minutes, then she confessed she didn't care either. We watched to the end on x4 speed, which is how I'd recommend watching this movie.
Yes, in the English version the voices are done by a wonderful cast. But that doesn't make up for everything else this movie falls short in.