"The OceanMaker" (why the capitalized m?) is a 10-minute American award-nominated animated short film from 2014 and it says here on imdb that Belize co-produced this one which I found surprising as it is definitely very rare to see a film from Belize, but maybe the protagonist's skin color is an indicator that it's actually true. Writer and director Lucas Martell is fairly prolific in all kinds of fields in the filmmaking process, but this one here is really just his second credit as the man in charge and while I thought his first, the Mission Impossible spoof Pigeon: Impossible, also animated, was nothing special at all, I must say the same about this one here. Visually it is okay with the aviation scenes, the landscapes and perhaps also with the character, but that's it. The need for water component never feels elaborated on properly, which is why the big pouring rain scene near the end was not half as memorable or emotional as it could have been and the lighthouse symbolism falls flat too. Nonetheless, also with the title character's origin, you can wonder to what extent this film could also play in the present if African people living in dry desert countries had the knowledge and training and equipment to actually go hunting for water up in the skies. So this short film may result in some solid discussion on the suvject, but that does not really mean it is a ood, let alone great, watch at any time. A bit of a shame. I could see it working as part of a full feature film, but as the film itself, there is just too much mediocrity in here for me to recommend it. If you want to watch it, watch it on a big screen as it is probably more effective there than on your little laptop monitor. And you won't need any subs regardless of which languages you speak as there is no dialogue in here. Still the best choice is to skip this one I'd say. Not recommended.
Review of The OceanMaker
