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Reviews
Beastars (2019)
An excellent new anime. Now if only Netflix would release it in the US.
Being an anime that involves exclusively anthropomorphic animal characters, Beastars will push some viewers away for the simple fact that its characters associated with furries. However the actual story of a teenage wolf falling in love with a white rabbit in a society that demonizes predators set against the backdrop of a gruesome murder had me engaged from the first episode.
Beastars aggressive narrative of romance, social divides, high school drama, and crime never once felt boring and smartly focused on its central characters while fleshing out the world they live in.
Legosi was an excellent protagonist through and through. His struggle to deal with his primal instincts and act rather timid despite being a grey wolf was the strongest aspect of the story. The rest of the characters, particularly Haru and Louis, were very well written and always took the more challenging route rather than succumb to narrative cliches.
The only complaint I can narrow down on Beastars, aside from how Netflix is releasing it, is with some inconsistent 3D-animation. It does not happen often, but some shots and whole scenes had a few awkward character movements that were to wooden or robotic to ignore. The rest of the anime animation is excellent, especially facial expressions on the characters.
I cannot recommend Beastars enough to both casual viewers and hardcore fans of anime alike, now we just need season 2 to have an official release date and the first season on US Netflix.
Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)
A fun animated adventure that got overshadowed.
Mr. Peabody and Sherman isn't the greatest animated film ever, but it's also not the worst by any means. Largely overshadowed by The Lego Movie on release, Peabody definitely was the black sheep between the two and a single viewing explains why, but I digress.
While the film does have plenty of historical humor you would expect, it is first and foremost a kids and family film, so expect plenty of puns and a few fart jokes. The latter certainly makes this film a bit more of a chore to watch because the history jokes are funny on all levels, even some of the puns.
Voice acting was good enough for all the characters, but that's all it really is, good enough. I feel like a lot of actors could have been replaced and I wouldn't have noticed in terms of quality nor would I miss any of them if they were switched. Even Stephen Colbert wasn't too memorable, which is disappointing (Especially when you consider his flawless stint on Rick and Morty).
Now all of this negativity certainly doesn't ignore the 8 rating I have given Peabody, because the animation and story certainly make up for the missteps the film makes. Ancient Egypt had beautiful sand dunes and felt dusty enough to feel irritating, the battle of Troy was exciting and captured the chaos of the fight perfectly, and the opening in the French Revolution was just plain funny.
Mr. Peabody and Sherman isn't going to stay in your memory the way Toy Story or The Lion King did, but it's funny and gorgeously animated which only sugarcoats its fun story baked into a cake for Marie Antoinette.