[EXPRESSO] Tom & Jerry (2021) | Featuring Paolo Bonolis from the Paolo Bonolis series

Oddly they decided to release in theathers here as well now, so why not. It’s bound to be more interesting than Cruella or any of the direct-to-video Tom & Jerry movies where they just put the characters in other famous stories, and it could make for a memorable disaster, even more since it’s directed from Tim Story, better remembered for his Fantastic Four movies.

And this is actually the second theathrical movie for the cartoon duo, almost 30 years after the last one, so i was indeed curious.

Plot sees Jerry take refuge into a fancy hotel, which prompts a young employee of the estabilishment to team up with Tom in order to get rid of the mice problem before a big wedding takes place, but eventually they have to put aside their differences to fight the real “villain”, who’s cospiring to ruin the wedding for its own gain.

I wasn’t sure why they eventually went with the hybrid of live action people and computer animated cartoon characters….i guess mostly to enhance the slapstick due to the juxtaposition of cartoon characters (sporting very old school designs too) still adhering to cartoon logic even when interacting with real world people and locations.

Maybe.

This could (and should) easily have been a fully animated feature, but despite the very predictable plot (complete with the “liar’s reveal”) and token human characters, it’s not that bad. At least it has some funny moments (including the by now expected but always welcome Droopy cameo), it keeps Tom and Jerry as a non-talking slapstick duo, the slapstick itself it’s pretty decent, the music is surprinsigly well chosen, and the animation is decent.

To be honest, it’s not good, but it’s arguably a bit better than the 1992’s movie most people from my age have nostalgia for.

So, that EX-ARM anime wasn’t a practical joke

**And yet you still wanted to make an EX-ARM anime.**

I will have a review of this turd when the series finishes, but this first episode it’s so unbelievably bad it doesn’t matter if the story improves or gets worse as it goes along, with this embarassing animation it’s all for naught. I would like to apologize to the Berserk 2016 anime, this is even worse, it’s unbelievable. But also the logical outcome to have a studio that never did nor understands animation… do anime.

And no, that horrendous screenshot seen above it’s not a one-off, in the first episode alone there are like 3 occasions where a horridly made 3D CG anime character is framed alongside a clearly 2D animated character. To say nothing of the horrible, uncanny way they movie (with the jaw unhinging like a creepy ventriloquist doll), making Polygon Pictures produced anime series look like Redline.

How the hell did these people manage to have this signed up as a Crunchyroll Original i can’t even fathom. The manga isn’t that bad to deserve an adaptation so abysmal.

And yes, the manga also had better animation.

Dino Dicember #28: Gyaru And Dinosaur anime (2020)

I’d figured we do at least an anime series on the subject, not really up to review stuff like My Girlfriend Is A Dinosaur (which doesn’t have an anime adaptation anyway… yet), and it’s not like we’re drowning in “dinosaur anime”, so yeah, Gyaru And Dinosaur has been chosen as champion.

Even though this is an exception for me, not so much the subject, but the fact i choose it despite being still incomplete at the time of vetting the candidates for Dino Dicember, the COVID-19 pandemic delayed this one as well, so despite starting in April 2020, the series went in hiatus from May 17, 2020 to then resume November 20, 2020.

So this is by far the more recent piece of media to be featured here, as it just finished airing a week ago. Very, very very fresh, i’d say.

I don’t think i fully understant the term “gyaru”, but for what concerns this anime (based on the manga of the same name), it means there’s a “gal” and a cute dinosaur that look like a stuffed doll or a children mascot, especially a Sesame Street character. They’re roomies, watch TV together, eat, even enjoy being fashionable. That’s really it as far as premise goes, the only explanation for the dinosaur is that the girl, Kaede, drank too much last night and she brought it home with her.

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Iwa Kakeru – Sports Climbing Girls [FIRST EPISODE IMPRESSIONS] | Rock Climbing, Joel

Lippert can even direct anime girls from the grave, how amazing!

I usually wait for the first three episodes of an anime series to do a first impressions, but due to time costraints i won’t this time (by the time i wrote and edited this, the second episode is out already, but i can’t afford to delay the post), just talking about the first episode and how it presents the series.

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[EXPRESSO] Sol Levante (2020) | 4K Anime Fireworks

Sol Levante 2020 poster

Ok, apparently this arrived at the beginning of April on Netflix (Netflix Exclusive), and more than wonder how i missed hearing anything about it despite being quarantined at home, this just shows how much i use Netflix overall. I never even saw even a mention of this one on social media, so i’m gonna do what i can to help.

And yes, this is more of an announcement than a review, because Sol Levante (italian for “rising sun”, despite being a japanese production) isn’t or wasn’t meant to create an interesting story or world, but to test what exactly can you do with animation designed for 4K and HDR displays, with detailed hand-drawn animation produced by Netflix in collaboration with Production I.G, directed and conceived by Akira Saitou.

So the plot is vague at best, concerning a young female warrior (with fantasy ninja outfit) on a quest to reach a sacred place that is said to fulfill any wish, but she has to fight off the mystical and magical guardians of the Sanctuary, who vary from magma dragons, magic trees, sea monsters, etc. It’s good the summary tells you that, because there is no dialogue or text to explain anything, because the budget was already astronomical and the workload (2 years of work) insane, so you don’t get any context, even if the narrative is mostly self-explanatory, despite being bland and barely there.

But – again- Sol Levant was made to be a huge technical exercise, and it delivers with great animation, really detailed and incredibly colorful visuals, spectacle at its finest. It is truly impressive, while it lasts, but even so, this 4 minute short does sells you on the idea that this could be a new starting point for the future of animation overall.

Definitely interesting and worth a watch, regardless.

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