ratchili's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Phone Cats]

This is super interesting aesthetically. It feels sort of melancholy and the overall presentation definitely sells how strange the concept is. This could have gone in a much sillier direction but I like the unique tone you went for instead. The animation could use some work, particularly the acting on the humans. I feel like pacing needs some improvement as well since the film felt a bit slow at times. But all in all, this is good stuff!

[AM I BEING DETAINED?!]

Rising above the partisan politics to make a cop do a silly TikTok dance. A wise choice.

[Beyond The Room]

The fact this did not get daily first, or even in the top three, is completely baffling to me. This is so fun and well animated. I love the acting on the characters and the rubbery quality of the world is so nice, it really helps emphasize the actions of the characters with all the follow-through. The backgrounds are also incredible and the characters are very well integrated into the space. The shots are dynamic, which really gives this space the depth that makes it feel so nice. My one main criticism would be the pacing (as well as couple continuity issues). I think your ideas would have gotten through a lot better if the pacing felt more varied. It feels really slow overall and needs more quick moments to break it up and keep the viewer's attention.

But overall, great work, man. I hope to see more from you in the future!

[Ollie & Scoops Episode 1: Pizza Pilot]

Pretty good, it’s always cool to see such high production value in animation from independent artists. The style you guys have chosen for the show is fun and pretty unique, I just wish I could say the same about the writing. As much as I like the way it looks and moves, the story and characters seem pretty generic. I feel like I’ve seen the bad babysitter and child who thinks they’re not a child type of story a million times. But the emphasis on cat characters is probably the strongest element you guys have towards creating a unique voice, so I would work in that a bit more.

[Mufasa Brainwashes Simba]

This was really boring. The jokes didn’t land plus the voice sounded really weird and hard to understand, which is especially bad considering this is all dialogue and nothing else.

[Office Fighter]

The camera movement is so fucking good. I love how it matches the energy of the fight and compliments the surprises and gags in the fight. Also the animation itself is sweet as hell too! I love the timing, makes the characters really feel like they have weight and power behind their punches.

Also gotta throw some love to the music and sound design because it’s just so goddamn fun and energetic.

Honestly the biggest thing this movie is missing is context. This fight scene would be more enjoyable if I understood who is fighting and why. It’s still a lot of fun by itself tho.

Shnubby responds:

Thanks for the advice. Next time i make a fight i will have a proper story or something

[NOS]

This is just Amaro and Walden if they fused with Michael Cusack’s Damo and Darren lmao.

Technically this animation is really solid. The motion tracking is spotless and the characters blend pretty well in their environment. The biggest thing you need to keep watch of is perspective. Your characters look really flat in certain shots because they’re not placed correctly in the space created in the video footage. Also the character designs themselves are kinda awkward, they could use some reworking.

I think you also need to reaaaally work on audio. The voice acting was god awful, which made it hard to find these characters the least bit likable. Assuming you’re going for an Amaro and Walden sort of vibe, the likability of these characters is crucial since they’ll just come off as annoying scumbags instead of lovable scumbags if they’re lacking that necessary charm.

All in all, it’s a pretty fun cartoon. I’d like to see you try something a bit more original. You’ve definitely got the skills and know how to make something great, so I hope to see some more stuff from you in the near future!

MrSeaks responds:

Hey thanks for the feedback. I've got mixed reviews on the characters, alot of australians liking them and understanding the humour with the accents. Although people outside of australia get confused, i guess cant win em all!

[HAIRMAGEDDON]

Pretty good, it really reminds me of Paperbag Animator’s “define intervention.” I think you have a pretty fun idea and I looove the character designs. The main thing you should work on is character animation and pacing. There are definitely times where the way the protagonist emotes seems odd or his movements lag and aren’t snappy enough. The animation overall needs some corrections and maybe some better shot composition as well to make sure those actions and emotions are really getting through to the viewer.

The thing that bothers me the most however is why does it cut off so suddenly?? I really wanted to see the ending! You built up such a fun concept, I wanted to see what you had in store. I’d love to see this project finished, it was a fun watch so far :D

Hope to see more in the future!

[Aunt May Eats a Sandwich]

Goddamn that was funny, thank you for that

[We're Having a Party and Everyone's Invited]

Absolutely loved it, man! I follow you on IG, so I've been seeing the little updates and stuff and it's great to see this as a finished film. I love the fluid use of different mediums, you're particularly successful with Kaos's clay face. It's so great and well acted. The one thing I'd work more on is trying to tie things a bit better together spacially and stylistically. The walk cycle in combination with the various background characters, while fun, seems kinda awkward and flat. But overall, this shit slaps and I really love this Kaos character of yours. I'm excited to see what you'll make next!

TheMarooned responds:

Oh man thanks so much for the critique! Haha its also super cool to see my IG world cross over with NG, yea in the opening I had a way more grand idea for the walk cycle and the scenery, but because of the time crunch I had to cut it short and had friends do little animation loops to fill up the area for fun and to save my self some animation time, but thank you I will consider ways to make it more dimensional, I was wondering why the opening short started to really bore me after watching it for like the thousandth time :?o