Dear Mr. Watterson

A documentary film about the impact of the newspaper comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, created by Bill Watterson.

First and foremost, it is important to stress that Bill Watterson is not in this documentary and the film is really not about Watterson himself. Instead, this is about the impact and life of its own that the strip took on -- Calvin and Hobbes are larger than life characters that transcend Watterson.

The cornerstone of this documentary is the trip to the Cleveland suburb of Chagrin Falls. We see the scenery and the mascot being the Tigers is no coincidence. The old drawings and photos in the basement are fascinating, and any die-hard fan of Watterson would have to visit this town.

What is most great is the praise from Bill Amend and Stephen Pastis, who made what could be called the only two great post-Calvin comic strips, "Fox Trot" and "Pearls Before Swine".

Calvin and Hobbes is probably my favorite comic strip. Created by Bill Watterson, C&H was about a boy and his stuffed tiger who "came to life" whenever they were alone. His best friend, his rival, his voice of reason, etc. Hobbes always was there for Calvin. As well, Calvin has a vivid imagination with his alter egos Spaceman Spiff and Stupendous Man getting him out of the frying pan and into the fryer at school. His abuse of Susie Derkins and his parents was always fun, as well as his battles against Rosalyn the babysitter. It, like Peanuts, was a comic that anybody could enjoy.

Bill Watterson is a man I admire because his only reason for cartooning was for his love of the art. He refused to prostitute his creation for huge money and lamented the smaller spaces a newspaper would provide for his creations. After several breaks, he ended his comic strip on January 1, 1996 and retreated to private life. In a day when Justin Bieber claims he will "retire" but won't because his huge ego and opportunities will be too great, Watterson has stayed true to his word.

Dear Mr. Watterson is a Kickstarter type documentary directed by Joel Allen Schroeder, a big fan of Calvin and Hobbes who visits Chagrin Falls, Ohio to learn more about the man's early life and his work before hitting it big. He visits a library to see his early work and find what his influences are. He talks to some of his friends in L.A. who are big fans of the comic to this day.

It's the segments with other cartoonists that are of interest. Many of them are fans of Watterson but one, Berkeley Breathed, seems to be a tiny bit bitter about being seen as a sell-out as Charles Schulz, Jim Davis and Scott Adams are for marketing their creations to the max.

Some of the documentary is rather pointless babble about the true meaning of Calvin and Hobbes but there is some good insight on what made the man tick and how he operated. I felt it could have been 15 minutes shorter, though. Respectfully, Schroeder does not go looking for Mr. Watterson and honors his want of privacy.

All in all, not bad. I really can't see the subject being done better and not intruding on Bill Watterson's privacy. I'm grateful he was able to give the masses a delightful comic that never gets old or tiresome and didn't overstay its welcome, unlike Justin Bieber and any other auto-tuned "singing sensation".

So who doesn't like Calvin & Hobbes? Nobody, least of all me.

I tried to like this documentary, I really did, but I just can't. It's an endless loop of talking heads blathering about how cool and awesome and original Calvin & Hobbes was. Thanks, I already knew that. Anything new in here? Almost nothing, if you've read Watterson's own introductions to his books.

There are guys who have been drawing comic strips for twenty, thirty years, and here's Bill Watterson with his decade-run on Calvin and Hobbes, redefining the artform before walking off the stage. It was essentially a mic drop and then a fade into obscurity. You can probably tell how deeply my love runs for his work, and I'll try not to belabor that point.

But this movie is only so happy to do just that, pulling artists from all levels of comic strip fame to pay respect to that legacy that the reclusive Watterson left in his wake. It's more than just communal appreciation and rightly points out just what he did to raise the bar and preserve the strip's integrity. And that word is the name of the game; because while Calvin and Hobbes continues to attract and influence, it's also left to stand on its own. This is a quality documentary, and it evokes genuine emotions. It's as much a love letter as it is an artistic statement.

7/10

Dear Mr. Watterson uses dozens of interviews and on-site investigation to tell the story of cartoonist Bill Watterson, creator of Calvin & Hobbes. For a decade, the comic strip captured the hearts and minds of readers around the world. In the process, Watterson's personal vision for the medium raised the bar for artists everywhere, changing expectations and business practices along the way.

The first quarter of the film is a bit slow, but the quality and range of interviews the director lined up (thanks to financial support from two Kickstarter campaigns) more than makes up for the initial pacing. There is a mix of Watterson's peers and fans, although perhaps not enough of the latter to balance out his professional impact with the cultural one. There are a wealth of Calvin & Hobbes artifacts collected and discussed in this documentary, however, including many that trigger personal memories of growing up reading the strip on Sundays. The soundtrack by We Were Pirates is playful and appropriately reflective of the story of Watterson's work on Calvin & Hobbes.

Dear Mr. Watterson is an important film for anyone interested in the comic industry or creative control in the face of commercialism. It is difficult not to root for Watterson's appearance as the interviews mount.