seanparkerfilms

A brilliant episode that teaches an important lesson about the good things in life that will eventually pass us by - it's a very honest "nothing lasts forever" message, but with a huge helping of "but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy things while we've got them."

The whole episode is a very enjoyable watch, but it's secretly a very meticulously crafted setup to make the final two seconds land... and oh boy, does it LAND. The episode makes its bittersweet point, and then gives us something truly special, unexpected, and life-affirming to button it all up.

I just got out of a bookstore where I was browsing for my two year old daughter (who loves Bluey). I leafed through a Bluey book that had a character reference section, and just seeing Jean Luc pop up in it was enough to immediately make me misty-eyed, and I haven't seen this episode in many months. And it didn't stop. By the time my wife and I had arrived at the smoothie shop next door several minutes later, I was just about into ugly-crying territory. THAT'S how good this episode is.

"Camping" remains one of the very best offerings of this utter gem of a show.

Henry Sellick's first stop-motion animated film since 2009's beloved Coraline, Wendell & Wild melds beautiful artistry and a very funny script co-written by Jordan Peele.

The plot follows Kat, a young orphan shipped off to a private Catholic school for troubled girls, struggling with guilt over her perceived responsibility for her parents' tragic deaths. She also happens to be a Hellmaiden, able to summon the roguish demon brothers Wendell & Wild (played hilariously and to pitch perfection by comedy duo Key & Peele). They arrive in the land of the living to try and set up their lifelong dream project of running their own demonic funfair. Much chaos ensues.

I went in a bit blind on the story and wasn't sure what to expect, but Wendell & Wild might be the best stop motion film made since Coraline, or possibly just barely edging past it. Kat is a terrific protagonist, bucking trends and delivering more personality than all of LAIKA animation's somewhat milquetoast leads put together. There's a lot of artistic inventiveness on display, and the script is (for the most part) incredibly strong.

The film has only a couple downsides, which were a bit baffling considering the quality of the rest. Some of the scenes were a bit muddled, with events only making sense long after the fact (a particular sequence with an octopus and a glowing drawer left me scratching my head). The final act, while lots of fun, also feels like it's hastily wrapping up as much as it can in too short a time, with the credits rolling only moments after a bombastic finale - when it really, really could have used a couple more minutes to wind down with a nice epilogue.

This is a film that giddily enjoys keeping way more plates in the air than most films can get away with, and it results in a somewhat messy structure that makes it hard to tell who the main antagonist even is at any given moment, which seems to shift around wildly from scene to scene, from a gigantic Satan-like figure, to a pair of corrupt businessmen, to the titular brothers themselves, to a personal struggle against inner demons - before finally picking a clear lane in the last act. You just never know what direction the story is going to zig and zag to next, which is ultimately more of a strength than a weakness. Wendell & Wild is just as much a supernatural mystery film as it is an adventure/comedy, so viewers should be prepared to do a bit of sleuthing and not have anything spoon-fed.

This is not exactly a film for young kids, sporting heavy themes and a few dark moments, but it isn't that much scarier than Laika films like ParaNorman or Kubo and the Two Strings, only barely earning its PG-13 rating. Any kid that can handle The Nightmare Before Christmas (also directed by Sellick) should be OK with this.

Even with a few nitpicks holding it back, I give this film an easy 8/10. If you're an animation fan, you owe it to yourself to check this out... it's one of the most delightful and creative films in the entire stop-motion medium.

Let's get this out of the way: Tune Out is an ultra-low budget indie movie that's like a beloved car held together with duct tape and hope. But oh, what a charming vehicle it is.

The story delightfully meanders through the lives of several different groups of characters, but eventually centers on Leonard, a man suffering dementia who happens to be a musical savant, and a trio of young musicians who become his new family. Through the power of music, they help Leonard remember who he was. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there's a number of wonderful tearjerker moments -- some of which should make even the most jaded of filmgoers happy-cry.

There's also a lot of strange, hilarious, and occasionally baffling creative choices sprinkled throughout that won't be to everyone's taste, but give the film so much of its charm and unique identity. Tune Out eats convention for breakfast and gleefully oscillates between grounded drama to silly farce, all with an earnest conviction that's so key to making it all work. Considering that the lead is a lovable, kooky character suffering mental decline, this actually feels quite fitting, as though the story we're seeing may be filtered through his offbeat point of view.

Despite the lack of resources, the film looks great and is made with genuine artistry. The score is filled with many lovely melodies, the autumnal-golden color palette is a treat for the eyes, and the story's anchored by enjoyably heartfelt performances (even if not everyone is at the same level of professional training).

It's wonderful to see a microbudget film beat the odds and pull off a plot that's as moving as it sets out to be. Patient viewers who are willing to overlook a couple rough edges (and give it the 15 or 20 minutes needed before it really sets into its groove) will get a lot of this. I give it an enthusiastic recommendation, especially since it's freely available on YouTube. So give it a watch! Unless you're some kind of mean ol' crank who never has any fun, I highly doubt you're going to regret it.