artistunknown's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Paradise Missing - The Mo]

Well this was fun. I certainly enjoyed it more than I thought I would :3.

The premise sounded interesting enough, so I had to watch all the way through especially with Mormons involved, and I was not disappointed. The story was actually pretty fun. There was a nice amount of jokes and everything seemed to be timed well comically. I especially enjoyed the references to Greek, Christian, and Mormon mythology. Those references really added to the story and the characters. This was certainly engaging story-wise, even including a twist at the end that I certainly didn't see coming.

Like I said before, this looked like it was going to be pretty bland in the beginning, but this is mostly due to the simplistic looking art, but when the characters started moving I could see that the animation was actually pretty decent. It was fun to look at, and although the art was simplistic it did grow on me and seemed to work well with the story. Really not much to improve on, but some less simplistic drawing and better colors would be nice.

The audio was handled well. I thought the voice work and music were nicely done and fit with the animation. The voice acting was good and nice and varied, and certainly fit the characters.

Overall this was really good, though the simplistic art style does detract from the overall quality of this. Not by much though. I'd definitely like to see more of this and more from you.

[Retsupurae Animated]

Well, Retsupurae Animated on Newgrounds. Never thought I would see that. It's kinda funny because I have actually be working on a Retsupurae animation since some time in November and found out there were hardly any Retsupurae animations. Glad to see that more of these are being made. I actually saw this on youtube earlier but hey, found it in the portal, so time for a review!

I actually like the style of animation, it's not the most visually appealing, but it's still somewhat fun to look at. The animation is also pretty smooth as well, with a lot of character movement and facial expressions going on. I can tell some work went into this. The background art was also nicely done. This was very nice visually.

The timing of the animation to the audio seemed nice, it even let you slip in a few improvised bits like Slowbeef moving his hair and holding back the laugh. The shot progression also seemed to flow pretty well.

The one downside to this is the audio quality, though that might just be the source video. If it's not, then it's probably something that went wrong in the flash export. Go to your publish settings and change the bitrate and quality of your audio export and that should fix it if the problem is being caused by flash.

This was pretty nicely done and I enjoyed it, though who can't enjoy Retsupurae? ;3
You've definitely got some talent as an animator and I'd like to see more from you, be it more Retsupurae animations or an original short. I'm looking forward to it. Good luck on your future animations!

Mckodem responds:

Thank you very much for your review. The visual style was really just a pass mostly because I wanted to get a really good flow to the piece, so I didn't put more focus into the style.

One thing I love doing is just adding movement to an otherwise standard scene, like as you mention Slowbeef holding in a laugh, as well as Diabetes stretching his arms as Slowbeef sits down. Just to give it more life really.

In terms of the sound, I used : mp3 160 kbps, stereo if that is good but also the highest quality render I could get for the sound was 360p or so. So it suffers there I agree.

Once again thank you for the feeback.

[Adventure of a man - 2]

An improvement over the first one, and by itself, it has enough content to be a good standalone submission.

The animation was improved, there was a lot more movement, and although things seemed a bit slow, it was very fitting to the 8-bit style. Everything was fun to look at, there was great pacing, and the story seems to be unfolding, slowly. Music is fitting as well.

I think at this point these just need to be longer with more going on.

There is improvement and I hope more comes. Good luck with your future submissions.

[Review Request Club]

Pepeto responds:

Thanks for the review! :)

[Adventure of a man - 1]

This was interesting, not the best sprite animation I've seen, but it wasn't bad. And since you've used original sprites (or at least I'm assuming that), that's even better.

The animation in this was pretty decent, and I know how hard it is animating 8-bit things. There was some movement so it was pretty good for the visual limitations you had to work with. The colors were pleasant and the flow was okay, albeit some things were a bit hard to get on the first viewing.

A few things that I find bad about this are the flashing colors in the beginning and the end. I'm not epileptic or anything, but flashing colors are still sometimes irritating, and if someone epileptic did come along, it might trigger them. Though the bits with the flashing colors didn't last too long, but try making them shorter in the future, or find some less irritating thing to put in place. Speaking of short, that brings me to the next negative aspect of this, the length. It felt really short, with barely any time to have any sort of development. Make it longer with a more complex story and this can be a lot better.

This has potential to be something bigger. Good luck with your future submissions.

[Review Request Club]

Pepeto responds:

Hey and thanks for the review! I'll keep it in my mind on what you said about the flashing colors.

[Previously On The Walking]

I haven't watched a lot of The Walking Dead, so if there were any jokes specifically poking at aspects of it, they went over my head. That doesn't stop me from reviewing this for what it is though, and what it is is a pretty decent animation, and is surprisingly good for a first animation.

I really can't say much about the writing, since I haven't seen a lot of the show. A lot of this seemed pretty random though, but there were a few chuckle-worthy moments; the ending did get me, heh.

The art and animation were pretty decent. This had a nice looking art style, albeit rough, and the animation was really good in some parts. The best bit of animation in this was when they were beating up the zombie. Really well done there. Other parts though, like the lipsync, weren't the best. I would really work on the lipsync and your drawings could use some work as well. The pacing of this seemed pretty good though, it had nice flow, though I think the last little random bit at the end should have been a tiny bit shorter. Even though it was short, it still managed to somehow overstay its welcome... Pretty decently handled overall.

The voice acting was pretty decent. The narrator in the beginning sounded good, though some of the other voices didn't. I'm sure you'll improve though, as long as you practice and try to get better. The music was fitting as well, so overall the audio was okay. The voice acting could have been better, but it wasn't too distracting.

Overall, I kinda liked this. It wasn't the best, but it shows potential. The writing didn't quite stand out for me, but again, that's probably because of my lack of knowledge with the show, and all other aspects of this were pretty decent. There was some really good animation in this at points, and it really is surprising that this is your first animation, so good job. If you keep working at it, you'll definitely get better, so I look forward to seeing your future animations to see how you progress. Good luck.

[Review Request Club]

[Pikmin: After Olimar Dies]

It's great to see another Pikmin animation on newgrounds, there really needs to be more of them. While this wasn't the best representation of Pikmin, or the best animated thing, I did enjoy it.

The writing was interesting, clearly being a retelling of Olimar landing on the planet and then needing the Pikmin to aid him to get off, but this time he's unsuccessful, and there were some dark elements mixed in, like Olimar being a somewhat tyrannical asshole and the Pikmin not liking him. A decent adaptation of the "bad" outcome of PIkmin, you even put in the fireworks that happen when Olimar goes in the onion, heh. The actual writing was okay, it could have been a lot better, but for a more adult spin on Pikmin, it's pretty good. The humor felt a bit lacking though. Some moments were chuckle-worthy, but really there wasn't anything else beyond that. Also, I really felt like something more needed to be added to the end. It felt very abrupt just ending after the fireworks. Work on your comedic timing and pacing of action and you can get a lot better.

The art in this felt fitting, though something about it is a bit unappealing to me, probably the thick outlines. The backgrounds had some detail, and there was some nice use of color; it represented the Pikmin planet nicely. The animation was all over the place though. The very first bit of animation in this, with Olimar getting out of the ship, seemed really poorly done and made me think the rest of this was going to be just as bad, but to my surprise, the animation in the rest of it was a lot better, though not anything too spectacular. I felt it could have used more frame by frame animation, characters seemed a bit stiff at times, the lip-synch was pretty good at most points though.

The voice acting was pretty good. There didn't seem to be anything wrong with the mic quality, and the voices were pretty well done and seemed fitting. Really not much to talk about here, though the voices could have used a bit more variety, they all sounded a bit similar.

Overall, this was a pretty good representation of Pikmin, and was a decent short that I did enjoy a bit. Comedic timing, animation, and voice variety could use some work, but this was pretty enjoyable and pretty decently done. With time, you'll get better. I look forward to your future submissions.

deku8989 responds:

Thanks man. If this was a youtube comment it probably would have been "gay!". I think I'm really liking the Newgrounds community. I also recorded the audio months ago and since then have gotten better with voices.

[MUSS Cause]

I wasn't entirely sure what I was watching in the beginning, and the description doesn't really help as it seems poorly translated, but I realized it was a trailer when the end came. It doesn't really stand as a good trailer though, cause I honestly couldn't tell what was going on in it, though I did get the gist of the story from what could be understood from the description.

It sounds like you have an interesting backstory here. It's a shame it didn't transfer to the actual video very well. Since there was barely any dialog and not much writing in the actual video (that I could see anyways) I can't really say much on the writing. The backstory is interesting though and I would watch the full movie when it's out.

The art and animation was all over the place. This is the first time I'm reviewing a 3D animation, so I'm not sure how good my critique will be. Overall it wasn't very fun to look at. The models were okay at best and a lot of the textures looked really poor. It also looked like the lighting should have been brighter, because sometimes I could barely make out what something was. Also the physics on the hair seemed really bad. I would try making the textures more high res if you're going for a realistic look, or do some cell shading on the models of you want it to look cartoony. Either of those two choices would make it look a lot better.

Finally, audio. The music didn't seem very fitting, in fact it didn't even sound that good. It just sounded like a clash of instruments that didn't produce a pleasing sound. I'm not really sure what kind of music would be more fitting, but I would recommend finding a composer here on newgrounds. There's lots of great musicians that would be willing to compose for you for free. The couple spoken lines that were present weren't handled very well. It didn't sound like the voice actors put a lot of emotion into the lines and the mic quality didn't really sound the best. I would recommend investing in a better mic; it really makes a difference. Though a better mic won't do much good if the voice actor doesn't put emotion into the line. There's plenty of voice acting tutorials out there if you're struggling with it. Or you could find voice actors here as well. Like musicians, there's lots of talented voice actors here that are willing to help.

Overall, this wasn't really anything I would consider re-watching. But it's just a trailer, it's not really supposed to be over-the-top amazing. Though it is supposed to catch the audience's attention, and it pretty much fails at that. The story does seem interesting though, so I will be coming back to see the full animation. There's a lot of room for improvement, and hopefully you take some of my advice into consideration. Good luck on your future projects.

[Review Request Club]

Ciullo-Corporation responds:

Thank you, but let me say this... this was the seventeen video we made with our original models, the fourth trailer of the movie (still without having set any background or full plot), the third video with complex animations, the first with second-gen models, no textures here, and hair simulating was at the first stage.

Weird, I though it was clear enought that this was a trailer... and for translation, I think I was clear saying "untranslated terms are for author choice". Anyway, I never see a trailer which say much about what's going on...

Lightings are as they was meant to be at the time... a underground maze on a dead planet usually doesn't look very bright, I suppose.
Audio was not actually made to be definitive, considering the entire movie will be around 1 or 2 hours long... music follow the scene succession and, although it's one of the first attempt to do a structured song, we feel it fit good enough... voice acting was made at-the-moment with a cheap plug-n-play mic (actually it is the maximum we can reach with our budget) or, as in the most following videos by us, with a synthetizer.

I won't deny we could use some help, as being self-taught in all fields of this work we need a bit more of practice, there's a lot of talented people here and I hope us to be considered part of them soon or late... but you'll understand that the amount of work that lies behind this project is far too much for a net based collaboration, expecially a free one.

I think the Launch Trailer (don't ask me when it will come out) will satisfy your advices :)

[Galaxy Police Squad 4]

Hmm... I think I prefer the 2D look over the 3D look for this series. While the 3D animation in this did look nice, and pretty well done, I feel like the characters had a lot more emotion when it was 2D animation, and some movements looked very stiff with the 3D. Then again, I prefer 2D animation to 3D anyways, so there might be some bias there. I honestly think 2D animation is more fitting for this series anyways.
Everything else about this was great as always. This series started as a hilarious parody of anime, and it has evolved into its own thing, which is great. There's always lots of little touches you put into the story that make it hilarious, like the little conversation in the beginning when they were watching the clip from the previous episode. And I also like how this episode was a bit longer than the others. Longer things are always nicer, especially when they're so engaging, like this was.
This series always seems so underrated. There's a lot of great aspects of it that go unappreciated. I'd prefer if you switched back to 2D animation, but I wouldn't mind it in 3D. 3D makes it easier to get them out faster, and quality isn't sacrificed too much here, so if that's how you want it to be, then go for it.
I look forward to the next episode, and more of your future works.

[Evil Avatars]

How the FUCK does this have such a low score? Either you've got someone seriously hating you, or the majority of voters are really that stupid.
The animation in this was really well done. There was lots of movement and it was really fun to watch. I would suggest using a thinner brush though because the thick outlines are a bit unappealing, but that shouldn't matter when the animation is this good.
The story was also pretty interesting, albeit a bit clche. Voice actors would have really helped this and I'm sure that's why people voted so low. There seems to be some sort of thought that not having voices makes an automatic 0... Also reading text is annoying, especially when there's a lot of action in it.
Another problem is the display. First, you got the letterboxing, which is totally unecessary, and then it doesn't even cover up the entire document, so you can see parts of the stage and the stuff that's on it. If you want it to be widescreen, then use some 16:9 stage size, the max 16:9 size of the Newgrounds player is 910 x512, so you can use that to not have to worry about anything getting messed up. If you want the letterboxing though, then make sure the black boxes actually fit the screen ;)
Seriously though, this was great and I don't understand why its score is so low. It totally deserves at least a 3.5. Good luck on your future animations. I hope to see more from you.

Ev1L0rd responds:

More of the story will be revealed in the next one, which you'll be happy to know, I've started searching for voice actors. If you know anyone that can speak english, do a range of voice types, and has their own recording equipment could you please ask them to message me here on Newgrounds. I'll keep you updated if you like, and if you yourself would like to help, please let me know by messaging me. I'll send you details from there

[Pik Your Battles]

There really aren't enough Pikmin parodies on newgrounds. This right here, though, is an example of why there should be more.

The writing was alright. There were a lot of well-appreciated visual gags, but the actual jokes themselves weren't the best. It was funny, but some of the humor just felt all over the place. I did like the story overall though; it was well timed and kept me entertained.
Audio was pretty good. Music was fitting and the voice acting was very well done and quite enjoyable. I like the effect done to the pikmin voices, it's oddly fitting to them, though I think the normal pikmin should have higher pitched voices.
The animation was great, though the art was a bit lacking in certain areas. I really would have liked to see more frame by frame animation, but what you did have was really good; it just seemed like there should have been more of it. Character drawings and other art was good, but what was really lacking was the backgrounds. Don't get me wrong, some of the backgrounds were a bit more detailed than others and thankfully weren't just solid colors, but when I think of Pikmin, I think of orgasmic looking scenery, so really to do it justice the backgrounds need to be really good looking and detailed.
Overall, I enjoyed this. The humor was enjoyable, albeit scattered, and it was presented really well. A few minor tweaks in comedic timing and some better backgrounds would make this a lot better. I look forward to seeing more of your stuff!