artistunknown's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[AV: The Plague Saga pt 1]

Looking back, this is fun and doesn't seem to be as much of a rehash as I originally thought. I think it can easily fit with the previously-going story in AV and not feel like a rehash. When actually looking at this for critique, and not to watch, it does seem a bit short. Anyways, on to the actual review.

The writing was fun, there was a lot of nice jokes involving all of the characters. King William is still his old self, not really caring until it involves him. Your shot direction has definitely improved, especially with your transitions, like those establishing shots in the beginning. The pacing felt good overall, but while those little "retro" bits with them traveling across the screen and the text explaining what's about to happen seemed to detract from the overall pacing. Text disrupting the flow isn't needed since in the scenes that follow we could clearly tell what we were seeing. They were cute and charming little sequences, but from a direction standpoint they don't work. The intro however, worked well and did a great job of conveying the mood. The ending was also humorous, albeit a bit cliche but it does give some good foreshadowing to what's to come. The credits were also nice with the bonus images and the gags they contained. Overall nicely directed, but there's still room for improvement.

Art and animation were about the same as other episodes, but with slight improvement. There was a little bit more fbf on some characters like King William in the beginning, and there was even actual lipsync as opposed to mouth loops. You still relied heavily on symbol animation though and some art was more simplistic than others. Still though, that's the AV style so it probably wouldn't be good to drastically change it. One instance of jarring difference in art quality was in the intro where you have some nicely detailed images followed by some less detailed images and it was kind of distracting. I feel like a less simple font would have worked better for it as well. There was also a nice amount of visual gags, with pretty much everything Rory doing being hilarious. Overall, slight improvement in visuals, but what was there works.

The music fit well, though the overuse of 3rd party music is a bit of a shame. Still fitting though. The voice acting has improved for all characters, they spoke clearly and put emotion in it. At some points it seemed like there was some slight background nose for some lines or something went wrong with the recording because there was a lesser quality to them. Overall the music was fitting but I would use less 3rd party stuff. The voice actors did really good though so there really isn't a lot more improvement needed.

Overall, this was good. Not as good as some other AV episodes but definitely a good start to a Saga in the AV story that will hopefully be amazing. There was a lot of improvement, but I still felt some bits could have been done better. It was fun though, and I'm certainly looking forward to the next part.

[Review Request Club]

MistyE responds:

Thanks for the review. I did consider cutting out some of the transitional sequences, though I found that they didn't flow as smoothly as they did with them. I appreciate the in-depth critique.

[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.

[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