hypnadot's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Train World]

i had no idea what was happening but it's all good. really sick and colorful art direction all around. real big fan of the music choice and the dialogue's sound design as well. i look forward to more.

[Catching Up (Pilot)]

a total bore. everything in this pilot got problems.

the pace of EVERYTHING was dragging. it didn't feel like there was a natural awkwardness in any scene where i was sure it was what you were trying to go for. it all felt stretched so it would feel more like a bigger scope rather than have any valid reason to be nearly 20 minutes.

even if it was in a length i'd consider reasonable, i'd still have problems with the dialogue and the story itself as it felt like a first draft with no clear tone or direction. literally nothing happens even for a slice-of-life type deal and the characters aren't entertaining enough to carry with their personalities because their writing is so one-note and unfunny.

the art style is also ridden with weird color and line weight choices. sometimes, background characters are purple or full color or abstract blobs and it makes no sense having those choices collide in one project. all three end up sticking out like sore thumbs. plus there are a ton of compositing inconsistencies. the light sources were unappealing and all over the place. plus, the character designs aren't very good nor do they fit together. some of them feel like they came from another animation and some, including one of the MCs, Clay, have ugly clashing colors.

i can't say too much about the voice acting cus they aren't the big problem. the big problem is the voice direction and the audio mixing which makes them either too loud, too quiet, too unfitting with what is going on, etc. the sound design was also a big problem. whole lot of meme sounds that didn't belong and felt like they were only put in because they're wacky, not because it'd enhance what was happening.

overall, this was a chore to sit through and i at least hope the next episode will have something worthwhile. not a good start to this project.

[Wacky Lesbian Hour: Ep 3]

no joke hit for me except the corridor bit. yea i'm not a big fan of this dry, name-dropping humor but i still thought this was aight. your style works well in animation and the lesbians themselves got a cute dynamic. i'm interested in seeing more.

[PAIN GIRL (PILOT)]

i didn't like it.

i think the character designs are the best part in this. the main characters all have cute designs and they visually fit nicely with each other. the art style is also clean and neat and the music is aight but the animation, along with the pacing in general, was MAD MAD SLOW. in something like this with a bunch of energy and violence, it's begging to be fast paced like the powerpuff girls but it moves like it's paralyzed. it's ridden with awkward pauses and voice acting that was also inconsistent in audio mixing.

this is a personal point but i feel like the voice actors you got should have done different voices at least. casting sr pelo and the guys from digital circus in their usual way of performing is boring to me and reads more like "look who i got to voice act in my pilot!"

i know it's just a pilot as well but the characters themselves really didn't have anything going on other than kill kill kill. and that could be entertaining if again...the violence was entertaining. but when the blood and death aren't happening, all that's left is an empty void that could be filled with neat interactions between the characters or really anything that truly sets them apart or keeps them together but that never comes. it all feels too bare-bones.

but the worst part of this was the humor. the constant references to other things is not just lazy to me but it also doesn't work with something this forcefully stretched out and again, the pacing was such a huge issue. couldn't even laugh at the trademark "intentional outtake" that i see happen a lot in animations nowadays. that plus the explanation of jokes. the long pauses for jokes that would have been better if they just got on with it. it made me feel like there was no confidence in the humor. the humor is much more suited for the minute-long shorts you usually do.

since this is a pilot, i still look forward to seeing the characters and all that get more developed in a way. but honestly, all the problems i had with this didn't make it a good start.