The Witcher: Sirens of the Deep

I had high hopes for this. Thinking back on the damage they've done to The Witcher IP, this was naive. I re-read the short story that gives the movie its inspiration, and found myself, again, in awe of Sapokski's writing and characterization. In my opinion, it's one of Sapkowski's best short stories. Now, I don't want to be one of those people who harps on about an adaptation not being faithful to the original, but Netflix had so much to work with here. Sapkowski's writing is full of nuance and depth and pathos - everything this adaptation is lacking. The movie goes for cheap, surface-level fantasy action and vandalizes the unique creative depth and character-work that makes Sapkowski's writing, at its best, exceptional. At its best, Netflix has been able to capture some of this - I think back to Renfri from the first episode of The Witcher. But in large part, Netflix has failed to capture what makes the IP special. This is just the latest example.

Some laughable storytelling choices, including one that the writers had the nerve to play like a twist ending despite it being as inevitable as the rising sun. Voice acting does have a "pulled off the street" quality for some of the characters, but the performers from the Witcher show and the video games do a pretty good job.

Also, this is Netflix Witcher so you know going into it that Geralt is the 3rd or 4th lead. But for those who are unaware of how Netflix has managed this franchise, that's worth keeping in mind.

The action is actually pretty slick, although the last sequence tends to drag on a bit.

Altogether, this is a totally missable offering unless animated gore really gets you out of bed in the morning.

To be honest, I feel disappointed... I was waiting for this movie for months, hoping for something that would truly capture the essence of The Witcher, but it turned out to be mediocre at best.

The Japanese anime style, -excessive backflips and triple flips especially- just doesn't feel like our Geralt.

Another issue for me was the blonde girl's voice acting. She spoke way too fast and mumbled at times.

That said, the return of Doug Cockle as Geralt's voice was a highlight. Hearing the iconic voice from the games brought some nostalgia and familiarity, but unfortunately, it wasn't enough to save the movie.

As books and games fan I have to say. Netflix still doesn't understand what Witcher is even about. They made it another Hollywood movie with lot's of fights and very little amount of dialogue. Everything that made the short story so emotional and beautiful in the book is gone here. Also, for the most part I was just bored and that's because Geralt is so overpowered here. He literally has all human-sized monsters on one hit. He killed at least 30 of the vodniks. We simply aren't worried for the main characters. As its own thing this is just another generic animated movie with a generic plot. As a Witcher adaptation, it's just poor.

Something has happened to the Witcher. Somewhere along the way, he has become a side character.

Story: It's not well developed but is serviceable.

Characters: As mentioned, somehow the focus is no longer on our hero - where it should always be - and it's not even on recurring characters important to our hero. This was a major error.

Animation: Passable but clearly on a very limited budget. Had the story been very good, this would have been easily forgivable.

Sound/Music/Voice: Low quality. The voice actors aren't very good, unfortunately. There's not much emoting, if any.

Verdict: Unless you're a die-hard Witcher fan, this anime is not worth your time. I gave six stars, mostly for nostalgia.