Arzak Rhapsody

"Arzak Rhapsody" was based on the famous comic book hero by Moebius, called 'Arzak'. This miniseries's been directed by the artist too, so i had quite high expectations for this title. Wrong. I shouldn't had.

First of all, the original Arzak comics were 'silent'. no dialogue, no caption boxes, no nothing. On the other hand, the animated version has some quite annoying dubbing voices, whom just don't stop talking. Most stories would be totally understandable without any speech, so i cant see why this was necessary (besides, i don't speak any Latin languages, so i didn't understand a word they said).

Then, the visuals. Instead of the original, crystal-clean lines and smooth colors -both are Moebius's trademarks-, you'll see some badly vectorized, rough mess, with quite tasteless digital colors. I looks somewhat amateurish. Strangely enough, i don't have any problems with the minimalistic animation, for I think it suits these simple little stories well. They should've used a different software for this cartoon, which could animate pixel images too. Even I know some of these programs.

Stories are fun. Surrealistic little sketches, with memorable scenery and characters. It's still Moebius, it cant be that bad.

All in all, more likely a fan art, than a well over-thought adaptation. Even the most die-hard Moebius fans could easily live without this one.

The plot/dialogue is a typical French sci-fi/fantasy mischmasch, cobbled together out of old Arzach and other Moebius shorts. The animation is uneven but worth a look for professionals. Rendering techniques at times are oddly out of sync stylistically but there are quite a few scenes where the design & draughtsmanship are quite remarkably integrated and fluidly "dead on".

Moebius is a superlative draughtsman and designs better with pen & ink than just about any one in the business. Of late, his artwork has been generic but these shorts are a good sample of what a restrained, tasteful line style can do in Flash -- when the concept artists/animators can genuinely draw! Plus, these shorts will be a nostalgic flashback for anyone who cut his teeth on the old Metal Hurlant/Heavy Metal, the heady days of Moebius, Druillet, Claveloux, Tardi, et alia....

I'm writing this because I felt the need to support this great mood piece of artistic creation after seeing someone putting it down in his review. Whoever thought the art works here are sub par and not by Moebius probably does not really know Moebius's style well. Having seen Moebius's different styles of rendering, his line works, his intricate pieces and his simpler less intricate ones, I am quite sure the line works for this series are drawn by him. The coloring are also quite sensitively done although it looks obvious that Moebius, whether by choice or by constraints did not spend tons of time to render everything with the kind of finesse he does on his more detailed artworks, but the tone of imageries, mood and color choices are surely his signature style .. the back to basic animation style is wonderfully done given how it does not resort to the kind of complex methods of rendering we see in Hollywood fair. Its a fresh take on animation of a more basic tone, this style somehow evokes a more introspective and surreal thoughtfulness which may not be possible with smoother more defined finishing .. I thought its a great choice of Moebius to go back to basics for this series .. the music and voice overs lend themselves wonderfully to add to the surreal mood typical of Moebius's style of story telling ..

An amazing,visionary episodes that were carefully drawn by the man behind many amazing stories, themes are very mature for spiritual and high minded people. This title makes you think, feel and pretty much surrealistic and very refreshing. This up to day makes many artists to strive their paths into unknown worlds and expressions beyond words. An amazing outlandish experience.