Re-Animated

This is a real dark day for the old Cartoon Network. Not only do they begin to make non-animated fare for their sinking ship of a network, but it's terrible animated fare aimed at the lowest common denominator audience of shut ins and agoraphobic, obese pre-teens. Everything in this movie is so "turned up to 11" that nothing makes an impression.

One thing that did stand out was the terrible soundtrack. The music that accompanies scene changes is exactly like the music that follows the kids around on every Disney and Nick show. It's obvious that the CN is trying to catch up to them and make their own terrible garbage packages for kids.

They're the new Fox network. They cancel anything with a hope of being successful, and they greenlight stuff like this. Alternately, the Adult Swim line up apparently greenlights anything that blows in the door. It's obvious that they don't know what works in the post Aqua Teen tastescape, and they're content to flail around looking for it for as long as they need.

What happens when you combine low-budget vector animation with amateur actors? Certainly nothing comparable to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?". That's not to say that my problems with this movie are that it doesn't measure up to a very good movie like "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", no, it would be quite unfair to knock it just because it's no where near as good. There are plenty of OTHER problems with this "movie" to fault it on. So, the "... Roger Rabbit" comparisons stop here... for now.

The first, and most obvious problem with this movie, is the casting. Obviously they had a small budget to work with. That's the only thing that can explain why they'd choose a cast full of actors that rate mediocre, at best. These actors are almost as "good" as actors you'd expect to see on a kids' sitcom on Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel. Even the voice actors are bad, and that's amazing. Amazing because Cartoon Network normally employs some of the best voice actors in the country to work on their animated shows. So yes, the acting is bad. Quite bad. Only pre-teens could watch the movie without noticing this fault, and even so, it's insulting to make entertainment for kids and expect them to be ignorant of all its faults. The casting was terrible.

Then there's the extremely racially ignorant casting choice of selecting Eunice Cho and Micah Karns to play the role of Japanese kids whose family surname is "Yoshida." News flash: Asian ethnicities are not interchangeable. These kids don't have an ounce of Japanese heritage, and should not be cast to play Japanese characters; they don't look Japanese, not a bit. The decision to cast them borders on racism by reinforcing the stereotype that "all Asians look the same." In fact, these kids are so far from looking Japanese that you'd have to be brain dead or downright ignorant to ever mistake either of them for one. On the other hand, their grandparents ARE played by Japanese actors, and speak Japanese in their scenes. That only worsens the perceived racial stereotype here, as it paints a clear picture of what race the family is supposed to be while the kids are clearly of vastly different heritage. You really would have to be ignorant to not see the difference between them. Or a child. Great, let's help reinforce the stereotype by subjecting children to actors of mixed Asian races and telling them that they're supposed to be related somehow.

As for the animation, the other half of the "acting" in this movie, to most it will appear fairly decent. To big fans of animation, it's noticeably low-budget. They used a vector graphics animating program, i.e. Flash, for all of the animation. So, it looks very "tweeny," quite flat, often like paper cut-outs. While it's decent animation, it's still stiff and flat animation, and the characters don't move as fluidly as cartoons you'd see in a Disney film.

The plot of the movie was built around the rumor that Walt Disney's brain was put into cryogenic storage, so "Milt Appleday" represents Walt Disney and the cartoons and theme park are meant to be parodies of Disney's work. However, these Flash animated cartoons are no where near as lively as traditional cartoons like those made by Disney (or at least Walt Disney's Disney). It stands out when the characters almost "float" around, look completely superficial, when they aren't shaded to fit into the scene, when they seem like they were just slapped into the frame with little attempt to really assimilate them into the scene. I know I said I wouldn't make any more comparisons to "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?", but just watch that film and see how much more believable the animated characters are in that movie. They really do fit into the scenes shot in the real world. That's why at least one comparison must be made, as "Who Framed Roger Rabbit?" was one of the best films to put animated characters into the real world with real actors. The characters in "Reanimated" stick out like sore thumbs in the real world. Sore, tween-animated Flash thumbs. That style of animation is great when it's applied to a great stylized cartoon like "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends." But, it's a bit disappointing in its application in "Reanimated," where they stand in as parodical representations of Walt Disney's cartoons.

Overall, the movie is just barely "watchable" for younger audiences, but anyone in the teens and up will have a hard time stomaching the acting. Given the large amount of advertising and hype they've put into this movie, you'd think they'd have given it a decent budget to hire decent actors and bump the animation up from cost-effective "tweeny" computer animation to something traditionally fully-animated. There's really no excuse for the bounty of low-budget choices in the production of "Reanimated," this is Cartoon Network, a pretty big powerhouse in cable entertainment. For them to pump out and hype up such a mediocre piece of work is almost insulting to their viewers.

Cartoon Network is dead. They were a quality cartoon channel when I was younger, often one I preferred watching. But this...this really cut the nuts off my childhood. It's about a kid who's a big pushover, unpopular, and not a jock in a middle school who's secretly in love with this girl who doesn't notice him at all. So, aside from the the cliché's, this is the same freaking setup as the other past 100 cartoons. So he goes to Gollyworld, some sort of Disney parody, and gets hit by a train, and thus he has to get a brain transplant. Y'know, if someone were to get hit by a train, they'd be dead. So he has his brain replaced with some sort of Walt Disney-esquire man, but manages to keep his personality gland to cover up a plot hole (very poorly). Now, I think free will is in the frontal lobe and personality is in the brain stem. I know, "Why so serious, it's a cartoon-like show?". Well if thats the way they made it, then it should have been a freaking cartoon! Anyway, when he wakes up and realizes that he can see cartoons that drive him crazy the entire movie. Now, back to the logic, when he wakes up, he remembers his parents. In the brain, neurons control memory, so if his lost his brain but kept his "personality gland" that means he can't remember anything.

Now, I won't go into this to much, but the only good part is when Jimmy turns into a cartoon to rescue his girlfriend. The animation was solid, but it only lasted for 20 seconds. But, beyond that, the acting was atrocious, the characters were under developed, and the film was trying to hard to be funny, and failing at it. Don't see this. You will be happy you didn't.

I can't agree with anybody on this. I think this movie is pretty good. Sure, it has some tacky jokes, strange slapstick and inexperienced actors. But it is good. It's immoral and doesn't have much value but it is a MADE FOR TV MOVIE!! Who can blame 'em.

It has a very interesting storyline. It draws you in. It reminds you of those old, tacky, cheap, limited-animation cartoons. Re-animated is a good movie. I recommend it. And I will be there when it comes out on DVD. See it for yourself it is very good. We all waited months for it to air.I think it is great. Buy Re-animated (If it comes out). What else is there to say, it's a movie that makes you want to dance.

It is an immoral movie that makes you forget your troubles. It's funny, it's romantic it's whatever you want it to be. It also marks the reappearance of Pee Wee Herman. It's a nice, funny movie. That's why I give it 7/10 stars. Buy Re-animated. You'll be glad you did. It will be a cult classic in a few years, you'll see. Like uh, what's it called? Watership Down yes that's it. It was highly criticized and even drew controversy, but now it's a cult classic. So, go see Re-animated, it will remind you of Watership Down.

Honestly, I don't think this movie is bad what so ever. I saw this movie when I was about 10 with a few of my cousins and we all laughed at this movie. The animation plus live action was good. The problem is that majority of the reviews are likely hood coming from adults and grown ups. Just whinnying about a kids movie.