As I sat down to watch the 2020 fantasy movie "Ancestral World", I must admit that my expectations weren't exactly high. Why? Well, because a lot of fantasy movies out there are dubious at best, and with "Ancestral World" having scored only 2.4 here on IMDb as I am writing this review, the odds were not favoring the movie.
But still, with "Ancestral World" being a movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I sat down to watch it here in 2021 as I had the chance to do so.
And I must say that writers Adriano Barone and Enrico De Palo actually managed to surprise me with their movie. Sure, "Ancestral World" wasn't a spectacular tour de force of a fantasy adventure movie. But it proved to be better than what I had assumed a 2.4 IMDb rating would result in.
The storyline told in "Ancestral World", as written by Adriano Barone and Enrico De Palo is a pretty straight forward one, even for a fantasy story. And it feels like it is the story that was concocted by a teenager that first had stumbled upon the world of fantasy. For better or worse, "Ancestral World" was a watchable fantasy movie, albeit a generic one.
The acting in the movie was mediocre at best. Yeah, you will not be in for a grand display of thespian skills that would put Shakespear himself to shame. I am sure that the actors and actresses were doing the best they could with the limitations of the script and a somewhat shunted and rigid character gallery.
For a fantasy movie, then there was not much of special effects, neither CGI or practical effects throughout the course of the movie. There were the odd bits and pieces of effects here and there, but nothing grand, nor overly impressive. And a fantasy should have a dazzling array of special effects to bring the fantasy world to life. Sadly, "Ancestral World" didn't have that.
"Ancestral World" is by no means an outstanding foray into the fantasy and adventure genre. Director Enrico De Palo managed to deliver a watchable enough movie, though it is a movie that came and went without leaving much of any impression. And I doubt that the movie will be lingering in my memory come next week. This is the type of movie that you will watch once and never again, only to forget about it entirely. And yeah, "Ancestral World" just doesn't have the story contents to support more than a single viewing.
My rating of the 2020 movie "Ancestral World" lands on a surprising four out of ten stars. It wasn't as bad as I had anticipated it to be, given its low IMDb rating. Nor was it a movie that will leave you hoping for more.
