Cryptozoo

To put it simply, when one uses intentionally naïve style of drawing. Combined with a story that sounds as if it was written during the 60s by an ardent hippie and then has the voice actors performing their roles as seriously as they can without a shred of a smile - it doesn't work well together. The audience I was watching it with reacted with laughter though no joke has been told, I was cringing in my chair with embarrassment. I'm sure the film creators didn't aim for either but that's what they got.

I tried liking it, but maybe my mindset wasn't great to give the movie a chance. Its weird to watch, social kind of animation. The tone was immediately set in the first 10 minutes. I think this is one of those that, you either like it or you don't, type of thing. For me, nope, not my kind of movie, but a solid 6 nevertheless.

A veterinarian and her friend decide to save cryptids from the depredations of the world. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, a cryptid is a beast which science hasn't proven exists, but which is believed to exist by many people: the yeti is one; the chupacabra is another. For the purposes of this movie, cryptids include a variety of fabulous creatures like fauns, dragons, medusas and will-o-the-wisps. The plans of these women is to start an exhibition park, where people will pay to see these creatures; once familiar with them, acceptance will be the next step.

You can't have a story without a villain -- actually you can -- and here the villain is a fellow who wants to weaponize these creatures for the military, and who has plenty of soldiers with guns, tanks, and poorly drawn helicopters to enforce his scheme. In the end, both plans fail, and the best course of action, it turns out, is to leave these beings alone; they've been doing fine for a long time without these geniuses. Or, as I heard the Einstein quote beautifully mangled, "If there weren't so many people trying to solve problems, we wouldn't have so many problems to solve."

This movie, despite its good intentions, annoyed me on many levels. The first was the easy choice of making the military the villain. The second was the general idiocy, the going 'round Robin Hood's barn to conclude that the best thing to have done at the end would have been nothing in the first place. Finally, I did not enjoy the unpolished nature of the images, the quarter animation. I understand that this was an independent production, and that the producers wrought miracles to raise enough money to make this unfortunately crude cartoon, the most expensive type of movie making. Given my dissatisfaction with the story, however, this just added to my general impression.

Charmingly bizarre and utterly unique. This film is not for everyone. But what I appreciate about this film is that is pushes the boundaries on cinema, it preservers the voice of the filmmaker rather than peddle to market expectations.

It's also a commendable animation feat considering the small crew and budget. Hopefully it will help pave the way for more independent artists to express themselves in the future.

Cryptozoo is one that fascinated me even before watching. Cryptozookeepers try to capture a Baku, a dream-eating hybrid creature of legend, and start wondering if they should display these beasts or keep them hidden and unknown. The movie is entirely animated in an interesting style in a way the story couldn't be told any other way. As creative as an idea Crytozoo may be, the final product didn't always work out the way it should. Of course, the animation is the stand-out of it all. It's very unique and has moments that are just beautiful. Specifically the end of the second act and most of the third happen to be the most interesting visually and story-wise. Most of the movie is based on how strange it is so we lose the characters and why the stakes are so high. One character named Phoebe is the only one that I really connected with. She's a cryptid so we get her point of view on the subject. There are many themes of zoos and animal cruelty which is a good aspect to think about. Also, symbolism and ideas from well know stories - like Adam and Eve - are prevalent throughout. Even though the most striking aspect of the movie is animation, I wonder if the animation were "better animated" the effect would be different in some cases, but that really isn't an issue. This is quite an entertaining watch solely based on curiosity of it all. Most people are divided on this, but it seems they like it more than they didn't like it. I will revisit this in the future to see if the feeling is still the same. Overall, it's alright but should've been better.