Extraordinary Tales

In the time of excessive CGI, it's nice to see that there's still a place with distinct comic book, video game and ever classic painting style. This anthology is a delightfully eerie visual parade of short stories, each account spans for approximately ten minutes. While this eccentric niche unfortunately might not appeal to everyone, it's a great homage to the poet and frighteningly quirky enough for fans to thoroughly appreciate.

The tales are treated as separate stories, with different production value and narrator. For those who like graphic style of Corpse Bride, Coraline or even Sin City, they might find fascinating surprise here. There's even a nod to comic book signature, as well as my favorite "The Masque of the Red Death" which seem like a living portrait from centuries before.

They have one underlining theme of dread, with scare and gore one would expect from horror nowadays, although nothing too intrusive that it would repulse audience. Most have narrators and voice acting, these instances have such surreal feel about it. Many, especially gamers and animation enthusiasts would recognize the voice of Christopher Lee. However, the silence can just be equally effective to deliver the short burst of fright.

Its main obstacle is, ironically, its own unworldly styles. They can be so strange that one or a couple of them might alienate the audience. Among even fans of comic book or horror, not every tale would resonate on the same level. Still, they are relatively short, so one would most likely find something to adore here.

This collection is a myriad of uncanny tales affectionately crafted with unique visual. They are unmistakably bleak yet charming and designed to charm viewer with sheer oddity.

Extraordinary Tales (2013)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

This animated anthology film from director Raul Garcia is certainly a mixed bag but it's certainly worth watching if you're a horror fan or a fan of Poe's stories. Basically what we've got here are five different Poe stories being told but what makes this film special is that they're narrated by some rather famous people.

Christopher Lee does "The Fall of the House of Usher," "The Tell- Tale Heart" features Bela Lugosi, "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" has Julian Sands, "Guillermo Del Toro does "The Pit and the Pendulum" while the final segment, "The Masque of the Red Death" is told silent.

As is the case with most anthology films, they're always a mixed bag because the story quality is just so different from one to the next. For the most part this film is entertaining just because of how creative it was and because of the fact that it has some very big names in the horror genre lending their voices. An an overall level I'd argue that "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" is the best because it does feature the best animation and the overall tone is quite good.

The first film with Lee features the actor doing some great narration but I must admit that I didn't care too much for the CGI style. The Lugosi segment was an interesting one as it features an archival vocal performance with a bunch of static. To add to the feel of the audio this short was done in B&W and the effect is mildly amusing. Del Toro does a nice vocal performance and the final film also features some good animation.

EXTRAORDINARY TALES certainly has its flaws throughout and it's certainly uneven at times but if you're a fan of the actors or of Poe's work then it's worth watching.

Not sure why the average ratings ... I found this quite beautiful.

Its only flaw is how short it is, however its gorgeous visuals, voice acting and symphonic music more than atone.

The final short did not need narrating because its clear what the message is. I loved how different they all were, intententinaly so, and believe it or not voice matters.

The first short was Gothic perfection! The second not my favorite, but it was good. The Third and Fourth had some suspense and horror in it and the final one had an excellent theme.

There is not much to say about an animated tribute to EAP work summed up in 117 minutes or so, but this came close enough to say plenty.

Final Grade -A

Edgar Allen Poe's stories have endured for decades, and with showings like this--demonstrating how his work continues to fire the imagination--they'll continue to do so for years to come.

Each animation style is uniquely suited to the story. The choice of a stark black-and-white stylistic animation combined with the incredible sound of Bela Lugosi reading "The Tell-Tale Heart" was sheer perfection. Sir Christopher Lee and Julian Sands matched 'Dracula's' prowess in reading with fully immersive and emotional narration.

And Guillermo del Toro... My gods. He was absolutely the PERFECT choice for reading "The Pit and the Pendulum." The inflection, the emotion and the intensity of his narration was completely profound. Although I was a little disappointed that the final piece--"Masque of the Red Death"--wasn't narrated, that changed in seconds with how incredibly effective the purely visual storytelling was.

The score was amazing. So completely suited to this absolutely overwhelming piece. Everything about this was mind-blowing and I will be purchasing a hard copy as soon as I possibly can.

You get Poe as animated as ever could be a pun, some might wanna make watching this. Seriously though: Poe interpreted by different artists and therefor different styles is a mixed bag as could be expected. First of all you have to like animation and horror to even think about watching this. If not you may want to stay clear of this, which also has a lot of Horror talent at voicing department.

The different animation styles can also be viewed as a curse (no pun intended) or a blessing. Some might have wanted one style throughout the whole thing, I personally like the change and the different approaches. But it's important you know before deciding to watch this. Especially if it's not your thing.

Depending on your knowledge of Poe, you will have a different degree of information concerning the plots of the stories. Whatever that will do to your viewing pleasure