jimnshay

"Big Ass Spider" is a reasonably entertaining B-Movie that neither takes itself too seriously nor insults your intelligence (except with your permission). If you like this kind of comedy/horror/monster movie at all, you'll enjoy yourself here. It's not Shakespeare; then again, that's not what it said on the box. And you opened it anyway.

You could compare it to a Syfy original; it's in that genre. But it's better than all than about three of them, and that's including "Sharknado." Not like BAS is genius, but Syfy movies are… not good.

It does what a B is supposed to do: entertain, divert, scare a little, clown around. Decent job. A perfect NetFlix weeknight movie; even Saturday night, if you're not doing anything.

Yes, yes, another talking-wild-animal film, complete with journey of discover for the poor half- striped zebra who doesn't fit it. But I found it to be a first-class effort of its type. Oh, yes, it does slow down a bit in the middle; they could have tightened it up quite a lot.

But some of the animated characters were quite clever, humorous, or both. And the cultural memes and stories utilized in the plot, being out of South Africa, were significantly different than the approach that say, Disney or Dreamworks might have taken.

Your kids will enjoy it. And if you appreciate animation, you'll enjoy a fresh approach to a familiar type of animated features.

John DiMaggio and his friends tell the story of voice acting, and nobody tells a story better than people who do funny voices. It's raucous, wild, silly, and honest. About 45 minutes in you've heard about the beginning of voice acting in cartoons and all the principals have told you how they got into the business and what it means to them. It's a complete experience, a great ride, and you're well and truly satiated. And a little exhausted by all the high-energy emoting.

But there' was still another 45 minutes to go. What, I asked, could the next 45 minutes possibly be about?

Well, actually, it's about the business of cartoon voice-overs: how you get work, what it's like to need work and the insecurity of the business, what a recording session is like, what their agents do for them, how they work with directors, and the different kinds of work that they do. The part about doing voice-overs for video games was a scream. But it was all good.

Taken all in a piece, it's too much. So here's my suggestion; especially doable if you see this on Netflix. At 45 minutes, stop the movie; you've seen Part 1. Go do something else. The next day, see the rest of the movie -- Part 2. You'll enjoy the two halves immensely -- much better than the whole. That's what I did, and I whole-heartedly recommend the movie, when watched this way.