Chris-Aldin's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Winter Attack (part 2)]

Wow, impressive and amusing!

When a full movie is split into two parts like this, i usually vote on both the same way but i only review the second part. Anyways both individual parts and the movie as a whole were just fantastic. I thought i recognized the smooth claymation right away. After seeing this along with Motion and Become i am really impressed with your abilities, and i think i can safely say that you are the most skilled claymator on this site. I was totally amazed by everything in this movie, not just the graphics, which is why i chose to review it. Here it is.

The graphics were as i already stated amazing, just like your other claymations. From what i know your method for creating cool looking characters is different from the other claymators on this site. I noticed you used a wire frame to make them look so lifelook, but i dont knoe if many people use these. Anyways what ever you do really works so dont change anything here. The characters are well designed, and not only in how they look. The environments and backgrounds in this case were probably a little better than in your other movies that i have seen, simply because they are artificial and not just a TV or a bookshelf or something. The environments were really well used by the characters as well. The main thing for the visuals, however, is the actual animation. It was almost mind blowing how smooth and percise all the movements were. The style was awesome too, the style of claymation is a little different than most, but nothing is too drastic. I rather enjoyed the idea of the movie, and of course how well it turned out. The idea was pretty simple, it doesnt take a lot of deep thought to understand it or anything but the way it was told was charming. It was told kind of like a fairly tale or a children's book, i definitely liked it. Then the story got a little more violent when the fight started and the bazooka was taken out, overall it was a good mix. But sadly in the second part of the movie some of that charming feel that the first part had was lost. It actually may have been for the best. And as for the ending of the first part you could not have chosen a better spot. It was the perfect cliffhanger, and im sure many more people watched the second part to see how it would end. The sound was awesome too, everything to do with it was excellent. The voice acting was great, from the expressions to the "narrator-like" script. The sound effects were good, but not much better because there werent too many of them. I know its very difficult to do many sounds in a claymation movie, but you still did good in making the sound seem complete. And the music was great too, from the cheerful music at the begining to the more intense piece in the second part, both suit the movie nicely.

Overall this was an amazing claymation movie. I still say you are the best claymator on the entire site, no one as been able to prove me wrong yet. And after seeing this i think i just have to put you into my favourite authors list. I definitely do not want to miss any of your future movies! So congrats on that and on a successful movie!
-Standing Ovation! 5/5

MackProductions responds:

I was hoping you'd review this.

Once again, you gave a brilliant review, thank you very much for these kind words. I really appreciate it, and am happy you enjoyed Winter Attack

[Say Something!]

It was only a matter of time!

Very nicely done in each aspect. This flash was not only impressive but it was quite entertaining too. As i said it was only a matter of time until someone made a flash demonstrating how annoying those ads really are. And thankfully you did this well. As a final product i couldnt really demand more from you, but i guess there are some areas you can improve on that would certainly improve the final outcome. There could have been a few more funny moments, such as the very last scene to make this, well more funny! But nice work on the humour anyways, here is my review.

The graphics were pretty impressive, i have always known the both of you for being good animators and in xtil's case when he wants to be. Right from the start i notced the graphics were good, but i was not very impressed with them until everything began picking up. The way you made each of the emoticons look was pretty cool, and kind of funny when they were being animated. The detail in not only those, but the other character in rage was solid. But the backgrounds were something id try to change in the future, there are other ways of really showing how annoying those emoticons are but without being distracting. Though, some of those flashing backgrounds were suitable for their situation. The animation was pretty good, i would have liked to see a little bit more though. The style was awesome, and overall it was probably the strongest aspect. The main thing here is the idea. It was clever, extremely well presented and it was original too. Having been the first to use these smileys in a real flash and having done it well made it the first flash of its kind in a way and that alone is good for a great score. The length was alright, it was sufficient but it could have been slightly longer. And there were some scenes where nothing much went on, like when the Smiley Truck was driving down the road. But most of the scenes were quick and wacky, really showing how annoying those things really are and how much you hate them. The flashing backgrounds were fairly good for the style, but visually they didnt do much for me. This flash was usually very entertaining and quite amusing, and thats just what is needed in any submission. The sound was obviously pretty good too for a number of reasons. The song was certainly original, and pretty funny. Once it got going it was actually very catchy and the quality was solid. It was also cool to see the "you make me blush" and the " bite me!" emoticons there too. But the song sort of took some time to get really started and the basic beat was just a little too simplistic.

All in all this was a great movie, it was a cool song and everything was well done to an extent. I know you, rtil, for your great animating skills and also your creativity, both of which were shown in this movie. So i can really give you any advice in particular, just keep doing what youre doing. Nice!
-Two Thumbs Up! 4/5

rtil responds:

i made this in two days, i had NO idea it would get this kind of attention. I wasn't going for much epic here, I mean it's just to show how annoying those smiley ads are, how much we hate them by this flash being annoying, and then shooting the damn thing in the end. The song and the cartoon were just really fun to make, and I'm glad people are channeling their anger through this.

i might add something to the ending, i don't know for sure yet though.

[Liar 3]

Ha! Clever!

Ha that was pretty cool! You said in the author's comments that the viewers should watch the first 2 installments of Liar before this one. So i did, and im sure that made this one much more enjoyable. The first two Liars were sort of a build up to this final episode, and i found it truly clever how you put it all together. Not only was the idea very clever and was very well presented, but every other aspect was there to back it up strongly. The visuals were simply amazing, the rest of the style was great, and the sound was awesome. Flash with this type of thought into it do not come around very often, here is my review.

The graphics were incredible, i noticed this right off the bat with the creature chewing the grass. Everything about your graphics in general is just amazing, it is definitely in comparison to most other submissions on the site. The drawings, whether it was of an animal, human or structure of some sort all looked great, and all had a great amount of detail and definition. The backgrounds and environments were awesome, if i didnt know any better i could swear they were from a professional cartoon. The characters were awesome too, they looked great and from what i saw theyre looks sort of demonstrated some of their personalities. The colours you chose for everything were basically perfect, everything looked like you would expect it to in terms of its colour. And the animation was simply amazing! It was very smooth and the movements were complex. The lipsync may have been a bit exaggerated sometimes, but it remained great the whole way through. The style was awesome too. The only reason it didnt earn a 10 from me is the fact that no episodes were really that long, it would have been interesting and probably pretty funny if there were more lies told. Other than that everything that has to do with the style is or almost is 10 worthy. The animating style is awesome, your characters definitely stand out, without looking at the author and just seeing one of your characters i could tell this was created by you. The idea was obviously really clever, in the way it was presented and it was cool itself. Quite obviously you did not need to stretch it out over 3 episodes but you did and it made the ending that much more funny and just clever i guess. I had to watch this twice to completely understand the ending, but it was just awesome. I cant describe it in any other way! The sound was also really well done, from the sound effects to the voice acting. The music was a nice little addition, but it was not totally necessary to the great out come of the final product. The sound effects were fairly minimal but good when they were there. And the voice acting, which was the main thing here was awesome. All the expressions that i can recall were quite good.

Overall this was an awesome movie with no real flaws at all. Everything was actually surprisingly well done. After seeing this i can safely say you are one of the best animators on Newgrounds, with this and other films like Sweet Mother of Vartan. I think this movie is my favourite one yet from you. Way to go on all your movies submitted so far. Congrats!
-Two Thumbs Way Up! 5/5

[Chillz Story]

Wow! Another classic just like The Composer!

With this, your most recent submission, you have set a new standard for yourself as an author. Now after this and the Composer, you are very respected as an artist. Many things are now expected of you, all of which are good. Your stories now must always be well developped, the length of your movies must always be as long as these were, and your movies now must be presented in this way "film noir". But this is definitely a good thing because every who has watched these two movies knows what youre clearly capable of. All of the aspects in this movie were just great, or sometimes better. Here is my review.

The graphics were filled with style and great moments in this movie. At first glance they are very impressive and almost perfect or as close as you can get to it. But when you break it down there are in fact some negatives, even if there is only a few here and there. The only negatives i could find when i paid close attention is sometimes the animation wasnt quite as fluent or clear as id like and what i mean by that is sometimes it looked as though some motions were skipped. An example of this is where the big saw Chillz with the money and he ran out of the hallway. And only occasionally the detail wasnt quite what id hoped it would be like the whole way through. Other than these there were only little flaws here and there. I loved the character design a lot, i admire an artist who can give away a part of their characters' personalities just by the way they look. The whole movie had a cool feel to it thanks to your animating style, which consisted of a dim purple glow it seemed in many of the scenes. The style was without a doubt the strongest and most prominent aspect in this movie. Your animating style was just a small fraction of the components that made up the perfect 10 i gave you for this aspect.
The feel you were able to create remained strong the whole way through. It definitely had that Film noir style i mentioned earlier as well as a very "jazzy" look and feel to it as well. This has not been done in any other movie i have ever seen on Newgrounds. This was not the only thing that made this movie extremely creative and original. The story was amazing, it was very similar to a real movie id say in the sense that it was very well developped, complex and had a good point to it. In other words it could pass for something made by a professional. The sound was also a very strong aspect in this movie. It was also very important to give the movie the feel it had. Its just a few sound effects were i guess a little awkward, again when Chillz had the money and bolted out of the hallway is an example. But the music was amazing. Very jazzy, very diverse and very cool!

Overall this was an amazing movie for a number of reasons. Despite its few flaws it came out very well and i as an author would be completely satisfied if i created this. As of now the score is definitely there to show with this truly deserves. I wouldnt be surprised to see this linger around the top 50 submissions for a very long time. Really nice job!
-Two Thumbs Way Up! 5/5

[Red Riding Hood]

Spectacular!!

Wow! That was amazing in each and every aspect. I was very impressed with this movie, even compared in many ways to your other movies on this site. This also has to be the best fairy tale rendition i have ever seen or heard, not just the other movies on the site. It was certainly a lot more violent than any of the others i can recall, but it was way cooler too. The way you actually presented it made it a lot more interesting and entertaining. You may have improved slightly since you last submission, i noticed some things were better in this particular movie. Anyways here is my review.

The visuals were awesome, even compared to everything else you have made on this site and compared to most of the other flash on Newgrounds. These graphics did appear slightly different than in your other movies too, but there were still many things about your animating style that are still consistant. Your characters remained close to the same, but they may have been a bit "darker". They were still slender and pretty realistic looking. The detail in everything, not just the characters themselves, was excellent. I noticed how realistic the backgrounds look, better than in your other movies from what i recall. You did a fantastic job of creating a scary atmosphere with the awesome realistic forest, and you really made it seem as though it was nightime. The style was amazing in this movie too, the main reasons in this case are your animating style, the idea, your presentation and your originality. Your animating style helped out both the visuals and the overall style this time around. Your characters are distinct and stand out over most others on this site for being well animated and simple a whole lot cooler! The idea was simply incredible. I would have never thought making a rendition of a fairy tale could turn out so different in some ways, and similar in many others. You made the story of Little Red Riding Hood much more interesting and obviously more violent. The actual story was awesome, i really wasnt expecting any of that to happen in the end. I thought it would turn out more happily than it did and the twist at the end was incredible. The sound was awesome as it really helped to complement all the actions in the story. The sound effects were just really cool. The voice acting was really good too, the narrator's voice was one of the things that made all the difference here.

Overall this was truly an amazing movie in just about every way i can think of. I really loved it and right after i saw it i recommended it to some of my friends who also visit NG. Well i put this into my favourite submissions and this secured you a higher spot in my favourite authors. Way to go man ,this rocked!
-Standing Ovation! 5/5

[Kirby's Dreamland I]

Ha! Awesome job!

That was actually really good, the score doesnt fully reflect it. This definitely wasnt like any other sort of sprite parody i have seen. The sense of humour was way different, and unlike many parodies it wasnt a series of bloopers. So this definitely showed some originality and even a little bit of risk taking, using an old Kirby game rather than any mario game. This certainly wasnt limited in the different types of jokes either. Some jokes on this were really simple, like BoogaBooga in the very first scene after you click play. Anyways here is my review.

The graphics were great, this basically has to with how this was a very old kirby game and yet you still seemed to use a variety of sprites and stil managed to make the animation funny where it needed to be. There is no one big problem with the visuals what so ever, rather there were things that can be slightly improved on or refined. The characters were good, but i guess you could have used a wider of variety of characters. The environments looked just like a kirby world should and the animation did its job for sure. The style was the strongest element here because the humour also contributes here and vice versa. The style of humour was way different than in other parodies, though its hard to explain exactly why. The voices were even creative in this movie, i havent heard anything similar to them before. And i rather like the black and white colour scheme you used too. It didnt necessarily add to the humour or anything but it did make the movie seem even more original. It was also a great idea to use some regular animation, and actually that animation was excellent. It sort of broke up the movie nicely for someone who isnt a huge fan of sprites. The sound was great too. The voice were funny, a little high picthed but certainly not annoying.You had some great use of sound effects too. The sound track was well varied and each song you used at an appropriate time.

Overall this was a hilarious parody with all the other aspects backing up the humour. I strongly recommend making this into a series as you have everything a successful series needs, good characters, creativity, originality, and in some cases humour. Im definitely looking forward to another one of your submissions, whether they have anything to do with this movie or not!
-Two Thumbs Way Up! 4/5

Bigfoot3290 responds:

Haha I always love your reviews (or essays, rather) Chris. Very insightful and indepth critique. About the variety of characters - Green Greens in Kirby's Dreamland only contained about five or six different types of enemies, plus Kirby. That's alright though, I understand. Anyway, it's reviews like these that keep me going. Thanks again Chris. PS - I'm workin' on a Goldeneye007 parody next, so I'm expecting a 10 from you on that :]