Josh-B's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Blockhead: Episode 11]

Long detailed review

Alright, I suppose I'll give this toon the whole spiel.

I remember back in the olden days about 3 years ago when I first saw Blockhead, it was simple antics that appealed to many audiences expecting simple humor. You were consistently thinking up new things for him to get into and I especially enjoyed Blockhead's new dialouge every episode. Blockhead was also a constantly developing character which was evidenced in Time Squad showing a sort of 'secret past', adding more dimensions to his character. Even though Blockhead had simple ways, he was always responding to a new situation in a humorous way and always had something new to show, even if you did throw in a few recurring jokes. This is what I enjoyed most about the series.

But, as I feared, this is no longer so.

Around the whole redesign at about Episode 9, I liked the new look and everything and the type of humor stayed delightfully the same as before. But the following episodes started getting bland for very good reasons. Its not that the writing has become bad, it is just become far too repetitive, which in its own sense is still considered bad. You see, I just think that Blockhead is starting to become too adamant a character, with nothing really too new. I see him saying a lot of the same type of dialouge choices and too much of the same actions, characters and jokes. One major thing is the Weevil character whom doesn't really fit in as well. A new recurring character every episode just doesn't seem to work after awhile, besides maybe a cameo later on or a brief reference. But just putting him in every new episode just doesn't feel right. It felt good with the two original characters: Blockhead and his Conscience who gave the series its true essence. But you have a new character who you try to base plots around, kind of ruins that aspect about the series. The only main recognized characters that worked were the ones in Time Squad and that was kind of just throwing Blockhead into a completely different genre.

Maybe the whole reason for this is Blockhead is just such a one-sided character that can only last so long before it just starts to get old, and I don't know if you should just move on or what. Or maybe your new, improved art style has somehow taken away from the series simple beginning and has limited or damaged the writing and situations.

Either way, I don't feel as good about this series as I used to. I may have rambled a bit these past few paragraphs, but I hope I can get my message through to you in the way I intended.

Hoping for the best.

The-Swain responds:

I won't disagree that this episode has "more of the same" when it comes to some of the comedy, especially concepts that were frequent through Episodes 9, 10, and the Ghostmas special, and someone expecting to be surprised throughout will undoubtedly be a little disappointed.

Thing is, there's a method to this madness. It's been over a year since the last actual episode in the series, and any repeat of old concepts was meant to remind people of what they'd been missing. This was supposed to be "just another episode", but I think the passing of time between episodes makes each one a little more precious, and then maybe a little disappointing when it doesnt turn out to be a brand new awesome experience.

Though I disagree about the Weevil; he's less a character and more a prop. Another target of Blockhead's obsession, but more versatile than giving him a reason to say "Introducing tongs!" every episode. He doesn't have any kind of role in this episode even, and the escape scene is more to highlight Blockhead's needless obsession with yet another ridiculous focus. Though you're right to call Blockhead single-dimensioned - the only thing I can ever change about him is the environment with which he interacts. Hence another red herring for him to chase.

Alas, I do miss the old days of just Blockhead and his Conscience, and there will be plenty more scenarios where just the two of them can go at it. But don't be worried about the direction of the series - every episode, I sit down with my collection of comics I drew as 13-year-old and pick traits that I intend to use each time. Maybe next time it will be more to your liking?

[Monster's Dream]

Good for a dream sequence.

This movie was a real creative piece of art and it was a bit jumbled together like a dream should be. Let me start with the animation.

Admittedly, the animation was a bit iffy. The movements of the character didn't seem to flow as well as it should have. The running animations seemed alright, but some movements seemed a bit off, for instance when hes teetering over the cliff. Some of the movements seemed just a tad jerky, like when he lands after being blasted away. The animation didn't hinder the movie too much as a whole, Its just there could be a few improvements.

Now the art pretty much more than makes up for what I said about the animation. When I pay attention to the art more, it seems more like an art film. I can tell this is a major part of the movie you focused on. The backrounds were fantastic. They definitely created a surreal dream world. The colors went along perfectly with the whole style of the movie. I loved the main character, who fit along with the whole piece as well as the giant pyramid.

About the whole dream; the events that occur are pretty random like in a real dream. However, it seemed to move along a little too fast, more so than in an actual dream. Again, it didn't really hinder the movie a whole lot, I just think there could be some brushing up.

Overall, the art was great; the animation and writing was alright but needed a couple improvements. It was a great piece the whole way through and I hope to see some more of your work in the near future. ;-)

~JB

animatorjones responds:

thanks for taking the time to write an all around constructive and helpful review :D

animationwise, ill keep improving, i hear what your saying. in the future i'll try to iron out the Frame by frame so there isn't any jerkyness.

for the art, thank a bunch :3 i spent a lot of time on that actually, so i'm glad you enjoyed.

as for the whole dream, sorry about the randomness, just trying to get a dream feel going. but in the future i'm sure there will be more structure.

thanks again and good luck with your submissions as well, (going to go watch them now :3

-jones

[Luis and the Cloud Sigs]

Cool.

I like it a lot.

AND STOP SPELLING MY NAME WRONG! >:-(

Kart-Man responds:

B-but your name sounds cooler with an extra 's' though... Fine, I'll change it. Picky, picky...

:P

[-Chess-]

Um...

It probably wasn't a good idea to submit this ST. But its your alt so, eh. Anyways, it was pretty good. Slight humor, and violence. S'okay.

ShurtTirtle responds:

Yeah, i miss the feeling of submitting stuff, so i used my alt so i can submit crap ^^

[1 Hour Challenge]

Wierd.

It's very wierd. But I like the 1 hour challenge idea.

mooseisloose responds:

thanks! go check out the second one! the 1 hr challenge idea will be used a lot, because this is a whole series!