OptimisticOctopus's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Animated Vlog, Ep: 2]

There's some self-aware humor here that I can really get behind. Stylish and witty, with good satirical undertones.

Oponok responds:

Thanks for the kind words. There's a lot of "self-aware" humor on Newgrounds, but it generally is in the form of a video game or franchise parody, which I usually keep away from making. Not because there's anything wrong with any of that (I enjoy it as much as the next guy), but because there are already so many people doing it, and doing it well, that I'm fairly certain I wouldn't bring anything to the table. I'm glad people are enjoying this kind of thing, so I'll continue making it.

[Dear, Princess]

The art style is cool. I like how you give it sort of a traditional anime style, but play with shilouettes in the beginning. Your voice acting isn't professional quality to be sure, but it's subdued and understated enough to the point where it isn't obnoxious or in anyone's face. As for the theme/story, not to my tastes personally, but it's a clever analogy, and I respect the execution.

exninja123 responds:

thank you! :)

[Mario Meets Kirby]

Although I found your re-telling of the story amusing and the artwork to be varied and interesting, I have to question you providing the link to the fanfiction. The joke is that it's bad, right? So you're sharing the link so...what? So more people can harass the author (who's probably 12 or something)?

JonBro responds:

I wanted it to be possible to read the fanfiction by itself rather than in the form of subtitles. There's no way to harass the author with that link as far as I can tell.

Also, I don't know if this means anything, but this particular fanfiction has been out for at least a couple of years. So the writer is a few years older than he was when he wrote the story.

[Quiet]

Some parts of this are good. I'm not sure, but I think NG may have gotten past stick movies. This would definitely have been front paged in the early 2000s, but I'm not sure about now. Especially since the stick people don't even look that good (although there's definitely a lot more detail than some of those old movies, so yeah). However it IS well animated, and you make good use of colors to set up a scene.

Highlights for me are when the girl pulls him along in the first scene, the zoom out of the city, the moment where she "turns", as it were, and the effect when he shoots the robot in the head at the end. But in my opinion the fight scene proceeding that kinda ruins the tone. It was this fairly dramatic, heavy story prior, but then it devolves into a generic stick action sequence. Not only that, but the fact that it stays in one shot the whole time kills any excitement there could have been. There's no focus or emphasis on any of the fighting, leaving the music to just kinda hover in the background awkwardly and the action itself bland.

Whatever you do, don't get discouraged. You have some serious potential, as this movie very clearly demonstrates.

JuanDiablos responds:

Thank you for this review! I regret making this a stick animation as i wanted to get this story across as best i could but sadly ended up going with it. I agree with you that the fight scene ruined the tone a bit, i partly added it just to fill up time in the song where i couldnt think what else to add, in hindsight I think I should have cut the song down but i've animated it now so :D its staying in there.

[Lamp People]

Semi-clever little joke. The use of detailed animated faces on objects and backgrounds that were less so was used to good effect here, and the faces are well drawn. It's not terrible, but it isn't great either.

Liquidspiral responds:

Thanks, a lot I can take from this review. I am glad you liked the artwork as I spent quite a while on it! Thank you for the review!

[3-Up Ep.1]

Entertaining and stylish

Better than I was expecting. There's definitely a lot reminiscent of the SMBZ series, and people are going to notice that. Still it's your own story, with different characters and scenarios. Some might call it a rip-off, but I think it's fair to call it homage. As aimless said, the animation is super tight and well oiled and all that. Also like he said, the dialogue isn't great, but I mean, will anyone be watching this for the plot?

Having said that, you make the main attraction worthy of being called the main attraction. The character's powers may not be the most creative, but the fight scene between Chem and Ken was fantastic. If there's one thing a lot of people don't get is that in order for a fight to be entertaining it needs to be believable. And yes, of course they're superpowered turtles flying through the air at nigh-FTL speeds, but the way the combatants react to things. A great example of this (and my personal highlight of the episode) is when Chem slams himself into the ground a good portion into the fight.

His mass is so well, massive that he pops both Ken AND a nearby fallen Bowser statue up into the air, and proceeds to leap into the air and smash him over the head with it. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. That's physics, people. That geeky stuff is what makes good fight scenes so damn awesome.

Pac-Boy responds:

I thank you for the review, I do understand the concept of physics and flash. I'll be uploading a new flash that will display exactly what you are saying. Dialogue will be whole lot better since I wrote a script that will show the characters' personalities better.

[Team Fortress School]

Lotta potential

This isn't bad. I've definitely seen worse flashes. Obviously everyone's commented on the art, so I won't go there. My suggestion would be either to hire some voice actors or just use in game sounds. I mean, usually one guy doing 90% of the voices doesn't work unless you're a HIGHLY talented voice actor with lots of experience, or you're the creators of South Park.

And for the record, the writing is pretty good. Some of the visual jokes were funny (like the sudden shot of the demoman passed out on his desk), but some characters I think were a little OOC. I mean, when in doubt just remember that the vast majority of them are insane. The Soldier especially. He just seemed too functional.

Also, in regards to what someone said below, when in doubt: Just because something is MEANT to be annoying, doesn't mean it's any less pleasant to watch.

Twisted4000 responds:

Now THIS is the review that I've been looking for. It pretty much sums up everything perfectly, and even what I think of it, as well. I notice what I kinda did wrong, so hopefully I can use all of this for my next movie I'm making so I don't bore all of you.