Honestly for most of the runtime I was enjoying it!

But, to me, everything went wrong when that flashbang went off.

Robbed Road to Redemption

I think Jax should have been brought back from abstraction. For a good chunk of the show and the runtime of the movie the focus was on Jax and his problems. We find out so much, and get so close, only for the story to hit the brakes and pivot into a different direction.

For a good while I wondered why that bothered me so much after the fact. Especially when I was so engaged during the movie. But after sleeping on it I realized that there was very little actual closure to leaving Jax abstracted.

Yeah, it would have been nice to see a canon female-Jax design. But more than that it would have been more satisfying to see Jax make the first steps to try and be better. I wouldn't have expected an entire redemption arc in the time span the movie had left, but I would have wanted to see the first steps being taken.

Even just a scene of Gangle and Jax sitting off to the side talking would have been enough. We don't get to know what about, but just knowing that they're talking and showing that Jax is starting to put in the effort would have been great.

I used Gangle as an example because I hate how much closure she was denied. I hate how much closure everyone was denied, not just her. Gangle, Zooble, Ragatha.

Pomni was hurt the least by Jax but got the most closure from him. That just doesn't feel fair.

Especially when Caine just barges in on the story to come back and take all that redemption and resolution that should have gone to, and was set up to go to Jax.

Stolen Spotlight

Everything after Pomni was pulled out of Jax felt so spelled out or redundant when subtlety was were the digital circus shinned.

Alot of what we saw with Caine was pretty much already said or implied. He escaped containment. He built the circus. He took the mind files and made the digital bodies. Aside from looking up their lives on the internet, there really wasn't much that the scene contributed.

I just feel like Caine should have stayed gone. Yeah his 'death' was abrupt but it was interesting. And, even when we saw him again in the void I thought they were setting up a true, final, death=redemption for him. Especially when he pulled the blue sphere out of him. I was convinced that he was going to fizzle away and the little blue sphere was going to get a chance to shine as its own thing.

But, no, he just crowbars himself back into the story. Taking away what would have been a powerful lesson about the first steps to forgiveness (both to yourself and earning it from others) with Jax just to give Caine back the spotlight. To give Caine a happy ending.

There's a certain irony in the fact that Caine wanted to be better, to give up being in complete control and the center of attention when he hijacked the story and the redemption that was being built up for Jax.

Okay, And?

When Caine said no more secrets I thought that, at the very least, we were going to get spelled out answers on how abstractions came to be and stuff like that but no...it was just telling them about who they were outside the circus.

The scene with Caine showing them who they really were, while sweet, just wasn't necessary and took away time that could have been used for other things. All we really needed was the final scene of them at the bus stop. I feel like that would have said enough. But, no, seeing the characters' lives outside the circus and getting the narration just felt like the unneeded victory lap that, again, took away time that could have been better used.

With all that said, when I think about it, Caine was not necessary to the plot anymore. They were learning how to control and create for the world. Caine saying that he was giving them control was a bit redundant since they were in control with him gone. With time, they probably would have learned to reverse Pomni's condition and/or make their own adventures.

(Jax changing his avatar into a girl could have been the first clue to fixing Pomni's avatar) They got pretty good at fixing the world without Caine.

When I was talking about it with my brother he brought up the point that they could have probably eventually figured out their identities without Caine too.

So they took away Jax's potential start to redeeming himself/herself just to give it to Caine and little much else.

When the movie ended I just felt so hollow and I hated that. I fell in love with the digital circus, bought the tickets to see it on the big screen, cured much of my internet addiction just to avoid spoilers when it got leaked only to walk out feeling cheated.

I hated that I didn't like it. I wish that I didn't hate it. But I hated it.

Caine should have stayed dead and all the resolution that went to him should have gone to Jax. It felt like the story hit the brakes on itself just to give Caine a happy ending.