Wonderland Of Drawings

It’s kind of a funny story tells the tale of a 15-year-old teenager, named Craig, who after entering to a prestigious high school, finds himself overwhelmed by anxiety and depression until one night he almost kills himself, but then he somehow manages to get checked into a mental hospital. The book is mainly about what he lives in there and how he starts to confront his depression.

Now, I know, this sounds like very heavy topics – like those found in a super dramatic novel- but in fact, the book is really light and friendly and it presents these topics in a funny way. You can get a good laugh as you go through Craig’s narration and his teenager way of thinking. But most importantly, it presents the themes of anxiety and depression so anyone can understand them. I personally suffer from anxiety (or better said, I live with anxiety), so I found myself relating with almost every thought that Craig shares in his story. Ned Vizzini really manages to make a stay in a mental hospital hilarious and heart-warming at the same time.

An important thing to mention about the author is that he spent time in a psychiatric hospital himself and he dealt with depression too during his lifetime. He provides an insight to what is like to live with the constant feeling of not being good enough and he does it with humor and ease. I think that is what is most deep about this novel.

The characters are funny and well thought. The narration, like I said, is simple yet clever, funny and friendly. It has romance but it is not the stereotypical teenager love story. The only thing I didn’t like about this book is that, in my opinion, it ends too soon and I, for one, am left wanting to know what happens with Craig and everybody after the story ends, but maybe it’s because I project my own anxiety on Craig’s, so I really want to know what the future holds for me. Hehe

But what is even more outstanding is that the story is not the least overshadowed by the visuals. Script and animation are at the same level and are amazing. The story is so good. It has this mystery, detective vibe that gave me life. You really develop a connection with the characters and you are really intrigued to solve the mystery behind Van Gogh’s dead. I really enjoyed its “memory-based” storyline, always fluctuating between past and present. It reminded me of the narrative in Alice Madness Returns, a game by Spicy Horse.

I thought I was gonna get visually tired of watching so many post-impressionist oil paintings but the fact is that I didn’t. The movie doesn’t exaggerate in this aspect and the frames are clear enough to understand what’s happening.

There is, however, one thing about this movie that I have to get off my chest and is this: I’m not sure the oil painting technique was used in its full potential. Besides the cool transitions between present time and memories, I don’t think there is another exploit to the technique (besides its aesthetical purpose). What I mean is...the story could be told perfectly without the oil painting format. Don’t get me wrong, I know that the biggest aspect of this movie is its achievement in technique, but take that away and what do you have? A man that goes and talks to some people and then talks to some other people. It could have been a live action film and the story wouldn’t be any different – Change my mind. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed that it was mainly dialog (Oh, and by the way I have to say that I really, really enjoyed the climatic part of this film. That is, when Armand talks to the doctor. It is not like the usual commercial movie climax, with chases and explosions. This one is purely psychological/emotional and so so powerful).

But anyway, back to the film. I really liked it. The animation is great. The backgrounds are beautiful. The dialogs are fun. “Time travel” is a theme that can be used in a million different ways and the way this movie solves it is simple and effective. However, “time travel” is also a theme that can cause confusion if not managed properly and there is where I find the first con of this film. There was a point in which the rules for “time jumping” where not very clear. I was confused about when could Makoto jump voluntarily and when it was involuntary. It was also very confusing to me when Chiaki “froze” time and Makoto was in his time jump but he wasn’t in any of hers… Also, in that scene, if Chiaki ran out of time jumps, where exactly is he going away to? He can’t go back to his era so…where are you going bro? Also, if all he wanted was to see that painting, couldn’t he wait just a few days to see it restored? Unanswered questions that haunted my head after I finished watching the movie and that will haunt me forever.

Another aspect that I find weak about the film is the fact that it tries to cover a lot of side stories at the same time but leaves the main story rather unattended. I mean, it is nice to see the side stories about all the secondary characters (Chiaki, Kosuke, the kohai in love, the bullied kid, the aunt, Makoto’s friend…), but put them all aside and what you get? A girl that finds out she can time travel, uses it carelessly, hurts people, uses it consciously and finally loses his power and never tells their friends how much she loves them. I’m not really sure what are her motives and desires…what moves her forward and what exactly is her goal as the hero of the story? Oh! And by the way! What is the deal with her aunt? Why does she seem to know so much about time travel and everything else? Is she immune to Makoto’s time jumps or how does she know everything Makoto did if she went back in time before telling her??? What’s with her background story? I feel like there is something the movie is not telling us about her and that really stresses the shit out of me! WHAT IS IT WITH HER??

In general terms I liked the movie, but of course it has some aspects that could have gone better. The first thing that pops up when watching the movie is its fast pace. It has got a fast edit and the plot events happen immediately one after another. That is to be thanked, because usually in kids’ movies they tend to have a very slow and boring pace. Nevertheless, there are some moments in the film where certain dialog or jokes are unnecessary and you just wish they stopped talking and continue with the story.

The animation receives a 7/10. Some of the acting and facial expression were off at certain moments. Again, uncanny valley. The best parts were the combat scenes, those were the ones with impecable animation. There were times when I felt I was watching cutscenes form a videogame rather that a movie. Fun fact, according to what I read on the internet (which might as well be false but it was Wikipedia so…), most of the animators who worked on this movie were animation students with no previous experience. Now that’s something interesting! Another fun fact that I found is that they used actors as reference for some of the sequences. They did not, however, used Motion Capture, but slightly different kind of software for capturing the movements.

In terms of character design, I think it is really good. The environments and the world design are really well done. It reminded me a big deal of ‘Epic’ by Blue Sky Studios but of course, that movie is from 2013, so the right thing to say is that Epic reminds me of Arthur. This is one of those movies where it’s world goes way beyond the length of the film. Fortunately, the director, Luc Besson, is also the writer of the books which this movie is based on, so I assume the intention is the same and the audience gets to know the world Besson has created gratifically.

From the beginning to end, the modeling and the artwork are just fantastic. It may not have too much detail in light and shadows but the textures are great-enough to make the world seem more than alive. The designing of the buildings and environments are so creative. What’s so great is that the movie plays with the construction of the scenes, like in the sequences of the train and the skate board – the background feels as if it were made of paper and cardboard wonderfully. And the accordion-designed train was just brilliant! The scenes of the chase inside the train are so good.

Ok, let’s talk about the characters. Their design is so artistically crafted and their general look is so pleasing to watch! It was as if watching porcelain dolls come alive (and the eyes, man, the freaking eyes, they looked real). The fact that they were able to convey a realistic look combined with a cartoonish design (exaggerated proportions with life-like texture) is pure genius, and like I said before, it is nice to see another studio that achieves this other than Disney. The acting was good, however, I felt that there were some moments where the facial expressions were perfect for the emotions of the characters, and there were moments where the acting was erratic and incomplete. I didn’t know if Jacks perpetual grieving face was part of the character or just insufficient face acting.

The plot. I found the plot rather well done. The only moments where it didn’t make sense to me where the following two: when Jack was told that her love was not in that school, why did he keep on attending? And, when Joe, you know the bad guy, shows up in the third act and convinces Acacia that loving Jack is wrong, why exactly does she leave with him? She doesn’t love him. Where are they going? Other than that, I liked the rest very much. I haven’t read the book yet, so I couldn’t know just how much of the film is faithful to the original story, but I found out that the original author of the book, Mathias Malzieu, helped in writing the screenplay, so I think it maintains its essence and initial intentions.