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yasminsparkles
Reviews
Poppy Playtime (2021)
Very Much Flawed, But Overall A Great Experience
I have mixed feelings toward this game, but my opinion sure does lean towards positivity. The way the environments are designed is absolutely fantastic, and the voice actors do a phenomenal job of pouring their heart and soul into the characters and bringing them to life. The antagonist designs do end up having the same pattern, with the longer, skinnier limbs and bigger bodies, I don't see too much of a problem, especially with The Prototype, the series' big end villain, clearly hinted at having a completely different design. The story, while having a few holes here and there, is much more coherent and organized than some other indie horror games. While I do get the feel that the creators behind the game, Mob Entertainment, are starting to milk the series a little more than they should, it doesn't change the fact that they've made a mascot horror game that has its own identity while still taking appropriate inspiration from other franchises.
That being said, our main protagonist. I know this is intentional, but I don't really like our character's motives and find their scripted actions so bizarre that it takes me out of the game. I know it's a standard horror protagonist trope and we're all pretty much used to it by name, but I just can't really find myself believing that an adult randomly finds a note with misspellings in their mail telling them to go back to their old workplace that caused many people to disappear, and just answer its call seemingly without a second thought. I know the whole "silent protagonist" is supposed to let us insert ourselves and have us more immersed in the game, but since we have to do what the game tells us to do anyway without many decisions to make for ourselves, it feels like it defeats the purpose. I feel like Mob could have taken the opportunity to make this a choice-driven indie horror, where our actions impact the flow of the story as it goes on. Maybe I am misunderstanding the character's motives or taking things way too seriously, but I can't really see how guilt is driving us to free the toys, especially since right after chapter 1, we just go ahead and free this sentient doll and ultimately decide to get out. Why couldn't we get the police involved after The Hour of Joy was over? Why couldn't we go back to Playtime Co. On our own to collect that evidence and submit it to the police, then turning ourselves in as a way to make up for these crimes, but ultimately being stopped by The Prototype because he doesn't want the factory's secrets getting out? Just a thought, but maybe these questions will be answered in Chapter 4
Secondly is Mommy Long Legs. This is definitely due to personal preference, but I didn't really find her design all that intimidating her scary. It was refreshing to not see another stiff animatronic attacking us, but her bright pink appearance just wasn't really it for me. Over time, we'd slowly destroy her, making her much more deteriorated and maybe seeing human muscle and organs the more we try to stop her. That way, her words of danger and foreshadowing would have more of an impact. However, despite my opinions, I do adore her personality! And her voice actress did a fantastic job of capturing her sinister nature.
The next few points I want to cover would mostly be about chapter 3, which I feel is Poppy Playtime's best chapter.
More positive things I wanna point out though, I really love the animation for the Smiling Critters, and how that terrifying ending transitioned to a news outlet about the next protagonist. Didn't make much sense that Playtime Co. Would release an animation with that horrific ending if it was an episode geared toward kids, but still was a great intro overall. Not to mention how the textures were much more well-designed and the character models were beautifully animated.
Now for the negatives...
The puzzles in this chapter don't make much sense to me. In the first two chapters, they felt very unique to Poppy Playtime's identity and were fun to do, while also blending into Playtime Co.'s wacky environment. However, in chapter 3, we're still turning on power, but also activating like 6 poles to power up a lift, which only takes up one to like, one floor. This felt very odd to me; I understand having boosters because it's underground and maybe power is a lot harder to distribute, but I feel like a lot of this could have been solved with just some stairs. It just felt a little nonsensical at times.
Another thing was The Red Smoke. I felt like it was heavily underutilized despite being a focal point of the chapter. The first sequence in Home Sweet Home where it's used against ourselves and pushing our guilt in our faces was borderline genius. It allowed the main antagonist to study us like we're praying and establish how The Red Smoke will affect us and how it will make us vulnerable. And yet, afterward, that's completely thrown out the window, at least until the final confrontation fight.... I'll get to that later, I have a lot of opinions about that one. But anyway, The Red Smoke only becomes a small obstacle to us, and if we don't have our gas mask, we just immediately die. Why couldn't it be used to lead us completely off track and make us hallucinate much more vividly, giving us more clues as to who we are (more than just the worker who helped cause all this), our characterization, and even our antagonists? Have it play more into the P. T. but more as a Poppy Playtime identity; make us question who we're really talking to and what's real and what's not, not just in that first sequence, but throughout the entire game. And if we're too distracted by the hallucination, then we can be killed off, not by the smoke, but by CatNap, chapter 3's big star.
And I have some problems with this one.
CatNap was an amazing antagonist until after the Playhouse. The Home Sweet Home sequence allowed us to see what kind of character he really is; not just someone on a blind rage spree coming after us, but someone who will actively study us, figure out our weaknesses, and how we can be not only physically, but also emotionally and mentally vulnerable. It's a little like Huggy Wuggy when we see him stare at us a bit in Chapter 1 and Mommy Long Legs, how she's willing to toy with our lives. But it's implied here that CatNap is willing to do both; so that's why I don't understand people's complaints of CatNap not being seen too much. I think it would be due to the fact that his presence isn't as overwhelming as the other antagonists, and that is fair since we don't really see hints of him aside from in Home Sweet Home and a few scratch notes. But I think limiting our sight of him does help build up tension; I do think he could have toyed with us and our mindset more without actually letting us see him, but I agree with the decision on not letting him be seen too much.
I was really hyped for this character, and I was so excited to see what his fight would bring and how else he would turn our minds and guilt against us.
...and then he just doesn't.
Remember in chapter three after the DogDay chase sequence? (absolutely wonderful character by the way) Ollie tells us that "(CatNap)'ll take away anything you have to defend yourself."
..no he doesn't. He literally doesn't. He takes away our gas mask, yeah, but that's not all we have to defend ourselves. We have our GRABPACK, something which was actively used to defend ourselves against the last two antagonists??
I really, really don't like this fight. It just made CatNap seem so... lame. And kind of dumb. Sure, he was a kid when he was converted into CatNap, but being a kid doesn't automatically mean you're stupid, especially if you're Theodore. (Spoilers for the ARG: Theodore was a 7-year-old kid who was "friends" with The Prototype. One day, he asked him to wield a grab pack to help him escape, but it ultimately failed (obviously), making Theodore shock himself with the green hand and being on the brink of death)
I thought this would play into the final battle since it's literally canon that Theodore has had a traumatic experience with the grab pack, mostly the green hand. But we don't see that here. Even with the ARG context cut out, if CatNap really was watching us as much as he says he was, didn't he also see that we would be using our grab pack constantly to solve puzzles and actively go deeper into Playcare? Wouldn't he think that would pose a threat because would use it against him somehow?? Did he FORGET that we had it as soon as he took our mask???
I can't see this as something like, "Oh, maybe he was just overconfident" because we're literally told that he'll do anything to make us powerless. Especially considering that we have a green hand, something that almost KILLED HIM. You're telling me he saw this and thought nothing of it; he clearly remembers The Prototype saving him, so why couldn't he process that we had the thing that harmed him? In fact, why did he corner us and actively FOLLOW US to a room that was filled with GREEN ELECTRICITY? He had to know that was there, he clearly has access to it and has been wandering Playcare for 10 YEARS. And shouldn't he have like, not actually followed us there or maybe even showed a lot of fear and distress when he saw that we were going up towards there? Which would then indicate that he's weak in green electricity. And not to mention that the fight itself just isn't very fun or innovative at all. It's just doing the same thing over and over again with poorly explained instructions and the plot hole about The Red Smoke....first, it just makes us hallucinate, then we just straight up die for no reason, and then we hallucinate again...it doesn't make any sense.
Still a great game, but Mob really needs to fix their storytelling.
Our Drawings (2023)
A Struggle to Get Through (Long Review)
I love creative expression and I'll always admire large projects done by one to two people...except for this one.
This doesn't feel like a film. It's like one of those quick cash grabs that try to parody Disney and fails miserably. Which is funny because the director stated that this was on their level. It absolutely isn't. The animation is so beginner-level, the writing and progression is atrocious, the characters feel like symptoms of a fever dream, and the songs are terrible. Like some embarrassing vent piece. I even would've forgiven the self-insert if he wasn't a Gary Stu.
What's worse is that I can't feel the passion. I don't feel any genuine heart, just this second-hand embarrassment-filled anger. There are so many negative, petty comments about the art community. It's as if the director had a history of being made fun of for his art and decided to make this movie to prove a point. The message itself, which I think is about taking your time with developing your skills and the soul behind each drawing is important, is great, but it's so overshadowed by constant word vomit about how cruel "non-artists" can be. It doesn't feel like entertainment, it's like listening to that one friend vent and rant endlessly.
Now the animation. I don't believe it's AI generated, like almost everyone else is saying. But it's so obviously made by a beginner that it get incredibly distracting. I almost thought they were using animated pre-sets There's this "after effect" where previous frames will float around the characters as they're moving. However, I can say that I see the effort and respect the animators for it. I just wish they spent more time honing their skills so the film can go above just barely decent.
And the writing...by god, the writing. It's one of this film's worst features. I was so confused throughout the entire run time. We have four completely different introductions to the main character (Paige Foster), and the only things I could piece together was that she has a magic pencil and could transport herself into the world of her drawings or just bring them into reality (such as with Beatboxing Puppy, the best character, I'll say). But we hardly ever see her draw, at least in a way that's relevant to the plot. It would've been cool if we could actually see these drawings of hers come out of the papers or literally pull her into the drawing world, if I can even call it that. The drawing world barely feels fleshed out and I didn't care in the slightest when Calobi said - in his extremely drawn out dialogue - that it was in danger. Despite it being the main setting, we barely see it, just reused shots to draw out the run time. And speaking of setting, the characters flip flop from one setting to another without any natural transition. Actually, every scene in this movie just goes to the next and the next and the next without any natural transition. Most of them don't even feel connected, it's like they were all written separately and out of order from each other, then just smooshed together like it was a high school student's project started the night before. And the dialogue... it just feels so edgy, like a middle school student came up with it (and the voice acting does not make it better; next time, please get better microphones). I can't make sense of what's going on and I barely care to because of the characters.
I don't care about a single character in this film. I kinda wished they lost the battle to Mist, the antagonist, but that makes it sound like I care about Mist too. The main character, Paige, is just.. I don't know, she's just there. The only "struggle" she went through is coping with her physical disability, and that's only barely in the beginning. First she's disabled as a child (I think??) and years later, all of a sudden she's not. And that is such a disgusting way to write a disabled character, what was the director thinking? If he used that "plot point" to make me feel bad for her, I don't. She doesn't have a real personality and I wished for her downfall. There's her sister, Pillow. She exists. Then there's her friend group. They also exist. ...Anyway, then there's Mist, I have no idea who Mist is, and I've watched this movie twice (not on the director's channel, I did not want to give him views, I watched it on a livestream instead). He just keeps talking and talking and talking, and yet I still don't know why he's trying to take over the drawing world. He just feels like this child whining about some people making fun of him. But at least he utilizes drawing/art styles relevant in the plot...so he's pretty much better than Paige. But it would've been awesome to see different art styles play out in a way that builds up the setting and establishes the characters' powers. For example: Paige's art style is cartoon-y, so these wacky characters pop out of thin air and annoys Mist with these brightly colored weapons and cute sound effects, and how Mist's art style is much more serious, so maybe it overpowers Paige's cartoon style - I don't know, the powers in this movie feel underwhelming. But moving on from the main characters....the """funny""" side characters, mainly the tooth and the pirate child-thing. I hate them. I know they're supposed to be the annoying comic relief but i had to mute my computer when they were talking. They feel like a waste of time, and they're not the worst characters...
It's the self-insert for me. I've seen a bunch of fanfiction and questionable movies that obviously had the authors insert themselves that I'm just numb to it by now. But it seems like this "character" took the role of the main protagonist a few times, and I felt this second-hand shame when he was written like a child's first OC. He's the self-proclaimed "most powerful drawing", he gives the "inspirational" speeches, he's written to be cool and calm and collected with no visible flaws. I would have overlooked the self-insert if he was actually a character, with somewhat of an interesting backstory and actual flaws. But no, he's overpowered to the point where he gets this sudden Dragon Ball Z final form with no proper development. It's a little embarrassing to see, especially since it's written and pushed by a guy in his 20s. I'd be much more forgiving if this all was just some fun silly comic or animation, but since this director has stated this movie is "on the level of Disney and Dreamworks" and "better than The Amazing Digital Circus", then I'm going to hold it up to that standard. And I can say that this movie does not even hold a candle to projects like theirs, and the self-insert just puts the icing on the clown cake.
And the songs, they're.. I can't even say anything. I'm just speechless, and not in a good way. They come out of nowhere and just grate my ears.
I still cannot believe this is genuine. It has to be some sort of elaborate joke made to draw out hate watching and clout, and if it is, then I'll gladly say that I was wrong about this director and call this movie a masterful joke. But I think I'm wrong here, considering how he defended his movie so hard on Twitter and complained about it not getting enough views.
So if this "artwork" is genuine... It's not good. I'm sorry, it's not. I appreciate the time the staff put into this, but it is terrible. If you want to spread a message, let go of your anger first, then start making the movie. This could have been good with proper script reviewing, more time spent on the 3D animation, and even just taking a breather. Don't take it so seriously, trying so hard to prove a point, and have fun with it, like all the other family movies (the good ones, anyway). I admire the bravery it took for them to put this out there, because sharing your art is not easy to do, but I was struggling trying to get through this.
TLDR; It's not a good movie. Its quality doesn't come close to Disney or The Amazing Digital Circus, and the director should feel ashamed for even trying to compare this to them. It could've been better if it was more fleshed out and it had potential. I felt second-hand embarrassment watching this, and I hope the creator takes this as a lesson to improve upon his skills. Thank you.