nyah78 - 2013-07-16 09:56:55

Don't you just love modern day cinema? I'm starting to think after just 4-6 months of honest, studious, observation towards recent made movies really only do nothing more than illustrate the effectiveness that preexisting movies have.Something like this movie appears to be (from an average American fan) just to be another high-grade, beautifully drawn movie... and that is it.The greatest compliment I can give to this movie is that if you're trying to take your tasting developing into your own hands, you'll trust yourself more when you can readily see Welcome to the Space Show nothing more than my previous description.And not just nothing more, but also something less!The movie starts with characters that don't moe-ify the hell right outta them; at least it has the integrity to acknowledge that it IS a movie for kids.It even pulls the usual stops:1. Lays out a cast of stereotypes; an earnest do-gooder, a not-so-prissy, a not-so-in-your-face nerd, a somewhat mature toddler, and a stupid older girl.2. Makes things convenient by keeping parents outta the picture... well outta the story.3. Makes the story seem pretty obvious about it's intentions when it creates conflict BEFORE the tale takes place.4. Sets up a cosmological galactic system that both makes their guiding alien seem more honest and naturally kind, and allows room for this alien to show some spirit.And these are only the things that are established within it's first quarter.Many might assume that by getting a lot of baggage out of the way earlier, that the film will show that it aspires more than just being a "space show".But no; these characters have no real life about them. I can't even remember anyone's name. That's bad on numerous levels in of itself since this is a movie... that's an unusual 2.15 hours long!I guess you could find the "stupid older girl" and her friendship with the "mature toddler" to be the only breath in this slow, airless, vacuum, but the movie stretches this with the following:1. Their guiding alien's place with the world (and this is done with mere noddings to frequently seen [but not much else more involved] characters)2. An EXTREMELY retarded overall plotting having to do with... wasabi (more on this later...)3. The main character's (and the audience's) frolicking with their surroundings.On these three notes, only #3 makes you wince with accepting it's passing efforts.Gearing this lengthy movie would be the "why are you still around?" studio, A1 Pictures.This single movie shows more of their knack of superior background art/animation than any other of their achievements; second only to their own Night Raid production.Their handlings of character animation/rendering must be a cockroach of a bug to be as invested into their productions that ranges from Birdy the Mighty all the way to Fractale.But, if you wanted a ride through space, there's something always happening with this straightforward peaceful intergalactic civilization. A mall-like candy store, an interestingly conceived parade, some friendly looking aliens based on animals that children might see commonly (although dogs might be the favorite in this writer's opinion...). They don't show much mechanical designing that rivals the BG visuals, but when the movie doesn't dazzle it just feels "meh"; want interesting science designs that move and amaze? Watch anything that has Shoji Kawamori in the head.This movie does offer kids some things that you don't get to witness too easily like supernovas, rocket assembly, and how to care for foreign creatures. Musical wise, they picked someone whose topical, demographic talents range from Sonic X, to Ergo Proxy.When it comes to hammy scores-something that might be necessary when trying to enrich a group of tweens traveling to places NO other people will see-the most we get out are a couple of tenseless, harmless tunes invoking further proof that the age rating of this movie is lower than any character within it... except this one alien that the nerd kid befriends; this movie looks like it'd blow the socks (or whatever it used...) off.But that's it right there: there's so much effort trying to make this movie as harmless as possible, that all that remains are colors. Lotsa colors.I'm quite curious as how Tiger and Bunny is with someone as laid back as this guy literally pulling the strings.The idea to have a science-fiction story revolve around a human simplicity like this one, generally do it because they want to scale the worth of that problem into perspective; either to show how large it compares... or how totally stupid it is.However, this movie lazily fuses its story about how aliens perceive wasabi (and even then, they keep its effects to the public vague... for "obvious" reasons!) and rarely considers the involvement of anyone or how they might alter everything.They manage to connect some dots by including their alien guardian into the whole wasabi plot, but what's really more important to the target audience?! What happens to kids that are like them, or weird creatures fighting over a spice the target audience probably doesn't like?!Many might take this otherworldly journey and use it to help explore these tiny children, or their parents' sentiments might have a larger play into the actions the children do; that'd be more believable than aliens thinking of wasabi as "another item that looks like a 'weed"!Two words to compile everything here: Too. Simplistic.But is this excuse for a movie fun? No, not really... because why should we care???If I wanted pretty colors, I'd watch something that used colors to add to a "sum greater than it's parts"; Space Show's visuals alone are better than the movie altogether...Perhaps they should've researched more into achieving individuality while still borrowing like Despicable Me or Rango. The nerd kid mentioning the similarity to Close Encounters of the Third Kind might be enough for the 3+ watchers (who might not understand or even have WATCHED the film!) but it won't be for those watching...I review this movie simply because I lack the ability to review a movie that truly deserves recognition and criticism, Summer Days with Coo.Welcome to the Space Show demonstrates the anime industry having more problems than just letting moe fanatics rule; they still need to get back to the basics of Storytelling 101.If only having prettiness worked for everything... even children's movies...(LGT)Story: C-Art: B+Sound: CAnimation: C+Character: D+Enjoyment: COverall: C+ ...you couldn't imagine a kids movie about a colorful journey through peaceful outer space...- ...being as boring, unimaginative, meaningless, and stupid as this...