A comment made by a friend and fellow film buff about this film prompted me to pick it up from the dusty corner of the video store. He had mentioned in a film analysis presentation that seeing this film made the advances in film special effects seem that much greater when comparing them to the amateurish qualities of the stop motion effects found in "Wizard". At the time I found that comment to be a bit disconcerting; after all, some of the greatest effects in film were created by stop motion. The original King Kong, the ominous AT-AT's in "The Empire Strikes Back", and the characters in "Nightmare Before Christmas" are just a few that come to mind.
After viewing this film this evening, I really feel that this man's presentation really did not do the effects of this film justice. Yes, I will admit that the story is somewhat lacking with its mixture of "a star is born in Hollywood" and "big, bad villain tries to squash the dreams of the ingenious protagonist". However the effects of the film were quite imaginative, very well executed, and obviously planned with a meticulousness that a brain surgeon would do well to posess.
On a side note, I enjoyed the fact that the marquee in the film showed "The Evil Dead" as one of its festival screenings. The Evil Dead trilogy films are some of my favorites.
In short, this was a very enjoyable and refreshing movie BECAUSE of its low-fi special effects. Stop motion is an artform which must never die. I also clicked on the amazon.com link to order the film, and at $4.99 is a super steal. If you are interested in seeing the film, but your local video store doesn't have it, go ahead and just order it. You'll be glad you did.
After viewing this film this evening, I really feel that this man's presentation really did not do the effects of this film justice. Yes, I will admit that the story is somewhat lacking with its mixture of "a star is born in Hollywood" and "big, bad villain tries to squash the dreams of the ingenious protagonist". However the effects of the film were quite imaginative, very well executed, and obviously planned with a meticulousness that a brain surgeon would do well to posess.
On a side note, I enjoyed the fact that the marquee in the film showed "The Evil Dead" as one of its festival screenings. The Evil Dead trilogy films are some of my favorites.
In short, this was a very enjoyable and refreshing movie BECAUSE of its low-fi special effects. Stop motion is an artform which must never die. I also clicked on the amazon.com link to order the film, and at $4.99 is a super steal. If you are interested in seeing the film, but your local video store doesn't have it, go ahead and just order it. You'll be glad you did.