rayng86 Review of Dead Space: Aftermath

Dead Space: Aftermath (2011 Video)

a somewhat lackluster disappointment (some small spoiler)

[27 January 2011]

I personally enjoyed the first dead space animated movie that came out in 2008 so I was eager to see another installment. The first movie had all the elements that made the film great and enjoyable. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same for this one. The problem lies in the direction the film decided to take this time. My main issue with the movie is how it switches from horribly poor cgi to hand drawn animation. It is quite irritating and almost as if the people developing this couldn't decide on one set of animation to take the sequel. Who knows? Maybe they were trying to save some time and money getting this movie to roll out with the follow-up game. The all shade-cell cgi animation during the present was poor and looked relatively similar to that of "iron man armor adventures" TV series on Nick. It might work okay on that show but it just doesn't work in the sci-fi horror landscape which this movie is. We lose a lot of the visual details that are displayed along with the tone of the film it tries to be. Am I suppose to laugh or be creeped out during the scenes involving the daughter Vivian? I would think the latter but I just couldn't help but laugh at how bad it was when they showed her all full of blood and the instant transportations (you know since she's a ghost/hallucination) as her father was being dragged to the chair to be interrogated. I welcomed the hand-drawn animations with open arms when the flashback scenes to aegis took place and prayed it would stay throughout the course of the film. The first movie had the right balance of hand-drawn animation and cgi mixed in so why couldn't this one be the same. Why include the shell-shaded cgi animation that looked like some amateur made it for animation class. The plot was fairly decent but ultimately forgettable so I wont bother addressing it. Overall, I left film feeling disappointed but still entertained. It is worth a rent.