DISCLAIMER: This was THAC. You only have 24 hours. It's not easy, and no THAC brickfilm is ever perfect. I know this when I write the detailed review. IF IT COULD BE PERFECT, what could have been added/changed/improved? When we think about all these details in retrospect, we are training ourselves to think about them the next time we sit down to make a film.
Yet another good film that deserves attention from this year's THAC!
The animation is good, voice acting is good, set design is good, lighting is pretty good (could be better), theme use is good, a lot of things were done quite well. Which is why I'm having a hard time figuring out why it doesn't draw me in like it should. It could be that the back and forth dialogue and writing was somewhat stereotypical. The sound dropping out when they start sword dueling and replaced with the music kind of took the legs out from under the duel animation itself (though the type of music was a good choice), I wanted to hear the swords clash and clang. I think perhaps the barrel of gunpowder is probably the issue. For one thing, we don't get a proper introduction of it as a macguffin. It's just them dueling and then suddenly the sword goes along with something else into the hole. The camera shakes, and now the exit is blocked. We don't see it beforehand telling us "hey audience! there's explosives here!" and then the lighting doesn't really show a change in the cave. I'd expect light from the mouth of the cave would be gone. Also a big boom sound effect and a flash of light from the hole would also sell the change, plus noise of rocks falling etc. Also, the straight down light from above could have used more context, showing us more of the room, and the light source like this.
All of these little things add up (they also add up in time and THAC is short on time).
The goal as with all film is to create an illusion that seems to represent place, time, mood, etc. The illusion here isn't complete. Aside from that, I really like this film. The ending is hilarious.
"Friendship is the real tr-- awwww, you've got to be..."