Molotera on 2021
This is the fifth consecutive Movie rundown, the annual text post where I write condensed film reviews. I’ve decided to stop making these posts on my tumblr account because I don’t want anything to do with tumblr anymore and I wanted a blog hosting site solely for long text posts. So expect to see future annual summaries and maybe some other kind of posts here on Medium.
2021 is over and the weight of this pandemic seems to have decreased during this year, still plenty of movies have been delayed as distributors are unsure audiences are coming back to the theaters, nonetheless here are the animated movies I saw this year:
Wish Dragon: SPA’s overseas adopted child; I’ve always thought foreign non-European films were mostly misses, but this movie managed to be ok. Not much to be said about other than I liked showcasing more of the urban Chinese life than Abominable and Over the Moon
Extinct: another Chinese offering, nothing notable about this film other than its odd choice of story and worldbuilding
Raya and the Last Dragon: I honestly liked it, Raya and Sisu are nice characters and what I liked the most is the potential lore the world of Kumandra has, I’d like to see a sequel or just a TV series in the future
Secret Magic Control Agency:
simping aside, I know that these kind of alt-fairytale/Shrek clones are a staple of mediocre animated filmmaking but I think this one wasn’t as awful as other offenders, maybe because I’m a sucker for spy stuff. I read that they were planning to make an animated series and I PRAY TO GOD it materializes (and keeps Gretel as an adult for most of the time)
Arlo the Alligator Boy: so Netflix developed both the movie AND a series continuation, which I can only assume they expected to become the next big thing in their platform. I think wasn’t the kind of audience for this movie, but there might be some animation fan/theater kid who finds this movie inspiring
Mitchells vs the Machines: SPA uses its newly found Spiderverse success to gather some hype for its next joint the Mitchells. Unlike the earlier, I actually enjoyed Mitchells as it mixes thrills, comedy and family. Who would’ve thought the Apocalypse felt so close to home?
Spirit Untamed: I eventually got over Dreamworks/Universal/Comcast/whatever turning Spirit into a horse girl franchise and maybe you should too, not as bad and still clinging to the spirit (!) of the original movie
Luca: Pixar’s offering for this year is gonna be mostly remembered by its accidental gay fish protagonists, you won’t believe what happens next…
Boss Baby Family Business: Boss Baby is a good movie and I’m tired to pretending it’s not; kind of an unique decision to turn B.B. and Tim back into children for the sake of this sequel, and the ending reveals it’s not afraid of doing it again
Vivo: if you don’t consider Wish Dragon to be part of SPA’s filmography because it was done by an overseas studio, then Vivo should be a warning that SPA shouldn’t rely on its Spiderverse and Mitchells success as audiences are going to demand more in-depth stories from them and pretty visuals are not gonna be enough for them
Paw Patrol the Movie: I am so mad I convinced myself to watch this, this is the visual equivalent of eating baby food, or dog food for that matter. I don’t care if it makes it more obvious, Andrea and Erik need to put their daughters in less shit projects next time
Un rescate de huevitos: Unlike its contemporary Las Leyendas, the Huevos franchise is agonizing; I think the worst offender is how the franchise has become more and more family-friendly when the success of its source material was based on innuendos and racy jokes, some have compared it to Ice Age’s situation. I hope Huevocartoon’s next project Alebrijes can give them a foothold doing a production for general audiences without having to sacrifice its main franchise
Addams Family 2: I thought the 2019 movie had some potential for a new slew of Addams family media, but this sequel is easily forgettable and does not bring up again some of the characters from the previous film, which was a pity because I thought Margaux and Parker were good additions
Ron’s Gone Wrong: Fox’s last animation offering before the Disney takeover. As a studio’s first animated feature it’s a solid work even though it has grave undertones of “phone bad” and having the Mitchells released in the same year
Koati: it’s a movie that popped into existence and was dumped on Televisa’s streaming service Blim. Not much to be said about it, easily forgettable.
Encanto: the protagonist sure looks like me irl doesn’t she? In contrast to Raya, this WDAS’ strongest value was in the visuals rather than the story. I read One Hundred Years of Solitude back in 2019 and this is how I envisioned the atmosphere and the vibe of Macondo in the book, the crew did an amazing job at recreating the feel and look of a Colombian town
Sing 2: finally at last, Illumination’s offering for this year after delaying Rise of Gru. I consider the first Sing to be the studio’s second strongest script (after the first DM). However, the sequel barely delivers any new conflicts for its characters; I only enjoyed the Crystal-Buster enmity, the rest of the characters (both established and new) go through issues already seen in the first film or conflicts that don’t really shape anything significant for them. Though a really interesting observation I made is that this movie kinda reflects the relationship Illumination has with its critics and the public, whether this was intentional or not
Back to the Outback: I guess it’s also a movie, it has an upsetting dissonance between the message of the story and its characters
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: while I grew up reading most of the books I wouldn’t consider myself a hardcore fan. So I wasn’t particularly hyped for a new movie adaptation. It had the charm of the first book completely removed, which isn’t a shocker ever since I no longer see Greg as a likeable protagonist
Rumble: I totally forgot this was dumped on Paramount+ last minute so it’s now part of the 2021 lineup folks! It somehow ticks all the marks of your average Nickelodeon movie even when they had no involvement with it, maybe that’s why they decided to dump it on the studio’s streaming service
