Fro's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[The Shape N' Shape Collab]

~ Review Request Club ~

~ Animation/Graphics ~

For the most part it wasn't good. I completely understand that it's hard to make something really good in terms of art work when it's just shapes, but I also feel that it could have taken a bit more work then a lot of people put into it.

If I would have seen more like the one where the crowd was sitting and listening to the speaker then it would have been much more enjoyable to watch.

~ Story/Content ~

I did laugh at quite a bit of it, but on the other hand some of it was really dumb and I didn't want anything to do with it. So yeah, the good jokes came with the bad jokes, but it seemed that all the good was located in the front and all the bad jokes came later making it boring in the long run.

I was here when the whole thing happened. (I remember getting like 50 blams on that day from those shape flashes) So yeah, I do understand what this is parodying, but my overall feeling is that there were a lot of things that could have been thrown out.

A back and forward button would have been nice. If there was one available I would have actually went into reviewing each authors piece individually.

~ Audio ~

Whoever voice acted in this submission should do one of two things. Keep practicing in hopes to become better or to never voice act again. I can honestly say that I think all the voice acting was bad in this collab. The only voice that was good was prerecorded.

~ Overall ~

Much more effort could have been put into this and a lot of things could have been weeded out. Hopefully someone looks into more voice actors and stops using themselves as a resource.

~ Review Request Club ~

ChandlerThompson responds:

Thanks for writing the review, Fro, glad to see you took the time to write such a well-thought out one as well.

The one with the speaker was the centerpiece of the flash in my opinion, since it sorta broke the flow of most shape flashes. Creativity wasn't expressed through the collab as much as we had liked, but hey, we liked the finished product.

We tried to put the good jokes in the beginning to hook the viewer into the flash, but I guess we got carried away with that idea. A forward and back button would have been nice, thanks for the suggestion, the closest thing we had was on the authors page where you could click the author's name and it would directly take you to their submission.

Voice acting seems to be the root of the problem, we had many inexperienced users participate in the collab so yeah, the voice acting was waaaaaaaay below average.

Thanks again for writing the great review, Fro. Glad you enjoyed some of the collab.

[Stick Trouble in VG World]

~ Review Request Club ~

I am greatly sorry about your friend who passed away.

~ Animation/Graphics ~

I only see a few choppy parts, but overall it was pretty well done. Smooth animation for all of the action that you had in it. Backgrounds and artwork I can't really comment on since it was about a stickman in a sprite world and you hadn't created them.

~ Story/Content ~

Hm, I think that it would be better if you would have started with the stick in his world, perhaps an overview of the city with stickmen walking around and whatnot. The block could appear in a random teleporting manner and have the stickman touch it. He could get teleported off of the screen and then you could have started with the Mario scene there.

I enjoyed the ending. I thought it was kind of funny how he died so easily at the end and the whole respond thing. Good job with that.

~ Audio ~

The audio was probably my favorite part of the submission. Some nice heavy music and the sound effects/voices used were a very good mix. I wouldn't change anything that you did in terms of audio.

~ Overall ~

Perhaps my review is a bit biased because I really enjoy sprite animations. I find it a bit unfair when people say start drawing your own stuff simply because they don't.

I think working on the background story before going into the random action would really help this submission out.

~ Review Request Club ~

AkujinRuukasu responds:

Thank you for your condolences. About the movie, I didn't think it really needed a huge plot. However, it may be a good idea to introduce it properly. I don't see how you are biased about this. I really appreciate the compliments and suggestions. No disrespect, but just be sure you don't say anything that would spoil an ending. Again, thank you. ^_^

[Hurshnenglurper 2009]

~ Review Request Club ~

Well sometimes there are those random videos that you watch and you're like, hey that was random and funny. Sometimes there are those random videos that you watch and you're like, hey that was random, almost funny, but I really didn't care for it.

Then there are those random submissions like this one where it was so completely random that I really didn't have much to say about it. Me, the person that has so many reviews that take up every single character, and I really can't think of much to say about this submission at all.

Let's go with your questions here since that's why you put them there.

What was your favorite segment? (Without the u)

I would have to say the part where you had the claymation or the part that was after the credits. I liked the part with the claymation because it was a pretty cool mixture of both and I never thought of having a mix of claymation and animation to that extent. The ending after the credits was just some of that random humor and I always like the one last thing that happens after the credits.

Any specific suggestions on improvement? (with a c instead of an s)

Well, your art work for the most part was decent, but you do seem to have some room for improvement. On top of that I do understand that it was a random submissions, but sometimes even random submissions need some sort of structure because after I was finished watching this I just thought, "Wtf."

Anything you want to see in the next Hurshnenglurper? (I'm assuming that you made the word up and it's spelled right)

My mind is pretty random, but I don't even think I can be random enough to help you out here.

I will add that it is original as I haven't quite seen anything like that before in my life. Also, the mixture of different styles was very risky, but it was kind of neat. I've never seen some of the styles put together and sometimes different is better. I know not everyone will agree with me on that one, but meh a lot of people are single minded as well.

So yeah, sorry I can't really comment on how to improve, but man that was completely random and weird to the point that I have little to say.

~ Review Request Club ~

Surn responds:

"I never thought of having a mix of claymation and animation to that extent."

I've got plans for more inter-medium mixing including a character that is part clay part pixel.

"Well, your art work for the most part was decent, but you do seem to have some room for improvement. On top of that I do understand that it was a random submissions, but sometimes even random submissions need some sort of structure because after I was finished watching this I just thought, 'Wtf.' "

Yeah, I really hope I can improve with practice on my art skills. As for structure to randomness I have an idea to submit shorts in sets bearing similarity to one another (ie, controversy, music, weirdness).

Thanks for the review I'll definitely try to improve.

[CoolJaw: O.S. II-V]

~ Review Request Club ~

Okay, I'm really getting into this now. That was quite interesting indeed. I guess that if anything I have some of the same complaints as last time, but overall I really liked it.

The story really added to the last one and put a lot of confusion that I had together. I do feel that they are short enough that the length of two submissions could probably be put together, but not much longer than that.

The story was pretty creepy and the dark colors used really added a lot to the submission. I felt like you ended this one on a good note as it really makes me question what is going to happen next.

Outside of the bar I took a look at the newspaper and I wondered if that had anything to do with the story. Perhaps it was something that you put there to create a little foreshadowing for people who were paying close enough attention.

I laughed a bit when I read the things on the bathroom stall wall. Seems like something that you would see written. So yeah, overall this really made my feelings about the series as a whole after watching the two in a row. I wish it were to get more attention, but if you keep making them please keep requesting reviews for them because I've enjoyed them so far.

~ Review Request Club ~

Celx-Requin responds:

Hello,

The first CoolJaw submission had an initial 3.27 when it was on the portal, this one didn't do as strong, I can only assume that's because of two reasons.

The first is maybe people didn't watch the first one before seeing this, and therefore this didn't make any sense.

The second may be this one had more dialogue, & not enough weird shit happening, so people may have lost interest.

Even though not too many people have viewed these, this series has more "favorites" than any other submissions I have, so at least it seems that the people who have viewed it seem to like it...

I think once it's done, & people can view it as a whole, it will get a significantly better reception.

Thanks for the review though!
- Celx

[Johnny VS Zombies]

~ Review Request Club ~

Eh...

Wow, you really do have a great deal of talent. The animation was very smooth and your drawings were awesome. The first picture you introduced was pretty fitting because of the black line that you put around it. The style that you used was very bubbly and full of colors. I think you did a pretty decent job all around, but it really lacks towards the end. It lacks to the point that I can't even review in my normal format where I cover everything in it's own little section.

It was very lacking. The part where you put a picture of MJ didn't look good at all. You had done such a good job of introducing pictures and real video throughout the entire thing with other animated and homemade graphics around it, but once you got to him for some reason you simply put a picture of him there.

I think it would have looked much better if you could have found a picture of him standing, traced around the entire picture so you had a clean cut of him, and then had him standing on the sidewalk or in the middle of the road with the cartoon like graphics around him. I feel that would have been much more fitting.

Even building off of the submission a little bit such as having the children see him, start to scream, and then run away could have added to it a little bit to. Perhaps that could have even came in after the credit section where you said RIP to MJ.

Overall, kind of good, but sadly one little part took a lot away from the overall production of the submission.

~ Review Request Club ~

muffinman9 responds:

i really can't be bothered explaining that MJ pic again lol

btw the guy above your review was able to do it in sections

[CoolJaw: O.S. I-V]

~ Review Request Club ~

I really did enjoy this submission so don't let the six fool you. I just thought there were a few things that could have helped it out a little.

~ Animation/Graphics ~

There really wasn't any animation, but all of the buttons worked perfectly fine. You are pretty good with menu's and I always need people to make menu's for my submissions because I don't know how to code. Perhaps you can code menu's for me in the future because I always feel like you did a good job with them.

The graphics were actually pretty cool and seemed very fitting to the submission. Sometimes I wish the drawings would have simply been a bit more complete. For example where the house is shown with the green grass around it there is one section that doesn't have the green grass and it just makes the whole scene look weird.

Some other drawings such as the doctors gave me a very uneasy feeling. At first I expected them to be normal doctors, but after having a closer look you could see them smiling in a weird creepy way. I don't know if that was on purpose because of some hidden meaning, but if it wasn't then I don't think it was very fitting.

~ Story/Content ~

I really loved the introduction of the story. It actually gave me chills because it was so creepy. Then as it went on and he woke up in the hospital it kind of took away from it a little bit. I feel that if you were to make the story about him in the creepy weird world that it would have made it a good story. I guess I just really don't understand where the whole thing is going or what it means. Perhaps if it wasn't so short it would also be helped out.

Be careful with your writing when you are trying to fit a bunch on the screen because it got a little sloppy in a couple of places.

~ Audio ~

The music that you picked was perfect. I do feel that if you had a voice read over the words that you used then it could have been really cool.

~ Overall ~

Some graphics seemed too incomplete and I really would have enjoyed a voice actor to go along with the submission.

~ Review Request Club ~

Celx-Requin responds:

Hello,

Regarding the voices, I did think about having the comic narrated however, I didn't think my voice would do the series justice, I might have it done at a later date when I have the funds to hire a professional actor.

I agree about the grass, it does not seem to mesh as it should, I might fix that down the road... The doctor, & nurse were exactly what i was going for.

I think as you keep watching more of the story will make sense remember this is only the first in the series...

Thanks,
- Celx

P.S. If you are ever looking for help with menus, drop me a line, if I can I'll be happy to help!

[Ashura The Hedgehog Ep 1]

~ Review Request Club ~

I'll start off saying that I know you didn't request this submission in the review request club, but I am a part of that club and noticed that your submission didn't have a lot of reviews so I spotlighted it for the members to review. Expect a couple more reviews to pop in after this one slowly throughout the week.

~ Animation/Graphics ~

I usually separate animation and graphics into two different groups, but with sprite submissions it's really hard to comment on the graphics that much so I'll just put them together.

The first thing that I noticed that looked like an error was in the forest scene when Knuckles was chasing the hedgehog was that you didn't put the forest background together very well as you could see exactly where you put the two pictures together.

The good thing though was the animation was pretty good all around and that you added a lot of action scenes so there was more complex things added in.

~ Story/Content ~

The story seemed a little generic, but it's so short in the series to really tell where you are going to go with it. I wouldn't mind seeing some things that you wouldn't expect coming in future submissions, perhaps new characters that have never been seen in a Sonic sprite flash before.

So yeah, just don't get too generic with it and I think you are heading in the right direction. Along with that you give no directions in the submission of how to go along and you have to right click to get further or push space. Thing is you might not know that because you don't give any directions on how to do it. I would not only put it in your author comments, but also include it in the submission itself so people don't lower the score because they can't watch the submission.

~ Audio ~

I really felt like you should have had the Sega voice in the beginning when you had the Sega symbol. I feel this because the first whistle was great, it got my attention, but it also made me expect more sounds, which I didn't get. The song that played during the introduction was great all around, but you didn't make it loop. So if someone were to start this, leave the room, and then come back to it they might miss the song all together.

I really didn't like the first song that you used there. I thought it would have been more fitting if you were to use something along the lines of birds chirping, wind blowing, etc..., but the song you used didn't seem to fit. I did enjoy the song there when the screen went dark, but I felt that it needed some sort of sound showing that something made it dark. The song didn't loop well either so I think you need to take away the empty space in between and make it loop better.

I rather enjoyed the sound effects though, but the sound effects were so good that it made me feel that the submission needed voices. If you are interested in voices send me a PM or responds saying so here.

~ Overall ~

You are lacking in a few spots in the audio, but I think they are things that you can fix easily. Be careful when setting up backgrounds because some people will notice like me. Don't get too generic with the story and don't be scared to try voices because I think it might be very fitting, even though it would involve some mouth animation.

I feel strongly about the voices because having to stop and read can take away from the flow of the submission.

~ Review Request Club ~

Light-Spriter responds:

if u wanted to tell me this crap you could have just PM'd me ya know >.>

and did u read my comments on the animation before you watched it?

[Magic Guts Power!]

~ Review Request Club ~

I'll start off saying that I know you didn't request this submission in the review request club, but I am a part of that club and noticed that your submission didn't have a lot of reviews so I spotlighted it for the members to review. Expect a couple more reviews to pop in after this one slowly throughout the week.

~ Animation ~

For the most part the animation was actually pretty smooth. I couldn't really see anything wrong with it. On top of that though you also didn't do anything extremely hard in terms of animation so there wasn't much room for failure either. I wouldn't mind seeing some more complex animation in future submissions.

~ Graphics ~

This was probably the biggest downfall of the submission. The artwork wasn't very good. I don't really care if it was original or not, but I feel that your drawings could have been done a lot better with much more detail. I also feel that you have the talent to keep improving and if you really focus on your drawings that you could improve tenfold.

~ Story/Content ~

I think I would consider this a music video. I loved how completely random it was at times. I think once he was in space he should have kept going through space with different planets and objects in the background, but after awhile the stars just went away instead. I think the second biggest thing that could have helped this submission would be to make it about thirty seconds longer. I felt disappointed that it was so short.

~ Audio ~

The first voice seemed to be very out of place, but the overall effect of the music and the sound effects were probably the best part of this submission all around. This being your strong point, or at least this submission makes it seem like your strong point, I would build submissions around it in the future.

~ Overall ~

I think you need some more complex animation, the graphics could be worked on, the length of the submission could be a tad longer, and that you did a great job of animating to the audio of the submission. Good luck in the future!

~ Review Request Club ~

topatisen responds:

Thanks for the review. This is the first animation that I have put much time into, and I know that it is too short. But I am currently working on a new one. More complex animations, better sound and a better story. Thanks!

[The Mummy's Tomb]

~ Review Request Club ~

~ Animation ~

The animation was very smooth and seemed like it fit the video game genre really well. Perhaps animating the bullets that the robot shot at the Mummy would have made it a tad bit better. Those in between animations always help submissions out in my opinion.

~ Graphics ~

Very cool style of drawing and everything looked great in my opinion. It had a good cartoon feeling to the whole thing and while it didn't really look like a real video game, it looked pretty good for a flash submission.

~ Story/Content ~

A movie about a game!?! The madness. Ha, it was a random/funny game to watch. I liked how nothing really went right for the main character and how he was flying in the first place. The robot jumping out at the end put the icing on the cake though. Talk about overkill.

I could see something at the end like a kid holding onto the controller/playing the game and being like... This.. game... sucks... And just goes back to playing it again because he's so angry that he can't be it. It might be more comical if he just comes right out and says something like, THIS GAME IS AWESOME after having a confused look on his face.

~ Audio ~

Great sound effects and music throughout the whole thing. I like how the robot noises seemed a bit overdone as it made that part a bit more funny.

~ Overall ~

I wouldn't mind seeing the story added to a little bit, but it was pretty cool all around. I think it could be a bit longer as well.

~ Review Request Club ~

Voodoo responds:

I definitely wish that I'd added a better ending with a player, but alas..I did not :/

[Shoes for Sale]

~ Review Request Club ~

~ Animation ~

The animation really doesn't quite get better than this. I understand that the movements that you had were quite simple compared to many others, but they were done very smoothly. The mouth animation was very good and everything else was great.

~ Graphics ~

The drawings here were done pretty well. I enjoyed the backgrounds and the style that you used, but there was one small thing that stuck out to me. When the character would move his arms the black lines wouldn't be connected. Looked like a minor mistake that just went unnoticed.

~ Story/Content ~

It was a good idea to make a story out of this song. You did a great job on the music video. The only thing that I can think of to make it better would be to show a quick series of events leading up to his feet falling off. Such as him getting dressed to go outside, walking, getting lost, etc... Then his feet falling off and him crawling to the doctors. You could even do a quick scene afterward where he is trying to sell his shoes or something of the sort.

~ Audio ~

So this wasn't your song so I can't complain about it too much, but I really didn't like how the music drowned out the vocals in the song. This could have been improved greatly, but like I said it's not your song so I'm not going to sit here and review it that in depth. (I guess I did already lol)

~ Overall ~

A good submission all around. I wouldn't have minded seeing some more story like I mentioned up above. Good job though.

~ Review Request Club ~

Jimtopia responds:

I liked the note it ended on, there was nothing more to say at that point, and I think it works. I do agree though that throwing in more of him actually losing his feet would've been a good thing to do, I'll remember it next time I'm puttin' a music video together.

Thanks
-Jim