Garfield and Thelma Love My Oni Girl - Renegade Animation #146

In this episode, Captain Kaye and the Animation Guru reflect on the current state of animation in 2024, through the lens of The Garfield Movie, Thelma the Unicorn, and My Oni Girl.

What’s going on, everyone? This is your Captain speaking, alongside my co-host, The Animation Guru! This was one of those episodes where I found the overall discussion more satisfying than the movies themselves. Not that any of these were terrible, but there’s one in particular that is rather emblematic of some systematic issues with animated features from the major studios. Now, without further ado, please tune into the podcast to hear the full discussion.

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The Garfield Movie

The only real difference between my thoughts and Cameron’s is that I was a little positive to the movie overall. That being said, we both agreed that it was weighed down by too many studio notes. Which is unfortunate, because I know through their previous works that director Mark Dindal and screenwriter David Reynolds are capable of delivering a great animated comedy. All we can really hope for is that the (inevitable) sequel is an improvement.

“Mark Dindal's return to feature film directing is a film that feels like it's trying hard to make Garfield film-worthy. Decent cartoony animation and some solid jokes don't save an overstuffed story and a few miscast leads. I wish I liked it more.” -The Animation Guru

Thelma the Unicorn

The biggest hurdle that this movie has to overcome is its plot, which everyone has seen a million times before. And yet, having such a basic plot has given Jared & Jerusha Hess and Lynn Wang plenty of room to go all out on some of the most absurd gags, both visual and verbal, that I’ve seen in quite some time. Brittany Howard, former lead singer of Alabama Shakes, makes her acting debut in this film, and knocks it out of the park. I could easily recommend pairing this movie with Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping if you’re looking for a fun double feature!

“A generic and predictable story and okay animation are lifted by a commitment to some wildly absurd and often funny humor and a decent journey about identity and finding your true self in a very artificial world. It's cute.“ -The Animation Guru

My Oni Girl

Out of the three films we talked about in this podcast, this one is easily the best. It still has some issues of its own, but if we’re specifically comparing it to director Tomotaka Shibayama’s previous film A Whisker Away, this is certainly an improvement. I found the main protagonist to be extremely relatable, and loved seeing the connections he made with various characters throughout the film.

“While the third act results in a messy finale, isn't the studio's best film, it still offers an emotionally touching coming-of-age story about being open with one's emotions and bonds with the ones we love.“ -The Animation Guru

That’ll do it for this episode! Thank you all for joining us! We have provided resources for those who wish to support the victims of the Israel-Hamas war: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/, https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/, https://itch.io/b/2120/games-for-gaza, https://www.instagram.com/palestineredcrescent/, https://buildpalestine.com/2021/05/15/trusted-organizations-to-donate-to-palestine/, https://www.npr.org/2023/10/13/1205235922/help-israel-gaza-humanitarian-organizations.

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