The Amazingly Cursed Fright Krewe - Renegade Animation #124
In this spooky themed episode, Captain Kaye and the Animation Guru shine the Indie Spotlight onto The Amazing Digital Circus, while the main topic is a double header of Fright Krewe and Curses! from Dreamworks Animation.
What’s going on, everyone? This is your Captain speaking, wishing you all a very happy Halloween with this week’s episode! The world kinda sucks right now, if you’ve been paying attention to current events. Included in the show notes will be links for those who wish to help those affected by the Israel-Hamas war. Now, without further ado, tune into the podcast to hear the full discussion!
The Amazing Digital Circus
I want to make this perfectly clear: at the end of the day, we want all of these indie projects to succeed, at least for the most part. Do not think that any sort of constructive criticism is evidence to the contrary. That being said, I enjoyed about 75% of The Amazing Digital Circus pilot. The highest praise goes towards the very expressive 3D animation, the voice cast across the board, and a totally unhinged dark sense of humor. My issues mainly lie in the narrative, as it feels like there isn’t much left in the tank in the second half. Hopefully with sufficient resources, they can expand on this premise once a proper series is ordered.
“While the sum of its parts might not be as cohesive or satisfying as other indie pilots, this chaotic CGI fare still offers a deranged new world for indie animation fans to enjoy.“ -The Animation Guru
Fright Krewe
For starters, it’s pretty cool that Dreamworks Animation had two horror-adjacent series ready to launch for the month of October, albeit on two separate streaming services. On the podcast, Cameron and I compared and contrasted what each series had to offer. Fright Krewe skews more towards a young adult demographic, focusing on a group of 5 teenagers in New Orleans who are bestowed the powers of the Loa. I only wish the animation matched the level of storytelling and complex character development on display, otherwise this would be one of my favorite animated series of the year.
“Eli Roth and James Frey offer a surprisingly dark action adventure series as a group of teens must use their new abilities to defend New Orleans from a demonic force.“ -The Animation Guru
Curses!
Weirdly enough, I’d say there’s a fair trade-off between the strengths and weaknesses of both shows. Curses! without a doubt has the superior art style, utilizing cel-shaded 3D animation to emulate the aesthetics of pulp fiction adventure serials with a darker twist on the genre. Narratively, the series is aiming to capture the spirit of classic Amblin Entertainment movies such as The Goonies or Raiders of the Lost Ark, led by a smaller cast of characters.
“While more family Friendly of the two horror series Dreamworks put out, it still offers a fun globetrotting adventure of a family trying to save their father from a legacy-spanning curse.“ -The Animation Guru
That’ll do it for this episode! Thank you all for joining us! Please visit https://entertainmentcommunityfund.org/ and donate under the designation of Film and Television if you wish to support those that are effected by the 2023 SAG-AFTRA Strikes! We have also 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.
The Terrific Trio of Mike, Cameron, and Bri return to discuss Toy Story 5 and our big topic of the episode, the Annecy 2026 Animation Festival! Plus some thoughts on Shrek 5! Come on, click that play button. You want to.