SYNOPSIS:
When a forgotten enemy returns, the fate of the world lies with a spirited princess and an unlikely hero. Take an exciting journey to a spectacular realm of magic, fantasy, romance, and adventure.
MOVIE REVIEW:
Way before "Avatar" became the worldwide box office phenomenon it is today, there were comparisons floating around that its 15-min exclusive preview harkened to an animated movie called "Delgo". Not many in Singapore would have heard of this other movie, "Delgo", the subject of the review, for it was never released in cinemas here. Not many in the United States apparently heard of "Delgo" when it was released there either, though not due to a lack of screens.
Indeed, on its opening weekend, when the film was showing at over two thousand screens in the U.S., it earned a measly, no a shockingly low $237 per theatre. Its total box office take has come up to $694,782, again a record low for a movie in such wide release. You could of course blame the marketing folks for the lack of a job they did, but that doesn’t explain why "Delgo" was such a colossal failure.
There are films which are actually good but have sadly not found their appreciative audience; then there are films which are just trash but sadly have conned more than their fair share of an audience; and then there are films like "Delgo", trash essentially, but whose stench has been somehow picked up by moviegoers who have rightly stayed far far away. What's wrong with this US$40 mil animated film? Let me count the ways:
- Story. No less than six writers have been credited for this movie, and let's just say, that each one of them probably deserves not to write another movie ever again. The setup of the movie inevitably draws similarities to Avatar (two tribes, one native and one foreign, fight over their right to a planet and an unlikely romance begins between two people each from one of the tribes) but here's where the resemblance ends. "Delgo's" story is flatly drawn, its scenarios utterly predictable and uninspired and worse still, its pacing is just as tedious.
- Characters. Our hero, Delgo (Freddie Prinze Jr.), isn't convincing why he is well the hero; the princess he falls in love with from the other side, Kyla (Jennifer Love Hewitt), isn't particularly interesting either. Delgo's bumbling pal, Filo (Chris Kattan), on the other hand, is really something else. What's supposed to be a comic relief turns out to be one of the most annoying supporting characters ever created, voiced by Kattan's high-pitched voice spouting some of the most unfunny lines. Filo is grating, aggravating and makes you want to smack his face to shut up.
- Animation. Some of the vistas of Jhamora, the land in question, are beautiful (though don't go in expecting the kind of visual feast "Avatar" was) and it's clear where some of that ten years of labour went (yes, indie animation studio Fathom Studios spent ten years on this). But that's about it. The action scenes in particular still look amateur at best and the characters look about as unappealing as tofu to kids. We're not expecting Pixar quality, but it says something when "Delgo" looks like well, "Delgo", and not "Battle of Terra" for instance (also by an indie animation outfit).
So what is left to enjoy about "Delgo"? Pretty much nothing. This is a pure kids flick and even on that level, it's unlikely that anyone below the age of 10 will find this engaging too. So take this reviewer's humble advice and stay far far away from this dreck of a film- you’ll be better off watching re-runs of "Avatar" when it comes out on DVD.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
There's a 4-min "Behind the Scenes" which features the film's voice cast talking about how great the film is going to be- I wonder if they would say the same after seeing the finished product. The "Sounds of Delgo" featurette has composer Geoff Zanelli and sound recording mixer Tom Ozanich talk about their work creating the varied score and sounds of the movie.
The "Meet the Characters" and "See the Creatures" extras are galleries of the characters as well as the monsters in the film, with a short introduction on each one of them. "Chroma Chameleon" is a short from the same animation studio about break-dancing chameleons- the colourful, appealing visuals draws you in at first before you realise it doesn't have a story. Six deleted scenes round up the special features- I count four of them featuring Kattan's Filo and six equally unnecessary scenes.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
The Dolby Digital 5.1 comes alive during the battle scenes but is otherwise uninvolving. Picture is relatively sharp throughout, but some scenes are oddly in need of some sharpening.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Gabriel Chong
Posted
on 4 April 2010
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