Invader ZIM: Enter the Florpus |
South Korea / USA • 2019 • 71m •
  • Directed by: Hae Young Jung, Young Kyun Park, Jhonen Vasquez. • Starring: Richard Steven Horvitz, Rikki Simons, Andy Berman, Melissa Fahn, Rodger Bumpass, Jhonen Vasquez, Wally Wingert, Kevin McDonald, Olivia d'Abo, Eric Bauza, Breehn Burns, Justin Roiland, Fred Tatasciore. • Music by: Kevin Manthei.    ZIM discovers his almighty leaders never had any intention of coming to Earth and he loses confidence in himself for the first time in his life, which is the big break his human nemesis, Dib has been waiting for.
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Review:
I hadn't watched any episodes for a years. But recently binge watched all of it yesterday in preparation for the film (tho this isn't necessary at all for anyone that's seen the series a couple of times before)
Here we go. The writing was about 80% as good as the original series (I know its based off the comic of which I've only read the first issue) perhaps that translation to animation is what held it back in some places, but ultimately what i felt lacked in the writing was the more clever way of writing that included a style of language and references that appealed to a older audience. This film if anything, is a little softer than the best episodes of the series. Trying to possibly leave the door open to a new audience or for original fans to watch with their kids now? This didn't really bother me much for 95% of the film. Only a two or three scenes that could've gained a lot from using a more adult writing style to punch up the jokes. Perhaps it's also because I was expecting this film to be more unhinged and mature than the series was, with the liberties given with being on a streaming platform and the increase of adult content in modern teenage filmstv seriesgames. Thankfully they did adapt to the long run time quite well. Going from 9-10 min episode format, to a little over an hr and having it retain the same feeling the series gave it's viewers is not easy. Aqua teen hunger force and others have tried without much success. I won't get into the plot or anything specific. It essentially feels like a hr long episode of the old series in that regard. Same themes, plot progression, characterization and beautiful simplicity. You're not going to watch inception is basically what i'm trying to say.
Original fans can be happily reassured that what they're getting into when watching this film is more of the the same in most respect to the original series.
The only thing that lost a couple of stars for me came down to the animation. I loved the grime and twisted sense i got the from the style in the original series. The color palate, distorted unfinished backdrops and less than perfect line work, helped create a series that stood on its own. Giving it a unique horror-scifi look. The character designs look the same for the most part.. Tho sometimes the proportions seemed very odd (prof membrane specifically looks different than he used to, I haven't looked at them side by side yet. But im certain he's drawn proportionately quite different now) and now they look too 'clean'. The whole environment of the series looks very clean. And that cleanliness lead to a lack of detail in some scenes. Making either the characters (particularly facial expressions) or the backdrop a bit bland to look at sometimes. What really struck me first tho was noticing the colors are too vibrant, or just wrong in the case of dib. I don't know who they got to do dibs coloring.. But they gave him skin verging on dark tone for some scenes....... His character would suggest being pale white. As he was in the series. This stood out especially since you get dib with a tan, standing next to a overly fluro green colored zim with crisp line work.
Ultimately the series fell into the trap many many modern animations do. That the cleaner and more vibrant your animation is. The better it must be, right?... Perhaps that's actually what the current generation prefers? But I'm not convinced. Polishing some antiques (guns especially, shout out to pawn stars for the useless trivia) can drastically decrease their value to collectors. Similar principle applies to bringing back animated series from generations gone by. Producers should only be aiming to ever recreate exactly in every detail what the series was before. The fans don't want anything new in the writing or animation. They loved the original for a reason and those reasons haven't changed. Now in saying this, I realize I'm being a little unforgiving. But perhaps because i hold the staff and creator behind zim in such high regard that I expected the series to be 100% flawless. Especially in the animation department. If anything, I went into the film with concerns over the writing. Not the animation. Turns out it was the other way around.
I truly hope this film leads to a return of the series. 10 min format. With more adult content on the horror side of things.
Review by MoistMovies from the Internet Movie Database.
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