My god....this was horrible. Saw this on netchi--I mean Netflix. And this was just not my cup of tea as far as animations go. The movie is based off a video game that is pretty involved and cool to play if you have friends. And this might have been done in CGI or whatever format they are calling 3D films nowadays, but it had the quailty of a middle schooler's effort in writing a scripted story. I recommend seeing the real-time movie. That was not a work of art, but it was entertaining and held the attention.
This animation should have been rated-E for everyone. I guess I'm just spoiled on japanese animation because Final Fantasy: Advent Children kept me on the edge of my seat, and had me hitting the rewind button so I could watch an entire action sequence again. That decidedly did NOT happen with this animation. This animation had me pausing the movie to see how much time was left before it ended.
The voice acting is not abyssmal but it's definitely not worth what was paid to the actors. No one's voice seemed to match their character except for the black guy. lol Wait. I take that back. The old lady sounded like an old lady. As for the four other women in the animation, I strongly believe they all were voiced by one female.
The pacing was horrible too. In some instances the film was shoving tons of info at the viewer, and in other instances you mentally tripped because the characters would say the names of creatures without any indication of what made the creatures a nuisance or imminent threat. I think it was supposed to show the production company had knowledge of the game's lore, but the delivery made the lines seem more like senseless filler since they did not contribute to the main story directly.
This movie starts with a young guy who is not the most manly nor mature looking person, but is supposed to give off an air of a seasoned Hunter. He did not. He gave off no such air because he had zero facial hair. Not uncommon in this movie for some nefarious reason; NONE of the (I guess) young men had any facial hair. I don't know if that was a conscious decision by the company or if the programming simply didn't allow for the feature. I'm inclined to believe the former. Either way, the lack of facial hair made the men seem largely unmanly; like high schoolers who were playing dress up.
Anywho, our "seasoned Hunter", Aiden, is telling a story and as he begins his tale the scene flashes back to a younger him. As mentioned before, with the lack of facial hair and his slender face, the time lapse could probably be assumed to be the year before or six months from the present. In actuality it was supposed to be years, but the guy's face had not broaden nor had gotten any hairier. He also kept the same stupid haircut from his "youth." So the audience must assume the flashback is years before.
In short order, you see that Aiden is the town's unofficial self-proclaimed Hunter. Everyone knows him. He knows everyone; even the guy pouding his fur roof with a hammer. That's not a joke. The guy is repairing his straw/fur roof...with a hammer. [facepalm] You find out cats can cook, talk, walk on their two hindlegs, and steal things. You also assume Hunters don't grow facial hair, because Aiden meets an Ace Hunter and this clean shaven hero tells Aiden there is more to being a hunter than killing things, and that there is "a Balance to all things living."
Let's skip ahead. There is trouble coming. An Elder Dragon is on the move. Migrating. And when it migrates it leaves a path of destruction from its unchecked elemental powers. And it's about to destroy Aiden's village. Aiden has pleaded with the Ace Hunter, Julius, he met on a hunting mishap to help save the town. The ace hunter calls for help, and OFCOURSE it's a female. One female hunter named Nadia, who carries gun the size of a Civil war cannon, but one she can carry around as if it weighed as much as a 9mm. Did I happen to mention she knows Julius personally? Because why not. The "team" fills in with Nox, the cat sentient who can steal, and another female hunter who is as peppy as she can be, Mae, who fights monsters in butterfly armor with wings that neither give her the ability to fly nor glide. Because that would be ridiculous. [facepalm] ...god, this movie was tiring.
The dragon simply does not meet the hype of what Julius claims. In fact, the "dragon" turns out to be no bigger than (and very similar to) a common Aragami creature from the animation series Godeater. Not a lot of imagination there. The phrase, "It's been done." comes to mind.
The main problem with this "movie" is that it was done poorly. It's a monster movie but there is no blood nor gore. It's supposed to be suspenseful, yet it comes across as muldane and very run-of-the-mill. It could have been so much more if the company could have made up it's mind as to what it wanted this movie to be and for WHOM it was made. On one hand no one gets injured, not even a bloody nose. But on the other hand, during the main fight with the Aragam--Elder dragon, characters can suddenly die!? It doesn't...gel. Not at all. The movie ends with a supposedly grandiose lesson about sacrifice and going on or some such. I don't know. I had started playing C.O.D at that point.
My last opinion on this. If I saw this in the $5 bin at Walmart, I'd leave it. Their asking price is too much. lol
