dronon's stories

The winners of the 2022 Ursa Major Awards have been announced! There were 1350 voters this year! (The voting tallies can be viewed here.)

Also a reminder that the Ursas are run voluntarily, and are accepting PayPal donations to help continue running things in the future. Check their website for details!

And now, the 2022 Awards go to... (Drum roll please)...

My Father's Dragon is a 2D animated children's fantasy film, the latest from Cartoon Saloon, directed by Nora Twomey. The studio kept an amazingly tight lid on this 99-minute production, with its trailer only becoming available five weeks before the film was released on Netflix. I'm very glad this project didn't get cancelled, what with partially being made during the Covid pandemic.

The main character is a quick-thinking boy named Elmer. After he shows kindness to Whoopi Goldberg-- I mean, to a talking cat, the magical neko tells him there's an island where he can find a dragon. And if Elmer can bring the dragon back, its novelty will save him and his single mom from financial ruin! So off Elmer goes, equipped only with a bunch of random stuff he happens to have in his bag. The situation on the island is difficult, and Elmer isn't the only one who needs the dragon.

How furry is it? Sssort of. Only in the sense of having animals that can talk; none of them are physically anthropomorphic, aside from a few primate species. A diplomatic gorilla is the closest this film gets to having an antagonist. As for the dragon, he has a very... unique design, because he's based on illustrations from a 1948 children's book that inspired this film. Despite getting top billing, the dragon is not especially interesting.

What this film does well is provide a sense of adventure and danger. Drawn in Cartoon Saloon's signature geometric artstyle with excellent use of color, it continues the common theme of their other films, a child protagonist trying to persevere against a situation that looms over them. Story-wise, it's a little uneven. It's primarily for younger children.

I wouldn't call it a must-see, unless you're a fan of Cartoon Saloon's work; personally I would much more highly recommend Wolfwalkers (exclusively on Apple TV+). My Father's Dragon scores 87% with critics and 77% from audiences on Rotten Tomatoes. I'm with the audience, although I'd give it a 68% "Enh, maybe". Check it out if you're interested though!

As for being a book adaptation... That's something to rant about. Major spoilers ahead.

Luck (teaser trailer) is a 2022 computer-animated movie released on August 5 on the Apple TV+ streaming service. It's the first animated film from Skydance, to be followed by Spellbound.

The story follows Sam, an extremely unlucky 18-year-old. After years in an orphanage and never being adopted, she moves into her first apartment. When she encounters a black cat, her luck suddenly changes, becoming good - and when it reverts to her previous bad luck, she follows the cat into the magical Land of Luck, the source of all luck in our world (both good and bad).

Most of the film revolves around Sam trying to regain luck - not for herself, but to help a younger girl at the orphanage - while a series of evasions and accidents escalate into circumstances that threaten the Land of Luck itself.

It's an ok film, with a really nice magical world, although the story has tons of holes if you think about it too much. Furry-wise, besides the cat, most of the characters are leprechauns. Here and there are some cartoony bunnies and pigs, plus a couple of other background creatures that you don't often see anthropomorphized (goats and root vegetables). And a large, pink, six-limbed dragoness, in charge of good luck. She's not in too many scenes, but she's definitely one of the highlights!

Interestingly, this film lacks a clear antagonist; most of the conflict is situational in nature. I wouldn't say this movie is a must-see, but it's fine to pass the time with, and I think it shows a lot of potential for what Skydance could make in the future, if they polish up their writing a bit.

(Spoilers and griping under this cut.)

I've been pretty quiet here lately - my life got turned upside down last year, and I've not had much time for fandom. That includes my interest in animated films! Still, I thought I'd throw together a selection of titles, both recent and possibly up-coming.

I suspect there are many more I've probably skipped over. (I'm avoiding the really popular ones, they've already received plenty of attention.) For example, Aardman is working on another Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit film. And of course there are lots of TV series, like Samurai Rabbit: The Usagi Chronicles in the works.

I really wanted to put in more international films, but it's difficult to find out about those in advance. In any case, hopefully these all have some kind of talking animal critter in them, regardless of quality. If you've seen any of the released titles, post your impressions in the comments - or write us a full review!

I won't be describing the films that have already been posted about on Flayrah, or those in the Newsbytes (Turning Red, DC League of Super-Pets and The Bad Guys).

Other recent mainstream titles have been Spirit Untamed, Scooby-Doo Meets Courage the Cowardly Dog, and PAW Patrol: The Movie. Then there's sooo many more...