This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.
I liked this movie. Al Pacino’s character in this movie is wonderfully abrasive. Small cues scattered through the film—especially scenes of family interactions or seemingly unhinged rants—give you a peek into the Colonel’s deteriorating self worth; he yearns for the things that make him feel alive when his access is limited.
The film takes you through the perspective of Charlie, a prep school who’s tasked with watching over the blind Colonel for the weekend in exchange for some cash. From…
I can understand the appeal to this film; the slow build, the twists and turns… but in the end, for me, it falls victim to its own attempt at deconstructing lost footage. I don’t think that the twists and turns were satisfying, nor scary—the scene at the very end (I’m sure you know which one I’m talking about) also was just… not scary, nor even unsettling… all in all, it just was not for me, and I love slow burn films.
For a children’s movie, this film played a lot with themes of death and decay; the whole premise of the movie was based on it, actually. The subtle dystopian undertones caught my interest as well, and the animation was well done. On top of that, the movie had some very genuinely funny moments.
My issue lies with the cliché narrative and the predictable beats; the story was spelled out from the get-go. As far as literally everything else goes, I was wowed… but the story fell flat, and it just lacked the genuine ingenious spark of some of my favorite children’s movies have.
