Elliot the Littlest Reindeer (2018) Reviews

• Tough to say what's wrong with this one, but somehow it did not feel smooth

  Horst_In_Translation2018-11-15

  Here we have "Elliot the Littlest Reindeer", a new Canadian English-language movie at 1.5 hours and the most recent and second filmmaking effort by director Jennifer Westcott, also a writer here. If you take a look atg the cast here you will find some famous names, voice acting castg that is of course, such as Baccarin, Hutcherson and Cleese. Family holiday films sure attract big name actors too i suppose. You could say that this is the story of a little pony who wants to be a reindeer on Santa's sleigh very basically. So we got a zero-to-hero story line basically and the film is about all the obstacles the pony is facing on his road to said goal, which he eventually achieves as if this was never in doubt. There are several character who may get in the pony's way to this achievement and you can never be quite sure who the main antagonist is: the vain pompous other reindeer? the bizarre woman (why was she voiced most amateurishly by a male in the german dub)? the older elf? the grumpy female elf? Watch for yourself. But I can say a negative thing about pretty much all of these. For example, said woman did not fin in the film at all, she was there early on described as so evil and at the very end when we had bascially forgotten about her. The specacular green battle sequence about said other elf at the very end was strange too. i think it was supposed to be one of the film's visual highlights, but it felt extremely shallow. Same can be said about the brief moment when they rushed in a conflict between the pony and his goat friend because he seemingly grew too close to the reindeer and forgot who he can count on. But yeah, this was forgotten about again immediately for whatever reason, so no idea why it was even included in the first place. Same about the competition parts about who was gonna become the next reindeer for the sleigh. Looks-wise the characters are okay I think, the settings and landscapes could have been better. I did like the goat bff to be honest, she was somewhat funny. There is also a very awkward situational comedy I liked at times, such as the very first scene with the female human speaking about the effects of her interview. I had nice hopes for the film the way it began, but they got disappointed pretty quickly unfortunately. There are just too many negative aspects, like the main antagonist's real motivation for something he pursued over decades apparently or the very much for-the-sake-of-it story line about the two humans because seemingly they really wanted to show us at least the tendencies of a romantic story line and they could not do it in the world of animals. And maybe, as a final conclusion the worst of it all is that the film really did not get me in the spirit of Christmas at all and for a film with this background, it is definitely a negative deal breaker in my opinion. So yeah, I like animation, but this is nowhere near the best of the year. Gotta give these 90 minutes a thumbs-down and my suggestion is to skip the film.

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• Nice little diversion.

  barrelracer-967062018-12-04

  First off, I love animation. So that is my bias here. I will try to be spoiler-free. Elliot the Littlest Reindeer is not a blockbuster movie. But it is safe for all, fun to watch and easy to enjoy. The story is not unique, but done pretty well. Elliot is not the first of its kind, nor will it be the last. The movie does try to differentiate itself from the rest by giving a subplot partway through. Although it did feel a but rushed. Actually, though, the subplot is hinted at in the very first two minutes of the movie. This is a movie aimed at kids, nothing rough or overly violent, despite a few wonderfully flashy action scenes. I would have loved a more complex story line, or at least a more unique one. There were a few plot elements and characters that seemed to need a bit more explanation as to their motives. Elliot had some potential to be different. The world itself has some unique cues in it. I finished the movie wanting to know more about this world, and how Santa's operation fit into it. There was a few missed opportunities for some good language barrier and comprehension jokes. Although, that was not something I expected to pop up to begin with. Elliot's animation is higher than middle grade, and nicely detailed. It more felt like I was watching an extended ps4 games cutscene. Not to say it was bad. The visuals were quite beautiful at times, with the weather effects an scope and scale presented. I noticed details like chipped hooves, misaligned teeth, imperfections in the surrounding environs. Although there was noticeably more detail in the main actors than in the sub and sides. Special effects were handled quite well for a kids movie. I loved the scenes nearing the end of the movie, especially the competition scenes. It is not pixar quality, but still quite pleasing to look at. The characters are run of the mill feeling, but diverse enough to be memorable. Peanut Butter tragically needed more screen time. I liked him as much as I did Elliot an Hazel. Character handling was done pretty well, you have the annoying types, as well as the hero types. A little bit of character building was hinted at, but not executed very well. The VA cast was fluid sounding most the time, and flat at others. Some roles were acted very well, Hazel, DJ(annoyingly), Lemondrop, and for the most part, Elliot. Hazel, did at first completely remind me of Lupe from Ferdinand( must watch ), but I quickly dismissed that notion. Others were a bit flat sounding and or just sounded a bit off. The banter back and forth was quite good at times. Do understand, it is leagues better than any saturday morning cartoon's VA work, and leaps and bounds better than programming for 8 and under. All in all, the animation is pleasing to look at for a kids movie. VA work is not obnoxious, ear grating, nor constantly sarcastic sounding. The score could have been less looney tunes sounding with less sound effects accompanying every change in facial expression. There is too much garbage Christmas and general cgi toons coming out every day. I was fearful to watch Elliot the Littlest Reindeer. Although I am glad I did. Elliot is no Toy Story, or Transformers Prime. It was, however, a nice diversion to sit down with the family or friends and just watch at the end of the day with some hot tea and popcorn, which was what I did. Elliot was also about a Miniature Horse, other animations or movies normally feature exotics, ponies, horses, zebras, other farm animals, not Minis. The Mini characters even visually had Miniature Horse characteristics. All of the animals did have a nicely stylized appearance. You can see alot of time and care went into their designs. Even with all the goats in a few scenes. I love goat's eyes by the way. Which was one of the funniest scenes to me. All in all, if you like cartoons, even ones aimed for kids. Give Elliot the Littlest Reindeer a shot. I was glad I did. Maybe you will too.

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• Simple graphics

  dino_flores2018-12-13

  Interesting story, but graphics are not up to ppar and years beyond disneys. TOO much dialogue in the movie, children will not understand

• Ungulate fans rejoice

  cascadiarch2018-12-02

  My name is Hazel and I love goats. If you don't match this criteria, subtract 4 from my (highly subjective) rating.

• Adorable!

  mansour-72018-12-18

  I don't normally write reviews, but this thing was so cute! Loved it, and my nieces were in awe. They thought it was hilarious lol Definitely a new yearly tradition must watch for our family, from now on. Loved the goats, and John Cleese was awesome(as usual). Check it out if you want something fun to watch with the kids during Christmas break.

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