Well, now it gets me thinking - Was it a good thing that I didn't get to see this animation in theatre during Beijing Film Festival, which, as an indeed and honest matter of fact, was one of the few films I genuinely wanted to see? Would I have liked it better if I did? Surely the outcome, visual and audio, must be much better than what I just experienced on my pc. However, I believe there's not much doubt that I may have still disliked the film, to my surprise.
Where does the "to my surprise" come from? The script of this film is the very first one in English that I ever read, thus naturally it means something to me. Plus, looking back to it now after reading dozes and varieties of them, I'd think this one isn't so bad, at least adventurous and fun. In a word, a good script. - That's exactly why my disappointment starts. - If it's really bad otherwise, we wouldn't be talking about it right now.
In my strong opinion, the performance of a script, despite literally just in words, is the very key that determines the quality of a film, since it lays the foundation, the story. Many projects start with fancy, brilliant ideas/concepts that wow crowds, yet when it comes to its script where the story is plotted and presented in details, it falls directly flat on the face. However, in the case of ESCAPE FROM PLANET EARTH, it does have a good story -an outer-space adventure that saves the universe and bonds the family closer - despite being slightly cliche. BUT, never ever in my life that I've thought that it would or could turn out like this - rushy, noisy, if not too foolish - that I didn't bother lifting the corners of my mouth to make something even closer to a smile, let alone a laugher.
Well, you can say the absence of a smile/laughter may come from my pre-knowlodge of having read the script, fair enough and I agree. However, it's not the plot or the core of the literal story that disappoints me, as I previously said it's not a bad one. But it is the the outside, the rest of the artistic creation that does the crappy job, if not annoys me heavily.
First of all, who is this animation targeting at? Kids between 5 years old to 12 years old, in other words, pupil? I have no further argument if the producers nod yes to that question, because it certainly looks that way, with mini characters which seem exactly like an alien branch of ants, and the doll-house alike settings. - If it doesn't target at that range of audience, then the art work has definitely failed enormously.
My second problem with the film is its rushy pace, which makes it super noisy. Those funny bombs I was interested in when reading the script somehow turn into mediocre gum bubbles that blow flat and sticky. Plus, I found myself being dragged headless to listening to endless rows of characters who never stop talking about nothing but nonsense, which wore me out. I'm just so confused that I want to yell out in the middle of this film, "Why the hell are you rushing breathless?" Does "rushing" mean "fast-pacing" in the dictionary of the director? Slow down and take a breath, will you?
