SPARK: A SPACE TAIL (Toronto International Animation Arts Festival Toronto Canada 2016)

Ben Meyers’ rating: 3.4|5.0 Starsììì

Spark: A Space Tail—animation—unfortunately relies on an old, trite storyline…evil government suppression that satisfies whims of an evil ruler in a position of power. The only new thing offered is: the rebel is a monkey rather than a parrot, gorilla, lion, or any other animal to include humans that can fill the bill of brave rebel against evil government. The movie, sadly, becomes a cookie cutter from its beginning to its conclusion. Little attempt has been made to establish connectivity between the audience and the characters in the movie.

 Film Poster Courtesy of Wikipedia

Storyline

Friends band together to establish justice in a kingdom. 

Additional Thanks 

Thank you to Director Aaron Woodley for directing effort. Thank you to Producers Tracy Grant and Woo-Kyung Jung for making the film possible. Additional characters/cast include: Spark (Voice of Jace Norman), Vix (Voice of Jessica Biel), The Queen (Voice of Hilary Swank), Bananny (Voice of Susan Sarandon), Flagship Captain (Voice of Patrick Stewart), Chunk (Voice of Rob deLeeuw), General Zhong (Voice of Alan Peterson), Koko (Voice of Athena Karkanis), The King (Voice of Jordan Pettle), Announcer (Voice of Ivan Sherry), The Artist (Voice of Evan Taggart), and Floyd (Voice of Aaron Woodley). 

Buy a ticket? Yes? No? Maybe? 

No. There are much better movies about government reform and citizen revolt. A heart-touching film on this subject, not an animation and really an unfair comparison due to its classic status, is: Les Miserables (with Hugh Jackman and Russell Crowe)—a multi-layered movie that addresses not only the complexities of government, law, love, rebellion, poverty, punishment, and freedom well, but allows deep reflection on the different ways that individuals can alleviate real suffering of others even when not acting within an activist/rebel position.

Video Critique Available Here:

Ben Meyers