DocMonster's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Priest Trilogy : Part 1]

You Know What It Takes ...

... to make great Flash toons! It's obvious you took your time, had patience and are very talented! The character designs are slick, the writing is fine and you know how to set a mood. This really is excellent for a first real go at animation.
My crits are:
SLOW PACING - I won't beat this into the ground since it already shows up in many reviews.
FRAME RATE - Try animating at 24fps. It may make the file size a bit bigger, but the action comes out much smoother and animating is actually a bit easier. Believe me, I used to do the 12fps thing as well until I decided to change to actual film rate and I haven't turned back.
ANIMATION CYCLES - Watch your beginning walk cycle. In a natural walk cycle, the left arm is back while the right leg is forward and vice-versa. Right now, you have the left leg and left arm moving in the same direction at the same time. I know you're new to animation so I suggest you get a hold of "How To Draw Cartoon Animation" by Preston Blair. It's an excellent book and displays various cycles like walking, running and jumping from both profile and front shots.
You have my respect as a Flash artist because your dedication to the discipline is obvious. I only see great things for you in the Flash arena and I wish you every success! This is truly excellent work!

Stryda responds:

Thank you SOOO much for your kind words. It really feels special coming from an awesome animator like yourself.

I am definately going to take into account what you and alot of people have said about the pacing. I'll make the second and third more exciting.

I will seriously look into that book, to tell the truth I have really caught the animating bug. This being my first film and getting all these great reviews really wants me to work harder and be better...so i'll look that up to better my animation.

THANKS so much, you really made my day.

[Frantic 2]

Pretty Good

I'm not a fan of stick figure toons, but this was well done! The running cycles in the beginning were smooth. The semi-detailed backgrounds (the bar, the funky doorway) and guns weren't too shabby and the glow on the black stick figure caused by the gun blasts was excellent!
My only crit is that the sound was inconsistent. Sometimes we got sound effects and others, we didn't. You should keep the sound effects going throughout. Good job!

Voodoo223 responds:

Heh, i'll try to add more next time. Thanks for the review!

[A Ninja's True Path]

Well Done!

Short, to the point and HILARIOUS!!! Excellent job!

Koradan responds:

Thanks!! I will have more coming, once I have good ideas for them. If you, or anyone else out there, has any ideas on what I can make for a video, write to me at:

[e-mail]

[stick men in the 1900's]

Pretty Nifty Stick Movie!

I don't like stick movies - no sir, I don't! This one, though, was very well made from the animation, to the sound, to the story, to the pacing. It kept my interest and was entertaining (no pun intended). I just about fell out of my chair with the air vent scene since it made the whole thing surreal! This is an excellent effort and I can't wait to watch Luke continue on his quest! Keep up the good work!

Nitram-x responds:

lol cheers. but i dont wanna take on stick men animations full time. rather make hand drawn

[Plastic Hammer Episode 2]

Simply Excellent!!!

Made sure I watched Episode 1 before watching this one. Though I think they're both great pieces of work, this episode is paced much better than the first. The humour is consistantly HILARIOUS and is the real backbone of your series. I enjoy the simple artwork & animation because they seem to enhance the dialogue. I love the idea of rolling a 10 on a d6! Keep up the GREAT work! You've got a new fan! Cheers!

A17roolz responds:

Thank you, you really don't know how much it means to me that someone enjoyed this so much. I did everything to keep a style going, but not many people get that. Thanks!

[Stickom 2]

Constructive Crit

First off, the humour was there. I found it funny, especially the Seals' actual location and the beaver. I understand this is your first animation, but the animation is what you need to work on.

When I first saw the main stick figure, I thought he was broken in half. Later, I realized he was supposed to be standing behind the railing. Simply put the railing on the layer above the stick man. Also, when you had the celebrities' heads appear, try using cut out JPG's next time - it'll be funnier.

The humour's there. Just work on your art and animation and you'll be creating funny, cleaner looking stuff in no time! Good luck!

Adam-Mac responds:

thx alot ill do that in #3

[bean hero v.2]

Slow, But Shows Effort

What really needs work in this piece is the pacing. The story would have been better served if it was told a bit quicker. Also, brown and dark green beans on a light brown background doesn't make the action pop. Try using more complimentary colors next time.
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I hope that didn't sound harsh because the rest of it was well done. The frame by frame was excellent and the fact you kept the file down to 699k and still had sound is a testament to your Flash skill. Keep submitting, I see great things ahead!

willy-wizz responds:

thanx for the advice, really that episode was more like a piolet for future movies

[Midwell]

Shows Effort

I gave this piece an Overall score of 7 because it was obvious you put a lot of time and effort into it. I applaud you for that. My two crits are:
1) VOICE ACTING: Everyone is talking very low. It almost sounds like whoever is voicing the characters is too embarrassed to speak up. It makes for an emotionless piece. Have your actor(s) speak up and really lend some character to the story.
2) CONTINUATION ARROWS: Though you may have inserted these to make sure people could follow the story at their own pace, it really kills the timing. If you're going to continue with subtitles and you want to make sure the viewer can read them, reveal them up to a second before the character speaks and lose them up to a second after he's done. This'll give your story the flow it's lacking right now.
Overall, this is a good effort and I look forward to seeing more! Good luck!!!

lon3wvlf responds:

All voice acting was done by me. I never realized it was too low but the "emotionless" bit was meant for this movie since the story was more along the darker side of life. Thanks for the suggestions.

[Rabbits]

Thanks For Explaining It!

I've always wondered how they did that! ; )

The rabbit animation was excellent whether it was "rotoscoped" or freehand frame-by-frame. It showed you put forth the time and the effort to make a classic Flash toon! Good job!

Sherbalex responds:

It was all 100% freehand my good sir. I HATE animations that are 100% tweening, it's just not animation damn it!

[Burglar#1]

You Show Promise

The things that hurt this piece are your file size and the extremely slow storytelling. The file size is huge because of your sound. Learn to drop the file size of your sounds before importing them into Flash. Transitions from scene to scene take too long. Edit your projects a bit tighter so there's not so much lag time between scenes. This is how you spell "BURGLAR". Since you mentioned you were going for realism with the tiny drip from the faucet, you might want to make sure you add the hot and cold taps to the sink as well.
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Hopefully this didn't come off as harsh. You've got a lot of potential to be a good Flash animator and you definitely put your time into this project. Best of luck with the next piece!

PWU responds:

Yeah, haha i figured i spelt it wrong, but by then it was too late -how embarrasing- oh well. Thanks for the comments, i'll try to figure out how to compress sound etc. and how to make a bar for the pre-loader. This is the first time i submitted something online, so I know it aint in the greatest shape.