Chakra-X's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Trad Animation Collection]

Oh Snap

So you've graduated, right? That was some pretty skilled traditional animation! The drawings looks professional, all the movements followed through nicely, and the overall animation was of high quality. The baseball and morphing clips were the two most impressive parts. I only give you a review this low because it was wasn't really a full flash, more like a portfolio. However, I give you a 5 for the relatively, atrociously low score.

I do hope this amount of talent lands you a great job.

RWappin responds:

All this stuff was actually from my first year there. Two years to go!

I hope I can get a good job someday too. It can be hard for animators to get one these days especially if you're not in CG.

[Sonic Shorts: Volume 1]

Very well done!

I enjoyed this collab. All were talented artists and I enjoyed the different drawings and interpretations of Sonic. The voice acting, mainly by Gamebuddy, was excellent. If I ever made a Sonic movie, I'd probably ask him to act.

I found many of the jokes witty, but only laughed out loud at Shadow pointing at the Chao, but I enjoyed the presentation. But the main point why yall didn't get a 10 from me is that some of the jokes were very esoteric to big Sonic fans. Having tidbits of fan service to the long-time Sonic fans is always fun, I love it, but when a joke is founded on knowledge that only that particular demographic would understand/find funny, it loses impact, but is not terribly bad (ala Family Guy and Simpsons).

But great collab nonetheless. I think this one is much better than that older Sonic collab. Shoot, I may have to consider collaborating in the next one if time allows me to :D.

thewax70 responds:

Thanks for the review Chakra, we really appreciate it coming from you. :D
Feel free to join in the next volume if you ever want to do a Sonic short. :)

[Cosmos Chaos]

Great Work

I really enjoyed this movie. A constant pace with constance movement=a hell lot of animating, so I congratulate you for actually making this. The drawings seemed to get better as the movie progressed (which was intended by you) and it was a nice use of 3D. Did you use Swift3D or import a video? The chase scene was the best part, the way you animated the water and speed.

Any criticism I have is maybe try a movie with voices, sound effects, and more story telling features. When you do it to a music video, it's a little harder to get people into the characters, and yet you still managed to make a decent connection. Though I know that was not the goal here, but besides that, it's hard to find anything wrong with this without being nitpicky. 5/5.

zeedox responds:

My next project most likely is involving voices and sound effects, which should be an interesting challenge since I have only done music videos so far. I used Blender to make the spaceship. I should try Swift3D though.

[iPhone]

I laugh out loud every time I watch this

It's obviously rather simple, but it's still hilarious. The facial expressions help and voice acting was what turned a flash that may have got blamed, into a Front Page one.

I don't have an iPhone, so I don't get the green screen joke, just that he had a green screen in the movie.

It looks like you didn't use flash to make this. What did you use?

theblackkangaroo responds:

thanks for the review! to awnser your question i use toon boom studio.

[Sonic: Dark Chaos PT1]

So THIS is Dark Chaos :O

Great job Wax, I love the style you draw Sonic. Reminiscent of a Sonic X style, but your strong black shadows define your own.

Ironically, I'm glad there wasn't a lot of DBZ stuff in it. Probably because Sonic was in his normal form, which I wished I showed more in my Nazo movies =/. Interesting story too, seeing the new Silver Sonic from the tube in Sonic Adventure. Will "Mecha Sonic" appear :X? I would suggest adding some sound effects, unless your movie is music-driven.

But overall, great job. 3.93 is a tad low for this in my opinion, so I gotta 5 this to bump it up :D

thewax70 responds:

Thanks, I'm glad you liked the movie. I won't be doing any DBZ-like-fighting until part 3 of the series(that when Dark Super Sonic appears). The movie is music-driven, I tried adding sound effects to the fight but it didn't turn out well. ^^;

Can't wait to see your next flash. :D

[The Myth Of Sisyphus]

Wow

I admire your use and knowledge of fbf. I personally mix them up, since tweening can help so much at times. Reminded me of Brackenwood styled setting, but your style is definitely there. The backgrounds, water effects, drawings, and animation were well done.

The sound was appropriate, but the grunting could have been tweaked, mainly when he fell off the mountain.

You can tell a good story too, because when Sisyphus finally made it, I actually felt happy for him. You also know where to put humor in, even though this was sort of a punishment in the original myth. You took a damned person and turned it into a lighthearted comedy, which I commend you for

So overall, great animation and drawings, original story , decent sound, and all at 14! Fantastic job.

CatFat responds:

Thank you, you flatter me so..

[Naruto: Kisame vs Zabuza]

You don't see a lot of drawn Naruto flashes

Well done. The drawings could have been better, but judging by your profile picture, you may have had to purposely tone it down for a flash animation. The animation itself was executed very well, and I love how you used the real jutsu signs :D. Water effects were nice, camera angles worked, and the voices were well placed.

Things to work on? Easier to see subtitles. Either make them black; make them white over a black bar, or make each sentence a movie clip so you can add a drop shadow, if you use Flash 8. A little introduction would be nice, instead of them outright fighting. I wish it was longer too, and next time, try making the attacks for extravegant, like, larged scaled to show how powerful they are.

But yes, I wish I would see more hand-drawn action Naruto flashes. I look forward to seeing future Naruto flashes from you, hopefully with Naruto or Rock Lee :D

thorax91 responds:

yes and i hope this flash inspires people to not use sprites so much. good review though. :D

[DevilSlayer II]

Great Style

A unique, appealing style of graphics and interesting characters. There wre some parts where the voice acting could have been either louder or with more enthusiasm. The urban feeling to it was very well done and when you combine it with a supernatural theme, the product was great.

JazLyte responds:

Hey, that's what I was goin for. Thanx!

[Goku vs Vegeta TLD]

Great Style

Reminds me of Sonic's Quest for Power, but there is a difference in fighting style. The buu part was a bit random how they went back to fighting right away, but I assume that was intended.

GREAT use of out-side-flash graphics, what did you use to make them, photoshop/fireworks? But overall great movie, great attack effects, and good use of sprites.

DuDuL responds:

They wend back to fight (unfuse) cuz i am a god in that flash... i can do everything XD so i defused em :P <lol>
I used photoshop for effects

[Ultimate VideoGame Battle]

Witty Message

The litte twist at the end was funny, I had my head turned away at the computer screen before the twist and I had heard foriegn sounds comming from what seemed to be a video game battle...
Though the movie itself was well done, I don't completly agree with the message. I don't see the problem of using copyrighted videogame characters if it is a well done flash, drawn or sprite. But I'll admit, the premiss of the movie seemed cliche', which I assume you were going for, and that people do tend to use that route.
Sure there are clones of Sonic, Mario, and Final Fantasy spin offs but people (including me, as I have created somewhat cliche' VG movies in the past) would love to control thier favorite VG character to thier heart's content. I do agree with you that it is a unfair when original movies get shadowed by videogame parodies, but that's how it seems to work. If a known VG character is used, it gets the advantage of people being firmilar with the character, attracting more views than a original movie with unfirmiliar characters/plot. Witty way of conveying a message, but as long as thee are signs of great effort in a VG parody, I'm all for it.

F00D responds:

you make a good point sir.

I guess from my point of view, when I see a well done video game parody, I'm OK with it, but I would love the author's talent to go to better use on something more original.

But yeah, as long as the flash is well made and deserves the score it has, I'm cool with it. Like Power Star 2... I didn't enjoy the premise but those custom sprites must have taken ages to create. I have no problem with that sprite flash.