Kaze, Ghost Warrior (2004)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

Timothy Albee

Genre:

Action | Animation | Drama | Short

Tagline:

"Honor... Is... Life"

Plot:

A masterless Samurai seeks retribution for the slaying of the Royal family and his own murder.

Plot Keywords:

Samurai | Anthropomorphic Animal | Furries | Anthropomorphic | Furry

Runtime:

23 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.00 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

USA:Not Rated

Trivia:

Timothy Albee spent six months in a sparsely populated area near Fairbanks Alaska, less than a hundred miles from the Arctic circle, while creating this film. He used only two consumer-grade computers to create all the animation and effects for the film.

pretty and very impressive feat, but needs a real story

This is one gorgeous heck of a film, all the more wonderful considering only one person was responsible for its production. Certainly groundbreaking and incredible to think one person made such a beautiful, well directed piece of animation that is seriously on par with the most professional 3D animated films out there now. The slow pacing of the film that allowed the viewer to be pulled into the world and recognize the beauty of some of the backgrounds and renders is very much appreciated.

Unfortunately the plot was thin and eventually had no real ending. Much like many other indie animators out there, the artist made something that is only a small fraction of what probably is a grand epic in his mind. Much of the dialog and plot is petty cliché-ish holier-than-thou peace-loving hero-talk. Also, it felt very strange to watch this movie because the main character acts so odd. Some of the shots and direction seemed a bit pretentious, as well as some of the story. It's like the artist was pandering to himself by the posing of the characters. At the end I was wondering of the main character and all the other characters were homosexual. There was no story, dialog, or plot to show that but that's the only way to explain how it felt. I have nothing at all against homosexuality, I'm a huge liberal in fact, but that's what I got out of this film: an overbearing feeling of homosexuality despite the fact the film had nothing to do with that. You have to watch it to understand what I mean, just watch how it plays out, and I am not talking about Kaze acting girly or anything like that. I mean yeah, there was a lot of very overly sensitive, seemingly forced crying and emotions going on here that seemed really oddly placed, but that's only part of it. Watch it, you'll know what I am talking about when you see it. I am not joking or trying to make this movie look bad or anything, that is my honest opinion and I'm surprised no one has ever mentioned this. The reason I mention this is because it had no place in the movie and as such it detracted from the film as a whole. The artist was obviously trying to create a dramatic piece but what comes out is almost fetishistic and disturbing. If they had some sort of better reason to act this way then that would be acceptable. In fact I'd be really impressed and satisfied if a gay character in a fantasy cartoon was pulled off really well. Instead it just seems strangely out of place. Imagine all of those ridiculous movies, video games, and TV shows where an unnecessarily sexy female warrior is in a serious story. That's just pandering to the audience and the filmmakers. That's what I am talking about here, just replace her with (seemingly gay) male characters.

As for the animation, it is top notch. There could be a few tweaks done to make some things seem to have more weight, and some of the action scenes seem not to fulfill what you can tell could have been great potential, but check out the rendering, the facial animation, and the emotion conveyed by all the subtle movement.

The sound really needs work. Obviously the time frame of production on this film probably kept it from being better. The eerily silent parts of the film aren't artistic, rather they are annoying. The small amount of music here is great but there is very little of it. A good film doesn't need music but this film really needs something because the empty sound space, as I said before, doesn't work at all. It seems more like a huge mistake or oversight. More sound effects are needed and some of the scenes sound strange. For instance there is a scene where a chair breaks and it sounds loud but kinda like a 'generic' sound effect from a sound library. But the other sound effects are absent or very low, so the ending result is something that looks like an incomplete production.

If this was a feature-length movie that explored the story in-depth, this film was definitely going in the right direction. Like I said before, the pacing and visuals of the film would have been perfect for such an endeavor. However, the artist of this film needs a solid story writer, a strong short story with a beginning-middle-end, a good sound person, and a good editor to take out some of the pretentiousness. Then he would have an award winning film. I ask you all who seem to love this film, look past how pretty it is and ask yourself does this film really redeem itself in any other ways.