We Are the Strange (2007)

Two outcasts fight for survival in a sinister fantasy world. Their lives are constantly in jeopardy after they're caught in the middle of a deadly battle between bizarre monsters on their way to the ice cream shop.

Director:

M. dot Strange

Writer:

M. dot Strange

Stars:

Chaylon Blancett, David Choe, Stuart Mahoney

3 wins.

Cast

Credited cast:
Chaylon Blancett	...	The Wooo Monster (voice)
David Choe	...	Rain (voice)
Stuart Mahoney	...	Ori / The Pastor (voice)
Halleh Seddighzadeh	...	Blue / Prologue Narrator (voice)
M. dot Strange	...	HIM (voice)

Storyline

Blue is a young girl navigating the streets of a terrifying, sinister fantasy world all alone. When she meets Emmm, a fellow lost soul, she joins him on a quest for some ice cream. Upon arriving, they realize the ice cream shop has been taken over by dark forces, and the whole city is teeming with evil. Bizarre monsters surround Blue and Emmm on all sides until Rain, a sadistic hero, arrives to rescue them and exterminate the source of the evil.

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Plot Keywords:

ice cream | blue | monster | rain | giant robot | 

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Taglines:

Beware I live

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Adventure | Fantasy

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

January 2007 (USA)

Filming Locations:

San Jose, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$20,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Str8nime

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min 98 min (Director's Cut)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Woo Monster & Toxik puppets are made out of aluminum, cloth and painted with liquid latex.

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Quotes

[from trailer]
Rain: What are you doing here?
Blue: Ice... Cream.
Rain: You came here for Ice Cream?

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Connections

References TRON (1982)

User Reviews

We Are The Strange: A Movie Review.

About this time in October last year, M. Dot Strange (His stage name from when he used to do music) came up with an independent masterpiece that appeared on Youtube, an animated film called "We Are The Strange", which was merely only a trailer, but an intriguing trailer, indeed.

So, for almost a full year and a half, those that sat at their computers waited for the movie to go through Sundance. Fans (I, myself, included) among many others, were glued to the intriguing persona of M. Dot Strange, as he commented on those people who were looking at this movie, criticizing it good, criticizing it badly. Some people left within 15 minutes. Some stayed and watched the madness. For those who left, I feel very sorry for you. You missed an amazing piece of art.

We Are The Strange is a movie with a very simple plot, but presents itself in such a dazzling way that you have to seek to finish it, just to see the art. No matter how you criticize the film, you cannot deny that the art form, Str8nime, a new style of animation created by Strange himself, combines 8 bit animation (Like the old Mario Games on Nintendo) Anime (This stuff is nothing like what you see on TV. It's human in it's animated style) and Strangeness, and this movie provides plenty of it.

The story revolves around two main characters, Blue and Emm. Blue is an anime girl who worked, who lived in a bordello, whilst under the ownership of HIM (The voice of the Director), who tells her she is ugly, and will never be anything to him or anyone. She is banished to a lonely forest, where the other character, Emm, a doll boy (A doll's body with a voice that squeaks and squeals for speech) lives alone in the forest. He does not know why he's there, or how he got there, but ponders it.

Under specific detail, Emm highlights he wants Ice Cream, and wants to go the big city to get it. Fear and torment plague his mind, as the idea of being an outcast is something he recognizes. Blue, too, feels this way.

As the two go to Stopmo City, they find that evil lurks everywhere, and only a strange fighter named Rain appears to fight the darkness around the city.

This movie is brilliant. It's not for everybody, but it is fantastic. The art is just dazzling, the visuals are what tell the story, and it's not just a fan's review that's saying this, as a movie goer, it's nothing Pixar has ever done. Shrek cannot compete to what this movie tries to say.

If you need to see a movie that is brimming with genius, has an intelligent way of story telling (This does not have much dialog, and that's good, because instead of clouding your mind with meaningless George Lucas-esquire lingo, you can focus on a bitter and at the same time, sweet movie.

I give this movie a 9/10.