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| Personal Review of The Babysitter | |
| Posted By: AfroRyan <afroryan@gmail.com> | Date: 11/7/09 6:41 p.m. |
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SPOILER ALERT. OK, first things first; I generally dislike most anime. So let me list my exceptions; Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, Paranoia Agent, FLCL, and Fullmetal Alchemist. It's not that I hate other animes; I can still find them entertaining. However, I am not a huge fan most of the cliches associated with the medium. I hate giant Farrah Fawcett hair on every other character, I hate the generally low quality of animation, I hate the use of deus ex machina, and I hate giant Farrah Fawcett hair. Oh, and giant Farrah Fawcett hair. So, that said, I don't have too many kind words for 'The Babysitter,' except in relation to the basic story that was told (but I'll end on that). Right from the beginning the general lack of animation is obvious, with most of the 'animation' relying on panning the 'camera' or shifting two (or sometimes more) background layers. I realize this is a staple of the genre, but it isn't one I would go around bragging about, nor would I try to defend it with any real fervor. I understand it makes things cheaper (and I have know idea how big or small the budget was on this), so I'll simply state that it was there, and it was distracting. Did I mention I hate Farrah Fawcett hair? Again, it's a staple of the genre to have wacky hairstyles, but doesn't the UNSC have regulations against hair length? In the books, it's implied (and maybe even stated, although I don't remember exactly) that Spartans don't/can't/are not allowed to even grow their hair past a buzz cut. I realize that if some of the Spartans are out on duty and don't have time to shave, then it might grow a bit (I bet John was sportin' some lovely locks by the end of Halo 3, having not gotten a chance to shave between the events of Halo 2 and Halo 3), but good Lord man; Cal's hair was at least 3 or 4 feet long (considering her height). Other than the obvious problem of it getting in her eyes/not even being able to fit inside her helmet, I just can't take it serious when it's revealed. Of course, being a cliche of both anime and science fiction, I expected at least one of the episodes of Legends to have a "SURPRISE, THAT GIANT SUPER SOLDIER WAS A GIRL ALL ALONG" reveal, so I guess they just got it out of the way early. However, I have to argue that it would have been more interesting/realistic/challenging to reveal Cal as a girl while also having a buzz cut/short hair. Heck, within anime it shouldn't even be a problem, what with girls having BIG[GER] eyes than men and eyelashes EVERYWHERE. Hair for the ODSTs wasn't without its faults either. Since they fell into the trap of relying on hair to distinguish between different characters, they had to be sure to include the hair in all of the transparent visor shots. This becomes a problem, because then their helmets either seem too big, or their heads too small. Not a huge problem, but a little annoying. There were numerous inconsistencies concerning characters' heights. Things had a nasty tendency of growing or shrinking. Couldn't tell if it was a continuity problem or a perspective problem. Sometimes Cal absolutely towered over the ODSTS (especially O' Brian), which isn't a problem in and of itself; Spartans are very very tall after all. However, there were shots where all 4 seemed roughly the same height. Another example of height problems is the introduction of the Brute. He is head and shoulders above Cal when they fight in the river, but at the end where he fatally wounds Cal, he amazingly shrunk to be only a little taller than Dutch (who is tall, but still, not as tall as Cal). Overall, I'm not sure if others would have noticed this problem or not. However, just because one doesn't notice a problem, that doesn't mean that there isn't a problem. One thing I feel is worth mentioning, is the music. I love Marty's music, and it fits well with the on screen action...but it seems a bit lazy to rely completely on his tunes. It would have been interesting to see something more inspired. It's anime, and they went out of their way to make implausible Asian architecture on a forerunner world canon, so why not add some Japanese instruments over the score or something? Still, it isn't a big problem...or even a problem at all really. I just felt like pointing it out. Now on to the nice things to say. The scene with the ODSTs going through the astroid field was awesome. I'm not usually a fan of 2D and 3D elements colliding (I don't like it Ghost in the Shell, either), but I thought it was really well done and meshed really well. In fact, overall I thought the CG work and background work were all really nice (despite the HOLY CRAP I CAN'T BELIEVE THEY DID THIS moment when a forerunner site is discovered that isn't even forerunner in design, instead having Japanese/Asian style architecture). I also thought the overall story (although with a couple flaws, like the Asian architecture mentioned earlier) was really well done. The story actually benefits from having less dialogue, keeping things simple and straightforward. The only other complaint I have with the story is that at the end, Burger (what a strange name) talks to the ODSTs after having heard that Cal died. It has long been established that Spartans don't die; that they are listed MIA. Other than that, Spartans are still very secretive and involved mostly with covert operations, so there's a good chance Burger shouldn't have even known a Spartan was involved in the first place. I wouldn't have cared if the Spartan was shown walking in the halls of the ship, and it was common knowledge that she was on board. Then with her subsequent absence, Marines simply put 2 and 2 together and figured she died...but that isn't the case, so...yeah. I liked seeing Dutch in the story. He's my personal favorite ODST from Halo 3 ODST, and it was awesome seeing him kicking Covenant ass. So if I had to rate it, I'd give it a 2.5 out of 5. Not terrible, but certainly not impressive on a level like any of the Animatrix shorts (or Batman Gotham Knight for that matter). I'm expecting much more out of the other shorts. Hopefully 343 Studios was just starting with the average one, so that the subsequent good ones seem even better. Regardless, I got to see it for free, and I really appreciate that. I'll be buying Legends regardless. I just wish a product based on a rated M game would be treated as such. I'm not implying Legends should be rated R, but they certainly didn't push PG13 to it's limits (I was wanting some Men in Black style gore for some of the Covenant deaths, but alas).
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