I think I see where the creators were trying to go with this weird melange of mixed story elements and bland artistic choices. But for me, it didn't work at all.
First, the story itself. I don't remember much of Felix from my younger days, but I have half-remembered images of an irrepressibly cheerful kitty who pulled amazing things out of his "Bag Of Tricks" and tickled my younger self with his magical "anything can happen" existence. And it's obvious that's what the film makers are trying to do here. But to me,now, it feels forced and phony and annoying.
I found some of the original Felix cartoons on YouTube to see if my adult tastes and sensibilities were to blame...nope, those old cartoons are still weird and goofy and incredibly creative.
But you know what else they were? They're SHORT.
And there's the problem. Felix is a character meant to show up, do something outrageous and tricky, and LEAVE. If you keep him around for 90 minutes plus, you have to try to flesh him out, and add to his backstory...and the creators just don't have the ability to do this convincingly. Now Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett (from this generation) or Theodore Sturgeon, or even R.A. Lafferty...THOSE guys could have come up with a way to fill things out and come up with a story that justified this much time with the character without exhausting our patience.
I might have been able to live with a poor story if the actual animation quality had been better, but to me, that's where the film really falls down. You'd expect this level of animation for a weekly kids cartoon on TV, not a feature release.
The character designs were generic and undistinguished, and the animation was pure hack work. I understand that good animation is hard, hard work; it takes time, talent, money, and inspiration. "Felix" was completely lacking in inspiration and talent. Or else the talent didn't have any time or money. Once every 3-4 minutes, there would be a nice flash of something decent, but if you blinked, you'd miss it.
Also, the sound was mixed and synched so badly that half the time I couldn't make out what the characters were saying. The voice acting appeared to be the stuff from the first couple of takes from actors who spoke English as a second language. And there were musical numbers that were neither funny or charming.
A kid might like this. A LITTLE kid, who hadn't grown up with Warner Brothers, Ralph Bakshi, Disney, Don Bluth, and Pixar and didn't have any taste for "the good stuff". Or an adult who saw this as a kid and has fond memories of it.
I wasn't expecting much, and I got even less. File this one with "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" and "The Magic Voyage": animated bologna that does nothing to make you believe in the power of animation to tell stories that live action can't.
First, the story itself. I don't remember much of Felix from my younger days, but I have half-remembered images of an irrepressibly cheerful kitty who pulled amazing things out of his "Bag Of Tricks" and tickled my younger self with his magical "anything can happen" existence. And it's obvious that's what the film makers are trying to do here. But to me,now, it feels forced and phony and annoying.
I found some of the original Felix cartoons on YouTube to see if my adult tastes and sensibilities were to blame...nope, those old cartoons are still weird and goofy and incredibly creative.
But you know what else they were? They're SHORT.
And there's the problem. Felix is a character meant to show up, do something outrageous and tricky, and LEAVE. If you keep him around for 90 minutes plus, you have to try to flesh him out, and add to his backstory...and the creators just don't have the ability to do this convincingly. Now Neil Gaiman or Terry Pratchett (from this generation) or Theodore Sturgeon, or even R.A. Lafferty...THOSE guys could have come up with a way to fill things out and come up with a story that justified this much time with the character without exhausting our patience.
I might have been able to live with a poor story if the actual animation quality had been better, but to me, that's where the film really falls down. You'd expect this level of animation for a weekly kids cartoon on TV, not a feature release.
The character designs were generic and undistinguished, and the animation was pure hack work. I understand that good animation is hard, hard work; it takes time, talent, money, and inspiration. "Felix" was completely lacking in inspiration and talent. Or else the talent didn't have any time or money. Once every 3-4 minutes, there would be a nice flash of something decent, but if you blinked, you'd miss it.
Also, the sound was mixed and synched so badly that half the time I couldn't make out what the characters were saying. The voice acting appeared to be the stuff from the first couple of takes from actors who spoke English as a second language. And there were musical numbers that were neither funny or charming.
A kid might like this. A LITTLE kid, who hadn't grown up with Warner Brothers, Ralph Bakshi, Disney, Don Bluth, and Pixar and didn't have any taste for "the good stuff". Or an adult who saw this as a kid and has fond memories of it.
I wasn't expecting much, and I got even less. File this one with "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer" and "The Magic Voyage": animated bologna that does nothing to make you believe in the power of animation to tell stories that live action can't.