So this is a really weird one. Phil Tippett is apparently this legendary stop motion animation guy — he was a head guy on Star Wars movies and did RoboCop and Jurassic Park and whatever else — and for like 30 years, he was working on this little personal indie stop-motion movie, and now it’s out (streaming on Shudder, after a small theatrical release).

So, it’s visually cool. It’s a fully stop-motion animated movie (well, almost fully), and it’s absolutely dripping with style. It is not surprising at all that it’s the brainchild of a visual guy who wanted to make a personal thing where he could just let his creativity go free — you can see that creativity in every densely visual scene. Any five minutes of this that you watch will be some of the most visually fascinating stuff you’ll see this year.

But… there are 90 minutes of it. And while there is sort of a plot, it’s a plot that you’d only know exists if you read it on Wikipedia and tbh it doesn’t actually make much sense after reading it. Because obviously the story isn’t the point, the point is just the pure cinematic experience of the thing. It’s like an Alejandro Jodorowsky movie without all the edgelord bullshit, or like MTV Liquid Television at feature length. Which is fine as far as it goes, but like… without plot, are the visuals enough to carry you along?

For me, the answer was yes, but barely. Which puts me in a weird place where I think this movie is genuinely brilliant in some ways, but also kinda boring. So, do I recommend watching ninety minutes of it straight through? Not really, I guess, but also I don’t regret doing so. I don’t know, maybe I would? I guess I’d say that it’s definitely worth taking a look at, and make your own decision from there.