Cheesius's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Nutsy & Klutsy: Ep. 1]

Very well done, despite the style plagiarism

"Ren and Stimpy were knocked off of all the old Bob Clampett and Tex Avery cartoons, so why can't I knock them off."

What I think really bothers me is that you clearly have a lot of skill and talent, and are wasting it by imitating someone else's work.

The difference is that you didn't really even try to come up with your own style here. Right down to the exact same needle-drop music and sound effects, animation gags, and graphical design. If this were done as a tribute, it would be phenomenal. It's a shame that you didn't just make a Ren and Stimpy cartoon of it, with a line in there somewhere saying "A Tribute to John K's Ren and Stimpy" or something.

Now I've mentioned all the things that are the same as Ren and Stimpy.. What's different? Obviously your characters are, although they still have similar roles (although the thin one has the stimpy role, and the large one the Ren role).

The voicework, while not bad, is not nearly the quality of Billy West - but let's face it, there's only one Billy West, and you couldn't afford him. So I'll forgive that.

The animation is lacking - you did more tweening and less frame by frame work, particularly visible when ... Um... the blue one is laughing. However, being that you're one guy, and do not have the entire spümco animation team to help out. Ok, I can forgive the simplicity of animation as well.

The humor is lacking - although you based your jokes on Ren and Stimpy concepts, they don't have the same level of humor. It's just not that funny.

The artwork is not as good - This one I can't say I can forgive quite as easily. The artwork is still good - but it's not up to Spümco standards.

The plot lacks cohesiveness, or the direction is faulty, or something - it's not quite right in many ways. It seems jerky in places, awkward, abrupt. It's rough, is what I'm saying, and some better transitions or more well thought out scenes could have helped.

Now then. Sick of my saying it's not up to Spümco standards? Sick of my comparing it to Ren and Stimpy? THEN STOP RIPPING REN AND STIMPY OFF. Come on, get your own ideas. Yes, some of the ideas that John K used in his cartoons were lifted directly from old cartoons... But not 96% of the idea of the cartoon! His basic cartoon was very original - with groundbreaking artwork and character design, and a very original style. Yes, he used the same kind of needle-drop music as they did in the old toons, and the same kind of sound effects - but he used them in his own way, in a way that had not been done before.

I sincerely hope you get an original concept before you do episode 2. As well done as this is (and I can't fault your skill, this was superbly done) - it's an almost total ren and stimpy clone, and the fact that you did that without even MENTIONING John K's creation (except in defense when people pointed it out to you) is inexcusable. You knew you were ripping him off in a huge way. You could at least credit him for the ideas, since you clearly could not come up with any of your own.

Please, prove me wrong. Do something relatively original in episode 2.

chubbybunny responds:

damn you didnt have to write an essay about it

[In The Sand]

That was nice.

There were a few things that bothered me, but overall, it was pretty good.

Thing that bothered me #1 - I don't usually care for videos that do such literal translations of the song lyrics... He's on the ocean has him randomly standing on the ocean, he's in the sand has him sinking into the sand.. I understand, that's what they're singing about... But it's a very basic interpretation, and I think something that keeps everything within the same theme would have worked better.

Thing that bothered me #2 - why do so many animators get turning pages on books backwards? When he's sitting there reading, he's flipping the book pages backwards. It's a really common mistake, I just think it's odd.

Other than that, it was nice.

Foxcato responds:

thanks... glad you liked it.
1) I felt it was the best way to do it... though I rarely do stuff like that in my films.
2) Holy crap you're right!! Damn! Oh well... thanks for pointing it out.

[Gleek]

I have to thank you for making this cartoon

See, with this vote, I gain level 10 on NG. Yay! So, yeah. Thanks for posting this. Now on with a review.

the animation was pretty good, and the characters were decent. The sound was a bit of a problem, just in how much background noise there was with the blinks - lots of hiss going on there. My only other complaint was the lack of plot. It was decent, but just not much going on. A simple sight gag, and unfortunately, I kind of expected it. A shame. However, I am looking forward to what you post next time, as I expect it'll be improved from this. Good job.

ChrisMayo responds:

Glad this animation could help with the level 10 :). I agree, the sound is lackluster at best. I recorded it with shitty equipment. I was contemplating rerecording it, for submission, but I didn’t bother. My next animation will have competent sound if it is recorded by me. Other than that it is hard to find quality cartoon sound effects for free online. The plot surrounding this animation was for the simple sight gag. Its purpose was simply to showcase these characters in a sample animation with a gag. This was created a while ago, so I hope to have an improved animation next time. Thanks for your constructive review. More people should review this way.

[-Play-]

Excellent in all its stompy goodness

Heavily influenced by STOMP!, this was very well done. Good job.

Dustball responds:

Thanks. To be quite honest I had long since forgotten about Stomp! My main influence was the Blue Man Group, they rock!

[Blamtard attack (CC)]

You would have gotten higher, but for a few things

Firstly - it really needed some sound at the beginning. Rain noise, etcetera. It was really maddening - I thought my speakers had gone out, and had the headphones turned up all the way when the music started. Ouch.

Secondly - You need to optimize your graphics. I know, it's a pain - especially when you have that many graphics - but I really should not have had to turn this all the way down to low quality for it to play decently.

Thirdly - OMFG TIHS SUX ASS U ERTARD IT SHUD B BLAMED ADN YUO -- *KOFF KOFF* What? Oh, excuse me. Actually, those are my only two complaints.

You did a great job syncing the graphics with the music, and the animation - aside from the lack of optimization - is not bad at all. Good job on this. I wish I could have rated it higher.

I think we've all been victims of "blamtards" at one point or other. Ah well.

Good job. Keep up the good work.

koolkiwi responds:

You write an honest, helpfull review I'll get optimising right away.

[*1,812 Overturns*]

Very nice.

Nicely done! I loved the way you even had cannons at the right moments. Definitely worth the wait to watch it.

Now here's your big chance - You reviewed my lego movie, saying something like "but that's legomation and you can't do that" -- And here you say you broke the legomation rule. Where is this rule? Because I haven't seen it. Help me out? (Reply to this review)

ChaosFX responds:

Yes, I was told by a number of different users that you cannot submit legomation, or at least it will never make the front page, this is because the lego company has a site of their own which displays legomation, thus taking away the fame and glory from their site. So they complained to newgrounds. So now newgrounds will not post any Legomation on their front page, nor let it get popular enough... Which really sucks. Cause this could have got a greater score otherwise. Oh well, e-mail tom flup or wade for more info on this. Sorry kinda sucks though!

[Quick Toon]

Nice

But there was no sound at all! I saw you commented that you "fixed the file size" - did you make it smaller by removing all the sound? Man. Sound would have made it better.

Ah well. Good job on that. Other than sound, I have no suggestions. Well, maybe one - it would have been cool if the cola can had sprung a leak when it hit the guy, and then it could have just been spraying his leg or something. Not necessary - it just would have been one more fun thing to watch. But good job overall.

Hellstone responds:

I did't your speekers must be screwy,I just made the nirvana song shorter.
thaks for the review.

[Hero ep1]

The credits were the best part

The whole thing was relatively well done, and all... But it was way short. It needed to go somewhere else before ending.

And why on earth did you pick the Happy Tree Friends theme? omg.

Anyway, my last and final question has to do with your comments, which are as follows:

"my first official Hero movie... yaay front page! thankyou everybody!"

Ummmmmmmm yeah. The only problem I ahve with this is that it's not ON the front page. So what's up with that? Are you just being ready because you know for certain this will make it to the front page? Did you bribe someone? What's up with that?

Anyway, yeah. Good job.

chrome-shadow responds:

yer it was on the front page, when u go to the front page, to the left it says "latest 5 submissions" and im there lol i never said it was chosen to be there heh

[A Squrrels Life]

Fun, but predictable

Decent job overall, but first - it needs a preloader. Many people might not even notice, but I have slow dsl, and it bogged down halfway through as it finished loading. Second, a replay button, so it doesn't just play over and over. Heck, the NG preloader would accomplish both tasks nicely.

Aside from that, all I can say is some practice is needed - that was reaszonably well animated, but it felt beginnerish. Good job overall.

Dreamreaver00 responds:

Thanx for the info on the preloader. Its always appreciated to get a review that actually gives good information to help a person out.

[Asgard's Flash Tutorial]

I have to agree with the last person

It's kind of "flash for idiots." But don't get me wrong - that's a good thing. You want stuff that anyone can understand. I had no problem with the tutorials that came with flash - but clearly some people need something a bit easier to understand. I hope this is helpful for them.

I voted lower than you might expect because there are a TON of flash tutorials out there, you have a lot of competition.. I've seen better.

I voted higher than you might expect because there are a TON of flash tutorials out there, you have a lot of competition.. I've seen MUCH worse.

Good job overall.

Asgard responds:

THanks!

Next time i might try to have a balance between "flash for 'idiots'" and straight to the point :)