THAT THING

Congratulations on being shortlisted to the Auckland finals, I can see why this film made it as it's quite distinctive. The film itself had a pretty interesting animation style, sort of part plaster sine part 2d drawings. The gags involving the parents not wanting to love the weird child were entertaining and got some big laughs. The whole film had a sort of don't judge a book by it's cover message to it. I thought it ended abruptly but what do I know?

What's this doing not in the Auckland final? Must be a banner year! Short, sweet, sick tale of family acceptance no matter how alien a child's traits may (literally) be as a newborn really seemed to come from another world, complete with glass-piercing growls, accordion bookends and seemingly problematic fire vomit . Huge Lee Hardcastle vibes but with emotional warmth and the comforting tone of a well-told children's story book. I loved the measured clear diction of the storyteller's voice over and the unwavering approach to the vocals strengthened the metaphor in my book to be unconditional in your love for your family. The vibrancy in the colour palette also helped this stand out from the crowd a lot. Animation where present was great this would have got full marks from me with just a smidgeon more movement to the film. Awesome work though!