Sketch

I saw Sketch before its release, at a preview where the only facts that the audience knew about the film was the rating (PG), the length, and that 'the film is not a horror movie." I was pleasurably surprised at the result: a loving and stirring lesson about family communications, grief, joy, and life.

For whatever reason, the first quarter of the movie is not as engaging as it might have been, though we learn a lot about the characters and their family situation. This information turns out to be crucial for understanding the rest of the film, and frankly, that first quarter could have been stronger. But that's for the writer/director to ponder. If you go to this movie and expect that we need to learn through exposition a lot of backstory, that's ok, because the payoff later on is whimsical, beautiful to view, a bit scary for very younger children but very fulfilling for older children and maybe tweens.

It shows the depth of imagination, the proper channeling of emotions, the way that both kids and adults learn about themselves in the world, and how to navigate potentially fearful situations.

PS - stay for the closing scenes during the credits, so you can discover how to participate in some of the CGI magic of the film.

Sketch is a fun movie that I think could've benefited from some script revisions and editing. There's a lot going for it; I saw this movie at TIFF and the announcer mentioned that director Seth Worley has a background in VFX - it shows.

This movie - the fourth such imaginary creatures come to life movie in 2024, weird ain't it - has some truly impressive CG creations. The movie may be low budget, but the art style of these creatures lends itself well to simple creations. They have texture and make sense in the context of the story, and are undoubtedly the best part of the movie.

Tony Hale is also really good in this, it's nice to see him in a leading man role and I think he plays this character - a grieving single father - quite well. He seems to be the most balanced character, despite film's characteristically snarky script Hale gets a lot of great sentimental moments.

The movie also has a good message and manages to tie itself up quite neatly and in a way I think all good family films should. It explores complicated emotions pretty well. It's a movie unafraid to get creepy at times and really reminds of how family films used to be; often tinged with darkness, because ultimately, life isn't all sunshine and rainbows.

I think what bothered me most about this movie was the script. It's a funny movie, yes, but you know when someone just can't tone it down and keeps cracking jokes, to the point where it's exhausting? I feel like Sketch has that problem. There are also A LOT of "wait, did you just say ____," jokes that occur WELL INTO the final act that I just found tiring after a while.

The movie also has kids. A lot of them. Two of them, the main boy and girl, are fine. They still can't help the movie's overly "MCU" tendencies of winking and joking at every opportunity. But there's one kid - Bowman - who gets WAY too much screen time and I find super obnoxious by the end of the movie. I'm sorry - he's not a great actor and he doesn't know how to interact with the CG creatures. There's a scene where he's supposed to be covered in them where it's evident he doesn't really know what he's looking at and it's super distracting.

There was also a noticeable issue with the sound; too loud and too quiet at times. Maybe it was my theatre, but I suspect it was the mixing. I feel like the movie's score was honestly pretty bad; it never really captured the tone it was supposed to go for and reminded me more of Evil Dead Rise than anything...which just didn't fit.

Overall, this is a fun movie, and it really reminded me of family adventure films from the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s. We definitely need more of these, but this is a debut film and it has the hallmarks of a director to watch for, but who is clearly just starting out.

Did an early mystery movie release, brought two kids: both teen/tween range and they laughed, gasped and maybe a bit of a jump scare or two. It's not a perfect movie as you can read by some of the grumps here expecting an Oscar worthy effort but it's definitely worth a viewing, if only to remember what it was like to have an imagination and just sketch and why many of us sketched as kids.

I got to see this movie at TIFF. I absolutely loved the depth of the emotion of this movie and definitely both laughed and cried out loud. The performances are incredible, in particular the kids. The VFX are also incredibly well realized - there is so much texture and unique detailing in the creatures, which is cool, but it also really serves the plot and the role they play in the story. I am not a parent, so I can't speak to how kid-appropriate it is for younger ages, but I think this is a perfect movie for truly anyone old enough to understand death and loss. I will definitely be recommending this to many people.

This movie was okay, but it is definitely scary and would have traumatized my children when they were younger. I think the story, themes, violent art, frightening scenes and characters, and jump-scares were too mature to be combined with the cutesy elements and premises (e.g., a young girl's artwork coming to life; kids saving the day; a magic pond; art supplies; kids joking around on a school bus). Get ready to deal with some nightmares and anxiety if you take your kids to see this.