Mad God

The stop-motion animation in this movie is top notch. From the character design to the set pieces, the filmmakers put together a beautiful, eerie, post-apocalyptic world with an eye for texture and detail in order to build this world and make it a character in itself. The film has no dialogue, so it heavily relies on the creative sets and creature designs to speak for itself.

The entire film primarily follows the journey of the main character traveling through this industrial post-apocalyptic junkyard with a lot of grotesque creatures along the way, and as an audience member you need to be open to take this journey.

The film does move a bit slow, and the lack of dialogue might not be everyone's cup of tea', but it allows time for the movie to breathe and get immersed in the world it's trying to build.

It's gruesome, eerie, yet strangely beautiful, and kind of reminded me of an animated Mad Max.

If you love stop-motion animation, especially if it includes heavy elements of sci-fi - horror you'll want to check this out.

Written & directed by Phil Tippett, a veteran movie special effects guy who's worked on franchises such as "Star Wars" and "Jurassic Park", this is a walk on a *truly* wild side. It's a stop-motion animated odyssey into a bizarre and freaky netherworld, as a character called "The Assassin" descends into the depths of Hell, clearly with an agenda in mind, as they work from a rapidly deteriorating map.

Even on his worst nights, Tim Burton probably didn't have nightmares quite like *this*. I'll say right now that this visually oriented picture is *not* for all tastes. Some people may feel that the "story" (such as it is) lets them down, with not much to engage them other than the grotesqueries on display. It's definitely an animation film for adults - it's dark, twisted, and very violent at times. It also tells this "story" through a succession of images rather than a conventional narrative. The viewers will notice that there's no real dialogue (as we understand it) to speak of.

This magnum opus for Tippett was *many* years in the making - he began it in 1987, and finally finished it in 2020. While I personally wouldn't call it a great film, it's so *interesting* and *provocative* to look at that it did hold my attention. That said, it's good that this has a relatively brief run time of just over 84 minutes.

I enjoyed it, and would recommend it to people looking for something way out of the ordinary.

Seven out of 10.

Well for once my wife and I are not agreeing about a movie. She gave it a four, I gave it a seven but since I write the reviews a seven it is. More than thirty years of work to create this mostly bizarre stop-motion movie. You gotta give it to Phil Tippett, he created something unique with a lot of patience. If I had to guess what Tippett likes to read I would say HP Lovecraft. If I had to guess what artist Tippett admires I would say HR Giger. If I had to guess what kind of music Tippett enjoyed listening to I would say Pink Floyd, especially The Wall. If I had to guess what kind of drugs Tippett takes, I would say I don't know but I want some. Mad Dog is weird, it's gross and grotesque, a combination of bio-mechanical and steampunk, it's apocalyptic and something you need to watch under influence especially if you like any of the things written above.

No doubt a visual spectacle and impressive stop-motion affair from Phil Tippett, but Mad God has essentially zero plot or reason to care for anything that's going on. Some unknown guy wanders around a machinery place seeing weird stuff, and that's pretty much it. There's no dialogue at all. If visual mindscrew-ery stuff and style over substance is your cup of tea, then you might love it. As for me, I needed more than that.

5/10.

If animation cinema is your thing, and dystopian dynamics make you sing, here's a film that you should see, it will fill your heart with glee, a post-apocalyptic nightmare with a sting. You're not too sure what's going on most of the time, in this purgatory world where nothing's fine, but the creatures are amazing, the hellish landscapes quite hair razing (amongst other things), the whole experience is outrageous and sublime.

Some rather talented people have made a grotesquely engrossing animation that leaves a mark, or perhaps a scar, that will linger for some time after and compel you to introduce those you know.