Close Encounters of the Mini Kind

There are plenty more or less serious episodes in this buffet of animations. Some more cute, others artful, depthful, and then there is this. A simple few minute piece of dumb fun.-has nobody heard of a palate cleanser?

Some of the more serious episodes I'd easily say are too serious, or maybe more accurately take themselves 'too seriously'. Playing-out as if they think they're cleverest thing as I sit there, seeing each plot development coming a mile away. An almost distasteful pretension that the story is this microcosm of genius when to me, many are very explicitly 'tech demos' or demonstrations of an art team and far less anything of narrative substance. I'd probably edit the hell out of half these things specifically when it comes to the story direction, given the chance.

I love these lil people episodes exactly for what they are: that bit of fun. And I could even imagine it as a nice lil silly series of its own. If nothing else, I'm content to see one of these nestled between tech demos playing-out like they think they're among the most mysterious or smartest bits of media ever made. This itself is it own tiny transgression, one artful mediums need, before everyone is stuck with their noses up each others bums, smelling their own farts all day.

Netflix's "Love, Death and Robots" series returns for a fourth run. Overall, I enjoyed the first three seasons and wrote short individual reviews for each episode, and I think I'll take the same approach here.

This fourth season begins with a spiritual sequel if not an actual one. Identical in style to the "Night of the Mini Dead" episode that had come before and using the same isometric visual style. This sees aliens land in the desert and a misunderstanding lead to a war between the humans and an invading alien force. The aliens have the upperhand until the humans bring down a tripod and begin to use their weapons against them.

It's almost too short to really form that valid an opinion about it, but it's a funny short that tells a full story without any true dialogue and has all the references to the wider world of alien invasion films that you might expect.

Fun, hopefully there's another one of these types of episodes next time.

This is a comedic alien invasion. It's pretty much Mini Dead, which was alright, but with more of a silly 50s scifi premise.

It seems to take turns mercilessly mocking the humans and the aliens. The humans are generally portrayed as dumbasses, and the aliens aren't a whole lot better.

The biggest problem, in my opinion, is that the subtlety is almost nonexistent. It's over-the-top enough that it's fun and funny in spots. However, I think it could have been done better. There just isn't all that much to it.

The art, however, is quite good. If you're just looking for some violent and immature fun, it's fine. If we're going to do silly scifi comedy, I'd have preferred something like Captain Sternn from the 80s Heavy Metal movie.

I liked the episode, they kept the context simple and without any major twists, but it was consistent with the episodes of the series up until then.

The episode portrays the end of the world with aliens invading the planet of the minis and their possible reaction, with a comical ending, without many surprises, but I still like the simple and bold style of the series that has a lot of spirit and differentiation from the other episodes of the series, so I give this episode an 8.

That way, I like the universe of the minis, and I even believe that they deserve an independent series to show the development of their little world.

I quite enjoyed "Night of the Mini Dead" from Season 3, but what made that episode so good was its uniqueness. I had never seen anything exactly like it before, and it truly subverted my expectations. "Close Encounters of the Mini Kind" is more of the same, except the humor has managed to get even cruder. The opening was funny enough, but not once did I truly chuckle. I suppose others may enjoy its humor, but it wasn't for me.

Now, as a piece of entertainment, this episode fulfills its purpose. It's quirky, a feast for the eyes, and keeps you attached to the screen. From a visual standpoint, this episode is excellent. I adore the animation style of these "mini" episodes, and even with the subpar plot, this episode managed to be engaging. Sound design and cinematography were excellent, and keeping its runtime short and sweet was an excellent idea.