'MY ENTIRE HIGH SCHOOL SINKING INTO THE SEA': Two and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
An animated teen comedy about a group of high school kids trying to survive a disaster in which their entire high school sinks into the sea. The film stars the voice talents of Jason Schwartzman, Reggie Watts, Maya Rudolph, Lena Dunham and Susan Sarandon. It was written, co-produced and directed by Dash Shaw. The movie runs just 75 minutes long, and it was released in indie theaters by GKIDS. It's somewhat creative, and funny, but it's also mostly a mess.
Dash (Schwartzman, who's character is obviously named after the director) and Assaf (Watts) are two sophomore outcasts at Tides High School. They're also a writing team for the school paper. When their friend Verti (Rudolph), who's also their editor, assigns Assaf a solo writing assignment, Dash becomes extremely jealous and mad. Dash then gets into trouble, for writing a smear article about Assaf, and while he's trying to steal a negative record on himself, he learns that the school might sink into the sea if an earthquake were to happen. The other students don't believe him though, due to the fact that he's so unpopular, but when an earthquake does strike, Dash finally has the chance to prove himself.
The movie is bizarrely creative and quirky. It also has some pretty decent social commentary on high school life, and it's funny at times. The animation definitely leaves something to be desired though (even though it's somewhat creative and strange); and even at just a 75 minute running length, the movie feels way too long. Not only is the film mostly not funny, but it's also boring a lot of the time. It kind of feels like a much darker, twisted and more violent Charlie Brown episode (stretched into an entire movie), but that's giving it way too much credit. It's too much of a mess to praise it for any of it's qualities actually.
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