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The Matrix always seemed like a big cartoon, why not embrace it? Next up, The Animatrix.
Tagged with: 2003 animatrix channel awesome doug walker matrix move review movies nostalgia critic nostalgia critic editorial
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These types of anime anthologies pop up every once and a while and I usually love them. When I watch this, and the other Matrix films, I enjoyed about half the shorts and hated the other half. I hated the Renaissance, for it’s overly dark with no reason setting, and the last one, because the art style is awful. This most reminds me of Halo Legends, which also had a two part prequel story that I hated and one with style I hated. While I enjoyed it more than Animatrix, I would say the one to hunt down in this style is Gotham Knight. It’s both an anthology and ongoing story and explores both Bruce Wayne and the myth of the Batman. It also made me question if Bruce had a fear of guns. Definitely watch it if you have the chance.
^This
“A Noir story about, what else? A detective.”
What’s next? A scifi film about science?
The one Matrix thing that I haven’t seen. Follow up comment to come!
Some of these shorts look pretty neat. Thanks for bringing them to my attention.
I also just generally like these short editorials every other week. They’re kind of a ‘snack-size’ NC that builds us up to the big one coming. I think the suspense really makes people appreciate the long reviews more. They’re also great for a short pick me up after a crummy day.
I love ANY type of action scene. Heck, I’m ALL about visuals when it comes to my entertainment. I think I’ll skip the Robot story. It reminds me of those scary I Am Legend animated shorts. Freaks me out. All of the other ones sound awesome.
Doug, that Toaster is going to start asking you, “Would you like some toast?” every three seconds. Destroy it now!
10:27 – Is that the new Homestar Runner?
You forget that the Nostalgia Critic already has the ability to talk to appliances, and has already heard them talking.
I may not have seen any of the Matrix movies, but I at least knew they existed and that there were three of them. I had no idea that these even existed until the Critic announced the Matrix Month schedule. How did the Critic not even mention that the robot at about 4:50 was wearing a red tie that looks like the one he wears?
Top 3 funniest Critic comments are:
You still following this? There’s a test later and I can assure you, I’m going to fail it.
Again, explaining is just for people who want to make sense of things.
On the one hand, this could very easily be a recruitment video for a cult.
Well, at least you covered something during Matrix month you really like, that’s a plus.
By the way, if you’re going to criticize The Matrix for ripping off Japanese material, why not do the same for The Avengers? Since as I mentioned in my last comment, it was essentially a ripoff of renowned Japanese director Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece Seven Samurai.
Pretty sure that was a joke, dude.
It occurred to me, I know Doug probably wont do it, but I wonder if he’s also review Enter the Matrix. Seeing as how it has around an hour of original live-action footage.
Re: The comment on the sketchy animated short
I appreciate things animated by hand as much as the next person, but I often feel like people just crap all over computer animation without realizing what goes into it. Is it computer aided, thereby speeding up the process a bit and making the work, in some ways, easier to do? Yes. Is it so easy and simple because computers do most of the work, thereby enabling any schmuck off the street to become a computer animator if he wants to? Emphatically no. So while you’re not spending time drawing every frame out by hand, you’re learning how to construct and use complex rigging systems, how to render light and texture and shadow appropriately by understanding how to manipulate variables, and how to accurately replicate motion by, again, understanding both the rigging systems and the manipulation of variables. It’s complex! Not for the faint-hearted! Go watch a tut on how to build rigging for a character. See how much time and effort goes into just that alone.
The difference between hand done animation and computer animation are simply the tools. I think people get the impression that CG work is somehow…maybe not less work…but not as impressive work because it doesn’t as obviously reflect the work that went into it. Everything looks perfect and seamless (when done right) but only because the computer removes little imperfections. Animation done by hand is different. You can see lines gone awry, the hand of the artist, and so forth. It has more obvious character. Admire it for that, I suppose, but please let’s stop holding traditional animation up on a pedestal over computer animation as though it is somehow more superior and involves more hard work, thought, and love put into it.
Because it doesn’t.
If anything was ripped off by the Matrix it was the 1976 Tom Baker Doctor Who story titled “The Deadly Assassin”. Much like the Simpsons, Doctor Who did it first.
I’d love to see NC review the other two anime anothology films Warner Brothers made: Halo Legends and Gotham Knight. Who’s with me?
Wow. I never saw the Animatrix and I was really not expecting to witness… any of that ridiculously violent imagery from Second Renascence. At all.
I’m not against violence in entertainment media, but I’m the kind of person who’d rather be aware that I’m about to be exposed to it in my entertainment. And how in this stupid world it’s ok to just outright show that stuff out of the blue, even if just animated, but you can’t show some synthetic breasts? Worse than that, the breasts are covered WHILE the robot possessing them is openly being beaten on the head and having its skin ripped off. That’s just sick.
It was just disturbing as all hell. Maybe I should expect it during the review, but Doug could at the very least give a head’s up that he’d actually show the violence. Or, better yet, not show it, he does comedy reviews for christ’s sake. I’ll take his word if he says the imagery is heavy (even if empty). Even Oancitizen censors the overly graphic stuff in his videos, and in his videos I would actually be ready for something like this.
Why does everyone talk crap about Matrix 2 all the time? Sure it doesn’t have much character, but the first film didn’t have much character either. The action sequences are great and it introduces some good new concepts about rogue programs and glitches that could have allowed them to do quite a few awesome new things with the series.
I get that people might not like the ending, but that doesn’t seem like a reason to hate the entire film. It seems to me like what happened was the first film got a lot of praise for being original with it’s concept, but then the second film couldn’t do anything different enough to be considered different so people just flocked to anything they didn’t like…
Well, yes. If the ending sucks, it tends to sour people on the whole thing.
Especially when the ending is “Everything you saw was a lie.” So all the good stuff was pointless.
::Headscratch:: Didn’t you already review this a year or two ago?
I haven’t seen The Animatrix, but I’m thinking I should since I enjoyed the other movies, and I like all the various concepts and art styles shown in this review.
You say the dumb humans black out the sun as if the robots ran on solar power, and then they survived, even though they were supposed to be solar powered. Wrong.
Humans thought the robots couldn’t live with a resource as abundant as the sun so they blacked out the sky. Fate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony. They found that they could get the energy they needed by farming human bodies’ thermal energy.
In the 2nd film The Architect says they tried flawless versions of the matrix but humans rejected the program, entire fields were lost. So they had to make the matrix to act as a simulation of the real world so humans would accept the program and not start a revolution, that would send a virus of ideas through the field. This answers your question posed in the Matrix Review. That is why the robots made the matrix. They wanted to trap humans in their own minds so they wouldn’t cause problems.
WHile I didn’t know about this and will definitely check them out, I was SO hyped up for the next bashing of the Matrix and an encounter with Agent Schmuck (Best. Character. EVER!!! I can’t believe how well you emulate Weaving’s performance!? Holy cow!!) I…. found myself a bit disappointed to find… this.
Aghhnnnn… another 7 days wait -.- XD
I wanted Agent Schmuck, too!
I hope he stays in the show when Matrix month is over…
But I wasn’t disappointed. I haven’t seen the Animatrix, but it is really high on my “Have to watch this soon”-List now, and that was totally worth it. Otherwise I wouldn’t even have considered to check this anthology out.
I do admit these do look good and the ones you recommended could be worth checking out 🙂
“one source material stealing from another source material, stealing from another source material”
Sheesh, should have just called this “Inception” XD
Just checked the rating. It’s only PG-13. WHY?! Many of the scenes in this are FAR more gory and violent than anything in the live action movies, which are rated R. Talk about inconsistency!
I really disagree with the idea that because film is a visual medium, it must be restricted to a “show don’t tell” objective standard of whether it is good or not. Honestly, it is precisely because it is a medium that it can tell a variety of stories in a variety of ways. Regardless of whether or not it takes advantage of the fact that it’s a visual medium or not shouldn’t be the deciding factor of whether it is a good piece. Movies also have an audio element and through which it can convey great ideas as well. If it wants to dabble in intellectual discourse and put forth ideas for one to think about at the expense of characters, why not? There are books on philosophy and there are story books so it should be of no wonder that there can be a variety of movies as well. On the same note, I don’t think that we need to feel emotionally connected with all the characters all the time in every piece of fiction.
C’mon Doug, you know that one source material stealing from another source material, stealing from another source material is exactly how genres are made. XP
I actually haven’t seen Animatrix, but from, what I have seen I may have to change that and watch it sometime soon.
I’ve never have had any interest in any of the Matrix movies, except maybe for this one. I’m a Toonhead so that’s not too surprising. Is it just me or is Doug making the Matrix videos more green, color wise?
Oh, so you dislike the Matrix for ripping off popular storytelling, but the Animatrix – which is more or less a skin draped over a bunch of existing stories – that’s OK. But then, I think I’ve finally figured out your “style,” Doug. You like pretentious twaddle with a dark twist and dislike simple storytelling. That… Frankly makes the Nostalgia Critic reviews a lot less interesting to watch.
Not sure why it took the Animatrix to figure this out when basically all your editorials come down to “Is this piece of shit movie really good? Yes, I think it is because deep.” Fair enough, personal preference being what it is, but… You end up condemning or praising movies based on how much they fit your personal preference, and that frankly makes the reviews much duller.
Maybe if you could actually offer legitimate counterpoints, some outside opinion to even out your own like you did with Angry Joe and Man of Steel it wouldn’t come across as so preachy. But all you offer is yourself playing a straw man, preaching at me about how you’re wrong and people who disagree are comically incompetent idiots. Frankly, I don’t find being preached to entertaining.
I agree it’s way better than the Matrix films, my favourite one is Beyond for the characters and the things they try out in the glitch.
The Final Flight of the Osiris is actually directly tied to the Enter the Matrix video game. One of the early missions involves you having to retrieve the package left by the Osiris’ crew. Enter the Matrix occurs concurrently with the Matrix Reloaded and explains what Ghost and Niobe are doing offscreen during the film.
Can you talk about the MTV series Good Vibes?
On a side note, I mention this all before, why do you review a classic horror like this one I’ve finally found after all these years after just seeing a few scenes of it and never knowing how it ended. It’s called Sorority Babes in the Slimeball Bowl-O-Rama. You might like it. Maybe.
Also what do think of these TV series shows called:
John Doe
Forever Knight
The Misfits (British Show)
Misfits of Science (Movie and series)
and The Zeta Project
(I think some of these shows are like Sonic the Hedgehog a.k.a. Sonic Sat a.m. They all have incomplete ending.)
P.S. Is there anyway you can review the Japanese versions of Ironman, Wolverine, X-men and Blade? I’d also really like to hear what you think about the FX series Archer and Chozen.
P.S.S. And I never found out if you were going talk more about the Disney Afternoon shows Gummi Bears, Chip N Dale’s Rescue Rangers, Talespin(even the hour uncut movie special I found about it) and Darkwing Duck. Also you never answer my question, If you hate the Goof Troop song: “Gotta Be Gettin’ Goofy” then does that mean you hate The Darkwing Duck Rap?
https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=aT33uhX4P7I
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aT33uhX4P7I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtrqJm9UBII
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHeQpFNhnzc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44diDIvz8mo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjjUv4p9yTM