Review of Dear Mr. Watterson (2013) by Ruairí C — 17 Jun 2014

Joel Allen Schroeder was extremely successful in crowdfunding to make this documentary, which is as more to the film's detriment than triumph.

I get the impression that the vast majority of talking heads on this are maniacal fans who paid big money to be included, which would explain why their input is frequent and of zero value. Where a typical documentary might have a brief introduction where some interviewees praise the legacy of their subject before getting down to some actual documenting, Dear Mr Watterson is still waffling on about how great "Calvin and Hobbs" is over twenty minutes in to its 90 minute run time, and continues intermittently thereafter. Add to this Schreoder's insistence on taking centre stage as uber-fan and pseudo-philosopher, filming himself reading C&H strips and spewing pretentious rhetoric, and it just becomes irritating. The eponymous Mr Watterson, an already media aversive figure, gets completely lost in the incoherent ramblings.