Review of Next Gen (2018) by Davidwashere — 15 Oct 2018

Look, I get why people do not like this movie. It's extremely niche, the villain is generic, it's possibly tonally confused. But I do not care! I had a ton of fun with this movie and absolutely love this! It's not for everyone but if you want a fun, fresh, and absolutely breathtaking animated film on Netflix, go see it!!!

The animation is absolutely breathtaking! Which might be surprising considering it's on Netflix and usually smaller, independent animations usually look rather cheep. However Next Gen proves once again that it's not the budget nor the software that makes the movie, but the animators who makes it and know what they are doing. The animation looks like it was made for theaters as the textures and pure scope of the film look absolutely stunning and nothing I have ever seen from a major company like Pixar or Dreamworks. The designs are cartoonish but they look great in 3D! Everyone has a distinct design from the humans to the robots. Even the world too is unique. Making futuristic utopian cities can often come off as generic in modern sci-fi stories, however Next Gen takes full use of the concept that it feels fresh and not stale! And the action scenes are amazing!

The story, while admittingly generic, does actually come off as fresh too. While sure the movie does follow the same beats as the kid befriends a robot storyline, what makes it work is that the story is well written with likable characters and a rebellious attitude that you get sucked in. Most people call it Big Hero 6, but I'd say it's more like a mix between the Iron Giant and I, Robot with a dash of Scott Pilgrim. The main character, Mai Su, might be unlikable to some, I actually found her rather refreshing as a main character. Instead of being nice she's all angsty but in a way where you can relate to what she is going through and seeing her grow is honestly a joy. She's unique for a lead hero. And the same can be said about 7723, the main robot hero. Seeing the two of them grow together is enjoyable to watch and by the end I was feeling for the two of them. The movie is smart with the presentation, being a tongue-in-cheek animated kids film but also making you feel for what each character is going through and tackling issues ranging from loss and growing up to even complex topics like human emotions in a robot society. The latter is hard to pull off when there are so many stories that tackle this issue, but the movie works not in originality but just the emotional connection with these characters. I will say that the voice cast could have been better, but they all do a fine job here. Charlyne Yi is solid as Mai Su, John Krasinski is great as 7723, David Cross is absolutely funny doing all the voices for the various robots, and Jason Sudeikis does a good job too as the movie's antagonist.

Again I get that this movie isn't made for everyone.