CroutonsOfDeath's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Paging Dr. Seuss]

How delightful and charming!

I loved this movie. Love, love loved it.

Otherwise this was a perfect example of dark humour done right. The animation and style was really good and the rhyming was fantastic. We need to see more horrors from the vault of Dr. Seuss.

CatFat responds:

Glad you liked it, thank you!

[Billy Mays The Birth]

A mixed bag but nonetheless entertaining

This was very bizarre and abstract and on a site like NewGrounds that is saying a lot. I think on the whole it was a mixed bag. Some of it was absolutely hysterical, some of it was poor.

Most of the background art was flat and didn't give much depth, but some of it was terrific. The shots in the Maternity ward were good but the quality of that aspect went downhill fast. The animation was decent even if the graphics were a little sketchy and rough at times, but at least everything looked good in motion. Strangely enough some of the most impressive bits of animation came from his Beard, very smooth transitioning there.

I will admit that the Swedish narrator got on my nerves. I chuckled at the silly voice at first but I still hoped it would be a throw away gag and having him narrate the whole flash eventually became grating. I can't say that his acting was bad, he served the tone decently and his dialogue was fine, but his accent sure was bad. Despite some static the voice acting was decent especially with Billy. I think that he should have had more actual dialogue because the impersonation actually wasn't bad at all and the bit at the beginning where he was beating the Doctor with his umbilical cord was made all the funnier by having such a good voice over.

If I had to pick the absolute nadir of the short though it would be the Dio impersonation. No offense but that was awful. I could tell the actor was trying but there was so much noise in the mic and lets not forget that it was terribly off key and I had to watch the scene multiple times to get the rewritten lyrics. Thanks for slipping in a Heavy Metal reference though. :P

I was originally going to give this a vote of 3, but it got a 4 for one reason: Songs from the Wood. Sweet Jesus that is one of my all time favourite songs and even if it was only a snippet any flash that includes it immediately gets bonus points.

The story and direction was good though. In your description you mentioned you wanted to tell a tall tale and even if it dribbled away at the end with the awful Dio segment you did a fairly good job. Some jokes felt forced but others, as strange as they were, were hilarious. I mentioned that I loved the umbilical cord beating and I also loved the bits with his beard and I had a chuckle when I saw his beard carrying him during the running away scene.

This flash isn't perfect; it was a mixed bag but for the most part I enjoyed it. I think with a bit more focus, a less grating accent on the narrator, and a better Dio impersonator this could've been a lot better. Regardless it was still a fun short.

thejuiceizloose responds:

Yea, I am a big Jethro Tull fan, so that song had to be in there for that scene. Thanks for the indepth analysis. You've given us quite a bit to look at for the next Mays cartoon. The subsequent episodes won't focus quite so much on narration, as this one did. We were trying to provide a setting and background story that was easier to do with a narrator, so now that characters and motives are established, we can rely more on character interaction to carry the story. I do agree with much of what you said, especially the Dio scene. We were pressed for time and someone who could pull off a great Dio impression, and obviously were limited in that regard. I still stand by my voice actors however, and I feel like more time and better equipment will make all the world of difference. And I have to agree with my animation. There are many things I am happy about, but even more there are things that I know I can do better on. When working on a flash that is 9 minute long, it seems likely to get sloppy from time to time, so we are working on slimming up the length on the next one. Thanks for the review.

[Geoweasel Episode 19]

A few chuckles

I haven't watched any of the other episodes, so I didn't really have a feel for the characters or continuity (Assuming there is one..), and there were a few bits I didn't really understand; but overall, I did have a few chuckles. I might go back and watch the others sometime.

Geoweasel responds:

There's generally no continuity in the series. I try to make each episode separate enough from the others so that any one can be a jumping-on point, but some stand alone better than others. If you watch the rest, I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for an honest review!

[Spider Powers 6]

I actually agree with Spazkid.

I liked the other ones and it disappoints me that you are just going through a butchered meme here. There are so many other, much more creative things than a Pedobear that the spider could have turned him into. I will disagree with Spazkid regarding memes never being funny, they are funny to read about on ED and some memes can be funny if used sparingly; but this is a case of using it for forced laughs.

just2pale responds:

lol so you're upset that I didn't use a character you liked? lol ok I will keep that in mind for the next one.

[The Clown Downstairs]

How very Burroughs of you

I'm not sure what to really say, as my summary title suggests I found this to be very William S. Burroughs and its kinda hard to explain some of his more obscure work. What I can say, I freakin' loved it. For your first flash, the animation is EXTREMELY impressive, I would find it hard to believe that you haven't had experience animating in other fields because this is higher quality detail than most artists.

Very creepy and entertaining, none the less

JohnDavidHeptinstall responds:

Thanks very much, I like Burroughs work! - glad you were entertained

[Don't Sleep, Robby!]

I love these guys

I love these guys. Been following you for awhile after TWHYlight and Half-Beard. You guys are pretty funny. I love the commentary as well, being partially deaf subtitles really help me so I don't have to blow my good ear out just to hear what everyone is saying, so its nice that I also get the treat of your commentary. However, the BRACKETMAN DOES NOT CONTROL ME!

Bracketman! I have escaped your mighty power. Although I will agree, at least dial up did sound cool. XP Keep up the good work, mates.

Bobert-Rob responds:

Bracketman will get you, all in good time... ah hahaha...
Thanks for watching!