Cryptozoo

This is weird. I mean, my thoughts in composing this review are weird, in that I hardly know what to say about this movie—but “weird" also simply applies to the film itself. It’s an animated story about bizarre creatures, bizarre humans—who are perhaps even weirder than the cryptids of the story—and a series of events that comes across as the product of a truly stoned-out-of-one’s gourd mind. The story is strange to the point of being ridiculous, the animation style is, to put it mildly, eccentric, and the whole thing comes across as a senior thesis from someone who is a film major at the most absurdly liberal college in the solar system. So it’s unexpected, to say the least. I don’t want to be cruel, because clearly someone put a lot of effort and creativity, of a sort, into making this movie, so I won’t give it a HISS. But you have to be pretty stoned to see this thing ascend to even MEOW territory. Maybe, as the movie itself suggests, there’s a reason that mysterious creatures remain obscure and mostly unseen. Make of that what you will. 

In A World…

Charming. That’s the watchword here. As a comedy, it’s only mildly amusing; not many laugh out loud moments here, more a steady stream of grins. As a slice of life piece centered within one particular piece of one particular industry--the voiceover industry for movies and TV--the story has an interesting background and setting for its generally agreeable cast of characters. (Even the otherwise execrable Demitri Martin acquits himself well here.) And kudos to Lake Bell, not just for writing, directing and starring in the movie, but also for rocking the overalls in several scenes of this flick (I can’t resist a chick in overalls).