User Reviews

Usually, independent animation, if it is not complete slag, consists of two components: an exciting, deep plot with well-developed characters and a passable picture, for which there was barely enough budget.

Scarygirl is definitely not slag, but it also does not fall under the specified formula. After all, on the one hand, the picture and visual style are full of creative ideas, but the plot is pretty weak.

Still, it must be admitted that the cartoon raises such complex questionss as self-determination, struggle and acceptance, the confrontation between progress and nature, as well as the problem of friendship and benefits. But even though these questions are raised, they are revealed too quickly, as if the cartoon needs to tell a lot in a very short time and because of this one gets the impression that problems are being solved with the loss of the motivation of the characters, and character development can only be described as abrupt. For me personally the best sign of this problem was the fact that at the end of the viewing I clearly felt a discrepancy between the path the characters had traveled and the time that had passed in the world of cartoon, and let me remind you that the main character overcomes the entire path in literally one day. If the character development had been smoother, this imbalance would not have been felt so clearly.

As for the visual part, it's the opposite: everything looks very good. A large part of this is the great design of everything: the characters, the rooms, the vehicles, the city of light. Of course, the number of frames per second is small and sometimes the characters move clumsily, but these are non-critical flaws, because the atmosphere of the picture eliminates all minor flaws. And this atmosphere can be described either as a magical, beautiful world, being in which still causes some feeling of anxiety, or as a futuristic metropolis in a noir style, but in which one would like to spend a fun evening. The first characteristic relates more to the wild nature presented in the first half of the cartoon, the second - to the city of light, which, in my opinion, looks much more stylish, but which was given much less time, because quite quickly after arriving there the main character heads to the laboratory, where the climax and resolution of the plot takes place.

To summarize, many of the problems of the cartoon could have been solved by an extra twenty minutes of the main characters staying in the city of light and interacting with each other. This way it would be possible to describe the development of the characters more smoothly and at the same time spend more time showing the visually best location in the cartoon. However, there were no such extra adventures in the city of light and we have what we have.

Nevertheless I liked the cartoon, and, in general, we have to love and support independent and creative animation, without forgetting, however, to point out its problems.

Final score: 7/10.

An enjoyable film my toddler has asked to re-watch twice so far.

We first watched this about a month ago on Stan. We chose it from the name as my daughter loves spooky stuff (nightmare before christmas for eg) so we were a bit confused when she wasn't "scary"

Obviously this wasn't an issue as she's requested to watch it again, even though she asks me to explain most of it, that's because she's 3 not because it's hard to follow! In fact that could actually be a testament to the film- that she's still drawn to it even though she can't fully comprehend it yet.

I also enjoy watching it, the animation style is fun, I especially like the scene where Dr Maybee explains his story of his daughter and Blister.

I like that it's an Australian production, it's nice to hear Australian voices (even though Sam Neill is technically a kiwi) especially in children's media.

I think I'll be putting the book on her birthday list!