Reviews
Vals Im Bashir (2008)
Decent storytelling, poor animation
Although I doubt it gives an "objective" account of events (and you never get the impression it's supposed to) it does a good job of showing the more chaotic side of war. The movie gives an impression that the Israeli soldiers are frustrated, horny, confused, scared and that they never quite know what they're doing - like when a group of soldiers are riding an armored vehicle just holding down the triggers of their automatic weapons, shooting wildly for hours and hours - or the bizarre "dance" that the movie is named for.
No witty banter or everyday language at all is exchanged between the soldiers, instead contrast to the hellish events of war is provided by the interviews with the veterans.
All in all, the story is well crafted and the movie is an enriching experience.
The choice of animation as a medium, however, seems kind of poorly motivated -- I guess it was a choice made to slim down the budget, because the style of the movie strives to look realistic and it's not hard to imagine it being done as a regular film.
Although the animators show potential, the movie is riddled with flaws - from simple errors of craftsmanship (heads too big, hands too small, wonky poses, too-smooth movement and so on) to all too obvious time-savers (the smoking in the bar scene at the beginning was downright painful to watch) that all combine to make sure this movie doesn't get the "it looks the way it's supposed to look"-feel, a feel you seem to get so much easier with conventional film.
It reminds me of last year's "Persepolis" which had a great story to tell and mostly good animation, but was sadly ruined by poor pacing and a really cheap-sounding soundtrack.