Spark: A Space Tail (2016) review by TreyVore

 

Spark: A Space Tail (2016)

Distributor: Universal Pictures

Director: Aaron Woodley

Cast: Jace Norman (Spark), Jessica Biel (Vix), Rob deLeeuw (Chunk), Hilary Swank (the Queen), Susan Surandon (Bananny), Patrick Stewart (Flagship Captain), Alan C. Peterson (General Zhong), Athena Karkanis (Koko)

Runtime: 90 min.

MPAA rating: PG (mild violence and rude humor)

When Planet Bana falls to the evil General Zhong, he winds up shredding the planet into pieces and now rules what’s left of it with an iron fist. Enter our hero Spark, a monkey who’s living on a remaining piece of the planet with his friends Chunk, an inventor warthog, and Vix, a warrior fox. Upon learning of a plan to threaten other planets so they will suffer the same fate and fall to Zhong’s rule, Spark knows he must put an end to this. Upon learning of his past and his place in the universe, can Spark, with his friends and new allies, take back the planet from the villainous General Zhong and give Bana a chance at peace?

After finding Arctic Dogs to be a pleasant surprise, I was requested to go and take a look at Aaron Woodley’s earlier CGI-animated film from 2016. My first reaction towards it was not all that favorable; it seemed to be getting bad reviews and didn’t get a strong box-office reception (I don’t think it was even released at my local Tinseltown). On the other hand, maybe this is just because I have something of a high opinion of Disney and Pixar and I tend to know what I should expect from a big screen animated movie. Did I mention I studied animation in college?

Now that I’ve seen it, what are my thoughts?

I’ll start by saying I am a fan of animation and a good sci-fi adventure like Star Wars is great fun. However, there don’t tend to be very many good examples of animated sci-fi films. Sure we have some good ones like WALL-E, The Iron Giant and Akira, and I’ll even say that Transformers: the Movie may have needed some time but was ultimately vindicated. However, it goes without saying the bad ones very heavily outweigh the good. Do you remember how movies like Titan A.E., Treasure Planet, Planet 51, Mars Needs Moms and Escape From Planet Earth went over? I once made the analogy when I was in college that a major reason why these movies fail is because they don’t tend to have a concrete audience. These movies generally are meant to appeal to teenage boys, the problem with that is they tend to go through a phase in life then they think animation (at least child-friendly animation) is just for kids and they would rather sneak into an R-rated horror film for some T&A. They aren’t movies that girls would be interested in, so who’s the general demograph?

That being said, I’m going to say that Spark: A Space Tail does nothing to help the cause.

It’s not without its merits though… it has the sense to know that Spark is the character you are supposed be gravitating towards and it has it’s heart in the right place. It wants you to know that it’s okay to accept help when you are offered it and that it promotes teamwork and cooperation. Then there are other messages like thinking before acting and even one person can make a difference.

However, it doesn’t help that it feels like I’ve seen this movie before and done a lot better.

For one, the story feels like it takes a lot of cues from Hamlet and I tend to think it was done much better when I was watching The Lion King. Yeah, I know I draw a lot of references to The Lion King but that’s probably because I happen to have such a high opinion on that film. While The Lion King had it’s own voice, personality and soul, Spark: A Space Tail does not. It’s not really immersive, probably because they don’t take the time to give us much of an idea of what life was like on Bana before General Zhong’s takeover. It also feels rather gimmicky, like “imagine how life would be with that level of technology!”, which leads me to return to that idea of how much better The Flintstones was than The Jetsons.

The animation, I will say, I found to be somewhat limited. I know that having a lower budget means it can’t be like what we would expect to see from a higher-end studio like Disney or DreamWorks, but everything feels rather flat and textureless, with not terribly unique character designs and unengaging space combat. The movie almost looks like some of that cheap animation you’d have seen from a 2000s animated film that doesn’t hold up with progressing technology. It looks about as well as an Xbox or PlayStation 2 video game that you enjoyed at the time of its release but really starts to show its age 10 years later.

The characters on the other hand are more of a mixed bag. Spark is the teenage boy you gravitate towards and I found him to be a decent character, learning there is more to him than he previously thought. His friends Chunk the inventor warthog and Vix the warrior fox are his friends/surrogate parents that do their job just fine, but they don’t get to do much more than that—Chunk is a klutzy inventor who’s like the father Spark never knew anything about, while Vix is the battle-hardened mom who knows how to fight and be a pilot; while they are certainly passable we don’t get to know too much else. Bananny is a grandmother-like robot who dies early on but becomes a Deus Ex Machina later. The space roaches are comedy relief characters that do nothing to enhance the story; the Queen just fulfills her job and does nothing more.

The biggest issue I have with the characters though, is the villain. General Zhong is the Uncle Claudius character who’s killed his brother to usurp the throne. Imagine like if you took Simba’s uncle Scar and merged him with Mojo Jojo from The Powerpuff Girls, he is supposed to be the current king of Bana and wants to spread his rule to the rest of the universe. I know they try to compensate by giving him something of a personality but maybe because of lack of world building, it’s just not terribly effective. He doesn’t appear to have any good intentions; he’s just doing what he does to be a massive douche. Ultimately the villain is weak.

I will also say the Flagship Captain’s running joke about being zapped and suffering memory loss doesn’t get funnier with use and that line “Let’s kick some ass-teroid” was something I’d be more willing to except when it was just a tagline for the Ratchet and Clank poster.

In the end, Spark: A Space Tail is a harmless movie that should satisfy kids, but they’ll likely outgrow it. Go ahead and rent it, but I don’t think it will blow anyone’s mind. I’m just hoping if that Star Fox movie does come to light, they will do its source material justice and prove to be a good example of an animated sci-fi film.

Spark: A Space Tail (2016)
TreyVore rates it: C- - Mediocre!