:0 As the Agent I felt it was my adminly_mega duty to review the film.  Why? Because...uh....yeah. PREPARE FOR A LONG ASSED POST.

For npw I'm going to get rid of the e-persona and take things seriously.  This may get a little long but it explains the origins of the board, the "e-persona" Agent M, and sharing some of my e-market strategies with you. Oh...and there's a review in there somewhere.

Ironic how this board and the WATS roller coaster ride started for me when I decided to click a random youtube link. I saw the WATS trailer and was impressed by the films visuals.  After learning a little bit more about it I discovered it was an independent film made solely by a man who took the e-persona M Dot Strange (almost in the fashion a writer takes a pen-name different then their own).  For a while I remained one of the many people who watched the trailers but never commented.  Like many I found this M dot individual to be interesting.  Someone who'd made me go to youtube more often.

It wasn't until M dot's film, We are the Strange, was shown on Sundance that I decided to contact him.  I saw the trailer and just listened to what he said.  As a fellow "out there" entertainer I immediately recognized what he was going through. I was (not really active anymore) a slam poet who, while won a few rewards and got notice from more established poets, had a slam poetry style that was far out there.  While most people would just say an "edgy" poem with a little spirit in what they said I'd turn into a lunatic.  Completely making up poems on the spot about the strangest things, running about the stage, and sometimes even jumping onto the tables of the people in the audience.  As you can imagine--some people loved this entertainment.  But I had many cases where people walked out, booed, and just gave me that "wtf" look.

I sent him an E-mail, as I completely understood what he went through.  When you put your heart in soul into a work and someone says "That's just..." it digs pretty deep.  I didn't expect a response from M dot--but I got one.  Compared to my lengthy E-mail he was short and sweet.  He just said thanks and offered me a free ticket to see the film--which I couldn't accept as I lived in Chicago.

We sent a few E-mails, I shared what little knowledge I had with him to be of help (by the way, M dot's a real smart guy he didn't need it).  And in a state of insomnia I created a message board for the hell of it.

Before I knew it was mega_official.  I quickly changed the half assed Otaku_mike to an "e-persona" Agent M.  My reasoning? I didn't know what could have happened in the future. So instead of directing the board as myself I took on the e-persona of Agent M.  An anonymous weirdo with a love of gunkata and possible M dot groupie.

We got some uber_cool members and had lots of fun! It was good times.  It was also when I decided to lend a hand through e-marketing.  While M Dot's personality was enough to keep people interested in the film it didn't get a great deal of exposure.  As such, I decided that hardcore fans would do some free advertising for the film! Though I decided to hold back on some of the promotional events (especially with the "Boston Moonanite Crisis" out there) I kept the "Easy but less effective" ones to give our members fun little things to do--all while promoting their movie.  It might not have drawn a lot of new members but it helped--and who knows?  Maybe one of you guys may decide to evolve upon this idea of using a dedicated community to advertise and expand on it?

Anyhoo....time passed and with the delays of the WATS DVD I did my best to filter out the various "hate" posts that popped up to prevent a bad image from forming.  Though some of the jokes M dot did just made me think "e.e this people are irritated...not good to joke around x.x."

After things calmed down--I went on my life and focused on my work.

Time passed, and I got into WATs again. And discovered a DVD was being sent my way.  After watching it--you will finally hear my review!

WARNING...SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

While no where near M dots level I've experimented and worked with several medias.  Music, CG animation, stop motion animation, the works. So when I watched the film I had an understanding what it took to reach the certain levels of visuals M dot achieved.

In short the films visuals are top notch, amazing.  This is one of the few films I can actually call "moving art".  The colors are perfect, choices of lighting amazing, and the level of detail unspeakable.  The simple images of those various stars seem to just baffle me. The creativity in the clay figure design. M dot's dedication to his character design and backgrounds remind me of something I learned while teaching myself how to draw.  "The more detail, the better the drawing." I was baffled by the huge amounts of detail in every scene and found myself thinking "how long did it take him to make all of that?"  The choices in camera angles were also perfect in each scene!

Animation was pretty high quality.  While my favorite visuals were the backgrounds I liked the ways Him and Ori were animated. The creativity of Ori's mouth and the way him's polygonal body jerked just baffled me.  Blue's animation itself could use a little improvement--but she was seamlessly incorporated into the part CGI part stop motion world.  While I couldn't hope to animate Blue as well as she was in the film--I knew anyone fresh out of a computer arts college could do that.  But considering M dot's age he still has plenty of time to perfect the art--it's good.  Just not perfect.  In the past I had have had experience making stop motion animations in old classes so I knew the basic procedure.  Move something, take a picture, move something, take a picture, ect. I also knew the limited range of motion clay dolls (even with wire skeletons) had. I noticed this limited range of motion in the character Rain.  The way his arms were positioned and the way he moved did occasionally made me think "stop motion clay figure" instead of being engrossed in the film.  Though--it was not a huge problem and due to lack of resources I could understand it.  In "professional" stop motion films generally several clay figures are created.  Each with a specific purpose and to move in certain ways to create a seamless effect.  One would be sitting, one for standing, one for running, one for fighting, ect.  Though M dot was able to overcome this obstacle with clever animation and character design.  Emm and several monsters well animated--probably because of the material/their design allowed more seamless movement. Speaking of movement--notice that every point in the film SOMETHING is moving and most of the time several things are moving.  I remembered something I learned in animation "Never be still, something or someone has to always be moving."

The sound...it's flawlessly integrated into the film.  It's enough to warm the heart of any retro gamer, anime fan, movie buff, and even those who enjoy a good samurai flick. Each track perfectly fit each scene, I wouldn't change it.  What can I say other then amazing?

Voice acting...a mixed bag.  M dot did a top notch job with Him, his tone and emotion perfect.  Blue's voice was sweet sounding and fitted the character well.  The VA did a pretty good job with Blue but if you were anal you'd notice a few things that could have improved upon.  Rain's voice was awesome, but the tone changed too much.  Sometimes he had a "cool dark" voice, sometimes he just sounded like "a brotha", and sometimes a little like the legendary VA Steven Jay Blum (Spike).  Ori was wonderful! Crazy, funny!  The monster...with the...sweater?  Funny.

THIS IS YOUR FINAL WARNING OF SPOILERS! SCROLL DOWN REALLY FAST UNTIL YOU SEE THAT THE SPOILERS ARE OVER!!!

Character design--in terms of personality, history, actions, ect. are a bit tongue in cheek.  So prepare for a character break down with a probably LOOKING WAY TOO GOD DAMN INTO IT character analysis.  Course this is all my take on the characters.

Emm started out as your typical young protagonist with a simple goal. He wants Ice Cream.  Like a child he gets depressed easily and cheerful at the drop of the hat.  In Emm's "origin scene" it has a humorous take on the "child giant robot pilot". His father created a giant robot for him to pilot, possibly to save the city from Him.  This whole scene could be a tongue in cheek homage to most giant mecha anime.  A way too young boy is trusted with an almighty robot--and why they couldn't get an adult pilot is beyond anyone's common sense.  Everyone knows that a 1 day year old baby who trains every day with a video game will be able to perfectly pilot a giant robot.

Blue, like the anime's she's based upon, is a bit of a depressing figure.  Unable to speak or smile without her skin turning scaly and "disgusting." Abused (physically and it's implied sexually) to the point of not having any sort of a backbone.  It's very possible, through the dialog of Him describing her and other women, she could be viewed as the representation of most female roles in media.  She isn't allowed to speak without turning "disgusting".  While not allowing a woman to speak her mind is common in abusive relationships--in the media women generally have little voice.  They act as eye candy, to satisfy a male viewers sexual desires by having a sexy/sexual aspect to them, to be the "tragic flower", and to not really amount to anything in the film.  In the end--she becomes a hero too. Which reflects how in recent times women have been given more respectable roles (though are still pretty much bouncy bouncy).  Yeah...this section I'm looking way too deep into it.

Rain's character I loved the most.  Like the music that played in his final fight he reminds me of your typical "wandering samurai" support character.  Throughout the film he could be argued as one of the films protagonists he really exists to support the two "main" (Emm and Blue) by providing them with some muscle.  Like many characters of that type he's able to seamlessly defeat bad guys in a single blow.  Perhaps another homage is how Rain is able to "slice" monsters into pieces (giving a nostalgic blood waterfall).  And like many characters of that type, while no matter how strong he is he can't beat the main antagonist. And, also like many other characters of the type, is defeated after an emotional outburst.

Ori....ori is a fun, unique, childish character who acts as Rain's sidekick.  Much like how many "loner samurai" types have a goofier sidekick with them to lighten the mood.

Him....is your antagonist.  Evil without a reason and even makes a joke about how he is the sum of every bad guy in the world.  "Like many great bad men who came before me, It's time to meet your doom."  Physically he reminds me of some of the first polygonal characters--a bald masculine figure with eyes and lips.  This helps by giving him a very "demonic" appearance. If I was a little kid--he's scare the shit out of me.

SPOILERS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SPOILERS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!
SPOILERS OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Plot...is where it's lacking. That is if you're foolish enough to take it seriously.  Ori's purpose in the film can be debated, many character histories are only hinted through visuals and blurbs.  There could have been more interaction with some characters.  While presenting plot elements with visuals is GREAT for smart people like most people who liked the films--giving more dialog would have been wonderful.  Especially since I loved the voices in WATS--M dot's Him being one of the best (though Blue's sweet voice and Rain's badass voice come close--M dot just had the most talent).  You could say I loved the way aspects of the story was told by the visuals--but I'd like a little more dialog to flesh out the characters more.

You have to watch the film with a open minded mentality to realize it's not exactly a serious flick. WATS is really a bundle of amazing visuals, homages, humor, and unique story telling. Approach it with that mentality and you'd be pleased.  It was worth the wait and a very excellent movie for the 8-bit generation.  It's something to show to your older anime/gamer buddies and maybe a few of those crazy assed random people on the net.  Is it worth buying a DVD? You'd have to be crazy not to.  One of the biggest selling points is the visuals and I wouldn't accept anything less then DVD quality.  So if you're one of the people waiting until it's released for free at a lower quality--for your own sake.  Don't watch the free thing and buy a  DVD.  You'll thank me later when you're basking in eye candy.

I can't wait to see another one of M dot's projects, if he takes what he learned with WATS he will make an even better movie.  In all honesty I don't believe he's ever going to be a great director/writer/whatever anytime soon.  But I say anytime soon for a reason.  Most great writers and artists are never really appreciated in their lifetimes. It's only when their works impact the works of others that they truly become recognized as a great--the visionary who broke the mold.  I'm pretty sure M dot's going to fall in this category (though because of our age of information he'll be fortunate enough not to be dead before it happens).  We're lucky enough to be born and to even participate in a world where we no longer have to just watch what is spewed out of corporations.  The internet has given us all a voice to share our creativity with and M dot is among the first emerging artists born from the internet.  What I'm saying is someone who watched WATS is going to be influenced by it--hell, some of us even learned animation/directory tips from his youtube videos. And that someone's going to create another "WATS", and they'll influence others--who will create "WATS" movies of their own.  Eventually we may compare WATS to other movies like we'd compare a samurai movie to a Kurosawa film.

I strongly believe M dot's going to have an impact on our new "media of the individual" world.  By the looks of it the "media of the individual" will eventually overcome the "media of the corporation". Someday we may see more bold movies like WATS. And maybe someday when we're old we'll say "Yeah...I talked to M dot once in the chatroom back when he was a crazy weirdo who was kicked out of Sundance."

Now...I end this little rant---er, review with something other then my trademark closer.  I'm going to give you a proper quote.

"You talk too much."  

Damn this is probably the best review of this movie I have ever read.

You hit the nail on the head on pretty much every front.

I'll note:


After writing tha I read the extras (the review was written right after I saw the film with no extras cuz I was excited) and found out they aren't exactly claymation (prolly why M dot usually refers it was stop motion).  Seems most of his characters are made out of latex with a wire skeleton--as opposed to clay with wired skeletons.

Though I imagine since they both used wire skeletons for support.

Holy Macaroni!  Great reveiw! All very true.