What I Think About Movies I've Seen

This is a feature-length movie using stop-motion animation with G.I. Joe action figures to tell the story of Joe Holmes during the Vietnam war. Just like Forrest Gump's Lieutenant Dan, a member of the Holmes family has died in every major war in American history, but somehow he managed to escape the curse during his tour in Vietnam. He's now conveying this story to his son, now deployed in Iraq, over an incredibly expensive international cell phone call.

Holmes recounts his entire experience, from the time that he was drafted, through basic training, when he was first deployed, his capture, and eventual rescue. There is a rich cast of characters, including cameos by action figures that look surprisingly similar to Geraldo Rivera, John Wayne, Charlton Heston, Bob Hope, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Vincent Price, among others. The animation is somewhat jerky, but is much more intricate than I expected, and most of the scenes have a lot going on. It's not hard to see how it took eight years to produce the film, especially when the filmmakers were basically doing it in their free time.

Overall, it's a pretty good movie. It's very funny at times, although some of the jokes fell very flat, and some of them might have been drawn out longer than necessary. The sound was also a bit problematic, and in some cases the background noise was so loud relative to the dialog that it made it hard to hear what was being said (which is probably a realistic depiction of war, but doesn't necessarily work well in a movie).

This was the world premier, and the filmmakers (Paul Hanley and Kieran Healy) were in attendance, as well as several of the voice actors and some other people who had otherwise been involved in the process. They did admit that this may have been the only showing it will get on the big screen, but if you get the chance to see it then I'd say it's worth checking out.