Director: Rémi Chayé
Distributor: Cinéart
Duration: 85 minutes
Calamity (VOD) – Movie Review
Animated movies have changed a lot over the years, transitioning from actual ‘normal’ drawings into the 3D animated territory. With Disney’s latest release, Raya and the Last Dragon, it seems like a distant memory that we have had an old-school animated movie. Nonetheless, indie publishers tend to use this format to present their stories and artwork. Last year we took a closer look at La fameuse invasion des ours en Sicile, which proved to have amazing artwork and a fun story. This time we are taking a look at Calamity, also a less famous project, which revolves around the teenage years of Martha Jane Cannary, a.k.a. Calamity Jane.
Calamity shows us the young years of Martha Jane Cannary who is struggling to find her place in a male-oriented world. She wishes to do the same things boys are allowed to do, and instead of sitting at home by the fire, she wants to go out on adventures, or simply do jobs that men are allowed to do. She doesn’t want to conform to wearing dresses but also feels comfortable in a pair of pants. After the loss of her mother, she, her father and other relatives are traveling to settle in a new area. The trip is long, and she is considered an oddball by the rest of the ‘colonists’. When she stops playing by the rules and even wrongfully gets accused of stealing, she sets out on her own, to prove that she can handle herself, as well as prove her innocence.
The flow is quite pleasant and it’s nice to have a movie that sticks to a very old format of only spanning around an hour and fifteen minutes. This makes this a very enjoyable bite-sized experience, where you will not get bored at all. That being said, even though there is quite a lot going on in the movie, it still feels calm and never too hectic. It’s nice to see Martha go from one situation to another, properly portraying the ‘tomboyish’ character she supposedly had.
We watched the Dutch dubbed version of the film, and the voice acting was actually quite pleasant. Often dubbed movies like this have a lot of overacting or just five voice actors doing pretty much all the voices. The quality is decent, but sadly we cannot judge the original voices that accompany this production.
As we watched a fairly low-quality VOD version of the movie, we have no idea what special features would be included in a possible physical copy. It would be nice to dive deeper into the history of Martha, or even how the movie was made. We loved the art style of this project and that could also have been something nice to explore. The story itself, however, doesn’t really need any extra content to explain the plot
Conclusion
Calamity presents us with a short and relatable story about stereotypes in society. It shows us that being different does not mean you’re broken or useless, but that each and every one of us should be ourselves. While the movie is somewhat of a slow experience, it is relaxing and pushes the right buttons. We would not necessarily advise this one for toddlers, but for children who can comprehend the message that is being told.
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[…] We really enjoyed this experience for young and old, and those unfamiliar with the story can click here to read our review. Now, thanks to Cinéart, we have the opportunity to give away two DVD copies of […]