Scarygirl (2023)

"Arkie" lives with her octopus dad "Blister" on the peninsula where he does his best to harness the sunlight to protect the delicately balanced eco-structure. She's not an octopus, though - more a sort of hybrid of human being with just the one green tentacle, and she's not great when it comes to helping out with the complexities of her dad's intricate contraptions for distributing the sunlight. Meantime, "The Keeper" in the nearby city of light has tasked some searchers to seek out her dad. Her boss "Dr. Maybee" is convinced that he possesses the energy necessary to repatriate him with his long lost daughter. When "Blister" is duly apprehended, "Arkie" must follow him into the big city with her new friends "Bunniguru" the rabbit and 'Egg" to thwart his plan before her father is little better than a cephalopod smoothie. Loads of daft adventures, a menacing baddie who looks like the love child of Terence Stamp and Lionel Jeffries and gadgets and gizmos now feature as the rescue begins. The writing isn't the best but the characters are quite good fun with plenty going on and an underlying environmental message that's presented to us whimsically rather than imposed upon us. The storyline presents us with the usual character virtues of loyalty, friendship and determination and there's quite a bit of imagination gone into the look of this film. I was on my own in the cinema for this screening, which was a bit of a shame - it is worth a trip to see the colourful animation to best effect - it will look really ordinary of the television.

The movie has a hat-wearing octopus with a mustache. So, you obviously have to watch it, review over!

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Okay, but really:

I have not (yet) read the visual novel it's based on, so, this is from a "non-fan" perspective.

A really visually beautiful movie with crazy character designs as unique and creative as the likes of "Nightmare Before Christmas" and "Coraline".

From the very beginning you can already see how much attention the creators paid to make everything look visually stunning. Strong colors, light- and color effects, tons of different designs for plants and animals/people.

The kinda "stuttering" animation style gives it some additional stopmotion vibes.

Story-wise, it's nothing totally crazy, but nicely done. Light messages about abuse of nature and how it's more important to be "you" than it is to be perfect.

Lovable characters, especially Arkie and her dad, and great, fitting voice actors to boot.

Emotional, yet not to cry-inducing levels, but mostly cute fun and wonder.

I like it, even the visuals and voice acting alone would already make me recommend it.

At some point someone needs to explain how "draining the sun" works, but hey, I'll accept it. So...everyone please just use the regular solar panels, not sun-draining laser-thingies, okay? 😁