My feelings on Arlo the Alligator Boy are a tad bit... mixed on whether or not I've been satisfied by this strange movie. This movie is good, but I wish that the movie wasn't also a mess. The art and animation is consistently stellar; Arlo is an adorable protagonist whose fragile optimism and deep empathy is a breath of fresh air who is also unfortunately static as a character; the character designs are great, the strange diaspora of different styles mesh surprisingly well and reinforces the theme of a unique family dynamic.
This film has everything going for it, but then there's the story. There's nothing wrong with a story being simple, but the problems arise when the simplicity becomes overbearing. While Arlo and Berta are good enough developed characters for what they are, The rest of the main group, unfortunately isn't. The bus troupe is entertaining and likeable, but they felt very flat and static (though hopefully these four get more development in the upcoming series). The movie tries to do way too much within the hour and a half running time, that the middle feels rushed and undercooked. Not helped by the musical numbers, while having great bops, eats up the runtime, leaving very few scenes of the main group bonding.
Yet despite all of these narrative problems, I still really, really like this movie mainly because of the heart and soul put into it. But it's also a frustrating movie, because of its flaws, I can't love Arlo.
This film has everything going for it, but then there's the story. There's nothing wrong with a story being simple, but the problems arise when the simplicity becomes overbearing. While Arlo and Berta are good enough developed characters for what they are, The rest of the main group, unfortunately isn't. The bus troupe is entertaining and likeable, but they felt very flat and static (though hopefully these four get more development in the upcoming series). The movie tries to do way too much within the hour and a half running time, that the middle feels rushed and undercooked. Not helped by the musical numbers, while having great bops, eats up the runtime, leaving very few scenes of the main group bonding.
Yet despite all of these narrative problems, I still really, really like this movie mainly because of the heart and soul put into it. But it's also a frustrating movie, because of its flaws, I can't love Arlo.