We got invited by Sony to see the new Ratchet and Clank movie. Since video games-based movies have this reputation for being bad, a lot of people thought it was going to be really bad. While others thought this might be the one that will finally be good. So what’s our consensus? Did we like it?
Ok, I want to start off by saying that our native language isn’t English. Sony made the poor choice of showing the film in our native language. The native voice-actors are known for phoning in their performance and usually being miscast. So a lot of jokes didn’t work because of the dub.
I really want to enjoy the movie as much as my colleagues did but there are a lot of problems that keep me from doing so. By now you will have read a review or two blasting the movie into oblivion. I don’t think the movie is horrendous. I still think it’s watchable but I just can’t say why you would want to watch it.
The movie is done very by the numbers and is sloppy at it. The pacing just doesn’t allow for some quiet time. Scenes don’t take the time to show the environments or set a mood. Instead, we get to see the planet while the scene is playing with a throwaway gag straight into someone talking or some random noise. It doesn’t let you take a break.
When doing a Sci-Fantasy you want to show the out-of-this-world locations the characters visits and have amazing action scenes. Ratchet And Clank’s action scenes are very flaccid. Everything is at the same speed which makes the scenes unexciting and sleep-inducing. None of the hits or shots feel like they have an impact or do damage and it just feels like the team went through a list of the weapons they needed to show and strike them off the list.
It just feels like the movie tries to strictly tell the story and have some jokes. This is what makes the movie feel rushed. It focusses on the story without any time for character development and most of the plot-points just kind of happen. There is a scene for instance in which one character tries to convince another to change sides. It takes the character very little to do so and this scene feels like it perfectly captures the problems of the movie.
The jokes that we could understand(again due to the dub) mostly seemed to get a giggle or a laugh. It’s the slapstick and the jokes referencing social media that didn’t do too well. The okay or good jokes outweighed the bad, dated or cringeworthy jokes but they are still there. At times, it felt like the humor was on par with the games but most of the time, even when the humor worked, they didn’t really feel like the same kind of comedy as the games. As an animated comedy film, it can get a pass. There were some references to PlayStation related stuff which was neat.
Visually Ratchet and clank looked alright. Even if the environments felt empty sometimes or didn’t look that amazing. As mentioned before this is a Sci-Fantasy film. As such the characters travel to different planets and locales but never does the movie take the time to suck you into its worlds. They’re just backdrops to plot and jokes. As for the character models and animation, everything looked alright. It was colorful and most characters seemed to be animated fairly well.
Ratchet and Clank isn’t Doom bad or Street Fighter bad. I wouldn’t call it bad. It’s just that I wouldn’t call it good necessarily. It’s watchable, kids will certainly enjoy it but fans won’t. It’s this kind of movie that will just exist in the void between awful video game movies and the very few video game inspired movies that work. At the end of the day, Ratchet and Clank is doomed to disappear and never be mentioned again. Too good to be in the awful category and too bad to be notable.
6/10
