C-and-S's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Alucard vs Richter: SOTN - Rhapsody of Ruin]

That was satisfying

I should start by saying I adore the Castlevania series, and I stumbled upon this movie while I was looking for the legitimate fight in the game SOTN (On youtube of course). To see this fight in such a grand scale makes me happy to see that some fans are willing to make some of the conflicts within the story a little more faithful to what the characters are capable of.

As much as I loved watching this fight, and I'm very sure that a great deal of thought was put into the setting and general choreography, and lest I forget the superb animation. However, I was dissapointed in the lack of abilities Richter displayed, especially the famous grand cross. I also find myself slightly irked by the abilities that Alucard used, considering that some of them were made up for this flash movie. Perhaps I'm just nitpicking, I don't know why these things bother me, I suppose I'm just the sort of person that desires 100% loyal content.

Don't get me wrong, once again I loved this movie. You could even consider it a good thing that I found the only flaws in the movie to be very negligable ones. It pleases me greatly to see a fan go through such lengths to make an excellent movie dedicated to the more badass characters in Castlevania. Know that I'll be looking foward to your future contributions to Castlevania. I know I'd love to see something featuring Simon Belmont, or perhaps Soma Cruz.

RopeDrink responds:

Well the fact of the matter is quite simple - If I made it 100% loyal, it'd be hack'n'slash of what we've all seen in the game before and it makes it very VERY hard to break any boundries and spice up the fight.

Alucard & Richter are very VERY limited in moveset and animation so I bust my back to try and few new ways to spice it up as well as stay mostly loyal and use all the abilities I could get working.

In the original ending, Richter was to use his Holy Cross Break, however it got cut and I said (In my mind) that at least something was left to be used in a new version, if I ever get around to making one. I'd hate to think of every character having used ALL their moves in one movie, then just simply reusing them in another, so it's a good thing to remember.

If I ever do make one, it'll be SOTN based only I'm afraid - I've only played the NES CV's to the PSX SOTN, with exception to one on the GBAdvance, I've not touched the more recent ones so I can understand a lot of people asking for Soma etc but the fact is I refuse to animate a flash based on games & characters I've never played as - It's be pretty heartless of me to do so :/

Still, thank you for the honest and meaty review - It's much appreciated!

[Jim Day 08]

For once, something that's not about penises

This movie can really relate to the true nature of a cartoon. Though the art wasn't on par with some of the front page flashes, it compensates by being very colorful and original. I honestly enjoyed this, and due to the movie's spontaneous nature I found myself cracking a smile every now and then. This movie takes a bold step into a website like this, with penis jokes becoming the immature comedy standard; as well as an animation style that slightly represents anime. I believe the popularity this movie has received on the website was well deserved.

All I can say is, keep up the good work. You really have improved over this time span.

Jimtopia responds:

The artwork is supposed to be simple, so if you find it not "on par with some of the frontpage cartoons" that's fine. I do draw some inspiration from anime when it comes to facial expressions, and movements, but I try to stay fairly... north american(?) when it comes to the characters. It's great to hear from you again C-and-S, good to see you are still around.

[Shadow's Story Pt. 2]

Here's what I have to say....

Now, this movie was alright. Don't be discouraged because of the 6, because it's not THAT bad of a rating. Anyway, this movie almost suffers the same thing that the first one did. However, you added more animations, did a really good job with the text, and added a bit more storyline. It's good to see an original idea. It's a very interesting story, and I really want to see more. Although the plot isn't moving very fast, it's really building up for something big. I look foward to your next installment of the series. Keep up the good work.

Jimtopia responds:

Thx for the review, the next part is going to be better, beleive me.

[Vault]

That was GREAT

The MOMENT I saw your sunshine flash, I knew you had a lot of potential. This is a great flash movie, and it's very classic. It shows a lot of basic concepts. A plot, a movie, music, and comedy. You, somehow, manage to do this very well. That character model has a lot of charm, so use him more often (I like the hair). It still looks a little primitive, and i'd love to see an update, however, if you keep him looking the same it's fine with me. Think up more little stupid things, and i'll be waiting for your new flash. It always puts a smile on my face.

Jimtopia responds:

Thx for reviewing, I am glad you like my character.

[Shadow's Story]

Pretty good

This is what I have to say. The shadow model was drawn nicely. You did some animations noone would notice, like the fingers moving. You also drew a backround, which was an ok one, and a chaos emerald. The aura also looked ok, and you could notice him flying away. Everything is identifiable, if that means anything to you. Now, you should've used shadows, which would've made the movie much better. All you had to do was draw a slightly darker color behind him then the backround, and it could be a blob, and you have a shadow. The aura should've been animated, even for that short moment. This movie, sadly, does hide behind it's nice graphics, where after that you notice something that wasn't very hard to do after the drawing was finished. The plot needs to be increased. Finally, nice font. Also, good audio stream, it sounded very clear and good with a low file size as well. Overall, the movie has nice graphics, and good sounds, but doesn't make up for it in the storyline, or animations. It's ok, but try harder next time.

Jimtopia responds:

Hey again C_and_S, anyways, thx for telling me I drew the model nicely, that took me awhile, yeah, I am actually making the plot more... how you say, complex, for the second part. Be looking for the next part, I think you'll like it.

[Stuck in the Desert]

I'm happy this passed

This movie didn't deserve to get blammed. Your animating skills arent the best but the drawings make it up. By the way if anybody makes a reveiw like "BLAM BLAM BLAM" they're probably retarded, so dont feel like shit if anybody reveiws like that. I look foward to your work, and I'm going to tell you something that will save most of your flashes, give your characters shadows, not shadows on the floor but on the character/object. It makes your flashes look like pro work somehow. But about the flash it was something like short but sweet. The story, if you think there was one, made this flash better then it really is. Im not saying that in a bad way. But one more thing, if you don't know how but you should try compressing your animation. Go to _Ultimate Tutorial_ and on extras it will teach you how because compressing the flash will make it crash MUCH less. I look foward to your future submissions, you are going to inspire alot of people. You have my support.

Jimtopia responds:

Thanks C_and_S, be expecting more cartoons!

[Goku SSJ for 1st time]

Not bad

It was ok. The first thing I noticed was it's very accurate to the actual episode. People that can't see that one will at least be able to see the next best thing. The only difference between this and the real episode is the other one has better drawings and animation. Of course the people that drew that scene are amazing artists, so it's stupid to compare it to yours, which are pretty good. The music is very DBZ. I'm happy to see that they're original tracks and well synced together. The things I find bad about this is it captures the stalling of the DBZ series. Also, Gohan makes the same god damn face every time. He did make that face, but it's extremely annoying. I can't blame you for that though. I watched this movie to see the recreation of Goku going super saiyan, which I did. I haven't seen it in years, and i'm happy to say this is the next best thing. Like I said before, the animations are up to speed with them, but at least the quality is better (no blurry screen). Good job.

Barry-the-SuperScot responds:

Thanks for the review. Glad you liked it. I tried to make it as accurate as possible in the time I had.