Reviewed by James Quicksell

Rebrith of 3DMM. Back in 2000 we were, well most of us, in awe of it. Some of the best animation we had seen in awhile and just some great eye candy. Nowadays though movies like that just aren't coming around. With Pikios on to 3DSM and other stuff, Redwampa on his little pet projects, and a lot of the other big name directors doing their own thing we're lacking a lot of inspirational movies. Enter REDUX.

When Aaron Haynes first asked me to testview REDUX I had no idea what to expect. A secret project that had been underway since the 2-minute movie competition some month and a half ago just the fact that the entire thing was complete in the scale that it was is amazing enough. A fan of Goro's stuff and practically a virgin to Aaron's work my level of expectations wasn't set, so I just sat back and tried to enjoy. That's really an understatement however, it's hard not to enjoy this movie.

From the getgo you know you're in for some great eye candy as the first scene, a moving space scene, starts up. The credits roll and you then find yourself reminded of Pikios' Rebirth of 3DMM. It appears another Armageddon has happened in the world of 3DMM, this time focusing more on the HMCs then the actually people themselves. Some of the directing in the city bit during the meteor shower was very well done. One scene in particular was when Aaron Haynes' character is on a scaffolding and the camera moves away. The depth captured and the action was just amazing.

Later on in the movie a large building in which Gorosaurus runs to is shown as the Sanctuary. This is a place where all of the HMCs have fled in order to survive the end of the world outside. Cameos from characters such as a Mr. Green, Yeti and Squidworth, and even Redwampa's squirrels (my only bite on the movie) are present. The whole idea of this sanctuary was done well by the directors albeit a bit strange that only the HMCs seemed to be the ones saved. Some of the stuff that happened in the sanctuary had some of the best animations I've ever seen. The scene where Goro opened the window and it was closed had to be one of the main things that I liked, especially because it fit well with the music and it just looked damn cool.

Of course the surreality of the movie had its great moments as well, especially with Goro in the darkness. Considering the 20+ hours Aaron put into it you could tell that this was about as good as the scene was going to because it was so smooth and just made your jaw drop. As far as animation went, this was the peak, save for the ending credits and the snowfall at the end which words cannot describe how great that turned out.

One of the other treats of the rebirth of the Bored of 3DMM demon from the 2001 Redwampa/Pikios movie The Showdown. And to top it all off Goro had Godzilla fighting it which was pretty cool. The interaction between the two could have been more animated but that might be asking too much, as there wasn't really much point too. The ending involving Goro battling the demon was slick too, with a cameo by his ever-so-famous character self from Death of a Newbie. Just the way Aaron and Goro brought back a lot of these HMCs made this movie even better.

Plotwise this movie didn't really have much to deliver actually. The story is fairly linear and being music driven only its hard to keep the movie on track usually but the directors did a good job of trying to as much visually as possible without any dialogue to help the viewer know what was going on. Even so I guess you can't really get too complex in this fashion but with a movie that has such great eye-candy as this it's hard to incorporate a story because the viewer might get distracted by the visuals.

The music was perfect. You can't really say much else. Andrew Thomas a.k.a. Ramza did an excellent job with the intro and outro pieces and the Avalon songs fit extraordinarily well with the rest of movie. Aaron did a great job of syncing the movie because it seems like a bitch to do with a movie like this. Nothing more I can really say on this, except that I can't wait for the soundtrack.

Overall this was a superbly directed and animated movie. The plot was kinda shaky but there, which was good. I'd highly recommend this to anyone who has a 3DMM CD in their possession. This was a great way to end the Film Festival and begin the New Year. Hats off to Goro and Aaron.

9.7/10