I have been taking Disney for granted, clearly. Maybe I’ve been taking all fun-looking animation for granted. I see a movie like Moana 2 and called it a “Disney cash-in” and little more. The plot was lame; the music was lame; the adventure was lame. But you know the one thing I wasn’t at Moana 2? Depressed. That film never depressed me. Or certainly not like The Amazing Digital Circus: The Last Act.
Let me preface: this is yet another film in which to understand it fully, you will have needed to see all the episodes that came before it, which I have not. Hence, my understanding of The Amazing Digital Circus world is partial at best. But what I understand of this world at present is while you can make fun bright colors and fun bright costumes and fun bright animation, none of that will matter if your characters are all downers.
I have seriously taken Disney for granted. It’s really important not to leave an animated film feeling suicidal.
The Amazing Digital Circus is an animated YouTube show about a bunch of “humans” stuck in a digital world where there is no escape. The ruler of this animated kingdom is Caine (voice of Alex Rochon), who looks like a big-top ringmaster but with a set of teeth for a head. Caine organizes adventures and games for the captives, who have all taken whimsical shapes. The adventures leave our captives depressed. They are but toys for the game master. There seems to be no escape.
The focal point of the adventures is Pomni (Lizzie Freeman), who appears as a Court Jester, which seems like fun right up to the point where you hear the woman
talk. Everybody in this little kingdom is depressed. Everybody in this little kingdom has been captured and toyed with.
My understanding is that The Amazing Digital Circus world is a metaphor for Purgatory. [This is 100% my interpretation; I know not what the film intended to say.] This is what happens when you die. There isn’t punishment so much as everlasting afterlife dread, like something straight out of Jean-Paul Sartre. Sometimes pain comes in the form of ailment; sometimes it comes in the form of losing a loved one; and sometimes pain is the everlasting dread of existence itself. Despite the fun colors and shapes of the world presented, I found little enjoyable of this world and the beings who inhabit it. I offer a rating of 1.5 stars out of respect for the large audience who may-or-may not have enjoyed this afterlife halfway station. All I know is I did not, but I don’t wish to detract from those who clearly wanted to watch the world’s most depressing cartoons.
I walked out early.
There was once an emcee named Caine
Who ruled the Amazing Digital domain
He was all mouth and no soul
Trading empathy for a hole
Leaving me with no small amount of pain
Not Rated, 95 Minutes
Director: Gooseworx
Writer: Gooseworx
Genre: “I’m so happy you found an audience; now maybe you can write something enjoyable”
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who see themselves as part of a select club
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Me
