It’s always interesting to keep an eye on animation suggestions that fall outside of the usual North American giants. “I Swallowed an Alien” is the debut film by South African studio Luma and proposes an updated return to ’80s sci-fi cinema, with somewhat irregular results.
Norman is an insecure teenager with a passion for aliens. Luck wants him to drink the soft drink in which the microscopic ship of three aliens landed. Now he will have no choice but to help defeat the intergalactic villain Who found her.
It’s called “I Swallowed an Alien” (“HeadSpace”, 2023). first film to be developed by South African studio Luma Animation. Directed by Paul Louis Meyer and Gerhard Painter, the screenplay was written by Daniel Buckland, Ronald Henry, and Paul Louis Meyer.
The film offers the classic adventure of an alien invasion of Earth and tries to pay homage to films like ET with a simple story that has no other intention than to entertain children.
Of course, we assume that We’re a bit spoiled at the highest level by the animation productions of Pixar, Disney, DreamWorks, and other major American studios, whose technical level can only match (and even surpass) Japanese animation films (which is why they are hardly nominated for the Oscars).
With that in mind, we’re already aware that we can’t expect a level of animation at this level from a new studio (at least as far as a feature film is concerned). But even if you make all sorts of concessions, The end result turns out well below minimum standards.
The Character animations are very static, which weighs on the general rhythm of the action, which can get a bit sluggish at times despite lasting less than an hour and a half. Also, much expressiveness remains for the characters, as opposed to a more animated dubbing of what we see on screen.
I’m usually the first to point out that although the technical part is an important part of this type of film, in the end, it’s the script that carries the greater weight. One only has to look at films like Antz, whose animation has not aged with impunity but continues to work like a charm thanks to its great script.
Unfortunately, instead of focusing on differentiation through the script to fill in the gaps on a technical level, The script is a collection of boring clichés without much grace. Aside from a few hilarious gags, the film generally fails to present a memorable story, and the lack of character development doesn’t help either.
I Swallowed an Alien is a well-intentioned animated film that sadly falls well short of average animated releases, both on the billboard and in streaming. Taking the adult audience out of the equation It is possible for children between the ages of 5 and 10 to enjoy it if they only want to entertain themselves with a space adventure for a while.
