Rarely has an animated film about talking animals been as thought-provoking and great as Padak. Despite all the marketing making it look like a Finding Nemo rip-off, it is anything but that, it is very much not a kid's film by any definition.
The film pulls no punches with the violence, but it doesn't overplays it for the sake of being violent. The gore present is all realistic and not far away from reality. The characters are a nice blend of anthropomorphic and realistic fish. They're capable of communication, feelings and speech, but still act like fish do on a regular basis, they're ruthless when following their nature and don't really get along. That doesn't mean they're heartless monsters, they do show a lot of shades of gray to their behavior. Which takes me to another point I'll praise, there is not a single 100% pure good character. Everyone has flaws and virtues of some kind. The closest to a pure good is Padak, the Mackerel and the closest to a pure jerk being Anago, the eel and both still have too much depth to dismiss them as either. The setting never makes you feel bored despite being limited to a single set-piece for 99% of the movie, in fact, that the ocean is only seen sparsely makes the feeling of it being the goal of Padak all the more meaningful. The character arcs are great for those who have it. And the animation may not be Pixar-levels of amazing, but for what its worth, it's some excellent CGI and 2-D. The plot development is great and genuinely caught me off-guard, the director had a really excellent creative vision. And the music was majestic.
Finally, the message of the film is subtle but powerful. Teaching us about how life can be unfair and will not be kind to us, but there's always a chance to change our lives around. It also teaches how we can not let ourselves lose hope of a brighter future, nor fall into complacency.
All in all, Padak gets a solid 9/10 from me.
Side note: This film is what Sausage Party should've been like, an animated film that manages to be for adults without devolving into All Adult Animation Is South Park, instead using a mixture of child-unfriendly violence, symbolism, characterization and themes to appeal to their intended target audience.
One of the best animated films I've ever seen. But not for kids.
Rarely has an animated film about talking animals been as thought-provoking and great as Padak. Despite all the marketing making it look like a Finding Nemo rip-off, it is anything but that, it is very much not a kid's film by any definition.
The film pulls no punches with the violence, but it doesn't overplays it for the sake of being violent. The gore present is all realistic and not far away from reality. The characters are a nice blend of anthropomorphic and realistic fish. They're capable of communication, feelings and speech, but still act like fish do on a regular basis, they're ruthless when following their nature and don't really get along. That doesn't mean they're heartless monsters, they do show a lot of shades of gray to their behavior. Which takes me to another point I'll praise, there is not a single 100% pure good character. Everyone has flaws and virtues of some kind. The closest to a pure good is Padak, the Mackerel and the closest to a pure jerk being Anago, the eel and both still have too much depth to dismiss them as either. The setting never makes you feel bored despite being limited to a single set-piece for 99% of the movie, in fact, that the ocean is only seen sparsely makes the feeling of it being the goal of Padak all the more meaningful. The character arcs are great for those who have it. And the animation may not be Pixar-levels of amazing, but for what its worth, it's some excellent CGI and 2-D. The plot development is great and genuinely caught me off-guard, the director had a really excellent creative vision. And the music was majestic.
Finally, the message of the film is subtle but powerful. Teaching us about how life can be unfair and will not be kind to us, but there's always a chance to change our lives around. It also teaches how we can not let ourselves lose hope of a brighter future, nor fall into complacency.
All in all, Padak gets a solid 9/10 from me.
Side note: This film is what Sausage Party should've been like, an animated film that manages to be for adults without devolving into All Adult Animation Is South Park, instead using a mixture of child-unfriendly violence, symbolism, characterization and themes to appeal to their intended target audience.