Overview
Ella Blake, a stop-motion animator struggling to control her demons after the loss of her overbearing mother, embarks upon the creation of a film that becomes the battleground for her sanity. As Ella’s mind starts to fracture, the characters in her project take on a life of their own.
Review
Stopmotion remained one of my most anticipated new movies to be released in 2024. At midnight when it was released digitally, I rented it. Perhaps I’d hyped it up so much in my head, thinking it would surely debut as my favorite film of 2024. I am somewhat disappointed to report that it turns out it’s just another average-rated film.
The stopmotion pieces in this film were creepy. The meld of this medium into reality was original and very well done. However the story itself did not do much for me. The portrayal of a mad artist shadowed by a little girl that no one else could see was unremarkable. Although there was definitely a creep-factor and some gross details wrapped in the stop motion figures, the fright factor was relatively low. The acting was fine. But the relationship between the characters felt staged. I felt no real care or empathy for the lead who came across as rather cold.
Stopmotion was a bummer, overall, but it’s still a unique movie in so many ways that it definitely didn’t garner a bad rating. I just felt there was so much more potential to harness a greater horror. Much more than the slow burn to the fizzle we get here.
Rating: ★★★ (out of 5)
