I especially appreciated the soundscape. The musical score is definitely reminiscent of old detective movies. You almost expect Bogart to wander into the movie. I swear there was also a faint hint of Pink Panther in the undertone of the theme. The music effectively sets the tone for the movie. In general the audio effects were good, from the crunching of the icy gravel under the robot’s wheels to the liftoff blast of Pi’s ship - it all added some realism to the film.
The voice performances are very well done. The animation is definitely not Pixar - it is somewhat rudimentary, in fact (which machinima filmmakers readily admit). However, the scenes are crafted so very well, the voice acting has such depth, that viewers will easily personify the robot characters. There were a few scenes where I was sure Doc was squinting menacingly or Pi was staring disdainfully or Kieru was putting on a wide-eyed ‘innocent me’ face. It wasn’t the animation that gave that impression, it was the story and the voices. Jackie Turnure did an excellent job of directing on this project.
Both Rasmussen and Turnure have labored hard to produce a fabulous piece of machinima-noir. Stolen Life has been nominated for Best Direction, Best Story and Best Visual Design at Machinima Festival Europe which will be held October 12-14. You can visit the website and either buy a DVD or download the film.
To understand a little more about machinima, visit the websites Machinima and Extremetech.
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Article comments
1 - Farscapefan
Great review. Agree completely that Claudia Black (who completely stole my heart as Aeryn Sun in Farscape series and later as Vala in Stargate SG-1 series) did phenomenal job voicing Kieru, after just 5 minutes of listening to her you care very much about the character she gave her voice to. I hope Kieru's adventures are going to continue in a sequel to Stolen Life in the future :)