NEXT GEN review

(Review by Melody Werner)
Next Gen is a 2018 animated movie directed by Kevin R. Adams and Joe Ksander. Starring Charlyne Yi, John Krasinski, Jason Sudeikis, and David Cross, it was released on Netflix fairly recently. I was interested in the film after seeing the trailer (which I don't often do, but c'est la vie), which I thought had really great visuals. So I watched it the day it came out and... oh god. This is one of the worst films this year, hands down.

Have you ever seen the worst episodes of Black Mirror? Have you ever seen Iron Giant? Have you ever seen a Pixar movie? Okay, so have you ever thought to yourself "Gee, I wish there was a supremely awful version of all of those things strapped together!" Then you're in luck! Everyone else, feel free to just go and (re)watch Black Mirror, The Iron Giant, Coco, and/or Wall-E.

Next Gen earns the distinction of being the first major animated film to be done in the free modeling software, Blender. And while it is a step below your typical Laika or Pixar movie (Pixar of course being the more apt comparison), the animation is still enjoyable to view with boundless color and a good amount of fluidity. This is easily the film's greatest strength. The character designs and world design are boring, no artistic flair. The voice acting is fine. David Cross is in it, but not for much as his role is entirely pointless. A shame, the film could've used his charisma and humor. The score is bland and forgettable. The soundtrack is trying way too hard to be hip and cool. 

Luddite and science-fearing stories have been abundant since Frankenstein. Though I generally find those types of stories to be ridiculous, the best of 'em weave their messages with intriguing storytelling with grace and a dose of nuance. Next Gen is not the best of 'em. I figured out that the robots were a cheap allegory for smart phones in the first five minutes. And that was before I saw the main antagonist who is literally just Steve Jobs! (albeit not in name) The message is further handled in the most clunky manner imaginable in the heavy-handed rush to be as vacuous as can be. And that's one way I'd describe Next Gen--vacuous--but another, and I hate to say it, is #Cringe.

The main character is profoundly unlikable from start to finish. She is violent, sanctimonious, selfish to the nth degree, sociopathic, and annoying. To make matters worse, the relationship this film relies on to be even remotely resonant emotionally (that of girl and robot) is immensely horrific. Make no mistake, this is the textbook definition of an abusive friendship. The """protagonist""" only wants a one-sided, dominant relationship where she can lord over the robot's actions and whenever it suggests they do something besides... destroying other people's property... she flies into a fit of rage and guilt trips it into doing her bidding. And no, her having "Dead Parents - Father Edition!" doesn't make her any complex; nor does the character grow organically throughout the story. In a later part of the movie, a major character is vaporized in front of the main character and barely anyone seems to notice or care. No mention of them in the resolution, no statue built in the final shot. At the end of the film, she respects the robot's wishes, but not because she encounters conflict and begins to see the error of her ways--she just up and mutates. It's not an arc, it's a thinly veiled attempt to say "Look, we know she was awful for the entirety of this movie, but see! We know this behavior is unacceptable of anyone!" No, movie. The lack of a character arc here is where I have to shake my head and say that this movie is genuinely bad for young children to watch. I can easily see them coming away from it thinking that violence and vandalism are noble acts because they are never portrayed as anything other than that. Adult films can have this sort of air to them, because we're old enough (at least I hope) to know that it's just entertainment and that violence outside of self defense leads to nothing worthwhile. But this flick is supposed to be for kids? Okay, now it is actually pretty evil, I'd say.

The other characters fare slightly better, but "better" does not necessarily translate to "good". If the writers had known anything about anything, they should've placed the focus on the robot if they kept with the girl character being as vile as she is. It's everything that she isn't: peaceful, kind, selfless, and flat-out adorable (this is the closest the film gets to a good character, even though it's absolutely nowhere near the Iron Giant). The main antagonist would be genuinely pretty awful in any other story with his dearth of complexity and the laughable final twist with him, but I actually found myself agreeing with him at the end of the film--every human character in this movie is unfathomably god awful. Truly, this film succeeds in proving the case for human extinction. There's also a dumb little dog who is secretly foul-mouthed but only the robot can understand him. Now, I know what you're thinking--that sounds terribly unfunny! And it is--but honestly I was so numb to this film's ineptitude that this was actually one of the more enjoyable characters.

This segues nicely into the film's baffling attempts at comedy. People use Internet speak unironically out loud and... that's the joke. LOL indeed. Now, I personally don't mind Internet phrases or emojis or anything like that--they're simply innocuous and convenient--but this movie barely sits above that most #Cringe-est of cinematic diarrhea, you know what's coming: The Emoji Movie! That said, I do have to stress it does sit above TEM on this front, even if not by much. There are some jokes that do land, but it just makes the film all the more maddening. The dialogue is unnatural and the conclusion is an absolute mess that somehow finds a way to be astonishingly manipulative with its sappy music. The manipulation is categorically unearned.

Next Gen could've been a great, fun animated film. At times (with its animation and some jokes), it even flirts with quality. I wouldn't have sat through it if I didn't think it could be any good. But at the end of the day, this is an excruciating watch that I would suggest you not waste your time on, or expose your young'uns to. This is not just a disposable time-waster. It's a terrible, no good, bad, bad film. I give it the only rating I can possibly give it, a #Cringe/10 (3.5/10). Avoid like plague.

Awful

Summary:
Great visuals and some decent jokes drown in a mire of atrocious characters, bungled messages, lame dialogue, obnoxious tunes, and what is mostly groan-worthy comedy. Its greatest positives only serve to accentuate the negatives. Oh, and it does show that Blender is capable of delivering filmic animation--I just wish that accomplishment was attached to a good film. Next Gen is like Iron Giant; if Iron Giant was stupid, unfunny, unsubtle, obnoxious, sanctimonious, manipulative, and cringe-inducing. Just go watch that (again) instead of this. It's on Netflix too.