Poet Anderson: The Dream Walker (2014)

Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Crappy film

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

The ideas are somewhat interesting, however the characters lack any defining traits and seem to be just there, there is almost no explanation for any events, making the story hard to follow, and there doesn't appear to be any end goal for the characters to reach, causing the plot to wander around aimlessly. The art direction and designs are appealing, interesting and original, the CGI is blended with the 2d animation perfectly, even if it is sometimes obvious, and the animation is very well done, with fluid movements and good choreography and direction, however the colors, while fitting the mood of the scene, fail to distinguish foreground and background objects due to a lack of contrast.

Objectifying the only female character, really making this painful to watch if you're a woman. Cheesy, confusing storyline. What's with the bowler hat and sailormoon-ish outfit for the lead male? It's cringe- worthy.Nice music touches and facial expressions. Mouths do not match dialogue. Characters occasionally appear off model in the animation.Interesting backgrounds and setting. Could use a lot more color.What is the purpose of the character's eyes changing? It's interesting and appealing, but what is the point of this cliché?

Upon starting this film, you'll be greeted with an amazing style of art with smooth form of animation that will just blow you away. You can't help but pause, or re watch it just admire the care and work that went into it. I found myself even pausing at certain moments just to better appreciate the detail that went into it. The animation (though very beautiful) does at some points seem to have a few amateur moments, but only further adds to the charm of the whole thing. However, the movie falls short on delivering a full story, with a lore that isn't explained very well and expects you to try and make sense of it. Since this is a short film, you can't really expect it too either. It fells like this movie could have been something more, something greater. There's so much left to be desired and I do hope that this will one day turn into a full length feature.

Visually this short look great, it's a stunning blend between 3D & 2D Animations, with a nice Blade Runner vibe to it. Story wise there is not much more to say than Poet has to confront and overcome his Night Terror, while his Dream Walker aids him. At 15 minutes total run time including opening and closing credits it is rather short and several concepts that are brought up, are obviously not detailed or fleshed out further, such as the Biker on the Bridge and Eden Base. However, since there is a visual novel/comic in the making these things might be expanded upon there. If you watched it just because you are a Fan of Angels & Airwaves, you might be disappointed, because there is far less music in it than I was expecting. In conclusion, it is worth watching for the truly beautiful visuals alone.