Tall Tales from the Magical Garden of Antoon Krings (2017) User Reviews

Not what it should have been

[franbelle10 · 6/10 · 16 November 2018]

It is not bad, but it is not good either. In fact it is yet another story of attempted overthrow of the throne, something that has already been seen 100 times - just this time, transposed into the universe of Funny little beasts. It's not badly done (in 3D animation), it's just disappointing. It's just another umpteenth ordinary story of fighting between the good and the bad. The enchanting universe of the book and the delicacy of texts written for children is lost. Not to mention the pictorial touch very banal (unlike the TV series that reproduced the gouache style and was shimmering). Pity. Maybe another director will take over the torch.

boring

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 28 January 2020]

A cricket named Apollo is a traveling entertainer who arrives at a luscious garden hoping to perform in the Queen's jubilee. Wendy the Wasp tricks him into a scheme to kidnap the queen. Wendy takes over as the new queen threatening the health of the garden.

The animation looks blocky and more like Legos. The dialogue is flat. It needs an injection of humor. The general premise is fine but the execution is lackluster. The worst of all is that it's rather boring. This is equivalent to a children's TV cartoon movie. It's probably fine for the smallest kids.

Terrible plot and clichés

[zundays · 3/10 · 17 February 2018]

The collection of books by Antoon Krings, on which this animation is based, relies on play on words and the idiosyncracies of all those insects and small animals who live together. The anime instead rehashes the century-old story of a jealous, war-mongering relative employing herself to dethrone the benevolent and competent queen. Don't we have other stories to tell our children about humankind than one of competition, reign and royalty? Why expose our youngest kids to so much violent scenes? To top it all, the message for girls is crystal clear: be a maternal, plump, starry-eyed bee, not the evil, power-hungry, conniving, vamping wasp. Is that all that women can be?

Don't bother

[the_raptor246 · 1/10 · 27 January 2019]

There's much better fare out there for families and children. Seriously don't waste your time on this. The dialogue was dull and forced. And the cricket.....omg. what a creepy face the animators gave him. The whole movie was just goofy af..