Seal Team (2021) User Reviews

A Crazy Dumb Adventure Movie

[joe_jr · 7/10 · 27 May 2022]

I would first like to address the film's "frame rate" issues that I see in a lot of reviews. It's called an art style. It's an homage to stop motion animation, and for anyone complaining that it is "unwatchable", you clearly did not grow up watching any stop motion and only know the Blu-ray 60fps era. The frame rate is fine, as many things move at the full 24 (23.976), while the characters only move at the framerate necessary for the action they are doing. For slower movements, 12 frames is good, while for quick ones, they might bump it up to 18. Overall the jumpy style is fairly enjoyable, and isn't unique to this movie. It's seen in other movies like Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, or The Lego Movie, so... if you don't enjoy it, don't blame the production team for making a mistake... it's intentional. If it's just not your taste just say so instead of making an un-educated review.

Now onto my own review.

Honestly, I thought this film was going to flop due to the low rating, however I was fairly impressed by the film.

• The art style was similar to The Mitchells vs the Machines (2021) with its quick swap in animation style (from 3D, to 2D elements, to drawing over the rendered footage at some points). It was quite appealing and something it seems Netflix animations are starting to take use of.

• The comedy was subpar, but they got me a few times with jokes (such as arithmetic jokes, those that have seen it or are about to watch it you'll know what I mean).

• Tons of references for all ages to get (and I mean all ages).

• It had a decent adventure plot. It lacked deep rooted meaning and powerful storytelling elements, but that's not needed to create a good, entertaining film, that's only useful when aiming to create one of the best films out there, and that wasn't their goal. They accomplished their goal of creating a fun family film, and they did it well.

• No outlying toilet humor (which is rare for kids movies these days). Just good clean humor.

• Overall a good redemption story for basically all of the characters, those who regret mistakes they wish they could change.

Now onto the possible cons.

Sometimes I realized how 2 dimensional the characters could be, other times I didn't notice or mind. This comes down to the genre and how deep you're looking into the film I feel. For instance, I feel the characters are similar to the Penguins of Madagascar, fitting one specific role and goal (such as leader, or comedic relief), which isn't such a bad thing. From an analytical perspective, this might be a con, but in this movie it isn't such a bad thing. Obviously some things were outrageous and silly, but that's because it's a family friendly movie, with the primary audience being kids. The first rule of a kids movie is that it can break the suspension of disbelief (a huge nono in movies geared towards adults), because kids have huge imaginations and love the silly, unreal moments (such as fireworks causing a dump truck to mimic bull riding, bouncing all over the place, from Paw Patrol: The Movie). It makes for a funny moment and is absolutely necessary for any successful kids movie.

Overall a well made family friendly animation. When reading reviews, remember that not everyone gives a review with the perspective of the intended audience. For some of these people, they're full grown adults ragging on this film because it's not the next Citizen Kane. If you and your family want an appropriate, fun, and exciting adventure movie to watch, this is one of those films.

A surprisingly funny well-made animated feature.

[IonicBreezeMachine · 7/10 · 1 January 2022]

Cape fur seal, Quinn (Jesse T. Usher) lives on Seal Island along with his best friend Benji (Julian Smith). The seals due to the multitude of sharks around their island home primarily subsist on terrible tasting barnacles only occasionally able to catch a fish and break from the taste of "sand and disappointment". When Benji is eaten by Great White shark Grimes (Matthew Rhys), Quinn is spared the same fate after being rescued by Claggart (J. K. Simmons) former leader of Hyper Marine Military Force (HMMF) a team of sea mammals, with cape fur seal tech expert Switch (Sharlto Copley) and cigar chomping striped dolphin Dolph (Dolph Lundgren), who did clandestine military missions until a sea mine destroyed their ship and left Claggart as an abrasive loner. Upon learning of Claggart's past Quinn recruits fellow cape fur seals consisting of energized eccentric Beth (Kristen Schaal) and boastful coward Geraldo (Patrick Warburton) in the hopes of having Claggart train them in his military skills to form a team to fight back against the sharks. With a team of misfits both new and old coming together the team set out to fight back against the sharks with Grimes ready with an insidious plan.

Seal Team marks the latest film from South African based production house, Triggerfish Animation, who cut their teeth on modestly budgeted features like Adventures in Zambezia and Khumba and are responsible for co-producing a number of TV specials for British TV along with Magic Light Pictures. The studio currently also has a number of TV projects in development for streamers such as Disney+ and Netflix. Seal Team marks the studio's first feature film in about 8 years and on the surface from its celebrity voice cast to its pun-centric title seems like it's tailored made as one of those middle of the road foreign animated films from the likes nWave Pictures or Vanguard Animation that are tailor made for bargain bins in your local store, but in execution the movie surprisingly has a lot of charm and humor to it and despite being on the lower end of the budget spectrum is considerably more stylish than I was expecting.

The movie is very much a parody of "men on a mission" formula military movies down to the fact the movie flashes back to the 80s to show the glory days of HMMF and features Dolph Lundgren in a prominent cameo as a cigar chomping dolphin who fits well within the characterization seen in projects like The A-Team or any number of Cannon Films. The movie lovingly sends up the tropes of this type of military team movie with all the tropes and trappings we know and love from the genre and gets a lot of mileage from its creative weaponry and gadgets like a stealth suit made out of octopi, a barracuda firing weapon called the "barazooka", and a number of other fun elements that lead to some amusing moments.

The cast is very entertaining featuring the likes of J. K. Simmons, Patrick Warburton, Kristen Schaal, and Sharlto Copley are all strong supporting performers who give real life and energy to their performances and help augment the film's humor. Jessie T. Usher as Quinn makes a good protagonist who plays off well against the set of characters, and Matthew Rhys is having fun chewing the scene as the villainous Great White Shark Grimes who's both threatening as an antagonist and pretty funny. The animation is really strong for a smaller studio with Triggerfish going for a slightly simplified style in terms of the designs and animation that almost looks like a stylized stop-motion and falls well in line with the quality of their TV specials they've produced in the intervening years.

Not every joke lands as there are elements such as running gags that aren't all that funny such as British Singer-Songwriter Seal playing a singing cape fur seal called Seal Seal and some gags work better than others, but the humor has so many diverse and amusing moments (including some cheeky references to other shark movies) that when I wasn't laughing I was smiling.

Seal Team is well above average for the standards of many animated films from smaller production houses and with a team of well utilized comic talents and humor and approach that succeeds more often than it stumbles, Seal Team will make enjoyable viewing.

A Sealiously fun entertaining movie!

[jeethramadeen · 7/10 · 17 January 2022]

I watched this with little expectation and got way more. The dialogue was witty, punny and gets you to chuckle. And the innovative use of sea objects that made it relatable. Highly reccomend for the family. Great movie.

Frame Rate is awful, Unwatchable

[msvanbyssum-747-922345 · 2/10 · 1 January 2022]

The movie is so choppy it may give you a headache watching it. It's not a bad movie, but it's barely watchable in this current state. Made us feel sick watching the scenes jutter and character's mouth skip around like the wifi was struggling. Not the normal quality of Netflix's big productions. Great cast, great design, and a decent story for kids otherwise.

Family Animated movie, charming. But . . . .

[gundamdragonlordblackops · 6/10 · 3 January 2022]

Quite a lot of known Voice Actors in this movie. Characters were funny.

However the film does have this budget feel, the Animation is somewhat comparable to Spiderman into the Spiderverse, in terms of style and Animation but not nearly as good as such. Still a good movie regardless.

The flaws is that some areas feel too fluid while other areas feel to stiff. The animation feels laggy when it's really not. Just has this delayed reaction like response time, even though there isn't. Almost like you're watching a high quality movie without the loss of pixels yet the animation is that of 20 to 30 FPS. If that even makes any sense. It's really hard to describe it.

I feel that if they had more of a budget and a better way to animate smoother and follow a fluid flowing movie then you'd have yourself an awesome movie. It sorta misses the mark in terms of pacing. A lot of scenes made the movie feel longer than it really needed to be.

On a good day 7/10

But I think it's a Mid movie that needed some more polishing.

Daggnabbit! They are SEA LIONS ffs

[orcinussr · 4/10 · 1 January 2022]

So simple to have corrected - lazy and the frame rate of the animation is choppy and sub par - I only took a look due to the high value voice acting. But if they only depicted pinnapeds san external ears, I'd be more on board.

Rather enjoyable fun for the entire family...

[paul_haakonsen · 6/10 · 1 January 2022]

Well, this 2021 animated movie is definitely well-worth a watch.

When I sat down to watch "Seal Team" with my 11 year old son, we hadn't heard about the movie prior to watching it. But the movie's cover/poster definitely seemed interesting, and let's just face it, the title of the movie was just brilliant.

The storyline told in "Seal Team", as written by Greig Cameron, Brian Cleveland, Jason Cleveland, Wayne Thornley, Paul Ian Johnson, Phil Lorin and Anthony Silverston was every bit as fun as it was entertaining and enjoyable. So there was certainly something for all ages in the audience when you watch "Seal Team". I have to admit that I was genuinely entertained by this animated movie.

The animation and art style was good, and it was bringing the marine life characters nicely to life on the screen. Lots of interesting and fun characters, not to mention memorable and loveable.

With "Seal Team" being an animated movie, of course having a good voice cast is quite necessary. And they certainly had that for this movie.

If you enjoy animated movies, then I can strongly and warmly recommend you sit down to watch "Seal Team".

My rating of "Seal Team" lands on a six out of ten stars.

Various Flaws and Virtues

[Manolo2001 · 5/10 · 5 January 2022]

It is quite watchable, my 6 y/o had fun, but it is not either memorable or repeatable.

As to flaws, well it has a few, animation is sort of off, it is not fluid and character movement is often very stop-motion like. Everything is a bit cliché, not that a 6 y/o would notice or care, but and adult will care and eventually find the movie boring. Predictable, it is very predictable, again for an adult. Dialogue is, well, not the best, but good enough for a 6 y/o.

As to virtues, I would have to say that for children it will be entertaining, one watch though, probably no repeats. It is a good natured family movie, all in all the movie has good values, no blood or gore at all. It is very safe, and an overall good movie for children.

I have no idea who the company that made it is, seems like a new film company, it is definitely a good effort, but it might take a bit more than this for a Seal Team 2 if it is made at any point.

In my opinion it is a good film for a family to watch.

Alright

[blondie-76987 · 4/10 · 4 January 2022]

A few of the characters were funny especially the older seal but that young one who got his friend killed was incredibly annoying. He whines and cried the whole movie.

Truly funny!!

[bladerider-35765 · 8/10 · 6 January 2022]

One of the funniest animation movies since Finding Nemo!

Great jokes, especially for the adults!

Do not believe the ''hater comments'', they probably hate everything they don't get, like the jokes you need to explain to them.. ;)

Unwatchable due to "stop motion" effect

[tjl-30661 · 1/10 · 2 January 2022]

Would be a good movie with a lot of too notch voice actors, but the fake stop motion effect kills it. Its disorienting. Its like the internet is slow and the voices are off.

Another worst animation film! Full of boring conversation, and annoying overuse scene! Not recommended!

[kwenchow · 1/10 · 5 January 2022]

This film start with two seals executing a mission, and they retrieve a bomb scene! As turnout, this film is about two seals(Quinn, and Geraldo) need to team up together to protect their species from the attack of a bunch of sharks! Entire film full of boring conversation, and annoying overuse scene! Such as, overuse of the searching scene, overuse of the calling names scene, overuse of the arguing scene, overuse of the staring scene, overuse of the eating scene, overuse of the flashbacks scene, overuse of the howling scene, overuse of the singing scene, overuse of the playing dumb scene, overuse of the tripping scene, overuse of the slow motion scene, and overuse of the training scene! Make the film unwatchable! At the end, the seal team lead by Quinn defending the island from the attack of the sharks! Still have a post credit scene! An audio sound of the shark "Dave" talking about he only eat plankton broadcasting in the ship! That's it! Another disappointed film!

Adults Beware!!

[damianphelps · 2/10 · 24 February 2022]

Unlike many masterful animation movies over the last 20 years, Shrek, The Incredibles and the like, Seal Team offers nothing for adults or any discerning child over the age of 4!

Simply unfunny rubbish that steals a lot from other, better animated movies.

Save yourself the time and aggravation.

It would have received 1 star but it has Patrick Warburton in it.

Oh and for a movie so boring its not helped by being punishingly long!

Fun Movie, Kid Tested, Dad Approved

[andrewthedad · 10/10 · 5 January 2022]

Honestly, I came into this film with my expectations lower than dirt.. Figured it was some more kid shovelware for bad parents to put on the tv when they don't feel like doing their job as a parent, like Cocomelon.

To my surprise, I got a movie with a great cast, a really fun and creative art style, 80s+90s references your kid won't get but you'll love, and great animation. People review-bombing this film for it's animation style have no idea what they're talking about. It's not "cheap" animation, it's a style choice. The animation seems to have been inspired by Sony Animation ( Mitchell's Vs The Machines, Spiderman: Edge of Spiderverse ).

To be honest, it's not a masterpiece. It's a fun film, not everything has to be Avatar or Avengers, have fun with movies people. I would put this animation alongside Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda.

Realistically I'd give it an 8, but I knocked it up 2 stars to try to counter the people rating it low for it's animation style.

Also..... Lazer shark. C'mon, what more do you want?

Great Family Fun!!

[matthewdukowitz · 10/10 · 1 January 2022]

This was a really funny movie and our entire family loved it. Our kids (who can't seem to sit still) actually watched the whole thing and laughed a lot. Great story, cool animation, highly recommend this for anyone to enjoy. 5 stars and 10/10 from us!!

Actual stakes and scale and cool characters!

[kariverson · 8/10 · 1 January 2022]

I was really pleasantly surprised! This little animated movie right here had more stakes than the majority of Hollywood's movies nowadays. Cool characters and scenes with gadgetry and tons of 80s action movie references! Music was top notch as well. Animation was lacking a bit but it had its flare. Definite recommend! Better than shart tale no doubt. It actually might be the best animated under the sea movie I've watched since Nemo.

Hilarious

[mindlessmoviemaster · 10/10 · 4 January 2022]

I love the stop motion look that these Netflix movies are getting it is dope asf. This story was fun and great. With a great voice cast. They blowing Disneys new garbage they been doing, out of the water.

Enjoyable animation movie for the family

[fatimehawchar · 8/10 · 5 January 2022]

Cute characters, and many Shark tale-like humorous moments. The film does not show us any outstandingly new or extraordinary life lessons, however, the importance of teamwork, friendship, and braveness are things that need to be underlined for every generation. I enjoyed watching this film with my friend.

(Stop watch movie) If you love Nemo finding then you will perfectly like this movie. Super comedy

[MoviesFlixer · 9/10 · 1 January 2022]

A nice stop watch movie with 9.5/10 for storyline and 7/10 for animation. It was super comedy and a perfect movie to watch with entire family. There's something as sense of humor which I liked the most in this movie. First 20min will bore you but after daredevil storyline starts building.

P

[alqhtanybdalmlk · 10/10 · 5 November 2021]

An excellent movie that deserves a try, a great comedy and the story I liked, a fairly good drama,,, deserves a try ✋ Rate it 9.5👍👍 Thank you studio 👌👌 Your brother from Saudi Arabia.

This needs more marketing. Check this out, NOW!

[GiraffeDoor · 8/10 · 8 May 2023]

I was so expecting this to be just another rushed and forgettable Dreamworks/illumination wannabe.

Yes, the animation has a staccato quality suggesting some budgetary constraints but it ultimately adds to the charm. This movie had the animators and the skills and used them efficiently to create a visually captivating and immersive marine world. It's somewhat cartoonish but they use that to their strengths.

But the best surprise is how well written it is. It's not high concept; they're seals, they want to defend themselves from Sharks, a lot of this should write itself to an extent.

But they didn't just let it write itself. This writer showed up and actually put in the work to spin us a narrative of doing what it takes to stand up against an immense foe during challenging times. With a cast of eccentric characters, their relationship as team is rich and earnt as the pathos of military camaraderie actually doesn't feel like vulgar propaganda.

The stakes are high and there is actually a meaningful sense of dealing with life and death.

We're at a point where the mere casting of Warburton or Schaal is feeling a bit like a cliche but I guess that's not their fault. The sharks are not complex villains but it's not really about them. They only need to be formidable (which they are).

And it's FUNNY to...too often the dialogue and jokes of talking animal movies is blunt and excruciating but there is a Macfarlanesque competence of just knowing your way around a joke.

I'm the kind that animated movies are made for but this was not only the most surprisingly good movie I've seen this year, it might actually be the best.

Great family Sunday morning film

[vigijay · 9/10 · 27 February 2022]

Good storyline backed with original script ideas that are (thankfully) obviously far removed from the standard Hollywood formula. Very entertaining, especially all the easter eggs dropped in for the adults (Jaws, Fonzie, Austin Powers, Sharknado...) I found this film refreshing & funny. My 4yo & 10yo and I loved it, I loved explaining all the references they missed. Great to hear familiar voices perfectly matched to characters: Patrick Warburton, JK. Simmons & a very John Ratzenberger-esque Mathew Mercer - excellent casting choices.

Usually this is so funny.

[tomlontealer · 10/10 · 31 December 2022]

Usher has a first appearance on a family-animate movie, ngl & Simmons literally acted in a Triggerfish film.

Sadly that Benji died from a shark. And it's okay, I guess.

The ending song is so much cooler like other songs. Netflix partnered Triggerfish and CMG to make a big film indeed. In the French dub in the trailer, they said QUEEN?!?!? LOL!!!!

Queen is so much funny in the French dub.

The odd thing is that the French dub says the f word guess.

Switch's expirements were experimental incredible!

And there's a rickroll in the film scene from Rick Astley. Lol (Never gonna give you up) that someseal did lol

That's all.

Excellent

[tomgowenstl · 10/10 · 25 January 2022]

My 6 yo..5 yo... And me couldn't stop laughing. Such a fast paced funny show. We had to rewind it several times to see the small real funny stuff. Never thought I would laugh so hard to see a seal get knocked out by a barnacle slapped out of a flipper. As funny as the time Olaf says. Ohh I've been impaled...

A hidden gem

[rawkinrich · 10/10 · 6 September 2023]

We stumbled across this film whilst on holiday and I must say it's an absolute gem of an animated comedy.

My boy and I love it. It's hilarious with some laugh out loud moments. The characters and voices work very well and as always Kristen Schaal and Patrick Warburton is amazing. Triggerfish should be proud of this one.

I'm surprised to see that this film hasn't created more attention and better reviews but then again maybe we expect too much nowadays. Or maybe the sad "reviewer" at The New York Times has too much influence on people.

For a good laugh on a Friday night, give this film a whirl - you won't be disappointed.