Howard Lovecraft & the Frozen Kingdom (2016)

As a 30 year old man I like to watch the movies my nephew is gonna watch later, so I know he's not watching some stuff that's not for kids. Then I saw "Lovecraft" in the title and I was like "wow... really? Gotta watch this, maybe it's not 100% for kids".Sadly, I was wrong, it's a movie targeted 100% for kids. So:1.- Yes, totally safe for kids, let them watch it and stuff. 2.- CHEAPEST animation I've seen in YEARS. As awful as the bad 3D models you've seen in DisneyXD on their pilot episodes. 3.- Keeping item 1 in mind, as it is for kids, it feels like an insult to the Lovecraft stories, which are definitely not for kids.

I have seen 8th graders perform Shakespeare with more talent than the actors in this movie. It is truly painful to watch The story is just mediocre, and it feels written in one evening by a hack who read a Lovecraft story two days ago and got an itch to write about it. The animation is about on the level of a cheap computer animated kids show,making shows like Shimmer and Shine look worthy of Academy Awards. This is a true waste of time. If you have any respect for Lovecraft, don't watch this. If you don't, still do not watch this. Anything that might encourage anoth3r one of these movies is an insult to movie creators and movie lovers everywhere.

I am somewhat at a loss at how I feel about "Howard Lovecraft & the Frozen Kingdom". On one hand then I think it was a nice enough way of opening up the bizarre writings of H.P. Lovecraft to a young audience through means of an animated movie, and without it being too weird and too heavy on the cosmic dread. But at the same time, then I feel that this animated movie, while having the heart at the right place, hardly did the writings of H.P. Lovecraft very little justice.The storyline is easy to follow, and even my six year old son was entertained enough by watching it, at least to the point of his attention not drifting away from the animated movie and the story.However, what I think was the biggest anchor around the animated movie was the CGI and the textures. It just looked like the movie was halfway done. The textures were blank and featureless, making it appear that the CGI department hadn't had time to go over the finished product to fill in all that was missing. As such, then it just felt like watching a half-finished animated movie.When talking about an animated movie, then voice acting is also a very crucial factor. And without proper voice acting, then the animated movie suffers terribly. The voice acting in "Howard Lovecraft & the Frozen Kingdom" was mediocre. Sure, some were doing good jobs, but then others were doing half-hearted jobs and they were dragging everything down. But it was impressive with the names that they had managed to get aboard for this project; Ron Perlman, Christopher Plummer, Jane Curtin and the iconic Doug Bradley.I am a huge fan of the immortal writings of H.P. Lovecraft and everything Lovecraftian in general. And I can now check this 2016 animated movie off the list and say that I have seen it. It wasn't a memorable experience, not by a long shot. And it is not an animated movie that has enough contents to sustain more than a single viewing, provided you manage to sit through it to the end of course.In overall, then "Howard Lovecraft & the Frozen Kingdom" was a mediocre animated movie which definitely could have prospered from more levels of detail in textures and CGI. It scores a meager and mediocre five out of ten stars from me.

Years ago, I saw the review of this book in the Chicago Tribune and had to read it. I simply couldn't fathom a Lovecraft story for children; I was so wrong. I simply loved it! So, when I saw this coming out as an animated film, I was incredibly excited! Now, I won't give away a lot of the story, but this film blends parts of Lovecraft's real life with elements of his work. I know that may sound strange to some, considering this is a children's film, but think goosebumps with a Lovecraft twist! While fans of the book may wish some of the darker elements stayed in, this was a charming film and how can you say no to Ron Perlman as a Lovecraftian creature? The downside to the film would be the animation seems a little dated in style and some scenes linger a little for me. But overall, a fun movie for kids and the kid inside us!