Reviews for Smile!

[GENZealot]

Wierd

Ok... so here I am... I go to newgrounds, and see on the front page "Smile". What a happy title it shows. I think "Sounds like fun". Oh boy was it EVER! Not at ALL what I expected, but nontheless, it was great. You obviously are a great animated, had some nice 3D animation put into it. You followed through well with the black and white, rather than making one thing in colour like most people do, and it just gets annoying. Though, I don't think the ending was too great, the rest was fabulous!

[UnbeltedJoker]

That was some good shit

nice work on this movie...not alot of people do that crazy shit. i thought it was good though

[zstwin501]

WOW!!!

I loved the movie please make more!!!

[lhavos]

So very sadly true....

This movie was excellent. It had a very true message. Having seen and experienced the candy coated ruthlessness of these jocks, preps, cheerleader types, let me be the first to tell you. If you fail to conform to their vicious and simple minded ideals, they will crucify you. If you are in any way different or outside the boundries of their limited understanding, you will be punished. Then as the party scene at the end points out, they take no notice of the pain they cause others. They fuck, drink, and party away the guilt that they supress within them. Or maybe not. Maybe they have no guilt or remorse for what they do.

Smile!

[UndeadBudgie]

Amazing simply amazing.

I hope this flash makes the top 10 and stays there, because this is truely an extraordinary piece. After this I was surprised that you only had 2 other submissions, because this is the work of a great Flash artist. I naturally had to watch the Aura movies, and once again I have to agree, your work is absolutely brilliant.

You're the artist, so I'm not qualified to judge what you are trying to say but, still, it's fun to try, or at least to say what I got out of it. I don't see how people could be confused by this movie, since I think the most basic "conform or die" theme is pretty clearly stated. The style of this movie is very...how should I say it...almost Orwellian. Much like the Aura movies, this presents a microcosm controlled by Totalitarian forces. Likewise, it features, call him what you will, a victim or rebel, one who is being manipulated by much stronger oppressive forces.

Our protagonist is told to "Smile!" and a seemingly cheerful message is transformed into a perverse, twisted slogan as it flashes over and over again. Of course, he sees no reason why he should smile. What does he have to smile about? But in this world, he has no choice, he has to either smile or die. After the 2nd needle pierces him he finally gives in and tries to smile, but as his own blood flows out of him, he realizes he can't smile. The reality which he sees before him is too horrific for him to smile at, and he is brutally killed. In the ending we finally see the true face of the controllers, they are robots, empty and hollow. The final scene is bizzare. It seemed to me like the positions of the robots were almost...sexual in nature. Perhaps that's what you intended. But I think the obvious intention of scene this is to dehumanize the controllers. The protagonist was the only human thing in this world, and he has been destroyed for refusing to conform.

All in all, an amazing work. The style reminded me of Krinkles and Madness in someways, but it was purely your own work. Please make more of these, as I'm sure myself and others will look forward to seeing what you produce in the future. Personally I'd rather see another original work like this, rather than another Aura, but that's just me. I'll look forward to anything you release in the future.