Sintel is the latest movie project by the Blender Foundation, and they've been cooking it for over a year now, and the result is really disappointing, and as with their previous movie, I still feel that their first movie, Elephants Dream, is superior both technically and artistically.
- human character animation is really bad, maybe worse than the first Toy Story; okay they could not afford motion-capture suits, so I guess they can be forgiven?
- the whole thing looks unfinished (EG, much of the environment looks too clean, too smooth)
- character design sux; just look at the old man, and the dragons
- the lead character is not interesting, nor is she a convincing warrior; maybe a juicier ass would have helped, since I suspect the movie-makers chose a female character for sex appeal; how else am I supposed to swallow a story where a 16-year old woman holds her own while battling a few unfriendly characters (including a fully-grown dragon!)
- the whole thing feels empty; when the credits roll you murmur something along the lines of "is that it!"
On a more positive note, the final battle is rather intense, and I wish it should have lasted longer. Otherwise there isn't much in this that motivates me to go watch this 15-minute piece again. That this was done with FLOSS is not grounds for a dishonest review.