Acclaimed Works You Didn't Like
I just watched Baccano!, or at least, the first half of the series. This is supposedly the golden standard of anime.
You know what? I'm not too impressed. I'm not. None of the stories or characters strike me as particularly original or interesting. It seems that the dynamic and non-linear plotlines were forced and simply exist to make the relatively ho-hum and uninteresting plot seem more poignant.
It's certainly well-acted and animated, but I felt I was watching a show trying to be Pulp Fiction. And I'm not going to give merits for trying. When you have around twenty significant characters, whose plots are told from three different times and from swapping points-of-view, it's jarring. It seems like a whole lot of effort was put forth to confuse me. And when I connected the plots and points, I wasn't impressed. Sure, it was mysterious, but none of the mysteries particularly intrigued me. None of the characters seem likable enough for me wanting to absolutely know their motivations or backgrounds. It seemed to be ambigious for ambiguity's sake.
Frankly, it felt pretentious. Trying to desperately convince me it's different when in fact it's a concept that's be done before and done better. I stand by that. It's not bad by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, it's decent. The acting and animation are excellent, but it's the unnecessarily obtuse plot and characters that so strongly turned me off. Instead of being what it wants me to think it is, it feels like it suffers delusions de grandeur that prevent it from being excellent. A fine effort, but the result feels like a marginally above-average IFC film done by film students who just watched Rashomon.
Anyway, what critically-acclaimd works, regardless of medium, did you find yourself unimpressed by?
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Originally Posted by Peegee
