Review: Egon & Donci

Penguin June 4th, 2008

review-egon-donci

Rating: 1.5/4 stars

Egon & Donci is a free for download CG animated movie. It’s about a an amateur astronomer, Egon and his pet cat, who discover a “map” to Earth.

The animation is pretty good. There are some nice shots and good use of the medium. The scenes in space are beautiful, full of color and atmosphere. Unfortunately, that’s really all that’s good about it.

There are so many times where the film feels like a really long tech demo. The camera flies around a little too much. The plot is mainly just a vehicle to show off the environments and animation. It takes too long to start and by the time any tension or drama comes in, you’re kind of bored.

To download it for free, you have to sit through a short ad before the link is served.

One thing I really have to give to the filmmakers is their willingness to put almost everything online for download. I haven’t had a chance to go through it, but they made all the sound effects they used in the film online. There are also texture maps and cloud sequences.

-Penguin

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review-egon-donci
  • T_X
    Hi Penguin,
    sorry, but I have to say that I disagree with you :). In my opinion it's a great and valuable production in that it does not only have nice graphics but also a very emotional music and story. In my opinion the music always hits the spot and fits perfectly to each scene. But in fact, I think the story and especially the end is best thing of all of this and its message to the viewer: "Be aware of what you do to your environment and not only to yourself". I already watched the two short videos of Egon and Dönci ("First man on Mars" and "Last man on earth?") and they were a little more humourus. So the end of this movie was a bit unexpected for me, the full movie is a lot more serious, especially in the end.
    Anyway, I still think that Egon and Dönci are still very charming and cute in this movie and this also adds some more emphasis to the semi-sad end.
    But I have to admit, that I agree with you in this one point, they were showing off a bit indeed with the graphics:) (there was no need for making this close-up shot of these fruits and the sausage). But I guess they're looking for some sort of sponsors as they're freelancers. And I also read, that they're already making lots of animations for the hungarian tv.
    All in all, there's a looot of work in this movie in my opinion and the makers had a clear aim and intention. You can see this in every detail in every scene, it makes it a lot more lively. And comparing the final movie with the two short ones, they greatly improved the graphics.
    And I also agree with you, that it's great that they're sharing this movie for free with everyone (although they spend days and nights in making this movie) which prooves their good intention in my opinion.
    Thanks for mentioning Egon and Dönci in your blog and for your review, Penguin, although I totaly disagree with the rating and conlusion :).
    Cheers, T_X
  • NinjaVsPenguin
    Hi T_X,

    Thanks for your comment. You're right that it is a great and valuable production. As an independent filmmaker, I can appreciate the difficulty of even finishing a feature, so my hat's off to them.

    -Penguin
  • chris
    Now back online, at the same address.
  • chris
    There is an english version of that message here:- http://www.kommuna.org/egon_an...
    Basically the server is down.
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