Made the decision, despite not caring much at all for the first 'Alpha and Omega', to see its follow-ups (yes there is a franchise) out of curiosity and as an enormous fan of animation, would see anything regardless of critical reception.
'Alpha and Omegas' first two sequels were all dreadful for all the same reasons. To me they were just of very poor quality and even worse served no point at all, the first sequel 'A Howl-iday Adventure' proved that 'Alpha and Omega' didn't need a sequel let alone a franchise which is what makes the follow-ups even more painful. 'The Legend of the Saw Toothed Cave' is sadly no improvement whatsoever, like the previous two sequels (hence the similar wording in this review for 'A Howl-iday Adventure' and 'The Great Wolf Games'), repeating all the mistakes/flaws from the original and the previous sequels, amplifying those flaws, and making more along the way.
Let's start with the animation. The animation wasn't the best in the first film but it had its decent moments. It however is 'Toy Story' compared to the animation quality here, which is not quite Video Brinquedo, Spark Plug Entertainment or 'Foodfight' bad but almost and on the same level as 'The Swan Princess' CGI films. Blocky character designs, almost creepy expressions, very flat colours, a complete lack of fluidity in movement, endless goofs as long as your arm and less than meticulously detailed backgrounds are reminiscent of computer animation and video games in their infancy, something that one does not expect at all for 2014 even for low budget when technology has advanced as much as it has.
Can say no better for the music either. None of it fits with what's going on, stylistically it feels out of place and out of kilter, it's obtrusive and it's not even good music on its own. The writing is even worse, summing up in one word it's abominable. half-baked ideas and any parts that strive to be funny or poignant instead come across as eye-rollingly cheesy or cloying.
Worse are the "funny" jokes and dialogue, which are not funny at all, one groans at some of the wordplay/puns and older audiences who are children at heart whenever seeing animation (like me, one is never too old to appreciate animation and it is not strictly oriented towards kids only) will question the appropriateness of some of it.
Story-wise, there is not much of one at all. That it's short may be a comfort for the main target audience and older viewers, but that's saying nothing. It is short but feels longer thanks to plodding pacing and thin plotting, there may be a little more story than the previous two sequels but it is less than enthralling and feels very padded out for the running time.
Parts may (emphasis on that because how younger audiences deal with darker elements in films is often under-estimated) be too frightening for younger audiences, despite the threat just being there but not doing much. For older audiences it will be just too juvenile and dull.
The characters are never engaging, they are either bland or irritating and some of them are completely pointless. The climax has no fun, thrills or suspense at all.
Voice acting is weak all round, the first 'Alpha and Omega' at least had Hayden Panettiere giving a pretty good account of herself and Dennis Hopper. There is nobody of that calibre here, some overdo it and some act as if they weren't even trying.
Overall, the very poor quality of the franchise continues. We're four films in and the franchise already feels over-milked and in danger of becoming one of the most over-milked there is. 1/10 Bethany Cox
'Alpha and Omegas' first two sequels were all dreadful for all the same reasons. To me they were just of very poor quality and even worse served no point at all, the first sequel 'A Howl-iday Adventure' proved that 'Alpha and Omega' didn't need a sequel let alone a franchise which is what makes the follow-ups even more painful. 'The Legend of the Saw Toothed Cave' is sadly no improvement whatsoever, like the previous two sequels (hence the similar wording in this review for 'A Howl-iday Adventure' and 'The Great Wolf Games'), repeating all the mistakes/flaws from the original and the previous sequels, amplifying those flaws, and making more along the way.
Let's start with the animation. The animation wasn't the best in the first film but it had its decent moments. It however is 'Toy Story' compared to the animation quality here, which is not quite Video Brinquedo, Spark Plug Entertainment or 'Foodfight' bad but almost and on the same level as 'The Swan Princess' CGI films. Blocky character designs, almost creepy expressions, very flat colours, a complete lack of fluidity in movement, endless goofs as long as your arm and less than meticulously detailed backgrounds are reminiscent of computer animation and video games in their infancy, something that one does not expect at all for 2014 even for low budget when technology has advanced as much as it has.
Can say no better for the music either. None of it fits with what's going on, stylistically it feels out of place and out of kilter, it's obtrusive and it's not even good music on its own. The writing is even worse, summing up in one word it's abominable. half-baked ideas and any parts that strive to be funny or poignant instead come across as eye-rollingly cheesy or cloying.
Worse are the "funny" jokes and dialogue, which are not funny at all, one groans at some of the wordplay/puns and older audiences who are children at heart whenever seeing animation (like me, one is never too old to appreciate animation and it is not strictly oriented towards kids only) will question the appropriateness of some of it.
Story-wise, there is not much of one at all. That it's short may be a comfort for the main target audience and older viewers, but that's saying nothing. It is short but feels longer thanks to plodding pacing and thin plotting, there may be a little more story than the previous two sequels but it is less than enthralling and feels very padded out for the running time.
Parts may (emphasis on that because how younger audiences deal with darker elements in films is often under-estimated) be too frightening for younger audiences, despite the threat just being there but not doing much. For older audiences it will be just too juvenile and dull.
The characters are never engaging, they are either bland or irritating and some of them are completely pointless. The climax has no fun, thrills or suspense at all.
Voice acting is weak all round, the first 'Alpha and Omega' at least had Hayden Panettiere giving a pretty good account of herself and Dennis Hopper. There is nobody of that calibre here, some overdo it and some act as if they weren't even trying.
Overall, the very poor quality of the franchise continues. We're four films in and the franchise already feels over-milked and in danger of becoming one of the most over-milked there is. 1/10 Bethany Cox