Creature Featurettes (2002 Video) User Reviews

Demonstrative in a way it might not have meant to be

[TBJCSKCNRRQTreviews · 5/10 · 30 May 2019]

When I write this, the exact presentation, and nature, of the material herein has already been described quite well by the reviews of movieman_kev23 and bob the moo. So I'm going to approach this in a different way, so as to not be redundant. This was on the DVD, so I sat through it. It's rare I don't. And now that I have, I'll write about it, as I always do.

Filmmaking is hard work. Hours, days, months, sometimes even *years*, working on just one movie. And sometimes that flick ends up not even being particularly good. As is the case with second Men in Black movie. Some of it is the fun, "you get to be really creative" kind of thing that people who haven't tried it, yet badly want to, think it is. Or even if they know that's not all there is to it, that's the part they focus on. Honestly, it can be very difficult to keep putting in the work if you aren't always thinking about that aspect.

Once you have settled on how to, say, bring to life a certain alien, it's not necessarily going to continue to be enjoyable. It's tedious, sometimes it feels like it will never be over. And when you finally reach that finish line, either you just have to start back over with the next one, or you might be left feeling like all of your effort was in vain. You might look at what you have and ponder, "was it really worth what I put into it?"

I don't know if that is how it felt to do the effects for the terrible, misbegotten sequel. But stubbornly watching the 21 minutes(22 with end credits) of these 7 featurettes that go into it? It's exactly how *that* felt. So I find this to be immensely educational, albeit probably not in the way it was intended. 5/10

redundant

[movieman_kev · 1/10 · 23 August 2005]

These featurettes on the visual and special effects of "Men in Black 2" that run about 20 minutes maybe can be found on the second disc of the 2-DVD special edition of the aforementioned movie. I can't give the exact running time because it's not continuous, but rather 7 different mini featurettes about the various creatures, none of them all that interesting, in fact they get pretty redundant if you watch them all at once and while it wasn't the worst special feature that I've seen, It's still pretty bad and not informative in any way shape or form. I only review it at all because it's listed, i watched it and felt the overwhelming need to tell others to avoid it.

My Grade: F

Quite interesting but flat presentation

[bob the moo · 20 April 2003]

A series of short films looking at how the creatures and aliens within MIIB were designed. Many were thought up cold but the film looks at the impact of the script on some characters as well as the impact of Rick Baker and his team on the bigger design.

The subject of the creature design is of some interest to anyone who watched MIIB and was amazed by the numbers and scope of aliens that were doing everything from being major characters down to just being in the background. When I watched these shorts I was sort of interested and gave it a try.

However the presentation here is pretty flat - pre-recorded interviews and stock footage edited together. There isn't as much passion as you'd want, but it does have some interest. The design process is pretty interesting, however the process is similar for each alien, even if the detail is different. The problem is that once you've seen two of these shorts then the rest are very similar apart from the specific requirements.

Sonnenfeld and Baker try to bring out some interesting detail but it is clear that they are talking as part of a much bigger interview as opposed to having their brains picked on this subject in particular.

However this is quite interesting for monster freaks or anyone in design, but to be honest they tended to run together in my mind and I didn't learn anything new that stuck in my head.