Ever wondered what happens to those sketches you doodle on restaurant napkins?In this film, tossed sketches by a school girl come alive and are enormous. What to do?
This is the plot by director Seth Worley. The “what if” scenario comes to life and begins to stalk the countryside of the town. The brave ones are the children, while the adults are downright shocked. Wadded paper? Who would have guessed……
The story begins with father( Tony Hale) and his daughter, Amber( Bianca Belle) and son Jack. Mom has passed away and the house is being sold. In the meantime while waiting for a sale, the children roam the area and Jack injures his hand when he is by a pond. Jack dips his hand in to the pond and it heals. Not only this , but Jack also dropped his phone in the pond and that, too, is still working. Amber goes to the pond too and accidentally, her sketch book ends going in the pond and you can see what is coming up. I mean, really coming up, as in monsters that stalk the countryside, and all of them resembling the drawings from Amber’s book.
The section with the kids in a school bus is very well done. No hysteria there, only coy remarks and no panic. The adults can do that. Appropriate musical soundtrack from Cody Fry mixes background with teen music. Megan Stacey’s cinematography is realistic and envisioning. Acting is well done by all concerned, including that of the actor playing the incredulous father, Bianca Belle as the ingenious Amber, and Ku Lawrence as the protective brother. The young cast speaks for themselves and collectively they are full of imagination.
SKETCH is a kind of science fiction movie with a heart, even though the heart may have mischief and be as tall as a building- the fast pace brings the story to a close before you know it. However, there are moments of seriousness but beware of rather frightening scenes. This is family entertainment with some explaining at the end. If you want to sell a house remember- no sketch books within a kilometre of the place and no ponds, either!
With its main premise to do with drawings coming to life, it’d be easy to compare this to films like Harold and the Purple Crayon, but that would be doing a disservice to just how different this film’s tone is. This fits with the core premise of Amber using her drawings as art therapy to deal with her mother’s death. Even though the childlike rendering of the monsters, from googly-eyed Dave to the ‘new arachnophobia just dropped ‘ Eyeders, the editing and camera work by Megan Stacey manage to present them as things genuinely worth fearing. The screenplays strongest moments are when it actively asserts that this kind of artistic expression is healthy and even necessary, the narrative highlights that scary and strange have their purpose.
