Angst? What Angst?: The film ends with the warring Nohrin and Lokni immediately forgiving each other even though they were just slaughtering each other only a few minutes ago and have been racially divided for over fifteen years after the Nohrin ruthlessly and openly attempted genocide on the Lokni. But since the Nohrin soldiers were ordered to do one sort of nice thing for the Lokni, the conflict and many years of strife is instantly ended.
Anvilicious: One of the main criticisms of the film is that it never shuts up with its themes and messages.
Awesome Art: The one thing about the film that received the most praise is its backgrounds. While the animation itself is stiff and the character designs fall pretty deep into Unintentional Uncanny Valley, the overall environments of the film are very lush, vibrant, and imaginative.
Bile Fascination: This is one of worst box-office bombs in film history (earning less than one-million dollars in its theatrical run) and was utterly thrashed by critics and audiences alike for its derivative story and ugly, cheap-looking visuals. So chances are very good if anyone bothers to check it out nowadays is entirely due to the notoriety of its negative reputation.
Broken Base: While the film is not considered good, there is debate on how bad it truly is. Some consider the film to be among the worst animated films ever made. Others feel that the film is just mediocre and that it doesn't deserve the hate it gets.
Cliché Storm: For those unfamiliar with the film, a beautiful princess falls in love withThe Hero, who has to unite their Feuding Families and fight the Evil Chancellor (though in this case the king catches on quickly). All that, just gleaned from the trailer. It's even worse when you add in the annoying sidekick, who is just useless until the end when he "saves" the hero, except he gets attacked by some flying frog things as a result...
Complete Monster: Empress Sedessa, ruler of the barbaric Ando wastelands, was exiled from her royal family upon trying to assassinate her brother, the King of the Nohrin, succeeding in killing her sister-in-law the Queen. The reasons for her exile found in her genocidal hatred for the Lockni people, Sedessa personally flew to the frontlines while she was still with the Nohrin to ensure there were zero survivors of the Lockni villages she had attacked. Sedessa pays all mercy with treachery; when the ruling members of the Ando save her life, she gasses them to death, and she earns her Karmic Death trying to backstab the hero after he saved her life.
Cult Classic: Did not get a fair reception when it first came out in 2008 (though not without good reason). Nowadays, a lot of people have a new appreciation for the movie.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Generally General Bogardus tends to be the character most people seem to like, even if they dislike the film. His death was a criticism. The Ando such as Spig, and Spog are also well liked, it helps that their inhuman design makes them avoid the Unintentional Uncanny Valley.
Love to Hate: Sedessa is a fairly fun villain. Anne Bancroft is clearly having fun playing her and her performance if often brought up as one of the film's redeeming qualities.
Moral Event Horizon: Sedessa crosses the line when she has the Lochni murdered, and then attempts to murder her brother and her sister-in-law over a punishment that she thoroughly deserved.
The Scrappy: Filo, voiced by Chris Kattan in a performance so shrill he seems to be trying to annoy even people who didn't see the movie. Even the people who like this movie hate this character's guts. Wordpress reviewCinemablendAVclubSeatle Times.
So Bad, It's Good: The movie wants to be taken seriously and be epic, but it does such a terrible job, that you can’t help but laugh.
Special Effects Failure: Let's see here — Lack of motion blurring, check. Little to no sense of weight, check. Stiff movements? Check. If it wasn't for the fact that it had a (relatively) low budget, some fight scenes with okay animation, a lot of beautiful Scenery and a rather long and troublesome production time, the film would have had worse CGI than The Last Starfighter. There were also some flushing sounds from a recording session that didn’t get omitted.
Took the Bad Film Seriously: You really hear Anne Bancroft giving it her all as Sedessa. In her final performance, no less.
Somewhere in that deep sludge-pit of bad CGI and worn-out fantasy cliches is a genuine fantasy epic with a strong Fantastic Racism message, but, well... that isn't the movie we got.
The much-better-received Concept Art — partly shown in the end credits - led to many regret that this wasn't made in a 2D traditionally-animated feature instead, as it would have at least avoided some of the Unintentional Uncanny Valley problem (and hit the 2D-lover demographic).
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: All the characters have human-like faces with a fat, squat chin, a rounded cranium and a sloped, nearly flat nose, which ultimately makes them look less like people and more like a bizarre cross of turtles and cavemen. This didn't help the film at all.
Uncertain Audience: The filmmakers weren’t sure what their movie's target audience was supposed to be. It was trying to be a serious film, but the undertones and themes are very heavy handed and the humor is considered forced. As a result, the film was too awkward for both adults and kids.
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