It is obvious that the film was made as sheer entertainment, and not really for anyone above the age of 5 years. But that is no reason for what is a highly compromised offering, where laughter is literally forced out from insipid moments when you start realizing that the best the film has may have passed you by.
Certainly the effort and intention behind the film is visible, but the execution is horrible. It’s more apparent when you see the fare children audiences are used to – check out Megamind released on the same day – from Hollywood. Though kids loved Finding Nemo and Toy Story, these films are a delight to watch for anyone else too. And that really is the age old point standing true even on this occasion – if you don’t have a script, you don’t have a film.
I personally think live action mixed with an animation film is a failed experiment. Even Hollywood has not got this right (Spy Kids, Space Jam), and that usually is a benchmark before most filmmakers in India try something different. The whole effect of Ajay Devgn interacting with animated characters comes across as tacky, and there’s a good chance that had the film been a completely animated one, it would have automatically been raised a few notches higher. The essence of mainstream, Hollywood animated films lies in notions of exaggeration and fanciful ideas, and to plug Ajay and Kajol in this world confuses our reactions to a film like this. Or perhaps, if this is to work, it takes an actor of a different caliber to blend in with the happenings. Maybe a Jim Carrey could pull this off. Either way, this doesn’t work.
The other parallel issue is of course the script. The basic story of warring Toon Devs and Toon Asurs was a good starting point, but is left highly underdeveloped. In fact, the film establishes the basic plot of how Toon Devs need to win the battle against their nemesis, and it refuses to move ahead from this point on. A sporadic jump with Toon Doot gives us one hilarious song, and then the plot stumbles to what is an absolutely nonsensical and garbage ending – a video game rendition with three stages in which Ajay has to rescue his family, complete with time limits and lifelines. This is sooooo bad.
The oddball characters that make up the animated ensemble suffer from this underdeveloped script, and we never really get a chance to empathize with them. The quality of character animation is actually good, but the tackiness again becomes apparent because barring one sequence in the beginning with cars rushing around Ajay, the rest of the world these characters inhabit is static and devoid of ‘life’. The lack of detailing is just a representation of the overall quality of the film.
In the end, despite the effort, you are waiting for that counter on the top right corner to count down to zero so that you can exit. That’s just not how a film should end, and that’s unfortunate for Toonpur Ka Superrhero.
Hindi, Action, Animation, Drama, Color