Softwing Most undeservingly overhyped movie of all time??

Spidersecu Don't Believe the Hype

Stoutor It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

InformationRap This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

donaldricco I love, love, love the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes! This movie, I just liked. It's much too long for the little "new" material/information it provides. However, I really liked the computer graphics that are in it, and it revived the love of C&H in my cellular structure! So much so, that after this, I'm gathering up all of my book collections, and reading them with my 9 year old girl! :-) Then, I'm off to go play an inning? round? quarter?, of Calvin Ball!! "... let's go exploring!"

christopher-cole83 I'm going to start this review by saying I am far from being the biggest "Calvin and Hobbes" fan in the world. Among comic strips, "Peanuts" is my first love. However, I do have a deep appreciation for the "Peanuts- esque" quality that is present in "Calvin and Hobbes", where the child sees the world through a unique lens that is evident there is wisdom beyond his years. Even the main character, a male child with a distinctive striped shirt, is a flattering nod that I can appreciate.So, I watched this documentary more from the perspective that I am an outsider looking in, wanting to know what motivated the characters in the strip and the artist behind the characters. Sadly, I did not get much, if any, of these. In fact, I didn't learn anything that I didn't already know from even a cursory reading of the comics. It seems to me a documentary exploring the impact of a comic strip on the would have been better served by an exploration of the creator, Bill Watterson, and how the characters came about and what they say about him.I understand that Watterson is very difficult to reach, and keeps mostly to himself. However, even from the perspective of someone who isn't a superfan, I think it's disingenuous to simply regurgitate what's already known. Besides, the filmmaker titled his documentary as an address to "Mr. Watterson." Seems to me that the documentary should have made the attempt to explore his story more.One last thing I wish to mention, and that is the issue of licensing involved with the comic strip characters. Charles "Sparky" Schulz, the creator of "Peanuts", may have been just as difficult to really get to know and understand as Bill Watterson is, and it's evident by what is known about both men that the comics and characters they created were deeply personal to them, and each man wanted to protect their characters. However, Schulz still allowed his characters to be licensed, whereas Watterson famously does not. I don't know if this was the intention of the filmmaker, but it seemed like there was an unfair, and unjust, portrayal that "Sparky" sold out, and that Watterson stands on higher ground. I like how Schulz's wife Jean gave a little bit of insight into why her husband made the decision he did to license the characters, but still it seemed as though it was a shot at Charles Schulz's own legacy in order to build up Watterson's, and I am not convinced that Watterson would go so far as to criticize Schulz for doing that, especially considering the impact "Peanuts" had on "Calvin and Hobbes."

rlcigars2 I really should have stopped watching when the filmmaker said "I'm really not interested in Bill Watterson the man...", but alas I did not. This documents absolutely nothing about the promised subject matter. It focuses on a handful of fans that love the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes and why those individual love it. That would be a good start if we learned something about the strip, anything, but that is the all this movie does. Looking at the filmmaker's IMDb page my guess is that the underlying purpose of this movie is to showcase his skills and promote his services, he does many of the tasks required to make a documentary as a career choice - if this is the case as it appears to be, it's a shame he's using such a beloved and important piece of pop culture to promote his resume.

BlackJack_B Calvin and Hobbes is probably my favorite comic strip. Created by Bill Watterson, C&H was about a boy and his stuffed tiger who "came to life" whenever they were alone. His best friend, his rival, his voice of reason, etc. Hobbes always was there for Calvin. As well, Calvin has a vivid imagination with his alter egos Spaceman Spiff and Stupendous Man getting him out of the frying pan and into the fryer at school. His abuse of Susie Derkins and his parents was always fun, as well as his battles against Rosalyn the babysitter. It, like Peanuts, was a comic that anybody could enjoy.Bill Watterson is a man I admire because his only reason for cartooning was for his love of the art. He refused to prostitute his creation for huge money and lamented the smaller spaces a newspaper would provide for his creations. After several breaks, he ended his comic strip on January 1, 1996 and retreated to private life. In a day when Justin Bieber claims he will "retire" but won't because his huge ego and opportunities will be too great, Watterson has stayed true to his word.Dear Mr. Watterson is a Kickstarter type documentary directed by Joel Allen Schroeder, a big fan of Calvin and Hobbes who visits Chagrin Falls, Ohio to learn more about the man's early life and his work before hitting it big. He visits a library to see his early work and find what his influences are. He talks to some of his friends in L.A. who are big fans of the comic to this day.It's the segments with other cartoonists that are of interest. Many of them are fans of Watterson but one, Berkeley Breathed, seems to be a tiny bit bitter about being seen as a sell-out as Charles Schulz, Jim Davis and Scott Adams are for marketing their creations to the max.Some of the documentary is rather pointless babble about the true meaning of Calvin and Hobbes but there is some good insight on what made the man tick and how he operated. I felt it could have been 15 minutes shorter, though. Respectfully, Schroeder does not go looking for Mr. Watterson and honors his want of privacy.All in all, not bad. I really can't see the subject being done better and not intruding on Bill Watterson's privacy. I'm grateful he was able to give the masses a delightful comic that never gets old or tiresome and didn't overstay its welcome, unlike Justin Bieber and any other auto-tuned "singing sensation".