thestorytaler
This still is the best blender animation studio open movie I've ever seen so far. I was hooked onto it right from the moment Sintel found the baby dragon, took care of it, till the tragic end. Even with blender's basic computer graphics, the story's still emotional enough to grasp anyone's attention.
Jim Farris
***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS*** Though the film is technically brilliant, particularly considering it was made entirely with free software, the ending simply did not work for me, emotionally. The ending is so senselessly, needlessly tragic, that it reduces the main character's entire life to a complete waste of time. More, the final few moments reveals this literally has been her entire life. She sees her reflection, and realizes she is no longer the teenage street-kid who went out on the quest. She is visibly aged with gray hair, scarred, gaunt and utterly beaten. This is exactly why the tragedy happens. The story doesn't cover a few months. She spent her entire life on this quest. And, because she spent her entire life on this quest, because she was a true hero and didn't quit, she failed. To me, they were aiming for pathos, missed, and just ended up with pathetic.This is not to say that you can't write a story where the hero fails or dies. Many good stories have been written with downer endings. Romeo and Juliet has a totally downer ending - both the hero and the heroine die. But, there was a REASON they died. The original moral of the story is that vendettas are stupid, hateful and wrong, and lead only to tragedy. Their deaths serve that purpose. More, the story was one that was very well known in Shakespeare's day before anyone even went to the theater, and before the show begins, the chorus basically warns us these are "star-crossed lovers" - I.E. it's going to end badly for them, the fates are against them. Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World" also has a downer ending. But there's a reason for it, too. The entire point of the novel is to show that a society that focuses only on self-gratification and relies on the government to insure their happiness can only lead to the destruction of the individual and mindless subservience to the state. Hemmingway's "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" is another one that ends tragically. But, there's a reason for that, too. When Francis dies, we are left with the question of whether it was murder or accident, and the overall story forms a statement on a particular economic caste of American culture as it existed at that time, quietly asking important questions about what it is to be a man.In short, death and failure does not mean the story sucks if that death and failure serves the overall moral, theme or general point of the story.However, with "Sintel", the only moral we can gain out of this story is "Don't be loyal, don't try to rescue friends, and don't try to succeed. You'll only spend your entire life trying, get right to the end, then fail spectacularly and have wasted your entire life."
mjlpress
To imagine that all of this was created from scratch is remarkable.The score was very well done as was the foley.Halina really came through and I was so impressed, I had to find out who she was. Amazing to shine as an actor through a 3D animation. She did it!For the filmmakers and artist to take this on and to get it done for future artist is admirable. It gives hope to other artist and filmmakers.I would not recommend the film to children but maybe the filmmakers will do another film just for them. I hope they do.The director's attention to detail was also noted.Great job!
menschmachine
Third short film by the Amsterdam-based Blender Foundation. Sintel is partly meant to promote the open source animation software Blender and to be used for demo-purposes (3d, 4k)by it's sponsors.But it's far more than a very crafty demo. Script and storyline are clearly worked out on a elaborate scale, comprising three different levels. One might see it as a fantasy-action movie, but it also packs a coming-of-age sideline and a sobering life-lesson.Loner Sintel (Dutch for Cinder)befriends a baby dragon an nurtures it, until it's snatched from her in a dramatic scene. The quest to find the dragon is somewhat rushed in a montage and throughout the movie some movement seems unnatural, but the amount of detail in props and background is amazing. Double so, because this was made by just 14 animators, script editor, technician and director (and numerous members of the Blender community who made props and scenes online) in just over a year, at a total cost of 400.000 euro.
