In a dark stop-motion animated film, a little girl has to deal with the death of her mother and an abusive priest in Pocket Princess.
We have managed to review quite a few stop-motion animated films of the years here at Screen Critix headquarters, and we are always taken aback by the sheer ingenuity and hard work that goes into every single one of them. We have seen rocks going on adventures, birds having to deal with plague outbreaks and more, yet Olivia Loccisano’s Pocket Princess is likely the darkest one we have seen, or likely to ever see.
As the film starts, we are told the “film is for children….maybe”. Well, I’d say it definitely isn’t for children based on the adult subject. Yes, it may look like a cross between Button Moon and The Nightmare Before Christmas, but the tone is certainly for the more mature viewer.
We open up on a little girl sitting at a dining table opening a box of cereal. The box states that inside is a free gift (remember those days?) a doll, with four or five to collect. The girl, who is named Anna (voiced by Naiya Novak) has already collected all the dolls barring the Princess, which she is keen to find. We soon find out that Anna’s Mother (Natasha Brault) is on her death bed and after being read her last rites by a Priest, she passes away, leaving Anna under the care of the aforementioned clergyman.
If the death of Anna’s parent wasn’t bad enough for a short animation, the clergyman starts to mentally and sexually abuse the girl. He tells her that her dolls are former bad children frozen forever by god, he makes her cook and clean everything, and he touches her inappropriately whilst forcing to pray. As stated above, this is not for children.
To escape from reality, Anna then starts to daydream that the dolls talk to her, and they advise that she must kill the priest in order to live a happier life, recommending slipping some rat poison into some cookies as the best plan of attack.
So, this is dark stuff, but the stop motion and the creations are wondrous to behold. It goes to show that there are so many talented and imaginative filmmakers out there just looking for a chance for their creations to be seen by others. We aren’t sure when and where Pocket Princess will be available to watch for all you Screen Critix visitors, but if you do get the chance, give it a watch, only, I wouldn’t recommend watching it with any of your kids.
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