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I think I’ve
mentioned enough in my reviews how much
I love animation. For the most part, any
style of animation suits me, but I am partial
to the old style 2-D animation that seems
to be steadily disappearing. There are a
lot of non-traditional forms animation out
there that I enjoy, but much in the way
that CGI will never totally impress me the
way real life make-up does, so goes it for
computer animation. I have seen a few studios
ably pull of mixing and matching the two,
often with mixed results.
One of the better examples of this I actually
came across quite by accident. During one
of my marathon Internet romps (which normally
lasts about 30 minutes since I prefer the
great outdoors to a computer terminal),
I happened to read a caption about an animated
feature called, “Rex Steele: Nazi
Smasher.” I was immediately intrigued
because of the subject matter. Anytime you’ve
got some 1940’s heroic type beating
up Nazis, I’m there. (Of course, seeing
Geraldo Rivera get his nosed bashed by a
flying chair hurled by a white supremacist
so many years ago WAS a kind of a hoot!)
The fact that it was animated only heightened
my interest.
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My understanding was that “Rex Steele:
Nazi Smasher” was created by Alex Woo, who
was an NYU student at the time. He teamed up with
Bill Presing and Matt Peters, who had previously
produced a comic book of the same name. Initially
the film was done as a school project, but it
began to take on a life of its own. It had gone
on to win the Student Academy Award for Animation
as well as numerous other festival awards. But,
for the most part that was all the info I could
find at the time, so I put it on the backburner.
A couple of weeks later I happened across it by
accident again, only this time there was more
information. Seems these guys had produced and
were selling a limited DVD run of 2000 copies.
Three days later I held one on my hands.
I was struck immediately by the packaging. The
DVD was housed in a black trifold case, emblazoned
with Rex Steele’s profile on the front cover.
When you open it up, there is another head shot
of Steele and a stylized map of the Earth, showing
the location of ‘The Amazon.’ Then
you get surprise number two (unless you read the
back first) which is a CD of the soundtrack. The
whole package, designed by Woo, was produced by
a company called Megalodon
Multimedia and looks far superior to most
studio produced DVD releases.
I had to run out almost immediately after receiving
and opening up the package, so I couldn’t
watch the DVD yet (much to my frustration). So
I took the CD along to play in the car. I must
have listened to it 4 times, and couldn’t
believe the quality of what I was hearing. The
music, which was composed by Ryan Shore, sounded
a little like something that might have come out
of an Indiana Jones film. Of course, since I already
knew that “Rex Steele” was a throwback
to the old 1940’s move serials, that may
have been what made that connection for me. But,
not having seen the finished film, I was still
impressed by what I was hearing. Not only was
the composition equal parts moody and thrilling,
but the sound was very lush and full. I didn’t
know until later that night that the music I was
hearing had been performed by the Czech Philharmonic
Orchestra and recorded in Prague. I was highly
impressed by the fact that for a student film,
they didn’t just rely on some guy with a
synthesizer.
When I got home that night, pretty much everything
I needed to get done took a backseat to the ten
minutes I would need to finally watch “Rex
Steele: Nazi Smasher.” My wife plopped down
on the couch with me and, not entirely knowing
what to expect, we were completely blown away.
The film itself only lasts a little over ten minutes
and is presented as “Chapter 13” of
a continuing series, much like the old movie serials
I mentioned earlier. The Black & White opening
was a nod to the old newsreels that used to play
before the movie in theatres back in the day,
complete with a Walter Winchell-sounding voice
(Dan Blanks) reporting about the evil nature of
the Nazis. We then learn about the Nazi Smasher
himself, Square-jawed All-American Hero, Rex Steele.
When the film switches to color, it’s almost
a shock to the system. The picture goes from full
screen to widescreen at the same time, and the
sequence that follows is just breathtaking. As
I watched the film, I noticed that there was a
strong mix of animation styles. I felt like I
was watching some of the old 2-D Disney films
again, while at other times I caught styles similar
to the old Max Fleischer Superman cartoons as
well the work of John Kricfalusi. Heck, I even
found a few scenes that reminded me a bit of “Johnny
Bravo!” Even the characters themselves seemed
to each be drawn in a style all their own. In
the hands of lesser talented artists, mixing these
styles would normally fail miserably. But Woo
and his production team, with what had to be a
really small budget, brought these styles together
into a beautifully rendered piece of work.
Just as impressive as the animation is the storyline,
which pits Rex and his sidekick Penny Thimble
against the aptly named, Nazi Eval Schnitzler
and his cohort Greta Schultz. Our heroes fly to
the Amazon, where Schnitzler and Schultz are working
on a plot to take over America! (The dialogue
involved in the revealing of this plot is laugh
out loud funny.) The crash, capture and resultant
‘Nazi-smashing’ that take place over
the course of this ten minute feature is quite
entertaining and often hilarious. My only disappointment
is that ‘Chapter 13’ is the only part
that has been produced. I would love to see a
longer feature!!
The voice work is also excellent. All of the male
characters are done by Dan Blanks, and the fact
that you couldn’t tell (even if you already
know) is a testament to the guy’s talent.
Blanks, who is also an alumni of NYU, did a lot
of the voice work for MTV’s “Celebrity
Deathmatch” and is currently working as
a visual effects artist on the upcoming “Sky
Captain and the World of Tomorrow.” Nicola
Russell delivers just the right amount of earnestness
you would expect from a character like Penny Thimble,
and Lolita Shawany’s voice work for Greta
just oozes with evil sexuality.
The initial viewing of the feature was supposed
to only take us about 10 minutes. The trouble
is, we were so impressed that we had to watch
it three times, and then watch all the special
features, which this disc has in abundance. Normally
I wouldn’t expect so many special features
on an independently produced DVD, but since these
guys had already surprised me so many times with
the quality of the set, I should have known.
There are three ‘Making of…”
featurettes, each one focusing on a different
aspect of the production. “Making Rex Steel”
runs about six minutes and allows Woo to explain
a bit about how the whole project came together,
while “3D Production” goes into more
detail about the computer animation. In the final
featurette, composer Ryan Shore speaks up about
his involvement in the project. There are also
three separate commentaries available by Woo,
Presing ad Peters. Each touches on different aspects
of the filmmaking process and all are well worth
a listen. You’ll also find galleries of
storyboards, layouts and backgrounds, a pencil
test version of the film and the first Rex Steele
Animatic.
One of the more intriguing features enables you
to switch tracks so you can watch the film with
only the music playing or the sound effects. I
especially enjoyed the sound effects track because
of a sound I didn’t catch initially watching
the feature. The character of Greta is drawn like
she walked out of a Russ Meyer film, complete
with huge, torpedo-like…uhhh…. attributes.
Whenever she moves, these… uhhhh…
attributes move around quite a bit. When I listened
to the ‘sound effects only track’,
I about fell out of my chair laughing. Whenever
they moved, there was an accompanying sound of
sloshing water. Going back to watch the film in
the normal mode, I could then catch it slightly
underneath all the dialogue and music.
“Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher” is one
of the best independently produced features I’ve
seen in a long time. It is only available through
the websites listed below. Short as it is, I highly
recommend it.
Directed by: Alex Woo
Starring (the voices of): Dan Blank, Nicola Russell,
Lolita Shawany
Extras: Three “Making of” Documentaries,
Three Audio Commentaries, Movie Trailers, Art
of Rex Steele, Pencil Test Version of the Film,
The First Rex Steele Animatic, 3D Designs, Music
Only Track, SFX Only Track, Easter Eggs
Specifications:
Studio: Woo Hoo Pictures
Release Date: Available
Region 1
MPAA Rating: NR
Website
Website
We'll give Rex Steele: Nazi Smasher an A+.
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