“Nerdland” is an animated film for those who want something silly, audacious and are into moronic humor. While the Blu-ray release is barebones, the animated film is still worth watching for its creative and refreshing animation and storyline.
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TITLE: Nerdland
FILM DATE: 2016
DURATION: 83 Minutes
BLU-RAY INFORMATION: 1080p High Definition, 2:35:1 Aspect Ratio, English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English,English SDH, French and Spanish Subtitles
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATING: Suggested 13 and Up
Release Date: February 7, 2017
Directed by Chris Prynoski
Written by Andrew Kevin Walker
Produced by Gavin Polne, Andrew Kevin Walker
Executive Producer: Kathy Landsberg, Chris Prynoski, Shannon Barrett Prynoski
Co-Producer: Ben Kalina
Music by Mark Brooks, Emily Kavanaugh
Production design by Antonio Canobbio
Featuring the following voice talent:
Paul Rudd as John
Patton Oswalt as Elliot
Hannibal Buress as the Nerd King
Kate Micucci as Sally
Riki Lindhome as Linda
Aspiring actor JOHN (Paul Rudd) and wannabe screenwriter ELLIOT (Patton Oswalt) are slacker best friends who have seen their dreams of super-stardom fizzle. With their 30th birthdays looming and desperation growing, they decide that in this 24/7, celebrity-obsessed world of over-shared navel-gazing, there are more ways to get famous than ever before — so why not become famous by the end of the day, at any cost?! With only the grudging support of a wacky collectible store owner (Hannibal Buress) and their one-sided love for a pair of equally fame hungry women (Riki Lindhome & Kate Micucci) to keep them going, John and Elliot troll Los Angeles on an attention grabbing journey of reckless publicity stunts and failed heroics. While navigating their hyper-stimulating landscape of consumerism gone wild, our disheartened duo inadvertently become key witnesses in a high profile crime that sets the news cycle on fire, making them household names… but only if they can survive the infamy and worldwide shame.
From Andrew Kevin Walker, the man who wrote “Se7en”, “The Follow”, “8MM” and filmmaker/producer Chris Prynoski (“Metalocalupse”, “Turbo FAST” and “Freaknik: The Musical”) comes the animated film “Nerdland”.
The film features the voices of Paul Rudd (“Ant Man”, “Role Models”, “I Love You, Man”), Patton Oswalt (“The King of Queens”, “Magnolia”, “Young Adult”), Hannibal Burress (“The Eric Andre Show”, “The Secret Life of Pets”, “Neighbors”), Kate Miccuchi (“When in Rome”, “Don’t think Twice”, “Rio 2”) and Riki Lindhome (“Million Dollar Baby”, “The Last House on the Left”, “My Best Friend’s Girl”).
“Nerdland” is an animated film that was based on a concept by screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker who has pitched the concept in various iterations for years. As a fan of “Metalocalypse” and “Superjail!” and cartoons on Adult Swim, Walker approached Chris and Shannon Prynoski of Titmouse and from there, their collaboration with Chris Prynoski as a director, would lead to an animated film.
“Nerdland” revolves around two best friends, aspiring screenwriter Elliott and aspiring actor John. The two dream of reaching stardom but instead they are failures.
Wanting desperately to have fame, John and Elliot decide that to become famous, they must become infamous.
May it be putting their lives at risk in an inferno, hacking into a major corporation, trying to get beatup by police or perhaps becoming murderers?
VIDEO:
“Nerdland” is presented in 1080p High Definition (2:35:1 aspect ratio). The animated film features a colorful palette and I didn’t notice any artifact issues during my viewing of this animated film.
AUDIO & SUBTITLES:
“Nerdland”is presented in English 5.1 DTS-HD MA. The lossless audio is primarily dialogue and music driven. Surround channels are music and ambiance-driven.
Subtitles are in English, English SDH, French and Spanish.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“Nerdland” comes with no special features.
“Nerdland” is an interesting film. During the first viewing of the film, I felt that it was ridiculous and moronic, along the lines of “Beavis and Butthead” and I thought the film would make a better television series shown on the Cartoon Network.
But I watched the film for a second time and I found it to be much more enjoyable as I saw how the film parodies reality in terms of how people seek fame in any way imaginable, to poking jokes on hacking to how video games can lead to violence and so forth. If anything, I enjoyed the writing by Andrew Kevin Walker and how he was able to find a balance between the moronic Elliot and equally moronic but verbally intelligent John and see how these two individuals who keep failing, would find a way to become famous.
I also enjoy the fun style of animation which is quite fresh with its colorful characters (yes, people who are colored green or blue), backgrounds of environments and of course, the character designs. Some characters look quite hilarious!
And Paul Rudd and Patton Oswalt do a good job as voice actors for their role of John and Elliot.
I know already that this animated film is going to be subjective to the viewer. The animated film definitely has a balance of moronic humor and for some, the animation may not be their kind of style.
But I think its the absurdity of the characters and their actions is what makes this animated film quite refreshing, if you are into this type of humor. I suppose, since I review so many animated films, may it be Disney to Japanese animation, sometimes certain films have a sort of banality and lack of fresh ideas that you can only want to see something that stands out on its own and is different than the norm. “Nerdland” is audacious, ridiculous and I enjoyed it because of that.
As for the Blu-ray release, the animated film is colorful and the lossless audio is dialogue and musically driven. And surprisingly, there are no special features. It’s a barebones Blu-ray release and that totally blows because an audio commentary and featurettes would have made this Blu-ray release even cooler.
Overall, “Nerdland” is an animated film for those who want something silly, audacious and are into moronic humor. While the Blu-ray release is barebones, the animated film is still worth watching for its creative and refreshing animation and storyline.
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