Review of Dave Made a Maze (2017) by Jollynicechap — 03 Dec 2021

Enjoyable unique vision.

I’m perhaps the worst person to write a review about this film. I will come clean, I am biased in favour of this type of film. There I said it, take away my critic licence. There’s one aspect of any watching or reading experience that will win me over every time and have me ignoring other, usually unforgivable but in these examples puny-in-comparison, inconsequential negatives such as poor script, bad acting or incomprehensible storyline. ‘But Rich’ they may say ‘the boom was visible the entire film and the main actor was replaced with a vase at the one hour mark when he quit due to an argument over artistic vision’. Yes I reply, but it has the one thing that absolves it of all sins.

It’s original.

More money is made these days by reimagining’s, reboots, and remasters than new ideas. The trailers I watched at the cinema last week before Spiderman: no way home (the third iteration of the franchise since Tobey Maguire fought Venom in 2007!) were almost exclusively for films that already existed. It’s the perfect formula. Most people who have grown beyond having ‘teen’ used as their primary defining adjective get swamped by nostalgia and those lucky enough to still possess the wonderous naivety of ignorance before it gets squashed by the crushing relentlessness of modern life, get a tried and tested concept as reliable at making a good impression as penicillin is at clearing up that rash you were worried about. But what if you are part of that minority of viewers; disillusioned and grumpy with the monotony of an entertainment culture that makes remakes of remakes of ideas that ripped off that other thing (that did it much better) but was inspired by that film about two other films crossed over. The group of people that don’t cheer with remembrance but sigh with exhaustion as another example of history repeating appears before us. I may be labouring the point but not all of us are in-love with the constant rehashing of once great Ip’s.

It seems it’s often left to the lowly independent producer to experiment with the potentially riskier new ideas. This is writer and director Bill Watterson’s debut feature, initially a Kickstarter, it’s easy to see the shear effort he poured into the film, in certain areas at least.

Dave is an artist who hasn’t managed to finish anything in his life. A chronic procrastinator who discovers a medium to finally focus his concentration. A cardboard fort. We get an impression that the enthusiasm he displays for this fort may be the first example of him really feeling inspired. Therefore, he is obsessed to actually finish it. It will prove to himself that he is capable of completing something extraordinary, his magnum opus, or perhaps his only opus.

Without doubt the star of the film is the visual effects. For me graphics and art in a film have always added a layer of satisfaction but could never be the defining feature of a film. And prior to Dave Made a Maze I wouldn’t have wanted it to define a film. I would have made a pretentious scoff noise ‘probably some arty uni film’ I may have uttered. Focusing too much attention on effects ‘it takes more than an art degree to make a good film you know’.

Don’t get me wrong, artistic direction is vital in a good film. But even in visually astounding films, such as The terminator or Transformers, the graphics were always a supplement to the film for myself, a catalyst that enhances my enjoyment but couldn’t stand up without its supporting compatriots. Dave Made a Maze its clear they had the visual concept first and let that be the trunk of the film tree which plot branches grew out of.

The use of paper and card to display a surreal world plucked from an artist’s imagination is so clever, god knows how long it took to film. From origami birds convincingly flying around, to a goliath easter island style god head, to hypnotic lady parts. I don’t want to spoil too much, but the ‘violent’ scenes had me open mouthed with awe. Every few minutes you’re confronted with a brand new impressive feat of visual effects that surpasses the previous.

Its funny too. The first half of the film especially had me laughing out loud many times. There’s enough light humour running through the film that matches the tone of the underdeveloped characters.

The storyline is relatively mundane, the acting is fine, there’s no Oscars being nominated here.

I personally found the camera crew following them unnecessary and annoying for most the film. It gives an opening for the characters to explain the situation and flesh out backstory when the director literally asks ‘what are you feeling right now’ but most the time I felt it wrestled the narrative away from what was happening rather than deepening it.

On the whole I really enjoyed Dave Made a Maze. The innovative aesthetic and light hearted attitude allowed me to easily overlook the lukewarm storyline and dialogue.