Ruben Brandt Collector Quick View An Original Adventure that Challenges The Viewer. Grade: B+

Source: IMDB

Ruben Brandt Collector tells a story of a psychotherapist Ruben Brandt (Ivan Kamaras), whom has experienced nightmares from famous paintings after his father died. So Ruben wants his patients, whom are experienced thieves to steal these paintings, so he won’t have these nightmares any longer. This animated film was an experience unlike no other, I had so much fun watching this I gotta tell ya. The animation is spectacular, not only did I loved 2-D animation style, I just loved the designs of everything this world has to offer. From our main characters, to the mafia, to the animals, and the paintings... All well done, it has a great unique style you’ve never seen in a film like this one. I actually enjoyed the horror element towards the animation, in the nightmare scenes, animation was well done as the images were haunting to look at. The Score was great, from soundtrack selections to a composed Score, lots of excitement hearing it all together. Enjoyed that French version of the Britney Spears song, at the Cold War bar scene. One scene in which I loved the music, was certainly the camp fire scene in the beginning. All natural sounds, the scene as a whole was bad ass all thanks to the music. The characters were all a joy to watch. Ruben Brandt is a very interesting character, I say interesting because his motivation for collecting these paintings are a bit odd. Even if he collects all these paintings, how will the nightmares stop?! Maybe because him and his father loved art, as their relationship together was at their best when discussing their admiration for art, so collecting all these works of art made him felt like he was making his father proud? It feels unclear, but heck I enjoyed this character and his plan of taking these experienced thieves he’s been treating, to do his dirty work. The main thief MiMi was honestly thrilling to watch, she was an excellent thief whom can kick some serious ass! She was a former stunt woman for the entertainment industry, just all the things she does in these heists are awesome, reminds me of Mission Impossible stunts. A couple flaws to discuss. One particular scene didn’t mesh well with the sound mixing. In one scene they were looking over the security cameras, to see whom stole the painting, as I’m wondering how come the security cameras wasn’t capturing the thieves during after hours?! Either the security cameras stop recording after hours or the crew disabled them, which I don’t remember them doing so, so a bit confused on how that is. Also the finale has a couple characters missing, as I would’ve liked them to be there, but unfortunately somehow no appearances from them, after discussing they will be there. This film right here is what you call: A joyous blast. I mean the animation as it is filled with so much creativity, but the story here is something I haven’t seen in a long time. It’s a flat out adventure film, I love the heist side, the mafia side, and the detective side, all blended very well together. Of course the heist side brings in a lot of excitement, great amount of action as since this film is animated, you can see a great amount of imagination put into these scenes, as they all delivered well. The mafia side is shown little, but their intentions in to make money, as MiMi was suppose to deliver a diamond, but never did so we go back and forth with them trying to steal paintings for money as well as a unplanned hit, it was enjoyable. The detective side was very interesting, whether it be him trying to figure out how to catch the bad guys, discovering who his brother is, and finding answers within films. The thing that’ll confuse many viewers, as well as myself is the meaning behind it. When the film cuts to black, I just couldn’t understand what it all meant, due to where Ruben was in the final shot. It could mean a lot of things, the curiosity behind this ending is refreshing, because you want to learn more about what you watch and why all these events occurred. Not only an exciting adventure, but it does challenge the viewer and I admire this film so much for bringing this kind of element to the table. Overall, Ruben Brandt Collector is a great film and so far best animated film of the year. I highly recommend this film, especially towards those that want to see something unique, original, with a lot of style. -Mitch Smietana