00Dee Boned: Rotisserie Chicken

Good 'ol Jeff Ching. It's certainly possible that either Daniel Martin or Russ Stepan would have eventually found their way over the board without his insistent promotion of both JDR Revolutions and 00 Dee Boned: Rotisserie Chicken, but a loud voice definitely sped up the process. Both films have remarkable similarities, despite the former being around ten times longer and much more grandiose than the latter -- they both indicate fantastic promise for the Dragon Films-exclusive directors despite their lack of polish. But while JDR Revolutions exploded with unrestrained, creative energy, Rotisserie Chicken stood out as more of a quick side avenue for a bigger world outside the scope of the movie. It's the kind of thing you might have seen attached to the beginning of a Pixar movie, with a drawn-out setup ending on a quirky punchline.

I have to admit, I didn't watch this for a while after it was first celebrated on the board, and when I did I was a bit disappointed. As I mention in my review of You Only Live Until You Die, I find it strange that RC is the one that got community-wide recognition, while it's more of a gimmicky diversion to the other's better glimpse of the series' world. It didn't help that apart from a few key shots, the construction is even shoddier than You Only Live Until You Die, and the constant brown is grating after a while.

But RC is not a bad film by any means -- the skateboarding action movie, a genre that has a population of roughly one as far as I'm aware. Russ does a good job adapting Dee Boned's style of over-the-top spy movie conventions even as the movie stretches itself thin trying to come up with interesting ways to use a skate park as an action scene set. There are definitely moments of the Dee Boned comic inspiration here, and like it's brother movie, RC does a great job of underlining the concept by repeating it in a different form at the very end.

But overall, I couldn't help feeling a little unsatisfied by the movie, which feels like a shallow criticism to make against what is undeniably a very creative work. What Rotisserie Chicken suffers from is promise, ironically; the movie feels cramped, like it's trying to break out and grab onto a concept that offers more possibilities for Russ's inventiveness and animation style. There's no doubt that this is a fun flick, and anyone with a passing interest in skateboarding or pointless action should definitely download it. But as You Only Live Until You Die and Venison Jelly would later demonstrate, the Dee Boned franchise could definitely be better serviced.

Critical Score: 70/100.
Personal Score: 65/100.