Has anyone else started watching The Liberator on Netflix? I'm a sucker for war movies/shows, especially anything WW2. I watched the first 2 episodes last night and I'm not sure what to think yet. I'm starting to get pulled in to the story, but it's been a real slow burn so far.

I don't watch much animation, but I've never seen anything like the way this one is animated. I thought it was cool at first, but it started to become distracting the more I watched. It seems like part of it is hand/computer drawn and other parts (mainly the characters themselves), were real people captured on film and then animated. It's hard to explain. The intensity/grittiness of war is also hard to capture with animation.

Some of the best war movies (BoB, for example) are so good because you become emotionally invested in the fate of the characters. I don't think I'll develop that same connection with animated figures, but we'll see.

The animation description sounds like badly done modern rotoscope. I don't think roto ever went away but its been "trendy" lately. Your review that its pretty boring seems to jive with several reviews that came up when I Google it.

You're exactly right. I looked it up and they called it Rotoscope animated.

from what I understand, that is what they used modern rotoscope called Trioscope, a new hybrid animation technology that combines state-of-the-art CGI with live-action performance. The story is based on the book The Liberator: One World War II Soldier's 500-Day Odyssey by Alex Kershaw. Similar to how BOB used winters, this follows one soldier through several campaigns.

I tried watching this show last night and turned it off after about 10 min - just wasn't doing it for me. Nothing against rotoscoping. I've enjoyed some films/shows with it - the 70's version of LOTR that was only about 1/2 completed, A Scanner Darkly and some episodes of Netflix's Love Death & Robots were rotoscoped.

TexAg2001 said:

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You're exactly right. I looked it up and they called it Rotoscope animated.

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Sort of unrelated to this show, but I think rotoscope can be cool for scifi or futuristic type stuff, or even "educational" or how to type. It is a tougher sell for me when it is documentary or historical film type content. FOX (i think) has added some of this to their NFL broadcast this season and its annoying.

Well, I liked it. I think we've grown used to WW II movies getting the royal, big screen treatment like BoB and Saving Private Ryan. This is a different approach, almost like a serial cartoon they would show way back in the day.

What the cartoon format forces you to do is listen closely to the dialogue and use the video as a suggestion of the action - almost like a radio play.

It isn't for everyone, but I thought a nice break from the routine.

Just finished it up, thought the story was great. Has a pretty good rating on imdb considering how polarizing the reviews were...either loved it due to the story line or hated it bc of the rotoscoped.

I finished it last night. Overall, I enjoyed it, but 4 episodes wasn't enough time to really tell the story.

First episode didn't pull me in and also felt like I was watching an A-HA video. Don't know if I'll continue.

Loved the story. Wished there were more episodes.

So I finally got around to finishing the whole thing. If you stopped watching because you couldn't get past the animation, you missed a really great show.

The series was based on the real life war experiences of Lt. Col. Felix Sparks.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_L._Sparks

Started trailer. Damn that's distracting. Ended trailer.

Finished this series last night. After the first episode, I wasn't too sure because of the animation/style. But I'm glad I finished it. Really awesome story about Lt Sparks and his journey through the war. Guy was a badass.

Give it a shot, you'll get use to the style after the first episode, plus the story gets better.

Glad I listened to y'all and put up with the rotoscope animation. It was a good.

ja86 said:

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from what I understand, that is what they used modern rotoscope called Trioscope, a new hybrid animation technology that combines state-of-the-art CGI with live-action performance.

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i thought it was quite good. the rotoscope doesn't bother me.

I tried but couldn't get into this. Way too distracting. Didn't have an issue with A Scanner Darkly which did the same thing, but I also know the guy that did the animation for that one so I had a personal tie to it.