No, YOU'RE Bleak!

Instructions

I remember seeing a YouTube video a few months ago, maybe at the beginning of the year, maybe earlier, that was talking about the future of animation in 2025. I didn't watch it, and I never plan to, but the thumbnail had Moana 2 and the words "the future is bleak." I was immediately annoyed by this, since a lot of good/popular movies were out at the time, and it felt like the thumbnail was trying to shove these under a metaphorical rug. Fast forward to now, and I'm no longer annoyed. I'm FURIOUS. Upon revisiting the thumbnail, I learned that the video was made by Dazz Reviews, a YouTuber I've seen floating around before. Galen isn't really a fan of them; he doesn't outright despise them, but from what I heard, their videos aren't that great. And even though I don't think I've ever seen one of their videos, after this year...yeah, I'll just take Galen's word for it. Not only was Inside Out 2 the highest grossing animated movie of all time when the video was made, but soon after that, Ne Zha 2 surpassed it. Then, Sony released K-Pop Demon Hunters, a rightfully beloved modern classic with some absolute banger musical numbers. But nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, hit me quite as hard as a not very well-known Korean movie on Netflix called Lost in Starlight. I heard good things about it, so I decided to give this movie a watch. I cried. You guys don't understand; I don't cry at movies. The only times I've done so was when I was really little and probably too stupid to have good taste. You have to do something incredible to get that kind of reaction from me, something not even Princess Mononoke, my former favorite movie of all time, was able to elicit. Lost in Starlight is a positively transcendent piece of art that I cannot recommend enough. Seriously, stop reading this and go watch it. You will thank yourself. It's thanks to Lost in Starlight that I finally mustered up the courage to call out Dazz Reviews. Dazz, if you're somehow reading this and you feel silly after this year...then yeah, you should. You really think a few subpar films from Disney and AI slop that doesn't even get a tenth of a recognition these movies do is going to ruin animation forever? Get real. (Do NOT harass Dazz Reviews. They are a person just like you and me, and starting stuff with them will do nothing but stir trouble and drama.)