Critics and reviewers have been tearing Netflix's Swapped to shreds. Everywhere I look, so many are hating on it like its the worst thing in existence.
If these people are hating on the movie solely because of Skydance Animation possibly using AI for their projects (if that's true, I'm gonna throw up...), and/or the presence of a certain asshole by the name of John (if you know, you know...), then the rage is understandable. However, that doesn't seem to be the case from what I've seen.
Instead of hating on Swapped for valid reasons, the film is being bashed for simply 'being similar to these movies and that, therefore it sucks!' or 'its a Freaky Friday rip-off except animated with animals!' (looking at you ElectricDragon505 specifically for that claim).
It makes me face-palm, groan, and want to rage myself. Its like James Cameron's Avatar all over again, I can't stop thinking 'did these guys watch the same movie I did?'
Now I'll admit, much as I loved the movie, Swapped isn't overly special, and has a fair share of problems (its a 7 or 7.5/10 at best). Some of the voice acting and humor didn't work, the emotional moments didn't hit quite as hard as I'd hoped (some of them at least, that first flight scene was amazing), we could've used a few more scenes of Ollie and Ivy bonding and becoming friends, and yes, the plot is similar to others we've seen in the past, though that shouldn't be a valid criticism.
Why? Because it shouldn't matter if the plot is original or not. It depends on its execution. Avatar taught me that, believe it or not, and like that film, I think Swapped did great portraying its story!
The world was colorful and imaginative, I love the Dzo and their magical pods (I need a few of those right now, please!), most of the animals being part plant in some way was creative (helps that most of them were designed well-cursed fish lips aside), the characters-while not overly layered or special-were fun enough to get behind and care about, the plot twist with Boogle makes sense when you look closely (I got spoiled on that surprise before I saw the film, so I sadly wasn't shocked when it happened), the themes of empathy and working together were done well without talking down to the audience or making them feel stupid, and finally, both the music and animation were straight up gorgeous (if AI really was used for the animation, though, I'm going to punch something)!
One thing I personally admired about Swapped is that it was allowed to breathe. While the pacing was off during some scenes (Ollie meeting Ivy and her sisters did drag for a bit too long), others were allowed to stop for the characters-and the audience-to take everything in in a good way. There were even moments of 'showing, not telling', two great examples being when young Ollie explores underwater, and showing young Ivy how to open the piplet pods. Those quiet, beautiful moments not only made me feel all warm and toasty inside, but it showed me from the get-go that the film had heart. No matter how flawed a project may be, someone pouring their heart and soul into it should always count for something.
I saw all these things that help make the film stand out, so seeing others calling it a 'crappy body-swap movie with no soul' feels wrong and unfair. Hell, calling it a body-swap story feels like a lie. Watching the film and what the characters go through, its much less 'they swapped bodies!' and more 'they became different animals that happen to be what the other used to be'. Its more Brother Bear than Freaky Friday, (parts of it even reminded me of Ori and the Blind Forest/Will of the Wisps) and not in a bad way. Why call it a body-swap movie then, to the point of naming it Swapped? I don't know, maybe Netflix and Skydance had no idea how to market the film and decided to blatantly lie instead.
That's all I've got to say, sorry for the rambling. I'm just tired of Swapped getting unfairly bashed when its should be getting more praise, despite its issues.