Commentary & Timestamp (TADC: Final Act)
The TADC movie is different from my previous movie going experience for many reasons. Be it animated or live-action, I never watch a movie that included a blatant anti-spoiler reminder because most movies have a lot to gain from having the contents of movie talked about after watching it.
Anyway, here is a long post with timestamps and thoughts I formed after watching the leaked movie 3 times now. Without counting Episode 8, Pomni had the most interaction with Kinger. Excluding Episode 8 section of the movie, Pomni and Ragatha had interactions three times where they exchange dialogues. One of those interaction was centered around the plot of Jax's closure. Zooble and Gangle had three notable interaction [Zooble's attempt to take her hand, Gangle Comforting Zooble in her room, brief exchange about the real lives]. Attempting to provide Jax proper closure took 29 MINUTES & 42 SECONDS of screentime.
The only movie I watched which had a fanbase and creative staff be this adamant for no spoilers was the Avengers: Endgame (2019), but the creators of the movie just held a campaign and didn't include the waste time of an anti-spoiler clip in the beginning of the movie.
I have more issues to say about the time usage of the movie which is 1 hour, 34 minutes, and 41 seconds long:
Anti-spoiler Message & Fish Blabber: 0:00 - 1:38 Caine's Recap of TADC Series: 1:39 - 4:44 Episode 8 of TADC: 4:45 - 35:31
The amount of time spent on the anti-spoiler made me think the movie isn’t confident with its delivery of the story. To be this level of adamant to not talk about the movie- including an anti-spoiler message in it— Is that really the right use of time, labour, and budget?
if the movie was meant to stand alone (as in no need to watch the series or episode 8), then the fish shouldn't have referenced Caine's deletion (which technically a spoiler, if you never watched the series or watched episode 8). If it expects the audience to be TADC fans, it wouldn't need the in-depth recap, Perhaps, just recap episode 8 but not the entire series up to that point.
I know they tried to lampshade this but I don't understand why episode 8 should be included.
There is something ridiculous about buying a ticket for a movie where 1/3 of the movie is free and available online.
Intro Of Episode 9: 35:32 - 36:32 Reveal of Digital Existence: 36:33 -38:32 Aftermath of The Reveal: 38:32 - 41:54 Montage Of Power Use: 41:55 - 43:10
I think it's weird how there is a montage on learning a new power ability and yet the conflict following this doesn't really showcase what the character, especially Pomni, has learned from this montage.
Abstraction of Jax & Long Hug: 43:10 - 47:54
I sound silly when I say this but when I first saw the Abstraction beast I thought Kinger died. We have all this emotional investment in his character and since his wife and life's work is gone- I can see him thinking it's okay to leave the Circus behind. Anyway, Jax's Abstraction was one of those things that made me realize Ragatha is the second member who seen the most abstractions.
There was a lot of talking on Ragatha's part here. I wish they did more during these long dialogues. I wish we saw more visuals and flashbacks regarding Ragatha's past friendships along with the dialogue. This is a visual media after all, utilize it well!! The hug was 20 seconds.
Into The Abstract's Mind: 47:54 - 1:10:35 Jax Montage: 1:10:36 - 1:11:14 Abby Jax Gets A Tent : 1:11:15 - 1:12:12
That's a lot of time. 35 minutes was utilized from executing a scheme to get Abstract!Jax up to the end of Jax's montage. Jax's montage ends at the timestamp 1:12:12 and the ploy to get to Abstact!Jack begun from the timestamp, 37:54. Minus the larger number (1:12:12 -> 72 mins. & 12 sec.) with the smaller number (47 mins; 54 sec.), leaves us with 29 MINUTES & 42 SECONDS. That is longer than the Episode 8 section which is just 31 minutes and 50 seconds.
The epic conflict was just getting Jax to leave with closure. Did this part build up on the Power Up montage? Nope. Just a lot of Jax.
Zooble & Gangle Scene : 1:12:12 - 1:13:12 Gang Lounge: 1:13:13 - 1:13:54
I kinda dislike how much Zooble's regular responses to Gangle is perceived as something romantic, when he is just acting like what a regular person would do when they know someone close has fragile mental idea of themselves- she is scene to be the most friendly with Gangle because he has the least amount of hang-ups compared to the other characters. Kinger has issues with his memories. Ragatha's fear of losing somebody exceeds her desire to do good. Jax is the problem. Pomni acts not in character but whatever the plot needs from her. because the writer doesn't want to invest on their character development, they could only have a dynamic with one character. One of my main issue with the writing AND interpretations around the individual characters of Zooble and Gangle is they consider a shipping/ character dynamic to be a character trait.
I like how that scene where Ragatha comforts Pomni by putting a hand on her despite her Glitchy state. Like I said before, Ragatha has deep fear of lost from her friends to herself but, after everything that has happened in the movie, she is finally letting herself get closer to someone without restriction through her action. Ragatha is an interesting character when the narrative reminds her outside of whatever role she could have for Jax's character.
Caine Is Back, But How?: 1:13:54 - 1:21:52 Caine & Moon.AI: 1:21:53 - 1:22:42 Caine & Gang: 1:22:43 - 1:25:05
Just like the lack of set-up on the Abstract Mindscape, How Cain got back to the Circus also required set-up during the course of series. It's nonsensical to add more things to the story when the ending of the movie and the series is fast approaching. Also, due to the lack of writing regarding the Red AI and Blue AI, an abliest interpretation could be made with Caine's self-lobotomy. He is clearly a neurodivergent-coded character who doesn't fit well— but if he makes himself change the structure of his mind/ code, then he can be accepted by the rest of the cast /sarcasm. There is also the stereotype of AI/ non-human characters as being neurodivergent-coded.
Cain coming back just makes me think about the lack of set-up to so many things. What is the difference with Moon and Bubble that Moon can come back but Bubble can't? Why does supposed deletion lead to Cain ending up in a place close to the character's folder? Why does a folder lead to a search bar of a web browser? Since when did Cain have internet access?
Real Life Counterpart Segment: 1:25:05 - 1:27:36 Message Of The Movie [?]: 1:27:36 - 1:28:38 Rebuild Montage: 1:28:39 - 1:30:34
Was the budget restricted for this episode despite it having a theatrical release? I do wish there was more visual flair happening during the Real Life Counterpart reveal. I'd love for this movie to do a mixed-media route, mix of reality and animation, but this segment served it's purpose in a bland way [eh, okay.] Anyway, the mesage of the movie and the entire show is to accept your new self and if you don't and it becomes too late, you become like Jax. Message is wonky with the handling of Caine's moment of...change and other characters not really gone through their own moment of change.
There were three montages: the Power Up, Jax's Tribute, and Rebuild montage. Nothing from the Power Up montage was utilized in the movie until the very end [I think.]. The Jax Tribute was another example of careless time usage- The time used for this montage could have been utilized for other parts of the movie. Out of all the montages, only the Rebuild montage serve its role of ending the movie on...something.