The Spine of Night Review: Ambitious Animation Stumbles Due To Weak Narrative
Death, depravity, and dark times rule in the adult animated film The Spine of Night. From the creative minds of Philip Gelatt and Morgan Galen King, The Spine of Night tells the story of a destructive crusade for power. The animated fantasy deploys every tool in its arsenal to underscore that it's meant for adults (equal opportunity nudity for the win), but the overall spectacle comes at the expense of its story
The story unfolds in short vignettes which are tales relayed to The Guardian (Richard E. Grant) by the Swamp Witch, Tzod (Lucy Lawless). Tzod has ventured to the top of a snowy mountain to seek the Guardian for either guidance or answers as to why the magical plant, The Bloom, reached humanity and what answers does it hold. The story begins with Tzod being captured by a pompous Lord seeking to make a name for himself. She meets a scholar, Ghal-Sur, who turns out to be a power-hungry man with a disdain for people. As the film continues on one thing becomes clear: this is all just spectacle and vibes. These characters don’t matter much and the story doesn’t really matter, either.
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While The Spine of Night's animation style is an admirable medium to tell this story, the film ultimately fumbles with a convoluted saga that has little to no direction. All that can be derived from the project is that even in adult animation, humans are horrible, especially in the pursuit of power. In the animation, however, certain imagery can be achieved that would be hardly as effective in live-action or simply too grotesque to stomach. The harshness of humanity captured in the film, as well as the splendor of fantasy and magic, is greatly imagined, and it would only be vastly improved by a
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