O! Melodious Movie: Side 1

An extraordinary journey that involves a man and his friend, who has been turned into a rock.

One day, while walking in a forest, a young man named Dave is magically transformed into a small rock and his friend Melodious decides to use a time machine with the intention of bringing Dave back to his human form. Things do not turn out as planned and the two friends end up embarking on a magical journey filled with otherwordly characters.

As the title suggests, this movie is the first part of a duology and it is an adaptation of Zach's TV series O! Melodious Show and it also marks his debut feature film. The result is a fantasy comedy adventure that is fun to watch.

It is apparent that the budget for this film was low, however that does not make the mise-en-scene unappealing. For instance, when Dave's character is a rock, he is basically a rock the size of a shoe and fake cartoonish eyes and eyebrows have been glued on it to give it some character. Although this looks amateur, it also looks funny seeing a talking rock with eyes. Other characters include a giant lizard, entities that are made out of colourful lights and a talking gnome. Neither of these magical beings are convincing, however through amusing voice-acting and humour they add to the fun. Understandably, the special effects do not look fantastic either, however they are good enough to provide a sense of magic.

The majority of the story takes place in a forest, whith Melodious carrying Dave from one location to the other. Other locations include Melodious's home and ancient ruins. There are scenes that mix live action with animation and again these do not look realistic, however they look OK regardless.

Throughout almost the entire film, Melodious is the only person on screen and although his acting is not great, he still manages to be entertaining and it is fun watching him interact with supernatural characters, particularly as he is having conversations with a rock with eyes. He portrays an optimistic person who is a bit naive but who also cares about others and is willing to help. It is worth mentioning the scenes where the film turns into a music video, with Melodious singing. These scenes are awkward but fun nevertheless. The voice acting that is provided for the magical characters by Zach, Allen and the rest of the cast is not brilliant either, but they all do an amusing job.

Zach also worked on the music and he creates a score that contributes to the humorous atmosphere. Special mention goes to the animation by Mariah King.

This feature had a small budget, however creativity and effort make for an entertaining experience, with laughs and enjoyable songs. This is not a movie that should be taken seriously, therefore if one feels like relaxing and having a pleasant time, then they should check this one out.