PN & Friends: Algore

Part of the sci-fi comedy web series PN & Friends, this could be classified as a feature, written and directed by NYC comedian Todd Montesi and starring himself, Joseph Lewis Dixon and Kenzie Klem.

The plot? It is quite extraordinary. There is this guy (Montesi) who is called PN and he is a supernatural being, a glitch actually and it is revealed that he is the latest version of another PN (also played by Montesi), who, many centuries ago, craved power and domination. Now, PN, the good one who lives in present day United States, must collaborate with his associates and try to find out what exactly is going on.

This fifty-minute-long feature mixes live action with animation in order to tell the story. The narrative consists mainly of Good PN talking on his phone, attempting to discover what he needs to do next and many animated sequences that provide the backstory. Understanding the story is not mandatory for this project to be apprecciated as the visuals are rather cool. With computer animation, viewers will see a variety of things, the majority of which appear to be in Ancient Egypt and they include powerful entities in human forms, guards and pyramids. Additionally, both PNs appear in animated forms, the bad PN as an Egyptian ruler and the good one as a robotic entity. The animation creates an exciting world filled with supernatural beings and watching all this is enough to make one forget about the story. And then there is the entertaining soundtrack.

The acting is not convincing, but that is OK and more about that later. And regarding the animation, although it looks great, it can be a bit repetitive, contantly showing more or less the same images again and again.

No, the performances are not believable, however they are entertaining by the cast in general. Montesi and Dixon in particular, succeed admirably at being amusing in their roles. Montesi should get most of the credit as the main protagonist, portraying two characters: a guy who does not know who he is or what is going on and his evil version.

This story is about Good vs. Evil and saving the world. It is also about self-discovery, heroism and technology including artificial technology.

A wild journey. A satirical and surreal experience whose main strengths are the animated scenes. The whole thing is amusing and a good way to introduce people to this web series.