Movie Thoughts: Extinct (2021)

• Released: 21 November 2021
• Directed by: David Silverman, Raymond S. Persi
• Running time: 1 h 24 min
• Rating 3/5

Synopsis

Two donut-shaped mammals accidentally travel to the future and find out that their species is extinct there. They end up meddling with time in order to try and save their species. 

My Thoughts

This movie looks dumb. From the two donut hairball main characters to the very juvenile look to everything, it does not look appealing for anyone who is above five, probably. Heck, I didn't even plan on watching this until I found out there's a thylacine character in this. But I eventually rented it, so here's my thoughts.

This movie...it's not perfect. Far from it. Like the posters and trailers promise, it is juvenile and probably made for young kids. It has dumb elements. But it's also...kinda decent? 

Don't get me wrong, this is no master piece whatsoever. But for what I was expecting (an annoying movie with too many comic relief sidekicks and obnoxious main characters) it has a certain charm to it. The main duo of Ed and Op do have a neat chemistry to them. They're a brother and sister, both seen as outcasts to their species. They don't really get along and have some unresolved issues between them. Yet they still love one another and will do whatever it takes to save their species from extinction, even if it means (somewhat accidentally) fucking with time itself. 

The humor was also kinda funny at times, which surprised me the most of all. There's definitely a lot of jokes in here that are very juvenile and aimed clearly only at kids, but there's also just some moments of really dry humor, which is definitely my cup of tea. I actually chuckled a few times during this, which I didn't expect.

Outside of these elements, however, it's all very basic run-of-the-mill children's movie stuff. Many comic relief side characters (some of which were annoying, but I found them overall pretty bearable when compared to others I've seen in the past), an over-the-top twist villain and a plot full of messing with time. These elements are neither good nor bad, just mostly neutral.

I will say that having Clarence be the villain was a bit predictable and stupid, but surprisingly enough he isn't even the worst example of a twist-villain I've seen in the past years. He's pretty neutral. I did like his voice acting, though. Same voice actor as Sprout from the My Little Pony: A New Generation film.

The animation in this was fine, too. Nothing spectacular and all very standard, but it looks fine. The character designs could've used some work (not just the donut hairball species, all of the designs tend to look just a bit off), but other than that it all looks fine. 

Honestly the only aspect of the movie I really didn't like was the randomly forced romance between Ed and the dodo character. It kinda came out of nowhere and just felt odd. Not because they are completely different species, just because I felt no connection between them whatsoever and it felt really forced. The movie would've been no different if they were just friends. Well, except for the ending gag where they've (somehow, don't ask me how a dodo and a donut hairball that's a mammal make a baby) procreated. 

Overall a fine movie. Inoffensive is the best word. Very standard, but it has some good dry humor and a few emotional beats that do hit home.