LordLothlorien's movie Reviews on Newgrounds

[Salad Fingers Episode 5]

A Long-Anticipated Sequel

Fans of Salad Fingers waited 3 months for another episode to be completed and I don't think they were disappointed. The fifth installment of the now famous series continues along the same disturbing yet quirky path of the preceding chapters.

Still set in a dystopian wasteland, we find Salad Fingers preparing for a picnic-party. Of course, no one can set a picnic down the course of decay like Salad Fingers. The first quizzical appearance of a little girl degrades into instability, as her "mouth words" turn sour. This cartoon is as morbidly amusing as the first four, keeping in line with Firth's unique style. Nothing is left normal.

[Burnt Face Man's Trailer]

Comic Relief After Several "Serious" Submissions

After several serious/disturbing creations, Firth's next Flash involving Burnt Face Man creates some comic relief. With each BFM submission, we learn how absurd and ridiculous his character is. His crime-fighting methods are ridiculous (throwing a pop can, telling the police) and, as Rodney Dangerfield so eloquently put it, "he can't get no respect". This series proves to be one of Firth's best and my favourite.

[Spoilsbury Toast Boy - 1]

The Saga Continues Backwards...

In a strange twist, Firth moves us backwards in the story of the Spoilsbury Toastboy, giving viewers an explanation of the first installment. Which is very well, since there was much information lacking to make a comprehensive judgement of what the story is about.

As we continue into the series, the seedy characters of the Beetles develop. The presence of beetles is everywhere - infesting the walls, the outdoors, and even Toastboy's grandmother - with larger clothed beetles seemingly orchestrating Toastboy's delusion. It is a disturbing foreshadow of what is to come in the 3rd installment (or "-2").

The graphics and style are of high quality, as good as Firth's previous works, and create a world of dystopian nightmare, like a twisted Dr. Seuss book (perhaps Salad Fingers dwells within the same realm?). Once again, ambience plays an important role in setting the mood, along with the voice acting, which out of context sounds like background ambience itself, requiring subtitles. Simply put, it is as disturbing as it is creative.

[Milkman]

The Extreme Point of Firth's Flash Career

Firth's Milkman, by far, is his most controversial piece. He recieved quite a bit of flack for this animation, though he consistently claims that most of the e-mail he recieves are positive. However, Milkman does mark a departure from the more subtle perversion of Salad Fingers and Spoilsbury Toastboy to a more extreme degredation.

That being said, this is still a David Firth classic. It still includes all of the elements that make up his animating style: decay, the abnormal, use of ambient music, and a sudden, often shocking, turn of events. Though it is his most violent cartoon yet (though some might argue for Valentine's Day Special), it is still quintessentially Firth.

[Spoilsbury Toast Boy]

Fresh and Humourless

After doing 4 episodes of Salad Fingers, 3 of which were consecutive, as well as the humouress Burnt Face Man, David Firth pulled out all the vulgarity and made a truly dark animation.

Although this would eventually become a series, at the time Spoilsbury Toastboy was submitted, this was not known to viewers. So, there was much confusion, with little hope for an explanation. However, while the animation has little information, it communicates a clear feeling to the viewer, and that is fear. The Toastboy is full of fear and anxiety for what he seems to know is the inevitable. But, we won't find out for another year why he is afraid. All we can decipher is the mood of the animation. Like most Firth cartoons, the real dialogue is between the ambience, both sound and settings, and the viewer. This makes for a very creative and intelligent work.

[Salad Fingers Episode 4]

The Best Episode of the First Quadrilogy

Firth's Episode 4 of his Salad Fingers series is by far the best episode of the first quadrilogy and a great way to end the first chunk of the series.

We continue to follow the "biopic" of the weird wo/man/creature that is Salad Fingers. Curiously, in the setting of the dystopian wasteland, Salad Fingers tells us that he is going to find France. This is one of the many "clues" that many die-hard Salad Fingers fans often make out to be a puzzle piece in a larger story. The green character also discovers a deformed child (of sorts), which again leads us to wonder what sort of world Firth has created for us.

[Salad Fingers Episode 3]

One of the less memorable episodes...

Episode 3 is just as good as the previous submission in the Salad Fingers series. Something was just lacking to make this one as memorable as the first two, as well as some of the subsequent episodes. Perhaps the sudden popularity of Salad Fingers stifled Firth's ability to put out another "catchy" episode. Perhaps on its own, as in if one has no knowledge of the previous installments, this episode would be much more memorable - as much as the first. In my opinion, though, nothing compares to Salad Fingers' fascination with rusty spoons nor the dead eyes and queer silence of Hubert Cumberdale.

[Salad Fingers Episode 2]

Salad Fingers' Friends

The sequel to Firth's original Salad Fingers marks the turning point in the quality of his animations that we caught a glimpse at in Burnt Face Man. This is the first Flash of his that legitimately deserves a 10, one more than the usual 9. The style and quality of Salad Fingers 2 really forms the basis for the many animations to come. This is the standard to which all of Firth's subsequent animations are compared.

Episode 2 also introduces Salad Fingers' "friends": Hubert Comberdale, Marjory Stewart-Baxter, Jeremy Fisher, all of whom appear in later episodes in one form or another. Although they are obviously inanimate, one can't help being creeped out by their prescence. The real intelligence of Firth's work is that one never really knows what is what. Have no expectations.

[WWE in Kindergarten]

Ha ha ha, chibis

Ha ha ha ha... chibis! Ha ha ha ha ha...

...

Ha ha ha ha ha! Chibis... funny.

[The Wyvern Rider]

Loads okay...

... it loads fine. Sometimes, when a Flash animation doesn't load for a user, it's just a random glitch on their computer. It happens to me all the time.

RainChildProductions responds:

Thank you.