With no real story and the absence of a real climactic payoff, “Fire in Cardboard City†is a short film that you never feel invested in. A sad fate, especially given the fact that the quality of the overall animation far outweighs the depth of the narrative.
More like a series of disasters in Cardboard City, with characters that fail to grab your attention, followed by a not so shocking twist, it feels more like a small sample of what this team could do, in hopes of one day getting an opportunity to do so. While this is the goal of all short film creators, this attempt is rather blatant.
Although it doesn’t feature a wild musical score or a top-notch cast, Phil Brough and Matt Heath’s “Fire in Cardboard City†will remind you a ton of “Lego Movie.†Why? Because you’ll smell the big plot twist coming a mile away. Lacking a real narrative push, its mishmash of scenarios is what you’d expect from a few kids in a backyard. Not so ironically that’s what you get by the end.
Again, it’s not fair considering the quality of the animation. The fire, the water, the city, all look great. There’s a litany of untapped potential here. And although the film is a short, it feels larger and there’s definitely room to do something. Ultimately, however, it just falls flat.
Overall, with a predictable and lacking story, this film’s most redeemable quality is the fun and unique animation. If that’s what you’re looking for, you’ll get a momentary smile or two out of it.
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports.
Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders.
His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023.
Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief.
Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale.
Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.
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