Letterboxd
Based on the preview, I thought this was a complete gimmick and would likely not have seen this film. I saw it as part of Cinemark's Secret Cinema series and am actually glad I did.
Context: I do not know who Robbie Williams is. The songs (this is a very light musical) playing throughout I am assuming are old hits? I am ambivalent about musicals. I generally avoid movies about celebrities.
With all that out of the way, I actually enjoyed this quite a bit. It is the same story you have heard a hundred times. A talented young performer, with a great deal of grit and luck, rises to the top. In doing so they become extremely dependent on alcohol, anti-anxiety drugs, cocaine, and eventually heroin. They either burn out or have some sort of come to Jesus moment and clean their life up. The story is so well trod that it isn't even interesting.
However, 2 choices really elevate this.
- The choice to make him a anthropomorphized chimpanzee. I mean, it is so simple it is kind of inspired. Because he is a chimpanzee he is always identifiable in a crowd (important to this film). Because he is cg he has a range of expression that are greater than that afforded to a limited-by-physics human. His close-but-not-human range somehow allows him to say and do things that would seem melodramatic (overacted?) in a human, but make sense within his rendered expressiveness.
- The musicals were actually pretty fun. Especially one of the early boy band group (forgot their name) running through the streets of London. I'm also assuming that the dance choreography between him and a woman on a boat were entirely CG, as they seemed supernaturally skilled. You can do a lot with a film if you just make it fun to look at.
Anyway, this is getting too long for my style of review, which are mostly just notes to my future self. Just wanted to say that I was impressed by the use of computer graphics here as well as the pacing and visuals of this film. I feel confident that the team that did this could have probably elevated any story and look forward to future work.
P.S. I told my movie buddy that I think I have resolved to never look up anything about Robbie Williams, as I am content to think of him as a broad chested 6 foot tall chimpanzee who can sing.