Er...
Well, the animation was fairly top-notch (at the beginning, anyway), but the humor dropped rapidly as the short continued. Way, way too many puns in one sitting. The concept had it's heart in right place, though.
Reviews for "Enron Fear Factor"
Interesting Idea, But...
While I wholeheartedly appreciate the attempt to "smart-tasticize" Newgrounds, the movie was lacking heavily in presentation. My gripes are as follows.
1)The announcer, while fitting in the the Fear Factor setting, becoming terribly annoying. Having the announcer say, "Oh no, a giant, bare-breasted statue is attacking John Ashcroft!" doesn't elaborate any on the situation as you're watching a giant, bare-breasted statue attack John Ashcroft. It's just unnecessary.
2)It's practically all references. There are almost no clever puns or witty symbolisms, the things that make political humor poignant. Sticking with the statue example, it'd be like having Ashcroft drive down the highway and get sideswiped by a nude statue. It's just a reference, there's not a real joke in there. It's all setup with no reward.
3)When there were clever jokes, they came out flat and overdone. It's all about timing.
The animation was smooth and fantastic, but when all the elements came together, it had the comedic punch of Jay Leno's monolouge. I really hope you gain some good experience from this.
Swenson responds:
This is fair criticism and it appears to be the same criticism others have given, though admittedly I like Jay Leno's monologues. I realize that political humor is very hard to do for a mass audience since you don't know who is Republican, Democrat or whatever (Personally I consider myself to be a libertarian). You also have to consider what kind of news and situations have stuck in people's heads. So it is an experiment and learning experience. I'll probably try it again after I've done some more regular toons.
Oh, the reason for the announcer was that this was supposed to be a combination of pseudo-sports, like Fear Factor, and the world of politics and I chose to make the narrarator more like a sports announcer with a surfer mentality to try to capture that "I am cool" feel of Fear Factor. But sports announcers continuously talk and tell you what you're about to see, what you saw and then repeat what you saw. Maybe that is annoying since I don't care much for sports announcers myself. Thanks to you and others for quality criticism. I appreciate that instead of the juvenile phrase,"You Suck."
Joe Rogan is my hero
why did you have to make fun of him???
BOOOOOO!
That was boring!
ROFL!
Yes, yes, that was what I needed today! Thank you god, and Jeff Swanson, for making my day, even though i'm not an American. :)