To truly understand the brilliance of Yoshi Hates Castles, one must travel back to the glorious early days of cinema. The classic silent film Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925) has been parodied in countless other works, and the iconic shot of the Nurse (her bloodied eyes piercing through the audience and her mouth hung ajar in utter horror at the surrounding chaos) is roundly regarded as the most influential and powerful closeup in movie history. And yet seeing Yoshi's face react to the unspeakable terrors that await inside the castle, I instantly recalled the famous Eisenstein shot, and for the first time in my life I've witnessed an artist eclipse it in both beauty and originality. By so successfully paying homage to the works of past geniuses, Matt Hunter has transcended the masters at their own game.
In a wonderful call-back to the Golden Age of the 1930s, Mr. Hunter evokes The Wizard Of Oz in the opening shot of Mario and his faithful steed gallivanting towards the nefarious castle. This evocation has been attempted in the past, but Mr. Hunter's animation skills are so refined that the scope and detail of the castle simply blows away the Emerald City set piece from Victor Fleming's masterpiece.
The finale to Yoshi Hates Castles is a triumph of emotional honesty, subverting the viewer's expectations while also allowing the heretofore silent animal a welcome dose of three dimensionality and character development. And this is why the work is so important: it made me see the world in a new light. Before today, I never thought of Yoshi as an animal deserving of inalienable rights. He was simply a slave to Mario (and by extension the audience itself). And yet by bravely acknowledging the fears and insecurities of a defenseless dinosaur, Mr. Hunter has enlightened us to the true oneness of all living creatures in life.
It is somewhat ironic that by capturing an animal's refusal to enter a great (and intimidating) hall, Mr. Hunter has finally entered into the equally great (and intimidating) hall of Cinema Auteurs. It is in Yoshi Hates Castles that Matthew Hunter has finally reached the level of Bergman, Godard, Murnau, and Welles. A triumph.