Star Ballz Review

Distributor: MMG Edition Details: Standard DVD Movie Specs: Genres: Anime, Short Film, Comedy Also known as: Star Ballz: The Movie Run Time: 46 minutes Rated: not Release Year: 2001 Director: David Penava (as Ddangerfield) Written by: David Penava (as Ddangerfield) Voices: David Penava Release Specs: Audio: English Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: none Video: Full Frame, 1.33:1 Video Format: NTSC Format: DVD Regional Code (for DVD/Blu-ray): 0 (All) Number of discs: 1 Disc: DVD 5 (SS, SL) Special Features: none DVD-ROM Special Features: none

Synopsis:
A princess, after sending out a distress message in a robot called Pifuckyu, is captured by Lord Limpbiscuit. Two horny adventurers, Wank Solo and Chew Howie, get the message and attempt to rescue the princess from Lord Limpbiscuit.

Audio/Video:
Star Ballz is presented with an English 2.0 Stereo track, which is acceptable but could have been mastered better. The audio levels vary throughout the film, which can be very distracting and there are problems with the voice acting. There are several points throughout the film where you can hear the microphone get hit. Other than these issues there are no problems with the audio. MMG hasn't included any foreign language tracks or any subtitle options for the film.

Star Ballz is presented in the full screen aspect ratio of 1.33:1, which appears to be the original aspect ratio for the film. With the exception of the limitations of the source material, there are no problems with the video. The color levels are correctly set and there are no glitches, blemishes or artifacts present on the print.

Special Features:
There are no extras whatsoever included on this disc, which is unfortunate, especially given the short run time of the film.

Navigation:
There are 18 chapters available from the main menu for Star Ballz, which is more than enough to please any viewers. The chapters make it very easy to get to any portion of the film that you are trying to. There is a time code for the feature film encoded on the disc.

General Review:
Star Ballz is a fun film to watch, but it goes by way to fast. It's a spoof of many mainstream films, not just the one the title indicates, and the Japanese anime genre with a host of pop music and television show references as well. My biggest complaint about the film, is that too much material is squeezed into too small of a time frame. The end result of this is that you miss many of the jokes the first time around since you are still being amused by the one that came before it. As a result the film seems rushed.

The animation in the film is cheaply done and looks no better than that of a video game of a few years ago. Although the crude animation can be distracting at first, one quickly gets used to it and ceases to notice it. It is obvious that the film was cheaply made, but the positive aspects of the film over weigh this.

The voice acting in the film is rather bad and some of the voices in the film are plain annoying. No voice actors are credited in the film, so I'm not sure who did the voices. The voice over in the beginning of the film is one of the best moments in the film though.

The Scenes:
As this is an animated feature, I'm not going to get into the details of any of the sex scenes here.

Parting Thoughts:
Despite all of it's shortcomings, Star Ballz is a fun film to watch. As it is an animated feature, don't go into this film looking to get off. If you are looking for a funny film with an adult nature, this is a film for you to try.

Screenshots:

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