I never imagined I would be spending my Saturday night watching a TV special created by rapper Kid Cudi, but I did and let me tell you, it wasn’t half bad. Originally meant to be a television series, Entergalactic is an adult animated music television special that is streaming on Netflix. It’s meant “to serve as a musical component to the album of the same name” by Kid Cudi which I thought was pretty creative and an interesting way to advertise his new album. With vivid animations and a talented cast including the likes of Kid Cudi, Jessica Williams, Timothee Chalamet, Laura Harrier, and Vanessa Hudgens, Entergalactic was surprisingly much better than I had anticipated.
Like many, the first thing that caught my attention and got me to check out this special in the first place was the animation and art. I didn’t watch any trailers or anything, I just came across the poster for Entergalactic while scrolling through social media – I was immediately intrigued. It’s faintly reminiscent of Spider-man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018), but it has its own unique flair that feels distinct and personal. When I started the movie, I was admittedly a little thrown off by the animation’s choppiness and rugged style, but it quickly grew on me and I appreciated its quirkiness and the vibrancy of the colours used. There are some pretty stunning visuals splattered throughout the film that I’m sure you’ll be impressed with and it’s clear to me that this “movie” was focused on visual storytelling.
I’m personally not a listener of Kid Cudi’s music so I can’t really comment on whether his music added to my experience or not. The songs were nice and fit the tone of the scenes quite well, but I was much more interested in the visual experience rather than the audio. I just thought this would be interesting to point out given Entergalactic essentially is a promo for his new album. But if you’re a fan of Kid Cudi, I’m sure you’ll be very pleased with the music (I’d love to hear if it improved your experience of the film!).
As for the most important aspect of any film, the plot, it was arguably a very generic one. It’s a simple and standard love story between two adults, Jabari and Meadow, and it’s not really anything more or anything less. But where the plot fails to feel innovative and fresh, the movie makes up for it by being realistic and natural in its depiction of relationships. It captured the hesitancy and desire that comes with a new love, packaging it all in a relatable and somewhat sweet story. Nothing unexpected happens though so don’t expect any huge revelations or plot twists. Entergalactic is very simple, making this a laid back and easygoing watch to enjoy if you don’t want anything too crazy.
With a runtime of 1h 32m, I didn’t have any complaints with the pacing. I will say though that the ending happened a little too abruptly and I would’ve liked to have explored the outcome of Jabari and Meadow’s reunion a little further. The conclusion is a very stereotypical romantic comedy ending (it’s basically gives happily ever after vibes) which I do enjoy, but still would’ve liked to see a bit more fleshed out.
I do want to quickly note that this animated special is definitely for adults NOT children. There are some surprisingly explicit visuals that will hit you out of nowhere so be prepared for that (I certainly was not). There’s also an emphasis on drug use and smoking which I’m personally not a fan of seeing being overused in films, so yeah, don’t watch this one with your kids.
While Entergalactic isn’t mind-blowingly amazing or refreshingly new, it’s a stylish animated film that is both visually pleasing and easy to stomach. I’m impressed by Kid Cudi’s creativity in creating such a funky animation to go with his new music, and was generally pleased by the final product. I’ve decided to give Entergalactic a 7/10. It’s a relatively quick watch that you can enjoy without any problems, but just be aware the ending might not be the satisfying finish you want.
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