featuring The voices Of: Asa Butterfield, Joel fry, Alison Steadman
Directed By: Steve Hudson
Release Year: 2025
Studio/Streamer: Briarcliffe Entertainment
Audio Description Produced By: No Credits Listed
Written By:
Narrated By:
What is it?: At least influenced by Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, Stitch head follows a young sidekick to a mad professor, who is tasked with the safety of every new monster or creation brought to life. Stitch Head tells these creations that they must avoid humans, because they don’t like monsters, but when a circus comes to town that highlights monsters, it becomes a possibility that they could find their place in the real world. or, are things not as they seem? It’s time for the sidekick to be the hero of the story.
What Works: I had an interesting journey with this. I was given an advance copy, which at first didn’t have audio description, but before I could do anything with a review, I was notified that the studio was working on getting me an accessible screener. Great. Yes, I did see this twice. once without, and once with. While we definitely need to talk about the track, it did provide some clarity and answer questions I had lingering. For a film about monsters, not knowing what they look like seems to defeat the purpose.
Briarcliffe is also a relatively new distributor, and they don’t have an in house animation studio, so this is an acquisition. I’m hoping the animation looks solid, and not like Hoodwinked. I say that, because I like this film, but bad animation as a sighted viewer is utterly distracting no matter how cute the premise. I have little patience for films that go theatrical but look like they were animated using Microsoft Paint.
While Stitch Head bares resemblance to many other things, from the obvious Frankenstine, to Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, and even the musical Sideshow, it has its own charm. A lot of that has to do with the endearing titular character, who seems like a somewhat beleaguered assistant, who seems delighted when he has his moment in the sun, and even gets to develop a bit of romantic possibilities.
Stitch head is a film that could enter your broader circle of Halloween themed fare. While I did like it, I can’t claim it is nearly as striking or original as something like Coraline, but it certainly is still worth the glance. Ina edition to getting audio description on the second viewing, there was also a bit of time, and in between the viewings, I did see Netflix’s animated The Twits, which was just a disappointing garbled mess. that film has some dreadful music, and it made me appreciate the songs in stitch Head even more on the second viewing. I could hear Monsters Monsters in my head far after watching the movie.
Stitch head is a film for outcasts, celebrating their uniqueness, and using what makes them so different also making them so special.
The Audio Description: I hope this wasn’t made just for me, and it does appear with the film either theatrically or for video on demand. That being said, this was not a well made track. it was either a rush job, or an independently done job by someone who doesn’t really know how to do audio description. yes, I got a lot of the visual elements described. remember, I saw it twice, and that won’t be the same experience for everyone. The track trampled dialog. Not only does it have a hard time with the musical numbers, but it did talk over dialogue, which is basically the cardinal sin. As far as musical numbers go, it can be a taste thing, but the safest bet is to do description during the repetitive chorus, leaving the verses and bridges alone. No one took credit at the end, so I have no one to call out. But if this is you, I don’t mind the narrators vocal performance, but a lot had to go wrong to get here. Someone wrote a script that didn’t work, and then it was edited and quality checked with no one questioning. If these corners were cut, and it was given to just a guy with a microphone, computer, and loose idea of what audio description is, we have got to get the message out about hiring companies that do quality work. If Briarcliffe wants to compete with the major distributors, they aren’t making description like this. I could give Briarcliffe a list of acceptable companies regularly producing solid audio description to use. I don’t know what this was. I appreciate the effort, but this AD team (or person) doesn’t really know what audio description is.
Why You Might Like it: If you’ve been wearing Nightmare Before Christmas gear for 35 years, and have a Hot topic credit card so you can keep up on everything they put out in that realm, maybe its time to branch out.
Why You Might Not Like it: it doesn’t quite have the shine of a Wild Robot or a Pixar feature, nor is it anime. However, last year we celebrated the heck out of Flow, which was independently financed animation. So, if you liked Flow, you are already accustomed to animation made outside of a major American animation house.
Final thoughts: Sitch Head is both the hero we need and deserve right now, an endearing outcast with a lot of potential to give you all the feels (and some chills) this spooky season.
Fresh: Final Grade: 7.2/10