How (Not) to Criticize Film | KevinsFilmBox and FNAF | A FNAF Movie Defense

I love the FNAF movie, and the unreasonable hate it receives has been getting on my nerves, so I responded to KevinsFilmBox's video about the FNAF movie to defend it as best I could. I mean no ill will to Kevin, especially since he deleted his video likely due to some negative reaction, so don't go on some random video of his to hate on him, that's just plain lame.
Scott's Reddit post: / bad_news_about_the_fna...
All rights are reserved by Scott Cawthon and Universal Pictures. This video falls under free use due to the commentary and critical base of the content. This is not a replacement for watching the movie.
00:00 - Intro
01:54 - Story/Writing
08:10 - Characters
14:47 - Animatronics/Horror
23:41 - Fan Service
27:22 - Final Thoughts

[@rjsketchbook]

Dude, this was well worth the watch!! It's astonishingly high in quality (What mic do you use??), and I can tell a lot of thought went into it. Even if a lot of the specific points you made might be weighed by opinions (but I agree with you 100%), a lot of the stuff you talked about is insanely helpful in any critical sphere. Especially as someone who has a problem with saying "__ is bad. It's popular and overused and I don't like it", this video really opened my eyes to what I could do to improve my own critiques. I'd be interested in seeing what factors you think make a movie "good", since you seem pretty passionate on the subject!

[@comedicidiot]

Thank you! I put way too many weeks into this video, I'm glad it could help you improve your critiques! Thinking about the qualities that makes a good movie for me is rather complicated. I basically have two mindsets when it comes to media I enjoy, the first one is my average, day to day mindset of "I'm going to the movies to have a good time, so why bother not enjoying a movie? That would be a waste of my time." As I said in the video, I like to have my fun and not have it ruined. This mindset lets me enjoy media even if from an objective standpoint, it's pretty mid or just not good at all (Sonic '06 for example, love the game, but it's VERY rough). But then there's the other mindset, the more critical mindset. I like to focus on the deeper themes of a piece of media, the characterization, the character arcs, the message. The FNAF movie, for example, is a movie about how focusing on the past ruins your present. Almost all of the problems in Mike's life can be traced back to his trauma over his brother's kidnapping. He lost his job, something he does often. Why did he lose his job? Because he mistook a father rushing his kid for a kidnapping. Why did he make that mistake? Because of his trauma over his brother getting kidnapped, not wanting that to happen to anyone else. His sister isn't getting the best care, but why? Because as Max says, he sleeps most of the time. Why does he sleep most of the time? To return to the moment of his brother's kidnapping. Mike has dedicated all of his sleeping hours, which seems to be most of his hours, to the past, to the trauma he has, and it negatively affects his life in many ways. However, at the end of the movie, Mike realizes that his sister, his present, is much more important than living in some imagined past. He wishes he could change what happened, but he can't, and he needs to move on. And then he confronts Afton, a physical representation of his trauma, his past. This is the man who kidnapped his brother, this is the man who has caused him so much pain. Defeating Afton was not just defeating Afton, it was defeating his trauma. That is what the FNAF movie is about, and it's why I love it. The mic I use is this: www.amazon.com/LILANZo-Condenser-Microphone-Streaming-Recording/dp/B09MYY77H3

[@KelvinFredricksonBoxbury]

I didn’t actually delete my video. It was taken down and reported for “violating terms and policies” but thanks for reuploading it I guess idk. I won’t lie, my video was pretty lazy. I didn't have a clear idea of how to write the script for the review, and I kinda more or less just threw in random thoughts that popped into my head and tried to tie it all together, thinking it would make sense. I did expect the “viewers” to kinda connect the dots in some way. I made the video weeks after the movie came out, so I figured perhaps a majority of people would know what I was talking about regarding my issues, which is why I chose to not be specific in certain sections. And it appeared no one else had a problem with it. I cringed so many times when watching this. Mostly for how occasionally wrong I would be. I’ve always thought the video was ass even before it was uploaded, and I was pretty surprised by how big it became. So much so that I would’ve been shocked if something like this occurred. Which was perfectly fine, and the backlash didn’t really bother me. I thought your defense for the film was pretty justified. Doesn’t mean I changed my mind about the film and I still agree with some of the points I made (except for the score, that opening theme goes hard. Josh Hutcherson is fine too). Also, I haven’t seen a ton of bad movies and I don’t like to, so I don’t have any criteria on what I think makes a film bad, except for what I thought about it in general. I thought my harsh criticism is valid enough, feel free to disagree. And I don’t consider myself some sorta Martin Scorsese level cinematic connoisseur. I’m just a film-lover who wants to share his opinions about the stupid funny robo bear movie. Sorry if I come across that way. But I guess I kinda did make my video targeting people who are like me, and didn’t expect much. Otherwise, a pretty good video, and pretty educational on my behalf, as crazy as it sounds. I'm better talking about good movies than bad so I can understand where I faltered here. I can now say that I will use my brain more and overlook the inconsistencies in the script writing. Thanks 👍

[@comedicidiot]

Glad to hear it! I do kinda wish I used "professional" less, because of course you're not professional, you're just a guy on KZbin wanting to share his thoughts, so of course there's a different standard. However, I do think that if someone is willing to make a video review, then they should at least hold themselves to a higher standard than they would otherwise, so I guess that was my though process in using "professional". Glad I could help you out a bit when it comes to your review process, even if I couldn't change your mind. Everyone's entitled to their own opinion, so that's no biggie. Also when it comes to NWH, it's probably better to look at multiple videos. Just looking at one video saying the movie is bad is probably not the best way to develop a good analysis of the movie, since videos saying a movie is good or bad can be very one-sided, so it's best to look at many videos from both sides to get a good grasp of the movie as a whole and why people might or might not like it.

[@bartledoo9]

dude got put in his place after this video was uploaded. good video@@comedicidiot

[@KelvinFredricksonBoxbury]

@@bartledoo9 put in my place?

[@aldubm2234]

Honestly just sounds like he was being a bit lazy and didn’t want to fully explain. But the points he had kinda explain themselves. Idk the fnaf movie just seemed not great because a lot of the lore doesn’t fully align with the actual games which is a bit annoying for me. It could’ve been a really interesting movie that had dark elements but they didn’t want to go that way due to its marketability. We know Micheal or however you spell it is essentially a rotting corpse when he works these jobs, it’s hard to make that into a movie that everyone can watch. Changing it a little can be a good idea too, but the way they did it made it feel less like fnaf. Also the animatronics acting like kids is a problem because in the games they appear to be losing themselves, almost like they don’t have the ability to control themselves. The movie presents them as beings who have thought processes and they know when to hold back, but in the games they appear to have no control. Or doesn’t make sense for animatronics that are aware and children to kill adults in the first place, which is why in the games they are presented as beings without control and fueled by anger rather than children.

[@BossKnight]

the movie is more based on the books, its also the game lores family dynamics flipped seemingly, Schmidts being the emily's, the changes weren't so everyone could watch it, like the person said the changes were made to be a fnaf movie, not just about fnaf 1, also I can assure you if you jumped into a fnaf movie that started where fnaf 1 did in the game lore, you'd be confused as hell, and in the games its never shown they are losing control of themselves, they wanted to murder you in the games cause they think YOU killed them, and like the video you just watched said, they have always been children, angry souls of children who want their killer killed so they can be set free, again like the video you watched said, the animatronics have always been friendly to kids, and murderous to adults, they always have had control in that sense

[@comedicidiot]

The lore of the FNAF movie not lining up with the lore for the game is probably the most unreasonable and most popular complaint that people have towards it. Even before the trailers came out, as soon as a casting for Vanessa was announced, then it should have been obvious that this movie wasn't canon. As I said in the video, Vanessa exists decades after FNAF 1, so of course this wasn't gonna line up. But even besides that, Scott has set a precedent with external media. Only books are canon to the books, only games are canon to the games. This precedent was established in the Silver Eyes. This same logic can be applied to the movie, only movies are canon to the movies. It's unreasonable to have expected or even wanted a canon movie because Scott has already established that that's not how external media works. As shown in the video, Scott made multiple screenplays for the movie. One of those screenplays was the Cassidy screenplay. This screenplay actually WAS canon, it stuck perfectly to the story of the games. However, Scott didn't like this movie because it felt less like a movie and more like a visual encyclopedia. It was rewarding to fans, but it left general audiences completely lost. It wasn't a satisfying movie, which is why Scott didn't go with that screenplay. Also, the FNAF movie is probably less marketable than the games, because the movie is much more gore-filled than the games. In all 11 games, the are very few moments of explicit gore, and only one of those times isn't pixel art. The movie shows people get bit in half, get mauled, get springlocked, and get all kinds of cut up. The animatronics never appear to be losing control in the games. In FNAF 2, the animatronics are friendly toward children, unfriendly to adults, and only straight-up aggressive towards Fazbear staff. That's because they know that a Fazbear staff member killed children, they witnessed it themselves. Even as early as FNAF 2, the animatronics are shown to have some intelligence. If you look at Sister Location, the animatronics hatch a plan to escape the bunker, which involves manipulating Mike. Baby, who is possessed by a small child, speaks in full sentences. Cassidy and the Puppet are shown to similar levels of speech capability. The animatronics are not only not shown to be out of control, they're shown to have very good control. This opinion can only come from a fundamental misunderstanding of the games and what they present.

[@raelogan]

A "Generic Plot" would have been Mike meeting the Animatronics and then going on a road trip to stop Afton, Freddy talking and saying hip out-out-of-style puns, Chica saying "Pizza" like it's her catchphrase, Bonnie strumming the guitar at the end of every joke like sound cue to laugh, and then have a dance party at the end, with Foxy having a rap breakdown number after being silent the whole film.

[@comedicidiot]

Jeez, that describes way too many movies

[@raelogan]

​@@comedicidiot I know, right?? If this movie had gone that route, I could just see the ending being the dance party with everyone celebrating Afton being killed off, and it just cuts to the saferoom with him twitching while the music is muffled for a bit through the walls, and it just cuts back to the main stage with Foxy grabbing the mic. Bonus points for Mr. Cupcake "tripping" Mike into Vanessa. Balloon Boy just starts breakdancing for no reason. The song is either a Backstreet Boys song or NSync to be accurate to the 2000s. All physics of the characters are broken for this scene while Chica just does a backflip, they don't even do a Torreador March reference all. Every single movie that does that plot does this sort of thing, I swear, lol.

[@comedicidiot]

@@raelogan the dance party at the end of a movie is the epitome of generic

[@raelogan]

@@comedicidiot Exactly! 😆

[@dumbumbumbum8649]

Please explain to me how a road trip is a generic plot for a horror movie? You can’t just pretend the movie isn’t a horror movie and as a horror movie it is in fact very generic.

[@furzyartz]

I agree with all the points you make and you summed it up great!! seeing the movie in theaters with my friends was amazing. high hopes for the second one

[@comedicidiot]

It was a joy to see it in theaters! I went with my brother in Bonnie and Toy Chica costumes I had made and it was super fun! Hearing the Living Tombstone play at the end was a dream come true, it was the only thing I wanted from the movie. I hope they play It's Been So Long in the credits of the second movie

[@furzyartz]

@@comedicidiot YES!! Seeing Mattpat was one of the highlights too. I truly didn’t think he was in it so to see him pop up and even say HIS LINE was like magic!!

[@comedicidiot]

@@furzyartz I KNOW RIGHT?? It was so cool

[@beanconscript]

Really well done video! I would say I thought the movie was just alright. You made some great points but overall to me what stood out were the small things. Something like William feeling very in the shadows and mysterious, but in this movie he kinda feels like a generic villain, in the sense that he shows up for a final battle and tries to menace Mike, it just felt kinda cheesy and diminished his awesome character for me. I also really didn't like the animatronics being controlled by William. I like them being independent children, not fully understanding their reality and so they end up lashing out at adults and security guards. It makes them into victims despite being the antagonists and also leaves them as dramatic characters, especially in the fact that you only see them in distress, whether attacking as anamatronics or sobbing before dying in the 8-bit mini games. however in the movie, they too are like William, menacing and not having the same feel the originals did. I don't have all the language required to explain my feelings on the movie rn tbh. I'd have to rewatch it to give a full review, but overall i think it was alright. But again, great video, you make a lot of sense, I think for me its just a preference thing, not a "this movie is hot garbage" take like Kevin.

[@comedicidiot]

I’m not quite sure where you get this idea of William Afton from, because that certainly isn’t how William is characterized in the games or the books. As I said in the video, the characterization of William in the movie is very much like the characterization of William in the Silver Eyes (all the way back in 2015). In the Silver Eyes, a couple of teens break into the old Freddy Fazbear’s location that’s been closed for years and paved over with a mall. William Afton poses as this security guard named Dave Miller, and watches over these kids and talks to them nice and casual, as if he’s just a normal guy. However, he eventually finds his Spring Bonnie suit and starts capturing them. Once he’s captured them, he puts them in the Fredbear suit and informs them of the springlocks. He likes to toy with his victims, he likes to get in their heads before he kills them. It’s insane, it’s manipulative, but it’s what he enjoys. This exact same behavior is exhibited in the FNAF movie. Afton toys with Mike, gets him into Freddy’s, taunts Mike about his brother, throws him around as if he’s nothing. He plays with his food before he eats it. Now, I am heavily relying on the books here, but it’s very difficult to glean characterization from the very few lines of dialogue Afton has in the games and some 8-bit minigames. However, given that the Silver Eyes was released in 2015, before William Afton had a name in the games, before Sister Location, it seems fairly obvious that this is how Scott intends Afton to be viewed. Not as a shadowy and mysterious murderer, but as a crazed and impulsive madman that messes with and manipulates his victims. This is Afton’s character, and what’s seen in the movie matches that perfectly. As I said in another comment, the animatronics aren’t just lashing out at adults. In FNAF 2, they’re suspicious of adults, which is why they just stare, but they’re only aggressive toward Fazbear staff, since they witnessed a Fazbear employee kill children. Also, I find it hard to say that the animatronics don’t understand their reality whenever there have been multiple cases of animatronics speaking proper English (Baby, Puppet, Cassidy, and Molten Freddy). Even though the animatronics in the movie are being manipulated by Afton, that doesn’t stop them from being victims. Do you really think these kids want to kill people? No, of course not, but they do what Afton says because they see him as their friend, because Afton has manipulated them into thinking that. If anything, this makes them more like victims. They haven't just been murdered and forcefully stuffed into the animatronic costumes, they were also manipulated into being a murder weapon for the same guy who killed them. It’s sad to think about, and it keeps the spirit of the games intact, since without this manipulation, the animatronics wouldn’t kill anyone.

[@gabrielalastra2926]

Only 10 likes? This is the best FNAF movie video I’ve seen!

[@BurningFlamesofDivineDragon]

This was really well done and thought out keep up the great work.

[@jackbrassington3489]

This movie made my day thank you

[@B_L4DE]

as much as i dislike this movie, jesus christ that guy is awful at reviews 😭

[@madelineferguson9826]

Good video👍

[@cyborgmanfromakatsuki8098]

My opinion is fnaf. So, the first game is pretty simple. You have to watch the cameras, close the doors, and conserve power. That's it. That's the whole game. You just sit in this office and wait for something to happen. And when it does, it's not even scary. It's just a cheap jump scare with a loud noise. Wow, how original. How many times have I seen that before? And the worst part is, the game doesn't even explain anything. Who are these animatronics? Why are they trying to kill me? What's the story behind this place? I don't know, and I don't care. This game is a waste of time The second game is more of the same, but with more animatronics, more cameras, and more bullshit. Now you have to use a flashlight, a mask, and a music box. The flashlight is useless, because it drains your battery faster than a Sega Game Gear. The mask is supposed to fool the animatronics, but it doesn't work half the time. And the music box is the most annoying thing ever. You have to wind it up constantly, or else this puppet thing will come out and kill you. What kind of logic is that? Why does a music box stop a puppet? And why does a puppet kill me? It makes no sense. This game is a mess. And I don’t want to talk about other games at all. There are so many mediocre and boring games, need to seacth more bad games that fnaf

[@comedicidiot]

The gameplay of FNAF 1 seems pretty basic in retrospect, especially with how future games and fans games have expanded on the concept. But back in 2014, the sit-and-survive structure in FNAF was unheard of. No one was really aware of that formula, most horror games had the ability to run away from a threat, but FNAF was revolutionary for the fact that you couldn't escape, the only thing you could do was keep the animatronics out so you didn't die. That's why back in 2014, it was considered one of the scariest games out there, because FNAF was one of a kind. Also, there's a difference between cheap jumpscares and earned jumpscares. Cheap jumpscares are the kind in some bad horror movie where something pops up around the corner out of nowhere, BOOM loud noise, cheap shock, yadda yadda yadda. But in FNAF 1, jumpscares are only a result of an error from the player. If you play the game right, you never get jumpscared, because FNAF jumpscares are consequences of failure. Those kinds of jumpscares are earned. There's a reason FNAF 1 didn't explain much. It explained the very basics, like some kids were murdered and now they possess the robots, but it doesn't explain much more because Scott didn't have a reason to explain more at the time. While FNAF 1 was being made, Scott intended for it to be his final game. He didn't feel the need to give an elaboration for a story that he didn't expect much to happen to. Due to some luck on Scott's part, the game got super popular and now Scott is super rich off of the entire franchise that's spun off from that one game, and almost every new piece of media is trying to expand upon what that first game presented in some way. Also, if you don't care, then why ask the questions at all? When it comes to FNAF 2, I'm fairly certain you're playing it wrong. The battery lasts the entire night if you use it the intended way, so whatever you're doing is just unnecessarily draining it. The mask works 100% of the time if you use it right. Animatronics comes in, you put on the mask, wait for it to leave, then take off the mask. Simple. The only animatronic that isn't fooled is Foxy, which is why the flashlight exists, because Foxy is repelled by it. The point of the puppet isn't exactly to make sense (although, it does make sense if you put any care in to learning what this franchise is about at all, which you don't, so you shouldn't even be putting your foot into the door of a conversation you don't care about), it's just supposed to be a gameplay mechanic that keeps you distracted. The game would be too easy if all you were doing was the stuff in the office, since you would never even need to use the cameras. The puppet works as a distraction from whatever is happening in the office and a source off power that you can drain. The puppet exists for game balance. I like how you just completely dismiss the other games. You complain that nothing makes sense and that you don't know anything that's going on, but then you ignore all the games that give that context. Seriously, FNAF 3 onward is where most of the context for the story comes from, FNAF 3, 4, 5, and 6 are some of the most important games for the overall lore, but you just go, "Eh, fuck 'em."

[@B_L4DE]

brain dead take from cyborg man..

[@user-ew4lz9fz3p]

L take he was speaking nothing but facts you just blinded by nostalgia lil bro

[@P5GAMEZ]

Rubio hop off kevin bruh

[@comedicidiot]

Bro saw a 30 minute breakdown of a 7 minute video and went "nah, nostalgia"💀 not to mention the movie came out a month ago, how do I have nostalgia for movie that's only a month old?

[@comedicidiot]

@@P5GAMEZ well yeah, but this isn't a discussion of the old games, this is a discussion of the movie, and nostalgia shouldn't play a part in this. Not to mention, Kevin mentions being a fan of classic FNAF when growing up and still looking on those games fondly, which is textbook nostalgia

[@comedicidiot]

@@P5GAMEZ Yeah I understand that, I'm really sorry man

[@P5GAMEZ]

@@comedicidiot nah it’s alrighr