X
- 2013
- TV-PG
- Gravitas Ventures
- 1 h 29 m
- 2013
- TV-PG
- Gravitas Ventures
- 1 h 29 m
Summary A documentary film about the impact of the newspaper comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, created by Bill Watterson.
Directed By: Joel Allen Schroeder
- 2013
- TV-PG
- Gravitas Ventures
- 1 h 29 m
- 2013
- TV-PG
- Gravitas Ventures
- 1 h 29 m
Dear Mr. Watterson
54
User Score
Available after 4 ratings
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Where to Watch
Summary A documentary film about the impact of the newspaper comic strip Calvin & Hobbes, created by Bill Watterson.
Directed By: Joel Allen Schroeder
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
54
35% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
65% Mixed
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 20 Critic Reviews
54
35% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
65% Mixed
13 Reviews
13 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Schroeder tracks the end of innocence in much the same way that the strip captured it each time out. Unlike "Salinger," he hardly makes a spectacle out of Watterson's secluded tendencies. The pileup of interview subjects speak eloquently on his behalf.
Just as it’s impossible to capture in a 600-word review what made Calvin And Hobbes so special, no 100-minute film on the subject can really hope to convey its magic either. But Dear Mr. Watterson does its best, relying on choice excerpts of the work and enthusiastic talking-head interviews.
Though it begins by spending far too much time talking up the comic's quality, it gradually finds a groove as an incisive portrait of an insecure industry.
Still, if any modern strip is worthy of an extended, Hobbes-style tongue bath, it’s this one.
Like the rest of Dear Mr. Watterson, it’s a good-hearted gesture. But unlike Calvin’s alter ego Spaceman Spiff, this film never manages to achieve liftoff.
Too much of Dear Mr. Watterson is taken up by Schroeder and an array of non-professional C&H-lovers offering vague praise, with little to no real analysis—aesthetic, historical, or cultural.
The deeply private, intensely ideological and undeniably brilliant Watterson would make an absolutely fascinating subject. But director Joel Allen Schroeder has no access to him. So instead he talks a lot about how much he loves “Calvin and Hobbes” and then invites other fans to do the same.
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Release Date Nov 15, 2013
Duration 1 h 29 m
Rating TV-PG
Genres
Tagline An Exploration of Calvin & Hobbes
