Edited with the swift wit of an Edgar Wright parody like Shaun of the Dead, this dark, low-budget family fantasy delivers on a terrific premise through confident performances from all age groups, led by Arrested Development and Veep’s Tony Hale as a widowed father.
Hale’s Taylor Wyatt is trying to do right by his grieving son and daughter, but while young Jack (Kue Lawrence) is devotedly making sure everyone else is all right, it’s Bianca Belle’s astonishing, dark-eyed Amber who’s demonstrating signs of trauma.
A notebook full of alarmingly violent drawings brings Amber to the attention of an understanding therapist who approves her using art as an emotional “outbox” rather than holding it all in.
But one day, Amber accidentally drops her notebook into a magic pond, and the creatures on the page become animated into frightening real-life forms. In fighting these unexpected baddies, Amber and Jack might learn how to heal their hurt.
Sketch is the very sweet brainchild of Seth Worley, here directing his debut feature. He clearly knows his genres: the film is styled as a horror/thriller, with a propulsively ominous musical score as the camera pans across innocent children’s toys, zooms in on Amber’s notebook emblazoned with a cute cat picture, and lands on a pastel-coloured stuffed elephant.
It makes you wonder: is Sketch a spoof or actually spooky?
As the children band together with goofy friend Bowman (I predict little Kalon Cox as the next Jack Black), things do get pretty hairy. The kids are amazing: a bunch of mini 21st-century Goonies fighting giant-scale papier mâché, glitter monsters. It helps that nurturing Aunt Liz is played by D’Arcy Carden, the reassuring Janet from The Good Place.
Despite the protagonist’s bright green hairclips and the sparkly blue boogie monster named Dave, Sketch may be quite intense for anyone under 8. (The film is rated PG.)
But references to Minecraft and Zelda, and multiple sniggered uses of the word “butt” are spot-on representations of how today’s computer-literate littlies speak. Furthermore, the story posits that scrapbooks of scary drawings don’t pre-suppose a life of juvenile crime but are actually a helpful tool for dealing with childhood trauma.
Rating out of five: ★★★★
Sketch, directed by Seth Worley, is in cinemas now.
