Dear Mr. Watterson

Dear Mr. Watterson

By Joel Allen Schroeder

  • Genre: Documentary
  • Release Date: 2013-11-15
  • Advisory Rating: NR
  • Runtime: 1h 30min
  • Director: Joel Allen Schroeder
  • iTunes Price: USD 9.99
  • iTunes Rent Price: USD 3.99
6.5/10
6.5
From 39 Ratings
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Description

Calvin & Hobbes took center stage immediately when it appeared in newspaper comics across the country in 1985. The funny pages were a big part of popular culture, and it was hard to find a comics reader who didn’t like Calvin & Hobbes. A decade later, when Bill Watterson retired his strip, millions of readers felt the void left by the sudden departure of Calvin and his tiger, and many fans would never find a satisfactory replacement. In his retirement, as he did during his career, Mr. Watterson has steadfastly declined to license his beloved Calvin and Hobbes characters for any wider commercial purposes, a principled decision that left perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars on the table. It has now been 18 years since the end of the Calvin & Hobbes era. Bill Watterson has kept an extremely low profile during this time, living a very private life in Ohio. Despite his quiet lifestyle, he is remembered and appreciated daily by fans who still enjoy his amazing collection of work. Dear Mr. Watterson is not a quest to find Bill Watterson, or to invade his privacy. It is an exploration to discover why his 'simple' comic strip has made such an impact on so many readers, and why it still means so much to us today.

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Reviews

  • huge disappointment

    2
    By uconn john
    The best part of the film were the displays of Calvin & Hobbes strips. The narration is choppy and the director shows no talent as a storyteller. Multiple talking heads are never identified making it hard to care what they say. It would be best to watch this with the sound off. Then you can experience Watterson’s genius without stupid remarks about “puts a smile on my face” or watching people paging through old comics and goofily grinning. This is not a smart film and would have been better if it simply relied on the clever reveals of the old comic strips. The rest is annoying and dull. Dig out your old Calvin & Hobbes anthologies instead.

  • Infomercial

    1
    By name already taken?
    After 10 mins we fast forwarded another 10/15 mins and then turned it off as it all seemed like a an infomercial to us; we already like Calvin and Hobbs, didn't think we needed an ad to tell us that.

  • Not good

    5
    By Hobbesqqq
    Quite bad actually.

  • Lame talking heads

    1
    By willabee77
    We lasted 24 minutes into this series of random people’s memories about how the comic strip was important to them, including such deep insights as where on the walls they pasted each Sunday’s cartoon and which particular strip was their favorite. We are big fans of Calvin & Hobbes and were hoping for something deep, new or informative. This movie had none of that - just one person after another saying how much they liked it and reminiscing. Perhaps the Twitter and Facebook era has fooled people into believing that every thought they have is worthy of sharing with the world.

  • Superfans are annoying

    3
    By uhoda
    I love Calvin and Hobbes. I love less seeing the red face of Joel Allen Schroeder talking about his childhood room or poring over Watterson originals while keeping those originals mostly hidden from the camera. I flat out dislike seeing other millenials earnestly but banally declaring their love of Calving and Hobbes -- my reaction to all of the above is "so what?" Love, or at least interest, in Calvin and Hobbs is a likely prerequisite for anyone seeing this movie; what we want isn't a bunch of superlative-laden testimonials, but some insight into the comic strip's creation, its art, its impact. We do get that, in limited doses, from Berkley Breathed and Stephen Pastis. Bill Watterson held himself up to an exacting standard; would that this filmmaker had done the same and elucidated more and gushed less.

  • Bummer....

    1
    By SuperTeacher44
    If you love Calvin & Hobbes (of course you do!), this will be a happy time to remind you to go back and pull out your paperback copies to revisit the fun. However, if you were hoping for a love letter and thank you to Mr. Watterson, this is NOT the movie for you. It feels a bit like Trekkies for C&H. The documentarian was EXTREMELY lucky because the love for C&H got him some great people to interview. It is a shame he didn't learn how to interview folks for a documentary or have the gratitude to Mr. Watterson for sharing your art and giving us something to love and cherish for all time come through as the main message of the film.

  • Interesting, and good for a die hard C&H fan

    4
    By Willmuzik
    I kept hoping that they'd say.."and here's Bill Watterson to talk about this.." but I knew it would never happen and it never did. In any case, there are some fascinating historical things shown here, as well as compelling interviews with other comic artists, and the whole film is very respectful and true to the essences of Calvin and Hobbes. As someone who grew up reading this, I was very intrigued and entertained.

  • ZOOM OUT

    3
    By Ice Block Films
    Camera! Keeps! Getting! CLOSER!

  • Dull and poorly done.

    1
    By lksdhif
    A documentary of conversations. Not at all what I expected, and very disappointed.

  • I miss Calvin and Hobbes

    5
    By Seamuskrat
    I always enjoyed reading Calvin and Hobbes. I never realized how much I missed it until watching Dear Mr. Watterson. While Mr. Watterson bever appears in the film, it still captures the awe and essence of the trip, the influence those artist had on so many other strips and his take on life. itself. The film was well shot, directed and interesting throughout. Visually the comic fades were amazing. I felt I cam away with a better appreciate of the artist, the comic strip itself and and even greater appreciation for this medium.

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Movies by Joel Allen Schroeder

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