Dear Mr. Watterson (2013)

“Calvin and Hobbes is such a subversive comic. But it has a purity to it that most comics don’t,because it is so joyful and very much in the imagination of this kid, and yet he is hyperaware of world events and pop culture and ironies and social concepts, and I just found that really, really exciting. ” – Seth Green

Number of Times Seen – 1 (26 Jan 2022)

Brief Synopsis – Documentary that tries to figure out why the comic strip Calvin & Hobbes ןis so popular even decades after it was discontinued.

My Take on it – This is a film that I came across by accident and was quite curious to see being that I loved reading Calvin & Hobbes as a kid.

The film tries to explore why this comic strip is so universal despite the fact that the cartoonist Bill Watterson chose to never let it get commercialized.

The film has some great interviews with fans of the strip, but the best ones are with fellow cartoonists who try to explain the market and how it has changed in the 3 decades since Calvin & Hobbes was popular.

They also try and figure out why Watterson made the active decision to stop his strip while also banning any form of commercialization of the characters which is quite fascinating to learn.

The scenes in the comic strip archive are great because they show how rare the original prints of comic strips are and how it is possible to view them even when needing to use the utmost care on doing so.

There is no question that this is a passion project for Director Joel Allen Scroeder and I’d love to see more of his work in the future.

It was even cooler how I was able to recognize a friend of a friend who was interviewed in the film. (Eli Schiff)

Recommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – There is a scene after the credits in regards to the title of the movie. (From IMDB)

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)