Popular reviews

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  Review by Cinemonster ★★★ 3

  A love letter to an artist who has had a tremendous impact on a generation, Dear Mr. Watterson is a documentary about the creator of Calvin & Hobbes that is a bit thin at times and occasionally loses focus. However, shortcomings aside, the opportunity to hear from his peers (highlight is Berk Breathed) and see early art and projects from Bill Watterson make this an interesting watch. It is a must see for fans of both Watterson's work and of the comic strip form. His work changed a lot for me as a young artist and questionably behaved lad, and I look forward to the day that I can help keep it alive through my own child. God willing he/she will be better behaved than Calvin and I.

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  Review by Larry ★★★½ 2

  A heartfelt, if not a little chaotic and disorganized documentary on the greatest comic strip of all time. It tackles a long and sordid story in a mere 90 minutes and by the end you feel enlightened but still a little starved for content. As a fan I secretly wished for a better constructed doc but at the same time I watched it with great admiration and love.

  My fav.

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  Review by Ian Fastert ★★★★ 2

  A little backstory on this; when I was a kid, i first found Calvin and Hobbes through a collection of books that I could buy at my school book fair. My parents recommended them, so I decided to buy those two books, and then I read them all night long. And then I did that the night after that.

  And the night after that.

  
  When I was a kid, I had stuffed animals galore. I would act out large scale epics with all my stuffed animals, because even then movies from Pixar made me want to make movies and tell stories (yes, that does mean there are videos of me playing with a shit ton of stuffed animals). And then…

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  Review by Zack Ford ★★ 4

  Thoughts about Dear Mr. Waterson:

  - Don't be fooled by the title, this is not a movie about the cartoonist Bill Watterson. As a mild recluse, he does not appear or contribute anything to this film. Instead, it is a documentary about the fandom of Calvin and Hobbes.

  - This is really a film that was made just because a man wants to talk about how much he loves Calvin and Hobbes The first and last twenty minutes is just the director stating why he thinks it is such a great comic. He really really loves Calvin and Hobbes- that's the thesis of this movie.

  -The director/ main character in this doc is a thirty-ish year old man with the…

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  Review by Odie Arbuckle ★★★½ 1

  Newspaper comics were a staple of my childhood Calvin and Hobbes was one of the strips that I'd immediately go to each morning(alongside Garfield and Foxtrot). Of course I had a bunch of the collections as well, and it was The Calvin and Hobbes Tenth Anniversary Book that was probably the most fascinating. That collection was special because it blurbs of Bill Watterson's comments on specific strips, and short essays about where he talked about the comic-making process and newspaper comic industry. While much of his talk about comic syndicates and disputes over merchandising went over my head as a kid, but I get it now as an adult.

  Watterson quit when he was ahead, maintaining his artistic integrity and…

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  Review by Jackie Stewart ★★★

  It's like going to an orgy and watching 50 people suck one dude's dick for 90 minutes even though they know that dude doesn't want his dick sucked. Yes, Calvin and Hobbes is the greatest comic strip of all time, created by a notorious recluse who never would permit licensing or interviews. This documentary sheds very little light on that and the scenes with the actual documentarian are pretty painful. It's like The Chris Farley show but for real. "Hey, remember that one where Calvin is on a sled???"

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  Review by AMC_Vagrant ★★★½

  A very niche but very appreciated documentary about the life and art of Bill Watterson a man responsible for a very formative comic in many peoples lives.

  It weaves through a lot of the typical documentary beats, with a few pit stops to chat with online enthusiasts, some who helped crowdfund the documentary substantially, it’s clearly a labor of love project. Dedicated to soaking up ad much information as possible.

  The only major downside is the documentarian is too close to the subject. He loves Calvin and Hobbes and it’s creator a bit too much to take an objective view. The film becomes a love letter with rose tinted glasses he only removes on occasion, before quickly putting them back…

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  Review by Boy Roarbison [fka Nag Champion] ★★★ 6

  Nag's Documentary-a-Day in December: Day Twelve

  Is the over-whelming majority of the film simply talking heads gushing about how much they love "Calvin & Hobbes"? Yes. But if you love "Calvin & Hobbes" as much as I do, then it won't bother you much at all. The most interesting parts were near the middle of the film, regarding Watterson's decision to refuse any licencing deals for the strip [so, no Hobbes dolls or Calvin lunchboxes, basically] in order to preserve the integrity of [and complete control over] his work. He didn't want his art distorted by commercialism, a la "Garfield" or, even worse, "Peanuts" [we've all seen the groan-inducing MetLife insurance ads]. Watterson comes off as an enigmatic and brilliant introvert, and…

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  Review by dadgumblah ★★★★

  This review may contain spoilers. I can handle the truth.

  Very good documentary film about a young filmmaker's (Joel Allen Schroeder, who directed this) trek to find out as much as he can about peoples' thoughts, impressions, and influence by Bill Watterson, the man who drew and wrote the epic comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, which is one of my all-time favorites. In fact, the books shown in the film that collect his strips are all in my collection (except the gigantic 3-volume cases that collect ALL of his strips). His comic strip affected me greatly in that I loved the art, which was aesthetically pleasing to my eye, plus the writing, which mixed intelligent commentary (without talking down to the average person) with extreme silliness and joy. The cartoon…

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  Review by Sean ★★★½

  Dear Mr. Watterson is a slight and light hearted documentary about the former daily comic strip Calvin and Hobbes and its now recluse creator, Bill Watterson. Its a love letter to the comic pure and simple and that is fine with me because of the memories the film provided of hovering over the collections that were handed down to me by my dad.

  Calvin and Hobbes is a comic that transcends both time and generations, and it shows by the wide variety of people that are interviewed. I'm in no way similar to any situation of anyone else in the film, yet because I'm such a fan and am familiar with the comics, the bond and relatability is still there.…

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  Review by RetroHound ★★ 6

  As a huge fan of Calvin and Hobbes (really, who isn't?) I was a bit disappointed by this documentary. It was hagiography, repetitive, and only a few decent insights through the whole thing. It was cool to listen to Berke Breathed of Bloom County, and the guy in charge of the syndicate, and a few others, but there was just way to many people saying the same thing to keep it interesting. The few detractors on things like merchandising didn't get enough screen time to make their case so it was set up to agree with Watterson. Watterson himself doesn't appear in the doc, but you do get to see some originals of the scrips with white-out and all. That…

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  Review by Bob Phelan ★★★ 4

  Preaching to the choir.