Christmas Special Critique

I would like to start off this critique by first defining what exactly a critique is and it’s purpose. To give a critique means to give a careful judgment in which you give your opinion about the good and bad parts of something (such as a piece of writing or a work of art). This is also an effective way to improve your work for the better.

Firstly I would like to point out the positives within this Christmas special, the plot of the story itself is heart warming and well thought out. The 3D CGI animation was well animated and nicely polished as per usual for the Miraculous ladybug show. I loved most of the songs given to us within the special, they were straight to the point and also very catchy! I’m happy I got to see the wonderful characters I’ve been missing so much through this hiatus however, there is room for improvement.

The number one thing I am upset with is the timing of this whole episode. I am throughly perplexed that we were wrongly informed the special would be around 40 minutes long and could stand on its own as a movie. Firstly I have to disagree entirely with the statement of it being a stand alone movie. If you were to bring a person in to watch this Christmas special who had never seen the Miraculous Ladybug show before they would be lost. The characters wouldn't be known to them and the Adrien Agreste back story would go over their heads, I am not talking just about the loss of his mother and this being the first Christmas without her I am talking about his relationship with his father, the hardships he has been through. Though you can see their relationship is strained it is hard to see just how much so within this special. I do however love how they showed Gabriel does care for and love his son, which is something we fans don’t normally get to see.

As for what really disappoints me with this special, it’s the wasted potential. It had the potential to be so great and it was not reached due to the timing and pacing of the whole episode. As I stated before we were wrongly informed this Christmas special was to be 40 minutes long, I can only guess at one point they were planning on it being that long and something went wrong. The story they have with this special is brilliant, it is just executed poorly. I can easily say if this special were to have been 40 minutes long it would have been so much better. The pacing of this was over barring and way too fast paced, if you blinked you missed something crucial.

When writing, telling or showing a story the timing is everything its called narrative pace. The Miraculous Ladybug show is overall very fast paced and full of action which is great however, can sometimes be too much. A good narrative has both fast and slow pacing, a balance of both within this special would have benefited this immensely. They created great action sequences which are normally fast pace but the emotional parts with character building needs to be slower. The Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug and Chat Noir team are very creative and I believe they are easily capable of doing such things however, I think they are trying to get too much out in such a short amount of time. Going back to their basic narrative writing styles and calming down the pacing in the correct areas while keeping their over all plot would benefit the whole world of Miraculous.

Now in stating all of this, know this is my own opinion and you don't have to agree with any of it, I truly hope I am not alone in thinking these things though. Let me know your thoughts on the Christmas special, did you like it, did you not? Email and connect with us on our social media we can’t wait to hear your feed back.