THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS.

Sketch was the first film of my whiplash-inducing double feature today, paired quite impeccably with Weapons. I’m sitting in the theater prior to Weapons right now writing this review, actually! My primary motivation to see Sketch was to hear Cody Fry’s first theatrical score, and while it was certainly one of the good qualities of this film, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t the only good one.

This movie did a number of things right, including the score, and I quite enjoyed myself. Firstly, I loved the indulgence of horror movie tropes, camera work, and music in a kids’ movie; it was super refreshing and pretty funny at times, too. There were also a few honestly scary images as well, which I handled just fine, but I wonder how the kids did.

I also thought the film handled some complicated feelings and trauma with a lot of grace without being preachy like I would expect from an Angel Studios film. Granted, this was a festival pickup for the studio, so they didn’t write it, but I’m surprised that with “bastard” and “jackass” being thrown around, they still took a chance on it.

The movie’s most up-and-down execution, though, centered around Amber’s drawings. The film seesawed from asserting art as a legitimate outlet for dealing with grief, but turned all of Amber’s drawings into the villains pretty quickly after that. Ultimately, it seemed like the film settled on art as a way to process grief as good, but its inconsistency was a bit disconcerting. I thought the performances were solid across the board, and the many child actors I didn’t know were wonderful.

I’m not really a fan of Angel Studios as far as their original works, but they may have an eye for engaging, family-friendly, creative films. Sketch was like if IF was good, so congratulations to Angel, and to Cody Fry for finding a solid first project to jump onto.