Entergalactic Review! Into the Spider-Verse Meets Brown Sugar!

Entergalactic is streaming on Netflix, and I have to admit, I ALMOST slept on this special! I damn near slapped myself, for thinking about passing on this one! A love story, with beautifully animated melanin-blessed characters, animation that reminds one of Into The Spider-Verse, a soundtrack by Kid Cudi, AND an all-star cast?! Yeah, I’m gonna watch it.

Entergalactic follows the main character Jabari (Kid Cudi) an upcoming comic artist who just moved to Brooklyn, after being dumped by his ex-girlfriend Carmen (Laura Harrier). While trying to move on, he meets photographer Meadow (Jessica Williams) at a house party, and the two have an instant connection. Jabari’s friends, Ky (Ty Dolla $ign), Jimmy (Timothee Chalamet), Jordan (Jaden Smith), and Downtown Pat (Macaulay Culkin..yes, that Macaulay Culkin!) all share their opinions about love and life in their own unique way. As does Meadow’s best friend, Karina (Vanessa Hudgens), who’s in the midst of having a baby. The two eventually hook up, letting love take the wheel. However, an unexpected text from Jabari’s past messes up his potential future and sets him and Meadow in a whirlwind of emotions as they both figure out what love means to them.

While I’m not a die-hard Kid Cudi fan, I do feel his music hits hard when you’re in a certain mood. And this film seems to capture every mode with certain songs, from stress to being in love, to wondering about where life takes you. As I said before, the animation reminds one of Into The Spider-Verse, if it were greenlit by HBO cause they’re some…” pleasure moments” in the film, lol. The banter between friends is funny and realistic, as co-writer Kenya Barrris delivers. Subtle guest appearances from Keith David, Teyana Taylor, and Luiz Guzman deliver, the embracing of smoking Marijuana being a message, and the classic “boy meets girl” love troupe being reinvented for black and brown people really set this apart from other romance projects this year. While the ending may be a bit cliché, I’m not mad at it. After finishing this movie, it left me wanting more in this particular style of animation and storytelling. Animation can be more than animorphic characters, superheroes, or mechs. The animation department, headed by Robh Rupeel, really nailed the aesthetic and I hope to see more. I'm giving Entergalactic a 9 out of 10.