‘Sketch’ was the summer’s best family movie – and we all ignored it

Angel Studios delivered an original, heartfelt and scary adventure that deserved much better.

Remember a few years back when everyone was chasing that Amblin energy? For a while, it seemed like every film aimed to recapture that mixture of emotion, danger and childhood excitement that the Steven Spielberg-led studio churned out in the ‘80s. JJ Abrams tried it with Super 8, Stranger Things became a phenomenon, and there have been rumors of a Goonies legacy sequel for decades.

But Sketch might be the first film in a long time that captures the tone and feel of the best Amblin films without resorting to mimicry. It’s scary, imaginative and fun, with a strong emotional core. It’s a great family movie based on an original idea.

And so, audiences naturally chose remakes of Lilo & Stitch and How to Train Your Dragon instead¹.

Not that I’m any different. Sketch hit theaters in early August and got solid reviews – it’s currently sitting at 95% on Rotten Tomatoes. It features actors I like, including Tony Hale (Arrested Development and Veep) and D’arcy Carden (The Good Place, Barry). One of its producers is Steve Taylor, the ‘90s musician who was one of the few Christian artists to challenge church culture, and is a solid film director in his own right². And I wasn’t unaware of the movie – ads for it were plastered across my Facebook feed throughout the summer.

I assume we all had our reasons for ignoring it. For some, the marketing just couldn’t compete with the barrage of summer offerings being thrust at families. For me, it was the Angel Studios of it all – although I like The Chosen, which has since parted ways with Angel, I’m leery about their other work, which tends to traffic in half-truths and be pitched at fighting silly culture wars with movies like Sound of Freedom, Bonhoeffer and their RFK movie. Some of Angel’s most ardent supporters spoke out against the movie because it was too scary for young kids and has a few swears³.

Whatever the reason for skipping out on Sketch, it’s time to remedy that decision. The film is currently available to rent and purchase on Amazon, and it comes with a high recommendation from me.

Hale stars as Taylor, a widower raising his two kids, Amber and Jack, after the death of his wife. On the surface, Taylor and Jack seem to be moving on as best as possible – they basically just choose not to talk about it and move on with their life. But Amber is struggling; she’s angry and acting out, channeling her grief through increasingly dark drawings. Her counselor at school encourages this, saying that it’s better she use art to express her feelings than to hurt others, but Taylor doesn’t seem so sure. How did his sweet girl who grew up drawing hearts and butterflies become someone who conjures up giant beasts with snakes for hands, “eye-ders” (spiders with one giant eye), and a dark version of herself that wants to lash out at the world?

Jack eventually stumbles upon a magical pond in the woods behind their home that has the ability to mend broken things – his cellphone, a plate, a cut on his finger – and gets the idea that maybe it can do the same with his mother’s ashes. But before he gets a chance, Amber’s sketchbook is knocked into the water and her creations come to life, rampaging throughout the town.

As critic Jeffrey Overstreet noted in his Letterboxd, it’s basically “Stalker for kids,” although my first thought was Pet Sematary Jr. And writer-director Seth Worley, making his feature debut, has a great time with that premise. The creatures that emerge from the pond are some of the most fun designs I’ve seen in a long time, brought to life with color and tactility that’s impressive on a short budget. There are orange spiders with giant eyes that disappear into chalk dust and a big beast made of yarn (?) that belches glitter, and one wonderfully messed-up cat (there’s that Pet Sematary vibe). Worley has a Spielbergian knack for knowing just how to balance laughs and scares; yes, there’s some genuinely tense stuff in this for young kids, but there’s also a Joe Dante-esque vibe, and watching three kids – they also rope in a neighborhood brat named Bowman – take on these creations gives the film a different energy than if it were an entire family running for its life. The movie is more Gremlins than A Quiet Place, if that makes sense.

It’s also a film that takes issues of grief and mourning seriously, a kids’ adventure about learning how to process grief and the importance of speaking about the things that hurt. Hale is best known for his comedic roles – and he and Carden bring a capable dry humor to their reactions – but he’s solid as a father who begins to realize his own failure to mourn openly has hurt his kids. And Bianca Belle is fantastic as Amber, a young girl who might be the only one dealing with the death of a parent in an emotionally healthy way, even if those around her can’t understand it. Belle plays troubled without dipping into moroseness, and the moments in which Amber is able to lighten up and let her creativity and joy shine are also fantastic. The three lead kids in particular – including Kue Lawrence as Jack and Kalon Cox as Bowman – have great chemistry, with Cox being the film’s comedic secret weapon.

The movie I kept returning to when I thought of Sketch was another recent family film that tried to ape Spielberg, John Krasinski’s If, a movie that I quite like even if I concede it’s a giant mess. Worley is attempting something similar in exploring how children’s imaginations work and the role of grief in that process. But Sketch is more focused, energetic and less maudlin. Kids who might have been bored by If will probably enjoy this more; it has the emotional core, but it’s also funny and scary in all the right places.

And those who might be worried that the Angel Studios of it all turns this into a preachy fable needn’t be. Sketch was produced independently and acquired by the studio, and if it didn’t have the studio logos in front of it, I never would have placed it in any kind of faith-based bucket. Maybe that’s why the studio’s fans have also been upset – there’s no mention of God or culture war to win. But does it matter? The issue of healthy emotional communication is one that’s vital to all families, and Worley’s film is warm-hearted and pro-family in a way I would hope all viewers from all viewpoints can enjoy.

Sketch deserved better than a lukewarm theatrical release before being consigned to streaming. And it definitely didn’t deserve for parents to turn on it because of some jump scares and PG-rated language (although Angel’s decision to highlight that it’s suitable for kids 10 and over is a wise one). And it absolutely didn’t deserve to be an original, funny and thoughtful film that got passed by so audiences could consume Disney and Universal’s rehashes. Sketch is a great family movie; check it out.

1. And, for the record, yes – I was kind of okay with Lilo & Stitch and really liked How to Train Your Dragon. But they still feel like microwaved reheats of better movies.

2. One day, I’ll have to revisit and write about Taylor’s adaptation of Blue Like Jazz, which is so much better than it could have been.

3. I would say the movie’s probably too intense for kids under, say, age 8, although you’ll know your kids better; my daughter is easily scared, but she had fun with this. And the language is no worse than a Goonies or E.T. There’s some mild, PG cursing (“damn” and “hell,” an interrupted “shit”), but kids will have heard worse in Superman or a Marvel movie.