Time: 91 Minutes
Age Rating: R16 – Violence, horror scenes & offensive language
Voice Cast:
Nicole Tompkins as Jill Valentine
Kevin Dorman as Chris Redfield
Matthew Mercer as Leon S. Kennedy
Stephanie Panisello as Claire Redfield
Erin Cahill as Rebecca Chambers
Salli Saffioti as Ingrid Hunnigan
Cristina Vee as Maria Gomez
Daman Mills as Dylan Blake
Director: Eiichirō Hasumi

I’m quite familiar with the Resident Evil games from Resident Evil 7 onwards, so it’s reasonable to say that I’m a fan of the series. I have also watched the live action Resident Evil movies, from Paul W.S. Anderson’s movies to Welcome to Raccoon City. But I hadn’t gotten to any of the animated movies and I made my start with the latest one, Death Island, which features all the ‘classic’ RE protagonists in one movie. I can’t say that the movie was great, but I enjoyed it.

The first thing I will say is that this movie probably isn’t worth watching if you aren’t a RE fan, and especially if you aren’t familiar with any of the classic Resident Evil characters. It’s pretty clear early on that much of the appeal of this movie is seeing these characters on screen together, namely Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield, Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Rebecca Chambers. It is nice seeing them together, and if you are a fan of the games that feature their characters, you’ll probably get some enjoyment out of it. The movie isn’t hard to follow if you don’t know the Resident Evil lore, the plot is very straightforward standard action horror stuff. It’s just that the plot is very disposable and generic, so it doesn’t have that much else to offer. It’s a bit bland, the story isn’t really captivating, and from a story and character focus, it is just going through the motions. As per Resident Evil, while the plot isn’t that good, its enjoyable with how over the top, pulpy and absurd it is (much like some of the RE games), though it never comes close to resembling anything scary.

The voice actors generally do good work, and it helps that there’s a few actors here who have previously played their respective characters in the games before like Matthew Mercer, Nicole Tompkins and Stephanie Panisello.

The animation is generally decent, but can be hit or miss. The best way I can describe the quality of animation is that its like you are watching nearly unfinished cutscenes from the Resident Evil games, and even the lip synching can be a little off at points. The action is over the top and enjoyable, however, by the time it reaches the climax, it can look very lifeless and rubbery.

Resident Evil: Death Island is a very flawed and averagely written, but enjoyable RE animated movie. If you aren’t a fan of any of the ‘classic” RE games then I can’t see you enjoying it that much, but if you are, then you might get some entertainment out of this.