[THREE STARS]
Dear Mr. Waterson looks like a warm meditation on what will surely be remembered as one of the greatest comic strips of all time. Calvin and Hobbes shaped my childhood and a lot of my enduring perspectives in much the same way it probably shaped yours, if you read the strip. It’s no surprise then that someone’s finally made a documentary about it.
This film looks good. With a lot of major talent from the industry commenting including the great Berkeley Breathed and Bill Amend, this could prove to be an insightful deep dive into the (sadly retracting) comic strip industry as a whole.
The only problem, as I see it, the one thing that’ll really be missing, is the perspective of Bill Waterson, the author of Calvin and Hobbes and for whom this film is named. Bill Waterson is a notorious recluse, having made no public appearances, I believe, since the early ‘90s. My guess is won’t be appearing in this film. Ah, but would that he were! Oh well. Maybe sometimes it’s better to let authors just be mysterious. It enhances their mystique and gives a special glow to their work. J.D. Salinger, anyone?
In any case, I give Dear Mr. Waterson three stars. It’s about time someone got around to making this film.
Trailerbites 