You Probably Missed This 2021 Animated Sports Movie With 100% On Rotten Tomatoes

Achieving a score of 100% on Rotten Tomatoes is a hugely difficult task, but maintaining that score for over three years after the film’s release is even more impressive. That’s exactly what The Summit of the Gods managed to achieve, making it one of the most underrated animated movies of the past few years. The film is an incredibly bold exploration of ambition and legacy that uses innovative styles of animation to enhance its narrative, but shockingly, many audiences haven’t even heard of the film.
What’s so impressive about The Summit of the Gods, beyond its technical prowess and sharp storytelling, is the film’s ability to blend so many different types of filmmaking together while never feeling messy. This is something that many projects simply aren’t able to do, and it’s likely a huge contributor to the film’s ongoing Rotten Tomatoes score of 100%. Unfortunately, the film has been overshadowed by the countless studio releases of the past few years – while companies like Disney have some incredible animated movies, perhaps audiences should give this lesser-known film a try instead.
The Summit Of The Gods Is An Animated Netflix Original – What The Movie Is About
The Movie Completely Flew Under Many Audiences’ Radars
The Summit of the Gods tells the story of a Japanese photographer who stumbles across a lost camera that he believes belonged to George Mallory, a famous explorer who went missing during a treacherous expedition on Mount Everest. When the camera is stolen, the film’s protagonist Fukamachi undergoes a journey to retrieve the artifact and investigate the photos to understand what happened to the elusive explorer. It’s a fascinating blend of fact and fiction that tells Mallory’s story from a uniquely fresh perspective.
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The film was released globally on Netflix, and immediately received acclaim for its gripping story and uncanny ability to make such a factual, educational narrative so engaging and dramatic. There have been several movies about climbing Mount Everest, but The Summit of the Gods presents this adventure in a way that blends two different time periods together and compares how the act of climbing and adventuring has evolved with new technologies and methods. It’s totally singular, and that’s exactly why it resonated so strongly and ubiquitously with critics across the world.
The Summit Of The Gods Wasn’t Nominated For Any Oscars Or Golden Globes
The Film Was Absent From The Awards Ceremonies
And yet, despite all this praise and acclaim, The Summit of the Gods remains a criminally underrated film that many people haven’t even heard of. There are several reasons for this, ranging from its lack of theatrical distribution to many audiences’ hesitance to watch animated movies, but the biggest reason was the film’s lack of success at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. The Best Animated Feature award at both of these ceremonies is a perfect tool for shedding light on otherwise underseen movies, and The Summit of the Gods didn’t appear at either awards show.
Instead, the Oscars and Golden Globes decided to nominate features such as Encanto, Raya and the Last Dragon, and Luca.
Instead, the Oscars and Golden Globes decided to nominate features such as Encanto, Raya and the Last Dragon, and Luca. While these projects certainly deserved their nominations at the 2022 Oscars, the erasure of films like The Summit of the Gods represents a more systemic problem of independent cinema struggling more consistently in the animated fields. Companies like Disney and Pixar essentially have a monopoly on this category, and it’s much harder for excellent movies like The Summit of the Gods to make waves.
The Summit Of The Gods Has a Nerve-Racking Narrative & Masterful Visuals
The Film’s Story Unfolds In Very Creative Ways
While a film about chasing a lost camera and uncovering the truth about a long-dead explorer may not seem exciting on the surface, The Summit of the Gods somehow manages to weave one of the most intense and nerve-racking narratives of the past few years. Fukumachi’s story is a simple one, but it’s one that’s so easy to find yourself invested in. While the character is fairly straightforward, his dedication to this journey and his compassion for a man he’s never met instantly make him likable and allows the audience to connect with his plight.
Additionally, it’s impossible to talk about The Summit of the Gods without touching on the gorgeous visuals and impeccable editing that brings this story to life. The animation style is totally unique and singular, allowing for plenty of dynamic scenes that probably wouldn’t have been possible in live-action. It’s both naturalistic and stylized, which is something that only animated films can pull off so effectively. Even the best movies of the 2020s have struggled to look quite as good, but every frame of The Summit of the Gods does so effortlessly.