Sketch

There is always a need for children’s fiction dealing with themes of loss, grief and anger. The challenge is to make people actually want to engage with it. Seth Workey’s Sketch, which premièred at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and has been attracting great word of mouth ever since, tells a dark story in vivid colour, with lots of action and laughs, largely thanks to a great cast and truly dedicated technical team.

It’s based on an idea which children often explore in their own stories: what happens when the imaginary comes to life. At the outset, we see Taylor (a wonderfully deadpan Tony Hale, who might have walked straight out of a Steven Kostanski film) called into school because his ten-year-old daughter Amber (Bianca Belle) is drawing pictures which have caused her teachers concern. It’s not long since her mother died, so they try to be understanding, and one of them gives her a new sketchbook, advising her to use it to let her feelings out, turning fear and anger into monsters on the page so she’ll cope better in day to day life.

What that teacher doesn’t know, but what Amber’s brother Jack (Kue Lawrence, the brilliant young star of The School Duel) has recently discovered, is that there is a mysterious pool in the woods near their house which looks like it’s badly contaminated with copper mining run-off but is in fact possessed of Pet Sematary-style resurrection powers. he’s been planning to use it to try to bring back their mother, but a series of coincidences leads to Amber’s sketchbook falling into the water instead, and then before you know it there are giant monsters stalking the neighbourhood.

What do an unhappy ten-year-old’s monsters do to pass the time? Some of them suck people up through snake-like mouths in their feet; some fall on the from the sky with long, sharp, stabby beaks; some break into their houses and steal all their stuff; and others just stab them really hard in the stomach. Especially people who have contributed to that ten-year-old’s misery. In this case that mean classmate Bowman (Kalon Cox), whose bullying is really pretty lightweight and seems to originate from an unspoken crush. The three find themselves having to work together to solve a series of monster-related problems.

Given the scale of the monster attacks – hinted at in some delightful news snippets – bot too much time is wasted on tedious old adults-not-taking-it-seriously scenarios. As he’s no with the kids when it all kicks off in earnest, Taylor has to fend for himself. Fortunately he has his savvier sister, Liz (D’Arcy Carden) on hand to help, and in the process he learns a few things sbout where he has gone wrong in managing his own feelings and supporting his kids.

It’s all very wholesome and full of heart, and there’s no gore, but there’s plenty of ickiness and gratuitous viciousness to keep a certain kind of young viewer happy. There’s a lot of excitement and, if you allow yourself to get carried away, some properly scary bits. The SFX are pretty much all CGI, as one would expect in something made on just $3m – not a lot by today’s standards, given the visual scope of the thing. There are moments when they look a bit ropey, but a lot of megabudget blockbusters fare worse in that regard.

There are some nice touches. Worley understands the art of solo parenting, tracking one kid by sound whilst sitting with the other. A famous warning from occult lore comes to mind in a surprising situation. Internet lore, too, finds its place – look out for a three wolf moon hoodie. What better symbol could there be of a character’s dangerousness? Kids will enjoy the general destructiveness of the various adventures. The real triumph of the piece, however, is that it manages to keep the adult-focused scenes from boring young viewers and keep the kid-focused scenes from irritating adults. Every character is a fully developed, interesting individual with strengths and weaknesses which come into play in realistic ways.

Fantasy this may be, but Worley knows that having estabished his fantastic elements, he has to keep the rest grounded. The comedy flows naturally from character interactions, and the film is energetic but well paced throughout. It’s a wee gem, and a great choice for families – though you may want to keep an eye on what your kids are drawing afterwards.

Reviewed on: 27 Oct 2025