Dear Mr. Watterson (2013)

It was one of the greats of the now-nearly-defunct Sunday funnies, no doubt. Unfortunately, there's not much cinematic magic in watching the director reading the strip, or hearing various other enthusiasts talk about how much they loved it.

If nothing else, it's a pleasant reminder that if you haven't taken those Calvin & Hobbes anthologies off the shelf in a while, maybe it's time to go exploring again.

Schroeder isn't as interesting as his subject - he isn't even very interesting on his subject - and he eats up a lot of screentime.

(D)epending on how much you adore Calvin and Hobbes as both a creation and a comic, Dear Mr. Watterson will either be a disappointment or a discovery.

At one point, someone marvels at Calvin's sheer "lust for life," and while Mr. Schroeder, no doubt, has a parallel fascination with his favorite comic strip, the film doesn't follow through.

Offers not only an in-depth look at the comic strip's unique influence but also a concise snapshot of the dwindling state of newspapers and their "funny pages."

...the 90-minute documentary doesn't pretend to be anything more than it is: a love letter to a great comic, providing a digestible version of its history with an eye to its legacy.

Whatever one might say about this documentary's excesses, it's the work of some talented filmmakers: The directing, editing, cinematography, music and visual effects all impress.

Too much of Dear Mr. Watterson is taken up by Schroeder and an array of non-professional C&H-lovers offering vague praise, with little to no real analysis-aesthetic, historical, or cultural.