4.5 / 5.0

Written by: Sybill Emmanuel (July 30, 2025)

I watched Sketch for the first time with my 15-year-old brother, and surprisingly, he was engaged from beginning to end. Although my brother was mostly interested in the “cool monsters”, the film struck me as having a relatable storyline: a family of three grieving the loss of their matriarch, each with their own coping mechanism. The dad wants to forget, the son wants to fix, and the daughter rebels.

  We can easily recognize ourselves in those predicaments if we’ve ever had to grieve the loss of a close one. What came as a surprise at the very beginning of the film is the school psychologist’s response to Amber’s (the daughter played by actress Bianca Belle) terrifying drawing in response to a school bully: ‘It was OK.’ Despite the graphic drawing of a monster hurting the classmate, resulting in a bloody work of art, Dr. Land affirms Amber’s emotions by saying she did the right thing by pouring her anger on paper, as it could not hurt anybody. Plot twist: her drawings would later on terrorize their entire town.

Seth Worley, the writer, director, and editor of Sketch, revealed an interesting fact about the film during an interview at the world-renowned Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The scene with Amber and her psychologist was inspired by the true story of his sister’s undiagnosed ADHD, which used to also get her into a lot of trouble at school. Similar to Amber, she made a graphic drawing about her teacher, which sent her to the school counselor’s office. The school counselor surprisingly recommended that the girl continue with her drawings, allowing her to “outbox” her frustration on paper.

Given the solid story structure of Sketch, enticing plot twists, and stylistic choices, it might be hard to believe that this was Seth’s debut feature film. He lived up to the challenge by creating a humorous fantasy comedy with the right amount of dark touches that kept viewers on the edge of their seats.

I thoroughly enjoyed Tony Hale’s performance as the widowed dad. He maneuvered seamlessly between scenes that required a somber tone against others where he brought a much-needed humorous take. I found myself chuckling most of the time at his acrobatics with his children, especially at his hard-to-miss facial expressions. We cannot forget the child actors’ mature performance and their ability to bring their characters to life. My favorite has to be Browman, the school bully, who later on redeemed himself. He is someone you would want to hate, but charismatic enough to win your heart in the end. Kalon Cox, the young actor who played this character, delivered his complexity perfectly.

Now on to my brother’s favorites, the monsters. During a second interview at TIFF, Seth shared that his pitch of the script seven years prior was Jurassic World meets Inside Out. We can see how the monsters embodied this comparison as they were scary but cute at the same time. This reminds me of a line in the movie, “I know we’re supposed to be scared of them, but they kind of look adorable.” The creatures looked like typical children’s drawings, with their weird shapes and bold colors, and they were expertly brought to life through animations and CGI. It was fun to anticipate what kind of funny-looking creature would emerge from the screen as the film progressed.

Despite all of the great aspects of the film, some moments felt exaggerated and clichéd, such as the scene with the “accidental” coffee spill, the trip and fall in the woods followed by an uncontrollable rollover, and more.

Although Sketch would not be categorized as a Christian movie, we can be inspired by the biblical values it highlited such as love, understanding, healing and light prevailing over darkness. It was overall a good movie that has something for the whole family to appreciate. I know myself, and my brother did.

Released: August 6, 2025 (Theatrical)

Running Time: 92 Minutes (Angel Studios)

Rated PG (Scary chalk and crayon monsters and music, 1 sh*t, 5 h*ll, 2 dumb*ss, other mildly crude language.)

Links for Sketch

Official Site