Sketch filmmaker Seth Worley expands on his proof-of-concept Darker Colors into a feature film that he describes as being “Inside Out meets Jurassic Park.”

Widowed father Taylor Wyatt (Tony Hale) is trying to sell his home with help from his real estate agent sister Liz (D’Arcy Carden), while raising his two kids: Jack (Kue Lawrence), an adventurous gamer, and Amber (Bianca Belle), a budding artist whose violent monster sketches keep getting her into trouble at school. A therapist encourages Amber to keep drawing to manage her anger, but everything changes when Jack discovers a mysterious pond in the woods that can magically heal injuries and repair broken objects. When Amber’s sketchbook accidentally falls into the water, its murderous creatures spring to life.

Soon, bizarre incidents sweep through town — from yellow splatters on windows to “eyeders,” spider-like thieves with eyeball bodies. One monster modeled after Amber breaks into a shop for more art supplies, while another hijacks a school bus, forcing the kids to improvise a jazz-based lullaby that disastrously turns into a heavy-metal wake-up call. With chaos escalating, Jack, Amber, and classmate Bowman (Kalon Cox) realize they must harness the pond’s powers themselves, sketching weapons and friendly creatures to battle Amber’s creations.

The fight leads them back to the pond, where Amber’s self-modelled monster is spawning even more beasts. Bowman’s first attack fails, but the siblings’ animated allies turn the tide. Amid the mayhem, Jack secretly brings his mother’s ashes to the pond, only for Taylor to beg him not to use them — a moot point, as some had already spilled from the urn. In the aftermath, the monsters are defeated, the family is reunited, and life gradually returns to normal.

While the involvement of Tony Hale and D’Arcy Carden immediately piqued my interest, I have to be honest that seeing Angel Studios’ name gave me pause. The studio is best known for faith-based films, particularly Christian-themed titles, which generally don’t appeal to me as a Jewish moviegoer. Still, Sketch was seven years in the making, and it’s not an easy film to pin down genre-wise. I’ve heard it called everything from fantasy comedy horror to “Spielbergian horror comedy” (which checks out—I still haven’t pressed play on Gremlins, but I’ve watched a T. rex eat a guy on a toilet more times than I can count) to family-adventure-comedy.

At the end of the day, Sketch is a film with broad family appeal—though perhaps not for the very youngest viewers, given some genuinely frightening imagery, especially Amber’s self-modeled monster. If you come in expecting Buster Bluth, Gary Walsh, or Janet, prepare for a surprise: these actors aren’t playing their familiar TV personas, though their casting certainly helps draw curiosity. It worked on me—I could have requested a press screener, but I chose to see it in a theater. In hindsight, that was the right call—had I attended TIFF in 2024, their names alone might have drawn me in.

Beneath the monster mayhem, Sketch wrestles with grief and the way it shapes our emotions. We shouldn’t shy away from talking about how we feel, and that’s where the Inside Out comparison really clicks. When those emotions manifest as dark, menacing art that springs to life, you get a visceral thrill closer to Jurassic Park. I know something about grief myself: when my grandmother passed in April 2001, I sank into a deep depression. In Judaism, the 7-day Shiva and 30-day Shloshim periods (and for a parent, an a one-year mourning period) bring rules about what is and isn’t permitted. Music—one of my emotional outlets—is prohibited, which meant my feelings only bottled up further.

In the end, Sketch succeeds not just as a clever genre mash-up but as a heartfelt story about processing loss and finding healthy outlets for overwhelming feelings. Seth Worley’s expansion of Darker Colors delivers the thrills, laughs, and scares promised by its “Inside Out meets Jurassic Park” comparison, yet it’s the emotional undercurrent that gives the film staying power. For all its fantastical monsters and magical mayhem, it’s ultimately about family, communication, and the ways art can help us navigate the shadows of grief—something that resonates long after the credits roll.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Seth Worley
CAST: Tony Hale, D’Arcy Carden, Bianca Belle, Kue Lawrence, Kalon Cox

Angel Studios released Sketch in theaters on August 8, 2025. Grade: 4/5

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