So today and yesterday we had 2 new trailers drop for Fall animated films, and I thought I would give you my quick thoughts. Let’s start with the trailer I’m most excited about for Disney’s Moana:
I personally don’t know how you walk away from this trailer and not be excited. Moana seems like a great well-rounded character. I love her character design and that she looks like a normal young lady. However, she is not the cliched warrior woman although clearly with that spear she can be fierce. I also love the way she stands up to Maui in the boat! The film looks like such an epic adventure with battles, sea travels, diving into the realm of monsters that all looked awesome.
It also looks very funny without being too modern and cheeky. The music sounds great. The visuals look breathtaking. I can’t wait!!!
On a less enthusiastic note. Let’s talk about the new Trolls trailer:
I’m not going to parse words I hate this trailer. I hate the way it is hiding behind the voice talent. I really don’t care who is voicing your characters. Don’t sell me on them. Sell me on the characters they are voicing. It shows a lack of confidence on your film if you are leaning so hard on the vocal talent.
I hate how much of the story it gives away. I hate how saccharine the story looks and it all feels so boring and bland. It’s not good when the main quote from your film is “this is a story about happiness”. How profound…
On the plus side, Trolls looks like it will entertain small children and the color palate is very appealing. The original song is catchy but the jukebox songs I’m not sold on.
I hate to say it but I’m getting Strange Magic vibes from this trailer…
I’m really bummed to because I really liked the 2nd trailer. Hopefully the movie will surprise me and be great like Kung fu Panda 3 or Lego Movie that also had trailers I hated.
What do you think of these trailers? Do they sell you on the films? Do you agree with my takes?
One of the most underrated films of recent memory is Dreamworks 2012 offering, Rise of the Guardians. Therefore, it should come as no shock the artbook is also underrated and equally excellent. It is similar in some ways to the Art of Zootopia in that it focuses on the world-building.
The most special part of this art book is the clear affection for the film all involved have. It even has a forward by voice star Alec Baldwin- something you usually don’t see in art books. He talks about being presented with the role and opportunity to play Santa Claus. He says “from the beginning, the movie was pitched to me as a heart-warming yet clever tale about the importance of belief and the banishment of fear. The result has truly exceeded expectations. Not only is the movie funny, thrilling and gorgeously rendered, it also tells a poignant story with intense dramatic stakes”. I agree with Mr Baldwin on this one!
William Joyce’s introduction and illustrations
Then next the introduction is done by William Joyce, writer of the Guardians books, which says something about his feelings towards the film. “Dreamworks animation took everything that I wanted these characters to be and took it so much further than I was ever able to illustrate. The whole work is now grander than I could imagine”. Again, high praise coming from an author of a book who are normally prone to be critical of adaptations.
This art book does a great job mixing informative text, mostly about the creative process, with visuals and concept art. We start by going over the broad concept of a superhero team for children with some dark tones mixed in. Then they go over each superhero and their accompanying lands.
It’s just amazing to see the level of detail in that drawing of Santa’s home and the evolution of what came to be North himself. I don’t know how you can be an animation fan and not be in awe of this art work.
But I also really loved the sense of teamwork shown in the book. We even get a fold out poster which shows you all the various hands that make an animated film work and how they are all intertwined. This is fascinating stuff for an animation fan.
We also get plenty of storyboards and a detailed description of how a sequence gets put together.
It’s kind of cool as well that they end with a photo of the entire Dreamworks team. It’s nice they acknowledge everyone involved!
So the Art of Rise of the Guardians is a great art book and one I highly recommend adding to your collection
Hey guys! My friend and fellow animation addict AJ Howell did a fun podcast where we went over the upcoming 2016 animation calendar. We tried to give our insight into 18 films and what we are looking forward too and not so much. I would love your feedback. What about you? What excites you the most in the calendar?
Get ready for a surprise! You guys know I will always be honest with how I feel about a film. I went into Kung fu Panda 3 with extremely low expectations. I hated all the trailers and the character designs didn’t look great. I liked the first one, really enjoyed the second and 3 seemed like a step back. Well, I’m thrilled to tell you I was wrong! Kung fu Panda 3 is not a step back. In fact, it is solidly the best of the 3 and is in the running for the best CG film Dreamworks has ever made. Yep, you read right! That’s how I really feel.
There are so many reasons I loved this movie. First of all, it combined the strengths of 1 and 2 perfectly. It had the first film’s humor and sweet message with the sequels action and authentic martial arts movie feel. But that’s not all. It had a good story, sweet messaging and beautiful animation.
I was so impressed with the way the film combined 2D, hybrid and CG elements seamlessly. That has always been a part of the series but here it wasn’t just a dream sequence that was 2D, it was intermixed into the entire story which was beautiful. The colors were also bright and full of life. Kung fu Panda 3 gets serious points just for being so great to look at. The trailers did not do it justice at all!
The story revolves around a spirit named Kai who has a score to settle with Master Oogway from the first film. In revenge he has conquered all of the spirits of the great masters and absorbed their chi into himself. He finally absorbs Master Oogway and that allows him back into the human world. Still out for revenge he seeks to take all the mortal masters including the great Dragon Warrior.
As he absorbs the characters it creates kind of a jade zombie and with each one he becomes stronger and bigger. Meanwhile, Po is learning from Master Shifu to become a teacher instead of the student. He also meets his biological father and learns about a secret community of Pandas which is strong in chi and defeated Kai before.
There are a lot of interesting things about this story. I particularly liked the struggles Po’s adoptive father has when he meets his biological father. As an adoption advocate, I thought that was handled very well. Also learning how to teach as the final step in becoming the Dragon Warrior is a very insightful plot thread for the film.
Like I said, the humor is used just enough to break up the villainy but not so much as to feel annoying or crass. I laughed quite a bit. The action is a lot of fun but never too drab or scary for little kids. I think people who felt Kung fu Panda 2 was boring will like this entry much better.
The voice cast works very well with some new talent in JK Simmons, Kate Hudson, and Bryan Cranston. I still wish to begin with they hadn’t had such modern voice talent but I prefer this cast too the dragon cast any day of the week.
The film just works. It’s beautiful to look at. It’s exciting, funny, sweet and I was consistently entertained. I want to give a special congrats to director Jennifer Yuh Nelson. There aren’t that many female directors in animation and I really admire what she has done here.
I honestly don’t have anything negative to say about the film. Maybe I will when I watch on repeated viewings. Like the Lego Movie, it will probably be skipped for nominations because of its early release but it is certainly worthy. I loved it.
After an epic day yesterday I wasn’t going to post today but we got a new trailer from Dreamworks and I couldn’t hold back my feelings. Dreamworks released their trailer for the Fall release of Trolls and what a stinker of a trailer it is! Don’t get me wrong, the movie could somehow be good (I didn’t like Peanuts or Lego trailers and loved those films) but everything from the dancing, to character design to everything looks awful.
It’s extremely frustrating when I know Dreamworks can produce quality work (seeing Kung fu Panda 3 tonight which has great buzz so I’m excited!). The Panda and Dragon films are quality franchises and they’ve made amazing stand-alone films like Rise of the Guardians, Prince of Egypt, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimmaron. Even Mr Peabody and Sherman I really enjoyed but then they squander all that talent on twerking dolls and annoying alien movies. Why Dreamworks? Why?
Unfortunately that wasn’t the only terrible trailer to come out for 2016 animated film.
We got a new Angry Birds trailer this week and it looks awful too. I actually thought the teaser looked ok, better than expected, but this longer trailer looks at best on a Rio level of quality. The battle between the pigs and the birds just doesn’t look good to me!
And then we got a Secret Life of Pets trailer and it was also very disappointing. I was actually impressed with the teaser trailer enough to put it on my anticipated of the year. Boy is that out the window with this new trailer. I was so deflated to see Kevin Hart is the lead of the story and it is about organizing pets in some kind of rebellion. That is such a tired concept and I am so sick of Kevin Hart.
So, needless to say my anticipation level for 2016 animation just sunk a little lower. It could be a rough year folks! At least we have Zootopia, Moana, Finding Dory and Kubo and the Two Strings to look forward too.
And as I said there are bad trailers for good movies so we will see!
Am I being too tough on these 3 trailers? What did you think?
Hi guys! I hope you are having a good start to 2016, but let’s look back at the animated films of 2015. Over all, I’d say it was a pretty good year. Having not seen Anomalisa I’d say we had 5 films that were excellent, 2, maybe 3, that will make my top 50 animated countdown. As a point of contrast last year 4 films made the countdown. I’d also say the bad movies of 2015 weren’t as bad as 2014 so that’s good!
Yesterday I posted my ranking of the animated films of 2015 on my channel and I’m really proud of the how the video turned out. I was able to use clips and hopefully introduce people to the smaller animated films they may not have heard of. I have reviewed all of these films on this blog so you are all probably familiar with them but it will hopefully be a good reminder. I would really appreciate it if you gave this a thumbs up if you like it. Thanks!
So here’s my ranking of the 2015 animated films (like I said minus Anomalisa which isn’t released yet in my area and I will wait till blu-ray to see)
14. Home- a muddled story with inconsistent characters hurts a well animated entry from Dreamworks.
13. Strange Magic- a jukebox musical take on Midsummer’s Night Dream is sunk by a dopey script with uncreative song choices.
12. Minions- a side character getting the starring role doesn’t work here. All over the place story-wise and didn’t make me laugh.
11. Maya the Bee- cute, well animated movie for toddlers with a nice message about being yourself. A stock Saturday morning cartoon villain without much grown-up appeal but I thought it was cute.
10. Un Gallo con Muchos Huevos- an animated film with subtitles out of Mexico. Not perfect but for the $5 million budget I thought it was pretty creative and funny. A pleasant surprise.
9. Hotel Transylvania 2- a pleasant family comedy sequel to the original Hotel Transylvania. It kind of wimps out on the ending and I miss the ensemble feel of the original but innocuous and fine. The animation is pretty good.
8. Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet- the strongest part of this film is the animated shorts that describe the poems of Kahlil Gibran. They are beautiful but the framing device is very preachy and felt like a Sunday School lesson.
7. Spongebob Movie: Sponge Out of Water- a wacky, somewhat insane movie but I enjoyed it. The only bone I have to pick with the film is the marketing was deceptive as the ‘out of water’ portion was very brief. Still, if you want something weird and different give it a watch.
6. Shaun the Sheep- honestly probably my favorite comedy, not just animated comedy, of 2015. It’s an adorable film that made me laugh with impeccable animation from Aardman.
5. Cheatin’– an adult animated film from Bill Plympton that isn’t for everyone but I found it beautiful and moving. The artistry alone in the hand drawn sketchy animation should be seen by animation fans.
4. When Marnie was There- an emotional final film from Studio Ghibli about a family rescuing a girl from deep depression. The animation is gorgeous and lush and the sound design, music perfection. I loved it’s bold take on mental illness and it’s a film that really made me think.
3. The Good Dinosaur– an underappreciated entry from Pixar in my opinion. I loved the relationship between Arlo and Spot and the journey they go on. I thought it was surprising and sometimes funny, sometimes scary. And the animation is stunning.
2. The Peanuts Movie– one of the best adaptations I’ve ever seen. It was everything I could want in a Peanuts Movie. It kept it simple and focused on Charlie Brown trying to gain confidence. I love that. I loved Snoopy and the Red Baron and all the choices from the music to the amazing hybrid animation.
1.Inside Out– a stunning achievement from Pixar. I loved this movie and I love it more each time I see it. I love the dual character arcs with Riley and Joy. I love Bing Bong and Sadness and the message of the film. I love the animation and the music and everything else. It’s perfection!
So there you have it. My ranking of the 2015 animated films! What would be your ranking? Put in the comments section and let’s talk about it! And if you see any of these smaller films I’d love to hear what you think.
Today I posted on my youtube channel a video collaboration I was fortunate to do with fellow youtuber blu-ray Benn. With Kung fu Panda 3 coming out later this month we thought it would be fun to talk about our favorite Dreamworks films. A lot of people think I hate Dreamworks but it’s really just the Shrek movies aren’t my favorite (have yet to see the Madagascar movies which don’t appeal to me). So it is more their comedies but I do enjoy the studio.
Here are my top 5 Dreamworks films:
Here are Blu-ray Benn top 5. Give his video a thumbs up!
What do you think of our lists and what are your top 5?
My friend Art from The AtZ Show joined me to discuss the year of 2015 animation. I had a great time discussing these films and think you all will enjoy it too.
We talk about Strange Magic, Home, Spongebob, When Marnie was There, Inside Out, Minions, The Prophet, Shaun the Sheep, Hotel Transylvania 2, The Good Dinosaur, Peanuts Movie and Anomalisa.
I would love your comments on what we discuss and if you like it put a thumbs up. Please put a comment here or on the video. Which of these films did you see and what do you think of them? I am going to do a ranking tomorrow of these films.
Before I give my worst movies of the year list tomorrow I thought I would preemptively explain my choice of Home as the worst animated film of 2015. Most people I feel will have Strange Magic at the bottom and it is not good by any stretch of the definition; However, I do think it is better than Home. Here’s why:
There is no doubt Strange Magic is a very flawed film. The script is the biggest problem with dopey dialogue that was extremely predictable and corny. For example, one of the girl characters says to another ‘get your head out of the clouds- a cloud of boys!”. That’s just terrible writing… Strange Magic also has characters that are at best on a Saturday morning level of development.
George Lucas said he wanted it to be a ‘girl power’ film and yet the girls are so silly. I know there is love potion involved but they certainly fall for the idiot male characters easily. They are pretty much vehicles in the story to fall in and out of love without any real personality or character development.
The songs are performed fine but so on the nose and uncreative they became annoying. When the Bog King starts singing ‘wild thing’ I yearned for the good old days of Happy Feet, which was at least a little creative in the song selection…
However, even with all that said, at least the story in Strange Magic is solid. It’s based on Shakespeare for goodness sake. It may have been predictable but unlike Gnomeo and Juliet (yikes…) it stuck pretty true to Midsummer’s Night Dream. The animation and vocal performances are also good- certainly better than the movie deserved. If the script had been better and the song choices more original it would have been a pretty good film.
Home was worse for me because the story makes no sense. These aliens gather all the humans to one place, which is really stupid. I mean who wants to gather all their potential foes together? And they manage to build all these houses for the humans and yet they know nothing about them like even that they live in families. And wouldn’t there have been a big conflict when all those homes were being built for the relocated humans? They also don’t know how human items work like a hair dryer but they manage to run the cities after the humans have left. They know how to not only fix cars but make them super cars using a slushie machine but they don’t know about toilets (such a lame toilet joke would have been so much funnier if the aliens had a truly original take on the scene not just eating it).
The aliens basically use planets until resources die and then move on to the next planet. This makes no sense to me and makes them all cuddly but very mean when you really think about it. And especially when you find out why they keep moving on it is so stupid.
Basically the whole story is based on the fact that Oh sends a reply all email to the entire galaxy. I’m sorry but that’s just lame! It’s not believable as a serious cause for conflict and the attempt to make Oh misunderstood only becomes frustrating. They have all these ways of communicating (email, those orb things) and yet the entire plot could be solved by a phone call or an actual conversation but nobody will listen to poor Oh.
The villain motivation was also very murky and really doesn’t make sense when you think about it.So he just wanted to keep invading other planets with his essentially minions for what purpose? They give a reason but it defies credulity. All I could see was to make puns and be a silly villain. And then when we get the second villain it’s even worse. Another conflict that could have been solved by a couple conversations but the dastardly plan would have been foiled. Groan! The ending had me rolling my eyes out of the theater.
The character motivations were also extremely muddled and inconsistent. Tip for instance sometimes behaved like a teenager, sometimes like a little girl and she was voiced by a 35 year old woman which was strange. There was never a moment where I felt like a girl had not only lost her mother but all of her species had been abducted! I mean that’s some serious trauma, not just a bad grade on a test. She seemed more upset by the way people treated her at school than the chaos that surrounds her.
Oh was also inconsistent, sometimes smart, sometimes stupid, sometimes silly, other times somber, and badly voiced. They basically take Sheldon Cooper from Big Bang Theory and make him an alien. And as much as I like BBT it did not work for me. I found it a very grating character and performance that was again inconsistently written.
At the core it is a road trip movie we’ve seen a million times and the attempts at humor were so lame. The tone is really all over the place, which is exemplified by the music feeling like it belonged in another film. Home could have been a fun silly film for preschoolers but the somber moments ruined that appeal. I left Home thinking ‘who was this made for?’. It’s pretty morose for small kids and definitely nothing new for adults. And unlike sometimes morose movies such as Inside Out or Song of the Sea it didn’t give me anything new and like I said, the plot holes abound. It’s at best a generic road trip movie, nothing more.
So that’s why Home for me was worst animated film of the year. It had inconsistent characters, flawed story, terrible voice acting choices, and a poorly managed tone. It made for an overall big letdown and despite their somewhat mixed history, I still expect much better from Dreamworks.
I guess when it comes down to it if I had to watch Strange Magic or Home again I’d pick Strange Magic. To me it at least has a good story, looks nice and has some well performed, if uncreative songs.
