Just once i would like a big budget hollywood animation production to be something important. Something for future generations of film fans, animators, and artists to admire and study. Kung Fu Panda? christ. I hate animation so much sometimes.
Monday, June 2, 2008
Kung Fu Panda...Are you kidding me?
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23 comments:
i think itt's gonna' be great fun. much more than ratatuille was (i cant understand how could it get the oscar, and much more: THE ANNIE AWARD...shame.) but i think animation (such as the other types of film) don't have to be always some serious grandlevel art, sometimes it feels good to switch of and laugh. anyway i have to give u that there is too much of this switching of style somethings. anyway Kung Fu Panda will be good entertaintment. don't expect too much from the-box-office-ruled-hollywood.
and maybe not from hollywood, but we got some really nice animated feature last year: PERSEPOLIS
art is much less sellable the entertaintment
Might as well see it for the sake of seeing it. Don't expect it to be timeless. Once you see Jack Black's name at the very top of the poster, than its bad news. Actually its not Jack Black's fault, and its not animation you should hate. It's Mr. Katzenberg we should be looking at.
I love Kung Fu Movies.
I Love Pandas.
But even I will not be seeing this movie.
The last time Pat got drunk, he ran around his apartment pretending to be "the Kung-Fu Panda" and he broke a bunch of his dishes. I guess he blames the movie.
I applaud Dreamworks for getting away from the Pixar visual style (this looks much more cartoony), but I'm still waiting for the plots to develop beyond "Underdog finds himself and becomes a hero for us all and everyone lived happily ever after"
I know this is supposed to be a kid's movie, but is it too much to ask for a different plot for once?
"I know this is supposed to be a kid's movie"
Yeah, yeah, but how come so-called "kids books" have so much more variety than so-called kids movies ?
Kids have active imaginations and can enjoy lots of things besides wise-cracking pop-culture jokey funny animals. it's the Hollywood "kids" who run those animation studios who have a retarded imagination endlessly fixated on fart jokes and references to '70's music and tv shows.
I was kinda rough on this film last week on The Splog, just based on watching the trailer. I saw it tonight and you know what? I kinda feel vindicated. Lots of talent was clearly at work on this film, but ultimately, it seemed like there wasn't a whole lot more than "Kung Fu! and Pandas!". A film that sounded like a one-off idea by its title kinda looked that way on the big screen. The friend I went with said it seemed to have "a beginning and an end, but no middle". Congrats on a good looking film, but god, I hope this isn't the only kind of animation we ever see American studios shell out the big bucks for.
" Lots of talent was clearly at work on this film, but ultimately, it seemed like there wasn't a whole lot more than "Kung Fu! and Pandas!". A film that sounded like a one-off idea by its title kinda looked that way on the big screen. "
Yeah, in the old Warner Bros. Cartoons days "Kung Fu Panda" would have been a funny idea for a 7 minute short .
Loads of talent is always clearly on display in the Dreamworks animated movies. There's no question that the artists working at Dreamworks are some of the best in the business . The fault in these movies is not in the hands of the skilled craftsmen and women who make them. They do the best they can with the material they are handed and decisions made many levels up the chain of command.
Pat. Your such a pessimist. You haven't even watched the movie and youre quick to come to judgement. You can't judge the movie by the traillers cuz the traillers usually don't do it any justice. True, a great most of the big feature animated films as of late suck, but, i got to watch kung fu panda tonight, followed by a q&a with the directors. I was blown away. The color, lighting, characters, gags, plot... everything seemed impecable. The line work was awsome and the fight seens will be attempting to take place in my living room. This film is being underestimated. Go watch it, and enjoy the movie and stop being such a.... an indy guy. I love your work though. _from an old student.
Thor?
i'd rather see sex and the city again.
you know, i really wish they would make an animated movie with a talking animal cast.. wouldn't that be revolutionary?
i have nothing against comedies, it's just that the big budget features tend to always be the same thing. a whacky comedy with an animal cast. so lame.
check out these gems from the last decade, not much diversity:
KUNG FU PANDA
BEE MOVIE
SURF'S UP
HAPPY FEET
MADAGASCAR
OPEN SEASON
OVER THE HEDGE
THE WILD
ICE AGE 2: THE MELTDOWN
HOODWINKED
VALIANT
SHARK TALE
I hate CG. screw the computer and pick up a pencil and try creating something with soul.
I understand your pessimism -- but KUNG FU PANDA is a a really good movie. I hope you'll see it.
Pat, YOU saw SEX AND THE CITY???
So, will you watch the first two minutes of Kung Fu Panda which is animated in 2D by James Baxter's studio ?
(then sneak out of the theater and go see something else, like I did to see the recent Goofy short "How to Hook Up Your Home Theater" playing in front of Nation Treasure 2. No way I was going to sit through that one, so I watched the Goofy short and I was outta there)
I'm with Jerry Beck on this one. I got to see the film last night and it's a way above average 3D animated feature. The script was tight and funny and most of the character design was fantastic.
Rarely do I even bother to see 3D features, but this one was well worth it. I went out with 20 of my peeps after the film and everyone loved the film. All of us animation people.
I too wish for greater variety in the mainstream hollywood animated feature... but, good is good, and this happens to be Dreamworks best film to date (even if that's not saying much).
Pat, I'm sorry you feel that way about Panda. It truly is a good film. As a FAN of animation, you will be sorely missing out to not give this film a chance.
I plan to see KFP. THe production design looks pretty cool in the trailer, and the animation looks tight. I don't hold out much hope for the script, though. I saw "Horton" and was pretty appalled, even though the design was largely Seuss-worthy. My big rant against most kid-oriented animated features is the seemingly "de rigueur" use of topical pop-culture references (i.e. why inject an *anime* sequence into a Dr Seuss story?? Why refrence "The Karate Kid" in Disney's "Hercules"??... and on and on...). I should keep a runnning tally of such references, if only out of cultural curiosity; but it would probably lead to a fit of apoplexy, and my untimely demise.
Incidentally, the "art of Kung Fu Panda" book has some *killer* character design studies by Nicolas Marlet, among others -- IMO, the movie was worth making if only to have an excuse to generate that pre-pro artwork(much of which was done with "analog" media).
Saw it. Loved it.
"I hate CG. screw the computer and pick up a pencil and try creating something with soul."
You're blaming the alleged stupidity of the movie on the form of animation in which it was made. The reason it's such a broad and apparently(I haven't seen it yet) low-brow concept is because it was conceived by an executive instead of a talented storyteller. Bad animated movies come from bad storytelling, not because they were animated in one way instead of another. You're just perpetuating the idea that Toy Story sparked: Producers saw that Toy Story was amazing and made a lot of money, so they decided that it meant a link between CG and the quality of a film. You also seem to purport that there are no family-friendly, anthropomorphic-animal-populated, hand-drawn features in existence. I would think someone like you would be savvy enough to realize that ANY form of animation- drawn, stop-motion, CG, etc.- is capable of telling any kind of story. It's just the shame that such a narrow spectrum of stories are being told in American features.
Hello Pat,
Dig your Autonomous work,
But I have to disagree here.
This film ROX. Yes its predictable. Yes it's not necessarily ground-breaking as far as innovation. Trust me I had the lowest expectations. I am one of those people dying to see more independent authentic authorship in animation.
But this movie has something that the other CG films doesn't. It was entertaining and although the film slightly "kitsch" It has strong story elements. The Father-son relationship between shifu and tai long. The internal struggle of Po's character. I think it was successful in keeping the audience's interest.
I think when your making something for mass audience, you have to keep it simple somewhat, otherwise you'll lose a lot of people.
IT is what it is.
I accept it for what it is.
I'll say this. I enjoyed Kung fu panda much more than that new Green eyed monster flick.
which wasn't bad, just wasn't good.
The panda? Is more banal to not think up! For example Walle it is more curious to look even already from for works sound designer Ben Byortom (it approves, that has created for scoring a picture of the order of 2600 new samples of sound fluctuations!). There was a joke, that "Walle" most dear silent movie in history of cinema.
Its brilliant, I'm an animator, go kill some puppies or something, and save us your bitching.
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