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Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:13 pm
by Green Gibbon!
Since he stepped in, he's reopened Disney's 2D feature animation department, and effectively shut down their direct-to-video sequel operations.
Are you serious? I hadn't heard anything about that. Please tell me, is it true? Is it true?

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:32 pm
by Radrappy
Yeah. It's all true.

Although with a chance to really redefine themselves, Disney has chosen to make another princess musical. Oh well.

you know, about that. Christ Sanders came to speak to our class and he was a really great speaker. Apprently he got the boot on American Dog for making the characters "too wacky for their own good." He works for Dreamworks now so their loss.

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:48 pm
by Esrever
Lasseter is a good guy, but he's also very traditional. You can see it in his own films... easily the most conservative of Pixar's productions. Apparently he was not a fan of Lilo and Stitch, and felt similarly that American Dog was "too quirky." I guess the irradiated mutant rabbit and the pirate cat rubbed him the wrong way?

I'm glad he's trying to bring some integrity back to the studio, but at the same time, I think he sounds more than a little oppressive of ideas that don't mesh with what the studio is "known for." Lilo and Stitch was an experiment for Disney... giving a director a smaller budget, but a greater level of creative autonomy. I don't imagine we're going to be seeing any more of THAT.

It breaks my heart to see Sanders wind up at Dreamworks. Part of Sanders appeal was his awesome unique character design, but at Dreamworks I doubt any of that is going to make it onto the screen. Everything they put out looks exactly the same! Let's not forget that this is the studio that turned this:

Image

into this:

Image

UGH

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:06 pm
by Green Gibbon!
What is with those guys and teeth, anyway?

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:07 pm
by Cuckooguy
The Little Mermaid III is supposed to be their last direct-to-video sequel. I also watched Over the Hedge. Which I enjoyed. I also enjoyed the 1st Shrek, I don't remember my opinion of the second Shrek, but I hated the 3rd Shrek, mainly because of the horrible characterization of Arthur Pendragon. I think he and perhaps Merlin ruined the movie.

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:17 pm
by Esrever
Dreamworks films aren't horrible, they're just horribly bland from a visual perspective. If they're written well I can enjoy them in the same way that I can enjoy other ugly cartoons, like South Park. But South Park doesn't cost 100 million dollars to animate.

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 6:22 pm
by Isuka
Crap, I'm relieved that I didn't see that. And it seems I'm the only one that did not like Shrek in the first place; the sequels are just more of the same thing used in the first movie, one was enough, but Hollywood stars have to feed their families so they make the pointless sequels anyways.

And should I lose any hopes of seeing this released on western theaters? I know it almost doesn't have anything to do with all this, but it does look great.

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 7:26 pm
by Delphine
It uses Juno Reactor in the trailer, you can certainly give it that.

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:15 pm
by Opa-Opa
This Disney thing looks nice, but the trailer gives just too much of the story. Ugh, i hate these trailers.

Ratatuille will be awesome. And I'm really waiting to for Bee Movie too.

EDIT: I think Over the Hedge was great. Laughed my ass off. Much better than all those other stupid city animal movies that came out.

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 9:48 pm
by Ngangbius
Geez, I think the least visually offensive of all Dreamworks CGI films would be Madagascar due to the fact that most of the characters look stylistic instead of having to subtly(or not so subtly) insert realistic human facial features on animal characters.

Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:59 pm
by Shadow Hog
Why won't the damn trailer load for me? I've let it sit for God knows how long but YouTube won't deliver. Same goes for another copy of the same trailer. I swear, YouTube hates me or something.
The first full length animated Disney film in quite a while will be The Frog and the Princess (they keep changing the title) starring the first African American Disney princess. If you missed those musical numbers you're in for a jazzy treat. It's also being directed by the two geniuses that brought you The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Treasure Planet.
Alan Menken is making another Disney movie? This is quite possibly one of the greatest announcements I've heard in a good while. Mostly for the first two films listed more than <i>Treasure Planet</i>, but still.

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 4:02 am
by Radrappy
Alan Menken was the composer behind the little mermaid and I'm not sure he'll be back for The Princess and the Frog. However the directors of the movies I mentioned are the duo of Ron Clements and John Musker.

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 4:39 am
by cjmcray
In response to Eserver's post, I don't really see what's so shocking about the Over the Hedge game. Kids movies ALWAYS get videogames. And not just Dreamworks movies. Disney's been doing it since The Little Mermaid.

But I do agree Dreamworks isn't the best animation studio. They are always trying to be "hip" by being crude, parodying everything, and putting loads of celebrities in their cast, not for their acting ability, but becuase they can put "BEN STILLER" all over their posters and ads.

Shrek 1, Madagascar and Over the Hedge are the only decent Dreamworks films.

Shark Tale caused physical discomfort to watch..

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 5:34 am
by Dr. Watson
Radrappy wrote:Alan Menken was the composer behind the little mermaid and I'm not sure he'll be back for The Princess and the Frog.
He wont. The composer for The Princess and the Frog will be Randy newman. Yes, Randy Newman. Weather that is a good thing or a bad thing is debatable of course, but i for one would rather have the master composer behind "Under the Sea" and "Never Had a Friend Like Me" to make the music for Disneys (suposed) return to their grand 90's formula.

Menken was actually originally considered for the job, but Disney decided to change it since they did'nt want to seem repetative, since Menken is composing the music for two of their other films. One of those films are Enchanted and the other is another fairy-tale based film by the name Rapunzel, a computer animated movie about two teenagers from the real world who gets transported to the fairy tale world. Yes, thats right, its the
exact same formula as that of Enchanted. The EXACT same. And Disney is worried about seeming repetative in their movies music...

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 5:44 am
by spon
Ratatouille is going to be fantastic, I look forward to seeing the Princess and the Frog, and Wall-E already looks kinda interesting.

Disney also reopened their feature animation studios under the new name Disney Animation Studios, which suggests they're being pushed to rearrange back into their former focus.

Image

Cute, huh.

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 5:49 am
by cjmcray
The "D" in the Walt Disney logo has always looked like a backwards "G" with a line through it to me. I have to stare at it for a few seconds to really see the "D"

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 7:08 am
by Shadow Hog
I had to stare at it for almost <i>two decades</i> to see the D, so I don't really blame you.

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 12:08 pm
by Locit
One and a half for me, but yeah, it doesn't really look like a "D".

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 12:53 pm
by Isuka
I myself had more problems with the "y", and even the "W".

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 1:02 pm
by Oompa Star
As I got older, I began wondering if the logo was made using Walt's handwriting.

It is not so much a Disney cliche as it is a typical fairytale cliche. Most of Disney's animated movies are based on children's stories of the same name. Some are based on history and myths (Pocahontas and Hercules). The last Disney movie I have seen was Toy Story 2. Movies in general have lost their appeal to me for some reason.

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 1:11 pm
by Segaholic2
Oompa Star wrote:As I got older, I began wondering if the logo was made using Walt's handwriting.
It's not. The corporate "signature" logo was designed by someone and actually looks pretty close to the style of Will Eisner's signature.

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 2:29 pm
by Esrever
cjmcray wrote:In response to Eserver's post, I don't really see what's so shocking about the Over the Hedge game. Kids movies ALWAYS get videogames. And not just Dreamworks movies. Disney's been doing it since The Little Mermaid.
Oh! I didn't even notice that picture was for the video game. I was just using the images to show the difference between the art style of the original Over the Hedge comic strip and the art style used in the Over the Hedge movie.

It just seems like, no matter what it's based on, every Dreamworks movie is done in the same boring, bland, homogeneous art style. So, even if they bring Sanders in as a director, I'm not expecting any of his awesomely unique character designs to make it into his films. *sob*

I bought a little book of Sanders' art at Comic-con last year! It's really awesome. Apparently when he's not working on Disney films he just draws a lot of little monsters and mostly-naked women.

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:06 pm
by Wooduck51
Dreamworks' over the hedge drained the very soul out of the comic strip and left it dead, as if the tails doll got to it.

And I liked Cars.

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 4:10 pm
by Green Gibbon!
And it seems I'm the only one that did not like Shrek in the first place
That makes two of us. Maybe the fact that I had a toothache throughout had something to do with it, but it was way predictable and most of the gags felt rather disposable to me.

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2007 4:33 pm
by Cuckooguy
I didn't discover the D in the logo until I stared at a Beauty and the Beast poster for a long period of time wondering how the hell that D could be read as a D. After a while, I finally figured it out and was so excited that I had to tell my whole family about my discovery.