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Agent Unknown · May 24, 2012

So I saw an ad for Madagascar 3 tonight. I hate most Dreamworks animated movies. Shrek movies were terrible, self aware, pop culture name dropping trash.

Anyways, back to Madagascar. They're just piss poor, crass commercial garbage in my opinion. And as an example of what's wrong with them and why they stink, every time Chris Rock is interviewed and the subject comes up he apparently thinks it's hilarious to say with a big grin on his face: "Yeah, I just go in a booth, do a little voice and then they give me seven million dollars! Little kids walk up to me and BEG me to do Crackalackin.' So I'll go 'Crackalackin....' (blaise who gives a crap tone of voice) and they're all like OOOHHHHHHH!!!! WOW!!!!" It's like he's a walking, vocal advertisement for people who keep funding these sub-par crappy CGI cartoons.

This year at the Oscars he did his "I go into a sound booth, do some voice and get handed seven million dollars" schtick AGAIN while presenting the award for best animated film and I literally wanted to space warp through my TV screen and punch him in the face. Most big budget animated movies should stick to no more than two big name celebrity roles in my opinion. King Fu Panda (haven't seen the sequel) is a great example. Ok Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman, cool. But then they waste millions of extra dollars giving the rest of the budget to Jolie, Chan, and Cross, ect who barely put any energy into their supporting parts and phone it in when there's actual voice actors who could use the work. Obviously Pixar uses a lot of celebs for their characters but they seem to do it with so much more class and better direction (can't speak for Cars though).

I did really enjoy Dispicable Me though. I thought Steve Carell, Russell Brand (who I was floored to learn later did Dr. Nefario), and Jason Segal all did a fantastic job in their roles and really seemed to enjoy themselves and poured tons of character into their voices.

OK fellow animation fans, feel free to use this thread to sound off on what you hate about modern big budget animated flicks and what works, what doesn't and what could be improved.

RobotHaus · May 24, 2012

Is there really a community for these types of fans?

Loxley · May 24, 2012

*edit - I'm avoiding any out-right hate here.

Part of what bothered me about the majority of non-Pixar animated movies over the last decade was this (not just Dreamworks):

I understand that studios are still drawn to making "talking animals doing funny things" movies because, hey, they still make a ton of money. However, we've kind of been moving away from that, with Despicable Me, Monsters vs. Aliens, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (very underrated), Megamind, and of course How to Train Your Dragon, I like that the other major animation studios have started to get a little more creative with their premises (despite how good/bad the final product ends up being).

Agent Unknown · May 24, 2012

RobotHaus said:
Is there really a community for these types of fans?

Yes, there are passionate animation fans who discuss things. Is this an actual epiphany to you? Or did you just feel the urge to waste your time and ours with some dumb, random, snarky comment?

Loxley said:
*edit - I'm avoiding any out-right hate here.

Part of what bothered me about the majority of non-Pixar animated movies over the last decade was this (not just Dreamworks):

I understand that studios are still drawn to making "talking animals doing funny things" movies because, hey, they still make a ton of money. However, we've kind of been moving away from that, with Despicable Me, Monsters vs. Aliens, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (very underrated), Megamind, and of course How to Train Your Dragon, I like that the other major animation studios have started to get a little more creative with their premises (despite how good/bad the final product ends up being).

Gif nails it.

yencid · May 24, 2012

How to train your dragon and cloudy with a chance are not pixar and i fucking love those movies.

And rise of the guardians looks great. I Do agree with what loxley said though.

Persona7 · May 24, 2012

Pixar is terrible.

Grakl · May 24, 2012

Antz is good, Kung Fu Panda is good, Shrek 1 and 2 are good, How to Train Your Dragon is good.

Just gonna get that off my chest. Fight me.

Persona7 said:
Pixar is terrible.

No. That is all.

ReturnOfTheRAT · May 24, 2012

I love the Ice Age movies, Monster House, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and thought that Puss in Boots was better than expected. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within was a failed experiment that had a great score.

KittenMaster · May 24, 2012

It used to be much worse, there used to be a bunch of random one-off animal movies that saturated the genre (not just Dreamworks, but other companies too). At least now that's regulated to just Madagascar and maybe Happy Feet and Ice Age, and Dreamworks has somehow managed to become much more awesome, to the point where I consider a couple of their movies on par with Pixar's stuff.

Lijik · May 24, 2012

I think Im in the minority on this, but I found Puss in Boots really hard to sit through.
And the character designs were super awful

draft_lens18089873module151550371photo_1310907097humpty-dumpty-puss-in-boo.jpeg

This dude gave me the uncanny valley effect just watching his face move

I love Sony Pictures Animation and Blue Sky Studios for their animation. They blow pixar out of the water in the visuals department. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs might just be the best looking cg film of all time as far as Im concerned.
I also like Illumination Entertainment. Despicable Me and The Lorax are fun films. Im a bit disappointed that their projected output is all sequels and licensed IPs though.
Most of Dreamworks is pretty great recently too. KFP, Megamind, and How to train your dragon are all great. Im also really interested in their upcoming Shadow movie thats supposed to blend CG and 2D Animation. Their sequel stuff (outside of Kung Fu Panda) I couldnt care about though.
I dunno, all of the major players these days are pretty decent.

I also liked these european CG films:

MV5BMTgxNTg3MTE1NF5BMl5BanBnXkFtZTcwODI4NzgzNw@@._V1._SY293_CR11,0,197,293_.jpg

victreeb3l · May 24, 2012

Lijik said:
I think Im in the minority on this, but I found Puss in Boots really hard to sit through.
And the character designs were super awful

This dude gave me the uncanny valley effect just watching his face move

this guy sucked but puss and boots was a wonderful movie. one of the funniest and well animated in recent years

DeaconKnowledge · May 24, 2012

This movie was great.

Ultima_5 · May 24, 2012

Antz is great.... Firs shrek was great. So is despicable me. Lots of good ones, there's always a few diamonds in the rough.

Persona7 said:
Pixar is terrible.

You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity

Guardian Bob · May 24, 2012

The Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon are up there among Pixar "quality". Pixar is hyped a little too high if you ask me.

MisterHero · May 24, 2012

Everytime I see that picture with the smirking characters I want to post the DVD cover of The Incredibles.

Pixar has nice intents for their movies, but I find only a few of them exceptional*. Ignoring the animation medium, I admire the classic Disney films (and 90s movies too) over most Pixar movies, and modern animated movies in general.

*Toy Story 1, Toy Story 3, and Ratatouille.

Personally I find most of these films (Pixar, Dreamworks, etc.) feel a lot like 30-45 minute movies stretched to 1.5 hour movies. In the case of 9, that's exactly what it was.

***I really liked Horton Hears a Who!. It severely clashes with beloved memories of reading the book, but Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs was decent as well.***

On the other side of the spectrum, I wish I could stay interested in animated movies that weren't as cartoony (Robert Zemeckis's movies like Beowulf, Polar Express, Christmas Carol, etc.). Those feel like they try too much but don't have any substance to back them up.

I saw the trailer for Frankenweenie before The Avengers, I'm looking forward to that now.

Salsa · May 24, 2012

Guardian Bob said:
The Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon are up there among Pixar "quality". Pixar is hyped a little too high if you ask me.

i dont get these posts

Pixar is very, very different than Dreamworks. They can make their own good movies (like How to train.. unlike Kung Fu Panda) without needing to achieve "pixar quality", wich is something strictly reserved to pixar. Pixar movies feel like pixar movies, dreamworks feel like dreamwork's.

Guardian Bob · May 24, 2012

SalsaShark said:
i dont get these posts

Pixar is very, very different than Dreamworks. They can make their own good movies (like How to train.. unlike Kung Fu Panda) without needing to achieve "pixar quality", wich is something strictly reserved to pixar. Pixar movies feel like pixar movies, dreamworks feel like dreamwork's.

THESE posts I don't understand. They are a both animation studios, a business. Creative people have been going in and out of their doors, getting hired by the other, swapping talented people. A Pixar movie doesn't automatically gain acclaim because of the name 'Pixar'. I think the people at Dreamworks are just as capable at making great, magical movies as Pixar is. You can't just label movies by the studio that makes it.

I know what you're trying to say, but I think both studios are equally capable and don't need to be separated anymore.

Dan · May 24, 2012

DeaconKnowledge said:
This movie was great.

Nope, pretty awful and obnoxious. Character designs were super random and senseless. Like most DreamWorks movies it relied heavily on pop music in order to make various scenes and montages more 'entertaining' through the sheer force of nostalgia. Then of course there's Will Ferrell yelling at the audience for 100 minutes.

Lijik · May 24, 2012

MisterHero said:
I really liked Horton Hears a Who!.

I loved this movie!!
The animation was topnotch, one of the first movies that nailed that old Warner Bros. style of animation in CG

rekameohs · May 24, 2012

In my opinion, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, How to Drain Your Dragon, Tangled, and Shrek 1 are the only non-Pixar 3d animated movies with great quality. Despicable Me and Megamind are pretty good also.

KittenMaster · May 24, 2012

Everytime I see that picture with the smirking characters I want to post the DVD cover of The Incredibles.

The Pixar movie Cars is pretty much that .gif, cars with a smirk on their face that do funny things, and it has a rather standard coming of age/finding appreciation story.

DeaconKnowledge said:
This movie was great.

Just needs "thread backfire" as a caption, because I think that's what's happening here, lol.

Pixar movies feel like pixar movies, dreamworks feel like dreamwork's.

I disagree, Samurai Panda and How to Train Your Dragon felt nothing like a lot of the Dreamworks movies that came before them, and stuff like Megamind and Monsters vs. Aliens have a persistent new approach and style going for them as well.

Salsa · May 24, 2012

Guardian Bob said:
THESE posts I don't understand. They are a both animation studios, a business. Creative people have been going in and out of their doors, getting hired by the other, swapping talented people. A Pixar movie doesn't automatically gain acclaim because of the name 'Pixar'. I think the people at Dreamworks are just as capable at making great, magical movies as Pixar is. You can't just label movies by the studio that makes it.

Im not saying one is less capable than the other? im saying they both do their own, different thing.

Animation studios have very key people behind them that ussually stays on their jobs for a long time. Pixar has Lasseter and his influence can be seen in pretty much every Pixar movie in regards to keeping a distinctive mood, feel, and animation style with each of them.

There are plenty of other stuff as well. From orchestal OST's and original theme songs in Pixar movies to licensed soundtracks in Dreamwork's (specially for marketing material), and a big etc.

It's very easy to tell the movies from the studios apart. Im not saying one needs to be better than the other.

For what its worth, my favorite non-Pixar contemporary CG kids-oriented animated film is Rango by ILM.

Replicant · May 24, 2012

Descpicable Me was pretty boring and has awful character design. Thankfully it was redeemed by these little creatures:

I'd watch more films about these little guys but never again about their boring master.

Timbuktu · May 24, 2012

Aardman mOvies are great generally, i can't understand why Americans aren't going to watch The Pirates.

SmellyHands · May 24, 2012

Persona7 said:
Pixar is terrible.

I don't disagree completely. They've made some fine movies, but the CG animation style has grown bland and uninteresting. I'm sick of it. No soul.

Lijik · May 24, 2012

Timbuktu said:
Aardman mOvies are great generally, i can't understand why Americans aren't going to watch The Pirates.

Totally forgot to mention that film in my post.
I legitimately don't understand why this film isn't doing better or getting more buzz. I guess its The Avengers looming over the box office.

RobotHaus · May 24, 2012

Agent Unknown said:
Yes, there are passionate animation fans who discuss things. Is this an actual epiphany to you? Or did you just feel the urge to waste your time and ours with some dumb, random, snarky comment?.

Nope, just though it was a mistake being in the community section.

I do have a fondness for most Pixar movies, they seem more timeless than others. Most Dreamworks titles seem to play more to what is hip at the time it's made or very close to it, while Pixar films seem to be just good stories.

Grakl · May 24, 2012

SmellyHands said:
I don't disagree completely. They've made some fine movies, but the CG animation style has grown bland and uninteresting. I'm sick of it. No soul.

Huh. Never expected to hear that.

Agent Unknown · May 24, 2012

Dan said:
Nope, pretty awful and obnoxious. Character designs were super random and senseless. Like most DreamWorks movies it relied heavily on pop music in order to make various scenes and montages more 'entertaining' through the sheer force of nostalgia. Then of course there's Will Ferrell yelling at the audience for 100 minutes.

Nailed it. MegaMind was irritating to the core. Ferrell's usual "I'm a hoarse voiced yelling buffoon!!!" routine, Jonah Hill was annoying and unfunny as always and Pitt's role was boring and pointless. Only thing about the movie I liked was David Cross's Minion who was actually modeled after Robot Monster of MST3K fame (confirmed by Tina Fey in an interview):

Persona7 said:
Pixar is terrible.

BorkBork · May 24, 2012

Pixar understands the art of storytelling, of telling it simply and truly. That's the difference for me.

hey_it's_that_dog · May 24, 2012

Persona7 said:
Pixar is terrible.

Compared to what?

SmellyHands said:
I don't disagree completely. They've made some fine movies, but the CG animation style has grown bland and uninteresting. I'm sick of it. No soul.

The notion that "CG animation style" is a singular style and should be evaluated as such suggests to me your brain isn't working right.

MisterHero · May 24, 2012

Lijik said:
I loved this movie!! The animation was topnotch, one of the first movies that nailed that old Warner Bros. style of animation in CG

Yeah it really was. The animation went beyond visual gags and contained some nuance. I loved it and it's not even the kind of animation I'm most interested in.

Even though it's not a movie, I'd say that the 1st episode of TRON Uprising was some of the most satisfying animation I've watched in a long time.

Agent Unknown · May 24, 2012

How to Train Your Dragon was good and had a lot of heart. Maybe the tide is beginning to turn a bit.

KittenMaster said:
Just needs "thread backfire" as a caption, because I think that's what's happening here, lol.

Mr_Zombie · May 24, 2012

This isn't a Pixar movie that I hate, but rather one that I love: Bolt.

I bought it one day for my nephew and I didn't even realize that this isn't a Pixar movie until much later. After an abominations that was "Chicken Little" I didn't think a non-Pixar CGI movie could be good, but my nephew loved it is so much that he watched it few times in a row. And so did I.

I mean, how can you not like a movie with a scene like this: the dog face

CorvoSol · May 24, 2012

The problem I have with Dreamworks movies is that they have too many pop-culture references which I feel makes the films dated when I rewatch them a few years down the road. Pixar movies, like Disney of old, are classic and always good to watch. When I was in High School I narrated the entire premise of Shrek 3 to a classmate based solely on the commercials, which I also feel is a bit of a bum deal.

That said, there are still some non-Pixar movies which were good. Horton Hears a Who and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs come to mind.

Salsa · May 24, 2012

CorvoSol said:
The problem I have with Dreamworks movies is that they have too many pop-culture references which I feel makes the films dated when I rewatch them a few years down the road. Pixar movies, like Disney of old, are classic and always good to watch.

not only that but its easy, cheap humor

their best movies are the ones that dont do this wether because they're set on a different period of time or whatever

like How to train your dragon wich is arguably their best movie, its great.

Bladenic · May 24, 2012

I like lots of animated films from different companies. I'm not gonna lie, I think people put Pixar on some big pedestal. For one as someone mentioned, Cars fits that picture about the faces about Dreamworks to a tee, and it wasn't a great movie either tbh. Don't even need to mention Cars 2 do I? And it's not like their other output is flawless. The Incredibles was largely forgettable tbh. But thats just my opinion. For what it's worthy, I love Toy Story series.

IrrelevantNotch · May 24, 2012

What happens if I say a Pixar film?

edit - Ok, seems nobody cares. Up was a major disappointment. So was Wall-E. And Toy Story 3. Not gonna mention the Cars movies cuz you expect those to be bad.

Salsa · May 24, 2012

Cars is fucking terrible, havent even bothered watching Cars 2.

apana · May 24, 2012

I haven't seen enough dreamworks movies to judge them. I think Pixar is great but the worship for them gets over the top sometimes. UP did not deserve an academy award nomination.

Agent Unknown · May 24, 2012

MisterHero said:
I really liked Horton Hears a Who!

Except for the odd, brief anime spoof scene I really liked it too. But then the ending when all the characters break out singing "Can't fight this feeling anymore" by REO comes out of nowhere and completely destroys the movie. It's like they juuuuuust couldn't resist crapping out at the end into pop culture idiocy.

kaskade · May 24, 2012

How to Train Your Dragon was amazing. I really enjoyed it. I also liked Despicable Me. I haven't seen every DreamWorks movie but I generally don't enjoy them so much. They tend to appeal towards kids more. Almost Saturday morning cartoonish. Pixar movies can be enjoyed by anyone. I think the reason Cars wasn't good was because it was more in line with a DreamWorks film.

Adam J. · May 24, 2012

Don't understand the love that How To Train A Dragon gets--movie had a mediocre setup with a terrible voice-cast (Apatow rejects).

Coroline is the best animated movie in years and I'm looking forward to seeing what that team does with Paranorman.

Lijik · May 24, 2012

Agent Unknown said:
But then the ending when all the characters break out singing "Can't fight this feeling anymore" by REO comes out of nowhere and completely destroys the movie. It's like they juuuuuust couldn't resist crapping out at the end into pop culture idiocy.

I hated that part. I remember reading that the team felt the ending of Horton leaving the whos forever was depressing, so they wanted to find a lighter ending and the pop number was the best they could cook up in time.

GCX · May 24, 2012

Big budget CG animations as a whole have been getting better the last few years. The beginning of 00s was all about doing movies around dumb pop culture references (aka Shrek effect) but that doesn't really happen anymore.

Many studios make great animated movies.

AdventureRacing · May 24, 2012

Replicant said:
Descpicable Me was pretty boring and has awful character design. Thankfully it was redeemed by these little creatures:

I'd watch more films about these little guys but never again about their boring master.

I really enjoyed this movie, not up there with my favourite pixar movies but quite good.

CorvoSol · May 24, 2012

Adam J. said:
Don't understand the love that How To Train A Dragon gets--movie had a mediocre setup with a terrible voice-cast (Apatow rejects).

Coraline is the best animated movie in years and I'm looking forward to seeing what that team does with Paranorman.

I loved Coraline! Can't ever look at button eyes the same way, though.

XiaNaphryz · May 24, 2012

SalsaShark said:
For what its worth, my favorite non-Pixar contemporary CG kids-oriented animated film is Rango by ILM.

Agent Unknown · May 24, 2012

Lijik said:
I hated that part. I remember reading that the team felt the ending of Horton leaving the whos forever was depressing, so they wanted to find a lighter ending and the pop number was the best they could cook up in time.

Seems like a pretty rediculous excuse, that's the ONLY way they could figure out how to keep the tone positive at the end?

What needed to be kept positive? Horton saved Whoville. Truth, loyalty, faith in what you know to be true and friendship win in the end but that's too hard to pull off so let's license a track from a second tier 70s rock band? Seriously?

Quick · May 24, 2012

I tend to avoid non-Pixar movies, since I feel like they're just trying to copy Shrek's formula poorly (pop culture, crude over-the-head humour). For the record, I think Shrek 1 and 2 are awesome, 3 was shit.

I do like to be surprised. Kung-Fu Panda was great, and I've heard nothing but good things about How To Train Your Dragon, Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, Despicable Me, and some others. The Lorax was also pretty good, too.

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