I want to root for a film called Monsters vs. Aliens because I’m all for distilling a concept so far into high concept that it ceases to be high concept and becomes just a fun concept. Then again, I also think it’s unfair to many other cooler ideas to have stuff like Monsters vs. Aliens or Cowboys vs. Aliens or Ecks vs. Sever spoiling it for the rest of them.
Score another victory for the dumbing down of Earth.
The trailer for the star-studded 3-D animated Dreamworks feature has hit the web and it is generic as generic gets, having a lot less in common with stuff like Iron Giant (respect towards the pulp that influences it) and The Incredibles (big laughs, smart mainstream story) than I’d hoped. It also has an art style that seems to want to be Ice Age or Monsters, Inc. when the possibilities are limitless.
Imagine if the art went a little more towards Basil Gogos or Bernie Wrightson or Jack Kirby or Paul Garner or even my current fave Darwyn Cooke’s style?
It also reads like a who’s who list of solid talent facing overexposure:
Seth Rogen, Will Arnett, Stephen Colbert, Hugh Laurie, Kiefer Sutherland, Rainn Wilson. All talented (well, I’m not a Rainn Wilson fan but you get the point) folks but not really any fun curveballs.
And Reese Witherspoon. Whatever she is classified as.
It feels very familiar to me. There’s apparently a template out there these days as to what an animated crowd pleaser needs to be in order to deliver the return on investment needed to justify the effort. Maybe I’m just too cynical but each year it seems that these become more and more transparent in their lowest common denominator aims.
Then again, I’m a fan of Atlantis so judge me lightly..
The trailer awaits below for your own pleasure or ire. To see it bigger, go here. Otherwise…
12 comments
That is such an uncreative waste of time and money its just sick. And this was supposed to compete against Avatar?!!!
Fuck off, it looks alright. It's gonna be a winner for the whole family.
I am going to tell you what to think now.
Ha.. Ok so I am also disapointed by the fact they're going for the style of Monsters,Inc and not something gruelingly realistic like the first 1/2 of Wall-e. But then again.. if you made this even slightly more realistic it'd scare children away and put off curious parents and.. thats $$ down the drain. Your right, this is a business. They have a buisiness to run, not art to make. lol. That said, I like to think the concept of the gelatenous mass might become a non sequiter for the very people going to see this movie "as you can see he has no brain" . "Turns out you don't need one!" lol.. oh and yeah, I like Atlantis too, cause well, the style was kool and.. NO SONGS!! Muhahahaa
This is an OUTRAGE!!! How dare they make a cartoon targeted towards… CHILDREN!? When will the studios learn that all cartoons MUST be targeted towards overweight, balding, middle aged single men with little to no sense of personal hygiene, like myself. Mark my words Dreamworks… you will RUE the day you ever made Monsters vs Aliens! RUE THE DAY!!!!!
Darwyn Cooke is a brilliant artist. I can't wait to read his Parker novel adaptations.
I liked Monsters, Inc. it was funny and adorable, and from a tech point of view it really revolutionized the 3d animation of hair.
Uh, it's his blog, dude, in which he's expected to tell you what he thinks. Moron. Anyway, remember that great idea for a CGI movie, Frankenstein vs. the Wolfman? (For an animation test that will break your heart, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSw14jXKlH8) It had a legendarily great screenplay, and was to be in black and white, in the manner of the old Universal monster movies, (except without sfx or set limitations) and scary and moody as hell. Then the execs said, "It can't be in black and white, and it can't be too scary for kids. Fix it." So they wrote a kid-friendly script taking out all the cool parts and replaced CGI Boris Karloff with Frankenberry or whatever, and the execs said, "This sucks. You expect us to produce this crap?" This happens all the time. It's like the old joke: film director and a producer are wandering through the desert. Dying of thirst, they finally come upon an oasis with a pristine watering hole. They both fall to their knees at the water’s edge. The director cups his hands, fills them with water and lifts them to his mouth. “Wait a minute,” says the producer. “Now what?” asks the exasperated director. Replies the producer: “Let’s piss in it first.”
Evilkinggumby: You might want to look up non sequitur. I like pudding.
ATLANTIS!!! Hugely underrated Disney movie. Had a few problems, but on the whole a really nice take. I don't think I've ever heard someone talk about it and I don't know a single other person who saw it… which is sad.
Who cares??!!
Bring back the MB drafts, you Devin-lover!!
Jesus, who's this everhard fanboy constantly posting about Avatar? Dude, even if the effects and "furry" aspects don't suck, then Cameron's scripting surely will. Monsters Vs Aliens: looks like the usual cookie cutter animated movie that Dreamworks is reknowned for, so no big surprises. I like the big squirrel-alien thing is the back-ground there, though I dread the lame pop-culture references it will undoubtedly make and the utterly random song all the characters will break into right at the end. But then, I'm not 5 years old.
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