Been a while, huh? What else is new. You should be used to my lack of posting by now. Hopefully, the three people that still visit this site will get some lunch time reading fodder out of this.
First off, SPA released a trailer for "Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs". You can find it on the website of the same name. The low resolution trailer absolutely sucks. Why do companies release them like this? It just makes the film look worse than it possibly is.
The character designs are simple. I'm not sure that this is a bad thing. While at the same time, I'm not sure it is a good thing. I'm really mixed on the look of this film. I'll have to get back to you. As far as the story, it sounds entertaining enough.
Speaking of Sony. I forced myself to watch "Open Season 2" on video a few weeks back. The story was absolutely horrible. I could barely keep it on for the entire movie. But I did it anyway. Just for you! My faithful audience. My wife said the animation was fine. But as someone in the industry. I can only say the animation was bad. Not Hoodwinked bad, but pretty bad, just the same. Boog just looked off. Something weird about his model and facial expressions. The other characters just looked cheap. I was really disappointed.
As you may or may not know, much of, if not all of this show was done at Reel FX in Texas. I don't know what to make of those guys. Sometimes you see some decent stuff out of them (Furious Five animation comes to mind) and then you see crap like this. I hope it has to do with the budget. I've heard rumors it was under $10M for OS2. Much under $10M! If so, I guess I should give them a break. Even if the story sucked and the animation was well under the bar. I am thrilled that they kept the work in the USA. Kudos to Sony for doing that. I'm willing to bet that another badly written OS3 will be coming soon. That is okay if it means more work for those in the States.
Blur Studios in Venice released a still or two for "The Goon". A CG film they are doing. It looked pretty decent. Although, I'm going to hold back my judgement till I see more. Blur does some nice work. That short film they did with the two guys fighting over the woman with bouncy boobs was sweet. If they can keep the film on that level or better, we are in for some good eye candy. Maybe I just hope we get more CG bouncy boobs. If anyone will do it, Blur will.
I rented "Madagascar 2" to watch again. Nice entertaining movie. Didn't blow me away, but it was fun. The animation wasn't all that great, imo. But it was serviceable. Some really nice moments, then some crappy stuff. I'm slowly falling off the Monsters Vs Aliens bandwaggon. I'm getting less and less interested in seeing it by the minute. Not good.
Pixar has released the plot for their next short "Partly Cloudy". No, it isn't a ripoff of SPA's flick. Instead, it is about an actual cloud. While the last Pixar movies have been somewhat lackluster in my opinion, their shorts continue to entertain. I have a feeling this one will too.
I guess Disney is stirring up controversy with "Princess and the Frog". Why? Cause the princess is black and the prince isn't. WTF? Doesn't that mean more diversity? I don't get it. Some people are never happy. I expect this film to do pretty good when released. Will that mean more 2D features from the mouse? I don't know. Probably. But don't expect them to drop any CG productions to make room.
And lastly. Mr. Phil Knight has promoted his son to CEO of Laika. Travis will be taking the place of the previous exec Dale Wahl. Does this surprise anyone? It shouldn't. Maybe the kid is deserving, but it sure sounds like daddy warbucks is just buying Tiny Teabag (or whatever his rapper name was. (yes, he had a short career as a rapper. No doubt paid for by his dad.)) his own little kingdom to rule. Don't take this personally Travis, I'm just jealous. If I had a mega rich father, I'd want to be spoiled too.
