Monday, December 6, 2010

It's.... the FUTURE!

I am starting to soften to the whole 3d movie craze. Once I had a livid hatred for it, but now I think it has found its proper place in cinema. I remember when it was a toddler, awkwardly crawling into big companies. Everyone thought it was so cute, and they would throw any scripts they could towards it, just to hear it gurgle pleasantly. It didn't really matter if the story fit the media, they just needed to see it grow. I feel it's now in its adolescence stage, trying new things, and making small victories here and there. Good for it.

No, I am not a Shrek fan, to start off with. While many like it, I feel like it went stale. Perhaps it wasn't because of the acting or animating at all, but because they sucked it dry. It's hard to say. I enjoyed the first one. I watched the second one with a slight sense of caution, and I didn't bother watching the second-half of the third. It was sadly rehashed. I hate when they take something that works and milk the cow dry. In this scenario, third time is simply not the charm. But this is another issue for another day.

Onto a more positive note, I talk about this because about a month or so ago I watched Despicable Me. I absolutely fell in love with the film. The character designs and writing were spot on, the acting had that magical quality which really made you think they were real, carrying on their day to day lives without us watching. The voice actors were great, and I enjoyed myself throughout it's entirety. Even within the first ten minutes or so, there was an "I killed your dog," joke. I was delighted to see a mainstream film get a little cynical. A couple more odd-ball jokes thrown around throughout the movie and I was hooked. I will be buying this as soon as it comes out.

And, my goodness! Before Despicable Me, there was How to Train Your Dragons (which I instantly drew a Ruffnut fanart of... how could I not?), and over the past week I went to my local cinema and bought a ticket for Tangled. I didn't really have high hopes for Tangled. Therefore, when I watched it, I enjoyed it for what it was, but I believe it would have done much better in 2d. The characters were fun, if not slightly predictable, but you know. Just a film. I pine for the day when 2d is on top again. I really do believe our time has passed, though. Heck, even Disney has to have their teethe pulled out before they spend money on another traditional film. The Frog Princess was an embarrassment that not many 2d artists are happy talking about. Weak plotline, characters no one cares about, and .....NEWMAN!!! Randy Newman over Alan Menkin? What, my dear friends, has the world come to? What the heck happened to the days where 2D films got good scripts? Where did they go? I believe they are all going towards the 3d realm. Maybe one day, things will go back to how they were. Until then, 2D will stick to cereal commercials and flash cartoons on the web, made by angsty teenagers.

1 comment:

  1. Sad but true. It's nice that you're coming around because it really is a wonderful medium. However, there really is something so organic about 2d animation that I doubt 3d will reach any time in the near future.

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