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Best CG animated movie


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Best CG animated movie  

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  1. 1. What is the best CG animated movie?

    • The Incredibles
      12
    • Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children
      8
    • Toy Story
      17
    • Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
      1
    • Shrek
      4
    • Other (Please Specify)
      10


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I don't understand why The Incredibles gets so much acliam. :confused: Pixar has come so VERY far since that movie. What is it about this movie's graphics/story that's so better compared to the last few Pixar films?

 

Well, to me, The Incredibles was a much better Pixar movie than usual because while being a movie that kids would enjoy, it also had a complex & intriguing plot for adults to take in. That, combined w/ the VERY well done action scenes & a 2 hour run time put it WAY ahead of any other Pixar film, in my book. (BTW, I know that Cars is also 2 hours, but that movie shouldn't even be said in the same breath w/ The Incredibles IMO)

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Related tangent--I never saw Polar Express, but the trailers looked freaky enough. That movie was 100% mocap, I think. And the characters looked utterly lifeless.

 

Amazing how that works. It's also CG animation's greatest weakness. One of its main purposes is great realism, so real that it destroys a good portion of what makes animation worth doing in the first place.

 

Still, it's good that Pixar is at least trying.

 

Is it really Pixar's job to expand the genre expectations of the American public any more than they already have?

 

As the de facto leader of animation, yeah it is. Under their stewardship, American animation has fallen into a terrible rut.

 

I would love to see a Miyazaki movie in CG, but who would finance such a high priced risk?

 

Why would you want a Miyazaki movie that would, by definition, eliminate Miyazaki's talents as an animator?

 

Furthermore, you do realize that CG animation is relatively cheap right?

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Just curious: have you seen FF7:AC?

 

Uh, no. I haven't. Some might say that this indicates a clear and present flaw in my judgment of that movie's quality. And by "some" I mean "anyone with brains" and by "judgment" I mean "illogical and unfounded presumption". So, yeah, you got me there.

 

As the de facto leader of animation, yeah it is. Under their stewardship, American animation has fallen into a terrible rut.

 

I'd blame their competitors for that rather than Pixar themselves. Dreamworks and other studios took a look at the nature of the movies Pixar has been making and threw out cheap'n'quick imitations. They should have followed their example rather than just playing a game of monkey see and monkey do. You refer to Pixar's role in the marketplace as stewardship but I just see the sad fact that Hollywood approaches these things with the wrong mindset.

 

Really, both our positions are a little unreasonable. You (and to be fair, others) think a creative and well-run studio should have more variety in their product rather than sticking to what they do best. I (and, scant evidence aside, others too hopefully) would like the entire dynamic of how movies are made to be changed. Both of us are wishing for things that are unlikely. Pixar is probably never going to decide that it has the job of presenting the entire plethora of styles and genres to the American public and their competition isn't about to spontaneously focus on a specialty rather than just tossing out more and cheaper versions of Pixar's style.

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I don't need to be bit by a dog to know I wouldn't enjoy it!

I never understood all the hate for Cars. I still love it.

Other than the same things about other similar (animated) movies, I kept hearing how it was oh so original, and it wasn't - so not only would I not like it from before seeing it, it again proved it wasn't worthy of me seeing it (after I saw it) ...

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As the de facto leader of animation, yeah it is. Under their stewardship, American animation has fallen into a terrible rut.

 

I'd blame their competitors for that rather than Pixar themselves. Dreamworks and other studios took a look at the nature of the movies Pixar has been making and threw out cheap'n'quick imitations. They should have followed their example rather than just playing a game of monkey see and monkey do. You refer to Pixar's role in the marketplace as stewardship but I just see the sad fact that Hollywood approaches these things with the wrong mindset.

 

Really, both our positions are a little unreasonable. You (and to be fair, others) think a creative and well-run studio should have more variety in their product rather than sticking to what they do best. I (and, scant evidence aside, others too hopefully) would like the entire dynamic of how movies are made to be changed. Both of us are wishing for things that are unlikely. Pixar is probably never going to decide that it has the job of presenting the entire plethora of styles and genres to the American public and their competition isn't about to spontaneously focus on a specialty rather than just tossing out more and cheaper versions of Pixar's style.

 

Sorry, I just look at Disney's golden age (when they went from crude Mickey Mouse cartoons to Snow White, Pinochio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi in a little over a decade), and see the incredible leaps a studio can make when it refuses to settle.

 

Pixar is the closest thing we'll ever have to those years again. They perfected an artform straight out of the box. What did they do with that artistic energy? Nothing much.

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I don't understand why The Incredibles gets so much acliam. :confused: Pixar has come so VERY far since that movie. What is it about this movie's graphics/story that's so better compared to the last few Pixar films?

 

Well, to me, The Incredibles was a much better Pixar movie than usual because while being a movie that kids would enjoy, it also had a complex & intriguing plot for adults to take in. That, combined w/ the VERY well done action scenes & a 2 hour run time put it WAY ahead of any other Pixar film, in my book. (BTW, I know that Cars is also 2 hours, but that movie shouldn't even be said in the same breath w/ The Incredibles IMO)

 

Well, the whole thing about a movie being just as much fun for kids as it is for adults can be said about almost any animated film of the last 15 years. Most of this stuff is laden with adult-esque humor underneath all the "kid's stuff". Even the Muppet Movies are guilty of that.

 

I didn't hate The Incredibles, but I think it was the least original, and the least funny out of all the Pixar films. (Cars being second because it's pretty much the same plot as Doc Hollywood.) I mean, it was just your typical, run-of the mill, comic book, super-hero story. Cars, at least was more fun to watch, visually, and had a a much stronger moral to the story, IMO.

 

As far as Pixar originality goes, I would have to vote for Monster's, Inc. They created a whole other world with that movie and a really creative, unique way to tell a simple story. Nothing else has ever been done like it.

 

For the funniest Pixar film....I would have to vote for Monsters, Inc. again, with Finding Nemo a close second. (My g/f and I find ourselves quoting those two films the most still. :lol: )

 

Eh, oh well. To each his own. It's all good. B)

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Why would you want a Miyazaki movie that would, by definition, eliminate Miyazaki's talents as an animator?

 

Furthermore, you do realize that CG animation is relatively cheap right?

 

Well, it wouldn't be the same as his other flicks, I know; however, his storytelling ability, character development, & downright awesome imagination would make for a VERY interesting CG movie, IMO.

 

As for the budget issue, I know it is relatively cheap for CG, but aren't most CG animated movies at least around $40-50 million? Spirited Away's budget was only roughly $15 million, which I would assume is usually close to the amount of money Miyzaki works with.

 

Well, the whole thing about a movie being just as much fun for kids as it is for adults can be said about almost any animated film of the last 15 years. Most of this stuff is laden with adult-esque humor underneath all the "kid's stuff". Even the Muppet Movies are guilty of that.

 

No, I did not say The Incredibles was just as much fun for kids as it is for adults. It was a movie w/ a complex & intruiging plot that kids could still enjoy, which is a big difference from crap like Shrek, w/ the 'adult-esque' humor underneath a dumbed down kiddie plot.

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I agree with the opinion that Miyazaki shouldn't do CG films. His studio is pretty much the only major internationally acclaimed studio still putting out traditional animation films--and it isn't that he doesn't use CG; he just has a rule in place that only 10% of a movie can be made with computers, which I respect. It would be interesting to consider what kind of a film Studio Ghibli would put out if they did do an all-CG one, but that's just hypothetical.

 

By the way, have any of you seen ゲド戦記/Earthsea yet? I didn't get a chance to see it while it was in theaters over here, and though my Japanese is decent, his films are the sort where I'd prefer English subtitles, to make sure I get everything. :p

 

As for the people complaining that The Incredibles was boring and not funny enough--I think that's more an issue of the expectations you may have had going into it. All of their previous films had been funny and quirky family-friendly films. They marketed The Incredibles differently from the beginning and tried to make it as clear as possible that this was supposed to be a more serious film. I love it because it has such strong and believable and realistic characters. It also addresses the general trend of everyone taking the generic route and society seeming to promote mediocrity and discourage those with truly exceptional abilities from standing out ("It's not a graduation! He's moving from the fourth grade to the fifth grade. It's psychotic! They find new ways to reward mediocrity, but if someone is truly exceptional..."). Syndrome symbolizes that. It's not exactly a subtle theme, but it's not really in-your-face, either.

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As the de facto leader of animation, yeah it is. Under their stewardship, American animation has fallen into a terrible rut.

 

I'd blame their competitors for that rather than Pixar themselves. Dreamworks and other studios took a look at the nature of the movies Pixar has been making and threw out cheap'n'quick imitations. They should have followed their example rather than just playing a game of monkey see and monkey do. You refer to Pixar's role in the marketplace as stewardship but I just see the sad fact that Hollywood approaches these things with the wrong mindset.

 

Really, both our positions are a little unreasonable. You (and to be fair, others) think a creative and well-run studio should have more variety in their product rather than sticking to what they do best. I (and, scant evidence aside, others too hopefully) would like the entire dynamic of how movies are made to be changed. Both of us are wishing for things that are unlikely. Pixar is probably never going to decide that it has the job of presenting the entire plethora of styles and genres to the American public and their competition isn't about to spontaneously focus on a specialty rather than just tossing out more and cheaper versions of Pixar's style.

 

Sorry, I just look at Disney's golden age (when they went from crude Mickey Mouse cartoons to Snow White, Pinochio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi in a little over a decade), and see the incredible leaps a studio can make when it refuses to settle.

 

Pixar is the closest thing we'll ever have to those years again. They perfected an artform straight out of the box. What did they do with that artistic energy? Nothing much.

 

 

You're right, but to Pixar's credit, I don't think they intended to change the face of animation when they set out. I mean they wanted to offer something new, but they didn't expect to kill the traditional animation world.

 

In fact, as soon as Pixar merged with Disney, Pixar head John Lassiter was put in charge of all of Disney animation, and the first thing he did was reverse Eisner's edict, and put tradtional animated movies back on their slate.

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I don't think Pixar killed traditional animation. It set a new bar that suddenly everybody wanted to aspire to, but it was Michael Eisner doing away with the 2D animation department at Disney that put the nail in the coffin, so to speak. I'm so, so glad that's been reversed...in part because I'm SO, SO SICK of the idea that Japan and Asian animation is the definitive form of traditional animation. It drives me crazy--I'm so sick of the style. I also hate that any and every American animation project now incorporates those Japanese elements. There's not too much innovation in mainstream non-cinematic animation anymore. I'm a huge fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but the anime-esque style it uses does bug me sometimes.

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By the way, have any of you seen ゲド戦記/Earthsea yet? I didn't get a chance to see it while it was in theaters over here, and though my Japanese is decent, his films are the sort where I'd prefer English subtitles, to make sure I get everything.

 

No I haven't, and sadly won't for a couple years because of the lousy Sci-Fi Channel mini-series (they own the American rights) unless I catch a bootleg somewhere.

 

BTW, Hayao Miyazaki didn't do that movie. It was his son.

 

I almost wish Disney would just stay out of the traditional animation market & leave it to the Japanese. There may be less traditional animation, but people over here might take it more seriously if the main culprit in dumbing it down was completely removed from the equation.

 

Disney is not responsible for that. Little history lesson:

 

In the 30s Disney singlehandedly turned animation into a respectable artform. This led to the Golden Age of American animation which spawned not only Disney's classics, but the Warner Bros., MGM, and UPA.

 

Following Walt's death, the animation studio went on life support and Hanna Barbara and company destroyed the reputation of American animation by flooding television with cheap repetitive crap.

 

When Disney resurrected the artform (and itself) in the late-80s, all of American animation significantly improved. Even the wasteland that was television.

 

Now that Disney is again out of the picture, lo and behold animation is in another downturn.

 

Disney being out of action good for animation? Never has been before.

 

You're right, but to Pixar's credit, I don't think they intended to change the face of animation when they set out. I mean they wanted to offer something new, but they didn't expect to kill the traditional animation world.

 

In fact, as soon as Pixar merged with Disney, Pixar head John Lassiter was put in charge of all of Disney animation, and the first thing he did was reverse Eisner's edict, and put tradtional animated movies back on their slate.

 

It's got to kill a guy like Lassiter to realize that he's done so much damage to what he loves.

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By the way, have any of you seen ????/Earthsea yet? I didn't get a chance to see it while it was in theaters over here, and though my Japanese is decent, his films are the sort where I'd prefer English subtitles, to make sure I get everything.

 

No I haven't, and sadly won't for a couple years because of the lousy Sci-Fi Channel mini-series (they own the American rights) unless I catch a bootleg somewhere.

 

BTW, Hayao Miyazaki didn't do that movie. It was his son.

 

I almost wish Disney would just stay out of the traditional animation market & leave it to the Japanese. There may be less traditional animation, but people over here might take it more seriously if the main culprit in dumbing it down was completely removed from the equation.

 

Disney is not responsible for that. Little history lesson:

 

In the 30s Disney singlehandedly turned animation into a respectable artform. This led to the Golden Age of American animation which spawned not only Disney's classics, but the Warner Bros., MGM, and UPA.

 

Following Walt's death, the animation studio went on life support and Hanna Barbara and company destroyed the reputation of American animation by flooding television with cheap repetitive crap.

 

When Disney resurrected the artform (and itself) in the late-80s, all of American animation significantly improved. Even the wasteland that was television.

 

Now that Disney is again out of the picture, lo and behold animation is in another downturn.

 

Disney being out of action good for animation? Never has been before.

 

You're right, but to Pixar's credit, I don't think they intended to change the face of animation when they set out. I mean they wanted to offer something new, but they didn't expect to kill the traditional animation world.

 

In fact, as soon as Pixar merged with Disney, Pixar head John Lassiter was put in charge of all of Disney animation, and the first thing he did was reverse Eisner's edict, and put tradtional animated movies back on their slate.

 

It's got to kill a guy like Lassiter to realize that he's done so much damage to what he loves.

 

 

Probably... but at the same time I bet his paycheck more than makes up for it!

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yeah, I guess you're right about Disney, SOL, which is why I said 'almost' wish. Still, what do you think it would take to get an American studio to make a movie like Grave of the Fireflys, Ninja Scroll, or Mononoke-Hime?

 

 

One bonefide hit would do it. Unfortunately, everytime it's been attempted, the results have been limp. From Bakashi's reach exceeding his grasp, to Titan A.E. and Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within closing the door on the possibility in the recent past.

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That's the truth right there-- for both the CGI trend, as well as traditional animation. In America, it's always been geared towards younger audiences because that has been where the hits are starting with Snow White.

 

In other countries, Japan especially, cartoons are often made for adults as well. The very few examples of "adult" animation produced in America has bombed. In adddition tot he examples SOL listed, I think of the Spawn animated series on HBO.

 

If we could get a pg-13, or dare I say it, R rated hit in animation, it might change the landscape of things. I had hoped that the Animatrix would have done it, but it didn't appear to.

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