Weekly Box Office and Film Discussion Thread

jvcarroll

jvcarroll

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Drtooth said:
You know, sometimes it's that movie you're kinda unsure that you'd like that you really enjoy. Croods was quite a pleasant surprise, and it really had a nice shot of heart near the ending. Belt did walk a thin line between absolutely hilarious and pretty annoying, and he came out charming. They did the "impending danger" leitmotif joke enough times that it went from lame to actually kinda funny (as running gags are designed to do). And Nick Cage is actually good at comedy. There's a lot of great Looney Tunes type gags in the film. And I never thought they'd play the "Complainer is always Wrong" bit without being cloying. Not to mention the amazing scenery and crazy One Piece-esque mix and match animals giving some great visual effects. it's like a much better Ice Age. Better in every way.

But the thing that really made it worth it? When Grug (the father) decides to be an idea man, and puts on the dumbest act possible. You're treated to Nick Cage doing an over the top, absolutely gut busting beatnik voice, with a straight face, all the while making a complete fool out of himself, injuring himself every step of the way. If he was able to do an entire movie like that, I'd watch. If they made a National Treasure 3 or Ghost Rider 3 where he did that voice non-stop, I'd watch. I want this DVD for that scene alone.

That is, after I was assaulted by the terrible Turbo trailer. The movie looks even worse than it sounds. And I had to be there with a full audience of families laughing at every completely obvious and not at all funny joke. UGH! To put it this way... I genuinely wanted to see Sharktale when it came out. It's WORSE than Sharktale.
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I liked Croods too. I could have done without some of the cloying moments and there was an opportunity at the end for something sweeter and more poetic, but they went the easy route. Oh, and I want that Belt! (He was voiced by the director.)

Turbo does look like an absurd straight to video kid-toon that somehow got a lot of backing. Industry folk claim that Rise of the Guardians was responsible for severe staff cuts at Dreamworks, but I think Turbo might have something to do with it as well. At least Rise was entertaining, creative and beautiful to look at. It would have succeeded with a stronger story. The structure didn't have enough bones to it. Anyway, Turbo looks terrible! I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Nope.
 
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Drtooth

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My initial problem with Croods is that the huge "What could have been" hanging over the film, and how the Aardman version would have turned out. Coming out of the theater, I completely stopped caring. And elements were probably still there. John Cleese still got a Story credit. Also, I like how the guy behind Lilo and Stitch was behind this and oh so subtly made the baby look like a human version of Stitch. The nose gives it away.

jvcarroll said:
Turbo does look like an absurd straight to video kid-toon that somehow got a lot of backing. Industry folk claim that Rise of the Guardians was responsible for severe staff cuts at Dreamworks, but I think Turbo might have something to do with it as well. At least Rise was entertaining, creative and beautiful to look at. It would have succeeded with a stronger story. The structure didn't have enough bones to it. Anyway, Turbo looks terrible! I was hoping to be pleasantly surprised. Nope.
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Turbo was in production quite some time. The real problem was that they wanted to get three movies at a time out there, and that was too expensive. ROTG does seem like it was a nail in the coffin. But it proves my point that Thanksgiving Weekend is starting to look less and less like a sure fire thing. It's that huge drop off week the next weekend. Not to mention that Christmas movies are really starting to hurt at the box office, even though the only "Christmas" thing about the film was Santa. That and I guess no one ever heard of the books the film was based off of and it came off strange, and just a little too dark for little kids.

And the worst part is, Dreamworks has such insanely high expectations and grandiose plans for Turbo. I am not kidding when they say they wanted to make it their own Cars like franchise. However, I just looked it up and it seems that there's a tiny snap back. They wanted to have a television cartoon series a few months following the film. Netflix is the only place to watch it. That doesn't bode well. I can see adult series thriving as Netflix exclusives... something that appeals to kids that young not being on television might not. It'd definitely a 7 and under franchise.
 
jvcarroll

jvcarroll

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Drtooth said:
My initial problem with Croods is that the huge "What could have been" hanging over the film, and how the Aardman version would have turned out. Coming out of the theater, I completely stopped caring. And elements were probably still there. John Cleese still got a Story credit. Also, I like how the guy behind Lilo and Stitch was behind this and oh so subtly made the baby look like a human version of Stitch. The nose gives it away.



Turbo was in production quite some time. The real problem was that they wanted to get three movies at a time out there, and that was too expensive. ROTG does seem like it was a nail in the coffin. But it proves my point that Thanksgiving Weekend is starting to look less and less like a sure fire thing. It's that huge drop off week the next weekend. Not to mention that Christmas movies are really starting to hurt at the box office, even though the only "Christmas" thing about the film was Santa. That and I guess no one ever heard of the books the film was based off of and it came off strange, and just a little too dark for little kids.

And the worst part is, Dreamworks has such insanely high expectations and grandiose plans for Turbo. I am not kidding when they say they wanted to make it their own Cars like franchise. However, I just looked it up and it seems that there's a tiny snap back. They wanted to have a television cartoon series a few months following the film. Netflix is the only place to watch it. That doesn't bode well. I can see adult series thriving as Netflix exclusives... something that appeals to kids that young not being on television might not. It'd definitely a 7 and under franchise.
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ROTG's animation and production design was so beautiful and clever that I purchased it on Blu-Ray. I don't necessarily think it was too dark or too strange. The trailers picked up its aimless nature and I think parents were concerned that their little ones would be bored. A lot of them where in the theater when I saw it. It's not that ROTG isn't kid-friendly. They just didn't mix-in enough fun. Croods did. However, the Croods felt the need to telegraph every emotion when they should have just let it play out. I'm glad it's doing well.
 
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Drtooth

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Better the heck be doing well. The theater was so crowded, I had to move like 3 times not to wind up having to sit directly next to someone's kid.
 
Scooterforever

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Drtooth said:
Better the heck be doing well. The theater was so crowded, I had to move like 3 times not to wind up having to sit directly next to someone's kid.
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Yeah, that's the worst part of going to see a kid's film. I saw "The Muppets" 7 times, and was by myself 5 times. I remember the theater being crowded most times, but I sat far away from any annoying kids. I guess it's not doing great at the box office, but a critic on NPR yesterday said Spring Breakers was very good, and anything but the "Superbad/ Hangover" knockoff people were expecting. I might just have to check it out.
 
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Ah, don't worry. It's a video game movie. They always suck :stick_out_tongue:
 
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