Traditional Animation: The Return

[Drtooth]

Personally, I think Dreamworks is capable of something great if they work hard. I feel that Antz and Over the Hedge were some of the best films they made. Even the first 2 Shrek's were good.

Panda, I'm sort of willing to give a chance, but in a summer of Indiana Jones, Speed Racer, Iron Man, Wall E and a Star Wars movie pilot for a TV show (plus, I kinda wanna see the Bleach movie in a theater on the 2 days they're showing it. I just wanna see what the hype's about), it's pretty much at the bottom of the pile.

I love their animation, but I think they should move closer to B and C list celebrity voice actors. Look at the Incredibles. Samuel L Jackson and maybe Holly hunter are the most well known names in the film, followed by the star, Craig T Nelson, and maybe Wallace Shawn. The rest of the film was made up of various animators and writers. Bud Lucky did a remarkable job as the agent. And let's not forget Brad Bird as E.

Whoever is playing the role should come SECOND. Writing the role should come first.

Of course, Dreamworks DID focus on celebrity voice actors even when they were doing tradigital animation (2-D animated digitally), so there's nothing too different there.

 

[lowercasegods]

Thank you! I didn't draw it, my cartooning style's a bit different from that. It's some artwork from an animated Muppet series that was pitched in 2004(?). It was called "American Mayhem," and I assume it was to have been about the Electric Mayhem while Scooter was their "road manager".

However, I really want to draw my own Super Scooter icon eventually. Maybe, perhaps.

I'm gonna have to look for images from this proposed show. I dig the design ethic behind it.

 

[lowercasegods]

Okay, I just checked out the artwork and idea behind American Mayhem, and I'm of a mind that thinks it should have been made a reality, and the fact that it wasn't is the biggest American tragedy since the career assassination of Pee-Wee Herman. The premise was brilliant, and it was such a great idea to re-imagine these characters in a fresh concept rather than just transpose them into cartoons with nothing new added to the mix as was the case in everything post-Muppet Babies (with the exception of Dog City--very original despite being inspired by the Jim Henson Hour episode).

But back to the topic at hand. Dreamworks does good CGI, but that's talking visually, not thematically and certainly not substantially. Character-wise, attitude-wise, and scope of vision-wise, all their films are the same. "I'm a wise-acre talking animal who farts." Just slap a different title on it and you have their next big summer release.

Not to say 2-D wasn't growing stale before it was shelved as an outdated outlet for animation. Much as I love fairy tales and musicals, everyone from Disney to Don Bluth was doing them, and they too were becoming cookie cutter and cliche.

We need a visionary to bring us true originality. We almost had that in Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch was the most original animated film of the 1990's) before Disney ganked his American Dog, gave Chris the boot, euthanized his canine, and brought it back to stale life as the upcoming Bolt. Hopefully Sander's new project blows his old Disney work out of the water, and helps Dreamworks create something new rather than just one more flatulent panda.

 

[Super Scooter]

Okay, I just checked out the artwork and idea behind American Mayhem, and I'm of a mind that thinks it should have been made a reality, and the fact that it wasn't is the biggest American tragedy since the career assassination of Pee-Wee Herman. The premise was brilliant, and it was such a great idea to re-imagine these characters in a fresh concept rather than just transpose them into cartoons with nothing new added to the mix as was the case in everything post-Muppet Babies (with the exception of Dog City--very original despite being inspired by the Jim Henson Hour episode).

I agree. I personally prefer to see the Muppets kinda stick with puppetry, but the idea for this was just fantastic, I would have liked to have seen it made.

There were three proposed series. Did you check out the other two?

American Mayhem
Muppet 75
Waiting for Kermit

Any and all of these would have been awesome to see (and this is technically still on topic of "Traditional Animation").

 

[Sgt Floyd]

I agree. I personally prefer to see the Muppets kinda stick with puppetry, but the idea for this was just fantastic, I would have liked to have seen it made.

There were three proposed series. Did you check out the other two?

American Mayhem
Muppet 75
Waiting for Kermit

Any and all of these would have been awesome to see (and this is technically still on topic of "Traditional Animation").

hmmm...I'm not sure how I feel about the look of the characters. Janice kinda looks like a mutated horse in my opinion. But then again, I cant give an opinion thats too harsh on still pictures alone. It would still be intersting to see the muppets animated like that though

A series proposed to The Jim Henson Company by Darin McGowan in which the ghost of Dave Brubeck visits Dr. Teeth in a dream and tells him to give rock n' roll back to the children of America.

What is it with dead people visiting people in their sleep telling them to do stuff?

They’ve been ruined by too many "boy bands and barbie dolls."

thats for sure

 

[Super Scooter]

What is it with dead people visiting people in their sleep telling them to do stuff?

It's an old standard. The Muppets are known for doing that kinda stuff, or gently parodying them. Like with The Muppets Take Manhattan. That story's been used a lot!

 

[lowercasegods]

I agree. I personally prefer to see the Muppets kinda stick with puppetry, but the idea for this was just fantastic, I would have liked to have seen it made.

There were three proposed series. Did you check out the other two?

American Mayhem
Muppet 75
Waiting for Kermit

Any and all of these would have been awesome to see (and this is technically still on topic of "Traditional Animation").

I did check out the other ones, and they seemed pretty cool, too. But the American Mayhem one seemed like the freshest concept. I like the stylized takes on the band's designs. Have you ever see the old Muppet comic strip from the 80's written and drawn by Guy and Brad Gilchrist? That was a nice little strip with some great stylized designs as well. They definitely would have lent themselves to animation very nicely.

 

[wiley207]

http://images.wikia.com/muppet/images/b/b4/Tvshow.muppets75.jpg

Holy Crap, Fozzie's ears look like an elephant!

 

[Ilikemuppets]

Of course, Dreamworks DID focus on celebrity voice actors even when they were doing tradigital animation (2-D animated digitally), so there's nothing too different there.

I actually thought that The Lion King was the perfect casting for an animated film. I also really liked the casting in Ratatouille too. I like the Incredibles because I actually didn't even know it was Samuel Jackson but I though of the character first.

Not to say 2-D wasn't growing stale before it was shelved as an outdated outlet for animation. Much as I love fairy tales and musicals, everyone from Disney to Don Bluth was doing them, and they too were becoming cookie cutter and cliche.

I actually thought sometime after Toy Story that 2D was actually breaking form the mold and that is was actually becoming more creative with wat they were doing.

 

[lowercasegods]

I felt like Lilo and Stitch broke from the mold, but ultimately Disney wasn't comfortable with that, so their films went back to stale formula. The most revolutionary 2D animation being done primarily comes from Europe and Canada, with the exception of American animator Bill Plympton, who's a one-man animation studio and a true revolutionary.