Why did this NEED to be made?

[frogboy4]

Look at How to Train Your Dragon (I have to wait to get the DVD... ). That film did gangbusters, though the merchandise was all Wal*Mart exclusive. Critics loved it, it's gained a fanbase... it has a wonderful mystic setting. None of them are wondering what an MP3 player is (they finally can't get away with playing CD's on record players). I still say the Smurfs movie could take place in the entire era and still work... heck, work better and not alienate the fans like every single live action remake. But then again, I tend to think of them more as a Belgian comic (a very good one at that... you can find 2 of them at US Bookstores for the first time ever) than that 1980's cartoon that drug the characters down... let's just say they're a littlemore violent when it comes to Brainy or Jokey.

The lawn gnome angle of the film seems as tacky as lawn gnomes are and the houses they adorn. While I can't say I'm a huge fan of David the gnome (Duckula and Danger Mouse were NEVER on when I was at my friend's house. So David and the Noozles were the only ones on... I LOVE Duckula), a movie of that style would be all sorts of cool. But another Space Chimpsy, Shark Taley, too late to ride the Shrek bandwagon (as Dreamworks is trying to move away from those kinds of movies... even the last Shrek was devoid of farts) by a fifth tier CGI studio? This is the state of animation in the US? Really... we need to have some sort of face palm smilie.

Yeah, we couldn't stock the Dragon figures in our shop, but they were poorly constructed. Every CG movie should have stellar figure sculps seeing that they can send off 3D turnarounds to the factories. Pixar seems to have that down since Bug's Life. I don't think DreamWorks expected Dragon to be the hit that it turned out to be.

How To Train Your Dragon was amazing! I haven't read the books, but I got the DVD already. I've heard that it deviates from the books a great deal, yet the author seemed enthusiastic about the picture and shepherded it into production so it appears to have her blessing.

I'm still not looking forward to Cars 2. Ick. I'm actually more curious about what the heck they're doing with the Smurfs. I actually think it has a chance of doing well, while Cars 2 might face trouble opening opposite the Planet of the Apes prequel/reboot next year. It has buzz. And the Kung Fu Panda sequel has a two week jump on it. One thing's for certain...lots of animation coming. Some better than others, but it's nice to have choices!

 

[Redsonga]

I've noticed dragons always seem to have a hard time being make into toys that don't fall apart if they have movement and are just normal everyday toys and not collectors items. Iwonder why that is, lots of detail?
Although Toothless wasn't that detailed next to the other dragons...

It's nice to see an author loving the movie of her books and giving it her blessing. The Owls of Ga'Hoole seems to have the same backing from its author http://www.kathrynlasky.com/KK/Home.html
It must be amazing to see something you worked so hard on brought to life in a different way

I did not know Planet of The Apes was getting redone again..Whatever happened to the 2001 version? Was that even ever meant to be more than one movie? :\

 

[Drtooth]

I'm still not looking forward to Cars 2. Ick. I'm actually more curious about what the heck they're doing with the Smurfs. I actually think it has a chance of doing well, while Cars 2 might face trouble opening opposite the Planet of the Apes prequel/reboot next year. It has buzz. And the Kung Fu Panda sequel has a two week jump on it. One thing's for certain...lots of animation coming. Some better than others, but it's nice to have choices!

Cars 2 will do well. Little kids LOVE cars anyway, a movie about talking cars going on races? I still remember just before opening weekend, you couldn't find a single Die Cast Mattel toy on shelves for weeks. It's a very wise gamble. besides, a family movie will always win out, unless it's opposite another family movie. Which is what worries me about the Gnome film.

I don't think another POTA movie should ever be attempted. Tim Burton's film kinda killed any potential for a series of remakes. I know Star Trek's reboot was surprisingly good, if alienating die hards (a shame, since it was a well done action film... something you rarely see)... I really hope they make more of them.

As for the Smurf movie... there's just zero confidence behind it. They're releasing it in August, and that's usually the "who cares" month, and unless they're more adult films (not adult x rated, adult films for adults to watch movies older people will appreciate). They clearly threw the script together last minute, and a million dollar bet that they're going to use that horrendous "I'm Blue" some somewhere in the soundtrack, or at least the trailers. I still say bringing them to modern times to try to be the Chipmunk movie is the dumbest decision... that's what they did with the 1980's He-Man film, and why everyone hated it, and it became sarcastic internet fodder. It's almost like they had a budget lower than Filmations. That's pretty low. And they really should have gone to the original comics for reference instead of watching 2 Smurf cartoons on Youtube and saying, "We can fudge this to 90 minutes. We have a generic script that would work for any 1980's cartoon rebioot anyway."

I will still give it a reluctant chance (Paramount should have made theirs) unless the trailers really reak.

It's nice to see an author loving the movie of her books and giving it her blessing.

She's not Alan Moore. I remember the Scott Pilgrim guy gave all the cast original drawings of their respective characters. Don't see Alan Moore doing that. I guess the closer to obscurity you are, you welcome any boost in your book's sales.

 

[Redsonga]

She's not Alan Moore. I remember the Scott Pilgrim guy gave all the cast original drawings of their respective characters. Don't see Alan Moore doing that. I guess the closer to obscurity you are, you welcome any boost in your book's sales.

... Or she might just actually like it and be happy to see her characters in a different medium.
I really would not call obscurity, sure it is not Harry Potter, but she is the author behind books that have a big enough following to be best sellers in children's books in there own right and span 15 books. That is something... Movies give a push, but they would not help sales at all if the books weren't readable to start with ;3

*lol* One Alan Moore is enough IMHO . At least, from what I've seen being a comic fan since 1997 ...If everyone was him or Anne Rice who knows where movies books and fanfic would be...Maybe it would be amazing, who knows?

*hee* The 80's He-Man film, I love 80's cartoons (My Little Pony Rainbow Brite and all) and thought it was boring. My inner 80's baby loves the song that goes with it though...

Anyway getting back to the topic of the whole thread, maybe it's not that the gnome movie *had* to be made so much as it *could* be made. Maybe they don't see it in 'have tos\need tos' anymore but more 'we have an empty space here and a pile of movies nearly finished here, pick one'.

(Maybe the whole thing holding up the FR movie is its story is solid and well done enough that you can't push it quickly to the 'almost done what do we pick' pile. Like a book based movie backed by its author it has people that care about it watching the process At least, from what I've heard. I might be wrong...)

The Yogi Bear movie makes me feel this, if only because I'm use to when something is planned and *has* to be made they seem to push the real classic cartoons of the series back into the public eye again as a safety net for us to get warm memories from .
None of this seems to be happening with Yogi the way they did with the Smurfs...Unless I missed a big fancy boxset, a boxset would be nice :3

 

[Drtooth]

... Or she might just actually like it and be happy to see her characters in a different medium.
I really would not call obscurity, sure it is not Harry Potter, but she is the author behind books that have a big enough following to be best sellers in children's books in there own right and span 15 books. That is something... Movies give a push, but they would not help sales at all if the books weren't readable to start with ;3

*lol* One Alan Moore is enough IMHO . At least, from what I've seen being a comic fan since 1997 ...If everyone was him or Anne Rice who knows where movies books and fanfic would be...Maybe it would be amazing, who knows?

Hehe heh. Yeah, there are a lot of creators that are quite happy to see life breathed into their characters, but there are also some that think they're the end all be all. Of course, with most of the movies made of his comics, Alan Moore was RIGHTFULLY angry. League of Extraordinary Gentlemen? I did really like Watchmen, even if I find the comic had better flow, and I think too many comic geeks got snobby about it and picked it apart. it isn't a great film, but it wasn't bad at all.

But make no mistake, I'd say a lot of these complaints are founded. Joe Harris was quite unhappy with the Underdog movie. I would be too if I created something with such subtle satire that was lost in a generic super hero talking dog movie. So it all depends on if the creator and film makers are on the same page in terms of vision.

*hee* The 80's He-Man film, I love 80's cartoons (My Little Pony Rainbow Brite and all) and thought it was boring. My inner 80's baby loves the song that goes with it though...

Never take a character in a magical element and drag them into mundane situations unless you manage to make it artistic or some sort of commentary (What Fraggle Rock had the potential to do, they at least existed in the same time period). I feel the Smurfs will get lost in the film and turn into the annoying squeaky voiced toy commercial people associate with them instead of the classic, respectable comic book. Same problem I have with TMNT. I SOOOO want to see the real comic book TMNT in a project. Too bad that'll never happen and we'll be stuck with dudes and cowabungas. That said, I kinda tend to watch He-Man ironically when it's late night on qubo. I was always more a fan of the Thundercats. But Filmation should have just done the movie all animated. That's what people remember.

Anyway getting back to the topic of the whole thread, maybe it's not that the gnome movie *had* to be made so much as it *could* be made. Maybe they don't see it in 'have tos\need tos' anymore but more 'we have an empty space here and a pile of movies nearly finished here, pick one'.

(Maybe the whole thing holding up the FR movie is its story is solid and well done enough that you can't push it quickly to the 'almost done what do we pick' pile. Like a book based movie backed by its author it has people that care about it watching the process At least, from what I've heard. I might be wrong...)

The Yogi Bear movie makes me feel this, if only because I'm use to when something is planned and *has* to be made they seem to push the real classic cartoons of the series back into the public eye again as a safety net for us to get warm memories from .
None of this seems to be happening with Yogi the way they did with the Smurfs...Unless I missed a big fancy boxset, a boxset would be nice :3

Actually, I should get this thread titled, "why did this need to be release?" as the film was a contractual obligation. I don't know how they got stuck with it, but they got stuck with it. I hope they treat it with the same disregard as they did with Emperor's new Groove (It really didn't deserve the treatment it got, not even if you think "City of the Sun" or whatever should have been made instead)... heck, that was on TV in less than a year of its release, and there was virtually no merchandise outside of Happy Meal Toys and coloring books.

The Yogi movie on the other hand seems like "We REALLY want to make the Chipmunks movie!" As I've been saying, that was a surprise hit, and it lead to cheap talking CGI animal movies based on old cartoons (both released and in the works). Yogi really doesn't have all that much to screw up, and other than a miscast Ranger Smith (I hate to say this, but it was a shame that Will Ferrel turned the role down... he could at least emote anger and frustraition better than this guy. Something you need for Ranger Smith), it doesn't seem like they've done anything out of plot or character. The Bugs Bunny movie I object to the fact that he's CGI, instead of Roger Rabbit-like, but I'm holding judgment. Marvin the Martian and Pepe le Pew I'm shaking off as not going to happen. Plus, the character really hasn't had a project since maybe the 90's with that TERRIBLE Yo Yogi series... and the movie would have to be pretty rank to be worse than that show.