West Nile, Swine Flu, Meningitis, and Sequelitis

[D'Snowth]

Yes, that's the movie. He and his brother inherited their late father's string factory, as well as a historic old house that they try to renovate and auction off, however, there is a mouse inhabiting the house, and he's not about to move out any time soon. Oh yeah, and this is another one of those movies where Christopher Walken serves as a memorable secondary character (the exterminator who eats mouse droppings).

I remember as a kid, my parents wanting to see that movie, and dragging me along with them, and as a kid, I automatically assumed this movie was going to be "boring" (because if it's something your PARENTS want to see, it can't be really good, can it?), but in the end, I loved it.

 

[Hubert]

Ah, yes, I finally got to see that movie earlier this year. I agree, it's very good.

 

[Drtooth]

Shark Tale was horrible. I recently tried to rewatch it when they ran it on Cartoon Network. I couldn't sit through the whole thing. The commercials were more entertaining.

Shark Tale was the lowest Dreamworks sank. If we all recall the Black Friday real of Toy Story, you know where Sharktale comes from. It's true that Antz was rushed out before Bugs Life, it's a whole big scene about Bugs Life being released at the same time as Prince of Egypt, and threatening to make a ripoff of Disney's film if they didn't move the date. Yet, I will say Antz was just an overall better film and had better concepts. But Sharktale was their that of Finding Nemo. Except that instead of improving on it with better concepts, they tossed in old Mafia movie stereotypes and Will Smith. It had some moments, but everything just said "this is a Shrek version of Nemo" even making shrimp the Gingerbread man of the movie. I'm glad they don't put that kind of character in films anymore.

 

[robodog]

Dreamworks seems to have improved a lot over the years. I loved Monsters Vs Aliens. Kung Fu Panda was pretty good and that new Guardians movie looks like it might be entertaining as well. Though judging by the advertising for that one it seems like they're trying to make the elves as popular as the minions from Despicable Me were.

 

[D'Snowth]

Though judging by the advertising for that one it seems like they're trying to make the elves as popular as the minions from Despicable Me were.

Well, all studios have a tendency to do that: if one studio comes out with something that endears itself to audiences, other studios are going to try to copy that for themselves.

But that's another thing too: Despicable Me 2... is this one really necessary? Granted, I never saw the first one (not really a big Steve Carrell fan, even though his voice work is a LOT better than his live work), but the idea of the movie seems like it resolved itself in one story... so what could they possibly touch on to warrant a sequel?

 

[Drtooth]

Though judging by the advertising for that one it seems like they're trying to make the elves as popular as the minions from Despicable Me were.

Thank you! I've been waiting for someone to say that so I don't look crazy. But that's not going to stop me from seeing it. William Joyce is behind it.

But that's another thing too: Despicable Me 2... is this one really necessary? Granted, I never saw the first one (not really a big Steve Carrell fan, even though his voice work is a LOT better than his live work), but the idea of the movie seems like it resolved itself in one story... so what could they possibly touch on to warrant a sequel?

It really seemed like a self contained story, but I'd like to see more of Gru, though I don't have any idea what kind of story is possible with it. I think the movie was great, but needed more Mad Science. All I can hope for with a sequel is that they actually have merchandise this time. I LOVE those little minions, and I was disappointed that there weren't any of them for retail (they had unwinnable carnival prizes, though).

 

[Dominicboo1]

It was, though personally, I didn't quite care for that one myself... IMHO, they seem kind of like DreamWorks was there for a while with Shrek, it seemed like most of Blue Sky's non-Ice Age work was kind of meh, at best. I haven't seen their version of Lorax, but I still stand by my theory that the ONLY reason Horton was as success as it was was all because of one emo character (Jojo).

But likewise, it really hasn't been until recently that any of DreamWorks' non-Shrek movies were really any good... I loathed SharkTale, haven't cared for either of the Kung-fu Panda or Madagascar movies, but I did like Bee Movie, and How to Train Your Dragon has so far been one of their better movies.

Of course, animation side, the live action division of DreamWorks has had some really good movies over the decades, Mousehunt being one of them.

Paulie was quite good too. As for the Chipmunks, just end it! They're cute movies, but three is more than enough please! Let's hope we never have Toy Story 4!

 

[robodog]

I kind of enjoyed the Chipmunks and Smurfs movies for what they were but neither really needed to be a franchise. One is enough. But money talks as they say. And now I hear they're making an ALF movie. I'm not sure what to think about that. I'm a huge ALF fan but I'm not sure if they're going to be able to do the series justice. I don't think the approach they used for Chipmunks and Smurfs will work for ALF.

 

[Drtooth]

Pixar would be foolish to make Toy Story 4, after they ended the series off nicely with the third one. It would totally destroy the sad, yet optimistic ending for the third one. The Toy Story Toons shorts are the way to go, and they've been all great so far. Especially Small Fry. If there's one topic Toy Story didn't touch enough, it was fast food premium toys (just that and an ABC Kids short).

I don't see any reason for them to make it.

 

[Drtooth]

I kind of enjoyed the Chipmunks and Smurfs movies for what they were but neither really needed to be a franchise. One is enough. But money talks as they say. And now I hear they're making an ALF movie. I'm not sure what to think about that. I'm a huge ALF fan but I'm not sure if they're going to be able to do the series justice. I don't think the approach they used for Chipmunks and Smurfs will work for ALF.

The Smurfs movie was supposed to be a 3 picture trilogy story arc. At least under Paramount. And it would have been a far better movie too. It was supposed to be about the rise of Gargamel, and the first film was focusing on him slightly. But then Paramount didn't want to make it, Sony gave us the Lampshade hanging parody version... and I gotta say, I enjoyed it more than I thought I would (I was most against it), but I wish they didn't need to go to our world for the sequel. But the sequel was inevitable when the first box office came in. It did so unexpectedly well, even for an end of July movie, that they hired the same darn writers back to make another one the second they could.

As for the Chipmunks movies, I quite liked the first one considering. Dave was totally miscast, but the rest of the film felt fine for what they were going for. We didn't need that Raisin joke or the under the towel fart... but everything else worked. It's a perfectly disguised allegory for the music industry using new artists as slaves. The second one could have been good. It had some genuinely good moments, Ian carried the film just like the last one, the Chipmunks going to school and meeting the Chippettes... that was pretty good. The Dave's loser nephew/ family falling apart because it's not Meerkat Manor/completely shoehorned love interest with the teacher on the part of said loser nephew... that sucked and was only there because Jason Lee didn't want to be in the movie. I refuse to see the third one.

ALF will not work as these films did. ALF will work like a Muppet movie with CGI assistance, but not as a hybrid.