Disney Takes Muppet Script Through Pixar

[Gelfling Girl]

I'm just not a fan of CGI, Pixar or not.

I'm okay with CGI, although I much rather regular cartoons. The Toy Story trilogy was very good, though, particularly the last one.

 

[Mupp]

I'm just not a CGI fan, Pixar or not. I'm VERY old school lol

Just remember, even if a film is hand-drawn, that doesn't necessarily mean that its better than a CGI film. A hand-drawn film can still stink if it has a bad story.

Currently, Disney Animation plans to continue making both CGI and hand-drawn films. (A hand-drawn Winnie-the-Pooh film is coming up)
It is not fair to expect Disney to only make hand-drawn films, that would be imposing a certain technology on the studio. Walt Disney was a fan of innovation after all.

Story (the writing) is what is important, and I'm glad that John Lasseter knows that, and is having an influence on Disney Animation.

I'm also glad that they are spending so much time on the new Muppet film.

...Oh and one more thing, what would you rather see;
A badly written hand-drawn film, or a well written CGI film?

 

[Mupp]

You know, since this is the 21st century after all, I am assuming that this new Muppet film will be using SOME CGI for the visual effects. (You know, the post-production stuff.)

 

[Drtooth]

I'm all for CGI assistance with puppetry, myself. Especially if it helps them fill out crowd scenes.

I don't know about that member, but I would like to see a well written CGI movie over Dreamwork's Sinbad. I assume that's the bad hand drawn one you mean.

Pixar wouldn't be Pixar if they didn't care about story first. They, after all, are story tellers, and none of their movies were outright terrible. Sure, Cars wasn't the best film they made, but it's still leaps and bounds over most. And we're passing this on to Brad Bird at some point.

He is, without a doubt, one of the most underrated animators of our time. He worked on the Simpsons during their best seasons. Heck, ALL scripts should go through Brad Bird, IMO...

 

[Mupp]

I'm all for CGI assistance with puppetry, myself. Especially if it helps them fill out crowd scenes.

I don't know about that member, but I would like to see a well written CGI movie over Dreamwork's Sinbad. I assume that's the bad hand drawn one you mean.

Hehehehehe...

 

[ploobis]

From what little I've seen of it, it's fine because while I always thought CGI was cool as a tool, and I get why studios use it today, it's fine. But Sid the Science Kid and the Frances series and some of the other stuff they branched off with doing the CGI is separate from the usual Henson/Muppet stuff so it works.

I know where you're coming from. I'm not a real big fan of CGI either especially with cartoon animation!

I'm happy they still do regular puppetry and do the digital puppetry on the side.

 

[beaker]

This is probably the biggest news so far in this whole project, bigger than even when the darn film was announced.

In Wednesday's session, Disney execs clearly were hoping to identify and avoid potential problems before shooting begins. The Muppets movie is not officially greenlighted, and a possible outcome from the daylong get-together might be some rewrites.

The exchanges during the sessions have been described as "very honest" by some, "nerve-racking" by others. "You're in the presence of people who have never had a misfire," one "Tron" attendee said.

The industry needs more of this. Brutal honesty. Imagine if Muppets From Space had this? Heck, Transformers 1 and 2?
I could already guess that the script so far is riddled with potentially cringe worthy moments, faux paus, and things that just might not translate to screen all too well. Not a diss on the Segal/Stoller team, but that's just how this thing goes. If any of us wrote for it, that's how it would be.

Flying down to Emeryville(which is about an hour and 15 min from me) from Burbank to meet with the main folks at Pixar is huge. The fact Disney knew they would get, and wanted honest and frank opinions is good. I think there is potential for this thing to be visionary.

I mean, I really disliked Cars, was a bit ho hum on the Incredibles, was bored by Wall E...but Up. Up is just one of the most amazing things Ive ever seen. And I can just imagine what a Muppet related project with the true hand of Pixar involvement would be like. It's obvious they are huge fans of the Muppets at Pixar. Heck, it's obvious the Muppets had a massive influence on Monsters Inc's style

 

[beaker]

If it was a Pixar CGI film, I couldn't really complain.

This is a ...well... weird good step in the right direction. I'm sure they'll ad some great input to the film. After all, this is another step closer to it being made. But on the other hand, I hope the input is very minor so we don't have major rewrites here and there so this thing can go into production on their schedule. And I really have to admit... it's weird taking it to the animation department, since it is a live action movie. I don't like this odd new logic that Puppetry = animation if that's the case.

Not odd at all. Pixar is one of the only thing keeping Disney a marquee name besides the Jonas/Cyrus/tween crowd stuff.
Sure, we all wish they would do more than one movie a year. We wish they would do more shorts, or a tv series, or something more. But when I see Up...nothing Dreamworks or Fox Animation does can even come close in terms of style, charm, writing, heart and quality. Pixar is now looked up to as gods from the Burbank house of mouse. I want to see Pixar writers get officially involved with this thing, but regardless a lot of failsafes are being put in place to ensure something special. I am no stomach for most the kids/family film garbage that comes out(Garfield, Alvin, Smurfs, Pink Panther, Cats and Dogs, etc) For now the public at large sees the Muppets in this realm, but there's potential to bring things back to when the Muppets were seen as hip and irreverent and edgy(true classy edgy, not post 90's "edgy"), true to form right before the Muppet Movie came out.

 

[beaker]

It won't be CGI (although i would think there may be some CGI "nods" to Diz characters maybe) - its just the puppetry story process is similar to animation, and there are people at Pixar who have worked with similar kinds of writing, some even puppetry. I can see why they'd like it to be a Pixar thing, even if it is just advice for now it wouldn't be a bad idea for them to become known for Muppets as well.

An official Pixar involvement with anything Muppets would be beyond amazing. I'd LOVE to see a Pixar Muppets cgi short. Anyone who thinks CGI muppet stuff wouldn't be good, is most likely thinking of the usual crappy cgi used by Henson digital or any of the kids shows out there.(like that horribly bland Mickey Mouse cgi kids show) Imagine a Muppet short that looked like Up or Toy Story 3...that'd just be bonkers

Its hard to say.
But I'm positive that any creative changes made to the original idea were done for the good of the story. John Lasseter feels that story is the most important thing. He doesn't mess around.
Clearly it was determined that the early story was not going in the right direction, so changes had to be made.

This isn't the first time that this kind of creative/director change has happened. It also happened early on with Pixar's Ratatouille.

In the end, BOLT was a good movie and that's all that matters.
I'm very glad that John Lasseter was the executive producer on the film.

As for the Tinker Bell movie. Its true. The movie was very close to being a disaster, as evident by the deleted story reels on the DVD.
One deleted idea had Tinker Bell drowning her sorrows by stuffing her face with basket after basket of muffins.

I felt rather underwhelmed by Bolt. Maybe it's because I saw it in "3d", which didnt feel very 3d given the backgrounds were painted and not polygons. But just like when I left the theater after Avatar, Bolt didnt weight on my mind. Up for instance, I couldnt stop thinking about and just felt like I had seen something very very special. As far as Disney's 3d stuff, it can be hit or miss. I felt Dinosaurs was boring, but I LOVED Chicken Little and thought the animation and pacing was top notch.
Still, Disney 3d is a whole world better than DWA and Fox animation in my view.

 

[beaker]

You know, since this is the 21st century after all, I am assuming that this new Muppet film will be using SOME CGI for the visual effects. (You know, the post-production stuff.)

Of course. Though I know I'm not the only one fatigued on cgi. Even the people behind the new Predator sequel opted to mostly use practical effects. It's hard for the brain to be tricked into thinking cgi is "real" on screen. And most these pg/pg-13 films are just a loud blurry mess of cgi that is more numbing than mindblowing.

Just remember, even if a film is hand-drawn, that doesn't necessarily mean that its better than a CGI film. A hand-drawn film can still stink if it has a bad story.

Currently, Disney Animation plans to continue making both CGI and hand-drawn films. (A hand-drawn Winnie-the-Pooh film is coming up)
It is not fair to expect Disney to only make hand-drawn films, that would be imposing a certain technology on the studio. Walt Disney was a fan of innovation after all.

Story (the writing) is what is important, and I'm glad that John Lasseter knows that, and is having an influence on Disney Animation.

I'm also glad that they are spending so much time on the new Muppet film.

Im such a sucker for Winne the Poo films, be it theatrical, straight to home market, or "compilation" remixed footage made into a "feature"(usually taking a segment from the late 80's New Adventures of Winnie the Poo mixed with newer animation)

I LOVE how they always stick to the classic minimalist, anti modern look for Winnie the Poo films. It just feels so tranquil and right. I'd be horrified if they made a Poo film that was live action with cgi Poo characters.

WHOOPPEE! I'm so excited. I hope Rowlf is going to be in it. Because he's so cute and cuddly.

He totally is. Heck, my mom grew up watching Rowlf on tv as a little girl in the early 1960's(Jimmy Dean show) Amazing to think the Muppets are now 55 years old!