The Worst CGI Kid Films In Recent Memory

mr3urious

mr3urious

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WhoseLineFan said:
Money

Hollywood is running out of ideas and they have been for a very long time now
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Except that was produced outside of the Hollywood system for pennies, and it was planned to have sequels for a long time now. And even though it flopped, it was not a huge loss because it was so dang cheap.

At least Norm is staying out of theaters this time, if that's any consolation.
 
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MikaelaMuppet

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mr3urious said:
Except that was produced outside of the Hollywood system for pennies, and it was planned to have sequels for a long time now. And even though it flopped, it was not a huge loss because it was so dang cheap.

At least Norm is staying out of theaters this time, if that's any consolation.
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So it was made overseas and not in the US at all?
 
BlakeConor14

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The first song has been released for Cars 3. It is a similar song to life is a highway and real gone but for me it doesn't feel as catchy as them two from the first film but we'll just have to wait and see
 
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Okay... the car is running outside metaphorically because I don't plan to stay, so I'll get through this as quickly as I possibly could....

ehem...

Trolls wasn't nearly as bad as I thought and actually found it to be quite decent. To put it in context, of all the 3 Smurf movies (and yes, I saw that last one too) Trolls is the best Smurf movie there is. The message it has about happiness was surprisingly deep, and it's a shame the Bergans didn't get much merchandising focus because I liked them a lot more than the Trolls (especially the Scullery Maid and the King's son) It's clearly supposed to be a merchandise based film, and any follow ups would make sense from a merchandising perspective. BUT I've seen mixed reception where either the merchandise has sold solidly or doesn't move depending on which store I go to. All and all, not Dreamworks' best film, but certainly higher quality than their earlier non-Shrek films. Liked it better than Bee Movie and I did enjoy that one. Personally, what I really did love about the movie:

One of the Trolls sells his entire species out to protect his own skin. That is something that as a longtime Smurf fan and someone that grew up watching all those "magical little creatures" type shows kinda wanted to see all along. Especially with The Littles. It's a dark plot point, but I think they pulled it off for a nice emotional gut punch.

So quick run down of the ones I've seen...

Moana was awesome, Sing was actually quite fun and kinda cute (the montage of obvious animals singing obvious songs was as long in the movie as in the trailers and actually is kinda fun in context), Lego Batman was an absolute delight and just passed my expectations despite the fact that the only problem I had was that it felt too short and had too much in it near the end and it only makes me desperately want a full fledged Lego Justice League movie. I mean, a Lego DCCU? Has a lot more potential than what they did with the regular DCCU. Boss Baby was a delightful surprise, though I was sold the second I heard about it. Smurfs..well.... I enjoyed it, it's better than the live action films, but it felt like a little let down. Plus they never get Brainy right in these things. I mean, he was never actually smart, just pious and self righteous. They cast him well both times, don't get me wrong, just...not so much on the writing part.

Now let's quickly take on the obvious other topics while I'm here...

Cars 3: I actually dig these films, though they're my least favorite of the Pixar oeuvre. Yet they're not as pretentious and precious as some of their weaker films of late have been. I mean, I liked Wall*E, but... I like what I'm hearing about the plot, and I feel it's far more a theatrical story than Cars 2's 90 minute Saturday morning Cartoon type storyline. I have faith they learned their lesson with that film and are giving Cars fans the movie they deserve.

Spark: This year's Ratchet and Clank. Only without even that fanbase actually being excited for it. By no means does it look bad, but I get the feeling that (just like R&C) it should have been a cartoon series on Netflix, rather than a theatrically released movie. Looks like it would have potential as a TV show, and the concepts in the TV spots (that mind you, appeared like a week or two before it hit theaters) look like they'd work in some other medium. Why a movie when they could have had a semi-modest success as literally anything else is beyond me. If this was to launch a franchise, this isn't going anywhere rather than a cult following of a Netflix cartoon or comic book And also like R&C the humor in the movie looks like it's TV cartoon quality. I liked seeing it in the R&C movie, but I don't think that was sustainable.

Captain Underpants: never read the books, was a little curious when I heard the announcement. But somehow, I'm actually sold on it, especially the fact that they kept the aesthetic of the book illustrations in 3-D CGI animation, Peanuts movie style. This seems to be the one place I'd expect and not really mind ruder humor considering the source material. Funny thing... uh...I always thought Captain Underpants was supposed to be a Baby, so the trailer seemed strange when I first caught it.

The Emoji Movie: Where to begin with this one?

Let me run to the car and shut it off first (metaphorically).

I wouldn't so much mind the fact it's stupid even for Sony animation, which finally got my respect, giving the scorn back to Blue Sky where it belongs (I don't want to bother saying anything about Ferdinand the Bull other than...yeeechhh). It's just how FREAKING OBNOXIOUS it is that Sony wanted to get this piece of garbage out so darn bad that they steamrolled two decent sounding movies and threw another into a garbage release slot to make room for this very cynical, unoriginal, and downright insultingly bad movie. Had Popeye, Medusa, and Smurfs not been in any danger from this film, I wouldn't give two crap emojis about it. But killing two movies and dooming one to the April death slot where only strong franchises can survive (Captain America, the surprise Jungle Book, and Fast and the Furious) is just infuriating for a cartoon fan. There's a lot of absolute garbage I hate, but if it keeps to its own little bubble and doesn't interfere with anything actually good, I'll keep any sign of dislike to a mere "yechhh." But when a good cartoon/movie/show gets canned or neglected because of something outrageously awful, I have a righteous indignation. Sure, Popeye was starting to sound like a disaster considering, but I would rather have seen it happen and lead to Popeye merchandise again than see it completely disappear. And while I don't think Smurfs: Lost Village was going to be the franchise resurrection it was designed for, putting it in April the week after Boss Baby and the lack of merchandise outside a Happy Meal (which we didn't even get the full set of as opposed to Europe, which had Gargamel) and a few TRU exclusives...well, you know Sony changed its tune for a wildly inferior "Totally Radical" film. At least Smurfs is doing okay in Europe, and made back its budget at least. Not holding my breath for another one. Just overall, I'd ignore the crap out of it outside saying "this looks terrible and unforgivably derivative" (and I'm very forgiving about derivativeness, Boss Baby itself had shades and story beats of Secret Life of Pets that were hard to ignore and I still liked it). But Three movies had to be sacrificed to make it. Three movies. And if I say I hope it bombs, it'll probably be a huge success.

And for the heck of it, even though it's not CGI...

Diary of a Wimpy Kid 4: I'd easily ask why the heck would they want to make another one. Then I realized OH! Well, obviously Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon need filler programming five years in the future, so...
 
cuppajoe95

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Well, Spark is no longer playing at cinemas in America. Open Road just gave up after two weeks. Wow.

You'd think that with a film from the studio behind The Nut Job on their hands, the distributor would try to wring more cash out of them...
...but not in this case.

I don't know how much it cost to make, but it's likely that even international box office receipts won't save it...
...but since The Nut Job 2's coming out later on, it might not matter anyway.

Then again, I think I forgot that Canadian studios will often continue to make crap no matter how bad it is, how much the audience reacts negatively to it etc. because of "Cancon laws" and tax shelters (Johnny Test, anyone?).
 
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