The lawn gnome that wouldn't die...

[judyindisguise]

Okay, it's official. Elton John is weird. (News to you, right?)

http://www.cynopsis.com/view_cynkids_text.cfm?ID=963

Here's the blurb I'm referring to:

*Having been ousted from the Disney animated feature development slate, Miramax Films has inked a deal with Elton John's Rocket Pictures to develop and produce the animated musical comedy feature film Gnomeo and Juliet. Set in the world of garden gnomes, Gnomeo and Juliet is a somewhat different take on Shakespeare's classic love story. The movie will be animated in London with Baker Bloodworth serving as Producer. What is in a name? A Gnome by any other name…*


John Lasseter, the Man Who Saved Disney, passed on "Gnomeo and Juliet" (asking, in a manner which made him my hero: "Why are we making this?"). And that should have been the end of it, but NO.

I swear, CGI is approaching the Crack of Doom. So much bad product tarted up with pixels is NOT good for the animation industry. I feel like Scrat from "Ice Age 2" watching the ice crack in his direction. I can only imagine what guys in the biz feel. They've gotta feel some apprehension, what with "Doogal" proving that CGI can't overcome bad scripting, voicing etc. and "Ice Age 2" suffering a steep drop in its second week at the theatres. And now THIS. ANY story is seemingly good enough as long as it's rendered in CGI.

It's the end of the Third Golden Age of Animation my friends...

[Sharklady]

> ... "Doogal" prov(ed) that CGI can't overcome bad scripting, voicing etc. <

Once that's generally realized, CGI ought to be in the same situation as 2-D animation.
Which is all to the good- the contributions of quality writers and VAs *should* be valued, in either format.

[Dudley]

John Lasseter, the Man Who Saved Disney, passed on "Gnomeo and Juliet" (asking, in a manner which made him my hero: "Why are we making this?").

That is the greatest thing anyone in the movie industry ever said



It's the end of the Third Golden Age of Animation my friends...

When did it start?

[Daikun]

It's the end of the Third Golden Age of Animation my friends...When did it start?

1995, when Toy Story was released.

[HG Revolution]

As far as I'm concerned with American animation:

First Golden Age: 1930s-40s (Disney's early classics, Fliescher's stuff, the Looney Tunes constantly getting better, no much was here to ruin the fun)
First Silver Age: early 1950s-66 (Disney's stuff declines in quality, leading up to Walt's death, and the mainstream theatrical cartoon business slowly comes to an end, but the last few Looney Tunes include some true classics and we get Flintstones, Bullwinkle, etc. airing on primetime TV)
Dark Age: 1967-87 (while there is still some innovation going on with a few indie features by people like Ralph Bakshi and Tim Burton, Disney hasn't made any features of note for the longest time and the television industry has been a wreck ever since the end of The Flintstones)
Second Golden Age: 1988-99 (Beginning with Roger Rabbit Disney returns with a stretch of successes and Pixar officially becomes the greatest studio in Hollywood, while TV animation returns to adult audiences with The Simpsons and the start of Cartoon Network and the Nicktoons)
Second Silver Age: 2000-06 (Pixar still is steadily improving but the rest of theatrical animation falls steadily downhill into CG overload, and while clever experiments like Futurama and Spongebob Squarepants are still gracing the airwaves, the executive mentality is increasing the ammount of crap produced)
Third Golden Age: hopefully 2007-? (Lassetter has saved Disney, and who gives a damn about what everyone else is doing?)

[Dark Fact]

I think Hollywood animation studios need to realize something: if John Lasseter says or implies that an animated movie being made will suck, you listen to him!

But Miramax doesn't want to get the picture. :sad:

[MonkeyFunk]

Does Miramax actually have any kind of quality control when it comes to animated movies? Last I heard, the only particularly good one they picked up was Princess Mononoke. The rest of their library seems to consist of stuff like Doogal, Pokemon Heroes, Hoodwinked, Freddie as FR07 and now the less-than-promising Gnomeo and Juliet. Cartoon-wise, Disney's arthouse wing seems to have about the same standards as their DTV division.

Dreamworks' arthouse division, Go Fish, has Millenium Actress and Ghost in the Shell 2. Did they just beat Miramax to the punch or something?

[Dudley]

Does Miramax actually have any kind of quality control when it comes to animated movies? Last I heard, the only particularly good one they picked up was Princess Mononoke. The rest of their library seems to consist of stuff like Doogal, Pokemon Heroes, Hoodwinked, Freddie as FR07 and now the less-than-promising Gnomeo and Juliet. Cartoon-wise, Disney's arthouse wing seems to have about the same standards as their DTV division.


Doogal and Hoodwinked were distributed by the Weinstein Company, not Miramax.

They did distribute Pokemon 4ever, though.

[MonkeyFunk]

Oh yeah, that's right.

But didn't the Weinteins used to run Miramax?

[IanC]

less-than-promising Gnomeo and Juliet.

Doesnt anyway five things a chance nowadays?

Ive read the comedy books by the writer of this and they are very funny, so im holding out that this will be good.

Oh and whats this "Doogal" film you keep talking about?

[Space Chief]

Oh and whats this "Doogal" film you keep talking about?

It's the US dub of the "Magic Roundabout" movie. Apparently all they did was overload the script with pop-culture references and fart jokes.
Within a week it was the worst animated film ever on IMDB.