Ice Age gets kiddified

[The Mad Hatter]

I'm posting this here instead of the newspage since I figure it'll spark a bit of conversation. Anyone see the great trailer for Ice Age? Remember how cool it was? Now here's some depressing news from Coming Attractions:

There was a panel called "American Animated Movies For Grown-Ups: Will They Really See the Light of Day?" at the World Animation Celebration conference held in Hollywood. On it, former senior vice-president at 20th Century Fox Animation, Kevin Bannerman, talked about how their efforts to make this project geared more towards adults were stymied by the studio. "We have definitely run into problems with violence in Ice Age and had to rethink a lot of the humor. The studio wants a G rating on the movie, and as a result we had to take some scenes out."

Stupid studio execs. Stupid American bias toward animation. Bah.

So much for any lingering effects of Shrek's adult humor...

[Jowy Blight]

"We have definitely run into problems with violence in Ice Age and had to rethink a lot of the humor. The studio wants a G rating on the movie, and as a result we had to take some scenes out."

Damn, I throught people could finally understand that animation wasn't just for kids anymore, especially after Shrek. Stupid me it seems.

[James Harvey]

No! It looked so damn cool (pun intended)! Great, now we're gonna have a semi-Disney movie.

[Calhoun07]

From the first time I saw the character designs for this movie, I thoguht it had kid vid written all over it. I wasnt' expecting something on par with Shrek with this one, so I guess this news doesn't phase me.

[oranthal]

what is Ice Age about? its not about magic: the gathering, is it?

[The Mad Hatter]

LOL!

No, it's about three prehistoric animals who trek off to find one of their parents. The concept sounds lame I know, but the trailer was a hoot and a half.

[Bud 'n Lou]

Sounds a little like The Land Before Time.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Shrek only got away with the so-called "adult" humour because it was wrapped up in an accessible package. That is, it could still pass as a solid kid's movie.

It'll be a long time before you see a truly "adult" animated movie succeed in theatres. Theatrical animation is still a long way from stuff like "The Godfather."

The thing is, many people still don't "get" cartoons. If you make a realistic, relevant adult animated film, it gets branded as redundant, as people think that animation should only be used for fantasy or exaggeration. But if you try to tackle mature themes in fantasy, people will brush it off as fairy tale pap--good for the kids, a few laughs or bits for the adults, but that's it. (That's not mentioning the inherent bias many critics have against fantasy in general...)

In my opinion, animation is anything it wishes to be. A "realistic" cartoon is not redundant--the fact that it is animated already means that it is NOT reality. What do I mean? I mean that some people out there can appreciate that "realistic" animation can be effective at "unreal" realism. Many stories can benefit from a "surreal realism" that animation can provide. It's hard to articulate what I'm talking about...

Animation can also exaggerate while being totally adult. Heck, Kubrick films are highly exaggerated while being mature, so why not animation? People equate exaggeration with immaturity. Which is not always true.

I think it's not animation that needs to grow up. It's the viewers. They have to change their way of thinking. You could throw as many groundbreaking, super thought-provoking films at mainstream audiences as you want, but if they won't have it, then you can't do anything about it. So far, "adult" animation can't succeed because too many people have too many biases about animation. They think animation is only a tool for telling stories that can't be told in live-action. WRONG. Animation is like comic books. You can tell sedated, realistic stories or you could tell big, SFX laden stories. I want to see animated film noir, animated gangster films, heck, even animated documentaries. I also want to see super-weird animated films, surreal animated films, David Lynch style animated films...

For years people have been saying that animation is a medium, not a tool. Well, when are they going to start believing it?

*Steps off soapbox*

[Calhoun07]

Now what I would give to see a David Lynch animated film! ohhh...the possiblities!