November 4, 2009

Wes Anderson's stop-action animation movie.



Ha ha. Stop-action, not computer 3D crap, which I hate. George Clooney, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray. Roald Dahl. 91% on the Tomatometer. Let's go!

21 comments:

Unknown said...

No mention of "green" or condemnation of the CIA. This is good. I note the only naysayers at tomatoes object to the Americanizing of the story. Sounding better all the time.

Laika said...

Although this looks mildly interesting, Wes Anderson was one of the Hollywood luminaries who signed the Free Roman Polanski petition, so I'll probably give this one a pass.

Anonymous said...

Plus, Bill Murray plays the BADGER. It looks just like Bucky!

Salamandyr said...

Not sure what it is, but the presence of George Clooney always turns me off of films I would otherwise be interested in.

Anonymous said...

Computer 3D crap like "Toy Story," "Finding Nemo," "The Incredibles," and "Up?" Really?

Ann Althouse said...

Ignore celebrity politics. They don't know what they are doing. Acting, they do know. Wait for them to say other people's lines. In this case, Roald Dahl. He was right-wing, wasn't he? Or he had an affair with a right-wing congresswoman or whatever the hell. It's a movie!

The important thing is: Bill Murray plays a badger that looks just like Bucky.

Ann Althouse said...

"Computer 3D crap like "Toy Story," "Finding Nemo," "The Incredibles," and "Up?" Really?"

Yes. The technique makes me ill. I cannot watch. I'm sure some of the stories and dialogue are good, but I cannot tolerate computer animation.

Ann Althouse said...

Years ago, I walked out of "Antz." I haven't watched a computer animation since. I've tried a few times -- "Wall-E," "Incredibles"... but I cannot stand it.

Anonymous said...

George Clooney = Dealbreaker.

Message to Hollywood: Drop Dead

chickelit said...

My son began making stop action movies and posting them to Youtube last week.
I made super 8 stop action movies when I was his age. My inspiration was those stop action sketches that you could make by flipping through a stack of slightly different drawings-is there a name for the latter?

Widmerpool said...

Looks good and I love Wes Anderson. I will even highly recommend his last two, Darjeeling Limited and Steve Zissou.

Also - Ann gives sage advice on the politics. They are children, really when it comes to that stuff. Ignore it. Same with rock musicians.

Salamandyr said...

Ann Althouse said...

Ignore celebrity politics.

I should. I really should. And in this case I just may, though I think Wes Anderson is overrated. Because, like you say...Bill Murray-badger. That is awesome.

And I like me some stop motion as well.

Ann Althouse said...

We just saw "Burn After Reading" -- and George Clooney was great.

Brad Pitt was hilarious too.

Joan said...

Years ago, I walked out of "Antz." I haven't watched a computer animation since.

Yes, but "Antz" sucked.

It's too bad that Ann is closed off to one of the most interesting new art forms to come around.

The previews for this one put me, strangely enough, into the uncanny valley. The animals are too realistic but not real. But it does look fun and I think we'll probably go. We are huge, huge Roald Dahl fans in this house.

Methadras said...

I was kind of hoping that someone, someday might make Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator.

TerriW said...

I read the original book a few months ago to my kids (5 & 3) and they LOVED it -- begging for more chapters every night.

I would love it if this was a movie that was truly for both kids and adults (like, say, Toy Story), unlike Pixar's latest offerings that are theoretically for kids, but really are for adults (like, say, Ratatouille, which my daughter asked to leave 20 minutes into).

Unknown said...

What's you take on other C3D? Is it the styles of those 'animations', or something else?

GSW said...

There's something about this particular stop action technique that I seriously dislike. Perhaps it's because the stuff from Aardman (all the Wallace & Gromit, Chicken Run) is so smooth and polished.

Ken Pidcock said...

Bah. If you want to take in "Fantastic Mister Fox" passively, get the audio book. It's narrated by the author.

Will said...

I saw the trailer at the theatre a few months ago, and it creeped me out. The fur kept flicking around in a highly disconcerting way.
I'm not sure I can watch it on the big screen.

blake said...

Yeah, this ticks me off. I love "Fantastic Mr. Fox". Very popular around the 'strom household.

But I'm not sure if we should support rape enthusiasts. This sort of hurts with Wes Anderson, since I like him. (Yeah, he's over-rated, but still.)

My Burn After Reading review.

Would love to hear Althouse's take on the Coen brothers' latest: A Serious Man.

Bruce: That sketchbook animation you're talking about is just called, well, "animation". That's how it's traditionally done "stop-motion sketching".

(As one animation expert pointed out, all animation is "stop-motion". We just use that designation for the kind of animation that involves moving little models around to distinguish it from the regular.)

And, guys, Althouse has a visceral reaction to CGI. You're not likely to overcome that with protests about how good the movie is.

Now, FWIW, I had a similar reaction to it ca. Mars Attacks. I just found it exhausting. And I actually found Toy Story hard to watch.

Forced repeated viewings was the only cure. And Althouse has no grandchildren yet.