Hi all,
I just saw a trailer for "The Wild," a CG movie that Disney's coming out with. The animation looks great, and the gags seem decent but... Is it just me, or is this Madagascar all over again? I know the plots are kind of different-- but the concept (a bunch of ZANY zoo animals out of their element) seems a little too close.
What do you think? Have any of you seen it yet? Are poop jokes coming back into style?
Just curious...
Pooryorik
The Wild is not a Disney production; they're just distributing it. The movie was produced by C.O.R.E. in Ontario. It's the same arrangement as with Valiant last year. Granted, Disney has plastered their name all over the trailer for The Wild.
It may be a small distinction, but it's one worth making.
Rapunzel, otoh, is being produced in-house.
Personally, the film I'm looking forward to is American Dog.
Wow, I didn't know that! And I usually know things! I wonder how much it'll drag them down to have the name plastering going on when it's headed towards low turnout. What's the business end of distributorship, that a company like Disney would decide whether or not they'd attach their name to a project...that is, how they'd evaluate its sales quality?
Like Valiant, The Wild came about during Disney's negotiation process with Pixar going back a few years. Disney wanted to see what would happen if they distributed a couple of lower-budget, non-Pixar 3D films, presumably to use as leverage in their negotiations if box office returns were good.
Valiant did O.K., although not as well as hoped, and The Wild, well...:cool:
I haven't seen it, but I think The Wild would have done better if they hadn't released it so soon after Madagascar. It's just too close to that film, story- and character-wise.
Oh yah. Critics don't affect nearly as many audience opinions as they'd like to, but the thoughts they spit out tend to be the same bucks that get passed around in word of mouth. I think once a "this is a copycat of something" meme started, there was no stopping it, regardless of if it's true or not.
Was Chicken Little released under that same agreement or was it produced by Disney?
Chicken Little was animated at Disney Feature Animation in Burbank CA. So far their next releases are "Wilbur Robinson," "Rupunzlle:Un-Braided," and "American Dog."
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
When I saw the clip I was thinking the very same thing, to me this is just a case of running an idea into the ground.
I haven't seen anything -but- the trailer, so I can't speak beyond that, but I was impressed with how similar the environments appeared. Actually, the biggest atrocity for me was the rehashed kicked-dead-horse quality of the jokes.
Did everyone hear about how the movie did when it opened this weekend? It made less than $10 million, in fact it was the lowest openeing ever for a CGI film. Personally, I think it's because a lot of people just saw it as a cheap looking Madagascar rip-off. But that's just me.
Who knows if that's the entire reason, but I agree that had it come out isolated, away from resemblance to or association with Mad, it might not have gotten destroyed so bad.
Looks interesting. I kind of like the more realistic feeling they are giving off.
But it is a shame it is so similar in that Madagascar already did the whole zoo animals thing.
You gotta wonder if companies like....care to like.....NOT be the same.
"who wouldn't want to make stuff for me? I'm awesome." -Bloo
Don't big studios do this all the time? One puts out a movie with some idea and then someone else does the same thing? I mean look at what Dreamworks did right after Pixar released Finding Nemo - That's right, Shark Tale. That's just the problem with Hollywood, not enough real originality.
Brian
Since the birth of animation, the vast majority of animated movies have been about animals. When you do that - provided that these aren't fully anthropomorphized animals (i.e., they wear clothes and drive cars) - there are a limited number of settings: the zoo, the wilderness, the farm, the suburbs if they're pets. The popular plot is the "fish out of water," so Nemo and Spongebob both have to travel across the shore, zoo animals have to travel to the jungle and (vice versa) Curious George has to come to the city, Mammoths and sloths have to travel into the ice rather than away from it, and Antz and other Bugs have to travel away from the colony.
Why does the passage of time automatically make similarly-themed movies okay? In other words, why is it okay that Finding Nemo and Little Mermaid have similar characters and settings, but it's not okay that Finding Nemo and Shark's Tale are both about fish?
Finally, if a movie is good, who could care whether the idea was borrowed from another movie? If The Wild is a better movie than Madagascar, I say bring on the rip-offs.
Excrement jokes (poop, pee, puke, boogers, burps, diarrhea, and farts) have always been the funniest thing to children between the ages of 2 and 20. Movie reviewers - that chide cartoons that revel in this type of humor - seem to forget this fact.
Let the kids laugh. They will grow out of it soon enough.
It's not like Madagascar came out in theaters and Disney or what ever studio produced this said, lets write and animate a movie just like that. These movies are in development for years and the studios do know what others have similar movies in development, but they're always thinking theirs will be better. And actually Jefferey was more worried that Madagascar was looking too much like the Incredibles than The Wild.
I can't wait till a year and a half from now when PIXAR and Aardman both release their rat movies. :D
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
That must explain why Pixar keeps its project so secret, to keep other production companys from fast tracking the idea to the screen. At least no one has tried to push through a clone of "The Incrediables".
Fragment sentences, don't you just love them.
___________________________________________
Harvey Human, you and Ape make very good points and I think you are totally right. I am on the out side of all of this so my remarks are based on that.
Someone once said, the is nothing new under the sun.
Two words: "The Xs":
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443418/?fr=c2l0ZT1kZnx0dD0xfGZiPXV8cG49MHxrdz0xfHE9dGhlIHhzfGZ0PTF8bXg9MjB8bG09NTAwfGNvPTF8aHRtbD0xfG5tPTE_;fc=5;ft=23;fm=1
I've seen the show on Nick and it seems like a combination of "The Incredibles"
and "Spy Kids" :rolleyes:
James :cool:
Don't underestimate children. I enjoyed "Tonari no Totoro" and "Le Roi et L'oiseau" much more when I was younger than all the loud, offensive, patronizing American animated films being made at the time (the mid '90s). Right now I can't stand Shrek and all its ripoffs. I'm sure there are plenty other children who feel the same way as I felt.
EDIT: I guess I'll have to go abroad to be understood.
The Incredibles seems like a "clone" of Fantastic Four comic books and Spy Kids. Is it not okay to clone a clone?
I personally dont plan on ever seeing The Wild. The story is too similar to Madagascar and the characters are very unappealing.
I'm glad Lassiter(sp?) has a position of power now. Hopefully The Wild will be the last Disney film I don't wish to see, (although Rapunzel Unbraided is heading in that direction) I miss the days when I eagerly awaited the release of their films. Anyway, thanks to them firing Eisner working at Disney is once again very high on my list of priorities. After all, they're the reason I got into animation in the first place. :D Lol, I'm even going to apply for their Disney College internship for this summer, though I dont expect to get in.
"Animation isn't about how well you draw, but how much to believe." -Glen Keane
.
Like someone say, there is nothing new under the sun.:D
That person promptly committed suicide the following day :D
If Michael Keaton in Multiplicity has taught us anything, it's that they only get dumber when you clone a clone. :p
I never did see Shark Tale, but other than being fish, was there any other similarities with Nemo? And how about all them Penguin movies coming out now?
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
No, there weren't. They were about as different as two fish movies could be... :D
I watched "Ice Age 2" and aside from the storyline they ran small gags to stretch out the length of the movie. IMHO
It sounds to me the "The Wild" is more like a sequel to "Madagascar", they are just filling it with different gags to stretch the movie out.
You all make some very good points... Though I still think poo jokes are condescending, uncreative, and an overall cheap way to get a laugh. Even for kids.
But don't misunderstand! I'm not putting the movie down--Jeez, I haven't even seen it yet. I'm not sure any of us have, lol. I'm going to try to watch it when it comes out, if only for the animation (which looks pretty awesome).
Thanks for your insight,
Pooryorik
Eh?
That's a new one on me.
haha I was thinking of making that same comment
apples : oranges ::
At least on the very stylized character designs. I don't think that was ever an issue with animation or story. But hey, second hand info, so it might be true. It might not.
Totally unrealated, Kevan, are you going to be an AM mentor?
Aloha,
the Ape
...we must all face a choice, between what is right... and what is easy."
You probably know more about that than I do, Mr Ape!
As for AM, I am unable to do it due to visa restrictions. With my lack of AM-ness I'm definitely in the minority now at work! : P
Thanks for asking!
K