CGI: A grumpy rant.

Zoombie · Jun 11, 2008

Grumpsters old rant time!

This is more of a general condemning of an entire genera because I feel old and crotchety now that I've graduated high school and feel the need to vent.

But...is anyone else SICK to DEATH of those newfangled CGI movies? It was cute up to...the Incredibles, I'd say. But now it's just getting old for me. I was re-watching some random movie off of my semi-legal Korean movie streaming website of doom (I call it Sparky) and in a short time, I had re-watched a lot of old Disney and not so Disney classics (And not so classics). The first I noticed was they were still pretty dang good. Well, some of them...lets say, parts have not aged well.

Either way, I was watching the animation...and it has a fluidity and charm that I feel is lacking in CGI land, which continues to be a kind of poofy balloon people kinda shtick.

So...in my dreams, they would release another GOOD animation movie. Old school animation. And...in my wilder dreams, it'd be a GOOD sci-fi animation movie. Anyone else remember Titan A.E?

Anyone...

Anyone at all?

It was co-written by Joss Whedon...

I liked it.

katiemac · Jun 12, 2008

I guess I haven't missed drawn animation as much as I wish they'd stop CGI the crap out of action flicks. An entire computer animated film doesn't bother me, but cheesy action shots that look like a video game do.

I'm with you on releasing another drawn film, because they do hold up well and there's nothing wrong with them, but realistically it's cheaper and faster production to use the CGI route. And the way these films are looking, I'm not complaining. I don't know what movies you've been watching, but Pixar always has it right. Finding Nemo is one of the most aesthetically pleasing films I've ever seen, and from the looks of the extended trailer, the work on Wall-E is spectacular.

Admittedly, some of the humans can still look a little creepy. So as long as Pixar keeps making movies about toys and fish and robots, I'm there.

Elodie-Caroline · Jun 12, 2008

I've never been into Disney, not even as a kid, I wouldn't watch the Incredibles either; in fact, I don't even like cartoons of any kind, no, not even the Simpsons or South park. But if you're on about the new films like Beowulf and 300, I think they're absolutely great! I think CGI really does a good job on mythology films; they capture an ambiance about them.

Elodie

Zoombie · Jun 12, 2008

Well...in live action films, CGI can be good if it's used in times where you need it. Like...say...in I Am Legend (which I really enjoyed, actually). In I Am Legend, you have examples of GOOD CGI and BAD CGI.

Good: Using CGI to make New York look run down and dilapidated.

Bad: Using CGI to make the monsters...cause, really, they detracted from the film. The best parts were when the camera was focusing on Will Smith's surprisingly good acting, not on the absurd looking monsters with big mouths.

But my rant is mostly focused on the full CGI movies, like Ice Age or Madagascar or Kung Fu Panda...they're all blurring all into one big movie to me!

dpaterso · Jun 12, 2008

You're tellin' it like it is, Zoombie!

I can still watch and chuckle at Shrek and Toy Story, but after these groundbreakers things began to feel just a teeny little bit same-old. More what can we do next? than here's a great story that would make a great animated movie!

Sci-Fi actioners automatically get more leeway for using CGI, but watching the creatures in I AM LEGEND, I couldn't help but wonder, Who on earth thought this was a good idea?

-Derek

EriRae · Jun 12, 2008

Elodie-Caroline said:
But if you're on about the new films like Beowulf and 300, I think they're absolutely great! I think CGI really does a good job on mythology films; they capture an ambiance about them.

Beowulf and 300 are not the same.

Beowulf was created like video games, with people in sensor-suits. Nothing real. All CGI, like a video game.

300 is live action with some CGI thrown in. Real men worked their asses off to be ripped and cut in that movie. Yes, 300 had CGI moments, but at least the PEOPLE were real.

EriRae · Jun 12, 2008

Speaking of people who aren't real...the animation of television commercials drives me crazy. Is it really cheaper to pay someone for a voice-over, rather than to pay an actor? Why would I trust a company who won't put real people in their commercials?

ETA: sorry, Zoombie. Didn't mean to derail, but it's almost related...

Elodie-Caroline · Jun 12, 2008

I'm afraid I leave these kinds of films to my great-nephews, of 4 and 6 years old, to watch. I've got to admit, I do like the Shrek movies though

Zoombie said:
But my rant is mostly focused on the full CGI movies, like Ice Age or Madagascar or Kung Fu Panda...they're all blurring all into one big movie to me!

Elodie-Caroline · Jun 12, 2008

Oh, are they not, well, I shall consider myself told then, shan't I.

300 didn't look like real people to me, but I do like it.
Ray Winstone and Angelina Jolie are real people too, aren't they.

To me, a film is a film, it's purely for entertainment and we either like them or we don't.

Erinmiller77 said:
Beowulf and 300 are not the same.

Beowulf was created like video games, with people in sensor-suits. Nothing real. All CGI, like a video game.

300 is live action with some CGI thrown in. Real men worked their asses off to be ripped and cut in that movie. Yes, 300 had CGI moments, but at least the PEOPLE were real.

Shadow_Ferret · Jun 12, 2008

Elodie-Caroline said:
I've never been into Disney, not even as a kid, I wouldn't watch the Incredibles either; in fact, I don't even like cartoons of any kind, no, not even the Simpsons or South park. But if you're on about the new films like Beowulf and 300, I think they're absolutely great! I think CGI really does a good job on mythology films; they capture an ambiance about them.

Elodie

See, I feel exactly the opposite. I like REAL cartoons like Disney and Pixar and Dreamworks. I don't like the creepy CGI stuff of Beowulf and 300.

Erinmiller77 said:
300 is live action with some CGI thrown in. Real men worked their asses off to be ripped and cut in that movie.

No, I don't think so. They had to be CGI enhanced. Those weren't natural looking abs and pecs. Even their faces and such looked enhanced.

Elodie-Caroline · Jun 12, 2008

Good job you and I aren't an item then, eh, otherwise you'd be calling me Poo poo head again LOL :tongue

No, the people in 300 didn't look real at all to me either, not even their eyes.

Shadow_Ferret said:
See, I feel exactly the opposite. I like REAL cartoons like Disney and Pixar and Dreamworks. I don't like the creepy CGI stuff of Beowulf and 300.

No, I don't think so. They had to be CGI enhanced. Those weren't natural looking abs and pecs. Even their faces and such looked enhanced.

dpaterso · Jun 12, 2008

Elodie-Caroline said:
Ray Winstone and Angelina Jolie are real people too, aren't they.

I thought Beowulf looked a lot more like Sean Bean than Ray Winstone, even tho' the latter did the voice.

-Derek

Elodie-Caroline · Jun 12, 2008

To be honest, I thought the same thing

Ray Winstone's not exactly a sex icon, is he lol

dpaterso said:
I thought Beowulf looked a lot more like Sean Bean than Ray Winstone, even tho' the latter did the voice.

-Derek

Don · Jun 12, 2008

Over the long term, you'll see more CGI and fewer real actors. The libraries being developed by Pixar and the like don't demand exotic flowers or special treats in their rooms, and don't charge millions of dollars to appear in the movie.

The important point, however, is that those libraries get more sophisticated and cheaper to use every day. CGI is still in the Model-T stage today. There will come a time in the not too distant future when the only way to tell the real actors from the CGI ones will be by reading the credits.

At least CGI characters won't show up on talk shows spouting uninformed opinions that people consider valid because the actor played an intelligent character in some movie.

Elodie-Caroline · Jun 12, 2008

They'd better not change my Jean Reno for CGI, otherwise I shall be picketing the film studios! I can't perv over a cartoon man! LOL

Shadow_Ferret · Jun 12, 2008

Elodie-Caroline said:
They'd better not change my Jean Reno for CGI, otherwise I shall be picketing the film studios! I can't perv over a cartoon man! LOL

No kidding. Teen boys will be putting up pinups of hot cartoon women on their doors? I don't think so.

Um, er, well, maybe.

Elodie-Caroline · Jun 12, 2008

But she's not going to be able to cook you delicious meals, is she, and love-making would be a bit one-sided, well, more like one-handed

But there are plus sides too, the bed all to yourself and no one sticking their fingernails into your arse because you're snoring :roll:

Shadow_Ferret said:
No kidding. Teen boys will be putting up pinups of hot cartoon women on their doors? I don't think so.

Um, er, well, maybe.

Zoombie · Jun 12, 2008

Well...if they ever make my book into a movie, I'm gonna stick my heels down and say, "God, thank you so much! Sure you can make it into a CGI movie, if you pay me more...yes, more! MORE!"

My moral fiber is made of grass ;_;

Elodie-Caroline · Jun 12, 2008

just don't you slip up on it, or you might have two cracks, where once you had one... i know a boy who did that :tongue

Zoombie said:
My moral fiber is made of grass ;_;

Sheryl Nantus · Jun 12, 2008

trivia:

there were NO real cars in the recent Speed Racer movie. Nary a one.

they were ALL CGI creations.

the only "real" cars were two mock-ups that were taken to shows to display for the movie.

not a single car, not a single track... the drivers sat in a gimble and got tossed around and all else CGI.

dang, it was good.

Nakhlasmoke · Jun 12, 2008

And I'm going to be even sadder and say how much I like stop-motion, and I wish we could have more stop-motion movies again. (The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb!)

Shadow_Ferret · Jun 12, 2008

Sheryl Nantus said:
dang, it was good.

I think you're in the minority on this.

Libbie · Jun 12, 2008

HEAR, HEAR!! Totally sick to death of them all (although I have to admit that Wall-E looks like it might be worth seeing.) (Also Finding Nemo had some really pretty effects in it.)

What happened to cell animation? That was such a glorious art form, and now it's all but extinct. I miss it. It was pretty and amazing and it felt so organic instead of plastic-y like the CG stuff feels. I've never been a fan of CG animated features from day 1. A movie really has to work very, very hard to impress me in spite of its computer-generatedness.

Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli crew are the last holdout of a real, dying art form. I'm so, so sad to see it dying, too. I love cell animation. Disney's Robin Hood will always be one of my favorite movies.

Sheryl Nantus · Jun 12, 2008

Libbie said:
HEAR, HEAR!! Totally sick to death of them all (although I have to admit that Wall-E looks like it might be worth seeing.) (Also Finding Nemo had some really pretty effects in it.)

What happened to cell animation? That was such a glorious art form, and now it's all but extinct. I miss it. It was pretty and amazing and it felt so organic instead of plastic-y like the CG stuff feels. I've never been a fan of CG animated features from day 1. A movie really has to work very, very hard to impress me in spite of its computer-generatedness.

Hayao Miyazaki and his Studio Ghibli crew are the last holdout of a real, dying art form. I'm so, so sad to see it dying, too. I love cell animation. Disney's Robin Hood will always be one of my favorite movies.

ANYTHING Miyazaki puts out is solid gold.

ANYTHING.

I'd pay to watch him scribble on a napkin.

Libbie · Jun 12, 2008

Shadow_Ferret said:
I think you're in the minority on this.

An actual review I wrote after seeing Speed Racer:

Realize that "suck" is a purely subjective idea. The word "suck" fails to have meaning in the presence of Speed Racer.

It is both sucky and amazing. It is beauty and ugliness. It is terror and salvation. It is thoroughly German. It forced me to get up and dance frenetically during the credits. I could not help myself I COULD NOT HELP MYSELF

I am still trying to tell whether I can ever watch another bad movie again with the same sense of joy. Speed Racer transcends bad. It is wholly of itself. It is the Alpha and the Omega of films, good and bad. It made me feel like there were tiny eyes on the insides of my teeth, and each eye opened to see a bunch of chewed-up Trix cereal in my mouth, and the sight was nauseating and fascinating and I could neither look away nor swallow the cereal.

It is a thousand prostitutes wearing neon pink fish-net tights, singing "Hey soldier boy" in unison as a marching band appears on the horizon, playing an entire suite of Sousa music, and a flock of Canada geese fly backwards, even their honks reversed so that they sound like questions.

It is an egg frying on the pavement on a cold day.

It is a massive earthquake that destroys the city, yet when the buildings fall upon the terrified people they reveal themselves to be colorful pinatas, and they are filled with bite-sized Snickers bars, and the people rejoice, and are glad for the destruction.

CGI: A grumpy rant.

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