3D observation

[lupercal]

Considering that all the blockbuster animated movies from the past 5 years or so have been CGI/3D, why is that on keyframe:

The top 6 feature films are all 2D (and 4 of them made since 1999)

3 out of the bottom 5 are 3D.

Loop

[starlac]

A case of style over substance...

Quite a number of these recent CGI films (or rather their makers) tend to forget to put in a half decent plot in.

I've enjoyed some CGI movies, but so far I can't think of any CGI film that has got me as far in total awe as some 2D films have. The more realistic they get the more creepy they become and the more cartoony they are, the more I wish they were 2D.

Great 2D films manage to have it both ways wonderful plots and narrative and a strong visual style.

It the old... Just because something is popular doesn't make it good... thing.

[athena]

I've enjoyed some CGI movies, but so far I can't think of any CGI film that has got me as far in total awe as some 2D films have.
I'll admit to feeling the awe-factor on some CG films... I remember watching Monsters Inc. for the first time... Sully snoring and the little hairs on his arm waving with his breath... thinking 'Pixar show-offs'... but I also admit to being a big CG geek as well.

But I do know what you mean... even though I know rationally how much work it is to create a realstic, well-acted CG character there's always this little voice in the back of my mind thinking... well, the computer probably helped the animator with *some* of the stuff... maybe getting the flex of the muscle right or the shift of the cloth... in 2D or even stop-motion, the animator gets no help from technology... so when Tarzan shifts his weight and his muscles subtly flex... or when Jack Skellington flies through the air and all the little trailing bits of his costume flutter perfectly... it is inherently impressive.

[Thalia-is-Crazy]

I have to admit being in awe of monsters Inc, and finding nemo.
But 2D is my crack and that's the way (uh-huh uh-huh) I like it.

[lupercal]

Now, you could have done that without invoking K.C. and the Sunshine Band!

Loop (who remembers that damn song coming out)

[Thalia-is-Crazy]

We've got a small elitist community which is pretty narrow minded in terms of what we like and what we don't like.
In my opinion.

That makes it easier to weed out the 3D and BASH IT INTO THE GROUND*startsfoamingatthemouth*

[athena]

Personally I have no objection to 3D as a medium at all. In my mind there's two things that could account for the current growing dislike of 3D...

1) The look... most 3D animation has a particular look about it that makes it easily identifiable. Some people are not keen on that look... sort of like I have a fairly irrational objection to 2D rotoscope "animation"... and since animation is an art form, some people are simply never going to like that look... :shrug:

2) The crap... when I started this site I used to go to every animated feature that hit the theatres--usually on the first day of its release. As the years have gone by, that doesn't happen as much anymore... the market has just been SATURATED with poorly written, badly designed 3D productions and it is really, really easy to just toss your hands up in disgust saying "I shalt never watch another 3D feature in the theatres again! NEVER!!"

And while I do teeter on that sentiment, I try to remind myself that this is the argument that has all but killed 2D... the medium cannot be blamed for the failings of writers and studios and everything else that goes into making lousy, money-grubbing excuses for cinema.

[MonkeyFunk]

But I do know what you mean... even though I know rationally how much work it is to create a realstic, well-acted CG character there's always this little voice in the back of my mind thinking... well, the computer probably helped the animator with *some* of the stuff... maybe getting the flex of the muscle right or the shift of the cloth... in 2D or even stop-motion, the animator gets no help from technology...

Well to be fair that's not entirely the case; in Steamboy, Chicken Run and probably a lot of others the animators were working to CGI animatics.

And there are some unusual things being done in CGI, so it's not all the standard "weird shaped but nicely textured things running around photorealistic backdrops" - anyone seen this (http://www.linternaute.com/cinema/film/683/renaissance.shtml) yet?

Probably the thing I find most attractive about working in CGI is using light - stars, disco lights, that kind of thing. But I can't really go any further into that train of thought without ending up further into my own little world