Hoodwinked

[MonkeyFunk]

Well, I can't view the trailer, but I can't be the only one who was kind of annoyed by the central premise. Another fairy tale parody. Aside from the Shreks, we've got Happily N'ever After, Puss in Boots, Rapunzel Unbraided, Chicken Little and Tortoise vs Hare.

I think the fairy tale well is pretty much dried up now. Animated movies have always relied a little too much on fairy tales - I'd say the genre only really works nowadays if the movie's done by someone who really understands and respects folklore (see: Kirikou and the Sorceress) - and now they're not even taking themselves seriously anymore. Shrek was funny, and some of the upcoming movies look promising for one reason or another, but please... some original stories, anyone?

[greykitty]

I saw the trailer and I wasn't all that impressed. I really dislike the character designs. They look terrible imo. The storyline doesn't sound all that interesting either.
I have to agree with you on that too. I wish someone would just come up with something original and not rely on well knownw stories/tales for animated films. It'd be nice for a change!

[dragonmaster]

Well, I can't view the trailer, but I can't be the only one who was kind of annoyed by the central premise. Another fairy tale parody. Aside from the Shreks, we've got Happily N'ever After, Puss in Boots, Rapunzel Unbraided, Chicken Little and Tortoise vs Hare.

I think the fairy tale well is pretty much dried up now. Animated movies have always relied a little too much on fairy tales - I'd say the genre only really works nowadays if the movie's done by someone who really understands and respects folklore (see: Kirikou and the Sorceress) - and now they're not even taking themselves seriously anymore. Shrek was funny, and some of the upcoming movies look promising for one reason or another, but please... some original stories, anyone? Don't forget the Brothers Grimm. Now that was a bad movie. Anyway, I don't think it'll be too bad. It does look that there will be comedy, but don't expect too much. The plot seems kinda stupid. I might watch it today and I'll tell you guys what I think, of course, I'm not a very good critic.:rolleyes:

[athena]

I might watch it today and I'll tell you guys what I think, of course, I'm not a very good critic.:rolleyes:

hehe, well you at the very least let us know if we should take the trouble to see it or avoid it like the plague. ;)

[Toonboy]

Ah yes. Like the world needs yet another computer animated movie where the characters try to be "with it".

[Lucky_Bob]

IMHO, this movie looks :barf:
James :cool:
P.S.
:barf:

[MonkeyFunk]

Aaaaaand in the other corner:
http://www.animationnation.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=011029

[athena]

Aaaaaand in the other corner:
http://www.animationnation.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=011029

Okay, we are probably being a little harsh... in our collective defense though, there are so many mediocore animated movies coming out right now--even from the major studios--it's hard not to get a little jaded.

[MonkeyFunk]

Aaaaand back in the other corner, here's what Amid of Cartoon Brew had to say:

HOODWINKED writer/director Cory Edwards recently defended criticism of his film on Animation Nation. The primary purpose of Edwards' post is he would like everybody to believe that the reason HOODWINKED looks the way it does is because of the film's meager production budget combined with the inexperience of his Philippines production crew.

I initially wrote a lengthy response addressing his comments, but afterwards realized that my thoughts could basically be summed up in two brief ideas:

1.) The budget of HOODWINKED was not the primary barrier to its low artistic quality. Sylvain Chomet's THE TRIPLETS OF BELLEVILLE was produced for a slight $8 million and Masaaki Yuasa's recent masterpiece MIND GAME was produced for a similarly low figure. My favorite Bill Plympton feature, HAIR HIGH, was produced for well under $1 million. These films, however, were created by artists who understood the medium of animation and who wanted to exploit the unique possibilities inherent within the medium; the films were also created by artists who understood their budget going into the production, and the possibilities and limitations of what such a budget presented. If anything, a small budget can be a blessing that allows filmmakers the freedom to take creative risks that would not be possible on a big budget feature. But HOODWINKED lacks any such artistic motivation. The only vision behind this film, as far as one can tell from the finished results, is a shrewd opportunity to capitalize on the fairytale-skewering success of the SHREK franchise. The production was clearly set up to create a lame CG knockoff of SHREK, and not to create a distinctive animated film appropriate to the budget, like TRIPLETS, MIND GAME or HAIR HIGH.

2.) Edwards argues that the film wasn't made by executives, but by struggling filmmakers. Yet, in true executive fashion, he blames the artists for the film's shortcomings: "I KNOW the animation could be better! The film was made with the skill levels we had at the studio we could afford," he says. Real artists don't blame the other hard-working artists on their crew for their film's shortcomings. In fact, the visual deficiencies of HOODWINKED originated long before the overseas studio ever got its hands on the film. In the latest issue of ANIMATION MAGAZINE, there are hand-drawn model sheets from the film, and the model sheets are as poorly designed as the CG characters in the film are modeled. In other words, the skill levels of the overseas artists seem to have been fine, and they did a good job of translating the designs to CG, but the artwork they had was weak to begin with. Similarly, the quality of animation was likely the result of the direction the overseas artists were receiving rather than their own doing. It's disingenuous to blame the overseas production crew for problems that could have been addressed in pre-production if the filmmakers had had a more solid grasp of the animation medium.

Edwards says that the only way he can create something of artistic value is for somebody to give him more money. "If I direct more animation, my first choice will always be to make it in the U.S. and for a much bigger budget." Perhaps first he could explain though why HOODWINKED looks the way it does when he already had a more than adequate budget to create a quality piece of animation.

[Toonboy]

Or you could just forget that you can't make something better by throwing more money at it.

[MonkeyFunk]

Now Jerry Beck's commenting on the fairy tale spoof trend:

Now in production in Denmark, A.Film is making The Ugly Duckling And Me, a CG feature - as well as a companion TV series of 26 episodes. I've enjoyed the work of this studio in the past - but do we really need another fairy tale parody? Ten years ago we were complaining of the overabundance of animated musicals. Now we are being overrun by Fractured Fairy Tales (what hath Jay Ward, by way of Shrek, wrought?).