B.O.R.E.D. - Feb 6, 2004

B.O.R.E.D.
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by Daniel Kaplan (archives)
February 6, 2004
Daniel's weekly box office report plus the conclustion of his tongue-in-cheek look at current animation trends.

Continuing The "Un-Official LaughingPlace.com Top #10 List of Current Animation Trends Based on the Musings by Daniel (Presented in No Particular Order)!" here are #6 - #10

#6 - No Boundaries
In the movie Tarzan the hero bounds around sliding through vines and around trees narrowly escaping death. However, I guess I'm supposed to be somewhat enthralled by the whole action sequence. Considering the gravity of Tarzan is not truly established and I have no idea if he could technically fall 50 feet or 100 feet before getting injured I am therefore not going to be concerned. I need a cryptonite, a weakness, an idea of what is capable of bringing the hero down or action sequences loose their punch. Finding Nemo did this beautifully is some sequences where it establishes the jellyfish as being harmful, and it was a well done action piece. Other films will just throw in a ridiculous set of circumstances that get so out of control it becomes brain-numbing. Please movie makers, establish your rules and stick to them. The worse situations tend to always happen at the end of the films, where it seems that you must pull out all the stops to make the most spectacular ending yet. Thankfully some recent films such as Brother Bear bucked that trend, it's nice to see.

#7 - Star Quality
It's no wonder why animation studios turn to movie stars to provide voices for animated films, after all it guarantees an audience and you know  they have the required skills. Sometimes though, it can become a little distracting to hear movie stars voices coming from a character, particularly if they've done an animated film before. Thankfully this isn't a big deal, but it's a trend I wouldn't mind being pulled back just a little in favor of some new talent. Pixar does a good job of pulling people from within it's story department who often provide the most hilarious performances (see Roz in Monsters Inc.)

#8 - Must Everything Be Humorous?
Yes humor is important, and it also is the most universally accepted form of communication between adults and children. Most everybody regardless of age finds different sight gags funny, or word plays or whatever. I would though, like to see some more thought-provoking animated films just out there to further the medium. Honestly, I doubt they would be that succesful so I can't honestly say that it's what I would do if I were an animated film director. I would though just like the variety of an animated film that's not just a fun little romp that ends with a wink and a nod.

#9 - Deep Issues/Shallow Execution
Lately animated films have dealt with deeper issues that previously, including major family issues. Lilo and Stitch's main characters were in a "broken family" and the film had many heated scenes between the sisters that were downright unpleasant to watch. Was this really necessary considering the film was about a wild psycho space alien who licks the mucus from his nose? The strange balance of drama and humor (talked about in #2 -Yo-Yo Effect) really erased any possiblity of an actual honest discussion of the real issues. Instead we get a few fights and a nice cute tied-up everybody loves each other ending. Why establish all these deep rooted issues if you're going to resolve them in such a shallow way? Personally I would prefer animated movies from avoidiing this psycho-babble if they can't give it the justice it deserves. What about Finding Nemo which had an ok setup of a father who's overprotective of his only son. Ok I understand that completely, but why did the film then need to overdramatize it's protectiveness to downright mockery? Was I supposed to be upset at Marlin, or laugh at Marlin, or think Marlin's a lunatic? Finding Nemo also saw fit to throw in concepts such as rehablitation and short-term memory loss as points of humor. Dory is a beautiful character, somebody who puts everything on the line to help a friend a need. In the end the film chooses to give more lines of dialogue mocking her disablity, her short-term memory loss, than to develop her further. Now the film wasn't intending to be some deep psychological discussion, and it's incredibly entertaining, but it does bother me that filmakers are willing to throw out bits of information (such as Dory not realising where her family is as a joke) that you are just supposed to discard.

#10 - Is Death Always Neccesary?
The trend began with Bambi, a powerful and moving film that dealt with the fragile nature of life. Bambi's mother in one of the most dramatic and well directed sequences is killed off around mid-way into the storyline. You don't see it happen, you don't see her body, you don't even see who killed her. It's no wonder that animation filmakers are dying to duplicate this sort of drama, but it's somewhat akin to trying to duplicate the Psycho shower scene. It's just not going to happen. Sure there have been some death scenes done quite beautifully, such as the Lion King, but recently it seems that filmakers just can't wait to kill of a main character just to add some drama. Or if you can't kill of a main character, than just pretend to and have him "resurrect" for the ending. I would love to see filmmakers trust in their audiences more. Did we really need to have te whole "is he dead?" scene with Nemo unconsious after the fishing grounds drama. I mean come on, we know he's alive because you wouldn't put us through this whole story if he just ended up dead at the end anyway. Ice Age didn't need to kill off one of it's characters to just have him come back at the end. Hopefully writers and directors will realise that this tired material is incredibly predictable, and actually takes away from the drama instead of add to it.

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