The film seems to have been retooled and revised quite a bit from the initial glimpses given in the trailer last spring.
Roddy (voiced by Hugh Jackman) lacks the two gerbil sidekicks/servants. His life now seems far more lonely and sad than luxurious and spoiled.
As a result, I felt far more sympathy.
Plus, Sir Ian -makes- the movie great whenever the Toad is onscreen. I don't think he has it in him to give a bad performance.
The singing slugs that turn up from time to time are a delight.
That said, the plot is hopelessly confused. There are several threads that never truly get tied together, and each are picked up and dropped at random.
Plus, the use of CGI to simulate stop motion clay animation leads to a bizarre "Uncanny Plasticine Valley" effect.
Not anywhere near the quality of Chicken Run, Creature Comforts, or the sublime Wallace & Gromit...but it's much less mediocre than many of the 16+ CGI 'toons that came out in 2006.
...if they do one more "Domesticated Animal Lost in the Wild" flick though...*grits teeth*
Posted by B34N (Member # 9597) on :
It actually looks like it would be a very campy film to see. Probably great for kids with adult humor thrown in so they don't fall asleep when they take the kids to it.
Posted by SoaPiNuReYe (Member # 9144) on :
I heard that it was actually a lot better than Aardman's previous films, but I haven't seen it yet so I can't really vouch for them.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
I thought it was kind of dreadful. I didn't find it funny -- the jokes were disappointingly obvious. Usually we can count on Aardman not to go to the easy cliches -- but in this movie, I kept thinking, over and over again, I've heard that joke so many times before.... I've seen that plot development so many times before....
I also found myself feeling really uncomfortable with the French stereotyping they pulled with the frog characters. I never like stereotyping, but this seemed particularly petty to me.
I know, I know -- it's just a kid's movie and I shouldn't take it seriously. I just sat there imagining developmental meetings in which English guys said to each other "We should be really vicious to the French -- Americans hate the French."
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
I doubt they intended the frog ninjas to be French to be "vicious". But, yeah...they laid it on far too thick.
But...I cannot help noting you seem to have -no- complaints about the grotesque, rude, loud, pushy, obnoxious American rodent couple who turned up several times. Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
I think when you start out from a point where you're actually using an ethnic/cultural slur as the very basis for your characters, you gotta be prepared to hear words like 'vicious'.
quote:But...I cannot help noting you seem to have -no- complaints about the grotesque, rude, loud, pushy, obnoxious American rodent couple who turned up several times.
It would have been hard for me to catalogue each specific thing I disliked about this movie.
Posted by Puffy Treat (Member # 7210) on :
So, what about those Texan mice? Can we call them a "slur" too?
Personally, I think the lack of Nick Park and the other "wiser heads" at Aardman lead to an unfortunate reliance on stock characters and lazy writing, more than they thought "Hey, I hate French People!"
The French snob and the Ugly American Abroad are both stock characters, used for lowbrow comedy. I don't like it, but I don't think it was meant to be an attack. More, they just weren't trying for genuine humor.
Posted by TL (Member # 8124) on :
quote:Personally, I think the lack of Nick Park and the other "wiser heads" at Aardman lead to an unfortunate reliance on stock characters and lazy writing, more than they thought "Hey, I hate French People!"
Well, I totally agree. I didn't say that they hated French people. I said they engaged in some stereotyping that made me uncomfortable, and that they used the slur "frog" as the basis for these French characters, and that it wasn't funny.
I don't actually think they hate French people. I think they think *WE* hate French people, and that we would find this hilarious.
Posted by Snail (Member # 9958) on :
Huh. I saw this movie this week and absolutely loved it, and thus I'm a bit surprised at the lukewarm reception it's received here.
In fact I'd go as far as to say this was my second favourite computer animated feature I've seen after Shrek. Compared to Aardman's previous endeavors it wasn't Wallace & Gromit level but it was way better than Chicken Run.
True, the plot was standard kiddie movie fare, but then this film isn't that much about the plot, it's about the silly action and humor - with a few subtler and cleverer points thrown in the mix such as cockroaches reading Kafka's Metamorphosis. So OK, they did use every British humour cliché in the book from the uppity Kensington rat to the working class sewer rats to the sex crazed grandma to the obnoxious Americans to the digs at the nobility, but then I also think that was kind of the point.
The sewer rat city was the film's most "Aardmanesque" part in my opinion with all the buildings and clothes and everything built from stuff that had been flushed down the toilet at some point or another.
The points about family and community were played well enough amongst all the action so that they were emotional enough but not sappy such as, say, similar scenes in Finding Nemo.
The voice acting was indeed the high point. Ian McKellen, Hugh Jackman, Kate Winslet, Andy Serkis, Jean Reno and Bill Nighy all give wonderful performances, McKellen especially. (Also, they should've included a feature-length DVD extra about the recording of the voices, because the little they showed of McKellen, Serkis and the others reciting their lines in the recording booth was amazing, especially McKellen's facial expressions when doing the Toad.)
As to the French frogs... to be honest I didn't even think someone could be offended at them before I came here to read this. True, they're stereotypical, but then so is every other character in this film. I also very much doubt they're intended for American audiences - I would imagine the Brits laugh at the French quite on their own without American help.
Posted by Flaming Toad on a Stick (Member # 9302) on :
![[Wink]](wink.gif)