My day with Computer Animation (1 Viewer)

[Dean DeMass]

Yesterday I decided to have a computer animation marathon with films I had yet to see. I rent and rented Final Fantasy and Shrek. I then went to see Monsters, Inc. at the theater later that evening.
I started off with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Now I have heard many bad things about this film so my expectations were pretty low. However, I didn't lower them enough. While the animation was fantastic, the film just bored the hell out of me. The story just wasn't cohesive and I didn't really care for the voice acting. I think the director needs to stick to video games and he should of let a real director handle this film. The only character I felt did a good job was James Woods. I just like him as a villain, especially in animation (he was great in Hercules).
Next I watched Shrek. After being really disappointed with my 1st choice, I felt exactly the opposite with Shrek. Shrek was a wonderfully animated film with many adult jokes. I loved all of the references to fairy tales and Donkey was just hilarious. The story was well written and the film was directed beautifully. The voice acting was tremendous and Mike Myers was perfect as the title character. The whole dragon rescue sequence was great and had me on the edge of my seat and laughing at the same time. My only disappointment with the film was that John Lithgows character was not in the film enough. I expected him to play a more important role, but he didn't. I guess the story really didn't call for it. However, you just had to love his Gingerbread Man torture scene and his armor leggings on his horse to make him look taller. Funny Stuff. I had high expectations from Shrek and they were met nicely.
Finally, I finished off my computer animation marathon with Pixar's new film, Monsters, Inc. I am a big fan of Pixar and their animation. They are doing wonderful things for animated films and Monsters did not disappoint. From the opening short film, "For the Birds", to the beautiful closing shot of the film, Monsters, Inc. was easily my favorite from the marathon. I won't go into great detail about the film since I posted my review in the Official Review Thread . The film is a great family film with great laughs. Pixar is on a roll with their films and I anxiously await their next feature.
-Dean-
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My HT Equipment
"I've seen you and you are not cool."

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I actually felt the opposite. I loved FF in every way, and was very disappointed by Shrek. I just felt lik Shrek was incomplete. It felt like a lot of good ideas were just haphazardly strung together. They make fun of one thing, then cut to a new scene and make fun of something else.
I didn't think Shrek was really that funny, also.
Just my thoughts.
I'm looking forward to Monsters, Inc.

 

[Geoffrey_A]

I loved both films, and am very curious as to what about the FF story you felt wasn't cohesive? Was it just that it bored you, or did you really not understand some of what was going on. I personally thought the film was very finely crafted, with a very asian sensibility to it (which I suspect is why a lot of people were disappointed in it) Still, it's shocking how many people I run into that just didn't get the film. Oh well, c'est la vie.
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Geoff
Now with Kung-Fu grip and realistic facial hair!

 

[Neil Joseph]

Interesting, especially regarding your comments about Monsters Inc. The thing I really liked about Shrek was the message in the movie... That it's not what is on the outside that matters, but what is on the inside that counts. Many other movies have tried to play this theme but this one did it successfully.
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My Favourite DVD's