Wednesday, March 04, 2015

Son of Robin

Strange ideas about Disney's Spring '16 release.

Disney's Zootopia Could Bring Back Your Furry Robin Hood Fantasies


... [Zootopia is] all about anthropomorphized animals and the wacky world they live in (where one of the main characters happens to be a fox, cough cough). ...

Comparing an upcoming Disney CG animated feature to a post-Walt animated feature of so-so quality* wouldn't be the first thing that leapt to my mind, but what do I know? If the production team was using Phil Harris and Andy Devine sound-alikes, maybe the comparison would be apt. However, I don't think that's what they're doing.

* Although the early '70s Robin Hood may not be your cup of tea, it was Ollie Johnston's very most favorite animated feature. I know this because I asked him, and that's what he told me. My face fell atop the floor.

2 comments:

Grant said...

Ollie only said that because the film was so bad he got to do whatever he wanted. With weak direction, no solid story or characters, animators took over and that's the mess you got. Animators need strong direction and limitations to do their very best work--something they didn't get here. The film itself is a horrible mess.

Chris Sobieniak said...

Comparing an upcoming Disney CG animated feature to a post-Walt animated feature of so-so quality* wouldn't be the first thing that leapt to my mind, but what do I know? If the production team was using Phil Harris and Andy Devine sound-alikes, maybe the comparison would be apt. However, I don't think that's what they're doing.

Zootopia by itself is its own 'beast' in terms of world-building and original take on such a world where animals exist as humanoid sentient beings though they appear to be living in groups of their own species than to essentially intermix with others (furry fandom loves hybrid characters). I wouldn't mind seeing where they go with this one. Certainly wouldn't be a jokey take on something we already seen before, though it sounds like it's taking on a mismatched buddy cop drama sort of thing.

* Although the early '70s Robin Hood may not be your cup of tea, it was Ollie Johnston's very most favorite animated feature. I know this because I asked him, and that's what he told me. My face fell atop the floor.

Well at least he did something at all even with the weak direction and sloppy story.

Site Meter