I'd fire the guy who came up with the business plan. Basically it was "Hey lets produce Pixar knockoffs".

Pixar knockoffs [pops]

Vídeo Brinquedo: Because kidsgrandparents are too stupid to know the difference.

Confabulat: 1) Why was Happy Feet One a huge Oscar-nominated smash?

2) Why was Happy Feet Two a dismal flop?


The 1st one was fresh, the 2nd one was an obvious retread when you saw the previews.

I'm still puzzled by the whole "$140 million budget' thing. Jebus, for that much you could probably train real penguins to dance.

Happy Feet 1 was horrible.

Old enough to know better: I'm still puzzled by the whole "$140 million budget' thing. Jebus, for that much you could probably train real penguins to dance.

Hookers and Blow ain't cheap.

Confabulat: Ok, I'm baffled as someone who would never see a movie called Happy Feet.

Two questions:

1) Why was Happy Feet One a huge Oscar-nominated smash?

2) Why was Happy Feet Two a dismal flop?

How did anyone know the difference before they walked in the theater?

Happy Feet is a modern Ferngully. It's an ecological tale that has a pretty good script and cast, delivered something actually funny from Robin Williams, kept children entertained pretty much throughout, and was pretty good as an adult. I wouldn't call the original a Pixar knockoff considering they're completely different styles, dunno about the current one. It was a fairly solid movie that didn't stoop down to stupid gags or jokes because it was a cartoon, which is something that most cartoons are guilty of these days.

As far as why you would see it? People have kids and you take those kids to the movies to see kids movies.

/and goddamn could Brittany Murphy sing, what a waste her death was

Mugato: The first thing they need to do is hire voice actors, not celebrity actors. Firstly famous actors in animated films take you out of the movie. When I hear Angelina Jolie playing an animated shark, I don't think of an animated shark. I picture Angelina Jolie in a little booth with headphones on (and nothing else) reading lines.

I disagree. Most "voice actors" are regular actors. And how a character is developed and perceived by the audience is definitely influenced by the actor doing the voice. I really good actor will take you away from the fact that he or she is doing the role whether it be animated or live action (Meryl Streep comes to mind). I was never bothered by the someone I can't stand (Mike Myers) doing the voice of Shrek. Of course there are some actors who can only do themselves. Whenever Robin Williams does a voice - it ends up being just an animated Robin Williams.

Get it on DVD.

MugzyBrown: Happy Feet 1 was horrible.

I liked the first one.

/haven't seen the second

theropod: Pixar knockoffs [pops]

Vídeo Brinquedo: Because kidsgrandparents are too stupid to know the difference.

How about this one?

Confabulat: 1) Why was Happy Feet One a huge Oscar-nominated smash?

It pandered to the Global Warming Theory and therefore dovetailed perfectly with Hollywood's fetish/fascination with it at the time

2) Why was Happy Feet Two a dismal flop?

They Shrekified it. Zippin' and Yo'in penguins dancing to LL Cool J with lame ass jokes, Robin Williams doing the Saaaaammmmeeee damn schtick he always does in every movie where he doesn't have to be serious and then you throw in a total we want your money vibe the whole thing gave off. Having the preview run along other previews with the same vibe, I'm looking at YOU 'Arthur Christmas' and it totally gave off a very negative vibe.

Thank goodness - with any hope, we'll never see "Happy Feet 3."

Why was it a flop? 10 seconds into the trailer, my wife's daughter (autistic and functionally about 6) said, "I'd rather not."

Confabulat: Ok, I'm baffled as someone who would never see a movie called Happy Feet.

Two questions:

1) Why was Happy Feet One a huge Oscar-nominated smash?

2) Why was Happy Feet Two a dismal flop?

How did anyone know the difference before they walked in the theater?

Within 2 minutes of seeing Happy Feet 2, me and my friends started going MST3K on it. At one point, my friend shouts out, "these penguins are gay," and the theatre erupted with applause. It was a POS.

epyonyx:
Within 2 minutes of seeing Happy Feet 2, me and my friends started going MST3K on it. At one point, my friend shouts out, "these penguins are gay," and the theatre erupted with applause. It was a POS.

Did men pat you on your back and buy you a beer while beautiful 18 year olds fawned over you when the crowd carried you off?

NoxNoctus: epyonyx:
Within 2 minutes of seeing Happy Feet 2, me and my friends started going MST3K on it. At one point, my friend shouts out, "these penguins are gay," and the theatre erupted with applause. It was a POS.

Did men pat you on your back and buy you a beer while beautiful 18 year olds fawned over you when the crowd carried you off?

No, but we had unicorns farting rainbows if that counts.

bravian: I disagree. Most "voice actors" are regular actors.

I had no clue Hank Azaria did anything other than the Simpsons until I started noticing him in a ton of stuff and thinking "He's actually a pretty good actor too." Just turns out he was in The Birdcage, Heat, and other movies I really didn't watch when I was young.

darkscout: bravian: I disagree. Most "voice actors" are regular actors.

I had no clue Hank Azaria did anything other than the Simpsons until I started noticing him in a ton of stuff and thinking "He's actually a pretty good actor too." Just turns out he was in The Birdcage, Heat, and other movies I really didn't watch when I was young.

and his career highlights include playing Gargemel, The Blue Raja(Mystery Men) and tons of much better roles

bravian: Mugato: The first thing they need to do is hire voice actors, not celebrity actors. Firstly famous actors in animated films take you out of the movie. When I hear Angelina Jolie playing an animated shark, I don't think of an animated shark. I picture Angelina Jolie in a little booth with headphones on (and nothing else) reading lines.

I disagree. Most "voice actors" are regular actors. And how a character is developed and perceived by the audience is definitely influenced by the actor doing the voice. I really good actor will take you away from the fact that he or she is doing the role whether it be animated or live action (Meryl Streep comes to mind). I was never bothered by the someone I can't stand (Mike Myers) doing the voice of Shrek. Of course there are some actors who can only do themselves. Whenever Robin Williams does a voice - it ends up being just an animated Robin Williams.

I think you're missing the point that Mugato was trying to make. Too many studios refuse to think of anything but an A/B-lister for their animated films. Originally it worked. Two reasons why: 1) it helped to bring in adults who wouldn't otherwise want to be in the theatre, 2) it was a novel concept at the time. Pixar capitalized on this the best, but they also had good story writing and used damn good actors.

See any one of the present royalty within the animation VO world and you'll find people who are either brilliant at a single type of character (Patrick Warburton, and to a letter extent Brad Garrett; there are several roles I'd never have guessed Garrett was the voice for, he was that good), or they're insanely good utility actors who can develop tons of characters (Bob Bergen, Pat Fraley, etc.; not always a lead character, but you'll usually find out that they did 3-4 roles in an animation... all with sigificant lines, and no two sounded remotely similar). We're actually lucky in this generation to have folks like Hank Azaria, Rob Paulsen, Frank Welker, Chris Latta, and several others who can easily be compared to some of the greats of the golden age of US animation (Daws Butler, Mel Blanc, and June Foray immediately come to mind). Sure, there's a stinker now and again, but for the most part these folks always deliver.

I tip my hat to anyone who makes a living in voice over. You can't be a good actor... you have to be a great actor. The competition is tough and there's nothing aside from your voice to carry the role. It doesn't matter how awesome the animation is - if you can't carry the role, you're sunk. The really weird part of it is that it's not about the voice (despite it being voice acting). It's about what they bring to the voice and how they use it to tell a story (I've never met a professional voice actor who wasn't an incredible storyteller; I've met several stage and film actors who couldn't tell a story to save their lives). Unfortunately, that little factoid gets lost far too often and what could otherwise be a decent animated film, falls by the wayside because the folks running the show forget just how important that is.

/yes, I've embraced my nerdom... sad part is that I still listen to commercials to ID the voices (often it's a known celebrity, but often it's not and it's fun to figure out who they are if I'm not already familiar with their work, sometimes the person behind the mic totally shocks you and you'd never realize it was them because of how they tell the story hidden within the copy).

meathome

... sometimes the person behind the mic totally shocks you ...

You mean like that episode of Eek The Cat where Eek discovers the sweet, Southern drawl of his beloved Anabelle is coming out of a bald, beer-bellied, tank-top wearing guy in the sound booth?

Mugato
Maybe instead of firing the people with talent who actually produce something, they should start with the cokehead suits who thought it was a good idea to greenlight it in the first place?

this X1K
worked in disney feature for 5 years during the obergruppenfuhrer eisner days, asked this of all my bosses, they all agreed it will never change as long as people pay to see crap

Mugato: Maybe instead of firing the people with talent who actually produce something, they should start with the cokehead suits who thought it was a good idea to greenlight it in the first place?

Digital studios usually lay off almost the entire staff after a production closes. It keeps their overhead low and they can pick and choose who they invite back.

What a surprise. The 3,982 commercials I saw for the movie during the World Series really gave me the impression this was going to be awesome.