The best conspiracy theories all have something adolescent about them
Count me along with those who enjoyed PM (and have enjoyed Miyazaki’s other stuff). I was actually able to watch the whole thing beginning-to-end. Thornton’s voice was not bad, Danes and Anderson, well… coulda been better.
(there was one annoying nitpick I had with the translation script: the repeated reference to muskets as “rifles.” Jeez, man, if you think folks won’t understand “musket” just say “gun”!)
One of the challenges facing this sort of animation is that not everyone can, like Disney, throw in tens of millions $$$ in newer, flashier technology for their animation-of-the-year (e.g. the “Deep Canvas” technology for “Tarzan”); but the audiences’ expectation of visual sophistication will increase. And this may drown out the story development.
** tourbot: **
Heh. “Deep Canvas.” I love these guys. Because bragging “We spent 130 mil on our new ‘Use standard 3d with textures made to look painted instead of realistic’”* dosn’t have quite the ring to it, does it?
At this point I’m far beyond expecting a good story, I’d be amazed to see something from Disney with good visual design. They’ve managed to drop below the level of your average computer game. I’m not talking the really well designed ones, like Soul Reaver or Planescape: Torment, I’m talking Requiem or Baldur’s Gate. (BG was a great game, but the visual design was pretty mediocre)
But I’m sure those extra four frames of animation a second make it all better, don’t they? (Not that I’m bitter or anything . . .)
This is actually fairly clever, in that “Why the hell didn’t someone think of this three years ago?!” sense, but marketing it as a sophisticated new technology is deceptive.
I saw it at one of the downtown DC theaters last summer. I think that was the only place anywhere near that was showing it. I had heard such good things about the movie and sought it out.
Boy, was I disappointed! I wish I could remember the specifics that rubbed me the wrong way, but all I remember at this point was that I wished I had taken a notepad to jot down all the ridiculous dialogue and plot developments. I also recall a “message” that was overwrought and heavy-handed. I thought the whole thing was ripe for MST-3K.
I have nothing negative to say about the voices or animation.
Maybe I’ll rent it and take my notes so that I can defend my opinion against the 99.99% of people that loved it, including everyone here, it seems.
If you see a heavy-handed message in PM you are projecting, pure and simple. There are several “big issues” which are touched on (the most obvious being environmental impact of human technology), but there certainly isn’t any preachy sort of message about them. Anyone who says PM takes a pro environmentalist stance should have to defend the claim that Romeo and Juliet is pro teen suicide.
