I know the lead character animator at Sony who did most of the Spidey figure animation. The point he would make is this: please understand, he and his fx/animation crew are hired hands, who are asked to deliver a job of work to a producer and a director. They take a brief, they do what’s asked of them.
Now, some people want CGI animation to be ‘realistic’. That’s the ‘holy grail’ for them - is it ‘realistic’? Does it look like a real person walking and moving? And sometimes these people disagree between themselves on what looks ‘real’ and what doesn’t.
Other people take the view that there is little point using CGI to depict something realistic - the whole poiint is that you can use the tool to deliver something, creatively and artistically, which you couldn’t get any other way.
If the producers and exec producers and director don’t all share exactly the same ‘vision’ of what they want from the animation team, then the team get caught between a rock and a hard place because the brief keeps changing, often from day to day.
All of these issues are compounded by the fact that Spider-Man is about a super hero. He does things no ‘real’ person has done or could do. If you make the motion too ‘realistic’, you perhaps make him less of a superhero. If you make the motion too ‘super hero’ and ‘incredible’, then some will moan it’s not realistic enough.
A wise man said you can’t please all the people all the time. Even with a 100 million dollar budget.
I haven’t actually seen the movie, because I live in the pre-historic time warp known as England where it doesn’t open until June 14th. But I have seen sneaks from the animation tests and rushes the animation team developed for the director, and the motion looked pretty good to me.
