Roadside Romeo Out!

[furtech]

I've been waiting for a while for this film to be released in the US. I don't think the previous foreign Disney film (Mexican?) was ever released. Roadside Romeo looked like a lot of fun from the "casting call" preview they had out. Thanks to brerandalopex, I found out that it's out on US DVD!

I found the film on Amazon and I've already ordered it (film night, Tracy? Roz?).

Brer mentioned that there was a cute extra on the disk, showing a music video with the costumed characters they made for it. They're neat costumes-- I'm almost sure they were made by Custom Characters here in Glendale.

Comments

[gilmorelion.livejournal.com]

*sigh*

If only I could make suits like those! They're astoundingly good!

thanks for the Xmas card and the kind words, btw! LOVE the Rondo stamp!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

R0ndo stamp! Glad you enjoyed the card!

FYI, Custom Characters has a distinctive style because they vacuum-form their heads, allowing for greater detail and more expressive heads because they can really pull the fur/fleece over the rigid surface. (They sculpt the heads out of oil clay, make a mold of that and then from there they make the vacuum-form bucks to burn from.)

The mix of NFT and Monterey Mills furs is also clear from the pics and the video: Romeo is mostly MM, while Laila is mostly NFT (you can see how her costume hugs her body, while Romeo's is a little baggy). Short fur on faces is likely Antron fleece.

[fenris-lorsrai.livejournal.com]

I was actually more impressed with the legs and forearms which seemed to be done in a shorter fur. It was easier to see on Romeo than Leila. It makes it look a lot closer to a real dog since the hair is usually very short and skin hugging except in the fluffiest of breeds. And that actually has to be harder to do then the vacuum formed head since it has to withstand flexing and moving.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

The short fur on the arms/legs (mostly Laila) is likely National Fiber Technologies 4-way stretch fur: wonderful stuff, trims down beautifully. Works beautifully-- it's just very expensive. It's all custom-made: for a short-run fur, it's actually cheap (as compared to what a mill would charge for a minimum run of several hundred yards).

Vacuum-formed heads like theirs requires a decent sculptor, several molds/casts and a huge vacuum-forming machine (at least a 2'X2' machine, more likely a 4'X4'). But it's great for making multiple copies of something (like a theme park would need).

[renniefox.livejournal.com]

I too think Custom Characters made them since they made costumes for Disney. Anyway, some source said Disney's in-house fabricator made them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadside_Romeo#Promotion
http://www.businessofcinema.com/news.php?newsid=10184

[furtech.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the links! There's a much better pic of the costumes there:



I'm pretty sure it was Custom Characters now: CC unofficially makes all the prototypes for the theme parks and it's unlikely the Florida show actually created them (they may have put them together, though).

[cooner.livejournal.com]

Good to see there's plentiful fart humor in the trailer! I guess it's not just for American audiences anymore! :P

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

It's international!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

The international language of love farts?

I wonder if there is some scientific/anthropological paper about how farts are universally humourous? From New Guinea tribesmen to Harvard...gas is sure-fire funny.

[brerandalopex.livejournal.com]

[Alopex] I'm really glad that Brer got us a copy! The plot may not be anything brilliant (though the idea of a guy starting a gang of hairdressers to stand up to the local mob boss is unique), but it was a lot of fun to watch. Counting Slumdog Millionaire, this is only the second Bollywood film I've seen, and it makes me realize just how little I know of Indian culture. The frequent use of English, for example -- is that a way of showing off your culture and trying to elevate your status in a very stratified society? It was weird to hear it in a movie that as far as I can tell was primarily intended for an Indian audience.

The character "Interval" was especially interesting. He was animated with a much more tooney design than the rest, but on top of that, his dialog frequently involved doing impressions of famous Indian actors (named in the subtitles). The names were completely over our heads -- which is kind of sad, except for the fact that to appreciate the humor at that level we'd have to spend an awful lot of time catching up on Bollywood classics...and I've got too many hobbies already!

Hope you enjoy the DVD when you get it!

[furtech.livejournal.com]

I think I'll enjoy it more than most Indians: the negatives in the reviews noted the Bollywood the number of plot cliches (at least they avoided the ultimate cliche of "Bollywoof"). Since I've only seen a few of them, that won't bother me...nor will the odd dialect they chose to use (kind of the Indian equivalent of a Brooklyn or New England accent).

English-speaker-- this cliche I do know: it's the equivalent of DoodlesTheGreat the American comic relief who is an idiot that uses big words (usually incorrectly) to make himself sound smart. In India he thinks it makes him a higher class (+educated). Both types count on the people around him not knowing what he's saying.

Interval: think of it like the caricature-short cartoons from Looney Tunes/Warner Bros: you may not now the long-dead actors they were parodying, but they can still be funny (remember Greta Garbo's hilarious portrayal as being big-footed and slow?). The level of the film is kind of classic "Bowery Boys" level humor and story/character. In terms of film-making, Bollywood is currently doing films like they made in the 30's in the US. The actors there are revered much like stars from that era, too (and act like god-like divas).

Hopefully I can get Tracy and Roz together and watch it this week!

[okojosan.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty impressed with the people who are dancing in the suits! That's gotta be some hot and sweaty work.

[furtech.livejournal.com]

If there's one thing Bollywood does fantastically, it's dance numbers! I think a lot of people would be surprised at how much current music videos and music itself is directly derived from Indian films/pop music.

But yeah: beautiful suit-acting! FWIW, I'm pretty sure it's male=male and female=female suit actors.

[jovino.livejournal.com]

Fantastic. THanks for the video link too! The dancing was great.

It amuses me that you are so knowledgeable about the suits. Then again, it's your business to know. :)

[furtech.livejournal.com]

This is some of the best 'suit dancing I've seen. The Laila, especially, was going all-out (you can see the Romeo performer pick it up when he is actually out -with- her because she's moving so well).

I love being able to ID the makers of various commercial costumes. At worst, I can always call someone to verify-- most of them use the same free-lancers and I know a few of them. There are people in the fandom who amaze me-- they can ID virtualy any of the suits from their styling (ie, LV vs Beastcub vs Jovino vs Jax, etc.). It's interesting that we have certain styles that we cling to!

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

*noddle!* I saw it on Amazon a few days ago too, coincidentally! Just haven't decided on which proprietor from which to order it ^V^

[cheetah-spotty.livejournal.com]

I tried watching it with subtitles ... after the loss of what felt like 5 Million brain cells, I stopped. I really couldn't watch it to the end. It was just .... too ... stupid. The music is bad, the story is nonexistant, and the animation sucks. For something that bears the "Disney" logo, I was strongly underwhelmed.