Alpha and Omega: furry fan-service
Sep. 24th, 2010 09:30 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
furtechI'll give you a break from my interminable trip reports to talk about the new animated film, "Alpha and Omega"
The ads foretold a terrible film: actors in fursuits (they bore more of a resemblance to actors than to wolves), corny gags (more impossible sledding), bad humor, etc., etc.
And...those impressions were realized in spades. At one point I had to apologize to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
martes for dragging her to see this. I think it was at the point when, during a "howl", the wolves suddenly stood up on two legs and launched into a Bollywood-style dance number. Really.
At the same time I had to admit: If I were 5 years old, this would be MY MOST FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME!!1!. I saw Disney's "Jungle Book" at about that age and not only was I mesmerized, it remains one of my all-time favorite films. When you're five you have a pretty clean slate, experience-wise. Wolf-behavior, non-sequitor dance numbers, corny plots: there are definitely parallels. I'm sure Kipling rolled in his grave when the wise bear, Baloo, suddenly spoke scat and launched into a dance number like "Bear Necessities".
So, yeah. I'm not saying go see it generally, but if you've got Very Young Children, you might take a bullet and take them to see this.
The end credits were beautifully designed: one of the best I've seen. What I found particularly intriguing were the 2-D character development and design art: they were *wonderful!*. Now my mission is to find someone with access who can get me a set. I'd love to see all of the development-- my best hope is for a making-of type book, but there is no such thing on Amazon yet. I wish this had stayed a 2-D animated feature.
Oh, and fwiw: most of this was done in India, possibly by the same talent who did India Disney's "Roadside Romeo". The character animation and many of the story elements reminded me a lot of Roadside.
The ads foretold a terrible film: actors in fursuits (they bore more of a resemblance to actors than to wolves), corny gags (more impossible sledding), bad humor, etc., etc.
And...those impressions were realized in spades. At one point I had to apologize to
martes for dragging her to see this. I think it was at the point when, during a "howl", the wolves suddenly stood up on two legs and launched into a Bollywood-style dance number. Really. At the same time I had to admit: If I were 5 years old, this would be MY MOST FAVORITE MOVIE OF ALL TIME!!1!. I saw Disney's "Jungle Book" at about that age and not only was I mesmerized, it remains one of my all-time favorite films. When you're five you have a pretty clean slate, experience-wise. Wolf-behavior, non-sequitor dance numbers, corny plots: there are definitely parallels. I'm sure Kipling rolled in his grave when the wise bear, Baloo, suddenly spoke scat and launched into a dance number like "Bear Necessities".
So, yeah. I'm not saying go see it generally, but if you've got Very Young Children, you might take a bullet and take them to see this.
The end credits were beautifully designed: one of the best I've seen. What I found particularly intriguing were the 2-D character development and design art: they were *wonderful!*. Now my mission is to find someone with access who can get me a set. I'd love to see all of the development-- my best hope is for a making-of type book, but there is no such thing on Amazon yet. I wish this had stayed a 2-D animated feature.
Oh, and fwiw: most of this was done in India, possibly by the same talent who did India Disney's "Roadside Romeo". The character animation and many of the story elements reminded me a lot of Roadside.
