Meet The Robinsons

[ShyViolet]

Um, no, I'm pretty sure Incredibles and Nemo have high ratings because they were good movies. Chicken Little was not. If The Incredibles came out next week, it would probably get the same ratings it has now. Likewise with CL - critics wouldn't have liked it regardless of whether or not it came out in 2004 or 2005.

Incredibles and Nemo were both very good movies. I felt Chicken Little was as well--maybe a bit too many non-sequitors and pop-culture references, and needed a tighter story. But still a very fun film, if not quite "classic Disney." It deserved more than it got. Well, I think so anyway.

[Daniel]

Yes, despite its flaws, Chicken Little did deserve more than it got. I do dislike what you mentioned though, Vi, but I'm able to look past that, and accept it for what it is, a fun, enjoyable film. Ditto Cars, but lets not got there.

As for the sci-fi, I think Treasure Planet was ok as well, but I really hate the rest that were mentioned. I just found them boring, espicially Titan A.E.!

[chernabog]

I personally loved Atlantis. I thought it was a solid and thoroughly entertaining film. Treasure Planet was ok but somewhat of a disappointment considering it was from my favourite directors in animation. However, I am now able to admit over a year later that Chicken Little was pretty poor. Disney's worst film since Black Cauldron and the less said about THAT film the better.

[ShyViolet]

Part of Jim Hill's article: (actually, it's his "unnamed source" )

"By the end of this summer, when people in the industry are looking at what 'Ratatouille' and 'Shrek the Third' earned, that $100 million that 'Meet the Robinsons' had to struggle through the entire month of April in order to earn is going to look pretty paltry.

After that, all eyes are going to then be on 'Enchanted.' To see how well a new Walt Disney Pictures release that features traditional animation does. If that Kevin Lima film turns out to be a genuine blockbuster (Which -- these days, allowing for inflation -- means that you actually have to pull in over $200 million during your domestic release) ... Well, the pressure's really on then for 'America Dog.'

And God forbid if that Chris Williams movie makes less at the box office than 'Meet the Robinsons' eventually does ... If that were to happen, there are people here at this studio that would view that box office slump as a sign that moviegoers don't really like WDFA CG films. That they'd prefer it if Disney left the computer animation to Pixar.

Two things:

1.) Enchanted isn't animated--it's live action, with 15 minutes of animated footage. Why do people keep listing it as animated?

The Pagemaster was an animated movie, but it had about ten or twenty minutes of live-action right? Does that make it a live-action film with an 85 minute animated sequence?

Heck, by that rationale, you can consider Honey, I Shrunk the Kids an animated film simply because of the 5 minute animated opening sequence. (one of my favorite parts actually. )

It's not like Song of the South or Roger Rabbit, where Toons interact with flesh and blood humans. From what I can see, it's a live-action film that just happens to have an animated opening--so did the Pink Panther.

2.) If American Dog and Rupunzal do poorly, yes, maybe WDFA could go back to 2d and Pixar should stick to 3d....but I think there are plenty of other factors as well, things that could change by that time, particularly how much $ Rataouille, Shrek the Third, Bee Movie, Surf's Up, Horton Hears a Who and W.A.L.--E all actually make. Jim doesn't mention this in the story but it's just as important.

[ShyViolet]

Also, and I might have misread this, but didn't that NY Times John Lassetter article (or another article, can't remember) say that Lassetter wanted Bowler Hat Guy to be more threatening and scary? (Which is quite interesting since many Pixar bad guys aren't all that scary.) I know we read on JHM about a year ago (I know, I know, he could have had the facts wrong) that Lassetter wanted to axe BHG entirely....?

Well, now having seen the film....(which I thought was great) I do have to say that

I didn't think BHG was scary at all--maybe a little "intimidating" or whatever, but he's obviously a klutz and a comic figure more than anything. (How can you be scared of a villain with a unicorn day planner? ) As we all know, Doris is the real villain. (could have used some development on who "she" was, but still a great character.)

Soooooo.....this leaves me more than a little confused. Is the BHG we saw on-screen the actual BHG Anderson had in mind, or is he a made-over BHG?? Just wondering is all....

[Meg]

I personally loved Atlantis. I thought it was a solid and thoroughly entertaining film. Treasure Planet was ok but somewhat of a disappointment considering it was from my favourite directors in animation. However, I am now able to admit over a year later that Chicken Little was pretty poor. Disney's worst film since Black Cauldron and the less said about THAT film the better.

Yeah, I agree...Thinking back on it I liked Atlantis best out of all the sci-fi films mentioned. It was entertainging and had good characters, even if it was a total rip-off of Stargate.

[ShyViolet]

Did you see the original Stargate movie, Meg?

I also think the "ring" with the A looks awfully similar....

[Ben]

Can't wait to see this now. This weekend for sure. The theater down the road from me has it in 3D to boot! New digital conversion!

I was part of an event at my loca theater last night, and in one of the screens MTR was playing. Since I had access to the projection room, I caught some scenes through the back window and it looked mightily impressive!

I got me a couple of free pases, so will do my best to make it over the weekend.

Coooooooooooool!!

[ShyViolet]

I think you'll like it Ben!!!

[Meg]

Did you see the original Stargate movie, Meg?

I've seen the ending a few times...It doesn't look very good though!

I also think the "ring" with the A looks awfully similar...

Yah...The main characters are pretty much exactly the same as well. There's some story similarites in there too...And of course, the television show Stargate: Atlantis just makes matters worse...

[ShyViolet]

I've seen the ending a few times...It doesn't look very good though!

I saw it when it first came out in the theater....

Funny, the characters had very little emotional impact on me, but I loved the story itself for some reason. The "opening the gate" for the first time sequence took my breath away; it was mostly the INCREDIBLE score of that film (which I got on cassette tape eventually) by David Arnold that stands out in my mind. (It's been used OVER and OVER and OVER again in many trailers hence.) He also did the music for Independence Day!!

Now that I know more I realize a lot of what was 'great' about that film was directly ripped off from Spielberg flicks like Close Encounters, etc....there are some good scenes (after all the same guys made Independence Day) but the film is a scattershot mess.

Also, I love that the "love interest" from the other universe who played alongside James Spader was an Israeli actress!!

At the time, there was also some press about the film because the villain was Jay Davidson (he just played the "heroine/hero" in The Crying Game, ) and this was his next big project. Unfortunately he pretty much disappeared from the radar screen after this film....(Gee, I wonder why? )

******************************************************

It just occured to me: Buffy: The Vampire Slayer and Stargate:SG1 were both originally spin-offs of not very successful films that were both forgotten. (and both were done years after the films came out, probably a good idea. )

[ShyViolet]

I don't know if this is true, or not, I found it on IMDB:


Some were trying to measure exactly how extensive was Lassetter's influence on this film:

S-P-O-I-L-E-R!!!

by brainfog-1 12 hours ago (Wed Apr 4 2007 10:55:26 )
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Lasseter tried to get rid of the Bowler Hat Guy altogether because he thought he wasn't enough of a threat. But instead the writers came up with the idea that Doris (the hat) was the true threat. The story didn't change quite as much as people think with the arrival of Lasseter. It was strong to begin with, and Steve Anderson deserves the credit, not John Lasseter. I know because I worked on the movie.

[PixarVixen]

I for one am disappointed about the lack of toys. If you don't have a Disney Store, you're screwed. Aside from the Pez dispensers and children's books, and a box of band-aids my mom found, there is nothing else.

Speaking of children's books, yesterday I picked up A Day With Wilbur Robinson by William Joyce (the book the movie was adapted from). I did a comparison to Meet The Robinsons. I listed differences in the book, but in case anyone wants to read it, I made them spoilers.

- Lewis is not an orphan, and the Robinsons are not from the future.
- There is a cousin Pete who works with big cats.
- Mr. and Mrs. Robinson are mentioned in the book, but not by name.
- There are 4 other uncles...uncle Wormly hangs out with giant bugs, uncle Nimbus invents weather machines, uncle Orbley created bubble transportation, and uncle Judlow relaxes with a brain augmentor.
- Tallulah is Wilbur's sister. He also has a sister named Blanche who wears the same dress Tallulah wears in the movie.
- Green dinosaurs (real, not bushes) roam the yard because somebody left the time machine on.
- Wilbur's grandfather (unnamed) composes the frog band.
- Uncle Art doesn't deliver pizza.
- Uncle Joe, Uncle Fritz, and Aunt Petunia aren't mentioned the book.

~~=oP

[Josh]

If you don't have a Disney Store, you're screwed.

Thank goodness for eBay and Amazon!

[Daniel]

OMG, why didn't I try Amazon?! Ah!

Just out of curiosity, are those plushies from the Disney Store? Some of them look real cool, like Tiny!