Madagascar

Post by **Meg** » January 20th, 2006, 3:20 pm

Uh, I have no idea why we're dragging Pixar into this all of the sudden...I loved Wheezy.

The Madagascar penguins made me smile, but they didn't crack any of my ribs. Yeah, they're funny, but I dislike how DW is obsessing over them...

Post by **PatrickvD** » January 20th, 2006, 3:52 pm

it's the only Dreamworks CGI comedy that actually got a laugh out of me, so I wouldn't mind a sequel.

Post by **Dacey** » January 20th, 2006, 10:33 pm

Uh, yeah, what does Wheezy have to do with any of this?

And the voice of Wheezy (Joe Ranft) died last year, so that may have been a reason for including the character in the intro.

Post by **ShyViolet** » January 22nd, 2006, 6:16 pm

I didn't mean any disrespect to Joe, I only brought it up because they're both Penguins.

Post by **Meg** » January 22nd, 2006, 6:17 pm

Peeeeenguuiiiinnnsss....

Post by **Dacey** » January 24th, 2006, 10:45 pm

And they're all so cute! (squee!)

Post by **ShyViolet** » January 24th, 2006, 11:01 pm

Post by **chernabog** » February 26th, 2006, 2:16 pm

This is really bugging me. Does anyone know who came up with the original idea first, because there is no way that it's just a coincidence that these films are coming out so close to each other; Especially when you consider the constant revalry between Disney and Dreamworks. Now as a passionate Disney fan, I'd like to think it was Disneys (or more precisely C.O.R.E.'s) idea first, but I really don't know. Please help!

Post by **Dacey** » February 26th, 2006, 2:28 pm

I don't really think that it matters very much. But that's probably just me.

Post by **Meg** » February 26th, 2006, 3:36 pm

I'm not sure either. I first heard about Madagascar years and years ago, so I'm guessing DW came up with it first. I don't really consider The Wild a true Disney movie any more than I consider Pixar films Disney movies (although I'm going to have to start doing that), so I wouldn't get too upset.

Post by **Ben** » February 26th, 2006, 7:26 pm

To somewhat answer your question...

There was a project at Disney called "Wild Life" that had been on and off the boards for years. I even think Katzenberg was well aware of this before he left (or maybe even after).

The idea, as I remember, was a tale of animals at the New York public zoo who broke out of their cages and got up to all sorts of fairly lewd and crude behavior (there might have been the far off island slant in there too).

It was apparently shuttered due to Roy Disney's continued insistence that it was a dirty film and would dilute the Disney brand out of existence.

Flash forward a couple of years and Disney strikes deals with Vanguard and Core Digital to produce animated features in the event Pixar finally walked. Projects were banded about and I suspect this came up as a potential feature, with the sex and violence toned waaaaaaaaay down and farmed out to Core.

By sheer coinkidink, JK had also put a "Wild Life" type film into production, probably guessing that Disney would revive its Central Park zoo idea at somepoint and he, as usual, wanted to be the first to visit that theme. So, natch, we got Madagascar!

Now, this is all rumors, conjecture and piecing puzzles together that could have added up to zilch, but the animated world is big enough to contain a whole bunch of possibilities...

Post by **Sullivan** » February 28th, 2006, 5:07 pm

The Disney Feature Animation/TSL project "Wild Life" has nothing, zip, zero, zilch in common with the story for "The Wild".

Wild Life was about an ordinary elephant who gets zapped by a music video sound system and is transformed into a night-club singer. Kind of like a Computer Wore Tennis Shoes meets My Fair Lady story, set in the socially cutthroat world of the rave scene.

I'm not kidding.

There's NO WAY that Madagascar or The Wild were based on it. They have nothing in common.

Read this article in the Animator's Guild publication:

http://www.mpsc839.org/_Pegboard/Pegboa ... M#wildlife

That pretty much summs up the trainwreck that was Wild Life.

Post by **Meg** » February 28th, 2006, 5:51 pm

Ew...That goodness that didn't make it to the big screen!

Post by **Dacey** » February 28th, 2006, 6:47 pm

Sulley, are you sure you're not kidding?

Post by **Ben** » February 28th, 2006, 10:17 pm

Nope, he's not kidding.

And, BTW Sull, I was going on memories there, hence the "this is all rumors, conjecture and piecing puzzles together that could have added up to zilch" line.

But thanks for clearing that up.

Madagascar

Madagascar or Wild?