Oh, man, Violet you floored me here! Do you seriously believe that an animated epic absolutely cannot be done in CGI?? I've got to say flat out that you're wrong. Just because it hasn't been done yet, doesn't mean that it can't! Look, I don't think anyone can love traditional animation more than I do; I'm the one who stubbornly believes that it will not die, that it will continue regardless of modern technologies. It is one of the most beautiful art forms around --- just look at The Triplets of Belleville. Beautiful! But that doesn't mean that there is no room for CGI and that an epic cannot be made with that format. I really don't see your reasoning behind that. I know you believe, as do I, that it comes down to story. What it will take is someone coming up with a story that will work with that format. CGI is just a tool, another way to do art. It's no different from an artist deciding whether to use a pencil, or charcoal, or pen and ink, or paint. It depends on what the artist is trying to convey. You're right, I don't believe you could do Pocahontas in CGI. But another story that has yet to be written could probably work beautifully. You just have to have vision and use your imagination. I don't think we should shun any of these artistic tools. We should use them all.
btw -- blaming Pixar for the trend toward mediocre CGI animated features is a bit unfair; when you're the best, others will try to copy you, but they usually won't equal the quality (look at Disney for example; practically every studio with an animation department tried to copy their style and most failed miserably!)
I have to disagree with you on this subject, Animan. Although I certainly believe it's the story not the medium, I just CANNOT see a film like Prince of Egypt or Pocahontas being done in CGI. At least not now. Maybe in the future the computer will be capable of things we can't even imagine, but for right now looking at a CGI human and a traditionally drawn human is like night and day! I loved Incredibles but NONE of those so called "humans" affected me in the way that Moses or Pocahontas did. For me they just didn't exist in the same way. To put it even more bluntly, CGI humans BARELY tug on my heartstrings and if they do the story had better be pretty damn good.
Can you imagine Belle and the Beast being CGI characters? What about Quasimodo or Frollo? There are all types of storytelling in animation and while I do agree that it's the story that counts, I can't see a "worthy" animated film, with issues such as, say, the Kiling of the First Born or the Ten Plagues, being done in CGI. What if JK HAD tried to do POE in CGI? Do you really think he would have gotten the consent of all those religious groups?
Also, about Pixar setting a trend towards mediocrity, I have to respectfully disagree with you once again
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and say that even though all their films have been very well-made and superior in quality, they are setting a trend towards a certain type of "funny characters/sidekicks/jokes/visual motifs" kind of movie that is being copied by everyone and not all movies are the better for it. Spielberg and Lucas set a trend towards the fantasy-adventure sci-fi kind of films in the late 70's/early 80's with Star Wars, ET, Close Encounters etc...and even though their films were magnificent, the imitations spawned were often putrid. In a lot of ways they were responsible for the dumbing-down/infantilization of films in general, even though they had good intentions. They made a certain template very, very popular and as a result a whole lot of garbadge was made.
Pixar isn't setting the trend for bad movies, just simply made, thematically uncomplicated ones. That's what worries me. There's no longer any motivation to shoot for a serious, "worthy" film like Pocahontas: it's all about being like Pixar now and spawning characters like Buzz and Woody. That's all well and good but after a while, it's just not as fresh as it was. I think that when "Cars" comes out and people realize that there's more to life than googly-eyed characters, toy tie-ins and John Ratzenberger, we might (hopefully) see a shift towards something else.
You can’t just have your characters announce how they feel! That makes me feel angry!