So this is a cross post from FA but there are a few more little addendums because I feel there are a few more good points to make.

How to Train your Dragon

Sooo... I saw the preview for the new film that Mr. Chris Sanders has directed after defecting over to Dreamworks.

( for those who haven't [link] )

I must say... from what I've seen, I'm not terribly excited.

Story wise it just simply looks like a re-tell of Lilo and Stitch. 2 characters, misfits in their respective societies, join to tie a broken bond while fixing their own lives.

The animation looks like your typical 3D animation. Overexaggeration with no personality. The dragon acts like stitch, ( not to mention the dome head)

Now, to be fair, Dreamworks generally sucks at making previews. I wasn't looking forward to Kung Fu Panda initially until I did some real digging and seeing some of the layout work as well as some of the beautiful shots and hearing the real story. Kung Fu Panda, I feel, should have won the Oscar over Wall-E. Wall-E, while not a bad movie by any stretch, tried to be too many things at once and ended up having story ADD ( given not NEARLY as bad as Desperaux) And simply settled at being a decent movie, but not a great movie that Pixar has been so good at doing. Kung Fu Panda was so much more solid of a movie, the story wrapped itself up nicely, while still being a substantial story. Kung Fu Panda was visually stunning and really excersized the talents of the animators and conceptual artists that they had. This also applied to Over the Hedge ( which I would have been a lot more satisfied if either that or Cars won the Oscar that year.. not Happy Feet... that movie was a piece of garbage)

With very few exception I cannot take the people who worked on it seriously. From my experience with some of the Cartoon Network animators local here who go balls to the wall crazy over stuff like Aqua Teen Hunger Force, talking about how good it is. I'm sorry but I don't think that just because people watch it, makes it good. One of the things that I keep hearing is that the writing is it's saving grace. The writing often sounds like some hipster dufus who wears a Thundercats T-shirt (never having seen the show before) wrote it. This applies to most of the shows that I see on Adult Swim. Most of the animators will get excited and over hype what they're working on, almost because they are working on it. While by all means, don't hate what you do, especially if you love to do it. But be realistic. Discuss what you feel really makes it work.



You know... I have the artbook for Lilo and Stitch, both sketchbooks that Chris published and his Kiskaloo book ( thank you and ) all of which signed by the man himself. I've followed his career from Marvel to this point and I have to say this movie doesn't look like anything that could excersize his talents as a storyteller.

But before I get too much into a rant, I have to say I'm more dissapointed in his ego-stroking fan base for simply loving it BECAUSE he directed it. I'm not stunned by the director. I may look forward due to their credentials. Like say if Brad Bird is directing something then you're DAMN right I'm going to go see it. The movie is not good because a director directed it, it's because the director and the crew made the right decisions.

A lot of people are really excited for this movie for the wrong reason. Same with Frog Princess. While I love 2d animation and hope to work in that in my future working in animated features, the medium does not define whether or not it's good. Among the elements, however, that must work for it are using the medium that you are filming it to it's optimum along with the right choices of story telling.

Any director, great or small is capable of making a bad movie. I reserve any and all judgement on this movie until I see it. And maybe a few times ( I didn't like Sweeney Todd until I saw it a third time)


I think most of my actual anger is stemming from how I recall being a fan of Chris back in 2002 and no one knowing him. Then all of a sudden he's the most popular guy on the planet. A little juvenile I agree but man...