More on the Alvin and Horton trailers

At his blog, Mark Mayerson has posted his thoughts on the recently released trailers for Alvin and the Chipmunks and Horton Hears a Who. His blog post is titled "Two Trailers; Two Tragedies" -- can you guess what he thought of them? About the Chipmunks, he says:

What is it about toilet humour and animated films? We've gone from fart jokes to characters defecating on screen in Open Season to characters eating each other's waste material now. When did family films look to John Waters and Pink Flamingoes as a model? When did a porn fetish become children's entertainment? And who, at the MPAA, approved this trailer for all audiences?

My objection is not to the obscenity, it's the complete and total lack of imagination. In a medium where characters can do anything, they choose to do this? With the entire history of film comedy to draw on, this is the best they could do?

He's not much kinder to Horton Hears a Who:

Furthermore, whoever is behind the screenplay doesn't understand how to write for animation. There's way too much dialogue and the animators are stuck looking for gestures to keep the characters alive while the dialogue drones on. I don't envy the animator stuck with that Steve Carell scene. It's a tough challenge, but he or she is making it worse by using gestures to illustrate words and phrases as opposed to thoughts. The character is overly busy and the gestures are mostly empty of emotion.

At his own blog, Michael Sporn gives some of his comments on the trailers. Here's some of what he says about Alvin and the Chipmunks:

My immediate reaction to the ugly cg chipmunks was absolutely negative. There is nothing that could make me go to that film. The designs of the characters are completely off kilter. To think back to those limited animation but beautifully designed Format film originals, I can only sigh when I look at what a bastardization of ugly design people do today. It’s sad, really.

Alvin and the Chipmunks teaser

There's a teaser up for the upcoming Alvin and the Chipmunks film, and while it doesn't look quite as bad as the poster might lead you to believe (and it could certainly be worse), it doesn't exactly make me want to count down the days to its December 14th release date. But hey, if you've always wanted to see Alvin eat Theodore's poop, today is your lucky day.

Source: Cinematical

Alvin and the Chipmunks

Jerry Beck has posted the poster for the upcoming Chipmunks movie over at Cartoon Brew. It ain't pretty:



The reaction, not surprisingly, is somewhat critical. Doctor Awkward comments:

It’s not the fact that they’re making a movie of the Chipmunks that I don’t like, it’s that The Chipmunks are now re-envisioned as “gangsta” or “Ghetto” or whatever. I’m not going to judge the movie already, but I can’t say that the poster is giving me high hopes. Well, look on the bright side. At least The Chipmunks actually look like chipmunks now. With the rate of how old cartoons are being turned into movies, I can’t wait for the Jabberjaw movie that I bet will come out Holiday 2008.

Tom says:

They Poochie D’d them! Notice that that’s Jason Lee again- voice of Underdog this year. He’s fallen a long way since voicing Syndrome in the Incredibles.

Zekey agrees:

My pet parakeet was sitting on my shoulder when I opened the full sized poster for this thing. The bird burst into flames. What is with this recent “let’s take everything old and remake it” thing. I mean, it’s always been about, but this year it’s ridiculous. Is Micheal Bay directing this to? Will the chipmunks have gold teeth like real rappers? Will they pop a cap in someone’s ass?

Craig tries to stay optimistic:

Having help animate the opening title of the 80’s TV show back in the day, under the supervision the son of the original creator, Ross Badgesarian Jr., I can only hope still is just part the schtick for one particular musical number. I don’t think you can capture the audience if you can’t see the “eyes” of the characters. This must be a test.