Panda – Pure Awesomeness!

There is no price for awesomeness! That’s what the Panda replies to his awe struck admirers……in his dream . The awesome 2d animated dream sequence at the beginning of the 3d animation movie Kung Fu Panda is in my opinion the best opening for any animation movie I have ever watched. In fact, the movie also had a great opening at the box office!

The starting sequence was a hint of what was to follow. It was hilarious to the hilt. The dialogues, the acting, fight sequences were simply superb. Apart from the voices of Jack Black(Panda), Dustin Hoffman(Shifu) and Ian McShane (Snow Leopard), others didn’t appeal much to me. I have no clue as to what Jackie Chan had to do in this movie. I thought the animators need better recognition than those who lent their voice. The animation of Grand Master Oogway was a certain highlight. The fierce antagonist Tai Lung, the snow leopard, was fantastically portrayed and is now in my list of best animated villains! At last, DreamWorks animation studio has got the pulse of movies that would work for a larger audience. Kung Fu Panda is awesome and attractive; easily the best animation movie of the year. I am saying this after watching Wall-E.

Looking forward to more stuff from Dreamworks animation studio.

Pixar's next stop

Before the news of Ratatouille winning Oscar could sink in, there are some great news about Pixar's next flick. What if mankind decided to leave the Earth and forgot to turn off the last robot ?!.... thats the tag line for Wall-E, Pixar's 2008 release directed by A Bug's life and Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton.

Read this note on Wall-E presentation at Wondercon

http://www.firstshowing.net/
2008/02/24/wondercon-pixars-wall-e-
presentation-incredible/

Watch the trailers at
http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=17343

Latest trailer
http://www.firstshowing.net/2007/12/17/
must-watch-next-new-wall-e-trailer/

Another clip showing Eve- Wall-E's girlfriend-
http://wall-e-trailer.blogspot.com/

Don't miss out the wonderful vacuum vignette animation in HD. It was animated by Victor Navone. I am keeping a tag on his blog hoping to get more info on Wall-E.

Oscar Mania

When it is this time of the year, its time for the Academy awards aka Oscars. Come 24th Feb, the curtains go up for the awards ceremony at the Kodak theater,CA. All I am concerned about is the animation category. Last year year was a disappointment for the Pixar fan in me, as Cars lost to Happy Feet, leaving me not so happy. This year, I keep my fingers crossed for the Pixar movie Ratatouille that is in contention for 5 different categories. Three films compete for the Best animated feature, they are, Ratatouille, Surf's up and Persepolis. Ratatouille and Surf's up are 3d animated movies, while Persepolis is a black and white 2d animation feature.

All the three movies are unique in a sense. Surf's up is kinda usual talking animals movie, made with finesse; its documentary type making makes it unique though.At times I felt like watching a Discovery channel program The water simulation for the waves is the best CG creation ever made; So much of details has gone into its making.

Ratatouille is one of the best if not the best animation movie ever made. The movie has been made with broader audience in mind and stands to its expectation. With a fresh storyline, that doesn't warrant a fanfare at the first instance, the movie has actually tasted phenomenal success wherever it was released. Brad Bird, the director, has come up trumps yet again.

Persepolis is completely different from the other two movies. This 2d animated B/W classic from Sony picture classic, is directed towards mature audience. This movie based on a novel about an Iranian woman in the backdrop of the Iranian revolution is the hottest contender for coveted trophy.

If Persepolis takes home the statuette, it will be a recognition for the animation medium as a story telling medium, breaking the current mind-set that its a medium to make stuff for kids. It will also break the barrier between animated feature and live action feature films.

On February 18, the Chinese New Year was born. According to the Chinese calender, this year is the 'Year of the Rat'. I wish it is also the 'Year of the Rat' at the Oscars.

Just one day, and we'll know it!

Inside Pixar !

There are definitely good reasons why Pixar animation studio does things right always. Apart from engaging some of the best talents in the world, there are more to it, SEE it yourself.

Inside Pixar
Part- I:


Part-II:


Part-III:


Wish I could be there....alteast as a tourist!

Beowulf: Unbelievable realism!

Yes…that is how I would describe Beowulf movie- Unbelievable Realism! But then, when I think again, that’s a paradox within. Realism should be believable isn’t it?!
Beowulf is packed with exemplary art work. The main models are detailed to the core. The textures and lighting are just perfect; can’t say much about the animation because it is motion captured. I said models and not characters because there was something still missing that made me look at them as 3d models and not as real humans. Though they managed to make awesome wet looks (Angeline Jolie rocks!), the models lacked any sweating, even when the golden dragon was spitting fire around them. This might be nit-picking, but can’t really help it.

Robert Zemeckis, the director, has taken a great leap from Polar Express to Beowulf, in terms of visualization and cast.
There is a question mark hanging around somewhere in the mind. Whey did they make this movie in 3d. It could have been done as a mix of live action and CG. That said, 3d has had a great role in converting the thoughts of the director into visuals and in the process converting a 50 year old 5’10” actor into a 6’3” hunk!



Sony Imageworks’ cutting edge graphics shows all that they have learnt from making Polar Express and Monster House. Now, the ultimate question is…..will it beat the ‘Rat’ at the Oscars? I don’t think so. Ratatouille caters to a larger audience unlike Beowulf which has gory monsters and some real hot nudity (Angelina Jolie again, ruthlessly seductive!)- definitely not for kids. While Rat is an original script, Beowulf is an adaptation of an old epic English poem. Well, that might not be a hindrance on its way to the awards. Whatever it is, Beowulf is a great step ahead in 3d movie making.

Ratatouille - too good !!!

The wait is over. I saw Ratatouille last week with thirty others from my workplace. This is one helluva movie! Pixar’s story telling has hit an all time peak. Apart from the articulate animations, awesome dynamics (cloth, water) and incredible lighting, the story itself is in an all new premise. The ‘Anyone Can Cook’ theme has worked so well in this movie and there is something in it that makes us believe that it could happen in our kitchens too!
It was wonderful to see kids bursting out with laughter when Remy trains Linguini blindfolded. Nobody is always right and nobody is always wrong (hmm….except Skinner) in this movie and that lends so much ‘character’ to all the characters. With all the twists and turns, this movie is one journey worth traveling.
On the technical side, I really enjoyed the water dynamics in the ‘Remy in the gutter’ scene. The cloth simulation on Gusteau (Remy’s figment of imagination) and wet cloth on Linguini were really cool. They must have had one damn rig for Linguini and that showed in many places, one of them was where Remy tries to wake up Linguini. The visualizations for tastes were a great effort, something never tried before!
In a nutshell, Ratatouille is Yummy!

Transformers - After effects

“This is a must see if you're in the mood for a strong, loud summer movie. Fans of the Transformers and newcomers alike are going to have a lot of fun.“

This is what a review of the movie ‘Transformers’ screamed. Not that the reviews break or make my decision to watch movies. I have been wanting to see this movie ever since I saw the trailer involving the Beagle and I finally did it last week. The actual movie was so different from what I had imagined. But that had to do with my knowledge (or the lack of it) of the Transformers comics. But boy did I like it!

Every time a robot transformed, I felt something running down my spine. It was just amazing. Hats off to the animators! The action scene in the desert was fantastic. The CGI integration with the real videos was just perfect. Some fast editing helped pace the action scenes, but sometimes got me lost in it as I couldn’t find who was getting hit.

I also liked the performances of the cast crew, especially Shia LaBeouf.

On the negative side, the excitement created at the introduction of the team of autobots that come down to save earth is not maintained throughout. Not all of those autobots were fully utilized in the movie.

On the whole it was thoroughly enjoyable!