Added by Max the Movie Guy on 26 Jan 2011 10:50

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2D or not 2D?

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That is the question

CGI is becoming easier to do than 2D animation, despite it still existing in anime, ads, cartoons and even some Disney movies. So we're getting many characters changed into CGI, like Mickey Mouse, Winnie-the-Pooh, Tinkerbell, Road Runner and Punchy. They've been CG'd before, mainly in video games, but sometimes it makes them too realistic. Take Jeeves, the Vlasic Stork and the Silentnight characters for example. Because CGI is becoming easier to use, ads are rushed in CGI, and often made into an Alvin and the Chipmunks style. Might be due to the Nielsen ratings on live-action ads being more effective than animation. And saying the name of Alvin and the Chipmunks brings me to this list.

Due to the popularity of CGI, and the fact that Robin Williams' Popeye was released in the early 80's, people are doing to cartoon/fantasy comic creatures what Steven Spielberg did to Dino - give them the 'CG Eyes'. Although a movie adaptation of The Smurfs had been in development when Scooby-Doo was released, Alvin boosted the craze to make it go too far. And I say it goes too far because none of these films are critical successes. Here's my comparsions between the old and the new, to see what I really think of the designs and their personalities.

687

4.8

4.7

Howard the Duck

Howard T. Duck

VOICE ACTOR: Chip Zien
POSITIVE: He's a puppet/suit. But then again, this was the 80's.
NEGATIVE: Human-like eyes, pro-bestiality message is more effective, not nearly as angry, high on duck puns
FAITH FACTOR: 4/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 6/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

1501

6.2

6.8

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)

Raphael, Michaelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo

VOICE ACTORS: Josh Pais, Robbie Rist, Corey Feldman, Brian Tochi
POSITIVE: Made by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, same attitude, same charm
NEGATIVE: Often weak facial expressions. That's all I can say.
FAITH FACTOR: 9/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 4/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

2344

4.7

The Flintstones (1994)

Dino

VOICE ACTOR: Mel Blanc (recordings taken from original TV show)
POSITIVE: Was a puppet made by Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in the first movie
NEGATIVE: Reason for all future talking animals having bug-eyes
FAITH FACTOR: 8/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 5/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

2939

5.9

6.2

Casper (1995)

Casper and the Ghostly Trio

VOICE ACTORS: Malachi Pearson, Joe Nipote, Joe Alaskey, Brad Garrett
POSITIVE: Ghosts look more diverse than their older counterparts
NEGATIVE: All the ghosts happen to be cartoonish, all of them
FAITH FACTOR: 9/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 2/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

1936

5.1

5.5

George of the Jungle (1997)

An Ape Named Ape

VOICE ACTOR: John Cleese
POSITIVE: Jim Henson again, tamer than the other realistic renditions
NEGATIVE: John Cleese shines but deserves better
FAITH FACTOR: 8/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 2/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

5.4

Baby Huey's Great Easter Adventure

Baby Huey

VOICE ACTOR: Unknown
POSITIVE: They got the design right
NEGATIVE: Should've been a theme park walkaround
FAITH FACTOR: 9/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 3/10

394

4.3

The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle (2000)

Rocky and Bullwinkle

VOICE ACTORS: June Foray, Keith Scott
POSITIVE: Considering that these characters had been transported outside the cartoon world, they stay completely true to their designs. Also, Rocky is still voiced by June Foray.
NEGATIVE: There was a weasel in the movie who was 2D animated, so why not these guys?
FAITH FACTOR: 9/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 1/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

3270

5.8

6.2

How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000)

The Grinch

ACTOR: Jim Carrey
POSITIVE: Very neat make-up, creeped me out as a child which makes him very effective, it's Jim Carrey!
NEGATIVE: Jim Carrey's absurdity might be too much for some
FAITH FACTOR: 6/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: Ugly like a Grinch should be.

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Damn you, Rhytmn and Hues

2173

4.8

5.3

Scooby-Doo (2002)

Scooby-Doo

VOICE ACTOR: Neil Fanning
POSITIVE: Most of the design is accurate, spot-on voicework
NEGATIVE: Bug-eyes, fart jokes, Scrappy Doo (Scott Innes) urinates on someone
FACT: In Looney Tunes: Back in Action, the 2D Scooby and Shaggy complained to Matthew Lillard about his performance in the movie.
FAITH FACTOR: 4/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 8/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

1162

3.9

The Cat in the Hat (2003)

The Cat

ACTOR: Mike Myers
POSITIVE: Very neat make-up, wouldn't frighten children as much as the Grinch
NEGATIVE: Way too Austin Powers to be true
FAITH FACTOR: 2/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 5/10

The Fish

VOICE ACTOR: Sean Hayes
POSITIVE: In better character than the Cat
NEGATIVE: Bug eyes, no explanation for sudden change of appearance
FAITH FACTOR: 6/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 9/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

1956

4.7

Garfield (2004)

Garfield

VOICE ACTOR: Bill Murray
POSITIVE: Eyes aren’t as bug-like
NEGATIVE: Other characters don’t look the same, fart jokes, unfunny
FACT: Bill Murray hated his job voicing Garfield so much that he said that it was his one regret in his Zombieland cameo. Never have a name that matches a better writer, and this goes to you, Joel Cohen.
FAITH FACTOR: 5/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 2/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

307

4.5

4.8

Underdog (2007)

Underdog

VOICE ACTOR: Jason Lee
POSITIVE: Clips from the original cartoon appear at the beginning.
NEGATIVE: Not the same character, looks ridiculous, way too realistic, can be either live-action or CGI.
FAITH FACTOR: 2/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 9/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

1152

5.2

Alvin and the Chipmunks (2007)

The Chipmunks

VOICE ACTORS: Justin Long/Ross Bagdasarian Jr., Matthew Gray Gubler/Steve Vining, Jesse McCartney/Janice Karman
POSITIVE: Their cuteness kind of improves in the sequel, you can actually tell that they are chipmunks this time, their songs can get pretty catchy...
NEGATIVE: Hoodies, bug-eyes, fart jokes, every picture of Alvin uses the same face
FACT: This movie was such a financial (if not critical) success that it was the real reason why we got the Yogi Bear movie.
FAITH FACTOR: 4/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 5-7/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

126

5.3

Scooby-Doo! The Mystery Begins (2009)

Scooby-Doo

VOICE ACTOR: Frank Welker
POSITIVE: Less ugly than the last one, and more true to the design. Also, this didn’t stop Scooby from being 2D forever.
NEGATIVE: Still involves in fart jokes.
FAITH FACTOR: 6/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 2/10

643

4.5

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel (2009)

The Chipettes

VOICE ACTRESSES: Amy Poehler/Courtney Galiano, Anna Faris, Christina Applegate
POSITIVE: More face poses in the marketing, sometimes kinda cute, and too girlish for fart jokes. Also, Miley Cyrus rejected her role.
NEGATIVE: Still have the bug-eyes and modern culture. Also appeared in the nude, which unlike the male chipmunks could be an excuse for more porn.
FACT: Little Alvin and the Mini-Munks was a live-action Alvin and the Chipmunks movie that was released direct-to-video, but that one had puppets that were actually faithful.
FAITH FACTOR: 5/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 5/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

236

4.3

Marmaduke (2010)

Marmaduke

VOICE ACTOR: Owen Wilson
POSITIVE: Proves a better reason why it makes sense for a cartoon character to stay as one when being converted to CGI.
NEGATIVE: The original Marmaduke never talked, made friends, farted, danced, surfed or even wore sunglasses!
FAITH FACTOR: 0/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 10/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

1239

4.1

The Last Airbender

Appa and Momo

VOICE ACTOR: Dee Bradley Baker
POSITIVE: Exactly the same as the originals, only Appa's eyes are more realistic
NEGATIVE: M. Night Shamaylan
FAITH FACTOR: 10/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 3/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

338

3.7

4.6

Yogi Bear (2010)

Yogi and Boo-Boo

VOICE ACTORS: Dan Ankroyd, Justin Timberlake
POSITIVE: Mostly equal to the original designs, Justin Timberlake sounds exactly like Boo-Boo, unchanged personalities
NEGATIVE: Bug-eyes, Dan Ankroyd isn’t perfect as Yogi, Yogi dances to hip-hop, Yogi makes a pee joke, most of the marketing has only one face pose for both bears
FAITH FACTOR: 7/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 7/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

796

4.7

5.4

The Smurfs

The Smurfs

VOICE ACTORS: Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, Alan Cumming, Anton Yelchin, Fred Armisen, George Lopez, Gary Basaraba, John Oliver, Paul Reubens, Kenan Thompson, B. J. Novak, Jeff Foxworthy, Wolfgang Puck
POSITIVE: Keeps the original designs, some Smurfs actually look Disney-ish and cute, casting of Jonathan Winters (originally Grandpa Smurf), two interesting new Smurfs (Panicky and Gutsy)
NEGATIVE: Eyes can get too realistic, Greedy Smurf seems pretty racist due to his voice casting, George Lopez has never had a good movie (except Rio), Katy Perry, had to end up like Giselle in New York, raunchy/crude humour including fart jokes (spoken) and a joke that's supposedly about pubic hair, product placement is so far up the wazoo that Grouchy develops a crush on Ms. Green
FAITH FACTOR: 3/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 3-7/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

349

6.3

6.8

Mr. Peabody & Sherman (2014)

Mr. Peabody & Sherman

VOICE ACTORS: Ty Burrell and Max Charles
POSITIVE: Completely animated, still cartoony, actually cute, touching father-adopted son relationship, story does not suck, the crew "pretended the Rocky and Bullwinkle movie didn't exist"
NEGATIVE: Occasional rude humour (invention involving cow gas, "not water", "you said booby")
FAITH FACTOR: 8/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 2/10

Max the Movie Guy's rating:

Hong Kong Phooey

Hong Kong Phooey

VOICE ACTOR: Eddie Murphy
POSITIVE: It's probably not getting made
NEGATIVE: Annoying, does not sound like Scatman Crothers, typical "dog drinking out of the toilet" jokes, eats a urine-covered mint
FAITH FACTOR: 1/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 8/10

Marvin the Martian

Marvin the Martian

VOICE ACTOR: Mike Myers
POSITIVE: Voice is dead-on, eyes are still cartoony
NEGATIVE: Not funny, makes a testicle joke
FAITH FACTOR: 8/10
UGLINESS FACTOR: 1/10

Mighty Mouse

Mighty Mouse

VOICE ACTOR: TBA
POSITIVE: The movie will be completely animated, has a new logo on his chest
NEGATIVE: Bug-eyes, lost a slightly more faithful design, CGI ‘tude, looks like The Tale of Desperaux on crack
FAITH FACTOR: N/A
UGLINESS FACTOR: 7/10

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And the winner for Most Unfaithful Adaptation is..

MARMADUKE

154

5.6

6.5

Heathcliff

This guy's getting a movie, too.

6.9

7.3

Chip an' Dale (1947)

So are these.

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As a spin-off from my "Why childhood is facing extinction" list, here's a list that decides which talking animal movie is the least faithful to its original, hand-drawn source.