One thing I'm still shocked though is Monsters University.
I fucking loved Monsters Inc., thought the characters there are really defined and handled, and had a really emotional story. I was surprised to see a sequel being made, and realized it was a prequel with a college setting.
I was like, "okay, they'll probably make a unique spin of it". Alas, it's another fucking college-themed film.
Though to be fair, I think it's an American problem. Why the fuck are every college-set film so the same in plot and theme? I went to college and never joined a fraternity, why the hell every movie involves the main character making a mark within a fraternity?
Also why people forget A Bug's Life? Really great PSX game but a rather forgettable, crappy retelling of the Seven Samurai.
Also what took me away from Finding Dory is how suddenly it became cartoony. It was more subdued in Finding Nemo but suddenly they went all out to the cartoonish aspects in the second film.
I just don't like how blunt that one scene was, it is a direct Brando day of my daughter's wedding hit you over the head joke because I like all the subtle pop references because it breathes life into this world without dating the film. EDIT: Your example of Looney Tunes brings up a broader issue because how are those jokes viewed by a different generation? Without the reference is it funny or is it just a funny voice to them or does the joke just disappear into time. If there's no joke without the reference is there a joke at all, then why put the reference there just to age?
While I do agree the reference was on the nose, I like how it ties neatly with what Judy did. Yeah it is iffy that the local cop is has mob ties, but it makes for a funny shot especially the polar bear escalation.
And that's exactly my point - pop culture in itself doesn't really "date" the show. It's all about the execution and how intertwined it is. Shrek 2 has loads of it but it works there because they shape this cosmopolitan fantasy world treated like Hollywood. You don't need to know that they're parodying E! or anything. Same with this, it sets up the idea that there's a rat mafia down there and the supposed perfect utopia of the city.
Everything about the otter victim wasn't handled great, it just led into a sloppy 3rd act. Pretty much from the Panther scene to the subway car, that was all just so forgettable. Especially considering how well they handled the "car chase" scene in tiny town earlier.
I disagree - it sets up the tone on the arc that was happening. The car chase was good for some action and comedy, but since the otter scene we eventually move to a more dramatic and character driven part of the plot. My only gripe really there is the DMV scene which took up a while, a joke pacing problem.
I know they shoehorned it in there, it doesn't make it an elegant solution, even if they connected all the dots. I'm not saying it was some plot hole or anything like that, they made it work. Just their use of a overused "I can be anything when I grow up", however you want to frame that, I didn't like that decision. There wasn't a payoff by going that route if you chalk it up being about size.
It's not really about "I can be anything when I grow up" though, because they pretty much stated how bullshit it was, especially when Nick confesses his side. It was an issue, but later on it unraveled into something about how "not everything is perfect, not everyone is nice, but let's learn to tolerate, and work it out for the good of both of us".
That's what I'm saying it should have been in regards to the herbivore/carnivore not that it was. They should have build more upon that than the little guy angle. If they had continued to use scale like they did in the first half of the movie, the chase, the Popsicle con, ect. I would had been fine with that little guy take in the final act. If the otter was being discriminated by size, which lead to a conflict in scale during the action scenes into some "there are no small roles but small actors" idea during the fake death scene, there's so much you could have build upon even if you don't change anything about the storyline.
The whole movie feels disjointed in that way. Like it was built at different times so they had to force these segments together and stitched them into a functional movie.
See my problem with the carnivore herbivore thing being the focus is that as we see in the film, there's actually a fine integration. Yeah there was some form of discrimination hinting towards that, but it wasn't too much overt. It wasn't until the incidents happening and Judy running her mouth off that the discrimination went overt, and the villain used that form of fear to control.
Also while their discrimination towards Hopps had parts of scale, it wasn't just that. It was the whole bunny thing - i.e. hicks, only know how to multiply, country-life farmers who are not good at anything else. It was discrimination of species.
And the scene flows well anyway, so for me it didn't feel disjointed. Each event lead to another without opening any plotholes.
Nah he has a point. I do agree that the first five minutes immediately pulled the people off and are unable to let go.
Big Hero 6 is yeah.
