Animation is serious business. >(

[here_inmyhead]

[Poll #1653106]

I'm referring to 2D/traditional/handdrawn animation, nom.

Comments

[instrumentality.livejournal.com]

i say that, and yet i have turned my back on anime that had old, silly animation. it was just too hard to take seriously. i'm bad that way :/

[insanepurin.livejournal.com]

It depends whether or not I like the style when it comes to old stuff, I guess. As long as they don't look like elegy statues, I'm good. XD

[instrumentality.livejournal.com]

i'm so bad with judging old animation, it's terrible - i mean, i lost interest in the original mobile suit gundam because the people looked so goofy to me, and yet i was able to watch HIGURASHI. wtf, self.

i need to get over that.

[soulrockcandy.livejournal.com]

UGLY ART + RECYCLED ANIMATION = AN AMAZING SHOW ACTUALLY

"So you want a little something that'll make you laugh..."

[insanepurin.livejournal.com]

...Oh god. rofl. The shuffling back and forth... ghkjdsghkjsfghkj XDDDDD IT'S TOTALLY WALKING. It's like the show uses its badness to its advantage. The conversation they're having makes it even better. XDDD!

...omg that's Freddy Mercury on a horse. WIN.

I think this just beat the Worst Anime Car Chase Scene. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7fDTd4tWrE) ;D

[demonoflight.livejournal.com]

I watch animated movies for one of two things: amazing plot, or animator eye candy. If they come together it's SUPER AWESOME but they seriously don't have to, I can take either or. ♥

[eibborn.livejournal.com]

Since you made them ticky boxes, I figured I'd be honest and say I'll happily watch any of them. I'd probably only see the gorgeous one once, though, and almost certainly wouldn't buy it. It takes more than visuals to win my heart.

[insanepurin.livejournal.com]

I mean, come on. It's gotta have heart. Your Mileage May Vary, but I found the Freddy Mercury on a Horse animation clip in the above thread to be entertaining in a So Bad It's Good way. It's over-the-top, and hey, I can't enjoy it any other way! It's all about execution for me. A generic Adult Swim or sitcom cartoon could do the same thing and I'd just be bored and change the channel.

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

OK, so, if the animation is stunning enough, I won't care about the plot, and if the plot is good enough, then I probably won't care about the animation. It's kind of a "is it good enough to outweigh x" thing.

[insanepurin.livejournal.com]

Sounds good to me! To help me balance the scales, I rely on execution myself. A movie could be awesome in spite of its flaws, but if it's got one good thing but nothing else going for it to make it worth it, well... I'll know where I stand. :P

[silverflight8.livejournal.com]

Yeah, really stunning visuals can hook in people (also they stare at pretty pictures; se: GIF use XD)

[runawayblue.livejournal.com]

You see, even though I'm a design person, I think that what I want most is a good story. Dreamworks, for instance, has a lot of fantastic artists at their disposal, but their stories and execution are lacking. Pixar films all share the same sort of visual style, but their stories and characters are well developed and are engaging. Both Dreamworks and Pixar films are visually nice, but aren't ever ~revolutionary in terms of design.

When people call out something for not being revolutionary in visual style, it's annoying. There isn't that much that hasn't been done, stylistically. Everything is going to look like something else -- why does it matter? If the story is good, the film is probably good enough.

That said, I'd take either-or. Sometimes a story is lacking, but I like the visual designs enough to let it slide. Sometimes the visuals are lacking, but the story is good enough. Sometimes there's a really gorgeously animated film, but the story is so slow and boring I stop watching it. It depends, I suppose.

[insanepurin.livejournal.com]

I'll say it again: execution, execution, execution. Dreamworks lacks that for a lot of their films so How To Train Your Dragon was such a breath of fresh air. ;; I seriously hope they continue movies like that in the same vein. Catering to a mainstream audience with lame pop culture jokes is one thing, but there's the other end of the spectrum. An animated film can focus on being so pretty and sophisticated that it leaves the other areas weak. Thief and the Cobbler (Recobbled Cut) is a gorgeous movie, no doubt about it, but the pacing is awful. I could probably deal with the weaker characters/plot in favor of the art, but ugggh. The pacing. The pacing.

I guess a better example would be Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure. You got all these great talents behind the film like Art Babbitt and Joe Raposo (See: Current Music) yet after all that, the movie still ended up a mess. I know it was rushed at the end, but still. Do we need that many characters? Please get rid of the twins, I beg of you. *hedgehog hiss* Do we need that many songs? Hell, some of the songs aren't even that bad and even likable (See Again: Current Music) but a lot of them don't contribute substance to the film at all. The songs that actually carry the movie would be appreciated a lot more if a BUNCH more of the others had been cut. It's like, dude. Editor! It's... trying to make sense of this movie is... *brain go kablooie* God why does it torment me so.

Whew. Serious business!

[valkyriur.livejournal.com]

I generally go for story/characters over animation. There are a few exceptions to that, I still can't watch "Outlaw Star" because the animation literally makes me nauseous (I don't know why).

There are a few movies I watch just for the "ooooo shiny" factor. While not animation, the new "Speed Racer" movie is one of them.

[glaciachan.livejournal.com]

If something has a good story and characters, I'd be willing to excuse mediocre art, to an extent. If it's, say, Hanna Barbera looking with really ugly, flat-looking, limited animation, though, I'll pass. I do admit, though, if I don't like the character designs or art style, I'll be more hesitant to get into a series.