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3D Computer Generated Movie From France 348

Posted by timothy from the silicon-cinema dept.
An anonymous reader submits a link to this Computer Graphics World article on a French-made film to be released in June. "A film by Xilam, Kaena is a full length feature film, entirely made from Off the shelf software. The previews looks amazing."
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3D Computer Generated Movie From France More

3D Computer Generated Movie From France

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  • Nice to see artistic innovation in CG (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mao che minh ( 611166 ) * on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:01PM (#5928610) Journal
    The voice of "The Almighty" in 'Clip 1' has to be that of Keith David [imdb.com], who also did Okkoto [google.com] in Princess Mononoke [imdb.com]. Maybe I'm wrong (which is probably the case), but it sure does sound like him.

    Beyond that little insight, judging by the available clips, this movie is looking damn good (albeit remaniscant of old cut scenes from Play Station 1 games like "Legacy of Kain" - just cleaner). While it's premise doesn't appear to be completely original, it is certainly going to be a great piece of fantasy in of itself. It's style of art is also a rather refreshing departure from the main stream stock of CG films, which tend to be rather "cartoony" (not that this is a bad thing, but it is nice to see something new).

    • Re:Nice to see artistic innovation in CG (Score:5, Interesting)

      by terrab0t ( 559047 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:49PM (#5928820)
      I thought the same thing about Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, but the major downfall of that movie was that their characters were so detailed that people looked at them and expected to see the performance of an actor, which made the characters seem like zombies in their computer animated facial expressions and movements.

      Cartoon characters (even human ones) don't suffer from this because they are stylized enough to allow us to suspend our expectations of reality and just see them for what they represent. This is the main reason the big companies stick to stylized characters in cartoony situations; they don't have to worry about trying to simulate reality.

      Whether intentional or not, the characters in this film all have a very nice stylized look that may allow us to just see them as characters and not zombie like humans. It looks like a pretty beautiful film, and if it fails in the US it won't be for the same major reason Final Fantasy did.

      • Re:Nice to see artistic innovation in CG (Score:5, Interesting)

        by airuck ( 300354 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @11:31PM (#5928955)

        Suspension of disbelief is not the only effect of stylization. Stylization can also create a more universal identification with characters. Scott McCloud [scottmccloud.com] covers the topic well in his book Understanding comics [amazon.com].

      • Re:Nice to see artistic innovation in CG (Score:4, Interesting)

        by Sycraft-fu ( 314770 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @11:55PM (#5929067)
        Actually as I understand it a huge part of the problem with Final Fantasy was the WAY they decided to animate the facial expressions. In most CG type movies, like Shrek, standard practise is to film the voice actors, and the animators work off of that. If done right, the characters facial movements look right, since they follow the dialogue naturally. With Final Fantasy, it was all done seperatly, based on what the animators thought it should be. So it doesn't match up right with the way the lines were delivered.
      • Cartoon characters (even human ones) don't suffer from this because they are stylized enough to allow us to suspend our expectations of reality and just see them for what they represent. This is the main reason the big companies stick to stylized characters in cartoony situations; they don't have to worry about trying to simulate reality.

        However, using cartoony characters (i.e. Shrek, Pixar films) requires you to spend a lot of time at the other end of the spectrum. In other words, you have to work hard t
      • Actually the main downfall with FF:TSW was that the plot and dialogue sucked.

      • the major reason Final Fantasy failed was that the plot was boring and the script was lame. I've spoken to computer artists as well as the "common" man and both groups had mostly positive things to say about the special effects in Final Fantasy. You can say what you want but they were incredible and unparalleled. Sure, some of the humans were pretty stiff and "zombie-like" but it didn't matter.

        The average person doesn't really care about good animation. That's why stuff like the Wild Thornberry Movie and J
      • "their characters were so detailed that people looked at them and expected to see the performance of an actor, which made the characters seem like zombies in their computer animated facial expressions and movements"

        And, since Doom 3 contains zombies we won't be too dissapponted seeing them all stiff, despite all details.
    • It is the voice of Keith David. You can read more about the production stats of the movie on IMDB [imdb.com]


    • Can anyone please enlighten me to what "off-the-shelf" packages the movie has employed?

      Or is there a page where the packages are listed?

      I am afraid I do not read French.

  • Looks nice. (Score:3, Insightful)

    by aeinome ( 672135 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:03PM (#5928617) Journal
    It certainly looks cool. The French outshine themselves again. I just hope the fact that it's French doesn't put people off.

    • Re:Looks nice. (Score:5, Funny)

      by User 956 ( 568564 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:29PM (#5928728) Homepage
      What are you talking about? I read the summary as follows:

      "An anonymous reader submits a link to this Computer Graphics World article on a Freedom-made film to be released in June."

      Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to finish my Freedom Fries, and Freedom kiss my wife who's dressed up in a Freedom Maid outfit.
      • Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to finish my Freedom Fries, and Freedom kiss my wife who's dressed up in a Freedom Maid outfit.

        Fnord.
      • [n/t]
      • Of course, the funny thing with all this is that those idiots who first thought up of "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" have basically introduced a "France == Freedom" meme into the national psyche. (Which is fitting, since it is part of the national motto: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité)
        • Of course, the funny thing with all this is that those idiots who first thought up of "freedom fries" and "freedom toast" have basically introduced a "France == Freedom" meme into the national psyche. (Which is fitting, since it is part of the national motto: Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité)
          Heck, FRANCE , the word itself, means FREE , as free from slavery.

    • It certainly looks cool. The French outshine themselves again. I just hope the fact that it's French doesn't put people off.

      Everyone knows that France is evil.

      It is totally unreasonable for France to put it's financial interests in Iraq ahead of America's financial interests in Iraq, isn't it?

      Now, lets all have a bowl of freedom fries!

      • Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)

        by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
        Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • The current estimated death toll in Iraq is 8 million. From living under Sadamm. You know, executions.

        In a country of 24 million people.

        So, the question should be, "Is it totally unreasonable for France to put it's financial interests against supporting a dictator who slaughters his own people?"

        Committee of the Missing [msnbc.com]

        No, it's not. It's very reasonable. After all, it's not Frenchmen who are dying.

        • Don't say "France" and "the French."

          Say "Chirac" and "the French government."

          The French military was all for helping out, except for the president getting in the way.
    • Why would its French Origin put anyone off? The French have a very respected film industry - Ive seen alot of French films...

  • in case of slashdotting.. (Score:3, Informative)

    by CowBovNeal ( 672450 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:03PM (#5928618) Homepage Journal
    Although new to the 3D feature film scene, Xilam Animation in Paris opted for the road less traveled for Kaena: The Prophecy by choosing a mature style for the characters, environments, and story line. All images ©2003 Xilam Films, StudioCanal, and TVA International IV.

    Some things are worth waiting for. And, from the looks of it, the 3D feature film Kaena: The Prophecy is one of them.

    Five years in the making, the 90-minute adventure from Xilam Animation in Paris boldly departs from the tried-and-true cartoon-like look of such US blockbusters as Toy Story, Monsters, Inc., and Ice Age, and introduces a unique painterly style to evolve its sophisticated character-driven story. Also impressive is the fact that the digital artists created this feature entirely with commercial software, which forced them to overcome technical challenges by creatively applying the tools at hand, rather than developing specialized code.

    Even Kaena's story line deviates significantly from those of its US film cousins. Rather than presenting a humorous children's tale, the movie explores a serious theme directed at teen and adult audiences, although occasionally two worm-like characters offer a dose of comic relief. Kaena unfolds within the fantasy world of a giant tree, known as the Axis, which is inhabited by a tribe of people whose main focus is harvesting the tree's sap, which they then offer to the gods. When the sap begins to dry up, a young woman called Kaena (voiced by Kirsten Dunst) leaves her village to find the root of the problem and a solution. A courageous dreamer, Kaena travels to the forbidden region beneath the clouds. There, she encounters a host of unusual and sometimes hostile creatures, including the Selenites, a race that is also trying to save the tree from impending doom, albeit through the enslavement of others.

    "The story is also about the unlikely heroine's journey from childhood to adulthood as she defies authority, traditions, and beliefs in pursuit of her own truths and personal identity--a topic that transcends cultural borders," explains director Chris Delaporte.

    In addition to Dunst, a number of other well-known American actors and actresses--including Angelica Houston as queen of the Selenites and Richard Harris as the 600-year-old extraterrestrial Opaz--are likewise lending their voices to the Kaena cast. Because the film is intended for worldwide release, it has been produced in English and will be dubbed in local languages. The production is scheduled to open next month in France, followed by worldwide release this fall. (Xilam was still negotiating a deal for US distribution at press time.)

    At first glance, Kaena's overall look and feel is reminiscent of computer games, with its fantastic settings and goal-oriented characters. "The style of the environments will be more familiar to computer game players than moviegoers," contends Delaporte. In fact, he and writer-partner Patrick Daher conceived the project as a game in 1997, pitching it to the newly formed Chaman Productions (Paris), which was focused on producing digital content for games and television.

    Impressed by the rich, unusual environments, Chaman's founder chose to expand the project to include a feature film, formerly called Axis, that would be released alongside the game (Computer Graphics World, March 2000, pg. 33). Alas, the ambitious goal of creating a full-length CG film proved too lofty for the start-up. Despite having approximately half the film and game completed, Chaman relinquished control to Xilam, a traditional animation company with expertise in 3D, having developed several computer games and 2D/3D television series. Xilam has since completed the Kaena film and game, with Delaporte still serving as director.
    Cinema Roots

    "Telling a story for 90 minutes for a film is far more difficult than telling one in a half-hour for television," says Marc Du Pontavice, chairman and CEO of Xilam. "When it comes to cinema, the story alone cannot carry a project like it can in br

  • Wow (Score:5, Interesting)

    by General Sherman ( 614373 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:03PM (#5928620) Journal
    Using just off-the-shelf stuff, that's really amazing. I wish I could be that good with Bryce =/. It looks like the storyline could be equally amazing, but I'm wondering if there will also be an english release around the same time. It looks that way from the site, but I hope to see this in a theater near me.
    • I don't know if you were being sarcastic or not but just for your information, this movie looks like it was done in 3DSMAX R4 or R5. There are a couple screenshots in the making of section that clearly show 3DSMAX.

      • Re:Wow (Score:5, Informative)

        by Blaine Hilton ( 626259 ) * on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:53PM (#5928832) Homepage
        They used, and I quote from the article:

        toolbox

        Modeling/Animation
        character studio, 3ds max Discreet
        www.discreet.com

        Texturing
        Painter Procreate www.procreate.com
        Photoshop Adobe Systems www.adobe.com

        Lip synchronization
        FatLips 3D Yulsoft www.yulsoft.com

        compositing
        Shake Apple Computer www.apple.com
        flame Discreet www.discreet.com

        hair
        shag:hair Digimation www.digimation.com
        ClothReyes Reyes Infografica www.reyes-infografica.net/company.php

        fluids
        RealFlow NextLimit www.nextlimit.com

        rendering
        3ds max, flame Discreet www.discreet.com

        data management
        alienbrain VFX NXN Software www.nxn-software.com

  • Wrong label (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:08PM (#5928640)
    I think the term is "Freedom film."

  • Um, WOW. (Score:3, Funny)

    by Limburgher ( 523006 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:15PM (#5928669) Homepage Journal
    Take THAT, France-bashers. :) This looks really cool.

  • So this is (Score:4, Funny)

    by Faust7 ( 314817 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:16PM (#5928677) Homepage
    "Le Tron"?

  • Just a little (Score:2, Informative)

    by Froze ( 398171 )
    WHORING, for the plugin impaired.
    On linux distros xine plays THIS [lycos.fr] quite nicely. Just a direct link to the trailer.
    • This is terrible! It's going to look almost as crappy as all those Japanese cartoons overdubbed with totally inappropriate English voices. You know, the most of the audience for a feature like this knows how to read. Why not have subtitles?

      Apart from that, everything looks pretty cool.

  • More cartoon than movie... (Score:5, Informative)

    by newsdee ( 629448 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:20PM (#5928691) Homepage Journal
    ...but still impressive nonetheless.

    Nice to see creativity from France. This is a nice addition to this upcoming French anime series [savtheworld.com] ("Molly Star Racer").

    Check out the trailer [pocketmovies.net], it very neat. :-)

  • Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:35PM (#5928758)
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

    • Re:Off the shelf... (Score:5, Informative)

      by fishbert42 ( 588754 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @11:24PM (#5928934)
      You are seriously comparing Kaena to Final Fantasy and Spider-Man?! Yes, the animation in Kaena looks, as you put it, "very ghetto" in relation. But I think you need to consider the following.

      Spider-Man budget: $139 million
      Final Fantasy budget: $137 million
      Kaena budget: $27 million

      Kaena is also (supposedly) the first European CGI feature. You really shouldn't expect animation perfection in a first release like this.
      And, to be honest, a lot of the animation in "Spidey" wasn't that good either...

      Finally; why won't the story be the draw? What about Toy Story or Monsters, Inc.? I found the stories for those CGI features (among others) to be quite well done and entertaining. Just because a film is 100% CGI does not mean that it has no story. I'm not saying there will be a great story in Kaena; just that the two factors are unrelated.
      • Comment removed based on user account deletion

        • Based on the trailer, the story looks like a typical, derivative hero's journey. I loved the formula in the Matrix, because it was presented with a new spin. If Kaena will be anything like the trailer, I'll shut my brain off at the door.

          Don't lie; people will catch you out. You've clearly shut your brain off already.

          PDI, BlueSky and Pixar's films are every bit as formulaic. Buddy banter, rescue subplots and a heart-wrenching song in the middle. The same is true of most of Disney's cel-animated f

        • I loved the formula in the Matrix, because it was presented with a new spin.


          Huh? Now I love Matrix, but it's obvious that they got large part of the story from Dark City [imdb.com]. Hell, Matrix even used some of the leftover sets from the Dark City! Just about the only differences between Matrix and Dark City is that Matrix was action-oriented and it had a huge budget.

      • Re:Off the shelf... (Score:2, Interesting)

        by donglekey ( 124433 )
        The first European fully CGI feature was made in Spain and called The Living Forest.
      • Spider-Man budget: $139 million
        Final Fantasy budget: $137 million
        Kaena budget: $27 million

        http://www.pixar.com/shorts/gg/index.html

        Gery's Game's character animation looks a lot better than this stuff, and I'm sure it didn't cost too much.
      • Kaena budget: $27 million

        that is not chump change, but what it does say is that off-the-shelf will allow the birth of the small fully animated sci-fi, fantasy works. the kind of fantastic stories that the /. might like to see more of (as opposed to the $60milion jay-lo comedy-drama-romance garbage).

        Full lenght movies made this way, will liberate would-be-film-makers to tell more SPECIFIC and challenging stories, they will be able to paint more detail and less broad-appeal-brush-strokes.

        I will be the

    • Re:Off the shelf... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by mnemonic_ ( 164550 )
      Why would people who have played in Maya be able to tell that they're metaballs? Maya has no metaball features whatsoever. Anyways, they didn't use metaballs (and they don't look like metaballs to me at least)- they used RealFlow [nextlimit.com], a full blown fluids simulation solution.

    • Re:Off the shelf... (Score:4, Informative)

      by edo-01 ( 241933 ) on Sunday May 11, 2003 @03:20AM (#5929664)
      Watching the trailer, it looks like they didn't opt to render using motion blur. Last I checked, using motion blur in Pixar's PRman only has a render time hit of 50%. With lower end software, you're looking at a few hundred percent. But I might be going by older numbers.

      Very old numbers I'd say. I've used Max and Renderman professionally for four years. While prman's motion blur is very nice, it takes significantly longer to render than Max's image motion blur, which is one of the fastest around. It is less accurate but for the majority of shots I've worked on over the years it's not noticable.

      Oh, and also "only" a render hit time of 50%? Film-res images can take hours to render a single frame (especially if you are using renderman). Add another 50% to that and you are in deep trouble. The "render hit" as you put it for Max's post image blur is only a few seconds per frame, even if those frames took an hour to render.

      The only non-technical flaw I could spot was the way the characters moved. Final Fantasy augmented their hand-animated characters with tons of motion capture, so maybe using them as the bar is a little too high... but from what I've read, most of the character animation in Spiderman was done by hand. Keanna's animation is laughable compared to Spidey, and the software they used is no excuse.

      You've got it backwards there. Final Fantasy augmented their motion capture with hand animation. Motion capture takes days or weeks of hand cleanup to make useable, and most animators prefer not to use it. Makes sense seeing as they all got into the industry to animate not clean up jittery popping motion capture all day.

    • Maybe you are such a conniseur of animation that you can't enjoy a movie in which the rendering isn't photorealistic. It's sorta like someone who can't enjoy a concert because they think the equalizer settings are wrong or the stage props look too cheap.

      That attitude looks neurotic to most people. Bands with fancy props can very easily put on a terrible show, and movies with "uptown" (to contrast with "ghetto") effects can be catastrophically unwatchable--I have Final Fantasy in mind, but I'm sure there a

  • Off the shelf software? (Score:5, Informative)

    by ScottGant ( 642590 ) <scott_gant@sbcgloba l . n etNOT> on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:45PM (#5928798) Homepage
    Well, pretty much all animation/sfx is founded in "off the shelf software".

    Maya, Softimage/XSI, Lightwave...I'm sure all of these packages are on a shelf SOME where...

    Of course, when you read about movies that use such software, the fx houses always add "combination of Maya and XSI...with special software written by us". This usually is tacked on because they don't want ordinary people thinking they could do the same thing. They want to keep the apperance of wizardry like the old days.

    But the custom software is usually written in Maya script language and such...which is very powerful btw.

    • Comment removed (Score:5, Informative)

      by account_deleted ( 4530225 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @11:27PM (#5928944)
      Comment removed based on user account deletion
      • with the exception of one scene in a "A Bug's Life" (which required raytracing)

        I'm just wondering: Which scene is that?

  • French, attack, attack! (Score:5, Funny)

    by rapett0 ( 92674 ) <liquidgod AT hotmail DOT com> on Saturday May 10, 2003 @10:47PM (#5928813) Homepage Journal
    Their server is withstanding the initial onslaught, attack, attack!

  • Man I hate flash.... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by nurb432 ( 527695 )
    Isnt there a way to just download the damned trailer?
    • If you actually VIEWED the Flash, you'd see it links to the trailer in several different formats and resolutions.

      Once the Quicktime versions load completely, you can save the quicktime movie to your drive.

      Please to note: there are also 4 clips available besides the trailer.

    • Here you go then (Score:3, Informative)

      by nacs ( 658138 )
      Here's [lycos.fr] the direct link to the trailer in the largest size in Quicktime format.

      It played fine on my Gentoo box under both Xine and Mplayer.

  • Off-the-shelf software is pretty good today (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Animats ( 122034 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @11:04PM (#5928870) Homepage
    Really. You can do at least TV-quality work with stock Max, Softimage XSI, or Maya. On reasonably modest equipment, too.

    The limitation is talent. Few people can drive these tools competently.

    I've done software for high-end animation. I can run the tools myself, but I can't get the results that the people with real talent can. Watching a good artist running an animation system is striking. They work quite differently from amateurs running these programs. They draw far more than they edit. They're fast. They have a clear picture in their mind of what they want to see on the screen.

    There aren't many people like that, which is why most amateur 3D animation sucks.

    • The limitation is talent.

      Frankly, I don't think so. I think the limitation is all the crappy software out there. Maya isn't too bad, but the other software you mentioned have horrible interfaces.

      The "talent" is learning to use some piece of shit user interface effectively. That seems like a waste of time to me. There is some software out there that is better than the most popular packages but they are not anywhere near perfect. The packages I'm speaking of are Mirai [izware.com], Nendo, Wings3D [wings3d.com], etc. They are m
      • Hello, clueless. Any professional will tell you this: never blame the tools.

        It is a fact that a great artist is good because he knows what he is doing and can translate that. That is also the reason why any production house, be it for film, tv or games, hires people who are artists first and can use a computer second. Why? Because one can easily train someone to use a computer, but to be a good artist (with a head for proportions, colour, perspective, whatever) takes a whole lot longer to learn.

        Blaming th

  • Bienvenue... (Score:5, Funny)

    by xigxag ( 167441 ) on Saturday May 10, 2003 @11:24PM (#5928933)
    ...a l'Effect Slashdot, mes amis.

  • imdb link (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dargaud ( 518470 ) * <slashdot2@@@gdargaud...net> on Saturday May 10, 2003 @11:27PM (#5928943) Homepage
    I'm surprised that no one posted the imdb link [imdb.com] yet. And as someone stated, the voices did sound familiar, both in french and english: Kirsten Dunst, Richard Harris, Anjelica Huston...

  • Accents (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Did anyone else notice that the evil overlords had British accents, whilst the heroine had an American accent?

    Normally I couldn't give a toss, except for the fact that this seems to have become an annoying stereotype. I shit you not, when watching Minority Report I picked the bad guy right from the beginning because of his British accent (the actor was Swedish I know).

    In the old days evil characters had Russian accents, now it's British accents.

    Why do they do this?

    • More info on Brit accent (Score:4, Interesting)

      by jtheory ( 626492 ) on Sunday May 11, 2003 @01:16AM (#5929314) Homepage Journal
      I just watched the fourth movie clip they made available on the site -- there's a creature that's helping her who has a very warm rich voice... with a slight British accent. Listen to the "if you had the chance, would you leave Axis?" to hear it clearly.

      It could be that they're working off the stereotype that the elite (evil or not) speak with British accents. Think also of what's called the "mid-Atlantic" accent (the accent spoken partway between the US and Britain...) taught so carefully to Julliard drama students -- you know how "Frasier Crane" talks? Yup, Kelsey Grammer is a Julliard grad. He's got it down pat.

      He also spoke the role of the villainous but brilliant Sideshow Bob on the Simpsons. ...Whoah, I just looked up his bio to make sure he is, indeed American (confirmed; grew up in NJ and Florida), and it seems his father (a bar-owner) was murdered in '68. His sister was murdered in '75, and 2 half brothers died while scuba-diving in '80. Ouch.
    • The standard explanation is that the British are unlikely to complain perticularly about their representation in films, from Die Hard series European terrorists to history-raping films (Braveheart, various war films), in comparison to the main 'minority' groups...
    • Remember Star Wars? Same thing; the Empire was British, the rebelion was american.

      The reason of course was that britain was a colonial power. Nowadays, the use of accents should be reversed.

  • "A Bug's Life Redux"? (Score:5, Funny)

    by vrmlguy ( 120854 ) <samwyse AT gmail DOT com> on Sunday May 11, 2003 @12:43AM (#5929222) Homepage Journal
    I just finished watching the trailer, and I couldn't help thinking that the plot seemed just a bit familar. Let's see, likable humanoid characters living in a dark three-dimensional community, terrorized by large insectoid villians who want free (as in beer) food. Finally, one character leaves home to search for a way to overthrow the thugs.

    So what happens next? Does the girl meet up with an bunch of itenerant "circus bugs"? Do they build a giant mechanical bird to try to frighten the villians away? Inquiring minds want to know!

    • First of all, I didn't watch the trailer, so I won't comment on this movie, but if the plot from Bug's Life would seem familiar to world audiences for a reason.

      You see, this ragtag-band-of-good-guys-fight-with-baddies-who-t e rrorize-a-village-every-year-for-cash plot has been used in, among other movies, Bug's Life, Lagaan, Chinagate (both from India) and The Magnificient Seven, after it first came out on celluloid in The Seven Samurai, one of the gems made by the Japanese master, Akira Kurosawa .

    • If you get out of the house, you'll learn that the plot to "A Bug's Life" was just a re-hash of Akira Kurosawa's "Seven Samurai", as was Galaxy Quest and just about every other comedic action film on the planet.
      • Don't confuse the trailer with my speculation. The plot points that I noted were specific to "A Bug's Life", not "Seven Samurai" (unless Kurosawa's epic had eight-foot tall insectoid villians that I somehow missed).
  • I hope the clips are not representative of the final film because it looks stiff and unnatural, and everything has a weird smoothness to it. The God creature in clip 1 is damn cool, but overall the rest looks kind of bland. I'm probably spoiled with the kind of attention to detail and fluidity of Pixar films but these remind me of the CG Barbie movies that my daughter watches from time-to-time, and you can tell that those were made on a relatively low budget and as quickly as possible.

    That's not to say I p

  • I Smell Astroturf (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Farley Mullet ( 604326 ) on Sunday May 11, 2003 @01:49AM (#5929412)

    I looked at the trailer, and, like a few other people have mentioned here, it's okay but not great. The animation lags behind Pixar and the other big boys, and the plot is pretty generic (and bears an unfortunate similarity to A Bug's Life). But what gets me is that, for what seems to be the umpteenth time, a movie (or t.v. show or book or video or whatever) is anonymously submitted to /., almost certainly by someone involved in the production. If you think about it, considering the zillions of page views daily and the profile of the site (heck, google news uses /. as a source), /. has to be an easy source of free marketing for anyone selling any kind of SF. "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters" indeed.

    • SO? I fail to see that as a bad thing. I mean, come on, we are a part of the target demographic, and people on /. do think it's cool, neat and at the very least relevant.

      True, an article about what they used to render it and some of the production pitfalls would be better, but rather this that those spams about webcams and viagra in my mailbox.
  • Am I the only one getting a Dark Crystal vibe from this? (I consider that a good thing, by the way.)
  • I don't know why so many are against the French in that fair, wonderful, free, brave, altruistic country of yours. Perhaps it's pure stupidity, a trait surely not limited to the French or any other nation. Perhaps it's some kind of deep frustration.

    This movie is along the lines of animation done in Final fantasy, albeit with a story that could entice more interest in the general population than FF did.

    There will be more in this genre, and it definitely holds promise.

  • Very interesting, influences from everywhere (Score:3, Interesting)

    by theolein ( 316044 ) on Sunday May 11, 2003 @09:15AM (#5930399) Journal
    The artwork of this movie is fantastic, imo, and the general dark tone and characters seem to borrow from many areas of modern science fiction and popular figures.

    The Marauder figure and the organic structures and the overall dark scenery borrow heavily from Giger's work, as the producer notes in the biography section of the site.

    The story is in an extremely similar vein to a still rendered series done by an Italian guy in the middle 90's on a Mac with Strata Studio and Photoshop and Deck and sold as a multimedia CD which were still popular back then. Sadly, I can't remember the title.

    Other influences seem to be taken from Larry Niven's Integral Tree (the tree in the film), a classic comic series about a world of creatures living in the clouds (the Sharken), and I notice that the one detailed shot of the heroine with hair (the wallpaper section) looks very similar to Virgine Ledoyen who starred in the Beach with Di Caprio.

    This film will probably not be that much of a hit, as I think it is very difficult to excite mainstream audiences with fantasy SF, but I think it'll be a pointer to things to come, when bigger film houses with bigger budgets start to produce films in a similar vein.
  • I'm from The Netherlands and although our government was on the side of the US, 95% of our population wasn't. You Americans talk about freedom, but boycot French ware for their OPINION, that is so hypocrit. Land of the free, home of the brave... Come on, the freedom you enjoy has merely become a blur of what it used to be. The US used to be the flagship of freedom in the world, yes Europeans recognize that. But we also recognize that this is no longer the case. Your intelligence agencies monitor everythin

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