The worst part about these “live action” remakes in my opinion is the fact that CGI is animation, they are literally just reanimating the already animated film but making it look ten times worse this time.
it's so funny because almost everyone who fanboys over these companies and the companies themselves desperately tries to force mindset and gaslight everyone that CG isn't an animation and that special effects aren't animation
It’s because CG is more realistic, and everybody knows that realism is the ultimate form of art and that there isn’t any other art style that has ever been popular or good
And of course thanks to the idiots in the Oscars, getting pissy animated movies like Beauty and the Beast were nominated for Best Picture and not taking the Best Animation award seriously, just giving it to whatever Disney-Pixar farts out that’s not a massive flop, even if it doesn’t deserve to win.
Given recent works like Arcane and Blue Eye Samurai (which are definitely not for children) and the maturity of writing in Puss in Boots, the Last Wish, I think a few people are catching on. I hope it catches on, because I really like that kind of stuff.
@@seastriker4437 To be fair, the last couple Oscar winners were The Boy and the Heron (Ghibli, not really intended for children) and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Netflix, not intended for very young children). This year The Wild Robot is the clear favorite, but Flow - a very small indie film from Latvia - is also wracking up a lot of goodwill and critical acclaim. So there is some indication that things are moving away from the biggest hit to what voters truly feel is high quality. (Sometimes when there are bigger movies that are also considered high quality, like Puss in Boots or Across the Spider-Verse.)
Brad Bird, the man that directed Ratatouille, The Incredibles, and The Iron Giant made movies that adults also love. He is constantly out there defending animation and saying how it isn't a genre or just for kids. He knows it can do almost anything, and he's shown it.
I didn’t like Ratatouille as a kid and now that I’m an adult I realize that it wasn’t really made “for kids”. Most of the jokes are layered and require some kind of knowledge to really get the best out of and while there is some slapstick it’s not as frequent as a lot of shows I also didn’t understand the appeal of Wall-E until I was older. It was too slow pace for me and I tended to color or read while I watched tv (adhd) and having no dialogue meant I needed to watch the screen to follow and I would get distracted from lack of stimulus (same reason why I can’t listen to podcasts or audiobooks)
I understand what you're getting at and I completely agree with Brad Bird that animation is not just for kids, but it can be for adults too. I also agree that animation is a medium, not a genre.
And arguably, a more versatile, more powerful medium. There are very few things you can do with live action that you cant do as well or better in animation.
We've seen a similar phenomenon when almost all big western animation studios decided that every one of their animated productions would be 3D rather than 2D. Japan is still going strong with 2D animated works, often including 3D elements where appropriate, but 3D is neither superior nor inferior to 2D despite western companies treating 2D as inferior. Perhaps this is another example of them prioritizing cost cutting, but movie studios and game studios should know better than to think that realism equals quality. We all saw those comically shot live-action Batman pieces from the 60s, we've all seen the horrifying 3d animated mockbusters, so the notion that live-action or 3D animation is strictly superior is something that there's mountains of evidence against. Demon Slayer is lauded for its art style, Fullmetal Alchemist is beloved for its writing, and the Simpsons has been on the air for over 30 years. If 2D would look better, deliver on the fantasy of the world better, then that's what the audience should be given.
I hated the idea of live action remakes, but the Lion King "live action" was what put me over the edge. Nothing about that movie was live action, it was entirely CGI generated. Its insulting to animators, CGI animators, and the viewers to call that atrocity live action.
The maddest I've ever been at the announcement of a live action remake (and even for the first ones I saw announced I was questioning why they existed) was when I first saw the trailer for Mufasa. Because what do we need more than a "live-action" remake of a beloved childhood movie that no one actually asked for? Obviously, the answer is a prequel/origin story "live-action" original that definitely no one asked for.
@@SpifyninjaTo be fair, at least Mufasa IS an original movie and not just a live action retelling of another film. People clamor on about wanting original stories, and Disney is delivering with this film. But the masses still aren’t happy.
@@Godaerentalos People are asking for original stories, which doesn't just mean not remakes, but also means breaking away from franchises. In addition, people are more and more wanting franchises to respect what came before, and not to contradict major parts of previously established lore, the way Mufasa does.
Animation is a medium for storytelling, not a genre for children. The sooner the world learns that, the sooner these soulless live action remakes can stop being churned out.
Unfortunately you have tons of normie people (like my dad) who say “Oh! The live action Aladdin was amazing!” Or “The new Lion King movie was very cute.”
Seriously, people were complaining about Disney shilling out remakes and yet they’re eating up a HTTYD remake as if it’s not doing the exact same thing. And if they succeed they’ll do more of it, we don’t want that
I think the only difference is that Dreamworks doesn't have the multitude of failed remakes, is including the original creator, and looks similar to the original. I still thinks it's dumb, though, just being devil's advocate
While I do think it looks good, it is completely unnecessary. I look at it and just say to myself, "What's the point?" I can watch the original whenever I feel like it, so why bother watching what is so obviously a cash grab? Also, considering that the person who wrote this comment is an artist, an animator, and a storyteller, one whom I've experienced their work, I'm inclined to take their word for it.
A lot of people tend to favor DreamWorks because of the simple fact that they're not Disney. It might actually do better than most Disney remakes because of that fact.
Or maybe, as a more even keeled approach, we could simply say that most adults have simply moved on from animation. I'M certainly not one, but I don't think anybody HAS to watch an animated film to not be insecure. Not to say what you said doesn't exist, just sounded very closed-minded.
@@xavierthomas5835 Oh that's not the problem, if people simply aren't into animation, that's their preference. My problem is a Disney adult type who squeals in delight "dude, pride rock!" when they see a live action remake trailer, and will gush about how amazing it was to give their child the "same experience they had" seeing the original movie in theaters. I confront such people with "wouldn't you rather just watch the original?" I notice a common pattern that this type of person will happily reference a line from Emperor's New Groove, but actually sitting down and watching it with their other adult friends? That's... That's weird right? That's not a normal thing for adults to do, right?? People will think I'm weird if I actually enjoy watching animated movies with my friends!! In the end, people have varied reasons. All I want is for it to be given respect, and I chide anyone who remarks that something being animated automatically makes it for children.
@WasatchWind I can respect that. In that sense, you are very correct. Many people are fine with watching animated films alone, but doing so with other adult friends? Nearly impossible to comprehend.
@@xavierthomas5835 If you’re not watching an animated film that people say is good because “animation’s for kids” then you’re insecure about it. Anyone who wants to watch HTTYD but didn’t because it’s animated has no excuse Yes, some people aren’t into animation, but they will watch something if they hear it’s really good and The fact that Into the Spiderverse is easily the best Spider-Man movie yet it made the least at the box office speaks to how many people don’t view animation on something that can be enjoyed by adults. My mom likes other super hero movies and when I said my favorite Peter Parker was from Into the Spiderverse she said the movie doesn’t count
As someone trying to break into the animation industry, seeing the live action remakes like HTTYD, Moana, and Lilo and Stitch just makes me realize… Indie animation is the way to go
@@Avarn388 I’ll have to look at that one but even stuff like Amazing Digital Circus, Lackadaisy, Ramshackle, The Art of Murder and countless others are reason enough to
I’m glad you did this because some of my favorite movies of recent have been animated. Puss N Boots the Last Wish, Into the Spider verse and most recently the Wild Robot and Transformers One. Animation to me is my favorite medium of storytelling because you can do anything visually. And express ideas and concepts that wouldn’t work well in live action. For example, different art styles to convey mood and tone. Obviously the writing for this stuff matters. Bad visuals should not obfuscate bad writing, like horrible character development, plot holes and a lack of cohesion, consistency and continuity.
I LOVED the Wild Robot. The impressionistic art style is amazing and the MUSIC. UGH. I also liked transfomers one, but it suffers from another depressing trend, having to have celebrity voice actors. Half of chris hemsworths lines as optimus took me out of the movie completely. I still don't understand why they had to have him when the guy who voices Kratos exists.
I’ve said for the past decade “I don’t have an issue with live action, but the stories being told in animation is a lot better right now than what’s being told in live action”. I would love to see something live action, but they just aren’t giving much that’s interesting story wise right now. I haven’t seen Wicked (never got into the stage show) but the last live action movies I saw were Barbie and Oppenheimer and even though I don’t think either was bad I also found both of them lacking in a way I didn’t get from Last Wish or Encanto or Nimona. They felt like there was this big message they were trying to put first instead of being a good story first and having a message second
@@bowserbreaker2515 I found Inside Out 2 disappointing since I felt like it was too similar to the original, then Moana 2 came out and I realize it could have been worse. I still think it would have made a better TV show though since I feel like having smaller stories where a problem needs to be worked through is better than trying to force another quick change. The way that Anxiety magically shows up and takes over completely in the span of a week seemed wrong. If they had done a show, then they could have had Anxiety in the background the whole time and have an hour long finale where she kicks Joy out after she has Riley do something embarrassing and now she’s worried that the whole school is talking about it
@@FrostclawTheGatomon Oh boy, I got to get back to watching more anime. Speaking of which, Pokémon IS the highest grossing media franchise, and it basically counts as an anime, though weather or not it's cinema could be debatable, honestly, I'm not a fan of a lot of the newer Switch Pokémon games. 😒
@@alt1763 I mean the fact that it has an entire anime series as you mentioned is why I said the franchise basically counts as an anime. It's not that deep.
That C.S. Lewis quote at 5:36 definitely summed up my thoughts on those who think grown ups only watch adult content. In fact, they are acting less like adults than they think by saying that.
Well said. I’ve been annoyed at this mindset for a long time. Animation is art. It’s a medium, not a genre. And family friendly means FAMILY friendly. As in, the WHOLE family. Adults included. I personally find myself enjoying animation more as an adult than when I was a kid because I recognize the artistic choices behind the animation. Color choices, character design, art style and style changes. Animation is beautiful and I’m tired of it being so unappreciated.
This. I never noticed how beautiful Spongebob's world is until I grew up and realized how amazing the design of the show is. And Spongebob is one of the main shows people will dismiss.
My parents, my mom in particular, fall into the mindset of "any form of animation (movie or video games) is exclusively for children". My siblings and I grew up with such a love for video games as a whole that it made it hard for my mom to connect or spend time with us. As we grew, that love never ceased. While I was in college, one Christmas break, my mom finally showed an interest in trying a game. So I brought home Journey (by ThatGameCompany). My mom was so invested in exploring that it took her 4hrs to finish what is typically a 2hr game. She's never played a video game since, but spending an evening on the couch with my mom talking about the story and the music and the art style is one of my most cherished memories.
@@Th3BigBoy Question, what makes animation for kids? I mean animation was orignally only for adults. Then you have all the live action movies that are for kids. The only thing that makes something "for kids" is it not having things that aren't appropriate for kids. Yet even then there are animated shows, like Avatar, that although appropriate for kids, go into very mature elements that live action shows often do not
That's why we need to start giving more of our attention towards actual high-quality stuff like Flow, Look Back, Piece by Piece, Wild Robot, and Memoir of a Snail (This last one isn't kid friendly, but it none of the less proves animation is for more than just kids), instead of baby stuff like Cocomelon.
I REALLY wish we had more innovative shows like Futurama and Invincible and less shows like the Simpsons and Family Guy. If it weren't for the former two, I would've outright HATED all adult animation.
@@devonjeffers5898 Don't shit too much on the Simpsons. Without them, we likely wouldn't have had modern animation to a certain degree. Also, rewatching old clips from what I saw as a child, and reading comments about hidden jokes (especially with the older clips) is quite interesting.
Invincible is following the comic book mostly beat for beat. The same animation studio *had* done a more innovative sci-fi series named Pantheon. I have a hard time getting some friends to watch it because it's a cartoon, despite being actual sci-fi (examing the societal kmplications of a new technology).
As a long time fan of animation, there's nothing that breaks my heart more to see an animated film or series be dragged through the mud and remade in live action, barely even resembling what it used to be. It serves no purpose and it's only done just as a way to make a quick buck, in Disney's case I think it's an embarrassment. In the last couple of years we've seen them go through a really severe identity crisis, they don't know what they are anymore and what's worse, is there a completely forgotten and tarnished their legacy & the work they've made throughout the decades. Except now they are doing it to the worst degree possible by cherry picking whichever animated film do you have in their library & remaking them in live action and making really unnecessary changes. It's the worst example of burning money on nothing & it's only going to get worse as the years go on, because it's very clear you get a strong impression that there's severely low morale to try & craft anything new in animation so instead you've got twits like Bob Iger making these really stupid decisions & in doing so stripping down everything that made these animated films, the legacies they left behind, how they've changed and impacted the culture & essentially treating them as shit. It's disgusting & is frustrating to see animation be treated as nothing more than fodder for live action adaptation.
I believe now that the super hero era seems relatively dead, disney and other companies will start leaning into remakes and making that the new 'era' of movies. Its simply not needed or wanted, but definitely illustrates the lack of creativity and risk taking in Hollywood nowadays. Its all about the money now
@@ThePrincessCH Fair point, it's Nostalgia. I'm not against remakes, but Lion king looks bad, what's the point to sap out the fun, if only to look realistic because insecure adults want to see the story, also again possibly. And then there was the good portion of the audience that had seen the original, and they don't think much of this version.
it’s lazy,as a child,l remember the days when 🐭would introduce a new 2D animated feature annually(The Jungle Book,The Rescuers,Tarzan,etc)but nowadays studios would rather invest in the “sure thing” instead of taking some risk,and there are plenty of original stories/folktales to cultivate 🤔
I recently watched transformers 1 with my mom and she really liked it. I overheard her talking about it with a guest and he asked if she was talking about the live action movies. She said “no it’s a cartoon one”. I think this is one of the key problems with modern audiences in this regard. I think a lot of older people see animations and children’s cartoons as synonymous
I saw Flow in the theater yesterday. Latvian animated movie for kids. It was masterful - and so totally beautiful in a way that couldn't have been done in live action. It was made for $4,000,000 (a VERY cheap budget for animation), and it is one of the most gorgeous, technically accomplished movies I've ever seen. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Hollywood took some notice of something like this? Critics are all drooling over it (normal people won't watch it because they're unaware of its existence), but it's interesting to note that I can't find many talking about how it is a great movie for children. Apparently it's a good movie because it is well written and well directed (which it is!), but there is no mention of how kids would be swept away in its wordless - but very easy to understand - story and be enraptured. In contrast, many of the trailers before the film were for very flashy, sugar-fueled American animation like Sonic 3 or that Dog Policeman movie (I didn't catch the title, I was too busy cringing). There is nothing wrong with a good fun movie, but mainstream animation rarely does anything else. They're all loud and fighting to grab your attention. Meanwhile, the biggest thing on Disney+ is Bluey, which demonstrates that this constant attention grabbing is not necessary for kids or their parents. Tell a good story, use the animation to tell it uniquely, and give us options so that our children have more than one sort of story to grow up on.
To be fair to the Sonic movies, my whole family loved the first two, myself included. They were super fun and family friendly (though a little intense for more sensitive kiddos). In general I agree with you, though. Good stories are what kids need.
@@dancedancelauren I haven't seen them, but I hear they're alright. My point was that there is a dearth of anything else out there. I would be good with showing older children Hundreds of Beavers (by far my favorite film of the year - some sexual humor, parental discretion advised), which is nothing but zany wackiness... but if all stories they consumed were like that, they'd have the attention spans of brain-damaged goldfish.
I CANNOT WAIT to see Flow in theatres. Been trying to keep up with it since the trailer dropped; still unsure when or if it’s been released already in America but I’m definitely looking forward to it, it looks fantastic🙌🏻
People who think animation is just for kids have never seen films/shows like Akira, Prince of Egypt, or the Arcane series...and need to see said films/shows. But yeah agreed, it drives me nuts that there are excellent shows and films that are aimed at younger audiences that get completely dismissed.
@@ThePrincessCH Probably the same reason Cocomelon, Pink Fong's Baby Shark, Modern Pokémon, AND especially all those soulless content farm channels get tons of attention. Because costumers have low standards. 😒 Thank goodness Inside Out 2 dethroned that lion movie.
Once again, it holds true: The difference between good children's media and bad children's media is that good children's media can be enjoyed by adults too. Media made for children has lessons and details an adult appreciates. When it lacks these, it is a distraction made for cash, not children's media, not really.
Animated movies DO NOT need to be remade! These company’s are just wanting easy money because they don’t have to create a new story but inevitably just wasting money. I’m sick of amazing animated movies and shows not getting the recognition they deserve because some people just see it for “children” and thinking if they make in cgi (which is just more expensive animation) that now adults will watch it.
@@ThePrincessCH Except it wouldn't work if it wasn't attached to the movie that preceded it. It only did as good as it did because of all the idiots (myself unwillingly included) who paid to go see if Disney could capture the magic of the original.
Thank you for covering this issue! Growing up my parents constantly told me I’ll grow out of watching animated shows and movies. To this day as a college student I still prefer animated stuff over any live action show or series. My parents still mention how it’s weird I like “kids shows” and movies. I felt weird or wrong for liking these things even when I grew up but I soon came to realize. I just enjoy these things. It makes me happy and makes me feel like a kid again. I enjoy the story lines and plots so much more bc it can be exaggerated! The colors and expressions. as an artist myself I can appreciate hard work and art. So ofc I enjoy animated shows and movies and there is nothing wrong with it. My parents still think so but that’s ok. I have my preferences and they have theirs. I just hope one day they can see what you see. That it’s not just meant for kids
It's a shame your parents had that mentality. My folks are more open-minded, but I still feel slightly judged or at least my animated content feels judged when I mention or watch it. I've always love animated films/shows and do so just as much--if not more--now.
3:32 The "realistic graphics are bestest and alternative art is lame, hur durrrr" perspective is one I fight with my brother-in-law about. He refuses to play the Octopath Travelers games (which have *wonderful* stories and some of the best soundtracks ever composed) because they intentionally use 8-bit style art and character sprites. The games are gorgeous, they are just stylized. The characters live forever in my head. Perfect realism isn’t always best for a story - which is exactly to your point that animation doesn’t need a live-action remake.
I remember people at the Oscars one year almost seeming to mock animation in an indirect way, saying it is stuff you watch "with your children" or it's "for kids" (something to that effect). That is just so narrow-minded and feels insulting to the people who worked on animating those projects. Plus, who do you think is animating those projects? Adults.
@@ChienaAvtzon Yes, they do. From to the rules for Animated Feature at the 97th Awards: "Films qualifying under paragraph II.A.1 are qualified to enter other General Entry categories." And from the FAQ: "General categories include Best Picture".
I believe western audiences perceive animation as childish because they have been indoctrinated by studios who only market animation to children. I think the rise in popularity of Anime (typically more mature) worldwide signals that subconsciously, audience are craving more varied animated stories. Thank you for bringing attention to such an important topic🙌
Detachment from childhood and the inner child is a symptom of the current culture at large. The continued practice or value of anything associated with the days of youth is to be considered immature, and the past must be relegated to nothing more than happy memories as the individual accepts the nihilistic responsibility to the “real world” that will swallow up the rest of their life. By contrast, I think the happiest old people I know are the ones who behave without a shred of regard for perceived maturity, and know how to play as hard as they’ve worked. The carefree nature of the child can be embraced alongside the intellectual obligations of adulthood rather than being replaced by them.
I thought about how to answer this and I decided to let a wise man speak for me. The Apostle Paul. 1 Corinthians 13:11 NKJV - When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV - Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
@@Th3BigBoy I do not think he meant to ignore what made you enjoy life as a child, but instead to be mature. Not to mention in Matthew 18:3 Jesus said: And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
@@Th3BigBoyAnd as I recall an even wiser man C.S. Lewis said putting away childish also means putting away the fear of childishness and the need to look grown up which you clearly haven't done.
@@Th3BigBoy I believe your heart's in the right place, brother, but the context of that verse is very important and not quite relevant to this topic. 1 Corinthians 13:11 comes off the heels of the famous passage describing all the wonderful characteristics of God's agape love, which we are to imitate. It's immediately preceding a passage that says love is greater than the gift of prophecy and even all sorts of spiritual knowledge. The in-context meaning for this verse is that no amount of spiritual knowledge is greater than love, because the spiritual knowledge we have on this earth will one day pass away (be useless) because in heaven (where we'll be fully spiritually mature), what we know now will be eclipsed by having full knowledge. We'll see just how incomplete our earthly knowledge was. But love never fails, never dies, never becomes obsolete. The second passage is also not referring to physical, mental, or emotional maturity (in fact, Paul himself admits in the prior verse, "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on..." And if Paul is not mature, then who could hope to attain maturity?). Instead, it is encouraging believers to let go of our sins of the past and any sinful habits and instead to "press toward the goal... of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." For the context, I would recommend reading Philippians 2. There's no need to stop loving things we used to as kids. Ecclesiastes is clear that God made life for us to enjoy, but to keep in mind that we must honor God in doing so and not do things to excess.
@skepticalsmurf I think it certainly has gotten cheaper, can't say for certain but I would think the cost for a fully animated 2D and a 3D movie would at least be comparable. The issue is I don't think 2D animation gets the returns the industry wants. The princess and the frog was Disney's last 2D animation and failed at the box office - I would argue it's on the same level story wise as much of the current Disney stuff- but it just couldn't get people to watch it
I feel Studio Ghibli shows how valuable good animation still is. They don't write exclusively for children (though I love their kids movies), they do it for the story and the art. They do it because they love it. There's so much beauty and value in animation, and it's sad that we're stuck with cheaper imitations that hinge on our nostalgia. I feel like CGI takes me out of the world rather than showing me beauty and fantasy. It's jarring, quite frankly ugly, and it does such a disservice to the original story, its creators, writers, artists, and the people who loved it so much in the first place. A good story should have to be told twice.
A driving force in this "art style" seems to be to make things "more realistic." But stories point to what is "real" (i.e., the Good, the True, the Beautiful) in a way that these people just do not understand. They think photo-realism is somehow related to fundamental reality while everything else is just playing pretend.
I had the pleasure of rewatching the original Mulan from 1998 just last night. It's had been some time since I had seen, and I still had the disgusting and abysmal remake from 2020 trying to dissuade me from watching it. I'm glad I did! That movie is funny, heartfelt, and brimming with love and imagination in every frame. Not to mention the incredible songs written by Matthew Wilder, David Zippel and Christina Aguilera. Obviously all of that love and passion was replaced by dry, bland, phoned in filmmaking with horrible messages and morals. I pray that parents are putting the animated originals first, with their pure morals and inspiring stories, and kicking the live-action remakes out of the picture.
I remember so clearly when I was watching Invincible for the first time and my dad came into my room and said “are you watching some cartoons?” And when I would refer to the show he would often ask “is that the animated one?” And it’s just… idk I find it really annoying and I also find it annoying that there are so many people that think this way.
It honestly frustrates me to no end seeing my country continue to both believe in and perpetuate this notion that animation is some kind of inferior form of art, when that couldn't be further from the truth. Avatar: The Last Airbender is not only fantastic as a show aimed at younger audiences, but a fantastic work of fiction that drew inspiration from a similar source, Anime. Japanese animation, be it in the form of anime original stories or the typical adaptation, has given us stories that have lasted generations and inspired many western creators to the point where you can see anime inspired creations and references nearly everywhere in pop culture. Avatar: The Last Airbender accomplished what it did, being a long running story that took its world and characters seriously, by emulating anime. Moments in anime/manga get trending on social media for a reason, these things got people invested. This isn't even to mention things like the Spiderverse movies, which would then inspire PiB:TLW. Or Blue Eye Samurai, or Arcane, etc. The fact that we disrespect animation to such a degree that we take every opportunity we can to sabotage it, or cancel it, or replace it with live action to me just shows that the people making these decision are utterly out of touch with what people want to see from art.
As someone who almost never cries and has a hard time expressing negative emotions, the only movies that have made me cry and feel an emotional release have been animated movies. How to train your dragon is particularly significant for me because it's one of the main things i bonded over with my GF when we met. I get teary-eyed just listening to test drive. The wild robot, the spiderverse movies and many more, are so honest with their emotional themes that it makes me relate so hard i can cry. I have never experienced this with a live action movie. Animation just makes me feel more powerful emotions than live-action.
I was openly crying in the theater during The Wild Robot. Which was awkward, because I’m pretty sure I’m the only one that was. 😅 It was just so heartfelt, and sincere. The animation was gorgeous and the story was beautiful.
The wild robot made me so emotional. Such a simple yet hard hitting story, that delved into so many important themes and motifs. I was almost crying at the end. Idk there’s something about animation that appeals more to my emotions.
I remember when long ago you Master Samwise, had humbly apologized for the infrequency of your videos. A great improvement you've achieved since then in providing frequent content and yet compromising none of the quality.
It is very telling that the "live action" movies so often have to resort to animation for certain aspects while animation never has to resort to live action. And don't get me wrong, the push towards making more realistic animation has been around for a long ass time...I remember one of the selling points for Final Fantasy 8 being how much more realistic the graphics were compared to 7...and it is genuinely impressive as to how life like animation can be these days, but studios need to be honest about what the heck they're doing. When 95% of your movie is all CGI then simply including live actors does not make it a live action movie. At that point, why are we even bothering with the green screen? Just animate the actors, let them do the voice overs and be done with it; you'll most likely end up with a better product.
Ah... I missed the days where the lines weren't blurred. When one thing could stay as what it was without being considered something else. Where animation would be the medium used to make fantastical and amazing things not possible with live action. If I am considering making something live action or animation, I'd consider which would fit the movie I was making, not what would sell more.
Amen. The most insulting is Snow White. The first animated feature to prove it could be done and they remake it and label it as "brought to life" as if the original Snow White movie had none. I think the only live action remakes that are worth anything are ones that are fundamentally different movies. There's a Jungle Book movie from Disney in the 90s that has nods to the original, but operates completely different and acts more like a Tarzan style movie. It doesn't step on or tries to replace the original. If it's so similar to the original, what's the point other than to invalidate the animated aspect? Yet when they change things, it's also bad because modern Hollywood's original ideas are terrible. There's plenty of remakes in general in the past that are amazing, Addams Family, The Thing, The Fly, 3:10 to Yuma, Ocean's Eleven, the Italian Job... But somehow none of those are based on animated films.
"If you wouldn't watch a given show or movie. I don't think you should let your kids watch it." PHENOMENAL quote I will be using. Animation isn't childish, it's a medium for storytelling just as a camera and a microphone are. I equally love and respect both traditional and animated forms of media under the same umbrella of storytelling. Because as long as you're telling a great story, quite frankly I don't care how you're telling it so long as long as your medium of choice fits. I love gushing over good animation just as much as good film direction. I wish studios would stop recycling old films into new mediums that don't serve any purpose, and I truly hope that the level of storytelling coming from Hollywood could stop being so inconsistent this past decade.
As a grown ass 34 year old I have many of the animated movies I enjoyed as a child in my DVD collection. Just bought a copy of The Wild Robot a few days ago. Being an adult has in no way lessened my love/enjoyment of children's movies or animated films in general. If anything, I now have a deeper and richer respect for the medium. I will never watch or advocate for any of these soulless, unnecessary remakes as they are nothing but a slap in the face to our cherished childhood memories
They took the amazing expressiveness of the animals in The Lion King and turned them into soulless blank faces. It bothered me SO much that it was the best-selling animated film ever until Inside Out 2 surpassed it.
I wish directors would step up and release ADULT animated films to theatres as opposed to adult animated series only occupying streaming services. So far, there are too few good examples for the general populace to justify adult stories being animated. If we had a year of adult animated films, that would seriously break the barrier in big ways, even if that will only catch with millennials and younger
@7:23 That, my friends, is Bluey, episode 1 I believe, titled 'Keepy Uppy' Side tangent: I only liked the live action beauty and the beast remake, ever since, live action stuff just seems to be slowly falling off... Disney just keeps beating that dead horse unfortunately... I only really can hope that my favorite HTTYD character, Stoic, stays great. Anyways, great video Sam! I really enjoy your content, and it just keeps inspiring me further.
The first major example of a live action remake I've legit enjoyed was the One Piece remake. The biggest reason was that Oda was a part of the creative process and helped make sure the transition to live action was smooth and the spirit of One Piece wasn't completely lost.
@@kingslayerkoshyI think the reason One Piece Live Action isn’t useless like other remakes is that it works as an introduction of One Piece to new audiences that would never watch such a long anime. So not only is it well made by people that care, but it serves a purpose in the new medium, unlike HTTYD LA because that one feels like it might just be a one to one redo.
I don't understand how, after Spider-Verse and ARCANE, studios still think that Animation is inferior in some way to live action or just for children! I'd even argue that Animation is the superior medium for storytelling.
Live action remakes of 3D animated movies just feel so pointless. Like the movie was animated in 3D for a reason. Half the film is gonna be cgi anyway so it’s just gonna be much less visually appealing versions of the same designs e.g. Toothless
40 year old man. Still love animation as much as I did growing up with every Disney classic on VHS. So sad to see hand drawn disney disappear and these poor remakes are just so soulless. Wish they’d take the risk and make a new animated classic…. There must be some great talent still there. Sad it seems the average movie goer laps up a poorer version of something that still exists today and never lost its charm.
"I reject that whole point of view - that animation is a children's medium. The way people talk about it is, well, hey, it's a good thing I have kids, because now I get to see this. Well, hey, no, man! You can just go and see it." - Brad Bird
Preach man. Im so disgusted at the new how to train your dragon regardless of how good it looks. Its literallt saying this beautiful and heart wrenching trilogy isnt good enough. We need a real version. Complete disrespect to the animators who painstakingly brought these characters to life.
@@ThePrincessCH - And she is correct. As good as “How to Train Your Dragon” is, it had no cultural impact. Meaning, Universal needs a way to advertise an expensive theme park attraction.
Thanks for making this video. I've always had a deep love for animation more than anything else which has only GROWN the older I've become. I've never once felt I needed to be ashamed of it or justify why I like it ''at my age.'' So I've never really been able to understand people who think that way. Maybe I'm bias, but I agree so much that it's a very childish way of thinking to say that animation is inferior, and that as adults it is somehow beneath us. I've seen so many people try to justify watching animation by either having kids or feeling ''nostalgic for their childhood.'' Whilst I pose the argument that they never should have left those things behind in the first place in this desire to be ''grown up.'' Children aren't the only ones that can enjoy things just for the sake of that thing and find inherent value and joy and inspiration. If anything, we need that more as adults. When it comes to things like this, it's no surprise that most adults feel miserable. I could go on this rant for days, but my point being, I really appreciate this video, because even if it's been said before, it clearly needs to be heard still.
This reminds me of a short story i was read to in Elementary school. I forgot the title of it, but the overall plot is about a really pretentious guy that claims animated movies are childish and lame, but goes to see one anyway after his friends told him to watch it. He goes to the theater, immediately hates the movie and blatantly falls asleep in the theater to it. Even back then i was annoyed by that character and story.
After playing a game like Marvel Rivals I REALLY want Marvel to focus a lot more on animations. What If is cool but it looks like a Disney channel show, but the Marvel Rivals animation and character designs are some of my favorite ever. Also they can still tell some very compelling stories. I mean there’s a reason why movies like into and across the spideverse are highly regarded as the best marvel movies
Animation gives characters SO much more uniqueness and personality than live action could ever hope to achieve. If you remade The Secret of Nimh and used a "realistic" rat to portray Nicodemus or a "realistic" owl to portray the Great Owl, they would both lose their individuality. The Great Owl is terrifying because he DOESN'T look like a regular owl. Nicodemus has a powerful presence because he DOESN'T look like a regular rat. Same with Jenner. Imagine if that psychopathic little jerk just looked like your garden variety sewer rat. How much of his vicious, animalistic, and aggressive personality would we lose? It's not worth it for the "realism" and it never will be.
The animated “Beauty and the Beast” was nominated for Best Picture, and is far more emotionally mature than the remake. Honestly, I suspect that particular remake was only greenlit, because at the time Disney had no plans to revive the stage musical on Broadway. Unfortunately, they forgot to cast leads who can sing. That remake did one good thing, it made the animated film more popular and has led to a revival of the stage show.
Adults who don’t like animation because it’s animation are like children who don’t like black and white films because they’re in black and white. They can’t see past the surface level, nor can they appreciate art in a medium or style that they aren’t used to.
That's not a good example because colour films are fundamentally better than black-and-white ones. Sure, sometimes directors might use black-and-white for storytelling purposes like in Schindler's List, but there is a reason there are no black-and-white movies played straight anymore. The whole point here is that animation is not inherently inferior to live-action.
I think Arcane is a prime example of an animated show that should be even more popular than it already is, but there's a lot of people out there who won't watch it because its animated. And hearing that Riot Games wants to make live action League of Legends shows, just has me cringing. The world of Runeterra should stay in the animated format.
“Because apparently whatever diseases causes studios to generate pointless cash grabs is infectious.” I do believe someone once said something about the love of money…
@@aethefledladyofmercia9572 What is that hypocrite’s actual goal is anyway? Promote more dwarf actors into the industry or only make that he’s the only dwarf actor there is?
Keira Knightley also made some criticisms about Disney's "Cinderella" and "The Little Mermaid" to Ellen Degeneres that were already aspects of the original folktale.
I absolutely love animated films. I think one of the reasons why is because often times, it isn't realistic. There are some exceptions to this, but not many. But ultimately, in animations there are no rules, no limits to what can be done. To me, that's what gives it its charm, and why I believe there are so many people who also share the same love for it. It isn't grounded in realism and can push the limits of what can be. Side note: HTTYD was the first movie I ever saw in a theater, so I'm truly hoping that the re-release isn't as big a letdown as I'm worried it will be, because I WILL be watching it. It may go the route of the nonexistent sequel to Pacific Rim and never be spoken of, but I do still have a sliver of hope yet that this one may be worth hanging on to.
I'm sick n tired of live action remakes too, and I'm tired of just 3D also. If only we could go back to good old 2D hand drawn animation and stop motion animation.
@@dreamguardian8320 Would you consider Tarzan (1999) "good old 2D hand drawn animation"? For a very long time after its release, I thought it was the technical height of animation. It let the computer be good at moving around the world in 3D (breaking free of just side-to-side or limited scaling), and letting the animators paint the world and animate the characters. Deep Canvas was both the perfect name for the tools used and for the mentality they seemed to have when knowing the best (and seamless) mix of hand drawn and 3D elements.
Anytime a studio decides to do a live-action remake of an animated movie, they are setting themselves up for artistic failure because animators purposely select stories that live-action wouldn't handle very well. Unfortunately, there are so many sheeple ready to consume these abominations, we're going to keep getting these until they literally run out of IPs to ravage.
There is a fundamental magic to animation. I hold, with unironic sincerity, that Animation simply IS a superior art form. I actually even hold that it's better for mundane stories as well. HAIKYUU is just a story about some high schoolers playing volley ball, but so many of the techniques and methods that it uses to convey it's story and emotional meaning simply could not work or would be far less compelling in live action. Even when nothing magical is going on Animation can make the mundane INTO the magical. Or perhaps for a less silly example Grave of the Fireflies shows that serious, subtle and mundane things can be effectively and compellingly handled through the lens of animation. Animation is simply near limitless in what it can achieve, and I firmly believe that with rare exceptions it will be the superior medium.
I will FOREVER prefer animation, as I myself hope to some day an animator, and I find it quite beautiful. I'll also take stab at the Bluey episode. hmmmm... keepy-uppy? or whatever the balloon one was? I only watch Bluey when my little sister happens to want it over whatever the other competing shows are, and I will not claim to know the episode titles very well
"keepy up" and "Bingo", the name of both Bluey episodes depicted here. I started watching Bluey with my daughters because of your shout out. I have (now) 3 daughters. But my two eldests are 6 and 4 years old, just like Bluey and Bingo. They have so many traits in common with the characters (including having a very playful father) and we love to watch ir together, and them replay the episodes in real life. Animation is so very important, and not really a "child" thing at all.
Long before Television became mainstream, studios made cartoons & animated movies for all audiences to watch in movie theaters, both Adults & their Children watching them together & enjoying it, but soon they started making cartoons that were aimed more towards a younger audience, and as adults began losing interest in animation they began seeing it as something exclusively for kids, while they watched programs that were aimed for a more mature audience, without realizing that there was also some animation out there that was aimed for the mature audience, so some kids ended up getting exposed to more mature programming in the form of animation, which may have traumatized them into thinking that cartoons Should be excusively made for kids, This idea that "Cartoons are for Kids" has been going on for Far too long & needs to be Stopped! Because Animation is just as important a form of art as Anything Else throughout the Media, and Live-Action Movies & Shows with those CGI Animated special effects is proof of That!
This year came out Transformers One. It's easily the best Transformers movie, but so many people rejecting it because it was animated was so upsetting.
Animation is my favorite art form and I love stories delivered in animated format. It is beautiful and I'm always amazed by the talent people need to have to make still pictures look like they're moving convincingly. I'm also glad to see more acceptance of animation as a tool for telling stories for more adult audiences, like Arcane. Still, the sentiment that animation is more for kids still exists. I thought an animated superhero show like Invincible was far better written than the MCU shows coming out on Disney+, but most people I know only pay attention to those MCU shows.
I’ve said this many times, and I’ll say it again…Animation, is a form of art. And it’s meant to be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of age. I am so tired of people claiming “Animation is just kids” when in reality…it really isn’t, it’s for everyone. I’ll definitely be making a video myself on this topic, because this is something I’m very passionate about. Great video good sir, take care.
Not sure if it's necessarily disagreement, but I have a different perspective on this. While I am a fan of the Avatar and How to Train Your Dragon series, I am also a big fan of animation itself (as I am an animator). That being said, I am someone who genuinely wants to see "live action" versions of these animated series because, to me, the challenge of making realistic 3D characters and animating them well can be compelling. I have massive respect for the animators who make the "live action" CG characters and I love seeing the work; the issue lies with the execution of screen writing and live actors. Avatar could have worked had they gotten more creative and had good writing. This new Train Your Dragon movie is already unappealing to me because it feels like it is visually trying to compete/ stick with the visuals of the original when I would have wanted to see a darker tone more befitting of the age of vikings with tootheless looking and behaving more like an animal (because he is one). Take pokemon for another exampe; I badly want to see a realistic depiction of that world where the pokemon are in fact animals and both behave and look like it. That would open the door to so much creativity and would work if written correctly. Thankfully, I haven't ever really heard anyone in my circles say they can't watch something because it is animated. Rather, most people I meet prefers animated media to live action or appreciates both equally. Love your stuff, keep it up!
Say it louder for the people in the back! Seriously, one of the reasons I have a major beef with the live action Beauty and the Beast (and refuse to watch it on principle) is because there was so. Much. Potential. To take that masterpiece and expand and tweak it to make something *else* that was still similar and beautiful. The Cinderella movie sure managed it. But no, we got a shot for shot remake with poorer acting and no material or inspiration at all from the musical, yes I'm still mad...
I'd have the opposite take on the HTTYD movie: it was a squandered opportunity to be faithful to the actual source material (the books). And with the books in mind, Toothless looks and behaves *too much* like an animal in many ways (he behaves like a toddler in the originals, has a face which has kind-of human expressions, and speaks the dragonese language which hiccup can understand). Although in other ways, of course; dragons are dangerous (not Toothless though), and a big theme of the first book is that dragons are fundamentally selfish and lacking gratitude. Also, Toothless does try to eat Hiccup's family cat in the first book. In terms of a darker tone, well the books have a mix of darker themes/characters and 'childish' elements (e.g. toilet humour); but many of the 'childish' elements would probably have to be cut in a live action so a reasonably faithful adaption would probably feel darker. I'm still hoping they may introduce some elements of the books (that weren't in the animation), but it's clear from the trailers and casting they have jettisoned most of it in favour of the animation, which is very sad.
@IamGrimalkin I actually didn't know there was a book! The animated film did a perfect job imo, though I understand a fan of the book can be touchy when things are faithful to that book. It does sound like the book version would be more befitting of live action though
@@leetlc441 The animation changed huge amounts of things from the books; which is why I feel like a more direct adaption is needed. I'm not saying the animations aren't as their own works, but they have had their time in the sun already, whereas the books have never has a proper adaption. Probably the biggest differences are: -Dragons and Viking don't fight each other from the beginning: the dragons work for Vikings from the start, although neither really respects each other. -Dragons speak the "Dragonese" language, which only Hiccup can interpret (speaking this language is banned among Vikings). -Hooligans train dragons using the technique in "How to Train your Dragon" by Professor Yobbish: "YELL AT IT!" (in Norse, not Dragonese). Hiccup trains them by speaking to them in Dragonese. -Toothless is a hunting dragon (pet-sized), not a riding dragon in the books. Riding dragons are only introduced in books 4/5. -Toothless is notable for being (on the surface) small, common, weak, and lacking teeth. Hiccup and Toothless are mocked for this. -Toothless acts like a toddler and is a metaphor for parenting. -Hiccup's riding dragon, Windwalker, has a bad leg and PTSD from his time as a slave. -The young Vikings in Berk, apart from Fishlegs and Hiccup; are strong, macho, dumb, with a lot of bravado. Fishlegs and Hiccup are weak, smart, and afraid of things. A big theme is the contrast between the two. -As such Astrid does not exist. However, Thuggory takes on a similar role in the first book as Astrid does in the first movie; and in book 3 they introduce a female lead from another viking tribe called Camicazi, although she is completely different from Astrid. -Fishlegs (and later Camicazi) takes a much more central role. -Fishlegs' character is completely different. He is skinny, weak, unskilled as a fighter, sarcasric, scared of adventure, and has a squint, knock-knees, an allergy to reptiles, and can go into a berserker rage. -Alvin the Treacherous is a reoccurring villain that appears in many books. -There is more of a focus on other viking tribes besides the Hooligans. -Only the first movie really adapts the main plot of any given book (although even then with many changes): Hiccup still defeats the Green Death in this one. The books do also end with the dragons going away, but this was the decision of the dragon leader in response to historic slavery and an interspecies war, and they do this by going into Sleep Comas for millenia (this is known from the very start of the series as a form of dramatic irony, but for a while it looked like the dragons were going to go away due to genocide instead). -In the early books, Hiccup tends to win by coming up with a clever plan. In the late books there are still plans but victories are also often linked with destiny or a face heel turn of a major character. Also sometimes Hiccup loses. In contrast all the movies end with Toothless and co. winning in a firefight.
The point on the screen at 3:23 is what really brings the point home for me. The LEGO Movie is proof that some concepts simply *would not work* in live action, so it's not a huge leap to say that some other concepts would only work (or at least work better) in animation than in live action
Saddly, every time I've tried to explain this to my family, I get met with some variation of "Why do you care? It looks nice." I care because I'd rather see a new story that looks nice than the same thing I grew up on that still looks nice.
Tbh not only do they need to stop making live action remakes of animated films, but they need to start making animated adaptations of books instead of live action
That is what How To Train Your Dragon is though, Dreamwork’s adaptation of a book I believe by the same name. Same with The Bad Guys (which I found out by accident when wandering around a book store). Though if you’re saying they need to do that more, especially since the examples I mentioned were quite beloved and thus successful, then I agree they need to do more of that. EDIT: Also I’m pretty sure every classic Disney movie ever was an adaptation of an existing literature, though those were mostly centuries old stories even by the early 1900s.
I don't believe for a second that HHTYD will capture flight like the animated version managed to. Animation isn't only not interior. Animation is superior (at some things)
The association of animation with children' entertainment is almost wholly the result of the Baby Boomers growing up in the 1960s with the then newly widely-adopted technology of televisions running re-runs of classic Golden Age Cartoons. Ironically, those cartoons were not even intended specifically for children since they were made by rambunctious twenty-year-old artists who played pranks on each other at Termite Terrance and snuck dirty gags into the shorts they animated, aiming them at a general adult audience who would see them in theaters between big pictures. Before the 1960s, it was generally accepted animation could be made for and enjoyed by people of all ages. It's only the fact that kids spent so much time watching linear terrestrial TV in the 60s era, and especially on Saturday mornings when cartoons were on, that the association became established in that generation's mind. Going back to watch earlier Disney films, including Snow White, Fantasia, Pinnochio, Dumbo, and Bambi, you realize that they had elements, characters, and events that had a very hard and even quite gritty and dark edge to them (the Wicked Queen's Transformation, Stromboli threatening Pinnochio with an axe, the Coachman's plans for the bad boys he took to Pleasure Island, Lampwick's Donkey Transformation, the Bald Mountain Sequence, Dumbo being forcibly separated from his mother by the circus handlers and ostracized by the elephant matriarch and her herd, and of course, the Death of Bambi's Mother). These obviously aren't child-friendly elements, and fittingly so since Walt wanted them to be films for audiences of all ages and not specifically children. People of his era were more bemused at the idea of an audience sitting through an hour-and-a-half cartoon before Snow White came out, when cartoons in that era were known for being short subject comedy films, and the general zeitgeist was that broadly-drawn, simple-shaded and painted cels of animation couldn't carry the kind of emotional and dramatic weight of a serious live-action picture. Obviously, Walt and his team proved them wrong with the funeral scene for Snow White, to the medium's eternal benefit. But obviously, the stigma that was gained in the 1960s never left the public consciousness, especially since the Baby Boomers and each subsequent generation would partially raise their kids on weekday afternoon and Saturday morning cartoons.
I usually find the popular R-rated and adult oriented movies less mature than any family-movie. When they are allowed to show graphic violence and curse words, they often include it because they can, not because it makes the story deeper or more interesting. That need often comes from a childish impulse and desire to do adult-things for the sake of it, just like how teens want to do what they are not allowed to in order to feel like one of the adults. That's what I felt when I saw the Deadpool and Wolverine. Family-movies are often more thought through, since they appeal to both children and parents. But I also just find it better story telling to avoid showing anything graphic, since it won't be as powerful as letting the audience read between the lines and use their imagination. It quickly becomes "tell" instead of "show". F-bombing every minute also quickly becomes lazy writing, since there are so many other creative ways of showing frustration. There are good exceptions, but they are not as popular, especially from the recently made films.
Well spoken , I feel like PG-13 has lost its meaning over the years ,it seems audience feel like a pg 13 rated movie or shows can't tell a mature story and that's not true , I've seen pg rated tv shows that be more " mature audience " themed than alot of these r rated movies .
@@vgmaster9 I'd recommend the animation movies "The Breadwinner" and "Ruben Brandt: The Collector". The Breadwinner is about an Afghani girl who has to disguise herself as a boy in order to go out and provide for her family after her father is arrested. The story is playful and is almost told like a folk tale, since the girl compares herself to such a story. Ruben Brandt is about a psychologist who treats criminals. He helps them to overcome their issues so that they can go back to becoming even better criminals. But then famous paintings haunts his own dreams. This movie is all fun, full of art, playful, mysterious, and psychological, and is still a heist movie. I think every frame has a famous painting in it, the style is really unique. I also plan to watch A Cat in Paris, but I haven't seen it yet. It looks interesting.
@@vgmaster9 I'd recommend the animation movies "The Breadwinner" and "Ruben Brandt: The Collector". The Breadwinner is about an Afghani girl who has to disguise herself as a boy in order to go out and provide for her family after her father is arrested. The story is playful and is almost told like a folk tale, since the girl compares herself to such a story. Ruben Brandt is about a psychologist who treats criminals. He helps them to overcome their issues so that they can go back to becoming even better criminals. But then famous paintings haunts his own dreams. This movie is all fun, full of art, playful, mysterious, and psychological, and is still a heist movie. I think every frame has a famous painting in it, the style is really unique. I also plan to watch A Cat in Paris, but I haven't seen it yet. It looks interesting.
I love that shows like Arcane exist, simultaneously pushing the limits of animation and showing that it's a medium to be taken seriously. My older brother doesn't like animation, but he was thoroughly invested in Arcane
YES!! You voiced everything I feel about this topic! Animation is for EVERYONE, and these "live-action" adaptations are just pointless! They don't improve on the original animated content, sometimes they make it worse, the obvious money grab diminishes the magic and authenticity of the story and the trust of the audience that they are getting quality material, and it's just, UGH, SO unnecessary! I am 20 years old and I have always loved animation and I always will. The last few years I learned more about storytelling too, and more recently I'm learning how to draw digitally because I want to draw my own little comics for Instagram. There needs to be a balance between the corporate side and the creative side of these animation companies. I don't blame the artists or the actors at all, they do great work, I blame corporate. The Disney remakes are already so irritating, but now DREAMWORKS too?! I thought they were better than that. The HTTYD animated movies are some of my very favorite movies EVER. And they're not just entertaining. They are masterpieces from every angle. The story, the voice acting, the character design, the colors, the MUSIC goddamn the music is phenomenal, and the animation only gets better as you progress through the movies. It's still stylized, but it's more clear and smooth and some more details. Perfection. They can never improve on that. Things just feel DIFFERENT in animation, you know? It is better in a lot of ways for many stories, although there are some I love that started out as live action and stayed that way (mostly), such as Star Trek, Merlin, The Flash, and more. Soulless money grabs is the right way to describe these remakes. It's disappointing, it feels like corporate cares more about quantity over quality. As someone who sees the true power and wonder of animation, it breaks my heart to see it treated this way. My mom can't be convinced to watch most animated stuff she's never seen before, even though she saw most of the awesome recent-ish animated movies with me when they came out or however long afterwards, like HTTYD, and Frozen 2, and many more. I got her to watch one animated show with me, Hilda, on Netflix, and she loved it! Yet she still won't try other ones, like ATLA, widely agreed upon to be possibly THE BEST animated show EVER. People are still talking about it passionately and it is gaining new fans LONG after the last episode was released. Cause it's worth it. She watches all kinds of very violent and dark live action shows by herself. I did get her to watch a few episodes of Arcane, but she wouldn't finish it. Her reason? It was too violent. WHAT?! I think she just won't admit she has a subconscious block or something against animation. I can't even describe how important so many of these stories are to me. They are awesome just on their own as a show or movie, but they have also gotten me through my most lonely and difficult years, given me an escape when the real world was too much, and taught me important life lessons from the safe environment of my couch, which I often reflect upon extensively later (I'm an overthinker). It's really hard to pick, but I think it is LIKELY that HTTYD, ATLA, and The Owl House (aka TOH) are the best and most significant pieces of animated media in my whole life. It's MIND BLOWING how good these things can be, and there are SO MANY of them!! There's something for everyone, but so many people refuse to give it a chance, because they think all animation is for children, which is the real stupid and childish thing. I don't want to watch a live action version of HTTYD or Moana, and the Moana one is especially weird because Moana 2 JUST came out recently (and actually I didn't think was as good as the first one, despite it's box office scores, I think it was a better set up for a Moana 3 than a good movie on its own, and the songs weren't as catchy)! I'm so tired of everything being about money. What happened to artistic integrity and dignity and quality even in big companies? I'm a human being with complicated thoughts and emotions and needs and I can see what's going on here, I'm not just a walking wallet for you to manipulate. You don't want to go too far into losing the public's favor. It can't last forever the way they are doing things right now. Quality always wins, eventually. Why do so many people not see that this is bad? And not see how great animation is? Are they really so worried about being mature that they cease to see all that is magical, and would reject experiences that could enhance their life? F**king tragic. And we're the ones getting the brunt of the negative consequences that behavior causes. I want them to just go back to making quality original animated movies and TV shows. They have made me feel so safe and happy before, now they are taking that away. I thought this was one of the only things I could rely on and be confident about in life, but not even this? Really, not even DreamWorks? What have we come to? 😔 Is there anything we can do to help fix/combat this? The world NEEDS great stories, even if they don't know it yet.
I think, as director Brad Bird has stated a lot of times, that viewing animation as a genre, as you did in 8:36, is the cause of a lot of this issues. Animation is an artistic choice that, well handled, can elevate the storytelling of any genre (fantasy, science fiction, comedy, etc). Limiting animation as a "genre" undermines those infinity capabilities and subconsciously connect it, I think, to the idea that is "for children", like, it's the "kid's genre". I just feel the need to point it out cause I agree with you 100% with this video, and is clear you didn't say it with the intension of minimize animation, but because unfortunately is so common in media to caracterice it as such. I hope my comment helps to this discussion haha God bless!
Part of what made Avatar the live action version so bad was that the people who were doing the writing and producing and making of it never watched the animated show. They changed completely how fire bending worked in the live action version, which ruined the entire premise of the show.
You just ruined your chances to play Megamind.
Best comment yet
LMAO
You misspelled Saitama*
@@RoninXDarknight*Squidward
"Oh you're live action, but not Megamind."
"What's the difference?"
"Presentation!"
The worst part about these “live action” remakes in my opinion is the fact that CGI is animation, they are literally just reanimating the already animated film but making it look ten times worse this time.
How does the live action and animated versions of "Mo Dao Zu Shi" compare?
it's so funny because almost everyone who fanboys over these companies and the companies themselves desperately tries to force mindset and gaslight everyone that CG isn't an animation and that special effects aren't animation
Yeah, they should just label it as "photorealistic" or something, which is an absolutely horrible idea for talking fish, clocks, etc.
@@changer_of_ways_999 I think people generally attribute that term to certain DreamWorks projects.
It’s because CG is more realistic, and everybody knows that realism is the ultimate form of art and that there isn’t any other art style that has ever been popular or good
It’s really annoying how animation is still treated as something exclusively for kids.
And of course thanks to the idiots in the Oscars, getting pissy animated movies like Beauty and the Beast were nominated for Best Picture and not taking the Best Animation award seriously, just giving it to whatever Disney-Pixar farts out that’s not a massive flop, even if it doesn’t deserve to win.
Given recent works like Arcane and Blue Eye Samurai (which are definitely not for children) and the maturity of writing in Puss in Boots, the Last Wish, I think a few people are catching on. I hope it catches on, because I really like that kind of stuff.
Because it is.
@@seastriker4437 To be fair, the last couple Oscar winners were The Boy and the Heron (Ghibli, not really intended for children) and Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (Netflix, not intended for very young children). This year The Wild Robot is the clear favorite, but Flow - a very small indie film from Latvia - is also wracking up a lot of goodwill and critical acclaim. So there is some indication that things are moving away from the biggest hit to what voters truly feel is high quality. (Sometimes when there are bigger movies that are also considered high quality, like Puss in Boots or Across the Spider-Verse.)
When Anime exist
Brad Bird, the man that directed Ratatouille, The Incredibles, and The Iron Giant made movies that adults also love. He is constantly out there defending animation and saying how it isn't a genre or just for kids. He knows it can do almost anything, and he's shown it.
I didn’t like Ratatouille as a kid and now that I’m an adult I realize that it wasn’t really made “for kids”. Most of the jokes are layered and require some kind of knowledge to really get the best out of and while there is some slapstick it’s not as frequent as a lot of shows
I also didn’t understand the appeal of Wall-E until I was older. It was too slow pace for me and I tended to color or read while I watched tv (adhd) and having no dialogue meant I needed to watch the screen to follow and I would get distracted from lack of stimulus (same reason why I can’t listen to podcasts or audiobooks)
I can picture Brad Bird telling them in his Edna voice "NO REMAKES!"
Ratatouille and Wall-E are two of the most elegant, sophisticated movies I’ve ever seen.
@@007Julie Wall-E is great. And Ratatouille is my favorite Pixar movie.
I understand what you're getting at and I completely agree with Brad Bird that animation is not just for kids, but it can be for adults too. I also agree that animation is a medium, not a genre.
Animation is a medium, not a genre, and the way Disney just thinks that because they have new technology that it's somehow obsolete is sad.
That's the word I was looking for.
And arguably, a more versatile, more powerful medium.
There are very few things you can do with live action that you cant do as well or better in animation.
We've seen a similar phenomenon when almost all big western animation studios decided that every one of their animated productions would be 3D rather than 2D. Japan is still going strong with 2D animated works, often including 3D elements where appropriate, but 3D is neither superior nor inferior to 2D despite western companies treating 2D as inferior.
Perhaps this is another example of them prioritizing cost cutting, but movie studios and game studios should know better than to think that realism equals quality. We all saw those comically shot live-action Batman pieces from the 60s, we've all seen the horrifying 3d animated mockbusters, so the notion that live-action or 3D animation is strictly superior is something that there's mountains of evidence against. Demon Slayer is lauded for its art style, Fullmetal Alchemist is beloved for its writing, and the Simpsons has been on the air for over 30 years. If 2D would look better, deliver on the fantasy of the world better, then that's what the audience should be given.
I don't know why Hollywood is treating animation like it's completely childish when that's completely false.
Japan knew totally that, this is why there are many animes and mangas with different genders, like sports, music, drama, terror!
I hated the idea of live action remakes, but the Lion King "live action" was what put me over the edge. Nothing about that movie was live action, it was entirely CGI generated. Its insulting to animators, CGI animators, and the viewers to call that atrocity live action.
The maddest I've ever been at the announcement of a live action remake (and even for the first ones I saw announced I was questioning why they existed) was when I first saw the trailer for Mufasa. Because what do we need more than a "live-action" remake of a beloved childhood movie that no one actually asked for? Obviously, the answer is a prequel/origin story "live-action" original that definitely no one asked for.
@Spifyninja haha well said my friend, well said
@@SpifyninjaTo be fair, at least Mufasa IS an original movie and not just a live action retelling of another film. People clamor on about wanting original stories, and Disney is delivering with this film. But the masses still aren’t happy.
@@Godaerentalos People are asking for original stories, which doesn't just mean not remakes, but also means breaking away from franchises. In addition, people are more and more wanting franchises to respect what came before, and not to contradict major parts of previously established lore, the way Mufasa does.
Live action httyd is insult to adult themes in original httyd trilogy
Animation is a medium for storytelling, not a genre for children. The sooner the world learns that, the sooner these soulless live action remakes can stop being churned out.
I think Disney perfectly understands the difference but they want us to believe otherwise so they can make more money
Unfortunately you have tons of normie people (like my dad) who say “Oh! The live action Aladdin was amazing!” Or “The new Lion King movie was very cute.”
@@minicritman999 There’s no accounting for taste, I guess.
Animation was never meant for kids in the first place from what I’ve heard.
Seriously, people were complaining about Disney shilling out remakes and yet they’re eating up a HTTYD remake as if it’s not doing the exact same thing. And if they succeed they’ll do more of it, we don’t want that
I think the only difference is that Dreamworks doesn't have the multitude of failed remakes, is including the original creator, and looks similar to the original. I still thinks it's dumb, though, just being devil's advocate
Tbh I think the httyd remake looks good, but only because it's a shot for shot remake of a movie that we already knew was good
Oh god, let's hope that they won't continue doing that.
While I do think it looks good, it is completely unnecessary. I look at it and just say to myself, "What's the point?" I can watch the original whenever I feel like it, so why bother watching what is so obviously a cash grab?
Also, considering that the person who wrote this comment is an artist, an animator, and a storyteller, one whom I've experienced their work, I'm inclined to take their word for it.
A lot of people tend to favor DreamWorks because of the simple fact that they're not Disney. It might actually do better than most Disney remakes because of that fact.
Hollywood needs to leave good things alone.
Agreed.
@@GreatWesternSpirit28 like children and families.
Hollywood needs to disappear..I came to this conclusion because of Candace Owens.
@@GreatWesternSpirit28 Industries thrive on profits more than creativity.
Like that's ever gonna happen, because we are walking dollar bills to them.
The world would be a much better place if there weren't extremely insecure adults who are afraid of being judged for watching drawings move.
They need to grow up
Ironically
Because they think that they are grown-up because they don't watch animation
Or maybe, as a more even keeled approach, we could simply say that most adults have simply moved on from animation. I'M certainly not one, but I don't think anybody HAS to watch an animated film to not be insecure. Not to say what you said doesn't exist, just sounded very closed-minded.
@@xavierthomas5835 Oh that's not the problem, if people simply aren't into animation, that's their preference. My problem is a Disney adult type who squeals in delight "dude, pride rock!" when they see a live action remake trailer, and will gush about how amazing it was to give their child the "same experience they had" seeing the original movie in theaters.
I confront such people with "wouldn't you rather just watch the original?" I notice a common pattern that this type of person will happily reference a line from Emperor's New Groove, but actually sitting down and watching it with their other adult friends? That's... That's weird right? That's not a normal thing for adults to do, right?? People will think I'm weird if I actually enjoy watching animated movies with my friends!!
In the end, people have varied reasons. All I want is for it to be given respect, and I chide anyone who remarks that something being animated automatically makes it for children.
@WasatchWind I can respect that. In that sense, you are very correct. Many people are fine with watching animated films alone, but doing so with other adult friends? Nearly impossible to comprehend.
@@xavierthomas5835 If you’re not watching an animated film that people say is good because “animation’s for kids” then you’re insecure about it. Anyone who wants to watch HTTYD but didn’t because it’s animated has no excuse
Yes, some people aren’t into animation, but they will watch something if they hear it’s really good and The fact that Into the Spiderverse is easily the best Spider-Man movie yet it made the least at the box office speaks to how many people don’t view animation on something that can be enjoyed by adults. My mom likes other super hero movies and when I said my favorite Peter Parker was from Into the Spiderverse she said the movie doesn’t count
As someone trying to break into the animation industry, seeing the live action remakes like HTTYD, Moana, and Lilo and Stitch just makes me realize…
Indie animation is the way to go
@Bounty-Hunter-e8jk Yup. I saw a really great animated short called Rhino and the Redbill and that would have made for an excellent series.
yup! saw this good animation called netizen by baraharalee last friday
@@Avarn388 I’ll have to look at that one but even stuff like Amazing Digital Circus, Lackadaisy, Ramshackle, The Art of Murder and countless others are reason enough to
That, or Japanese animation. Japan still values the art of animation
Cartoon Saloon. Don't forget Cartoon Saloon.
I’m glad you did this because some of my favorite movies of recent have been animated. Puss N Boots the Last Wish, Into the Spider verse and most recently the Wild Robot and Transformers One. Animation to me is my favorite medium of storytelling because you can do anything visually. And express ideas and concepts that wouldn’t work well in live action. For example, different art styles to convey mood and tone. Obviously the writing for this stuff matters. Bad visuals should not obfuscate bad writing, like horrible character development, plot holes and a lack of cohesion, consistency and continuity.
Anime is a treasure trope for that however you need to pick raisins. There's too much trash around to just "watch something".
I LOVED the Wild Robot. The impressionistic art style is amazing and the MUSIC. UGH. I also liked transfomers one, but it suffers from another depressing trend, having to have celebrity voice actors. Half of chris hemsworths lines as optimus took me out of the movie completely. I still don't understand why they had to have him when the guy who voices Kratos exists.
The best movies of the year are The Wild Robot, Transformers One, and Inside Out 2. It's not even close.
I’ve said for the past decade “I don’t have an issue with live action, but the stories being told in animation is a lot better right now than what’s being told in live action”. I would love to see something live action, but they just aren’t giving much that’s interesting story wise right now. I haven’t seen Wicked (never got into the stage show) but the last live action movies I saw were Barbie and Oppenheimer and even though I don’t think either was bad I also found both of them lacking in a way I didn’t get from Last Wish or Encanto or Nimona. They felt like there was this big message they were trying to put first instead of being a good story first and having a message second
@@bowserbreaker2515 I found Inside Out 2 disappointing since I felt like it was too similar to the original, then Moana 2 came out and I realize it could have been worse. I still think it would have made a better TV show though since I feel like having smaller stories where a problem needs to be worked through is better than trying to force another quick change. The way that Anxiety magically shows up and takes over completely in the span of a week seemed wrong. If they had done a show, then they could have had Anxiety in the background the whole time and have an hour long finale where she kicks Joy out after she has Riley do something embarrassing and now she’s worried that the whole school is talking about it
Animation is a *medium* , NOT A GENRE. It's *much* better for magical stories too. We should bring back 2D.
Anime: Am I a joke to you?
@@FrostclawTheGatomon
Oh boy, I got to get back to watching more anime. Speaking of which, Pokémon IS the highest grossing media franchise, and it basically counts as an anime, though weather or not it's cinema could be debatable, honestly, I'm not a fan of a lot of the newer Switch Pokémon games. 😒
@@bugonboris6681 "it basically counts as an anime" it literally *has* a whole anime series including several movies wdym
@@bugonboris6681 There's Digimon, too. That one is Anime.
@@alt1763
I mean the fact that it has an entire anime series as you mentioned is why I said the franchise basically counts as an anime. It's not that deep.
That C.S. Lewis quote at 5:36 definitely summed up my thoughts on those who think grown ups only watch adult content. In fact, they are acting less like adults than they think by saying that.
Well said. I’ve been annoyed at this mindset for a long time. Animation is art. It’s a medium, not a genre.
And family friendly means FAMILY friendly. As in, the WHOLE family. Adults included.
I personally find myself enjoying animation more as an adult than when I was a kid because I recognize the artistic choices behind the animation. Color choices, character design, art style and style changes. Animation is beautiful and I’m tired of it being so unappreciated.
YESSSS!!!!!!
This. I never noticed how beautiful Spongebob's world is until I grew up and realized how amazing the design of the show is.
And Spongebob is one of the main shows people will dismiss.
My parents, my mom in particular, fall into the mindset of "any form of animation (movie or video games) is exclusively for children". My siblings and I grew up with such a love for video games as a whole that it made it hard for my mom to connect or spend time with us. As we grew, that love never ceased. While I was in college, one Christmas break, my mom finally showed an interest in trying a game. So I brought home Journey (by ThatGameCompany). My mom was so invested in exploring that it took her 4hrs to finish what is typically a 2hr game. She's never played a video game since, but spending an evening on the couch with my mom talking about the story and the music and the art style is one of my most cherished memories.
It is for children. Put away childish things and step into your role.
@@Th3BigBoyadults are simply bigger children -The queen from deltarune
@@Th3BigBoythen you better put this channel away the pendeja because fantasy stories like LOTR are for children to by your logic
@@Th3BigBoy what role are you referring to?
@@Th3BigBoy Question, what makes animation for kids? I mean animation was orignally only for adults. Then you have all the live action movies that are for kids.
The only thing that makes something "for kids" is it not having things that aren't appropriate for kids. Yet even then there are animated shows, like Avatar, that although appropriate for kids, go into very mature elements that live action shows often do not
"Animation is not inferior"
Tell that to 80% of America. Even with the anime being super popular, most Americans still think animation is for kids.
That's why we need to start giving more of our attention towards actual high-quality stuff like Flow, Look Back, Piece by Piece, Wild Robot, and Memoir of a Snail (This last one isn't kid friendly, but it none of the less proves animation is for more than just kids), instead of baby stuff like Cocomelon.
Well anime is seen as for pervs
dont forget mob psycho 100 (totally not shilling) @@bugonboris6681
It sucks.
unfortunately "adult animation" is, alot of the time, low quality slop that offers little more than "haha cartoon said a swear"
Tbh, I also tired with a$$hole protagonist in adult animation
I REALLY wish we had more innovative shows like Futurama and Invincible and less shows like the Simpsons and Family Guy. If it weren't for the former two, I would've outright HATED all adult animation.
@@devonjeffers5898 Don't shit too much on the Simpsons. Without them, we likely wouldn't have had modern animation to a certain degree. Also, rewatching old clips from what I saw as a child, and reading comments about hidden jokes (especially with the older clips) is quite interesting.
Bonus points if the characters in them are insufferable, unlikeable tools ala Velma and Santa inc.
Invincible is following the comic book mostly beat for beat. The same animation studio *had* done a more innovative sci-fi series named Pantheon. I have a hard time getting some friends to watch it because it's a cartoon, despite being actual sci-fi (examing the societal kmplications of a new technology).
As a long time fan of animation, there's nothing that breaks my heart more to see an animated film or series be dragged through the mud and remade in live action, barely even resembling what it used to be.
It serves no purpose and it's only done just as a way to make a quick buck, in Disney's case I think it's an embarrassment.
In the last couple of years we've seen them go through a really severe identity crisis, they don't know what they are anymore and what's worse, is there a completely forgotten and tarnished their legacy & the work they've made throughout the decades. Except now they are doing it to the worst degree possible by cherry picking whichever animated film do you have in their library & remaking them in live action and making really unnecessary changes.
It's the worst example of burning money on nothing & it's only going to get worse as the years go on, because it's very clear you get a strong impression that there's severely low morale to try & craft anything new in animation so instead you've got twits like Bob Iger making these really stupid decisions & in doing so stripping down everything that made these animated films, the legacies they left behind, how they've changed and impacted the culture & essentially treating them as shit.
It's disgusting & is frustrating to see animation be treated as nothing more than fodder for live action adaptation.
I believe now that the super hero era seems relatively dead, disney and other companies will start leaning into remakes and making that the new 'era' of movies. Its simply not needed or wanted, but definitely illustrates the lack of creativity and risk taking in Hollywood nowadays. Its all about the money now
@@aeb_captain4857 If remakes aren't wanted, how was "The Lion King" remake named the highest-grossing animated film of all time until "Inside Out 2"?
@@ThePrincessCH Fair point, it's Nostalgia.
I'm not against remakes, but Lion king looks bad, what's the point to sap out the fun,
if only to look realistic because insecure adults want to see the story, also again possibly.
And then there was the good portion of the audience that had seen the original, and they don't think much of this version.
it’s lazy,as a child,l remember the days when 🐭would introduce a new 2D animated feature annually(The Jungle Book,The Rescuers,Tarzan,etc)but nowadays studios would rather invest in the “sure thing” instead of taking some risk,and there are plenty of original stories/folktales to cultivate 🤔
I recently watched transformers 1 with my mom and she really liked it. I overheard her talking about it with a guest and he asked if she was talking about the live action movies. She said “no it’s a cartoon one”. I think this is one of the key problems with modern audiences in this regard. I think a lot of older people see animations and children’s cartoons as synonymous
The fact that that an ad for the “live action” Mufasa prequel movie played before this video…
The same thing happened to me.
I got one for Moana 2
I saw Flow in the theater yesterday. Latvian animated movie for kids. It was masterful - and so totally beautiful in a way that couldn't have been done in live action. It was made for $4,000,000 (a VERY cheap budget for animation), and it is one of the most gorgeous, technically accomplished movies I've ever seen. Wouldn't it be wonderful if Hollywood took some notice of something like this? Critics are all drooling over it (normal people won't watch it because they're unaware of its existence), but it's interesting to note that I can't find many talking about how it is a great movie for children. Apparently it's a good movie because it is well written and well directed (which it is!), but there is no mention of how kids would be swept away in its wordless - but very easy to understand - story and be enraptured.
In contrast, many of the trailers before the film were for very flashy, sugar-fueled American animation like Sonic 3 or that Dog Policeman movie (I didn't catch the title, I was too busy cringing). There is nothing wrong with a good fun movie, but mainstream animation rarely does anything else. They're all loud and fighting to grab your attention. Meanwhile, the biggest thing on Disney+ is Bluey, which demonstrates that this constant attention grabbing is not necessary for kids or their parents. Tell a good story, use the animation to tell it uniquely, and give us options so that our children have more than one sort of story to grow up on.
To be fair to the Sonic movies, my whole family loved the first two, myself included. They were super fun and family friendly (though a little intense for more sensitive kiddos).
In general I agree with you, though. Good stories are what kids need.
@@dancedancelauren I haven't seen them, but I hear they're alright. My point was that there is a dearth of anything else out there. I would be good with showing older children Hundreds of Beavers (by far my favorite film of the year - some sexual humor, parental discretion advised), which is nothing but zany wackiness... but if all stories they consumed were like that, they'd have the attention spans of brain-damaged goldfish.
I CANNOT WAIT to see Flow in theatres. Been trying to keep up with it since the trailer dropped; still unsure when or if it’s been released already in America but I’m definitely looking forward to it, it looks fantastic🙌🏻
@@hharden4969 it is in America right now - I saw it in Ashburn VA
@@TheWickedWizardOfOz1 Oh awesome!! Thanks so much! I’ll have to check for any showings then in my area in Texas, hope there’s still some around
People who think animation is just for kids have never seen films/shows like Akira, Prince of Egypt, or the Arcane series...and need to see said films/shows. But yeah agreed, it drives me nuts that there are excellent shows and films that are aimed at younger audiences that get completely dismissed.
Will Hollywood GET IT through its THICK head? We want original more ANIMATED projects, NOT more remakes! 🤬🤬🤬
unfortunately, lots of people flock like sheep to the remakes
If that's true, why was "The Lion King" remake considered the highest-grossing animated film of all time until "Inside Out 2"?
@@ThePrincessCH
Probably the same reason Cocomelon, Pink Fong's Baby Shark, Modern Pokémon, AND especially all those soulless content farm channels get tons of attention. Because costumers have low standards. 😒
Thank goodness Inside Out 2 dethroned that lion movie.
@@bugonboris6681I prefer they profit from nostalgia & hate watch culture.
Once again, it holds true: The difference between good children's media and bad children's media is that good children's media can be enjoyed by adults too.
Media made for children has lessons and details an adult appreciates. When it lacks these, it is a distraction made for cash, not children's media, not really.
Animated movies DO NOT need to be remade! These company’s are just wanting easy money because they don’t have to create a new story but inevitably just wasting money. I’m sick of amazing animated movies and shows not getting the recognition they deserve because some people just see it for “children” and thinking if they make in cgi (which is just more expensive animation) that now adults will watch it.
@gabriellasmith3003 It works, though. "The Lion King" remake was listed as the highest-grossing animated film of all time until "Inside Out 2."
@@ThePrincessCH Except it wouldn't work if it wasn't attached to the movie that preceded it. It only did as good as it did because of all the idiots (myself unwillingly included) who paid to go see if Disney could capture the magic of the original.
Thank you for covering this issue! Growing up my parents constantly told me I’ll grow out of watching animated shows and movies. To this day as a college student I still prefer animated stuff over any live action show or series. My parents still mention how it’s weird I like “kids shows” and movies. I felt weird or wrong for liking these things even when I grew up but I soon came to realize. I just enjoy these things. It makes me happy and makes me feel like a kid again. I enjoy the story lines and plots so much more bc it can be exaggerated! The colors and expressions. as an artist myself I can appreciate hard work and art. So ofc I enjoy animated shows and movies and there is nothing wrong with it. My parents still think so but that’s ok. I have my preferences and they have theirs. I just hope one day they can see what you see. That it’s not just meant for kids
It's a shame your parents had that mentality. My folks are more open-minded, but I still feel slightly judged or at least my animated content feels judged when I mention or watch it. I've always love animated films/shows and do so just as much--if not more--now.
3:32 The "realistic graphics are bestest and alternative art is lame, hur durrrr" perspective is one I fight with my brother-in-law about. He refuses to play the Octopath Travelers games (which have *wonderful* stories and some of the best soundtracks ever composed) because they intentionally use 8-bit style art and character sprites. The games are gorgeous, they are just stylized. The characters live forever in my head. Perfect realism isn’t always best for a story - which is exactly to your point that animation doesn’t need a live-action remake.
I remember people at the Oscars one year almost seeming to mock animation in an indirect way, saying it is stuff you watch "with your children" or it's "for kids" (something to that effect). That is just so narrow-minded and feels insulting to the people who worked on animating those projects. Plus, who do you think is animating those projects? Adults.
Except that “Beauty and the Beast” is famous for being nominated for Best Picture.
@@ChienaAvtzon I am really hoping to see Flow and Wild Robot in the Best Picture nominations this for this year.
@@BeastieMK - Animated films no longer qualify for the Best Picture category.
@@ChienaAvtzon Yes, they do. From to the rules for Animated Feature at the 97th Awards: "Films qualifying under paragraph II.A.1 are qualified to enter other General Entry categories." And from the FAQ: "General categories include Best Picture".
@@BeastieMKthey qualify. They won’t be nominated for best picture though.
I believe western audiences perceive animation as childish because they have been indoctrinated by studios who only market animation to children. I think the rise in popularity of Anime (typically more mature) worldwide signals that subconsciously, audience are craving more varied animated stories. Thank you for bringing attention to such an important topic🙌
Detachment from childhood and the inner child is a symptom of the current culture at large. The continued practice or value of anything associated with the days of youth is to be considered immature, and the past must be relegated to nothing more than happy memories as the individual accepts the nihilistic responsibility to the “real world” that will swallow up the rest of their life.
By contrast, I think the happiest old people I know are the ones who behave without a shred of regard for perceived maturity, and know how to play as hard as they’ve worked. The carefree nature of the child can be embraced alongside the intellectual obligations of adulthood rather than being replaced by them.
I thought about how to answer this and I decided to let a wise man speak for me. The Apostle Paul.
1 Corinthians 13:11 NKJV - When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
Philippians 3:13-14 NKJV - Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
@@Th3BigBoy I do not think he meant to ignore what made you enjoy life as a child, but instead to be mature. Not to mention in Matthew 18:3 Jesus said:
And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
@@Th3BigBoyAnd as I recall an even wiser man C.S. Lewis said putting away childish also means putting away the fear of childishness and the need to look grown up which you clearly haven't done.
@@Th3BigBoy I believe your heart's in the right place, brother, but the context of that verse is very important and not quite relevant to this topic.
1 Corinthians 13:11 comes off the heels of the famous passage describing all the wonderful characteristics of God's agape love, which we are to imitate. It's immediately preceding a passage that says love is greater than the gift of prophecy and even all sorts of spiritual knowledge.
The in-context meaning for this verse is that no amount of spiritual knowledge is greater than love, because the spiritual knowledge we have on this earth will one day pass away (be useless) because in heaven (where we'll be fully spiritually mature), what we know now will be eclipsed by having full knowledge. We'll see just how incomplete our earthly knowledge was. But love never fails, never dies, never becomes obsolete.
The second passage is also not referring to physical, mental, or emotional maturity (in fact, Paul himself admits in the prior verse, "Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on..." And if Paul is not mature, then who could hope to attain maturity?). Instead, it is encouraging believers to let go of our sins of the past and any sinful habits and instead to "press toward the goal... of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." For the context, I would recommend reading Philippians 2.
There's no need to stop loving things we used to as kids. Ecclesiastes is clear that God made life for us to enjoy, but to keep in mind that we must honor God in doing so and not do things to excess.
Even sadder to me is the death of 2D animation....
I guess computer animation is just cheaper to make,l miss 🇺🇸 2D animation,but l also really enjoyed Spider-Verse and The Wild Robot 🤔
@skepticalsmurf I think it certainly has gotten cheaper, can't say for certain but I would think the cost for a fully animated 2D and a 3D movie would at least be comparable. The issue is I don't think 2D animation gets the returns the industry wants. The princess and the frog was Disney's last 2D animation and failed at the box office - I would argue it's on the same level story wise as much of the current Disney stuff- but it just couldn't get people to watch it
I feel Studio Ghibli shows how valuable good animation still is. They don't write exclusively for children (though I love their kids movies), they do it for the story and the art. They do it because they love it. There's so much beauty and value in animation, and it's sad that we're stuck with cheaper imitations that hinge on our nostalgia. I feel like CGI takes me out of the world rather than showing me beauty and fantasy. It's jarring, quite frankly ugly, and it does such a disservice to the original story, its creators, writers, artists, and the people who loved it so much in the first place. A good story should have to be told twice.
A driving force in this "art style" seems to be to make things "more realistic." But stories point to what is "real" (i.e., the Good, the True, the Beautiful) in a way that these people just do not understand. They think photo-realism is somehow related to fundamental reality while everything else is just playing pretend.
I had the pleasure of rewatching the original Mulan from 1998 just last night. It's had been some time since I had seen, and I still had the disgusting and abysmal remake from 2020 trying to dissuade me from watching it. I'm glad I did! That movie is funny, heartfelt, and brimming with love and imagination in every frame. Not to mention the incredible songs written by Matthew Wilder, David Zippel and Christina Aguilera.
Obviously all of that love and passion was replaced by dry, bland, phoned in filmmaking with horrible messages and morals. I pray that parents are putting the animated originals first, with their pure morals and inspiring stories, and kicking the live-action remakes out of the picture.
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO MAKE THIS POINT!!!!!!
I remember so clearly when I was watching Invincible for the first time and my dad came into my room and said
“are you watching some cartoons?”
And when I would refer to the show he would often ask “is that the animated one?” And it’s just… idk I find it really annoying and I also find it annoying that there are so many people that think this way.
God, my older relatives do this too and it drives me up the fucking wall.
Hollywood executives:
"Huh? What was that? Something about animation and its audience? Yeah yeah that kid stuff, a genre for kids. Case closed."
Glad you Mention C.S. Lewis, I fear so much for coming Netflix adaptation of Chronicles of Narnia.
It honestly frustrates me to no end seeing my country continue to both believe in and perpetuate this notion that animation is some kind of inferior form of art, when that couldn't be further from the truth. Avatar: The Last Airbender is not only fantastic as a show aimed at younger audiences, but a fantastic work of fiction that drew inspiration from a similar source, Anime. Japanese animation, be it in the form of anime original stories or the typical adaptation, has given us stories that have lasted generations and inspired many western creators to the point where you can see anime inspired creations and references nearly everywhere in pop culture. Avatar: The Last Airbender accomplished what it did, being a long running story that took its world and characters seriously, by emulating anime. Moments in anime/manga get trending on social media for a reason, these things got people invested.
This isn't even to mention things like the Spiderverse movies, which would then inspire PiB:TLW. Or Blue Eye Samurai, or Arcane, etc.
The fact that we disrespect animation to such a degree that we take every opportunity we can to sabotage it, or cancel it, or replace it with live action to me just shows that the people making these decision are utterly out of touch with what people want to see from art.
As someone who almost never cries and has a hard time expressing negative emotions, the only movies that have made me cry and feel an emotional release have been animated movies. How to train your dragon is particularly significant for me because it's one of the main things i bonded over with my GF when we met. I get teary-eyed just listening to test drive. The wild robot, the spiderverse movies and many more, are so honest with their emotional themes that it makes me relate so hard i can cry. I have never experienced this with a live action movie. Animation just makes me feel more powerful emotions than live-action.
I was openly crying in the theater during The Wild Robot. Which was awkward, because I’m pretty sure I’m the only one that was. 😅
It was just so heartfelt, and sincere. The animation was gorgeous and the story was beautiful.
Klaus, I got to witness a whole room of university students cry over a movie. I had to witness it through my own teary eyes.
The wild robot made me so emotional. Such a simple yet hard hitting story, that delved into so many important themes and motifs. I was almost crying at the end. Idk there’s something about animation that appeals more to my emotions.
I remember when long ago you Master Samwise, had humbly apologized for the infrequency of your videos. A great improvement you've achieved since then in providing frequent content and yet compromising none of the quality.
It is very telling that the "live action" movies so often have to resort to animation for certain aspects while animation never has to resort to live action.
And don't get me wrong, the push towards making more realistic animation has been around for a long ass time...I remember one of the selling points for Final Fantasy 8 being how much more realistic the graphics were compared to 7...and it is genuinely impressive as to how life like animation can be these days, but studios need to be honest about what the heck they're doing. When 95% of your movie is all CGI then simply including live actors does not make it a live action movie. At that point, why are we even bothering with the green screen? Just animate the actors, let them do the voice overs and be done with it; you'll most likely end up with a better product.
7:21 This episode of Bluey is called Keepy Uppy
Ah... I missed the days where the lines weren't blurred. When one thing could stay as what it was without being considered something else. Where animation would be the medium used to make fantastical and amazing things not possible with live action. If I am considering making something live action or animation, I'd consider which would fit the movie I was making, not what would sell more.
Amen. The most insulting is Snow White. The first animated feature to prove it could be done and they remake it and label it as "brought to life" as if the original Snow White movie had none.
I think the only live action remakes that are worth anything are ones that are fundamentally different movies. There's a Jungle Book movie from Disney in the 90s that has nods to the original, but operates completely different and acts more like a Tarzan style movie. It doesn't step on or tries to replace the original.
If it's so similar to the original, what's the point other than to invalidate the animated aspect? Yet when they change things, it's also bad because modern Hollywood's original ideas are terrible.
There's plenty of remakes in general in the past that are amazing, Addams Family, The Thing, The Fly, 3:10 to Yuma, Ocean's Eleven, the Italian Job...
But somehow none of those are based on animated films.
"If you wouldn't watch a given show or movie. I don't think you should let your kids watch it."
PHENOMENAL quote I will be using. Animation isn't childish, it's a medium for storytelling just as a camera and a microphone are. I equally love and respect both traditional and animated forms of media under the same umbrella of storytelling. Because as long as you're telling a great story, quite frankly I don't care how you're telling it so long as long as your medium of choice fits. I love gushing over good animation just as much as good film direction.
I wish studios would stop recycling old films into new mediums that don't serve any purpose, and I truly hope that the level of storytelling coming from Hollywood could stop being so inconsistent this past decade.
1:26 - I keep saying this - “I’m not saying they’re all bad; I’m saying they’re all pointless.”
“We don't make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies.".
-Walt Disney
Say what you want about Walt Disney, but he’s got integrity.
As a grown ass 34 year old I have many of the animated movies I enjoyed as a child in my DVD collection. Just bought a copy of The Wild Robot a few days ago. Being an adult has in no way lessened my love/enjoyment of children's movies or animated films in general. If anything, I now have a deeper and richer respect for the medium. I will never watch or advocate for any of these soulless, unnecessary remakes as they are nothing but a slap in the face to our cherished childhood memories
They took the amazing expressiveness of the animals in The Lion King and turned them into soulless blank faces. It bothered me SO much that it was the best-selling animated film ever until Inside Out 2 surpassed it.
I wish directors would step up and release ADULT animated films to theatres as opposed to adult animated series only occupying streaming services. So far, there are too few good examples for the general populace to justify adult stories being animated. If we had a year of adult animated films, that would seriously break the barrier in big ways, even if that will only catch with millennials and younger
@7:23 That, my friends, is Bluey, episode 1 I believe, titled 'Keepy Uppy'
Side tangent: I only liked the live action beauty and the beast remake, ever since, live action stuff just seems to be slowly falling off... Disney just keeps beating that dead horse unfortunately... I only really can hope that my favorite HTTYD character, Stoic, stays great. Anyways, great video Sam! I really enjoy your content, and it just keeps inspiring me further.
Pete's Dragon was the one live action remake that worked for me.
The first major example of a live action remake I've legit enjoyed was the One Piece remake. The biggest reason was that Oda was a part of the creative process and helped make sure the transition to live action was smooth and the spirit of One Piece wasn't completely lost.
Cinderella was the best live-action remake, because they were telling the story in a unique way this time
@@kingslayerkoshyI think the reason One Piece Live Action isn’t useless like other remakes is that it works as an introduction of One Piece to new audiences that would never watch such a long anime. So not only is it well made by people that care, but it serves a purpose in the new medium, unlike HTTYD LA because that one feels like it might just be a one to one redo.
I liked "The Untamed" and "The Master of Diabolism."
I don't understand how, after Spider-Verse and ARCANE, studios still think that Animation is inferior in some way to live action or just for children!
I'd even argue that Animation is the superior medium for storytelling.
Live action remakes of 3D animated movies just feel so pointless. Like the movie was animated in 3D for a reason. Half the film is gonna be cgi anyway so it’s just gonna be much less visually appealing versions of the same designs e.g. Toothless
40 year old man.
Still love animation as much as I did growing up with every Disney classic on VHS.
So sad to see hand drawn disney disappear and these poor remakes are just so soulless.
Wish they’d take the risk and make a new animated classic…. There must be some great talent still there.
Sad it seems the average movie goer laps up a poorer version of something that still exists today and never lost its charm.
The irony to after finishing this video, I get an ad for the newest Lion King when Mufasa was a cub…the most unnecessary “live action” movie ever
"I reject that whole point of view - that animation is a children's medium. The way people talk about it is, well, hey, it's a good thing I have kids, because now I get to see this. Well, hey, no, man! You can just go and see it." - Brad Bird
Preach man. Im so disgusted at the new how to train your dragon regardless of how good it looks. Its literallt saying this beautiful and heart wrenching trilogy isnt good enough. We need a real version. Complete disrespect to the animators who painstakingly brought these characters to life.
I mean Dreamworks is a wild card, they could just be doing this to prove that they’re better than Disney
According to JesterBell, it's to promote an upcoming theme park attraction.
@@ThePrincessCH - And she is correct. As good as “How to Train Your Dragon” is, it had no cultural impact. Meaning, Universal needs a way to advertise an expensive theme park attraction.
Thanks for making this video. I've always had a deep love for animation more than anything else which has only GROWN the older I've become. I've never once felt I needed to be ashamed of it or justify why I like it ''at my age.'' So I've never really been able to understand people who think that way. Maybe I'm bias, but I agree so much that it's a very childish way of thinking to say that animation is inferior, and that as adults it is somehow beneath us. I've seen so many people try to justify watching animation by either having kids or feeling ''nostalgic for their childhood.'' Whilst I pose the argument that they never should have left those things behind in the first place in this desire to be ''grown up.'' Children aren't the only ones that can enjoy things just for the sake of that thing and find inherent value and joy and inspiration. If anything, we need that more as adults. When it comes to things like this, it's no surprise that most adults feel miserable. I could go on this rant for days, but my point being, I really appreciate this video, because even if it's been said before, it clearly needs to be heard still.
This reminds me of a short story i was read to in Elementary school. I forgot the title of it, but the overall plot is about a really pretentious guy that claims animated movies are childish and lame, but goes to see one anyway after his friends told him to watch it. He goes to the theater, immediately hates the movie and blatantly falls asleep in the theater to it.
Even back then i was annoyed by that character and story.
I'm not sure I like being old enough for the movies that came out during my childhood to get rebooted.
To be fair, 10 year olds are experiencing the same thing, since Moana is being remade. 😅
As a sixteen year old, I would like to say I am a proud supporter of Pixar flms and Bluey
I can't imagine how nightmareish Agumon from Digimon would look in live-action.
Couldn't Hollywood just hire Toei Animation for remakes of old movies?
After playing a game like Marvel Rivals I REALLY want Marvel to focus a lot more on animations. What If is cool but it looks like a Disney channel show, but the Marvel Rivals animation and character designs are some of my favorite ever. Also they can still tell some very compelling stories. I mean there’s a reason why movies like into and across the spideverse are highly regarded as the best marvel movies
Animation gives characters SO much more uniqueness and personality than live action could ever hope to achieve. If you remade The Secret of Nimh and used a "realistic" rat to portray Nicodemus or a "realistic" owl to portray the Great Owl, they would both lose their individuality.
The Great Owl is terrifying because he DOESN'T look like a regular owl. Nicodemus has a powerful presence because he DOESN'T look like a regular rat. Same with Jenner. Imagine if that psychopathic little jerk just looked like your garden variety sewer rat. How much of his vicious, animalistic, and aggressive personality would we lose?
It's not worth it for the "realism" and it never will be.
Have you ever compared the live action and animated versions of "Mo Dao Zu Shi"?
The animated “Beauty and the Beast” was nominated for Best Picture, and is far more emotionally mature than the remake. Honestly, I suspect that particular remake was only greenlit, because at the time Disney had no plans to revive the stage musical on Broadway. Unfortunately, they forgot to cast leads who can sing. That remake did one good thing, it made the animated film more popular and has led to a revival of the stage show.
Adults who don’t like animation because it’s animation are like children who don’t like black and white films because they’re in black and white. They can’t see past the surface level, nor can they appreciate art in a medium or style that they aren’t used to.
That's not a good example because colour films are fundamentally better than black-and-white ones.
Sure, sometimes directors might use black-and-white for storytelling purposes like in Schindler's List, but there is a reason there are no black-and-white movies played straight anymore.
The whole point here is that animation is not inherently inferior to live-action.
I think Arcane is a prime example of an animated show that should be even more popular than it already is, but there's a lot of people out there who won't watch it because its animated. And hearing that Riot Games wants to make live action League of Legends shows, just has me cringing. The world of Runeterra should stay in the animated format.
“Because apparently whatever diseases causes studios to generate pointless cash grabs is infectious.”
I do believe someone once said something about the love of money…
Still funny to me that Peter Dinklage's complaints got 7 real dwarves fired in lieu of CGI monstrosities.
I really want someone to follow up with Dinkage and ask him if he truly thinks this is better.
@@aethefledladyofmercia9572 What is that hypocrite’s actual goal is anyway? Promote more dwarf actors into the industry or only make that he’s the only dwarf actor there is?
Keira Knightley also made some criticisms about Disney's "Cinderella" and "The Little Mermaid" to Ellen Degeneres that were already aspects of the original folktale.
I absolutely love animated films. I think one of the reasons why is because often times, it isn't realistic. There are some exceptions to this, but not many. But ultimately, in animations there are no rules, no limits to what can be done. To me, that's what gives it its charm, and why I believe there are so many people who also share the same love for it. It isn't grounded in realism and can push the limits of what can be.
Side note: HTTYD was the first movie I ever saw in a theater, so I'm truly hoping that the re-release isn't as big a letdown as I'm worried it will be, because I WILL be watching it. It may go the route of the nonexistent sequel to Pacific Rim and never be spoken of, but I do still have a sliver of hope yet that this one may be worth hanging on to.
I hope to live long enough to see the first stop motion horror film break the box office open
We must hail and pray for our saviours, Laika studio 💪.
Agreed. Animation is great, and I'm sick of these live action remakes.
Also, first!
I'm sick n tired of live action remakes too, and I'm tired of just 3D also. If only we could go back to good old 2D hand drawn animation and stop motion animation.
@dreamguardian8320 I think DreamWorks popularized the idea of 3D out performing 2D.
@@dreamguardian8320 Would you consider Tarzan (1999) "good old 2D hand drawn animation"? For a very long time after its release, I thought it was the technical height of animation. It let the computer be good at moving around the world in 3D (breaking free of just side-to-side or limited scaling), and letting the animators paint the world and animate the characters. Deep Canvas was both the perfect name for the tools used and for the mentality they seemed to have when knowing the best (and seamless) mix of hand drawn and 3D elements.
Sadly, the entertainment industry's state is making me question if i should even give up on my dreams.
Anytime a studio decides to do a live-action remake of an animated movie, they are setting themselves up for artistic failure because animators purposely select stories that live-action wouldn't handle very well. Unfortunately, there are so many sheeple ready to consume these abominations, we're going to keep getting these until they literally run out of IPs to ravage.
There is a fundamental magic to animation. I hold, with unironic sincerity, that Animation simply IS a superior art form. I actually even hold that it's better for mundane stories as well. HAIKYUU is just a story about some high schoolers playing volley ball, but so many of the techniques and methods that it uses to convey it's story and emotional meaning simply could not work or would be far less compelling in live action. Even when nothing magical is going on Animation can make the mundane INTO the magical. Or perhaps for a less silly example Grave of the Fireflies shows that serious, subtle and mundane things can be effectively and compellingly handled through the lens of animation.
Animation is simply near limitless in what it can achieve, and I firmly believe that with rare exceptions it will be the superior medium.
I will FOREVER prefer animation, as I myself hope to some day an animator, and I find it quite beautiful.
I'll also take stab at the Bluey episode. hmmmm... keepy-uppy? or whatever the balloon one was? I only watch Bluey when my little sister happens to want it over whatever the other competing shows are, and I will not claim to know the episode titles very well
"keepy up" and "Bingo", the name of both Bluey episodes depicted here.
I started watching Bluey with my daughters because of your shout out. I have (now) 3 daughters. But my two eldests are 6 and 4 years old, just like Bluey and Bingo. They have so many traits in common with the characters (including having a very playful father) and we love to watch ir together, and them replay the episodes in real life.
Animation is so very important, and not really a "child" thing at all.
Long before Television became mainstream, studios made cartoons & animated movies for all audiences to watch in movie theaters, both Adults & their Children watching them together & enjoying it, but soon they started making cartoons that were aimed more towards a younger audience, and as adults began losing interest in animation they began seeing it as something exclusively for kids, while they watched programs that were aimed for a more mature audience, without realizing that there was also some animation out there that was aimed for the mature audience, so some kids ended up getting exposed to more mature programming in the form of animation, which may have traumatized them into thinking that cartoons Should be excusively made for kids,
This idea that "Cartoons are for Kids" has been going on for Far too long & needs to be Stopped!
Because Animation is just as important a form of art as Anything Else throughout the Media, and Live-Action Movies & Shows with those CGI Animated special effects is proof of That!
This year came out Transformers One. It's easily the best Transformers movie, but so many people rejecting it because it was animated was so upsetting.
Every animefan should be able to relate to that video. I can't understand why people don't see the advantages of animation.
The problem is that the people who need to hear it are too close-minded to get it.
Animation is my favorite art form and I love stories delivered in animated format. It is beautiful and I'm always amazed by the talent people need to have to make still pictures look like they're moving convincingly. I'm also glad to see more acceptance of animation as a tool for telling stories for more adult audiences, like Arcane. Still, the sentiment that animation is more for kids still exists. I thought an animated superhero show like Invincible was far better written than the MCU shows coming out on Disney+, but most people I know only pay attention to those MCU shows.
I’ve said this many times, and I’ll say it again…Animation, is a form of art. And it’s meant to be enjoyed by everyone, regardless of age.
I am so tired of people claiming “Animation is just kids” when in reality…it really isn’t, it’s for everyone. I’ll definitely be making a video myself on this topic, because this is something I’m very passionate about. Great video good sir, take care.
I’ve said this before, but we need less live-action remakes of animated stories and more animated remakes of live-action stories.
Not sure if it's necessarily disagreement, but I have a different perspective on this. While I am a fan of the Avatar and How to Train Your Dragon series, I am also a big fan of animation itself (as I am an animator). That being said, I am someone who genuinely wants to see "live action" versions of these animated series because, to me, the challenge of making realistic 3D characters and animating them well can be compelling. I have massive respect for the animators who make the "live action" CG characters and I love seeing the work; the issue lies with the execution of screen writing and live actors.
Avatar could have worked had they gotten more creative and had good writing. This new Train Your Dragon movie is already unappealing to me because it feels like it is visually trying to compete/ stick with the visuals of the original when I would have wanted to see a darker tone more befitting of the age of vikings with tootheless looking and behaving more like an animal (because he is one).
Take pokemon for another exampe; I badly want to see a realistic depiction of that world where the pokemon are in fact animals and both behave and look like it. That would open the door to so much creativity and would work if written correctly.
Thankfully, I haven't ever really heard anyone in my circles say they can't watch something because it is animated. Rather, most people I meet prefers animated media to live action or appreciates both equally.
Love your stuff, keep it up!
Say it louder for the people in the back!
Seriously, one of the reasons I have a major beef with the live action Beauty and the Beast (and refuse to watch it on principle) is because there was so. Much. Potential. To take that masterpiece and expand and tweak it to make something *else* that was still similar and beautiful. The Cinderella movie sure managed it. But no, we got a shot for shot remake with poorer acting and no material or inspiration at all from the musical, yes I'm still mad...
I'd have the opposite take on the HTTYD movie: it was a squandered opportunity to be faithful to the actual source material (the books).
And with the books in mind, Toothless looks and behaves *too much* like an animal in many ways (he behaves like a toddler in the originals, has a face which has kind-of human expressions, and speaks the dragonese language which hiccup can understand). Although in other ways, of course; dragons are dangerous (not Toothless though), and a big theme of the first book is that dragons are fundamentally selfish and lacking gratitude. Also, Toothless does try to eat Hiccup's family cat in the first book.
In terms of a darker tone, well the books have a mix of darker themes/characters and 'childish' elements (e.g. toilet humour); but many of the 'childish' elements would probably have to be cut in a live action so a reasonably faithful adaption would probably feel darker.
I'm still hoping they may introduce some elements of the books (that weren't in the animation), but it's clear from the trailers and casting they have jettisoned most of it in favour of the animation, which is very sad.
@IamGrimalkin I actually didn't know there was a book! The animated film did a perfect job imo, though I understand a fan of the book can be touchy when things are faithful to that book. It does sound like the book version would be more befitting of live action though
@@leetlc441
The animation changed huge amounts of things from the books; which is why I feel like a more direct adaption is needed.
I'm not saying the animations aren't as their own works, but they have had their time in the sun already, whereas the books have never has a proper adaption.
Probably the biggest differences are:
-Dragons and Viking don't fight each other from the beginning: the dragons work for Vikings from the start, although neither really respects each other.
-Dragons speak the "Dragonese" language, which only Hiccup can interpret (speaking this language is banned among Vikings).
-Hooligans train dragons using the technique in "How to Train your Dragon" by Professor Yobbish: "YELL AT IT!" (in Norse, not Dragonese). Hiccup trains them by speaking to them in Dragonese.
-Toothless is a hunting dragon (pet-sized), not a riding dragon in the books. Riding dragons are only introduced in books 4/5.
-Toothless is notable for being (on the surface) small, common, weak, and lacking teeth. Hiccup and Toothless are mocked for this.
-Toothless acts like a toddler and is a metaphor for parenting.
-Hiccup's riding dragon, Windwalker, has a bad leg and PTSD from his time as a slave.
-The young Vikings in Berk, apart from Fishlegs and Hiccup; are strong, macho, dumb, with a lot of bravado. Fishlegs and Hiccup are weak, smart, and afraid of things. A big theme is the contrast between the two.
-As such Astrid does not exist. However, Thuggory takes on a similar role in the first book as Astrid does in the first movie; and in book 3 they introduce a female lead from another viking tribe called Camicazi, although she is completely different from Astrid.
-Fishlegs (and later Camicazi) takes a much more central role.
-Fishlegs' character is completely different. He is skinny, weak, unskilled as a fighter, sarcasric, scared of adventure, and has a squint, knock-knees, an allergy to reptiles, and can go into a berserker rage.
-Alvin the Treacherous is a reoccurring villain that appears in many books.
-There is more of a focus on other viking tribes besides the Hooligans.
-Only the first movie really adapts the main plot of any given book (although even then with many changes): Hiccup still defeats the Green Death in this one. The books do also end with the dragons going away, but this was the decision of the dragon leader in response to historic slavery and an interspecies war, and they do this by going into Sleep Comas for millenia (this is known from the very start of the series as a form of dramatic irony, but for a while it looked like the dragons were going to go away due to genocide instead).
-In the early books, Hiccup tends to win by coming up with a clever plan. In the late books there are still plans but victories are also often linked with destiny or a face heel turn of a major character. Also sometimes Hiccup loses. In contrast all the movies end with Toothless and co. winning in a firefight.
Wasn't there some wild, realistic Pokémon in the Detective Pikachu movie? (The Bulbasaur?)
The point on the screen at 3:23 is what really brings the point home for me. The LEGO Movie is proof that some concepts simply *would not work* in live action, so it's not a huge leap to say that some other concepts would only work (or at least work better) in animation than in live action
Saddly, every time I've tried to explain this to my family, I get met with some variation of "Why do you care? It looks nice." I care because I'd rather see a new story that looks nice than the same thing I grew up on that still looks nice.
I've missed traditional, hand-drawn animation for years. Live action and CGI just don't have the same feel.
Tbh not only do they need to stop making live action remakes of animated films, but they need to start making animated adaptations of books instead of live action
That is what How To Train Your Dragon is though, Dreamwork’s adaptation of a book I believe by the same name. Same with The Bad Guys (which I found out by accident when wandering around a book store).
Though if you’re saying they need to do that more, especially since the examples I mentioned were quite beloved and thus successful, then I agree they need to do more of that.
EDIT: Also I’m pretty sure every classic Disney movie ever was an adaptation of an existing literature, though those were mostly centuries old stories even by the early 1900s.
I don't believe for a second that HHTYD will capture flight like the animated version managed to.
Animation isn't only not interior. Animation is superior (at some things)
I think animation is the single best medium for visual storytelling
The association of animation with children' entertainment is almost wholly the result of the Baby Boomers growing up in the 1960s with the then newly widely-adopted technology of televisions running re-runs of classic Golden Age Cartoons.
Ironically, those cartoons were not even intended specifically for children since they were made by rambunctious twenty-year-old artists who played pranks on each other at Termite Terrance and snuck dirty gags into the shorts they animated, aiming them at a general adult audience who would see them in theaters between big pictures. Before the 1960s, it was generally accepted animation could be made for and enjoyed by people of all ages. It's only the fact that kids spent so much time watching linear terrestrial TV in the 60s era, and especially on Saturday mornings when cartoons were on, that the association became established in that generation's mind.
Going back to watch earlier Disney films, including Snow White, Fantasia, Pinnochio, Dumbo, and Bambi, you realize that they had elements, characters, and events that had a very hard and even quite gritty and dark edge to them (the Wicked Queen's Transformation, Stromboli threatening Pinnochio with an axe, the Coachman's plans for the bad boys he took to Pleasure Island, Lampwick's Donkey Transformation, the Bald Mountain Sequence, Dumbo being forcibly separated from his mother by the circus handlers and ostracized by the elephant matriarch and her herd, and of course, the Death of Bambi's Mother). These obviously aren't child-friendly elements, and fittingly so since Walt wanted them to be films for audiences of all ages and not specifically children.
People of his era were more bemused at the idea of an audience sitting through an hour-and-a-half cartoon before Snow White came out, when cartoons in that era were known for being short subject comedy films, and the general zeitgeist was that broadly-drawn, simple-shaded and painted cels of animation couldn't carry the kind of emotional and dramatic weight of a serious live-action picture. Obviously, Walt and his team proved them wrong with the funeral scene for Snow White, to the medium's eternal benefit.
But obviously, the stigma that was gained in the 1960s never left the public consciousness, especially since the Baby Boomers and each subsequent generation would partially raise their kids on weekday afternoon and Saturday morning cartoons.
I usually find the popular R-rated and adult oriented movies less mature than any family-movie. When they are allowed to show graphic violence and curse words, they often include it because they can, not because it makes the story deeper or more interesting. That need often comes from a childish impulse and desire to do adult-things for the sake of it, just like how teens want to do what they are not allowed to in order to feel like one of the adults. That's what I felt when I saw the Deadpool and Wolverine.
Family-movies are often more thought through, since they appeal to both children and parents. But I also just find it better story telling to avoid showing anything graphic, since it won't be as powerful as letting the audience read between the lines and use their imagination. It quickly becomes "tell" instead of "show". F-bombing every minute also quickly becomes lazy writing, since there are so many other creative ways of showing frustration.
There are good exceptions, but they are not as popular, especially from the recently made films.
Wish we had adult animated movies that are like Arcane.
Well spoken , I feel like PG-13 has lost its meaning over the years ,it seems audience feel like a pg 13 rated movie or shows can't tell a mature story and that's not true , I've seen pg rated tv shows that be more " mature audience " themed than alot of these r rated movies .
@@vgmaster9 I'd recommend the animation movies "The Breadwinner" and "Ruben Brandt: The Collector".
The Breadwinner is about an Afghani girl who has to disguise herself as a boy in order to go out and provide for her family after her father is arrested. The story is playful and is almost told like a folk tale, since the girl compares herself to such a story.
Ruben Brandt is about a psychologist who treats criminals. He helps them to overcome their issues so that they can go back to becoming even better criminals. But then famous paintings haunts his own dreams. This movie is all fun, full of art, playful, mysterious, and psychological, and is still a heist movie. I think every frame has a famous painting in it, the style is really unique.
I also plan to watch A Cat in Paris, but I haven't seen it yet. It looks interesting.
@@vgmaster9 I'd recommend the animation movies "The Breadwinner" and "Ruben Brandt: The Collector".
The Breadwinner is about an Afghani girl who has to disguise herself as a boy in order to go out and provide for her family after her father is arrested. The story is playful and is almost told like a folk tale, since the girl compares herself to such a story.
Ruben Brandt is about a psychologist who treats criminals. He helps them to overcome their issues so that they can go back to becoming even better criminals. But then famous paintings haunts his own dreams. This movie is all fun, full of art, playful, mysterious, and psychological, and is still a heist movie. I think every frame has a famous painting in it, the style is really unique.
I also plan to watch A Cat in Paris, but I haven't seen it yet. It looks interesting.
@@vgmaster9 I'd recommend The Breadwinner and Ruben Brandt: The Collector. Both are playful and mature animation movies!
I love that shows like Arcane exist, simultaneously pushing the limits of animation and showing that it's a medium to be taken seriously.
My older brother doesn't like animation, but he was thoroughly invested in Arcane
YES!! You voiced everything I feel about this topic! Animation is for EVERYONE, and these "live-action" adaptations are just pointless! They don't improve on the original animated content, sometimes they make it worse, the obvious money grab diminishes the magic and authenticity of the story and the trust of the audience that they are getting quality material, and it's just, UGH, SO unnecessary!
I am 20 years old and I have always loved animation and I always will. The last few years I learned more about storytelling too, and more recently I'm learning how to draw digitally because I want to draw my own little comics for Instagram.
There needs to be a balance between the corporate side and the creative side of these animation companies. I don't blame the artists or the actors at all, they do great work, I blame corporate. The Disney remakes are already so irritating, but now DREAMWORKS too?! I thought they were better than that. The HTTYD animated movies are some of my very favorite movies EVER. And they're not just entertaining. They are masterpieces from every angle. The story, the voice acting, the character design, the colors, the MUSIC goddamn the music is phenomenal, and the animation only gets better as you progress through the movies. It's still stylized, but it's more clear and smooth and some more details. Perfection. They can never improve on that. Things just feel DIFFERENT in animation, you know? It is better in a lot of ways for many stories, although there are some I love that started out as live action and stayed that way (mostly), such as Star Trek, Merlin, The Flash, and more.
Soulless money grabs is the right way to describe these remakes. It's disappointing, it feels like corporate cares more about quantity over quality. As someone who sees the true power and wonder of animation, it breaks my heart to see it treated this way.
My mom can't be convinced to watch most animated stuff she's never seen before, even though she saw most of the awesome recent-ish animated movies with me when they came out or however long afterwards, like HTTYD, and Frozen 2, and many more. I got her to watch one animated show with me, Hilda, on Netflix, and she loved it! Yet she still won't try other ones, like ATLA, widely agreed upon to be possibly THE BEST animated show EVER. People are still talking about it passionately and it is gaining new fans LONG after the last episode was released. Cause it's worth it. She watches all kinds of very violent and dark live action shows by herself. I did get her to watch a few episodes of Arcane, but she wouldn't finish it. Her reason? It was too violent. WHAT?! I think she just won't admit she has a subconscious block or something against animation.
I can't even describe how important so many of these stories are to me. They are awesome just on their own as a show or movie, but they have also gotten me through my most lonely and difficult years, given me an escape when the real world was too much, and taught me important life lessons from the safe environment of my couch, which I often reflect upon extensively later (I'm an overthinker).
It's really hard to pick, but I think it is LIKELY that HTTYD, ATLA, and The Owl House (aka TOH) are the best and most significant pieces of animated media in my whole life. It's MIND BLOWING how good these things can be, and there are SO MANY of them!! There's something for everyone, but so many people refuse to give it a chance, because they think all animation is for children, which is the real stupid and childish thing.
I don't want to watch a live action version of HTTYD or Moana, and the Moana one is especially weird because Moana 2 JUST came out recently (and actually I didn't think was as good as the first one, despite it's box office scores, I think it was a better set up for a Moana 3 than a good movie on its own, and the songs weren't as catchy)! I'm so tired of everything being about money. What happened to artistic integrity and dignity and quality even in big companies? I'm a human being with complicated thoughts and emotions and needs and I can see what's going on here, I'm not just a walking wallet for you to manipulate. You don't want to go too far into losing the public's favor. It can't last forever the way they are doing things right now. Quality always wins, eventually.
Why do so many people not see that this is bad? And not see how great animation is? Are they really so worried about being mature that they cease to see all that is magical, and would reject experiences that could enhance their life? F**king tragic. And we're the ones getting the brunt of the negative consequences that behavior causes. I want them to just go back to making quality original animated movies and TV shows. They have made me feel so safe and happy before, now they are taking that away. I thought this was one of the only things I could rely on and be confident about in life, but not even this? Really, not even DreamWorks? What have we come to? 😔 Is there anything we can do to help fix/combat this? The world NEEDS great stories, even if they don't know it yet.
According to Jesterbell, the live-action "How To Train Your Dragon" remake is to promote an upcoming theme park attraction.
I think, as director Brad Bird has stated a lot of times, that viewing animation as a genre, as you did in 8:36, is the cause of a lot of this issues. Animation is an artistic choice that, well handled, can elevate the storytelling of any genre (fantasy, science fiction, comedy, etc). Limiting animation as a "genre" undermines those infinity capabilities and subconsciously connect it, I think, to the idea that is "for children", like, it's the "kid's genre".
I just feel the need to point it out cause I agree with you 100% with this video, and is clear you didn't say it with the intension of minimize animation, but because unfortunately is so common in media to caracterice it as such. I hope my comment helps to this discussion haha God bless!
Part of what made Avatar the live action version so bad was that the people who were doing the writing and producing and making of it never watched the animated show. They changed completely how fire bending worked in the live action version, which ruined the entire premise of the show.
How'd they change firebending? I refuse to watch it to find out.😂
@@shrouded8797 Iirc they couldn't create fire and could only bend using existing fire.
@@mrdrprofessoroak497holy shit that’s so stupid 🫠