Warner Animation Group Discussion

[NostradamusTheSeer]

Hey, at least they didn't make them look like a real cat and mouse, like in that Yogi Bear movie....

[Blurr]

You think maybe we can read too deep into somethings sometimes? It's like MasterX said. It's meant to be a kids movie, not necessarily for those who grew up with it.

[LovesSneezingApparently]

Hey, at least it's a movie about Tom chasing Jerry! They haven't tried that in a long time.

[NostradamusTheSeer]

   Yeah, they've reinvented Tom and Jerry a lot over the past few years: T & J and The Wizard of Oz,  T & J in Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory,  T & J  meet Robin Hood,  T & J  meet Sherlock Holmes, T & J  meet Jonny Quest. What next, Tom and Jerry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show? (I don't know if I should be scared at such a prospect or shivering with antici...


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....pation.)   

[Rainberry]

I would have preferred they just make it a fully animated movie and not partially animated mixed with live action.

This honestly looks like something that would have come out in the 90s when there was a lot of mixed animated/live action movies. 

[Smiles2us]

You are all being pretty harsh on it... and usually I would have to agree.  But with a year like this, maybe some simple, mindless comedy is all people need right now.

[NostradamusTheSeer]

Yes, perhaps that's the aesthetic they're going for. I'm thinking a lot of the people who worked on this film are from my generation (the once-coveted 32-47 dynamic) and grew up with a VHS copy of Who Framed Roger Rabbit or Cool World prominently displayed in their home entertainment center.

That said, I don't expect to see Mammy Two-Shoes anywhere near this thing, unless she's played by-- oh, blast, who's the hot young African-American actress these days?-- um, Vivica A. Fox, or Halle Berry.      

[Wolfwood]

Time for the biggest debate of our time.



Warner has been forced to redesign Lola Bunny and clearly she is missing something...

Lola Bunny's iconic design from 1996's Space Jam has seen an overhaul, garnering a mixed reaction from fans.  She is missing her breasts and her legs have toned down in shape, though she still has her hips. Her face is also different.

Thoughts?  Article

[NostradamusTheSeer]

Meh, she's been slowly watered-down over the last quarter-decade anyway--from a sexpot to a baby to an utter bumbling ditz to a slightly awkward but still competent athlete (and part-time pizza delivery girl).  I hardly even noticed. 

In my latest blog, though, I did mention Pepe Le Pew' s role in the modern post-#Me Too era and how he'll be going the way of many forgotten Warner 'toons, with no plans to include him in the new film, Looney Tunes Cartoons, or any future WBA projects.  Well, he was invited to Bugs' 80th birthday party--that's something, at least. Note right next to him is Speedy Gonzales, another character who has faced significant SJW backlash in the last two decades.

[Wolfwood]

True, her character in her latest appearance "Bugs & Daffy Show" isn't the same Lola at all.  Pretty much a whole different character.

[MasterXtreme]

I can't help but like the Lola from the "The Looney Tunes Show" as well. She was perfect for that show.  The show, while somewhat dry and drab, was kind of refreshing and got cancelled way too soon.  They were really hitting their stride in that second season.  They figured out they didn't need laugh tracks either and added a tad more music to their quiet shows. 

But clearly, that Lola is not the Lola from one movie in 1996 and that is fine.

Now if this new Space Jam takes place in the same universe and with the same characters as the 96' movie and somehow the characters change, that isn't right.  But if it's a new take on the old movie and not meant to take place in the same universe with the same characters, they are free to design her anyway they want.

The real reason people are complaining is because Lola lost her female figure up top and they turned Lola's face into Slappy Squirrel...

Look at their faces!

[MasterXtreme]

This is also oddly interesting.  Give it a look see.

[NostradamusTheSeer]

The real reason people are complaining is because Lola lost her female figure up top and they turned Lola's face into Slappy Squirrel...

(beckons him close)
(quietly) Ya know, doc...
(suddenly bellowing) ...YOU'RE RIGHT!!



(leaps off "woo-hoo"-ing a la Daffy Duck and saying "CANCEL CULTURE CAN SUCK IT!")

[Silverwing]

Tom & Jerry The Movie is getting trashed.  Though it didn't cost too much to make, it is nearing the $79 million it took to make ($57m).  It is gaining more money overseas than in the US by a large margin, which is rare for cinema.  I guess America realizes this film was going to be hot garbage.

The main characters (Tom and Jerry) are pretty much side characters and the whole movie is bland and getting bashed for poor animation integration, story, and so much more.  It was directed by Tim Story who is known for directing the Fantastic Four movies.

Rotten Tomatoes reports that 25% of 85 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 4.60/10. The site's critics consensus reads, "It isn't the worst of the long-squabbling duo's feature-length adventures, but Tom & Jerry is disappointingly short on the anarchic spirit of their classic shorts."

It is also weird they somehow have demographic stats?  The opening weekend audiences were 51% female and 46% under the age of 17, while 35% was Hispanic, 33% Caucasian, 21% African American, and 11% Asian (Source).

[NostradamusTheSeer]

Just saw the movie last week... sure, I got a chuckle out of the little winks and nods to the classic cartoons of yesteryear (esp the "peek and punch" gag, one of my all-time favs), and of course Droopy's obligatory cameo... but it was basically a rom-com romp about generation gap, culture gap, the battle of the social classes, and a spectacular wedding disaster all set against the backdrop of a ritzy hotel... that just happened to have Tom and Jerry in it. It feels like four different stories to tell asking a hell of a lot of eighty minutes.  If you want to turn out a good product, you have to understand the characters and respect the source material...which is why, seeing what the Mac Powerbooks of Hollywood's "professionals elite" are currently churning out, I sometimes think they should fire the lot of them, bring the amateur fanfic writers love-laboring in obscurity up from America's basements, bowling alleys, and crappy studio apartments, and give some of them a crack at it. They couldn't do any worse.

Which reminds me: this discussion here led me to wonder, then, what the Warner Bros. old-guard would have thought about the modern content of Looney Tunes Cartoons? Wonder no more, for the ghost of Isadore "Friz" Freleng speaks!... (well, sorta)

What, I now ask myself, would Friz would have made of Sylvester's treatment in "High Hopes" or "Fully Vetted"?...