I pride myself in seeing all of the animated feature films that are released in the U.S. (and some that are not...) and if, for some bizarre reason, I miss the film in the theater, then I try to find it on Netflix.
One of the films I just saw on Netflix is the Weinstein Co.'s "Escape From Planet Earth". I never saw it in the cinemas because the reviews were so terrible that it only lasted a week or two. Well, I finally got a chance to see the film.
It really wasn't that bad. It's just that it looks like a bad copy of a Dreamworks film. The story is a bit weak, with lots of sideline characters that muddy the plot. There are a few nice gags, but no big laughs.
It's just a mediocre film for the tots that isn't really enjoyable for adults, unlike a Pixar film.
The film production designer is Barry Jackson, whose work I totally love. He did some great designs and backgrounds for Ralph Bakshi. Here, the designs are very bland - they must have been changed by the Weinsteins.
The Weinstein Company has dabbled in animation before, the two "Hoodwinked" films, for example, and they were good money-makers. What mystifies me is why they don't take the plunge into adult animation. In fact, their cash-cow, Quentin Tarantino is rich from making cartoon-like adult films. It makes sense that they should make that their next frontier.
I give "Escape From Planet Earth" a C-.
Bill Plympton
No comments:
Post a Comment