DreamWorks Animation's Home

Saw it today. Good movie. Not mind-blowing, but good enough to get on DVD.

Anyone who doesn't like it is a Communazi.

You fell victim to one of the classic blunders!

So somehow, it managed to score more on its first weekend than HTTYD 2 did.

Huh.

Anyone think that DW just got lucky or what?

It's pretty much the only animated movie in theatres right now, isn't it? Spongebob is still out in some places, but it came out a while ago so most who would have gone to see it now probably already have.

And the only other family movie really out right now is Cinderella. So Home has got its target audience nearly all to itself right now.

edited 29th Mar '15 4:06:15 PM by KnownUnknown

"The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." - Tom Clancy, paraphrasing Mark Twain.

Hmmm.

Does anybody remember what was HTTYD 2's competition last year?

Because methinks this was all about strategic timing on DW's behalf.

So, finally saw it.

It was just as generic as I feared.

On the upside, though, the Gorg aren't the generic mindless monsters they are in the book anymore.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

Looks like families ate it up regardless of quality.

It's official, this generation has completely forgotten about Lilo and Stitch.

The rest of the movie may be good for all I know, but I don't think I'd be able to get over the alien designs. I mean, gosh-darn, this may just be a pet peeve, but... they look so blaaaaaaaaaand. It's like everything that might've make them look interesting was carefully stripped away for fear of alienating someone or other. No pun intended.

Yes.◊ Well.◊

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

Those designs are at least made somewhat striking/grotesque by the wrinkly skin and the huge, graphic toothy grins. I can appreciate the need to make them a bit cuter for the movie, but come on... Stitch and ET were appealing and cute while still looking memorable. These guys' faces literally have no distinguishing features at all, just a smiley face and these antenna/horn things.

Time for me to be honest.

Im glad this is looking to be a hit, I do not resent Dreamworks for making it or audiences for embracing it. People ALWAYS like to rake Dreamworks over the coals especially pseudo critics like the people at That Guy With The Glasses and Pixar Fans, and it has to stop.

The only movie that was truly so offensively mediocre it was disgusting was Pixar's Brave, at least to me. And the worst part is that Pixar gets scot free while Dreamworks has to pay dearly for any mistake.

Im actually not a Dreamworks fan, but someone who doesnt buy into hype, be posite or negative. ANY company is fallible and caplable of both greatness and awfulness.

Nobody in this thread is guilty of that, though there are shades of this present here.

Im also glad Dreamworks went with a story with a black lead. Not even Pixar did it in all their years. I know Dreamworks motives arent all that innocent (They are cashing in the demand of Minority Leads craze of the Tumblr era).

Discord: Waido X 255#1372 If you cant contact me on TV Tropes do it here.

I wouldn't say Pixar got off scot-free for Brave. If anything, people on the internet overdo the hate for it to the point where I keep finding myself defending it as just okay rather than the worst thing ever. True, non-internet forum posters generally like it, but those same people don't tend to complain very much about Dreamworks either.

They most certainly arent about to go bankrupt and in danger of ceasing to exist entirely. Then again, Dreamworks did brought it upon themselves by their marketing and lack of Quality Control. Pixar had some quality control and standards prior to Cars 2.

And I know Brave isnt bad but its where the potential for (and promise of) a masterpiec and the pedigree of the crew hurt most. It doesnt help the Second Director (Mark Andrews) deliverately made the trailers extremely deceptive. He even said so himself in an interview, like it was a thing to be proud of.

Discord: Waido X 255#1372 If you cant contact me on TV Tropes do it here.

Even when Pixar had one of the biggest corporations in the world behind them they were still just putting out one film a year. And now that they are a part of one of the biggest corporations in the world they're still doing that.

What on god's green earth made Dreamworks thinking that trying for three films a year was a good idea?

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

Well, Pixar has only released one film since Brave, so its effects, if any, wouldn't have kicked in yet.

And I dunno, it seems unfair to me to criticise a film because it's different from the trailers. That's a problem with the ad campaign, not the film. The film stands on its own, and should be judged based on its own merits. You don't see people criticising Tangled or Frozen because of their wildly deceptive ad campaigns — people criticise the trailers for it.

edited 30th Mar '15 1:40:35 PM by DrDougsh

Brave is awesome and anyone who hates it for being about a mother-daughter relationship or not being a sprawling epic or the bear thing needs to get over themselves.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

Its not a good Mother Daughter story either. If it had been a terrific Mother Daughter story I would love it, because that would be quite original but its not either. And Im not hating on the trailers for promising an epic story. Im hating on them because we got a much more silly and mediocre film. I would have very much been in favor of a more serious,subdued and honest Mother Daughter story film. I dont even need action! I just want it to be well written, filmed and executed which it wasnt.

If a Mother Daughter story was all it took to make it a good film then this movie is good just because of a black female lead. It isnt. Some feminist or progressive bait is not enough for me.

And I actually wouldnt mind if the trailers had been more about the mother daughter aspect and less dishonest. Then again the movie would have still been quite the disappointment even without the trailers.

I also hate Mark Andrews for making deliberately misleading trailers and then acting all hurt and surprised people felt cheated. I actually dont normally mind misleading trailers,but his attutide REALLY soured me on him.

Discord: Waido X 255#1372 If you cant contact me on TV Tropes do it here.

You do realize Mark Andrews didn't make the trailers, right? That that was someone else's job? Disney does have a marketing department, you know.

Meh. Silliness doesn't bother me. It was fun.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

I thought so too but he explicitly ordered that no trailers give away the movies true nature and plot. Its not rare for Pixar directors to have a major say in the Marketing of their movies. Andrew Stanton also exercised major control over John Carter's marketing.

http://badassdigest.com/2012/06/20/brave-director-mark-andrews-explains-the-movies-secretive-marketing/

And Im sorry if I come across as vindictive but werent you the one who spent all of your time(I do apologize if Im mistaken) in this thread about how generic and safe and silly Home would turn out to be in comparison to Smekday something? Im not Home's biggest fan or even a fan at all, but Pixar always gets excused like this. Say whatever you want about Dreamworks but they appear to have been SEVERELY humbled by the constant flops and stuff. I DO worry they will start making more Homes and less How To Train Your Dragons. That much does worry me, especially since one of Home's major players is going to be an adviser or supervisor on future Dreamworks productions.X

Discord: Waido X 255#1372 If you cant contact me on TV Tropes do it here.

I think there's a difference between complaining that a film studio is stripping out a lot of rich, complex themes from a novel in order to make it more palatable to the moviegoing audience, and a film not being exactly what its ads say it will be. Both are, admittedly, kind of crass moves, but saying that Brave is...I dunno, a poor adaptation of its ads or something, just doesn't make much sense to me.

Maybe you'd be less disappointed if you stopped expecting things to be Carmen Sandiego movies.

Point Taken. I guess I would have had praise for Andrews if I had felt his movie was up to par. I do not like the arrogance he conveys though. Some DO argue that his taking over the helm did strip the film from any complexity and quality it could have had but without evidence, as a journalist in training cant really make an opinion without decisive proof.

Deceptive Advertising is the least of any movies problems as honest advertising is the least of its strenghts. Though

Like that Bebe's Kids movie. Its animation... and that's it. The trailer literally says NOTHING ELSE about the movie. Im not more inclined to spouse that its Citizen Kane than I do Brave.

Discord: Waido X 255#1372 If you cant contact me on TV Tropes do it here.

Actually, I think the full line was "It's animation... with attitude!". The shorter version is a Beam Me Up, Scotty!, probably attributable to the Nostalgia Critic.

To me, Dream Works movies are tend to be like candy, easily digested and fast forgotten. There are three exceptions which actually made it on my DVD shelf: Spirit, The Prince of Egypt and Rise of the Guardians (which I adore). Everything else just doesn't hit the right notes for me. It's okay. Now I haven't seen Home yet, but I think the lack of competition was a large part of the reason it did so well. I think it was similar with The Crods, which also got mediocre reviews but a more than decent box office.

I'm not interested in seeing the movie, but I'm glad it is at least doing well. Dreamworks needs the support right now.

And of course, the budget to keep making movies I actually care about.

There was a quote by Variety or something that basically said Dreamworks is like Pepsi. Yeah it's good in its own way and isn't really inferior, but you never really go anywhere and ask for a Pepsi, you go in asking for coke and you settle for pepsi instead.

Pepsi: When they don't have Coke!