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Shark Tale finally opened around here, with a Burger King promotional tie-in, namely the Shark Tale BK Alaskan Salmon Burger Extra Value Meal, with -- well, you read the name -- along with cheap plastic replicas of the movie figures. It gives me a feeling I haven't had since I read the Straits Times report that aquarium tank and fish sales had been booming ever since the masses flocked to Finding Nemo and, apparently, took absolutely nothing away from the film. If it weren't for irony we'd have no culture at all.
The Incredibles doesn't open until later this month, maybe to avoid competing too directly with Shark Tale (which always looked to me like the direct-to-video clone of Finding Nemo, though I'm open to being convinced it follows its own artistic impulse -- what I mean is, I got the impression somebody at Dreamworks said, ``Pixar's doing a fish movie, we gotta do one too!'' rather than ``I have a great idea for a fish movie.''). It's odd that it's not opening this Wednesday; later this week is Deepavali and Hari Raya, so pretty much everybody is off work and out of school.
Trivia: From 30 September 1827 to 13 November 1828 Sam Patch earned fame and fortune by jumping down waterfalls, including the Passaic Falls, Niagara Falls, and the Genesee Falls. Source: Jerseyana: The Underside of New Jersey History, Marc Mappen.
Currently Reading: The Fountains of Paradise, Arthur C Clarke. This novel, about the first geosynchronous tower, seems less like fiction and more like engineering history each time I read it, all the more since I moved to the equator. A note I'm curious about; the story's set on a slightly fictionalized Sri Lanka, given the classic name Taprobane. The appendix says how to pronounce it correctly versus how most people pronounce it. So I'm curious how people would pronounce ``Taprobane''; my eye only sees the one (as it happens, the correct) way.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-07 03:49 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-07 06:11 am (UTC)It's why I never eat cartoon sushi. It might be somebody adorable.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-07 05:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-07 06:14 am (UTC)Thank you ... I think I'll let this run a few more hours before revealing the Author's Recommendations ...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-07 06:59 am (UTC)Actually, I remember hearing news about Shark Tale *before* I heard about Finding Nemo. I think the scenario was "Ack! Pixar's making a fish movie too! They'll be done before us!" "Okay.. well, let's put ours on the back burner and push out Shrek 2 first. Give it some space."
--Chiaroscuro
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-07 08:48 am (UTC)Hold on, now I'm hung up on how you say ``tryptophan'' so it rhymes with ``Rogaine''? Though (on looking it up) the long a is listed as an acceptable pronunciation, though usually with the variant spelling ``tryptophane''. I'm going to have to look up its etymology more.
If Dreamworks was working on its ``fish movie'' before Pixar they have my sympathies; it's hard enough making something without the unquestioned champ working in the same field, and I don't think any spacing would help enough. Anyone doing a fish movie the next decade is going to be looked at as following Nemo.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-08 06:33 am (UTC)Both Pixar *and* Dreamworks are now working on Rat-based movies. Rafferty's in glee.
As for the Fish caricature notes, Angelia Jolie was gushing over her big-lipped fish version in the movie in USA Today. In a complete fangirl "Eric Schwartz just drew me!" manner, too, it was astounding to see from a Hollywood actress.
--Chiaroscuro
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-08 08:31 am (UTC)Rat movies? Wow. Do they know about that British thing a couple years ago?
Well, I suppose the first time you're illustrated as a big-lipped fish will be special even for the jaded ... I haven't had the experience, myself.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-07 07:46 am (UTC)Antz = A Bug's Life, of course.
The Road to El Dorado = The Emperor's New Groove. (Because the Emperor's New Groove was originally a more standard fantasy about the Incas called "Kingdom of the Sun," so DW substituted Aztecs for Incas.)
Spirit, Stallion of the Cimarron = Home on the Range. (Because "Home on the Range" was originally "Sweating Bullets," a Western told from the perspective of a bull, so DW substituted horse for bull. Then Disney's cow movie was delayed repeatedly, resulting in it being released long after everyone forgot about Spirit.)
And now Shark Tale = Finding Nemo, except with much, much uglier character design. (Why do those fish have fins on the SIDES OF THEIR HEADS? Eww.)
I think things are starting to go the other way now, though. Disney is going to start ripping off the Shrek "fractured fairy tale" approach, resulting in Chicken Little and Rapunzel Unbraided. Which reminds me: I saw a trailer for Chicken Little in front of The Incredibles. My response: "They fired all their animators for THIS?" It's all smooth, shiny, textureless, circa-1990s CGI. Ick.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-07 08:58 am (UTC)Antz was the first time I noticed Dreamworks was doing its own riffs on the Pixar movies ... For my money, I liked Antz better than A Bug's Life, but mostly on the strength of Woody Allen.
I did wonder why the characters in Shark Tale weren't generally better-looking ... I liked the gang in Fish Police better, though that was angling more closely to the standard mermaid outline.
I haven't heard anything about Disney's CGI Movies, apart from Toy Story III, which I expect to be done without the life or magic of the originals. Fractured Fairy Tales are a fine starting point for stories -- it got the live-action Dudley Do-Right off to a start the movie couldn't live up to -- but it's hard to live up to Jay Ward's standard. It's too easy to be glibly cynical without being quite playful enough.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-07 10:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-08 03:09 am (UTC)That'll do it, although you'd think one could do more attractive fish caricatures.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-07 08:57 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-07 09:06 am (UTC)Hee hee ... well, that's all right, you're a good enough fennec.
Sing-along with Austin!
Date: 2004-11-07 12:17 pm (UTC)Re: Sing-along with Austin!
Date: 2004-11-08 03:12 am (UTC)A little Google work suggested that Shark Tale had a more fish-oriented version of ``Car Wash,'' although I haven't heard it.