[size=84]Omega realizes he needs to lay off the Serax.[/size]
I came across this interesting screenshot today from what looks like an upcoming movie from Lionsgate and Crest Animation Productions (a leading animation studio in India). The plot is available on Wikipedia with some minor spoilers, but let’s just say it’s a romantic-comedy-action-road-trip-adventure film, with a bickering lupine couple who hate each other’s guts but will eventually grow to trust and… you know the rest. It’s like Newt meets Balto!
Personally, I’m quite intrigued to see what lesser-known studios are up to in the industry, and while most of the production will be handled by Lionsgate, the animation work will be done by Crest. It’s too early to determine whether this will be anything better than average, but I can’t wait to see a trailer- which judging from it’s scheduled October release, should be anytime now.
The cast list consists of Jake Long (Planet 51, MegaMind) and Haynden Pannetiere (Heroes, Dinosaur) voicing Omega and Alpha respectively. The supporting cast is pretty good too, we have Christina Ricci (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), Dennis Hopper (Speed) and Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon). It’s directed by Richard Rich, a guy who has produced some of my favourite childhood movies (The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron, The Swan Princess), so hopefully he’ll bring that same brand of magic here.
Again, all the greatest actors in the world can’t save a movie with a mediocre script, so again, I can’t wait to have a peek for a trailer. Of all the screenshots, I have no freakin’ idea why they chose to release that one… I presume Omega’s all hazy-eyed because of that giant tranq dart sticking out of his paw. But really, bad call. The below shot from a Mumbai news article is more flattering.
Darn it! You beat me to creating this topic! I might end up seeing this, but it sounds way too like newt, and so now I really wish Pixar hadn’t released the synopsis for newt so early!
Haha, wow… I’m surprised you were aware of this, too! This film would have been pretty much under the radar for me if I didn’t check Wikipedia’s 2010 In Film entry…
Well, I don’t think they intentionally stole the plot from Pixar. A lot of people jeered Surf’s Up for copying Happy Feet, but really, both films were already in production at the same time. This phenomenon of similar-themed movies released close to each other happens all the time (Ratatouille=Desperaux, Watchmen=Kick-Ass, HTTYD=Avatar), so I’m sure A&O will hold its own against Newt. I’m actually very curious about the ‘underdog’ in this case, since there’s been very little big-budget animated films from India.
At least it looks better than the last America-India collaboration. God, that looked awful.
I may or may not be the only person on the face of the earth who doesn’t like wolves (they’re cool and all but so horribly overrated) this movie looks nice for what I’ve seen, though. One can never have enough talking animals.
The graphic style reminds me a bit of Missing Lynx (which was an amusing little film BTW) but a bit more realistic. Fur and all, I mean.
Also, wasn’t there already a certain movie with a canine named Alpha…?
Wasn’t that a Spanish animated film? I thought he looked a little like Rachet. Or Daxter. So you say it’s good? I think I saw the trailer last year, and it was nominated for an Oscar or something.
I was thinking the same thing too! I smell a crossover brewing…
Hmm, the still at the top of the page reeks of gimmicky “Oh no! He’s dripping spit into the audience!” 3D. And aside from that, the plot doesn’t sound very interesting (I had my reservations about Newt but I trusted that Pixar wouldn’t do it unless it would be good, apparently I was right).
So I don’t know, I’m not sure this movie will be any go– wait did you say “from the director of The Black Cauldron?” That tears it, this is going to be awful.
Ah, but he did ‘The Fox and the Hound’ and ‘Swan Princess’, which are two of the best movies from the Renaissance period. And was the ‘Black Cauldron’ really that bad?
Anyway, I think it’s too early to jump to conclusions, good or bad. I know that contradicts the question I posed at the end of the first post, but I just dislike negativity. I’m really dying for a trailer to see whether this will be worth it, though.
About Missing Lynx, it is not the best, but not the worst either, though some people consider the animation style to be too stylized. I’ve heard somewhere that they wanted to focus more on the story. Also awesome - the main characters are pretty unusual animals, which I usually find pretty cool. Unusual animals, I mean.
But eh, concerning Alpha and Omega, I will probably see it. Yeah, talking animals.
Though that first image scares me. Drool. D:
That just looks… so bad. I see absolutely no redeeming qualities about this film. Honestly… how can you screw up a story about freaking wolves? This is a new low for Lionsgate.
Okay… that was slightly disappointing. I mean, it’s like Newt, but I’m not gonna call it a ‘rip-off’ or say I’ve seen this before, because really, it’s difficult to be original nowadays.
Inception → The Science of Sleep (La Science de Reves)
How to Train Your Dragon → Avatar
Avatar → Ferngully: The Last Rainforest
Toy Story 3 → The Great Escape
Wall-E → Silent Running
So saying comparisons with predecessors - “OMG, Alpha and Omega is like, Bolt meets Rio meets Brother Bear meets Homeward Bound meets Beverly Hills Chihuahua meets Newt” doesn’t exactly count as a bad point (Although, there were scenes which certainly reminded me of Bolt in particular).
No, the reason I’m so disappointed, is because of the lacklustre production values and the terrible ‘kid-humour’.
The texturing, the subdiv details, it all looks like a Spyro video-game. Maybe they were going for a ‘Madagascar’ look, or maybe they just didn’t have the render-power of Pixar. Fair enough, I can overlook that.
But the cornball dialogue, the slapstick jokes… it doesn’t really endear me that much (and I’m a sucker for puns and pratfalls, and I really should be laughing, but I didn’t). Okay, the goose at the end with his ‘look over there’ trick got me. But the rest had me cringing with the lowbrow American humour and predictable punchlines.
But at least I was not as put off as I was for Shrek Forever After or Tangled, for some reason. I might see this, but only if reviews are favourable.
Yeah, that was hideous. I understand that it’s difficult to be original nowadays, but it’s just SUCH a similar storyline to Newt, coupled with bad animation, bad dialogue, bad jokes…I mean, the wolves all look like they’ve got dreadlocks and the jokes are as about inane as you can get. Definitely not going to be seeing this one in the cinema.
To be honest, this looks worse than MegaMind. It is a TERRIBLE rip-off of Newt, has very uninspiring animation, has a bad plot, and has about 99.9% more poop jokes than needed. I can pretty much tell by just watching the trailer.
The below shot from a Mumbai news article is more flattering.
I might end up seeing this, but it sounds 
It is a TERRIBLE rip-off of Newt, has very uninspiring animation, has a bad plot, and has about 99.9% more poop jokes than needed. I can pretty much tell by just watching the trailer.