Sheesh, I know the Best Visual Effects Oscar lost any credibility back when the Academy gave it to the Golden Compass instead of Transformers, but not even giving nominations to Legend of the Guardians or Tron Legacy? That is a new level of ridiculous. Both were pretty much sold on their visual effects, and every review and comment I’ve heard about both admit that, regardless of any other flaws in the films, the visuals are amazing.
Seriously, what idiots do they get to do the nominations? Best Visual Effects should be the easiest category to get right, because you’d have to literally be blind to not at least get the nominations right (well, okay maybe one mistake, but there were two major snubs here, in what is frankly a very objective category). I’ll admit that individual tastes may account for anomalies in the winners, like the previously mentioned snub to Transformers, but there is no justification for failing at the first hurdle when it’s only ankle-high.
I can barely express my disbelief. This is the biggest award nomination snub I can recall, worse even than the Best Picture snubs for WALL-E and The Dark Knight a couple of years ago, simply because of how freaking objective and obvious the Best Visual Effects category is.
I think I need an image of Kludd to express my hatred and rage. I’ll have to pop the DVD in tonight and find a good one.
nintendofreakgcn: Mate, I’d love to see that. Angry Kludd FTW!
bryanbmp: As much as I love Inception, LOTG came from a lesser-known studio and had much more love and attention to detail poured into it. Inception felt like a visual effects showcase, while in LOTG you can see all the little details like the tree bark paintings, and the light reflecting through the clouds and all that.
I’m also really angry that Herschfelder didn’t get a ‘Best Original Score’ nom at least. He did Australia’s soundtrack, but his name is probably one not on the minds of many voters. Shame really, the main theme is really distinctive and is right up in the clouds with HTTYD for sheer awesomeness.
@ TDIT: Holy fudge. Ga’Hoole’s soundtrack is epic. [size=80]Even reminds me of Donkey Kong Country 2 at parts. That’s probably why I like it. Teehee.[/size]
I’m disappointed LOTG didn’t at least get a nomination. Now I’m sad. D: Animal Logic deserves more credit.
I do agree that the score was amazing. FAR better than what won… It’s no secret I’m not really a fan of The Social Network score - it worked in the film (which was really good) but other than that…
As for visual effects, yes, LOTG was visually amazing, but so are many animated films - the Academy just doesn’t recognize them in that category. Rightfully or wrongfully, they just don’t.
I think the thing that hurt the score, is the fact that the film itself wasn’t very well-recieved. If people don’t see the film, they certainly don’t remember the music. I still stand by my feelings that LOTG was technically spot-on, but unfortunately felt underdeveloped story/character-wise. The trailer showed a lot of potential - I just wish I’d been able to like this one more…
You’re right!
Why in the name of Glaux haven’t you watched it yet?
I agree, it’s a great character piece of Zuckerberg and his eternal solitude and all that. But as a whole, it’s not a kind of soundtrack I would want to listen to over and over again, especially out of the filmic context.
I’d have to politely disagree. While a lot of animation studios have done great visual effects, they are mostly employed in action setpieces. Other times, they use ‘shortcuts’ or simple character modeling. Toy Story 3 and HTTYD to an extent had fairly simple effects and character models. Despicable Me was even more ‘cartoony’, as was Tangled. But Guardians as a whole package had amazing visuals from start to end. Feathers are notoriously complex, but then they threw in elemental weather, evening lens flare, even a freakin’ forest fire into the equation. I could pause the film at any time and admire that screenshot for hours. H*ll, I even enjoyed the shadow-puppet end credits more than any other film’s credits last year. Animal Logic has a meticulous attention to detail and a devotion to cutting-edge technology that is unsurpassed by any other animation studio, including Pixar, probably because of their background in doing outsourced visual effects work for films like 300, Watchmen, and Harry Potter.
I agree about the story bit to an extent. They did what they could with their aim of condensing three books into one. The books as a whole are poorly structured and divided. Each book has a multitude of characters and very simple plots, so I think A.L. did a great job of excising all the ‘useless’ characters and combining some to explain the story. Unfortunately, there were still a lot of characters to keep track of for the newcomer, though I didn’t have a problem since I read the series. I think it’s the same with Harry Potter, I have a friend who didn’t read a single installment, and he tells me he falls asleep every time he watches a HP movie cos’ he can’t keep up.
Overall, I thought Soren and Kludd’s arc were very clearly defined, as was Ezylryb and Nyra. Gylfie, Twilight et al. were the supporting characters in Soren’s quest, much like how Dug and Kevin and all those dogs and even Muntz were only there to support Carl in his internal journey in Up. I was mad when they cut out a lot of good scenes and characters from the books, but now I’ve grown to understand the reasons why they did so, and I’ve realised there was no other better way unless they went for half an hour more- which I wouldn’t have mind but maybe some of the restless young 'uns would.
Are they going to make a sequel to this? There are fifteen books in the series and this only covers the first three…but I heard that it flopped terribly.
I’m pretty sure they’re making a sequel seeing as the film has a nice sequel hook. However, I’d like Animal Logic to just go and start on that goshdarned Bone film by now!
Speaking of which, I FINALLY saw Legend of the Guardians today. Be it in poorly recorded cam bootleg quality, but it was AMAZING. The animation is top-notch and never quite falls in the uncanny valley. Did I mention the animation is awesome? I can safely say this film’s one of my favorites now.
Ga’Hoole’s soundtrack is epic. [size=80]Even reminds me of Donkey Kong Country 2 at parts. That’s probably why I like it. Teehee.[/size]
