Glutton for Punishment

[ErikJ]

I swear I must be a glutton for punishment but I went out and rented MIIB. I thought maybe it would be better the second time around. Guess what? It still sucked. I didn't even bother with all the extras. I like bad movies but as Andrew has stated before a movie must be entertaining first. The main reason for renting this was because my son had some friends staying over so I figured this would be my way of watching it again and judge from the kids reactions to see if I might be way off base.....I wasn't. The kids got borred picked up the gameboys or whatever they had. They liked Ice Age much better, which isn't that great of a film as well. Speaking of Ice Age whose bright idea was it to put that depressing Bunny short on it. It's a film for kids for crying out loud. It shows an elderly rabbit in a human like roll die, And if I didn't know any better I would have sworn they had it commit suicide. I'm glad I watched that after the kids went to bed. My kids are messed up anyway(They have me for their father) I will not put them through that.
Anyone else want to pick up?

[J.R.]

I've read that the MIB II DVD has the alternate ending, and if they had guts, it's the World Trade Center ending. Maybe it's better?

[Squishy]

I rather like "Bunny," even if using the oven as a "doorway to the afterlife" does raise questions--not of suicide, although I can see where that comes from, but whether the elderly rabbit is accidentally cooking herself to death while high on fumes. Think of the poor sap who finds the body. ("Knock, knock! Hello? Something sure smells good!! ...Hello?")

I don't think it's a great film for kids of any age to see, that's for sure; it's beautiful, yet sad and depressing, and death is always tough enough for kids to deal with in private, let alone in public or in front of peers. (I saw "Charlotte's Web" in theatres as a runt, before reading the book. F***ing E. B. White. F***ing Debby Reynolds. I couldn't knock off the waterworks for hours. I hate their guts.)

You also don't want your kids giggling as the poor old rodent tries to hop about in her walker, for fear that they'll start laughing at every senior with a gimp leg.

Note: if someone tries to show your kids the animated short "The Sandman," stop the tape and kill that person. What the hell IS it with "arty" animators? (This animator went on to do those tissue commercials with the runaway nose. In "The Sandman," the birdlike title character visits a sleepy child, TEARS OUT HIS EYES and feeds them to its young. The short ends with a shot of scores of its tiny victims groping about with open, empty eye-sockets. WTF?!?)

Haven't seen "Ice Age" or "MIB2" yet, but it's nice to know there are a few people who weren't all that thrilled with the first "MIB." Thought I was alone there. Director Barry Sonnenfeld has his moments, but his films usually aren't as good as the sum of their parts.

[JohnL]

>if someone tries to show your kids the animated short "The Sandman," stop the
>tape and kill that person.

 What was this on?

[Mofo Rising]

I really liked the first MIB.  A greatly entertaining film, in my view.

MIIB, however, was not.  I wouldn't say it's bad, just uninspired.  Workmanlike in almost every way, it has none of the energy of the first film.  You could say the same for BIG TROUBLE.  I thought the Dave Barry book was a fast-paced and funny little romp.  The film, though, just had the energy sucked out of it.  Too self-consciously "wacky".

Sometimes I don't know about that Sonnenfield guy.

Haven't seen ICE AGE yet, but that Sandman thing sounds great.  Not for children, I would agree, but I always hated "arty" animation as a kid anyway.

[Flangepart]

Ewwwww!
Find "The Sandman" creator....and feed him to hungry lions. No, Tigers....or maby rabid weasels....what ever works....ewwww....

[Squishy]

Actually, upon looking up Paul Berry, the director of "Sandman," on the IMDB--he also worked on "Nightmare Before Christmas," "James And The Giant Peach," and, uh, "Monkeybone"--it turns out he died of a brain tumor at 40...

Mind you, I think "Sandman"--nominated for the animated short Oscar in 1992--was never intended for children. It's very high-quality work, and supposed to be moody and abruptly horrific like a Grimm fairy tale. It just succeeded FAR too well for my taste. But that's art for you... (Despite its awards and nominations, it ranks a five-point-something among users at the IMDB...)

No, my problem is with people who automatically think, "animation = kiddie stuff." I saw "Sandman" at an animation festival, and it probably won't be tacked onto anything like "Ice Age"--but just be on the lookout, because if some idiot does that, your kids aren't going to bed for weeks. It's a LOT less appropriate for rugrats than "Bunny." (God, for all I know, it's on the "Nightmare Before Christmas" DVD.)

"Sandman" is on an out-of-print video in the "Tournee of Animation" series. A Google search for "sandman tournee animation" might turn up a copy somewhere.

[J.R.]

<>

And then there's the opposite mindset, that animation meant for adults must be gratuitous. Subscribers to this theory include Ralph Bakshi and most anime creators.

[Flangepart]

True enough.
Animation as kid stuff is an American thing. I've never seen the point of that.
Toons are just another story telling medium. Like prose or live action film/T.V.  Each has its demands in exicution, but its the storys that finaly cound.
I miss the old "Tournee of Animation" shows, at the old Drexel theater. I knew any thing could happen, and while lots of stuff left me cold, i always knew something would work for me. I was right.
"Skywhales"...."Ren and Stimpy"....ah, those were the days.....

[Goon]

<<>>

        Urg.  I remember that for a several week period one of the video stores in my town had all the animation DVD's grouped together.  Low on the shelf.  Kiddie stuff.  And adult anime.  ... that probably wasn't too apropriate for the wee ones.  All I can imagine is the catatonic shock the clerk must have found a few parents in upon reading the back of the case their kid handed to them.  They cought a clue and changed the order but I still laugh thinking about it.

----ooo-'U'-ooo-----Kilroy was here.

[Mofo Rising]

Goon wrote:
>
> <<> stuff." >>>
>
>         Urg.  I remember that for a several week period one
> of the video stores in my town had all the animation DVD's
> grouped together.  Low on the shelf.  Kiddie stuff.  And
> adult anime.  ... that probably wasn't too apropriate for the
> wee ones.  All I can imagine is the catatonic shock the clerk
> must have found a few parents in upon reading the back of the
> case their kid handed to them.  They cought a clue and
> changed the order but I still laugh thinking about it.
>

I remember when I was working at a video store.  Some mother came up who was chaperoning a group of 11-12 year old kids.  The video they had picked out was MEET THE FEEBLES.  I told the lady that this was something she probably didn't want her kids watching.  Damn, I would have to say that MEET THE FEEBLES was probably the most depraved video we had in the store.

It's lucky I knew what that movie was.  Anybody else would have let her walk out the store.  Nobody ever pays attention to anything.

[JohnL]

>my problem is with people who automatically think, "animation = kiddie stuff."

My father is sort of like that. I mean he knows that some animation might not be suitable for little kids, but in his mind, normal adults do not watch "cartoons". He wouldn't even watch Who Framed Roger Rabbit. He feels the same way about video/computer games, that only kids are supposed to like that kind of stuff.

>"Sandman" is on an out-of-print video in the "Tournee of Animation" series.

 Ok, thanks.

>I miss the old "Tournee of Animation" shows, at the old Drexel theater.

Never saw them, but several years ago, a friend took me to a theater showing one of the Festival of Animation series. Most of it was ok, but there was one film I really liked; Balance. Stop motion animated characters on a platform floating in the middle of nowhere.

 Too bad SciFi cancelled Exposure...

[Mofo Rising]

JohnL wrote:
>
>  Too bad SciFi cancelled Exposure...

Yeah.  Did anybody ever see that MORE, with the dumpy little aliens and the happy goggles?  You can still see the films at the website, but MORE doesn't seem to be on there anymore.

[JohnL]

>Yeah. Did anybody ever see that MORE, with the dumpy little aliens and the
>happy goggles?

 I liked that one. There were a few that I thought were good, but a lot of them kind of sucked too.

>You can still see the films at the website, but MORE doesn't seem to be on there
>anymore.

 Are you sure it was ever there? The week they premiered the one about the elevator, from the makers of Cube, I missed it and went to the web site to try watching it there (streaming video almost never works properly for me), but it wasn't online. They had an entry for it, but no link to view it.

[Mofo Rising]

JohnL wrote:
>
>
>  Are you sure it was ever there? The week they premiered the
> one about the elevator, from the makers of Cube, I missed it
> and went to the web site to try watching it there (streaming
> video almost never works properly for me), but it wasn't
> online. They had an entry for it, but no link to view it.

Positive, because that's where I saw it.  I've never seen it on television.  It was also on iFilm for a while, but all trace of it seems to have disappeared from the web.

Note: The information on SciFi's site said it played on the IMAX.  That I would've liked to see.