Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Yogi Bear (2010) + Rabid Rider (cartoon)

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-31-2011, 01:01 PM:

This was not nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I watched it at the behest of my wife, who was far more interested than I was...and wound up having a good time. It has some good word-play, the female love-interest is EZ on the eyes, the scenery is pretty (filmed in New Zealand) and Aykroyd does a pretty good job of approximating Yogi's voice.

I was actually pretty impressed with Aykroyd and Timberlake both. Especially Aykroyd -- I expected to spend the whole movie thinking "Wow, this is a bad impersonation of Yogi Bear by Dan Aykroyd" but that didn't happen. He really inhabited the character, which is pretty surprising considering Aykroyd's got such a distinctive voice.

The dumbest part of the movie was the whole fireworks display scene. This is an indication the movie was made by big-city types and not real fans of the outdoors. Did they actually do ANY research about national parks and such? No forest of any description would allow that kind of stuff within 50 miles.

However, overall I give the movie a solid "not too bad." Which is pretty amazing because I was all set to give this a "really sucks."

I can't say the same for the Wile E. Coyote/Road Runner cartoon which precedes the main event. While it has a couple of good gags, it has a lot of problems:

1. It's too short. A classic RR cartoon would feature about 11 gags. This one has what, three or four? You're just getting into it and it's over. This is probably due to #6 below.

2. The overall look and feel of it is just wrong, all the way from the colors to the pacing. They should have used hand animation; these characters just don't look right in CG.

3. The Road Runner doesn't go "Beep beep" nearly often enough...he's just standing there or running past, most of the time. And when he does "beep beep," it's too soft in the mix.

4. The ending is bad, because the Road Runner normally never does anything TO the coyote -- Wile E. brings most of his problems on himself.

5. It's missing the faux-Latin freeze-frame species identifications for the critters. (Yes, I realize not all of the classic RR cartoons had them.).

6. There are no explosions. No TNT, no Wile E. trying to blow a fuse out when a stick of dynamite is accidentally tied to his face, etc. In fact, nothing falls on Wile E. either. (No wonder it's too short, the powers that be probably crossed out most of the filmmakers' ideas as being "too violent.")

7. The music wasn't so good. I realize there is only one Carl Stalling and one Milt Franklyn, but the music on this toon just sounds too generic. Bring back the "brassy" WB music sound...that's part of what makes a Looney Tune looney.

Having said all that, I will still say that (like the main feature) it was better than I expected.

Main feature: 2.5 stars out of 5
Cartoon: 2.25 stars out of 5

NOTE: I can't comment on the 3D effects because we played it in 2D. I was worried we might get some complaints about that, but out of about 300 people who came to see it over the weekend, only two asked if the show was in 3D.

Posted by James Westbrook (Member # 3690) on 01-31-2011, 01:53 PM:

Yeah. That Road Runner short.
You are recalling what a gifted cartoon director Chuck Jones was.
Political correctness ruins everything.
I also didn't realize that Acme now sold Segways, or whatever those contraptions are called.
Seems they had one of these shorts in front of the Legend of The Guardians.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 01-31-2011, 07:44 PM:

All of the current crop of 'Road Runner' cartoons are bad. There's not an original idea in them and they are sanitized to the point of idiocy. IT'S A ROAD RUNNER CARTOON!!! He's supposed to be blown up, have anvils drop on his head, fall off cliffs and have large boulders squash him. Have the people making them ever even SEEN a RR cartoon? Every one of these guys and gals making them should be forced to watch just one: 'Zoom and Bored'. THEN go out and try to make a real RR cartoon.

Seriously, it'd make Chuck turn in his grave.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-01-2011, 12:02 AM:

I always thought it was great that the Looney Tunes characters were always being portrayed as being "actors" and movie stars and such -- everything from griping about their contracts or billing, to being shown actually being buddies after the "show" is over.

From there it's easy to resolve the concept that the coyote is not REALLY getting blown up or hurt; he's just acting in a movie and it's all done with makeup and effects. If all the concerned parents would think of it that way, the whole violence thing would be less of an issue and we could enjoy some good old fashioned new toons.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 02-26-2011, 08:52 PM:

Update: Thanks to YouTube I watched the other two of the most recent Road Runner cartoons. Sadly, John Wilson is right; pretty much all the comments I made above apply to them too.

I also found out this week that there's a single disk Road Runner/Wile E. DVD comimg out fairly soon, but DON'T BUY IT! It has only one of the good old classic toons (a McKimson-directed one); it has the three most recent crapfests, plus the Chuck-Jones directed "Chariots of Fur" from 1994 (a weak entry due to no explosions, again); plus the "Rudy Larriva series" of poorly animated toons that Warner's farmed out production for in the '60s. You have been warned.