fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Follow your glitch

by Frances Marion Platt
April 1, 2016
in Stage & Screen
0

The number of animated features coming out this year — many of them really well-made and enjoyable by adults and children alike — is quite unprecedented. Considering how much CGI technology is used nowadays even in live-action films, one has to wonder how much longer the industry will even bother differentiating between the genres, or maintaining separate Oscar categories for them. The cinematic breakthroughs that enabled Gene Kelly to dance with Tom and Jerry in Anchors Aweigh or Dick Van Dyke to do the same with cartoon penguins in Mary Poppins seem almost quaint today. And remember the big fuss over Who Framed Roger Rabbit? in 1988? It’s old hat now.

So here I am reviewing yet another new animated movie, with a couple more due out before year’s end and a slew more on tap for 2013. They have come to represent such an important part of Hollywood’s output that film critics (and audiences) ignore them at their peril. The happy news for aficionados of the art of animation is that they aren’t just plentiful; at least half of the ones that I’ve seen in 2012 are really good, and two or three may even make my Ten Best list.

The acquisition of Pixar by Disney made this state of affairs pretty much inevitable, giving us cause to hope for many more excellent animated products in the foreseeable future and at least a few that aspire to the level of real cinematic art. The challenge, of course, is that once the latest technological advances lose their gee-whiz factor, even the top animation studios will have to stretch to come up with stories that hold their own as stories. While one might argue that nobody ever went broke overestimating the American moviegoing public’s tolerance for formulaic narratives, at some point, jazzy eye candy just won’t be enough.

As with live-action films, a whole column could easily be devoted to ruminations on the definition of originality and whether it’s truly possible to find something new under the sun. Sometimes a novel spin on old themes is good enough, if the execution is top-notch; and that’s the case with Disney’s latest, Wreck-It Ralph.

Some elements do seem awfully familiar: The protagonist — a bad guy in a low-tech arcade game from the ‘80s, reminiscent of Donkey Kong, who aspires to become a good guy — is a grouchy, lovable lunk of the Shrek fraternity, and his story arc is predictable enough. You just know that he will screw up multiple times, including failing to follow his best instincts in a way that will endanger the person about whom he cares the most, before he finally “follows his heart” and gets things right. And the moral is nothing new in contemporary kiddie fare either: Embrace what makes you different; what are perceived by others as your weirdnesses are really your strengths.

But the alternative universe depicted in this movie is so ingenious that the recycled ideas don’t matter that much. The Simpsons and Futurama director Rich Moore takes the formula pioneered by Disney with Tron (1982) — putting the protagonist (and the viewer) inside the virtual world of a computer game program — a step farther by rotating the point of view so that the “fourth wall” of the movie/game screen really does become a fourth wall. Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) and the other game inhabitants can see video arcade workers slap an Out of Order sign on their console when something goes awry in their little world.

Page 1 of 2
12Next
Tags: movie review
Before you click away... grab a free month of HV1. Get unlimited access. Get the news you've been missing. Get connected to your community. Keep local journalism alive at $5/mo., or cancel anytime. And enjoy summer!
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

Campaign finance reform forum

Next Post

Robert Burke Warren talks Buddy Holly, Uncle Rock and The Dumb Waiter

Frances Marion Platt

Frances Marion Platt has been a feature writer (and copyeditor) for Ulster Publishing since 1994, under both her own name and the nom de plume Zhemyna Jurate. Her reporting beats include Gardiner and Rosendale, the arts and a bit of local history. In 2011 she took up Syd M’s mantle as film reviewer for Alm@nac Weekly, and she hopes to return to doing more of that as HV1 recovers from the shock of COVID-19. A Queens native, Platt moved to New Paltz in 1971 to earn a BA in English and minor in Linguistics at SUNY. Her first writing/editing gig was with the Ulster County Artist magazine. In the 1980s she was assistant editor of The Independent Film and Video Monthly for five years, attended Heartwood Owner/Builder School, designed and built a timberframe house in Gardiner. Her son Evan Pallor was born in 1995. Alternating with her journalism career, she spent many years doing development work – mainly grantwriting – for a variety of not-for-profit organizations, including six years at Scenic Hudson. She currently lives in Kingston.

Related Posts

Trash Bata addresses plastics in environment
Stage & Screen

Trash Bata addresses plastics in environment

August 4, 2022
Arm-of-the-Sea presents historical drama about the Saugerties Lighthouse
Stage & Screen

Arm-of-the-Sea presents historical drama about the Saugerties Lighthouse

August 3, 2022
Real Life Revival: “A cross between A Prairie Home Companion, The Moth and Mountain Stage.” 
Art & Music

Real Life Revival: “A cross between A Prairie Home Companion, The Moth and Mountain Stage.” 

July 28, 2022
The End of America brings Americana to Phoenicia
Stage & Screen

The End of America brings Americana to Phoenicia

July 28, 2022
Appropriately, A Midsummer Night’s Dream begins July 29
Stage & Screen

Appropriately, A Midsummer Night’s Dream begins July 29

July 28, 2022
Generation Women brings their stories to the Phoenicia Playhouse
Stage & Screen

Generation Women brings their stories to the Phoenicia Playhouse

July 28, 2022
Next Post

Robert Burke Warren talks Buddy Holly, Uncle Rock and The Dumb Waiter

Trending News

  • Mayor encounters “biggest black bear I have ever seen” 1.7k views
  • Sawyer Ice Cream is your grandfather’s shake shack 1k views
  • Phony crosswalk covered over 0.9k views
  • Senior living facility shows unwillingness to pay recreation fees 658 views
  • Development vs. conservation: Glasco Turnpike plan aims to strike a balance 576 views







Latest HV1 Podcast

Weather

Kingston
◉
70°
Mostly Cloudy
6:04 am7:56 pm EDT
Feels like: 70°F
Wind: 1mph W
Humidity: 64%
Pressure: 30.01"Hg
UV index: 0
TueWedThu
86/59°F
81/57°F
84/57°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Ulster County COVID-19 Active Cases

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing