From Spider-Man to Ninja Turtles, animated cinema is changing

Released at the end of 2018, between the two live-action adventures directed by Tom Holland, Spider-Man Next Generation grossed just $384 million worldwide. But its impact goes beyond the numbers, as the feature film by Oscar-winners Peter Ramsay, Bob Persichetti and Rodney Rothman is a small revolution.

A bit like Toy Story, all things considered. Because where the Pixar film took the animation entirely digital, Sony and Marvel took a hybrid form, at the intersection of 2D and 3D (with a hint of collage in Across the Spider-Verse), which is only slightly It is expressed by touch. Currently.

But the recent release of Ninja Turtles – Teenage Years confirms this sense of change in animated cinema, which has been running for five years now. And what we find in some movies that made an impression.

Mitchell vs. Machines

A Time Called Disconnected, Michael Rianda and Jeff Rowe’s feature film (remember that name) finally opted for a more faithful French translation of its original title when it hit Netflix after being pulled from theaters due to the Covid pandemic.

Led by Phil Lord and Chris Miller, who are already behind the next generation of Spider-Man, Mitchells vs. Machines doesn’t look too different from most consumer products in computer graphics. Just at a glance. Because you only have to look at the outlines of the characters or the scenery of their crazy trek to realize that something is changing.

The rendering looks more artisanal, with lines that look like they’ve been drawn by hand, and the characters give a sense of evolution over deliberately irregular preparatory drawings or paintings. It’s as if they latch onto the imperfection of this motley family, on every level, and Katie’s desire to deviate from the norm.

And support through images the story of the conflict between feelings and the concept of family and the technology represented by these machines that try to overthrow the world. The Oscar-nominated film, which weaves the codes of YouTube and Snapchat into its narrative, seems even more relevant at a time when Hollywood is grappling with artificial intelligence.

bad Boys

If Sony Animation really didn’t have a leg up and couldn’t engage in the battle for box office supremacy, that wasn’t the case for Dreamworks. Long a top rival to Pixar, the studio surprises in 2022 with Bad Boys, the first feature film from French director Pierre Perifel, which chooses to stick closer to illustrations and cartoons than to CGI.

I should have said that “The pitch was to make a movie Tarantino But for children, according to a concerned director, which is unimaginable without taking the audience on the wrong foot. And not only on the narrative level and the music: the animation contributes to the style of the whole, willing to remain faithful to its model.

“Aaron Blaby, the writer, was not originally an illustrator and so his illustrations are very simple. We could not adapt them as they were. So I set out to find a style of animated illustration that wasn’t classic and wasn’t like what you see at Disney or Pixar or even DreamWorks.”

We’ll talk less about Spider-Man Next Generation’s influence here. But, like Snoopy and the Peanuts, which slapped CGI on Charles M. To keep the spirit of Schultz alive, The Bad Guys are part of a movement. And shows that the future of animation is going through a mix of forms.

PUS IN PUTS 2

A sequel we haven’t really seen coming. on all plans. When the first episode was released at the end of 2011, the idea of ​​a cover back was quickly born. Without success, and the tale of the Shrek saga has since merged into the past. And then the news officially arrives in 2019: Tomara is back, and her new director is none other than her former writing director. A certain Bob Persichetti.

Is he the one we owe the visual style of a film he’s no longer directing when it’s released in December 2022? Because that’s what’s amazing about the release of the first images: the noticeable and striking influence of Spider-Man New Generation with Joel Crawford and Joel P. on Mercado’s feature film. Even with the bad guys, this rendering is sometimes close to painting, which makes the connection between 3D and the illustrations of the fairy tales that the story carries.

And there’s no doubt that Spider-Man’s next-generation aura was the most obvious in animated cinema. Because Mitchells vs. Cars and Bad Guys were stand-alone stories, it was easier to try something where the boots-on-the-bootstrap franchise was already visually identifiable.

Is this a sign that the big studios will also participate in this hybridization (like Disney Wish this winter)? That the future of the Shrek saga, which is to be renewed, will take this form? both?

Spider-Man on the Spider-Verse

It doesn’t take much digging to see Spider-Man Next Generation’s influence on Across the Spider-Verse, which is nothing more than its direct sequel. Of course, with another trio of directors, but with a visual continuity that gives us the feeling that the comics are coming to life before our eyes and something new, each world of the multiverse visited by Miles Morales has its own identity.

Helped well by word of mouth, which boosted its predecessor’s aura (and at the same time its own), Spider-Man is now approaching $700 million worldwide. And it continues to win over audiences and critics alike, so we wouldn’t be surprised if it continues to inspire other directors and studios in the future.

NINJA Turtles – The Teenage Years

Is this form of animation, of which Spider-Man was the standard-bearer, the next generation of comic book animation? The feedback already seemed positive in 2018, more so today. Thanks to Across the Spider-Verse and Ninja Turtles, a new attempt to revive the Ninja Turtles in cinema.

Mitchell vs. Machines with director Jeff Rowe at the wheel explains it this way. and by “this”, get it: that graphical bias that sometimes leans toward stop-motion and Aardman modeling clay, when imperfections are deliberately left on screen. And the influence that the director recognizes in our microphone.

“Spider-Man Next Generation proved to us that it’s now completely acceptable to look different in terms of animation. Obviously, that resonated with all the artists who have worked in animation over the years.”

“Every time they tried to make a movie with quality animation, their efforts faltered as the project progressed to finally match the studio’s animation style. But in this case, there was no excuse that the movie didn’t look like the idea. We had it in mind.”

A style that, again, isn’t just coquettishness, as it suits a story where the adolescent (and therefore imperfect, in training) side of the characters is more present.

Going back to the beginning of the story, Ninja Turtles resets the counters to zero and relies on the knowledge of its producer Seth Rogen (also co-writer and voice actor of Bebop) after announcing the specialist of teenage stories in Freaks. and the Geeks series.

A title that could be the adventures of Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo and Donatello, who change their shell with very different personalities and very referable humor. In a feature film that isn’t afraid to go dark or cut mainstream animation. And it shows that the genre continues to mutate, which we’re not going to complain about.