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The Emperor's New Groove 117

Posted by CmdrTaco from the rob-and-disney-like-hand-and-glove dept.
Yes ladies and gentleman, its Rob's favorite time of year: No not the seasons with the fat red-suited man, or the candle thing, or that manger thing, but rather the time when the new Disney flick hits theaters. Its been a long time since Tarzan, and I've watched around 250 hours of anime since then, so click on to read my full review of the flick. (The short spoiler free version: its fun, but its very kid oriented.)

I'm betting I had the same impression as most of you when I saw the ads for Disney's new Emperors's New Groove flick. Frankly, It made me quite ill. It sounded quite stupid. The other thing that was different about this movie is that I've watched so much anime, that I hadn't even tracked Groove's production. All the animated features released in the last decade I researched quite extensively. Voices, songs, writers, directors, who was animating which character. In most cases I even bought the sound track and was right there singing along. This time I knew nothing.

So, it's a good movie. Despite the stupid name, it's very fun. Of course it has a wicked villian and her henchman ... at least one of them isn't a trio of singing wise cracking henchman. The sidekick is Crank, (rhymes with Bonk) and he's probably the highlight of the film. Voiced by Elaine's boyfriend from the last season of Seinfeld (I think that excluding maybe Terry Hatcher, every actor who did a guest spot on the show will be known in terms of their Seinfeld character instead of their actual name). He's right on the money as the big goofy sidekick. They poke fun at some many conventions with this guy, I laughed out loud countless times.

The star, however, is of course David Spade, who besides starring on the vomit inducingly bad Just Shoot Me sitcom on NBC (god bless Tivo) hasn't been doing much since Chris Farley died. Fortunately the writers apparently gave him room to read funny lines, but also improvise. Not since Robin William's Genie have I seen an actor more accurately have their comedy animated by Disney. Then again, if you loath Spade's whiney sarcastic stand up, you're gonna hate this movie.

The animation is really quite good, although during the Emperor's stint as a llama, he's very disturbing. They handled him well, but man, with that long neck and that stretched out face and Spade's voice, well, it's a crazy creature.

It looks to me also that Disney shaved the budget down to nothing compared to other recent theater outings. The special effects in this film are virtually nil. No wild panarama shots. No amazing CGI. I mean, the fx are there, but they are relatively subtle, and never jaw-droppingly impressive.

And the music: What's a Disney movie without a rousing musical soundtrack? Well, I guess its Groove. It isn't a musical. Tarzan was different as far as musicals go, but it did feature a great soundtrack (despite winning a grammy against South Park which frankly pushed the envelope much more entertainingly the little old Phil "I wish I was Peter Gabriel" Collins ever could have). Groove does have a reasonably cute Tom Jones Disco bookend, but its nothing that you'll leave be talking about when you leave the theater. And my last comment on sound, usually I see movies like this in a theater with a good sound system, but I caught this one at the local Holland 7, which boasts a sound system with approximately the same fidelity as a realaudio porno stream. So take this with a grain of salt: I thought the sound was lame. The voice acting was nice, and the surround sound was used nicely, but the music and sound effects never just got into your skin like Mermaid, Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, Hunchback, Hercules, and Tarzan did. It's flat. Then again, when the DVD is released I'll watch it on my home system and maybe rethink this judgement.

I'll leave the story summary short, because if you're still reading, you'll probably wanted to see the movie before you started reading my little review ;) Spade is the spoiled brat emperor. He wants to build his new summer home on a Peasants hill (played blandly by John Goodman). He runs amuck with his evil Jafar/Cruella advisor and is transformed into a llama. Thanks to Hercules style sidekick incompetance he accidentally ends up with the Peasant, and must work through his spoiled nature, turn himself back into a human, and reclaim his thrown.

As you might have noticed, there are so many pre-fabbed molds used in this movie that you might have expected me to hate it. But I didn't. The comedy is the fastest of any disney movie ever (even exceeding Aladdin which dragged until the Genie came along). The pacing is obviously designed for children, with major jokes and changes occuring constantly. It always feels rushed ... but it never gets boring.

If you like silly animated adventures, or just need a movie to take a kid to, this will do nicely.
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The Emperor's New Groove More

The Emperor's New Groove

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  • Disneyfication (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    E H Shepard Pooh versus [maakies.com] Disney Pooh.
  • What did he throw?
  • The MPAA's actions are legal and conform strictly with the letter of the law, but they are unethical. Using lobbyists to buy a law which overly restricts copying above and beyond what our Founding Fathers intended, just to add to your corporate profits, is legal but unethical.

    My actions are illegal but ethical. I challenge you to find a single entity in the world which is materially harmed when I freeload a movie that I wouldn't have watched anyway without the freeloading. And of course even this argument is a moot point, because I don't freeload anymore -- I've been boycotting the MPAA for two years and counting.

    Illegal actions should not be confused with unethical actions. When Rosa Parks refused to yield her bus seat, what she was doing was very illegal, but also very ethical. Sometimes when the law is unjust, honesty actually demands that it be broken.

  • that doesn't justify "freeloading" off of them. Two wrongs DO NOT make a right.

    As I said I have been on complete boycott for two years. My "freeloading" suggestion was meant as an alternative for those who might prefer it over a complete boycott.

    I value your responses very highly and I am definitely re-evaluating my opinions to take your points into account.

  • Your civility in replying is much appreciated.

    I do not recommend watching Hollywood movies at all. This position should have been abundantly clear from the rest of my post.

    However I realize that the practical reality is that many people cannot live without their Hollywood movies. If they don't care about MPAA issues, then fine; but if they do care, theater switching may be a viable alternative to total deprivation.

    It is slightly dishonest, and I would not recommend this procedure for the Abe-Lincoln types out there. However, like most americans, I have no moral objections to freeloading something that has near-zero marginal cost, especially if I wouldn't have paid for it under any circumstances anyway.

    My last question is, if theater switching is "empty" and "pointless", then why do you care so much?

  • that disney has gone from a feature every 8 years to a feature a year, rush, rush, rush. Outsourcing a lot of the filler cells. Also exhausting Grimm's and others tales where a hero/heroine doesn't die. Though that really didn't stop Hunchback.
  • I agree with this in part. A tour of the Disney studios revealed that the individual cells are drawn by artists, they are no longer coloured by hand. They scan in the drawings then paint them in the computer. The computer then joins the cells together to form the entire picture.

    My problem with Disney is that the overall animation quality has suffered lately. The last film they made with animation quality in line with the classics was 'Beauty and the Beast', IMHO. When 'Hercules' came out, I was shocked at how poor the animation was. It was very blocky, lots of straight, simple lines and appearing to come out of some animation factory. This movie seems to be drawn by the same group of artists. I can only hope that Disney puts a stop to this team before they draw again. I miss the rich, extremely detailed animation of old.
  • Maybe not a spell checker, since every one of those words is spelled correctly out of context. Maybe some good, old fashioned rewriting. What is it about the internet that makes first drafts OK for everything? Maybe for email and forums, but for articles, come on...
  • In this country, animation has always been for, and probably will always be for the kiddies. There are a few notable exceptions, such as South Park or the Simpsons, but mostly they are dry drivel, and only if you're lucky will you get a few jokes aimed at the adults (Rugrats is a good example).

    Yeah, right. You haven't paid much attention to Bugs Bunny, have you? The real, original scripts, had plenty of adult references along with the slapstick for the kids.

    You might also look at things like the Flintstones; it was PRIME TIME and not just aimed at kids. It's schlock, but not any more so than any other sitcom of its era. That's not the same thing as "just for the kiddies."

    As far as it goes, I'd say that a number of Disney's classic animation stories had plenty to chew on for the adults as well. Bambi's mom dying is "just for the kiddies"?? It's a story, and it is more than just some juvenile slop, unlike a lot of the more recent output from Disney.

    You're right that Japanese animation gets more into adult themes, but US Animation is not so devoid as you might say in comparison.

  • 1) Not only is the guy who played Krunk (not "Crank") "Patrick Warburton the guy from the last season of Seinfeld"; he's also "Patrick Warburton the guy who's playing The Tick in the live-action mid-season replacement series for Fox." Also, he has some of the *best* scenes in any Disney movie ever [the diner comes to mind].

    2) I hate David Spade's whiney sarcastic standup thing, but this movie put it in the right context, and made David Spade bearable. My new theory is: "David Spade should be heard and not seen."

    3) Get someone to proof articles before they get put up in front of thousands of readers.

    4) Don't say "Granted, I was in a movie theater with crappy audio, but man, did that movie have crappy audio." The audio was fine; there's lots of nice subtleties like branches cracking at strategic moments... and I'm glad that for once there was a Disney film where they weren't breaking into song every ten minutes.

    5) John Goodman was anything but bland, and you forgot to mention his extremely funny wife (even though she had only a bit part).

    My take on this is it's the renaissance of Disney animation; this is the first really clever, emotionally engaging non-piece-of-crap to come out of Disney in a long time.

  • A safe bet to take the kids to
    Well, it's not going to corrupt their morals. But in the theater I found myself wondering whether Disney's target audience was capable of dealing with an unreliable narrator. That is, when the emperor (in voiceover) talked about what a bad guy the simple peasant was, did these kids understand that the emperor was speaking from an utterly self-centered position, and wasn't to be trusted? Or did they believe him and get confused when the peasant turned out to be nice?
    Have some really cheesy cute animals and beautiful boys and girls.
    Yep, a couple minor characters. (The kids were more cute than beautiful.) But no animal sidekick, for a change.
    Have a silly love story that is totally implausible.
    Nope.
    You will leave the theatre with that candy-coated "feel-good-fuzzy" feeling.
    I left the theater with a big grin on my face, because it was funny, something that most Disney movies aren't.
    Generally, all other things withstanding, be designed from the ground up as a moneymaking machine. How well it performs is somewhat dependent on how many fast-food chains pick up the promo goods for the flick.
    I'll agree with the general principle here. But this is a movie that was basically scrapped and restarted halfway through production--it may not have been as "designed from the ground up" as your average Disney feature.

    It's got a zaniness, at least, that we haven't seen for a while. Robin Williams's improvisations in Aladdin were fun, but embedded in a treacly story. The Emperor's New Groove has clever and silly things going on at every level.
  • Okay, but I still wished he was Peter Gabriel.
  • I, for one, think that keeping a kid's attention is quite easy. My friend and I took his 5-year-old son to see Princess Mononoke, and he LOVED it.

    Robert Dumas (robertdumas@hotmail.com)
  • Where is Taco? Well,

    bored with the life in the City of Gold,
    he left and let nobody know...

  • Disney seems to think that they perfected their formula for animated movies with Mermaid: the movie is a musical, loosly based on a fairy tale and has several annoying sidekicks. It got old.

    Nice to see them make such a radical, gutsy change as to drop the musical part.
  • Hi, and I apologize for the swearing in my post :)

    I don't know if it's whether I necessarily "care" all that much, I just think that if one is going to boycott the RIAA and MPAA for idealistic reasons, then one should boycott the products entirely and not do a sneak around the end zone, so to speak.
    That's all.

    Pope

    Freedom is Slavery! Ignorance is Strength! Monopolies offer Choice!
  • Unfortunately, after the focus changed from a remake of prince and the pauper to a buddy flick, Disney had to call Sting and say, "Oh yes, those six songs you wrote, um, we won't be using them...But! Please write two more for us!" Tom Jones did them instead. :) The Sweatbox, Sting's wife's film about him details all this for you, I believe.
  • Wrong!

    Follow the link, and you'll see:-
    "This is the usage of ... the Oxford University Press."
  • that I wouldn't have watched anyway without the freeloading

    That's a tricky little phrase.

    It allows you to watch your movie without feeling any guilt. Its an old argument. "I am against paying for this service/item, and wouldn't do so anyway, so I'm not morally compromised by taking it." Shoplifters use this argument all the time (yes, I know that material harm is done, but to most large corporations, the actual damage done is insignificant).

    I trust you know that an actor's salary is sometimes based upon their movie's profits? Same with the director, and the producer. By not paying for the service they provide, you are ripping them off (and yes, had you not been sitting in that movie theatre chair they wouldn't know the difference, nor would they miss the money).

    In Hollywood, an actor/director/producer's success is based upon ticket sales. More success == more movies. By deeming the movie (and therefore the work of all involved) deserving of your eyes (by sitting in the movie theatre seat), you should be deeming their work worthy of your money.

    You're right. The MPAA has acted immorally - they can be downright evil at times (but, you also have to remember that they have a legal resposibility to their shareholders - to maximize their profits in any way they can... and they are doing a great job at that). But that doesn't justify "freeloading" off of them. Two wrongs DO NOT make a right.

  • Thanks. That's all I can ask. :)

    I realize that you are on a complete boycott. But, this being a public forum, I felt it necissary to flesh out our respective opinions; I hope that we both (and hopefully someone else) have learned something.

    PS. Sorry if I came across harshly. I just feel very strongly about these issues.

  • I'm not sure Rob ever encouraged a boycott of the MPAA. He ran stories on his website that were of interest to said website's readership. Members of that readership called for a boycott. Rob is not subject to any action called for by the readers of his website.

    He also assumes (rightfully so) that his readership has at least some capacity for independent thought (although that may be too much to ask of your everyday SlashBot).

    I don't think that Rob should be asked to censor himself because his words might somehow affect how someone might live their life. That's absurd.

  • I love it when people correct someone, and then make the same mistake. *crosses fingers*

    Words that are spelled and/or pronounced the same but have different meanings are known (in English) as "homonyms", "homophones", or even "homographs". None of the dictionaries I use knows what a "homogram" is, although somebody mentioned singing and gay people...
    --

  • I just read something about this in the Palo Alto newspaper:

    • Disney asked Sting to do a bunch of songs for its upcoming flick.
    • Sting gets all excited because this is his chance to beat Elton John's crap for the Lion King. Sting writes 6 songs for the film.
    • Halfway through production, PHBs at Disney decide the don't like the way things are going, and order major changes.
    • The first thing to be scrapped is the plot, followed shortly by most of the characters.
    • Sting is upset because now all his songs have nothing to do with the film.
    • Disney throws Sting a bone and includes 3 songs on the soundtrack.

    IMHO, The Emperor's New Groove is just another lump of manufactured Hollywood bullshit.

    And, no, I haven't seen it, but come on, it's Disney for chrissakes -- it will always be:
    • A safe bet to take the kids to
    • Have some really cheesy cute animals and beautiful boys and girls.
    • Have a silly love story that is totally implausible.
    • You will leave the theatre with that candy-coated "feel-good-fuzzy" feeling.
    • Generally, all other things withstanding, be designed from the ground up as a moneymaking machine. How well it performs is somewhat dependent on how many fast-food chains pick up the promo goods for the flick.

    OK, it's early, my cynicism runs a bit hot before I've had my coffee... :)

    - jonathan.


    The Moral Majority was disbanded in 1989
  • MAN! I almost never have this complaint, but this story needs some serious spell checking. Here are a few choice gems:

    "Elain's boyfriend"
    "This time I new nothing."
    "reclaim his thrown"
  • Speaking of spelling, that's Tibetan, not Tibetin. Just a heads up.
  • If you want to see llamas, go see "Dude, Where's My Car?" instead :)
    People who've seen it know what I'm talking about.
    ------------------------
  • So do llamas were orange robes? They're not as cute as lamas.

    Perhaps we should define lllamas to be those people who mess up a good game of Quake?
  • Nice shootin' Tex. That ought to do it. Well, you better watch your back, dude, because an anonymous coward doesn't want to see you again, and if he or she catches you watching cartoons again, that's IT. It's over. He'll uh, censor you. Like the STUPID AMERICAN CENSORS who don't allow any animation with violence or vulgarity onto the screen. Nope, nothing like, say, South Park or anything. Stupid american censors. Because god knows nothing's censored in Japan.
  • >And what happened to Mickey Mouse? Anyone seen him lately?

    Fantasia / Fantasia 2000 are the only films to feature Mickey, and it's been a while since there's been a mickey short film or cartoon series ..
  • Oh God. I usually don't find flamebait like this amusing, but I just laughed my ass off for 20 minutes.
  • in a long time that did not 'borrow' heavly from some older "public domain" story...tarzan, Aladin, etc?

    Most of the story line you can find in many old stories....but I am un-aware of any where the selfish are turned into a llama.
  • I think that those who live the Buddhist way of life with peace and vitality do find it personally satisfying. This may be because they have cultivate a point of view which includes others inside their ego. But any life which can be sustained is not a life of emotional suffering and lack of fulfillment. I suggest that my analysis of Scooby-doo and your description of Buddhism have a lot in common -- people have developed skills and points of view that allow them to feel good about doing good. But this is much more evident in a show of arete like solving a mystery than it is in the modesty and hard-learned self-denial of the Bodhisattva.

    Besides, to return to the original point of this thread, Scooby-Doo teaches skepticism and empiricism. These are not hard-hearted; they are a prerequisite to being able to help people effectively.

    - Michael

    -----
    Go ahead, blame me... I voted for Nader!
  • It's too bad this is a troll, because anime and Star Wars really do suck. He's just giving the viewpoint a bad name.

    ]$`};L(;/proc);[I(;];<C{;};1S[;`\/while=1E1L[`\p roc{>=

  • which boasts a sound system with approximately the same fidelity as a realaudio porno stream

    Thank you for that highly accessible comparison. Not that this is critical to the review, but I'm not sure how many of us reading this review know what kind of fidelity a realaudio porno stream has. Frankly, I'd rather not.

    -J
  • But how was sting? how can you review the movie and not talk about hte only reason to SEE the movie? Sting! Nobody gives a rats ass about a lama :) Common here ...

    BTW, next time you have a chance to mention you've watched 250hrs of anime , don't :)

  • "Every frame of their movies is handcrafted with tons of sweat and tears." I have to agree. I was getting tired of Disney and Fox Studios bringing out animations that seemed, for lack of a better word, artificial. Toy Story and Toy Story II contained some of the freshest animation and thought that I have seen in years. I am going to see The Emperors New Groove today and I hope it turns out to be as fresh. And Taco, Take a Valium big guy! The world is not out to get you. :-)
  • Copyright and trademark are two different things.

    When (if) the copyright on the old Mickey films runs out, anyone will be able to print new copies to sell. No one will be able to create new "Mickey Mouse" movies except Disney, because he is a trademark of the company. Of course, we will also see the Diz try to stop people from selling ex-copyrighted works on the basis of these trademarks as well.

    There are three real reasons Disney doesn't make a "Mickey Film":

    Firstly, they never have. Mickey evolved as a character in comedic shorts. He never made the jump to features for the same reason the early living short film comics never really did, there's just not that much character to work with. The first Disney features were all to serious to support the light characters from their short films. Now it is a tradition for Disney to create their features along the same lines, telling cinematic stories using characters that don't already have "baggage."

    Secondly, ol' Mickey is now an important mascot for Disney, sort of a figurehead. If he starts playing in the mud and showing up in new films, there is the risk of failure or tarnish on that image.

    Finally, Mickey represents the continued presence of Walt's ghost in Disney. Aside from a brief attempt to dress him "hip" in the eighties, Disney chooses to keep Mickey relatively timeless for this reason. (Have you seen that a lot of the new paraphenilia has gone back to the old "pac-man" eyes?) We are far more likley to see Goofy and Donald Duck in features than we are to see Mickey Mouse.

  • So first we had a movie called "How Stella Got Her Groove Back". This was about a woman who got lucky for the first time in God knows how long. Now we've got "The Emperor's New Groove". I'm really hoping they've redefined "groove" for this picture...

    Coming soon to theaters: "How the Emperor Got His Groove Back"!

    And the first thing they do is turn the emperor into a llama?? This movie is more perverted than I thought! Someone alert the ChildCare Action Project [capalert.com] immediately!

  • There are so many spelling and grammar mistakes in that review that it makes me sick.

  • > Not only is the guy who played Krunk (not "Crank")

    FYI, imdb.com lists the name as "Kronk". And he's easily one of the funniest Disney characters, if not THE funniest Disney character, since Williams as the Genie.

    Chris Tembreull
    Web Developer, NEC Systems, Inc.

  • > "So, it's just a cartoon, lighten up!"

    Exactly. Lighten up.

    Here's a quick quiz for you: where in the movie, promotional materials, or anywhere else does Disney state where and when this movie supposedly takes place? The answer, while you scratch your head, is "nowhere." The movie is pleasantly ambiguous about all that. Are they Mayans? Incas? Aztecs? And if they're in South America, why are there European-style cottages in Pacha's village? Why is Yzma's dress straight out of 1920's American flapper culture?

    And so on and so forth. Perhaps in all our Slashdotty desire to be gritty and accurate and hypersensitive, we've completely forgotten that this is ENTERTAINMENT, not meant to be taken seriously - hell, I doubt if it's even POSSIBLE to take it seriously. It's a goddamned cartoon. Lighten up.

    Oh, and how exactly are the Transformers "positive subject matter?" They fight and kill each other because they just simply don't like the other faction. That's a positive thing in your world?

    Fucking sad. Go watch Schindler's List or something, and please leave the cartoons for those of us still young enough at heart to actually enjoy them.

    Chris Tembreull
    Web Developer, NEC Systems, Inc.

  • I can assure you that Phil Collins does not wish he was Peter Gabriel, at least financially speaking. Phil Collins has raked in huge amounts of cash from the (overly) mainstream, pop-oriented Invisible Touch and We Can't Dance albums, as well as his Tarzan and upcoming Disney soundtracks. Gabriel's last album So came out in '92 which was mildly successful. What's he been doing since then? His next album is coming out next year... Any mild success his last album had is surely not going to carry over 10 years later. Most people won't even know who/remember who he is, outside of the die-hards. Now, does Phil Collins wish he was Peter Gabriel with respect to integrity and sticking to his progressive rocks roots and not selling out, that's a different question. We do know that Phil doesn't wish he was Gabriel for his hair. They're both bald!
  • blind faith is one of the most dangerouse actions humans can take.

  • Actually Disney did release anime classic Princess Mononoke in the US in its uncut violent entirety.
  • wow, you are so wise.
  • Actually, I've seen a few cartoons done with computer-aided in-betweening to add to the conventional in-betweening, and with the cumulative effect its damn sweet. Smoothest things you've ever seen. Some of the work in MTV's The Maxx uses this, for example. Don't knock it.

    Besides, I'm always kinda fumed by posters who say "well wouldn't it be nicer if this were done by hand". Try it yourself, then see how much you say "goddamn I wish a computer would do this chicken shit!". In-betweening is one of the shittiest jobs on earth, and although it is helpful in giving an budding animator practice and experience, it is by-and-large a simple grunting pain in the ass.

    Animators will go back to traditional approaches when all programmers decide to work exclusively in assembler.
  • THE LAMA
    Ogden Nash
    (1931)

    The one-l lama
    He's a priest.
    The two-l llama,
    He's a beast.
    And I will bet
    A silk pajama
    There isn't any
    Three-l lllama.

    Sorry, I hate to engourage this sort of thing, but I love lamas the're so cute.

  • Robin William's" - Williams'

    On a proper name [bartleby.com], you use the full "apostrophe S". So you would use "Robin Williams's".


    --

  • I'm not some weird Disney fan or anything, but I've noticed this pattern. Groove is not a musical because it's coming out in the fall right before xmas. Disney's big budget movies never come out now, they come out in June right before summer. This puts Groove in the same boat as both Toy Stories and so forth.
  • I am going to agree with you wholeheartidly. I have a friend who works at Character Builders (made Ren & Stimpy and alot of 102 Dalmations). I saw how much work was put into designing the characters. Most of the designs are still done by hand on paper, even the storyboards. The computer just makes it a bit easier to do the final production drawings. Have you ever watched an old Bugs Bunny cartoon, and noticed the off coloring of somethings? Those were always the things that were going to move or something. That was because it was done by another person, and they may not of had the EXACT matched when they did their part. With the computer doing the colors everything matches so it goes more seemlessly.
    If they didn't have computers doing it people would be saying, "What's with the hookey colors and stuff? Why does it take years for Disney to put out a new animation? With computers around it shouldn't take them anytime at all!"

    Diz
  • 'cause we be...big trolling here on TheSlashDotSite, yeah we be big trolling - SlashDottingOtherSites - it's just this moderator man saying that I'm just FlameBait!

    In relation to the movie: Anyone notice that all the Disney movies have moved away from touching films with cute, cudly, loveable characters? And what happened to Mickey Mouse? Anyone seen him lately?

    Oh well. I'm off to watch my daily showing of the Matrix :)

    It's all about the Karma Points, baybee...
    Moderators: Read from the bottom up!

  • Someone else pointed out some horrendous spelling mistakes in this article, and I have to wonder what's happening in our American school system when its graduates can't distinguish between homograms in their proper context. But the worst mistake here is:

    "Lama" is completely and utterly wrong. It's spelled "LLama" (two ells, dammit!), and is properly pronounced by Andeans as "Lyama", not "Lama" like in the Tibetin monks. Between Americans not being able to spell and their electing Bush as President, things are gonna (sic) get just worse!

    QP
  • ...and in paragraph three, line one: change "villian" to "villain" (or even "villein").
  • As a parent, I'd much rather have them watch this than Scooby Doo.

    What's wrong with Scooby Doo? As Carl Sagan correctly points out in 'A Demon Haunted World' Scooby Doo teaches skepticism. Skepticism is good.

    --
  • What's wrong with Scooby Doo?

    :-)

    Well, it teaches kids to be potheads, like Shaggy and Scooby. (Why do they always have the munchies anyway?)

    And isn't Velma a dyke? :-)
  • Maybe I'll go see it. Apparently the llamas are cute. On the other hand, if I wanted to see llamas, I'd go play TFC or Q3A on any pub server...
  • explain Black Cauldron then...
  • I figured since everyone else was having fun adding their corrections to your "I'm smarter than you" post, I might as well add my own.

    You're right in that the word is spelled "Llama" and not "Llama," but you're wrong on pronounciation. The Spanish language pronounces the double-L (Ll) with a "y" sound. Thus, "Llama" would be pronounced "yama." There might exist some difference in the Andean dialect that would cause them to pronounce it incorrectly, but that's no reason to teach the rest of the world the same incorrect pronounciation.

    As for Taco's spelling, I think people should really lay off. Why do you give a damn? You're not his English teacher or his employer. I'm sure if Taco were turning in a term paper or something that needed to sound professional, he'd spend a little more time on spelling and grammar. This, however, is just Slashdot... wut duz it matter if the speling iz off? so long az U kan reed it, rite?
  • He lies with me, cried the Queen of May Be,
    For her merchandise, he traded in his prize...

    Wow, we can argue about music on /., too. (HHOS)
  • I haven't seen it yewt, but it looked funny on the previews. Hope to see it soon
  • I looked through and for the life of me couldn't find anywhere where it was mentioned that Disney released Kiki's Delivery Service! Sure I hate Disney just as much as the next guy. But I think the movies are cool. I like being able to go to a movie theatre and watch something G rated every once in awhile. Back to my rant about Kiki's.

    Do you know what movie was released the same year as Kiki's Delivery Service? The harolded Little Mermaid. And I'm sorry Kiki's Delivery Service puts the Little Mermaid to shame! Miyazaki is the same guy that brought you Princess Mononke (which I didn't think was Disney but some one mentioned up above it was I not sure on that one. My guess is maybe a Disney pawn but not Disney directly.) The scenes in Kiki's Delivery are absolutly amazing. There is so much emphasis put in story and detail! And you know how long it took to make Kiki's Delivery Service? If my memory serves correctly 7 months! Maybe our animaters should go study over in Japan.

  • Trolling on Slashdot, however, has it's roots in getting attention. Shortly after the demise of Segfault, I can recall reading my first blatant "trolls" (if you could call them that) in the form of "Mae Lin Mak, Naked and Petrified" (which quickly morphed into "Natalie Portman, Naked and Petrified" and "Young Teenage Female Actresses, Naked and Petrified"; people which more Slashdot readers could relate to). These were shortly joined by the "Hot Grits" trolls.

    These got people's attention because they were not even remotely related to the articles being discussed. To get attention, you just had to be off-the-wall weird. Pretty soon, pouring hot grits down your pants stopped getting a rise out of people and we saw the rise of a more modern breed of trolling that seeks to directly make people mad by being as beligerent as possible.

    However, as before, the "arms race" continues. We're getting apathetic as fast as the trolls get offensive. At first, an ASCII picture of a guy's anus is pretty shocking. But after not too long, you just yawn and hit the page down key again.

    I'm not sure what ways there are left to get attention by being a troll on Slashdot. Troll technology seems to have stagnated for the moment.

  • So are you saying that we can't do a funny movie about Jews without mentioning Hitler. Or maybe African-Americans without mentioning the KKK?

    I watched the movie. There was not one mention of any culture other than the Emperors. I don't see where this complaint came from.

    I saw this movie as a celebration of the uniqueness of the culture.

    Maybe you are thinking of the Road to El Derado...
  • The movie was funny. But... it wasn't as funny as it could have been. I felt that much of the humor fell flat. Many times I only smiled at jokes... and I tend to be a laugher. On the other hand, I did laugh out loud several times.
    I think this movie reminded me more of a Disney want to be and not a true Disney movie. Other "childrens" movies I have seen got many more laughs (such as Chicken Run, Toy Story 2).
    Will the movie do well? I think so, the Disney marketing machine has been in full gear for a while, so people will go see it. Will they go back a 2nd time... probably not. They may buy it though because of lack of quality children videos.
    I went in hesitant because of what I saw as over marketing. The game was over advertised and it came out before the movie. Always a bad sign.
    I will have to say that I was more disapointed with Dinosaur than with this movie.
    If you have kids, go see it. If you don't... it is up to you... maybe a matinee.

  • Remember the debacle over the copyrights to Mickey running out? Well they got the copyright time extended (bastards) but I bet they were worried. That's why each disney movie for a long time has had "brand" new characters never seen before. (well mostly)

    This way, they will retain copyright on them longer.

    Maybe there is a lesson in this from Sonny Bono:

    Pander to a corporation's interests instead of the people's and you die in a skiing accident.

    Oh wait, that's not the lesson otherwise we'd have politicians dying right and left.

  • Pixar is taking a breather after several years of holiday hits. Disney got into the habit two animation releases a year with pixar the holiday one. So this year they substitute a second string one.
  • IIRC, all of Gabriel's solo albums also sold very well. (I remember the time when "In Your Eyes" was playing on every radio station every half hour.) He's also got other stuff going on for him. It's pretty unlikely that Gabriel's got financial problems, even if he isn't ridiculously rich - which I don't know if Collins is either, given the nature of record contracts...

    Regarding integrity, most of Gabriel's solo output wasn't really any more progressive than "I Can't Dance". Just well-produced, intelligent pop. (Featuring Tony Levin, which is always a plus!)
  • a word of advice to anyone who doesn't want to support Hollywood, but wants to watch a Hollywood movie:

    And how, exactly, does this make a stand?
    If you want to go see a major motion picture, fuckin PAY for it and enjoy it (or not).
    If you want to go see cool indie file, fuckin PAY for it and enjoy it (or not)

    Empty gestures like theatre switching are pointless, and more to the point, dishonest.

    Pope

    Freedom is Slavery! Ignorance is Strength! Monopolies offer Choice!
  • OK, You've got a point. But on the other hand, language skills in general are still pathetic. I can hardly turn on the news or read a newpaper and not see/hear glaring grammatical errors, or gross mistatements based on a fundamental lack of arithmetic skills (e.g., confusing millions and billions), and don't get me started on the use of statistics. The writings from my fellows in the software world are generally awful, even from people who are highly intelligent and experienced.

  • Compassion, kindness, and the reduction of suffering by others at personal cost is the highest goal of life, or so Buddahism teaches. You may consider Buddahism not a 'viable way of life' but many do.

    I agree it is an important concept, but remember we are talking about lessons for children here. Children have a very self centered world. The first step in teaching children compassion is teaching them they are not the center of the universe. This is what the Emperor's New Groove attempts to do.

    As an adult, of course the goal is to temper personal satisfaction with compassion for others is a reasonable goal. But without learning the fundementals as a child, achieving this is nigh impossible.
    -----
  • You have to teach children a bit at a time.

    Personally, I put "Be nice to others" earlier in child rearing than "Be skeptical of others".

    You are right it is important, but IMHO, somethings, like kindness, need to be taught first.
    -----
  • Hercules was done is a different animation style.

    You know, like Anime is a different animation style?

    As far as I can tell, in any of Disneys future movies, anything with detail will be done by computers. That kind of detail is very expensive for animators to do.

    Out of curiousity, how much does it take for Disney to make an animation movie?

    Later
    Erik Z

  • Though this is going to come out a bit whiny, I have to say that I was a little bit saddened when I saw the trailer for "The Emperor's New Groove". It reminded me of Mel Gibson's "The Patriot", which completely glossed over the horrors of slavery in the South during the civil war (referring to Mel's black slave as his "employee", har har).

    The Spanish conquistadores completely eradicated the great Inca and Maya civilazations through war, horrendous plagues (like smallpox) [iastate.edu], and rape. On one occasion, the conquistadore Pizarro captured the Incan king Atahuallpa, ransomed him for a large dining room's worth of gold and silver, then killed him anyway. (It's all told in a great book, Guns Germs and Steel [samizdat.com].

    "So, it's just a cartoon, lighten up!"

    I know it's just a cartoon. I think that infusing our children with a candy-coated, competely inaccurate view of the past is irresponsible. I'm not advocating that Disney put the destruction of the Native peoples by systematic warfare (Pocahontas anyone?) in their next movie, I just think that maybe they ought to pick more positive subject matter. Like Transformers. They're cool.

  • when they have a link to the best movie review site on the web, the Filty Critic [bigempire.com]
  • Scooby Doo teaches skepticism

    Not any more. The "Zombie Island" and other new movies produced by Cartoon Network have made the monsters real. The Skeptical Newsletter had an interesting editorial [csicop.org] on it a while back.

  • When is Disney going to get into animated sex and violence a la every japanese anime artist ever? Here's an idea, animate "A Clockwork Orange" and work from there...
  • I'd say that Scooby-Doo teaches the best kind of compassion. The gang is constantly helping others, even against their own misgivings and at some peril. Now, they also do this because they love solving mysteries and have confidence in their abilities. But so what? Throughgoing selflessness, with no concern for one's own comfort or fulfillment, is not a viable way of life. In Scooby-Doo, the characters live for the exercise of deliberately developed faculties which make them happy at the same time as they help those in need. This is the secret to a good and enjoyable life: not sacrifice, but the cultivation of personality for which valuable behavior is natural and satisfying.

    -----
    Go ahead, blame me... I voted for Nader!
  • I think the Dali Llama would disagree.

    Hey, what are you trying to pull? I checked the website [go.com], and the emperor's name is Kuzco, not Dali. Anyway, what does this movie have to do with Buddhism?

    -----
    Go ahead, blame me... I voted for Nader!
  • I think he's pointing out that Llama was spelled wrong and that it's pronounced differently from Lama

    It's not la-ma it's ya-ma.

    --
  • Perhaps Sir Roger Penrose, author of The Emperor's New Mind [amazon.com], will sue Disney.

    It wouldn't suprise me if he did. He's into litigation. Penrose once sued Kimberly-Clark [parascope.com] because they used something that looked like Penrose tiling as a pattern on Kleenex Quilted Toilet Paper.

  • Followed by
    • Star Wars, Episode VII: The Empire Strikes Back To Get Its Groove
    • Empire of the Rising Groove
    AAAAAND everyone's favourite
    • George "Stella" Orwell's Ninteen-Eighty-Groove

      Did that hurt? I'm sorry. :^P

  • Remember the old spider man TV show - where at least half of the show was generic 'spidey flying between buildings' shots that were constantly recycled, or scenes where none of the characters moved except for their mouths?

    Reminds me of a short I saw on (IIRC) Saturday Night Live... it was some kind of superhero story, and the current crisis was a citywide animator's strike. EVERY scene was either completely still, or the back of someone's head.. you get the idea.. no? It was way funnier than I'm making it out to be....
    Sean

  • So first we had a movie called "How Stella Got Her Groove Back". This was about a woman who got lucky for the first time in God knows how long. Now we've got "The Emperor's New Groove". I'm really hoping they've redefined "groove" for this picture...

    Coming soon to theaters: "How the Emperor Got His Groove Back"!

    /* Steve */
  • Uh, Rob, the henchman's name is "Kronk" not "Crank". Kind of makes a world of difference, huh?
  • The main reason the songs don't really match up to other recent Disney offerings was that Sting was given no time to write them. Oh, he wrote a lot of songs... that were never used. During production, they noticed that parts of the movie fell flat. No laughs, nothing to keep people's interest. So they rewrote the script to up the laugh factor and that meant that a lot of the songs (which had been written with the original script in mind) had to be chucked. You will find them on the album for the movie, though.
  • uh the entire movie industry is a bunch of corporate poo heads.. what else is new. disney is a commercial piece of crap.. and so is mgm.. so whats your point? disney rarely comes out with anything good, but this one has a llama in it. i mean come on! llama = success!! what other movie company would have a dancing llama!!
  • I'll be interested to see this film to see if it confirms my theory that the rise of the computer has incurred the death of character in modern animation.

    I remember when I was a child, watching such classics as Bambi and Dumbo, which were lovingly handcrafted by teams of patient animators.

    Nowadays, I feel that the computer has removed the character, if not perhaps the personality, of these old classics. With the ability to easily knock up an animation that modern technology brings, doesn't the ease bring a certain lack of attention to detail?

    I just feel that modern animations, such as Toy Story and the like, lack the interest of the old, and have a patina of artificiality. Some would say that this is because of soulless modern commercialism, and this may be true, but it is also, IMO, sue to the very techniques used in modern animation.

    Give me old-fashioned hand crafted efforts any time.

    KTB:Lover, Poet, Artiste, Aesthete, Programmer.

  • Yeah, if Disney made some anime, I bet you'd be the first in line to watch it and rant and rave about how great it is. Yeah. Sure. No, instead, I rather suspect you'd condemn Disney (or any other American animation studio, for that matter) out of hand for trying to make an anime film, because it's just not as hip and cool as Japanese anime. And the unwashed masses might go to see it, which means that's one less exclusive little club you can feel you're a part of, right? There's as much garbage anime out there as lousy Disney movies. Significantly more, in fact. I've watched plenty of anime and can rank the ones I'd see again on the fingers of one hand. Like everything, most anime is crap.

  • Additional Information (SPOILERS) (Score:3)

    by Hrunting ( 2191 ) on Sunday December 17, 2000 @02:26PM (#553763) Homepage
    I saw this movie yesterday, just on a whim, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. It's got a lot of very classic cartoon humor in it that has been missing from a lot of Disney films since Aladdin (classic example, Kronk (not Crank) getting a trap door opened beneath him, just standing there, then noticing it's open, dropping, and then his little angel buddies noticing, hugging, and falling after him .. that's classic stuff).

    The major voices are John Goodman (as Panco), Eartha Kitt (as Yzma), Patrick Wharburton (aka Puddy from Seinfeld, as Kronk), and of course, David Spade (as Kuzco, the emperor turned llama). All are exceptionally perfect for their roles, and are drawn true to character. Wharburton is easily the comedic star of the film, from his opening appearance to right before the closing credits.

    You will definitely laugh if you go see this movie (I guarantee it) and there's one reason for it: Disney designed it to be a comedy (mainly because of Spade's pushing). Originally, it was supposed to be a Prince-and-the-Pauper-set-in-Tenochtitlan type movie, with a number of song-and-dance routines written by Sting. Well, Disney execs decided that wasn't where they wanted the movie to go and scrapped the whole thing, but Spade, who had been brought on to do Kuzco, told them rework it as a comedy, scrap the musical crap, and bring in Tom Jones for any music. One of Sting's songs made it into the closing credits (a real sappy POS) and two or three others made it onto the soundtrack, but the whole thing was real messy (apparently).

    The end result is an animated feature written to be a complete comedy, like the old-time Roadrunner cartoons, full of semi-slapstick action, great fast-paced lines, and a simple plot that allows the comedy to flow without getting bogged down in details.

    In short, it's a joy, and yes, it's not typical Disney fare, mainly because they brought a very atypical Disney voice (Spade) into the project.
  • Okay, when I first heard "Trick of the Tail", I liked it, but I thought "poor Phil Collins, wishing he were Peter Gabriel". Next "Wind and Wuthering" came out. I liked it too. I thought "that Phil Collins is coming along nicely as a Peter Gabriel impersonator". Then "Then There Were Three" came out, and it became bloody evident to everyone (except Taco) that Phil Collins no longer wishes he was Peter Gabriel.

    Schmuck.

  • Need a proofreader!!! (Score:3)

    by ConceptJunkie ( 24823 ) on Sunday December 17, 2000 @07:33AM (#553765) Homepage Journal
    I second that comment. The spelling was as bad as most of the AC posts. Furthermore, it was obviously not typos but real spelling errors.

    It made the article really jarring to read. Hey, guys, can we at least have marginal grade-school spelling standards in the posted articles?!

    Reading /. frightens me sometimes, knowing that people who don't even have basic spelling or grammar skills are the technology leaders of tomorrow (or even today!)

    Get a clue, guys, read some books for a change!

    Rick

    BTW, it's "Teri Hatcher".

  • Re:Disney and the MPAA (Score:3)

    by MrNixon ( 28945 ) <aguite@gFORTRANmail.com minus language> on Monday December 18, 2000 @05:00AM (#553766)
    However, like most americans, I have no moral objections to freeloading something that has near-zero marginal cost, especially if I wouldn't have paid for it under any circumstances anyway.

    I'm sorry, but I feel that this is holding the Movie industry to a higher moral standard than the one to which you hold yourself. You expect the MPAA to be honest in their business affairs, but you think its ok if you sneak your movie fix "through the back door".

    This is dishonest (even immoral) behaviour.

    Comments like these are exactly the ammunition the MPAA can use to their ends ("Look and what one of these hackers said: (insert your comment here). They steal from us! And they'll use their computers to do it more!").

    This is one of those times where it's all or nothing.

  • Chuck Jones would love it (Score:3)

    by steveha ( 103154 ) on Monday December 18, 2000 @02:01AM (#553767) Homepage
    It really reminded me of the classic old Warner Brothers cartoons (as I was laughing out loud at absurd things).

    It won't corrupt any kids, but it also doesn't beat anyone over the head with a moral. It has a very small bit of music, but it isn't a musical. There are some bad guys, but only one of them is bad and they are both more funny than anything else. If you like goofy "toon" humor, go see it!

    One example. The emperor is walking, and he decides to walk straight instead of turning right; a swarm of workmen appears, and with furious speed they build a new entrance to the palace and then fall on their backs gasping. The emperor walks straight through the new door. Total elapsed time: about three seconds... there are a lot of goofy throwaway gags like that in there.

    I plan to buy a copy. It's the first Disney movie in a long time I have liked that much.

    steveha

  • Re:sp (Score:3)

    by Fishstick ( 150821 ) on Sunday December 17, 2000 @09:17AM (#553768) Journal
    Why? The word is spelled correctly. It is just the wrong word. And no, the grammar checker doesn't catch that, I just tried it. (yep, I have a Win 2K box here with office 2000 - I don't like MS software, but I like my job well enough to put up with it).

  • Sorry, but you're overreacting. (Score:3)

    by mblase ( 200735 ) on Sunday December 17, 2000 @12:18PM (#553769)
    What Spanish conquistadors? Perhaps you're thinking of Dreamworks' recent video release, El Dorado, which (despite ignoring the fact that the South American civilizations didn't speak Spanish until after they were conquered) did a rather good job of putting the conquistadors in a bad light and the natives in a good one.

    The Emperor's New Groove does do a bad job of accurately depicting ancient Peruvian civilization, to be sure. But it's supposed to be that way. It's funnier that way. Disney hasn't accurately depicted anything since they began producing animated movies fifty years ago, and everyone knows it.

    Relax. There's nothing to be offended by here.

  • Re:Disney and the MPAA (Score:5)

    by David Jao ( 2759 ) <djao@dominia.org> on Sunday December 17, 2000 @09:57AM (#553770) Homepage
    I second this opinion.

    How can one decry corrupt laws like the DMCA and at the same time continue to line the pockets of the very corporate special-interest groups that bought the law in the first place?

    I can understand watching an occasional movie--it's not like there are many alternatives to the major studios out there on the movie scene--but posting movie reviews and recommendations for one of the worst companies in the bunch (i.e. Disney, purchaser of the Sonny Bono copyright extension) is beyond me.

    I personally am in the midst of a three-year long boycott of all RIAA record labels and a two-year long boycott of all Hollywood movie studios, and I urge other like-minded readers to do the same. Note that the boycott does not mean I am depriving myself of all records and movies. Much as it may surprise you, not all music is RIAA, and not all movies are MPAA. While individual tastes differ, I'm sure that anyone who has bothered to look will agree with me that there is a lot of high quality material out there from independent studios.

    Finally, a word of advice to anyone who doesn't want to support Hollywood, but wants to watch a Hollywood movie: Find a theater that shows independent films and also shows the movie you want, and buy a ticket for an independent film. Then once you're in the theater switch over to the movie you want to see. That way you get to see the movie but the Hollywood studio doesn't get anything for it. If theater personnel catch you, speak to the manager and explain what you're doing--the two times I've had to do this, the response from the manager was very positive.

  • I saw the movie yesterday (Score:5)

    by Argyle ( 25623 ) on Sunday December 17, 2000 @07:20AM (#553771) Homepage Journal
    I took my 4 year daughter to the movie yesterday.

    Like most movies designed for kids, it's a bit simplistic. What would you expect? Keeping a 4 year focused for 90 minutes is a tough thing.

    The story is about learning the importance of putting other's needs ahead of your own. A good lesson for everyone in this day and age. The bad are all punished and the once narcissitic emperor is rewarded with caring friends after learning to help others. As a parent, I'd much rather have them watch this than Scooby Doo.

    The animation and music are on average for a Disney movie. You can tell they tried to keep the action in three places for simplicity, the castle, the peasant village, and the road between. There are none of the surperb background animation pieces found in Little Mermaid or Pochohantas. BTW, the preview for Atlantis looked promising, Jules verne style submarines, yum!

    The are several cameos by other Disney characters to keep the adults chuckling. Adults that enjoy other Disney animation will enjoy this movie. the voice acting of all involved is good. Personally, I can't stand David Spade, but not seeing his alien-like RL body made it passable.

    Overall, it's a good children's film that's worth catching on a matinee.
    -----

  • Re:Animation is losing its character (Score:5)

    by furiousgeorge ( 30912 ) on Sunday December 17, 2000 @08:08AM (#553772)
    >Give me old-fashioned hand crafted efforts any time.

    ok Kiss, you're building up quite a career being a neo-luddite. John K would be proud... you never disappoint

    Computers don't 'do' the animation any more than your car 'drives' you to work. I'm just boggled that people think this. That's like implying that your computer balances your checkbook. Or the computer 'made' the mp3 that you're listening too. Computers are tools, thats all. Lets quit personifying them and giving them abilities far beyond being really fast abacus'.

    Computers don't write the story. Computers don't insert the mindless sidekicks with their anacronistic references, the painful sappy tunes, or the Happy Meal tie-ins. And there my friend lies the tragedy of most modern animation. It isn't the technology, it's the lack of creativity and merchandising and drive for the bucks.

    >I remember when I was a child, watching such >classics as Bambi and Dumbo, which were lovingly >handcrafted by teams of patient animators.

    Have you worked in a current, feature animation house? I have. Guess what - animation is STILL handcrafted by teams of patient animators. Who do you think does it? Who lays down the poses - does the inbetweening, does the background painting? It's people. Computers have only replaced the mindless background tasks that were dying to be automated.... ink-n-paint, compositing and some special effects that could never have been done by hand anyway.

    >I just feel that modern animations, such as Toy
    >Story and the like, lack the interest of the
    >old, and have a patina of artificiality.

    I've been to Pixar. I have several friends who work there. Every frame of their movies is handcrafted with tons of sweat and tears. The story is substantially and thoroughly developed (unlike the cookie-cutter stories coming out of elsewhere). If you don't like the visual look - fine, that is an artistic choice. But it doesn't LESSEN the work that they are doing. Most ANIMATORS that are hired at Pixar have never used a computer before. They are hired because they can ANIMATE, for no other reason. You can teach anybody how to operate a computer, but animation is a SKILL. You don't just buy some boxes from SGI and get the talent. It's the same if you're producing acetate cells or doing stop-motion. But you probably think Chicken Run is modern and evil too.....

    By this is Slashdot. Don't let not knowing anything about how animation is really produced stop you from participating...

    j

  • Re:Animation is losing its character (Score:5)

    by furiousgeorge ( 30912 ) on Sunday December 17, 2000 @08:23AM (#553773)
    Dude

    >You are right that computers don't write the
    >story. However, they do a lot of things that
    >used to be done better by people. For example, >an animator will draw two scenes, and the >computer will fill in the missing frames. Great -> from the point of view that it is cheaper and >faster. Not so good from a qualitative point of >view though.

    Um, no. Computera aren't used for inbetweening (thats that it's called). The lead animator will draw the main poses, and then a secondary animator will fill in the middle bits, just like it's always been done.... This is all STILL done on paper. At this point the cells will be scanned in and inked/painted, cleaned up, etc etc.

    Computers ARE used in inbetweening in places like saturday morning animation, where they're pounding out tons of animation every day. But thats fine - there the are going for quantity over quality. Remember the old spider man TV show - where at least half of the show was generic 'spidey flying between buildings' shots that were constantly recycled, or scenes where none of the characters moved except for their mouths? That is the alternative..... which i don't think is any worse.

    Computers DON'T animate... people do. The only people who think computers DO animate are people who have no idea how the animation industry works....

    j

  • Disney and the MPAA (Score:5)

    by Karma Sink ( 229208 ) <oakianus@fuckmicrosoft.com> on Sunday December 17, 2000 @07:39AM (#553774) Homepage
    I know I'll probably end up getting moderated down for this, but I have an honest point to make here...

    As most of you know, the MPAA case against 2600 had many people in the sub-culture of Slashdot demanding that there be a boycot of the MPAA until such a time as they dropped the case, etc. Since that time, Rob has certainly [slashdot.org] not [slashdot.org] boycotted [slashdot.org] very many movies at all.

    However, all of the above are excellent films, and as a result, I find that somewhat forgiveable. My problem, at this point, is that now, Rob is giving his Gold Stamp of Approval to a movie he even admits is somewhat mediocre! If we actually listen to him is irrelevant. The point is, he's a well known figure in the community, and it's assumed that we at LEAST take his advice into account when making decisions.

    So, while we watch Rob tell us all about the Emperor's New Groove, the MPAA sits back, knowing that they're still more than content with their profits. I'm not trying to beat Rob up here. I'm not trying to paint him as a hypocrite. What I /am/ doing is asking that he think a bit more about his impact on the community, and perhaps use the power of his voice for the betterment, not the detriment, of the good fight he wants us all to fight.

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