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Movie! Movie!
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Protecting "the city
of Frank," Osmosis Jones, voiced by Chris Rock,
fights evil viruses vigilante style in Warner Bros. new live-action
animated film Osmosis Jones. © 2000 Warner Bros.
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Osmosis
Jones (Warner Bros.). Projected release: August, 2001.
Osmosis Jones is a live-action/animated film that plays like
a cross between a detective buddy flick and Fantastic Voyage. Direction
is handled by Tom
Sito, a key player in the Disney animation revival, and Piet
Kroon, who labored on The
Iron Giant and Quest
for Camelot, while making the indy short T.R.A.N.S.I.T.
The animator list reads like a recent Who's Who from the Disney
and DreamWorks studio, the live-action segments are directed by the
frenetic Farrelly brothers, and the voice cast (which includes
Chris Rock and David Hyde Pierce) is a strong one. By all
rights, this should be one of the better pictures and top grossers
of the year. However, advance releases mention scenes in which the
heroes enter a zit, are inundated by snot and make a trip to "Gonad's
Gym." While I'm sure that ample and visually opulent tribute
is made to the miracles of the human body, the pandering to adolescent
gross-out humor raises my eyebrows. Perhaps such could
be expected with the Farrellys on board, but those are not the sequences
they directed. Predicted gross (so to speak): $67 million.
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The popular Cartoon Network
TV series, Powerpuff Girls, aims to take over theatres
with a new feature-length animated film directed by show creator
Craig McCraken. © Cartoon Network.
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Powerpuff
Girls: The Movie (Warner Bros. via Cartoon Network Studios).
Projected release at this time: Summer 2001.
A caveat here: Some sources are listing this release for 2002. The
film has a reported budget of $25 million (not counting expenses for
Chemical X), and we can expect Cathy Cavadini, Tara Charendoff, E.G.
Daily and Tom Kane to reprise their "Cartoon Cartoon" roles
for the film. The styling and animation for this cartoon may actually
be simple enough to meet the projected release date given above, but
let's hope that Craig McCracken and company take the time to brush
up on their rave/anime/comic book roots and pen a good screenplay.
While I can't blame them for jumping on this project while the girls
(and their merchandise)
are red-hot, let's hope that this film is not merely tossed up on
the screen for the sake of quick cash. With proper care, the Powerpuff
movie will pull in Rugrats-level box office. Three cheers for
the red, green and blue! Predicted gross: $90 million.
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Recess: School's Out sends
television's favorite troop of fourth-graders to the theatre
for more animated antics! © Disney Enterprises, Inc. All
rights reserved.
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Recess:
School's Out (Disney). Projected release: February, 2001.
At least one synopsis states that T.J. Detweiler and his precocious
cohorts from the TV series Recess will battle the sinister
Dr. Benedict's plan to introduce eternal winter, thus ending summer
vacations permanently! Chuck Sheetz, who has worked on The Simpsons
and King of the Hill before joining Disney, should
ably direct. Recess (the series) is by no means a stinker
and has an audience, but look for an earlier release starring cartoon
youngsters to sweep this feature under the rug(rats) in terms of box
office gross. Some good promotion by Daddy Diz might knock a few more
dollars into the turnstile tills, but after this feature, school will
truly be out for the Recess gang. Predicted gross: $12 million.
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DreamWorks/PDI's Shrek,
based on the picture book by William Steig, follows the quest
of a no-nonsense ogre befriended by a wise-cracking donkey who
ventures to save a beautiful princess. © DreamWorks/PDI.
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Shrek
(DreamWorks/PDI). Projected release: May, 2001. This tale
of a chubby green ogre who fights on the side of justice has had a
choppy production history. The ogre's original voice, Chris Farley
died. Another major character, the princess, was to be voiced by Jeanane
Garofalo but she left the project. Director Kelly Asbury literally
switched horses and ended up on DreamWork's Spirit: Stallion of
the Cimarron instead. Mike Myers and Cameron Diaz eventually
filled the vacated voice roles, and a co-directing team consisting
of Andrew Adamson and Victoria Jenson finally took the reins. Eddie
Murphy signed on as the voice of an ill-tempered but loyal donkey,
and Shrek soldiered on into its fourth year of production.
Animation insiders indicate that DreamWorks recently killed their
plans for showing the film in IMAX
widescreen 3D format, due to the additional production costs. The
only question that remains is, will this movie be worth all the effort?
There are many good reasons why the film should do well, but
in watching the trailer, I somehow came away with the impression that
Shrek might not fulfill expectations. To begin with,
there were far too many in-jokes aimed at Disney, Eddie Murphy's shtick
sounded distressingly familiar, and the fairy-tale setting seemed
antiquated. Finally, the CGI-generated characters did not look especially
notable, Shrek in particular. The audiences will ultimately decide,
but don't be surprised if this film turns out to be the Dark Crystal
of 2001. Predicted gross: $26 million.
Next month, undoubtedly battered and bruised by studio insiders e-mailing
me with their opinions about these predictions, I shall return to
more typical commentary. Until then, a most happy and healthy New
Year (Predicted gross: 365 days) to my cherished readers.
Martin "Dr. Toon" Goodman is a longtime student and fan of animation.
He lives in Anderson, Indiana.
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