It’s been officially announced that Disney is NOT going to be producing the Robert Zemeckis remake of The Beatles’ classic 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine. Reportedly his style of motion capture animation is a bit too ‘creepy’ for Disney. Too creepy for the Blue Meanies? I do agree that motion capture animation when combined with very lifelike CGI design tends to be a bit creepy. It’s too realistic to be cartoony fun yet strangely unlife-like to be a true replacement for real human characters. When used in an otherwise live action film CGI characters fit in rather nice and for the most part are suppose to be creepy like Gollum in Lord Of The Rings or the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park but we haven't really seen any motion capture CGI characters meant to represent real people such as The Beatles. Seeing a cartoon John, Paul, George and Ringo is one thing, and a lot of fun, but a version of the Fab Four designed like Scrooge was in the Jim Carrey / Robert Zemeckis version of A Christmas Carol just might seem too creepy for Beatles fans.
I was really looking forward to the Yellow Submarine remake not only because the original was such a large influence on me as an animator and rock fan but also because I recognized it as Disney’s chance to add The Beatles to their catalog of great characters and stories (and music). A lot of people might find that possibility repugnant but I see it as just one more avenue for The Beatles to achieve the immortality I feel they so justly deserve (and have already achieved anyway).
Imagine a Disney’s Beatles’ Yellow Submarine ride at Disneyland. They already have a ride using yellow submarines so it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to change from the current Finding Nemo style to a Beatles’ Yellow Submarine theme. But why stop there? How about a whole Beatles’ themed land within Disneyland? Redo the Indiana Jones ride (another non Disney entity absorbed into Disney) into the temple of the Great Khaili from the movie Help! where Ringo was to be sacrificed. Or turn the skyline of London in the Peter Pan ride into Swinging London for an A Hard Day’s Night ride. Or keep the Alice In Wonderland ride just as it is but replace the songs with Beatles tunes.
I was really looking forward to the Yellow Submarine remake not only because the original was such a large influence on me as an animator and rock fan but also because I recognized it as Disney’s chance to add The Beatles to their catalog of great characters and stories (and music). A lot of people might find that possibility repugnant but I see it as just one more avenue for The Beatles to achieve the immortality I feel they so justly deserve (and have already achieved anyway).
Imagine a Disney’s Beatles’ Yellow Submarine ride at Disneyland. They already have a ride using yellow submarines so it wouldn’t be much of a stretch to change from the current Finding Nemo style to a Beatles’ Yellow Submarine theme. But why stop there? How about a whole Beatles’ themed land within Disneyland? Redo the Indiana Jones ride (another non Disney entity absorbed into Disney) into the temple of the Great Khaili from the movie Help! where Ringo was to be sacrificed. Or turn the skyline of London in the Peter Pan ride into Swinging London for an A Hard Day’s Night ride. Or keep the Alice In Wonderland ride just as it is but replace the songs with Beatles tunes.
No matter how you look at it I think Disney really screwed the pooch on this one.
No comments:
Post a Comment