Trying to work if I can say this is one of my most anticipated films of 2018 if I only had to wait until the end of January. Anyway, I'm SUPER excited to see this over the weekend. LOVE the vast majority of Ardman's stuff. So delightfully British.
How is six laughs in a ninety-minute film any kind of benchmark? Anyway I'm sure this is great, The Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists is a criminally underrated classic.
Dr Horror's "Six Laughs" Rule is the bare-minimum for a film to scrape past, in his estimation, as a comedy. From the sounds of it, Early Man more than surpasses this limit. I agree that six laughs is a very low bar; but I think Mr Kermode has had his expectations driven down by grinding experience.
I was hoping Mark would feel as I did about Early Man - I found it thoroughly disappointing. The animation was as beautiful as any Aardman film, and most of the voice work was excellent (especially Eddie Redmayne, though Tom Hiddleston's acting left a lot to be desired) - but the script was really really sub-par. The story was as boilerplate as it could possibly have been, but the truly disappointing part was that the humour was just as obviously telegraphed as the plot. Any inspired flash of humour was instantly overwhelmed by the sheer number of boring, flat jokes that have been recycled from a hundred other movies (sort of like the character designs of most of the Bronze Age cast, if we're honest). I've never been disappointed by anything Aardman have made before, but there's a first time for everything I guess.
I'm afraid to say I agree: I kept expecting the stakes to escalate, or for their to be twists and turns, or some hidden stroke of brilliance, but it is pretty much the plot of every sports movie ever - it doesn't put any new spin on it or subvert it, it just goes *exactly* where you expect it to go. It was just so lightweight, insubstantial and completely forgettable. The more I think about, the more the setting of the film annoys me: what exactly did the Stone/Bronze age setting contribute to the plot? The game of football is played exactly the same, the sports-movie plot plays out exactly as normal - it adds some surface-level visual gags to the training montage, but that is about it. Goofy did more original sports gags in an 8 minute short, back in 1945: ruclips.net/video/r_7ABpCyflg/видео.html
I am dismayed that the Aardman movies don't do the box office that the Disney / Pixar movies do. They are every bit as good, if not better than the American counterparts.
They have their bangers but I would have to largely disagree. Outside of Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit, I don't think the rest of Aardman's repertoire measures up quite as much to the best of Disney/Pixar.
“Remember in that film the early dinosaur in which the meteorite missed and the rest of the film is boring” yeah well in this film the meteorite hits and the rest of the film is boring.
Terrible script . 50 percent of jokes fell flat . Animation really good but seen better from ardman years ago . It's a straight to DVD production really so save your money seeing it at cinema and wait for DVD.
Here in the German speaking part of Switzerland we only get this movie Mid-March! so I feel like you got to see the movie quite Early, Man ....
Trying to work if I can say this is one of my most anticipated films of 2018 if I only had to wait until the end of January. Anyway, I'm SUPER excited to see this over the weekend. LOVE the vast majority of Ardman's stuff. So delightfully British.
How is six laughs in a ninety-minute film any kind of benchmark? Anyway I'm sure this is great, The Pirates in an Adventure with Scientists is a criminally underrated classic.
Dr Horror's "Six Laughs" Rule is the bare-minimum for a film to scrape past, in his estimation, as a comedy. From the sounds of it, Early Man more than surpasses this limit.
I agree that six laughs is a very low bar; but I think Mr Kermode has had his expectations driven down by grinding experience.
curse of the wererabbit = citizen kane
thanks mark...
It's mad that someone can compare two different things isn't it..?
CotW is to Nick Park as Citizen Kane is to Orson Welles.
That's the point he was making - he didn't compare the two movies to each other.
I was hoping Mark would feel as I did about Early Man - I found it thoroughly disappointing. The animation was as beautiful as any Aardman film, and most of the voice work was excellent (especially Eddie Redmayne, though Tom Hiddleston's acting left a lot to be desired) - but the script was really really sub-par. The story was as boilerplate as it could possibly have been, but the truly disappointing part was that the humour was just as obviously telegraphed as the plot. Any inspired flash of humour was instantly overwhelmed by the sheer number of boring, flat jokes that have been recycled from a hundred other movies (sort of like the character designs of most of the Bronze Age cast, if we're honest). I've never been disappointed by anything Aardman have made before, but there's a first time for everything I guess.
I'm afraid to say I agree: I kept expecting the stakes to escalate, or for their to be twists and turns, or some hidden stroke of brilliance, but it is pretty much the plot of every sports movie ever - it doesn't put any new spin on it or subvert it, it just goes *exactly* where you expect it to go. It was just so lightweight, insubstantial and completely forgettable.
The more I think about, the more the setting of the film annoys me: what exactly did the Stone/Bronze age setting contribute to the plot? The game of football is played exactly the same, the sports-movie plot plays out exactly as normal - it adds some surface-level visual gags to the training montage, but that is about it.
Goofy did more original sports gags in an 8 minute short, back in 1945: ruclips.net/video/r_7ABpCyflg/видео.html
Kermode compares curse of the ware-rabbit to Citizen Kane
And why not
I can’t wait to see this movie!
Wait... Eddie Redmayne...?
The one and only Jupiter-Ascending-Eddie-Redmayne-Meme-Generator...? :>
9 times out of 10, I'm in agreement with the good Dr. This is that one in ten though I'm afraid. Very weak !
I am dismayed that the Aardman movies don't do the box office that the Disney / Pixar movies do. They are every bit as good, if not better than the American counterparts.
They have their bangers but I would have to largely disagree. Outside of Chicken Run and Wallace and Gromit, I don't think the rest of Aardman's repertoire measures up quite as much to the best of Disney/Pixar.
Tom hiddleston
“Remember in that film the early dinosaur in which the meteorite missed and the rest of the film is boring” yeah well in this film the meteorite hits and the rest of the film is boring.
Gooner! No! :)
Terrible script . 50 percent of jokes fell flat . Animation really good but seen better from ardman years ago . It's a straight to DVD production really so save your money seeing it at cinema and wait for DVD.
Film had good potential, too bad it was about football
Early Man was appalling. This was more of an Aardman wankathon than a genuine review
I am not a fan of this film title. It’s too gender specific.
There, I’ve started something haven’t I?