Aardman: What's Next?

Come on. Who doesn't like Wallace and Gromit? Or Chicken Run? Oh, silly me, that's like asking "Who doesn't like Pixar?" or "Who doesn't breathe air?" Seriously, Aardman is one of a holy trinity of excellent animation studios, each from a difffernt country, each (thus far) using a different type of animation, and each blowing the socks off anything else to be found in feature animation--or films--today. Aardman's claymation, Miyazaki's "animé" and Pixar's CG prove that YES, there STILL IS talent in the moviemaking business still. It's just not in Hollywood. (Now, if we could bring back the Disney animation of the late '80s and early '90s, I'd die a happy man.)

Aardman is perfectly content to make features in claymation, an art form that's all but lost today. Even Corpse Bride and Nightmare Before Christmas were not technically claymation, but "stop-motion." I don't care what Michael Barrier says, Aardman films have a charm and style that can be found nowhere else. And, of course, they have stories and characters that go way beyond the expected, but still end up landing in the heart. Watching something from Aardman gives you a sense of exhiliration, watching a grand adventure unfold across the screen in a fun, quirky manner.

Case in point: Chicken Run, probably the best animated feature of 2000 (although Fantasia 2000 has some excellent segments.) Emperor's New Groove was fine, but Chicken Run goes way beyond that. It's a smart, witty comedy-adventure with great music and one heck of a chase scene, but I suspect you already know that, given the movie's huge box-office take. But, for many, Aardman is defined by...



The three shorts are absolutely phenomenal in every way possible, especially the latter two. Choosing between "The Wrong Trousers" and "A Close Shave" is an exercise in torture. "A Close Shave" is more dramatic, but for me, "The Wrong Trousers" wins by a hair. And the feature? Well, interesting story there. You see, I never saw the film in theaters. I can hear the hollers of protest: "Why not, man!!?? It was, like, the best movie of the year!!" Well, when I saw the trailers, it just didn't look appealing to me. It looked like a gag fest with a terminally silly story and characters that had been "Hollywooded up." DreamWorks Animation's fault, probably, and as you know, the film didn't exactly take in balefuls of cash here in the U.S. (Aside: I don't want to be a Jeffrey Katzenberg basher; he's done excellent work in the past and he really has respect for other animation studios. But it seems that either he's lost that creative spark, or it only works when he's with certain people. I personally prefer to think the latter.) Anyway, W&G:TCOTW-R came out on DVD, I finally saw it, and I was right, it was a disappointment.

Just kidding! It was wonderful, of course, as brilliantly executed as the shorts, witty without relying on pop culture references or fart jokes, and having characters with more depth than most live-action ones. Especially Gromit. As Brad Bird says, "He doesn't have a mouth, and yet, to me [and me], he can convey any emotion known to man because the animation is so damn good." Remember in "The Wrong Trousers" when the penguin manuevers his way into Wallace's favor, and Gromit is left out in the doghouse and he looks at the picture of them together and he turns the light off and you see his tears.... That gets me every time. There might be those poor souls who don't want to see W&G because it's "too British." Nonsense. The story and characters are universal and like all good films, it transcends cultural barriers.

So, the question is, am I looking forward to Flushed Away?



Yep, from the makers of Madagascar and Shrek. Um, wait. This is Aardman. Associating Aardman with those films is like associating Pixar with Cinderella II. It's not only wrong, it's misleading. Sure, DreamWorks Animation did the computer stuff, but the story and concept and creative elements are all Aardman and, and, and...

Oops. Hold on. As you've probably heard, DreamWorks Animation and the Big A are splitting after Flushed Away. Over creative issues on the film. CREATIVE issues. Which means that DreamWorks Animation messed with the story, why else would Aardman be angry? So is Flushed Away now more of a DreamWorks Animation film? Is it really going to be a product of the studio that brought us Shrek (the original, at least, was pretty decent) and Madagascar (no comment)? Is it Richard-Williams-Thief-and-the-Cobbler all over again? I don't think it's that severe, but I am fairly skeptical about this new "Aardman" film. So, what smart studio is gonna pick Aardman up? I'm sure Lasseter would love to work with these people, but that would make Disney the American monopoly of feature animation, seeing that it bought Pixar and distributes Miyazaki films. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, especially with Lasseter presiding, but I'm beginning to wonder if that would spread him out too thin...