Another Stupid movie to Overreact to...

Drtooth

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I guess Cloris Leachman and Christopher Lloyd owed money to somebody, which is why they had to do this... maybe, I don't know.
Cloris is a cast regular on Raising Hope.

Christopher Lloyd however, doesn't get his due. The last major thing he was in was Cyberchase, and that appears to be over... which SUCKS, since they had a very interesting bunch of concepts before they stopped making episodes. He was also in that Frog awful fly movie. He deserves better than this thing.
 

Drtooth

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Why couldn't they have just released it on dvd and skip the theater altogether? Kids can get loud, and I feel really bad for anyone who is in the next room over
I like the whole fact that the concept came to him after seeing black people talk during a Tyler Perry movie. I have a great joke about Kenn using other stereotypes to market his ideas that I don't want to repeat here. But I will say, it's a stereotype that isn't completely untrue. There was a talkative bunch when I saw that meh Last Airbender movie.

But I'm agreeing with the guy who wrote the posted article...

Do you see where Viselman is going with this? I think you probably do. And truthfully, while the idea of being in a movie theater with dozens of screaming kids makes me want to vomit, it isn’t really the “interactive” idea behind The Oogieloves that I find so repulsive — it’s Viselman’s utter lack of compunction when it comes to admitting that the whole dumb thing was reverse-engineered from the idea that kids need to make noise while they watch movies. Instead of happening upon a story that might have been improved with audience interaction, he worked backwards from the question “What can I do to exploit the under-5 demographic?” — and then had himself billed as a marketing visionary on the poster, thus hammering home the sad reality that this is the way a lot of people approach children’s entertainment, and it’s so commonplace that you’re not supposed to think twice about it.
I'm not recounting my Bolt story again. You know it well by now. But this is EXACTLY what's wrong with kid's entertainment. Forcing everything to be "interactive." Now, it's not that I find it completely terrible. Sesame Street always asked for audience participation, and get up and dance moments. Heck, many of us DID scream when Pee Wee revealed the word of the day. But that was at home. In a theater, it's COMPLETELY idiotic to encourage bad, loud, rude behavior in movie theaters. This guy's loose understanding of Rocky Horror Picture Show screenings shouldn't be the basis of a film.

Yeah, DTV is what this thing should have been. Or better yet, don't let the visionaries behind the WORST kid's program of all time be able to live amongst normal members of society, let alone make another project.
 

charlietheowl

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Gosh, I definitely see some Oscars in the future for this one.

And just because someone is behind the marketing for a project, that doesn't mean they should be confused with being part of the creative team. Eloise was a series of children's books from the 1950s and Thomas the Tank Engine goes back all the way to the 1940s, it just wasn't until the 1980s that it got adapted for television. Marketing does not equal plot or artistic achievement, and this guy clearly thinks that.
 

Drtooth

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And just because someone is behind the marketing for a project, that doesn't mean they should be confused with being part of the creative team. Eloise was a series of children's books from the 1950s and Thomas the Tank Engine goes back all the way to the 1940s, it just wasn't until the 1980s that it got adapted for television. Marketing does not equal plot or artistic achievement, and this guy clearly thinks that.
I wonder to what extent he marketed Thomas. I mean, look what happened to Thomas now. He's all CGI, it's just terrible... they added a bunch of very flat characters to fill out some vague requirements for ethnicity and gender... and more for just the sake of more toys. It's not the same fun little Thomas we all knew and loved anymore. But it's still better than those HORRID clones like Jay Jay the Jet Plane.

I'd love to point the blame on him for that, but it's not the case.

But the whole point is slapping famous name brands on something new for the sake of familiarity. It's no different than saying "From the Producer of..." In fact, it's essentially the same thing. Producer doesn't always equal creator, the producer produces money. So every time you hear "From the Producer of" such and such, it just means someone who gave money to some show/movie gave money to that.

On that subject...

So we've had trouble getting a Fraggle Rock movie...even had trouble getting The Muppets...but this got a greenlight?
Look really hard at that movie preview and you'll find the answer.

The budget of this project is insanely low. Like, crappy weekly TV series low. I'm sure Japanese Sentai shows with those rubber suits cost more to make per episode than this. This movie has NO major financial backing, and looks to be funded by their own small production company. A Fraggle Rock movie would eat through a budget on JUST the puppet building alone. Just the other major 3 Fraggles (we have a Red, Wembely and an Uncle Matt) would cost a small fortune. Not to mention Gorgs, all those little Doozers, incidental Fraggles, and Sprocket... and additional puppets for the 6 major Fraggles.

If Henson could fund the Fraggle Movie all themselves, we'd've seen it by now. They need a business partner, and that's been THE reason why we haven't seen it yet.

This is all that marketing firm that created these dreadful things. It's only been made because it's easier than getting a TV series out there (like I said, it's DATED as heck), and this guy is desperate to choke the market with another ugly kiddy show. This is the big product launch project... it's not going to find an audience and if it does, I'd be horrified.
 

charlietheowl

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I wonder to what extent he marketed Thomas. I mean, look what happened to Thomas now. He's all CGI, it's just terrible... they added a bunch of very flat characters to fill out some vague requirements for ethnicity and gender... and more for just the sake of more toys. It's not the same fun little Thomas we all knew and loved anymore. But it's still better than those HORRID clones like Jay Jay the Jet Plane.

I'd love to point the blame on him for that, but it's not the case.
I found his IMDB listing and he appeared to only work on the show from 1991 to 1995, which was far before the show flatlined. They were starting to run out of stories at that point, but it was nothing like it is now.

Thomas was the first thing I ever really became a fan of, when I was around three years old. I still have boxes of stuffed animals and books and trains in my basement that I collected over the years. To see how it has changed over the years is a little sad. Not that everything should be expected to stay the same, but the live action models were just a lot more fun to look at.
 

Drtooth

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I found his IMDB listing and he appeared to only work on the show from 1991 to 1995, which was far before the show flatlined. They were starting to run out of stories at that point, but it was nothing like it is now.

Thomas was the first thing I ever really became a fan of, when I was around three years old. I still have boxes of stuffed animals and books and trains in my basement that I collected over the years. To see how it has changed over the years is a little sad. Not that everything should be expected to stay the same, but the live action models were just a lot more fun to look at.

Well, then I can't logically say he was fired from Hit.

But yeah. Thomas (or rather Shining Time Station) came out just when I was supposed to be growing out of that stuff at age 7... but I liked it anyway. No doubt due to Ringo Starr's wonderful narration. It really misses something in not having a warm story voice over.
 

Sgt Floyd

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I blame Thomas for my fear of things with unnatural faces...that show traumatized me as a kid
 
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