Alright folks, Harry here. Now before you start thinking with any type of permanence concerning this brief little look, let me put it in context for ya. THIS IS EXTREMELY ADVANCED. When you finally see this movie, the first LORD OF THE RINGS movie will be in theaters. While a statement like, "The classic hand drawn animation jumps against the heavy use of CGI," I can say that over the course of the next 2 years... this might very well change. The first print of TARZAN that I saw had a completely different opening sequence, set to the same Phil Collins song... but it was different. It was about the leopard killing Tarzan's father. It was horrific and intense beyond all belief. An animated film goes through RADICAL changes through the process. From Storyboards to rough animation to finished to cel animation... Between each stage things change. Having read one draft of this film, it read quite good actually. The humor was akin to that in JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH with James Mason or in Disney's own 20,000 LEAGUES BENEATH THE SEA. The script felt very much like those in tone. But... for now, I'll give ya over to the first person to see this thing move (from our perspective anyways), our very own bookworm chipmunk, SIMON...
As I work for Disney, I was able to watch a presentation on the film Atlantis, set for a 2001 release. The first act is complete (except for the monster chase after the sub is destroyed). It's an odd movie. The monster kills over 200 people, and a ship of Vikings die before the opening title. The classic hand drawn animation jumps against the heavy use of CGI, and the humor is aimed at an older kid crowd. The best line is when Mrs. Packard broadcasts to the crew, "Dinner is beans tonight, and with music to follow". Overall the film is interesting, and different from the recent Disney films. The story is locked in, although there is time to mess with details. One thing, the villian is weakly voiced by James Garder, and (I thought) the female villian was a real hoty!
Simon.
