Agreed. I realize they're trying to give them 'human' expressions, but it just shifts them a smidge too far. Unusual sort of Uncanny Valley, but there you have it.
I think the main issue is, they can make CGI eyeballs look MUCH more realistic than CGI cartoon bears (or smurfs, or great danes, etc), and when the rest of the character still looks cartoonishly deformed..
It isn't the eyes so much for me, as the fact that they've managed to make them look like things that *should* be wearing clothes, but *aren't*. I'm not sure how Over the Hedge sidestepped that one, but it makes the Yogi stills I've seen extra-creepy.
After thinking about it, I kind of wish they'd use the eyes as they do in some cartoons, either just making the iris/pupil a large black dot, or only having an iris visible on extreme close-ups. I think they want these eyes for the very cliche 'zoom in on character's eye for emotional dilation' shots they use these days.
Not sure I agree entierly about the Punisher. The movie did not do so great but the 2004 movie with John Travolta was him at his best. No heroes, no costumes, it was him in a real world killing people that need to be dead. I always did like him when he was not really in the Marvel Universe per say but in a world where there were no powers. One of the reasons the 'Welcome Back Frank' was one of my favorites of his story lines.
On the Del Toro front, HELLS YEAH! I remember way back when the first Hellboy movie was made being told he had signed up for that because he got promisses that he would get a chance to do At the Mountains of Madness which is by far my favorite HP story because I am a gaint geology and paleontology nerd.
I enjoyed that film, too, but I came away thinking that calling it "The Punisher" hadn't really been necessary, that the plot could have stood on its own pretty much. But Travolta is one amazingly surprising actor. I still can't believe Vinny Barbarino and Vincent Vega are played by the same guy. Also, anyone who can continue a career after playing Terl on "Battlefield Earth" has got to have some kind of protective superpower.
I wonder if the final monster-fight scene in "Hellboy" wasn't Del Toro practicing up for getting his directorial hands on some Lovecraft later on?
You ask if Top cat was popular in the UK; well I seem to remember was on every morning during the summer holidays when I was a child - and that was back when we only had five TV channels (and one of those was in Welsh) so there was not a lot else to watch as invariably it was raining...
BBC1 used to show it, so kids who grew up in the 80's are familiar with it.
However, due to the BBC not showing adverts and there being a brand of cat food called Top Cat in the UK it was renamed Boss Cat. The theme tune and the characters name were the same though, so it was a bit of a pointless it of renaming.
If it was called Boss cat I don't remember it being so, as you say I think the theme tune would have wiped that from my mind as well as everyone calling him TC.
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I think the main issue is, they can make CGI eyeballs look MUCH more realistic than CGI cartoon bears (or smurfs, or great danes, etc), and when the rest of the character still looks cartoonishly deformed..
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi6kw39r_j4&NR=1
I have a taunt button for the Engie that starts the taunt, then is timed to say 'El Kabong!' in the chat channel upon impact.
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And the only clip I could find of the battle cry itself was this reference to it from 'The Critic.'
The "very good sir" just makes it that much better. :)
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On the Del Toro front, HELLS YEAH! I remember way back when the first Hellboy movie was made being told he had signed up for that because he got promisses that he would get a chance to do At the Mountains of Madness which is by far my favorite HP story because I am a gaint geology and paleontology nerd.
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I wonder if the final monster-fight scene in "Hellboy" wasn't Del Toro practicing up for getting his directorial hands on some Lovecraft later on?
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However, due to the BBC not showing adverts and there being a brand of cat food called Top Cat in the UK it was renamed Boss Cat. The theme tune and the characters name were the same though, so it was a bit of a pointless it of renaming.
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I enjoyed it as far as I remember though.
Kidda
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