As DreamWorks Animation shifts to a new production-sharing model with Sony Pictures Imageworks (“Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”), we get a taste of the studio’s indie vibe at its best with “Orion and the Dark” (co-produced with Netflix and currently streaming). It’s an imaginative fantasy-adventure about confronting adolescent fears, thanks to the mind-bending script by Charlie Kaufman (“Anomalisa“).
“I think Kaufman’s whimsy and humor are brilliant for this family film space,” producer Peter McCown told IndieWire. “I think it’s a great match and I hope that he continues in this space.”
Kaufman spent about a year adapting Emma Yarlett’s 2014 children’s picture book about a fear-conquering adventure involving the titular adolescent and Dark, his nemesis, setting it in ’90s Philadelphia and making Orion (Jacob Tremblay) a neurotic, artistic fifth grader and Dark (Paul Walker Hauser) a hulking, insecure figure with an existential crisis. Dark invites Orion...
“I think Kaufman’s whimsy and humor are brilliant for this family film space,” producer Peter McCown told IndieWire. “I think it’s a great match and I hope that he continues in this space.”
Kaufman spent about a year adapting Emma Yarlett’s 2014 children’s picture book about a fear-conquering adventure involving the titular adolescent and Dark, his nemesis, setting it in ’90s Philadelphia and making Orion (Jacob Tremblay) a neurotic, artistic fifth grader and Dark (Paul Walker Hauser) a hulking, insecure figure with an existential crisis. Dark invites Orion...
- 2/2/2024
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Animation’s storied Year of the Animal yielded five unforgettable characters.
Brought to life through superb writing, direction, performance, animated ingenuity, and tech innovation were: Judy Hopps, the eternally optimistic rookie bunny cop from “Zootopia,” badass Moon Beast from “Kubo and the Two Strings,” Hank, the cantankerous and camouflaging octopus from “Finding Dory,” Princess Poppy, the eternally happy heroine from “Trolls,” and Buster Moon, the impresario koala bear from “Sing.”
Judy Hopps (“Zootopia”)
Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) represents the heart and soul of “Zootopia.” And to make her and the other animals look and behave realistically, Disney engineers launched iGroom, a new fur-controlling tool.
But it’s a good thing that screenwriter Phil Johnston (“Wreck-It Ralph”) switched protagonists from Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) to Judy a year and a half into production when his cynicism dragged the story down.
“And we figured out if the movie’s about bias, then that...
Brought to life through superb writing, direction, performance, animated ingenuity, and tech innovation were: Judy Hopps, the eternally optimistic rookie bunny cop from “Zootopia,” badass Moon Beast from “Kubo and the Two Strings,” Hank, the cantankerous and camouflaging octopus from “Finding Dory,” Princess Poppy, the eternally happy heroine from “Trolls,” and Buster Moon, the impresario koala bear from “Sing.”
Judy Hopps (“Zootopia”)
Judy (Ginnifer Goodwin) represents the heart and soul of “Zootopia.” And to make her and the other animals look and behave realistically, Disney engineers launched iGroom, a new fur-controlling tool.
But it’s a good thing that screenwriter Phil Johnston (“Wreck-It Ralph”) switched protagonists from Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) to Judy a year and a half into production when his cynicism dragged the story down.
“And we figured out if the movie’s about bias, then that...
- 12/28/2016
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Director Mike Mitchell had a ball with his latest DreamWorks endeavor, working alongside Walt Dohrn and a cast of musical virtuosos to bring the vibrantly colorful Trolls to the big screen. A musical animated adventure, pitting a community of colorful creatures against the unhappy, Troll-eating Bergens, Trolls has an unusual, tactile aesthetic, which comes down to the directors’ work alongside other DreamWorks artists, including Kendal Cronkhite, Tim Lamb and Priscilla…...
- 12/5/2016
- Deadline
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