The public are finally noticing

[RebelHill]

http://movies.uk.msn.com/features/Animatedmovies2006_article.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0&vv=410

Well talk has been bounding around CG and animation circles for a while now about the seeming unending tide of current animal character based animated movies, I even recall a thread or two around these parts about it.

Well it appears that the ordinary reviewers and public are picking up on it now as well. Maybe, just maybe, we'll get lucky and the tide will turn against this stream of movies, and we may start to see some new original and, dare I say, funny movies gracing the halls of our local multiplexes in the next few years.

[AnimWatch]

It's interesting that the article notes that both Flushed Away and Ratatouille are about rats.

Madagascar, The Wild, Open Season, Over the Hedge, and The Barnyard are really riffs on the same film, if for no other reason than they have the same talking-animal smell. Hoodwinked was very different - good film or bad, we can argue on that - but when it comes down to it, had the same caffeine-fuelled whacky squirrel as Over the Hedge.

But the funny thing is that by the time Over the Hedge came out, I was done with the talking animal thing... and yet I'm very anxious to see both Flushed Away and Ratatouille even though they both feature talking rats. Why the diff? Because Flushed Away and Ratatouille both seem to be very well done, character-driven films, while the others just seemed to be plowing the same field once again.

And has anyone else noticed that Surf's Up is coming out right on the heels of Happy Feet... both of which feature talking penguins?

Oy vay.

[ZooRocket]

Oy vay is right. Ever since Pixar had such a huge success with Nemo.. then Shark tales came out... its just a huge group of people trying to jump on the successful animal movie band wagon.

Only a matter of time when it all crashes in flames.

[Mathias]

I can only second to what Steve and Jason already pointed out.