ImageMovers

 ImageMovers began in 1997, being founded by Robert Zemeckis, along with Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey. Zemeckis is most known for his films Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, and Cast Away. ImageMovers is not strictly an animation studio, as they have a nice mixture of both live action movies, like What Lies Beneath, Cast Away, and more recently, Allied, and animated movies. The studio is still going strong in terms of live action, the most recent being Allied, starring Brad Pitt and Marion Cotillard, but they haven’t produced an animated feature since 2011. I remains to be seen if they are completely done making animated movies or not. What sets ImageMovers apart from other animation companies is their use of motion capture CG. I spoke about it when covering Tintin, but these are the movies that have the photo-realistic look to them. While it can make for some striking visuals, it can also be a little off-putting. Its getting better, but some of the kids in The Polar Express were downright creepy looking.

Speaking of The Polar Express, that was their first attempt at motion capture animation, and became the first full length all-digital capture film. There was a lot riding on this film, seeing as making a motion capture film wasn’t cheap. You’re basically having actors act out all the scenes, then having people animate over that. Twice the budget! The film’s budget was a record for an animated feature at the time, a whopping $165 million. Warner Bros knew how to market for a film like this, and tried to get audiences to see this in 3D at their local IMAX theater. Mind you this was before 3D blew up after Avatar, and not every theater had an IMAX screen, so this wasn’t an option for everyone. If I remember correctly, my family and I went to see this at our IMAX theater. I don’t know how many real IMAX theaters there are in each state, but ours happened to be only about an hour away. Now, of course, they have a IMAX screen or two in regular theaters, but nothing beats going to a legit IMAX. IMAX tickets are quite a bit more than regular tickets, so Polar Express benefited from that, the same way Avatar did five years later. Released in late 2004, the film ended up grossing $309.8 million, just a little under double their budget. Critical reception was mixed, with most focusing on the padded story (it’s based off a children’s book) and the weird looking characters. Audiences have been a bit kinder to the film, with it now becoming a holiday mainstay on TV. If you like Tom Hanks, then you’ll probably really enjoy this movie. He plays most of the adult characters!

The studio’s next two motion capture animated movies were 2006’s Monster House, and 2007’s Beowulf. Monster House, did better with critics than Polar Express and managed to keep the budget at $75 million. It grossed twice its budget, being a moderate hit for its distributor, Columbia Pictures. Beowulf, distributed by Paramount in the U.S. and Warner Bros. outside the U.S., did as well critically, but didn’t do as well financially. While it did gross more than Monster House, it also had twice its budget. All the pretty animation has a price. Starting in 2007, ImageMovers and Disney teamed up to create ImageMovers Digital, an animation facility that would produce and direct 3D animated films using motion capture technology. Their first collaboration was 2009’s A Christmas Carol, another film I remember going to IMAX to see. A Christmas Carol is interesting because there are so many versions out there and they all deviate from the book in one way or another. Inexplicably, this version is pretty true to the book, and the book gets pretty dark at times. This threw some audiences and critics off, who listed it as their main concern, though the animation was praised. In my opinion, this is definitely a fine version of the book, but it’s certainly not my favorite. The movie, like The Polar Express and Beowulf, costed a lot of money to make, and unfortunately didn’t quite make it to double the budget. Disney could see the writing on the wall, but wouldn’t pull the trigger until shortly before their next, and last, film was released, 2011’s Mars Needs Moms. They knew what was going to happen with Mars Needs Moms and preemptively shut down ImageMovers Digital, claiming that it no longer fit their business model and cited the lousy economy. Mars Needs Moms ended up being a big ol’ bomb for both Disney and ImageMovers, grossing $39 million against a $150 million budget. Reviews were also not kind, There were quite a few movies in the pipeline before Mars Needs Moms crash landed at the box office, including a Roger Rabbit sequel and an adaption of The Nutcracker. It remains to be seen if Zemeckis will find it profitable to make another motion capture film again, seeing as how none of them were run-away successes.

Mickey's Christmas Carol

I really like Charles Dickens', A Christmas Carol. I've seen probably every film and TV version there is, save for some of the older ones. If I had to pick a favorite, it'd have to be Mickey's Christmas Carol. Sure it's heavily truncated, but it has all the Disney characters you love, and it throws in a little humor. Otherwise I would say I enjoy The Muppets Christmas Carol, Scrooged, and the George C. Scott version. Mickey's Christmas Carol was released in December, 1983 and marked the first theatrical appearance by Mickey Mouse since The Simple Things in 1953. The thirty year gap is currently the longest, since Mickey Mouse cartoons have come out every so often since Carol. Like I said before, it is a pretty condensed version of the Dickens classic, but you get all the main points. They cut out the parts of the book pertaining to his childhood, and his present-day visit to his nephew Fred's house. For a twenty-six minute run time, they get through it pretty well. Think of it as a beginner's run through the story. It was my first time hearing of the story. While it was released in theaters in 1983, it has played on TV every year since then, making it hard to miss. My parents recorded pretty much anything Christmas related in the 80's, so this short movie was on a VHS, along with other Christmas Disney cartoons i.e. The Art of Skiiing, Donald's Snow Fight, and my personal favorite Pluto's Christmas Tree. I watched these every year and occasionally dig through our old tapes just to watch them again. I'm sure I could find them on DVD (Mickey's Christmas Carol was recently released on Blu-ray), but I still enjoy breaking out the old VCR (plus I can watch old 80's commercials).

The cast is made up of classic Mickey Mouse characters such as Mickey, Donald, Goofy, Minnie, Daisy, and some of the lesser-knowns. The funny part is that the other characters are taken mainly from The Wind and the Willows (Toad, Mole, Rat, Cyril Proudbottom, Angus MacBadger, and the weasels), and Robin Hood (Lady Cluck, the rabbit children, Skippy Bunny, Toby Turtle, Mother Rabbit, and Grandma Owl). There's even the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs, apparently setting aside their differences to raise money for charity. Jiminy Cricket (Pinocchio), Willie the Giant (Mickey and the Beanstalk), and Pete make appearances as the three ghosts. Of course at the center of it all you have Scrooge. Scrooge McDuck was partly inspired by Ebenezer Scrooge, so it's only fitting that he play him. Unlike what I thought for most my life, Scrooge McDuck has been around since 1947 and therefore was not made a character for this specific movie. This was however the first time Scrooge was voiced by Alan Young who has voiced the character ever since. Any of the classic Disney characters are unfortunately not voiced by their original voice actors, except for one character: Donald Duck. Clarence Nash, the original voice for Donald, provided the voice one last time before he passed away in 1985.

While it may be my favorite of the Carol movies, it makes me the most emotional, even to this day. Don't get me wrong, it has its funny moments, mostly given by Willie the Giant and Goofy, but this short movie will also make you cry and hide under the covers. Someday I'll make a list of saddest moments in animated movies, and when that happens, this short will be on that list, only because of one thing: the death of Tiny Tim. Yes, I couldn't care less in any of the other versions, but for some reason when I see Mickey crying over Tim's grave and setting his crutch down I can't help but get emotional. Mickey doesn't cry! I'm not supposed to see that when I'm a kid! Mickey is supposed to be happy! I'm getting sad just thinking about it! Anyway, the part that still freaks me out to this day, or at least causes me to feel a little unsettled is the coffin opening scene. Scrooge is seeing the future (or possible future) and he finds out that he's dead. Pete throws him into the surprisingly deep grave and then the coffin opens up to a blazing hellfire. Oh my Jesus this freaked me out when I was a kid. He was literally going to Hell! The ghosts could have shown him that first off and he'd probably had changed his ways!

All in all it's a great adaptation that's perfect for kids, but can also be enjoyed by adults. You know, like most Disney films. It's always fun to see Disney characters from other films or classic cartoons, which is what makes this short so great. It's one of my holiday traditions, and I hope you'll make it one of yours. Merry Christmas.