What killed this movie for me was just the disney-fication of the world and designs. I feel it would've been much more enjoyable if the world and character designs were more rough and not smooth/soft, but i guess its hard to make merch off of that so -shrug-
It also would've 100% benefitted from being a series rather than a movie. You spend so little time in each region and in general the pace of the movie felt rushed.
Also for a movie that was supposed to be influenced by asian cultures, it did...very little of that and it kinda felt like they just slapped that on there just because.
There was a lot of potential for this movie but it was simply a letdown for me. Even my friend's little girls didn't like it, and they're all over Frozen and Moana.
What killed this movie for me was just the disney-fication of the world and designs. I feel it would've been much more enjoyable if the world and character designs were more rough and not smooth/soft, but i guess its hard to make merch off of that so -shrug-
It also would've 100% benefitted from being a series rather than a movie. You spend so little time in each region and in general the pace of the movie felt rushed.
Also for a movie that was supposed to be influenced by asian cultures, it did...very little of that and it kinda felt like they just slapped that on there just because.
There was a lot of potential for this movie but it was simply a letdown for me. Even my friend's little girls didn't like it, and they're all over Frozen and Moana.
[quote name="Colubridae" date="2021-07-05 09:55:04" ]It also would've 100% benefitted from being a series rather than a movie. You spend so little time in each region and in general the pace of the movie felt rushed.[/quote]
avatar's been there, done that (even if it had its own flaws representation-wise, there is plenty of soul in the story and setting imo). i can see why disney would try to avoid doing something too similar. there's also something to be said about their formula of using a movie to get people hooked, cashing in on its success with merch and perhaps a bad spin-off tv series, then rinsing and repeating.
[quote name="Colubridae" date="2021-07-05 09:55:04" ]the disney-fication of the world and designs[/quote]
YEAH. it sure as heck FEELS like outright caricature at points. like what someone who knows nothing about southeast asia thinks southeast asia is like. (and no, that's not just from the general two-dimensionity of the setting. bad enough that what is [i]seen[/i] of the three nations that aren't heart or fang is 1. nonexistent, 2. thieves and 3. barbarians (and also nonexistent). c'mon.)
[quote name="@Vasarul" date="2021-07-04 23:12:55" ]I'm no history buff, but what exactly is Fang supposed to represent?[/quote]
not super sure, but there's almost certainly artistic license involved to make the characters more recognisable. for storytelling purposes, it's good to have audiences recognise namaari on sight, and raya's already occupied the slot for generic-southeast-asian-girl-of-mystery-ethnicity.
dead certain fang's palace is mirroring angkor wat, though.
Colubridae wrote on 2021-07-05 09:55:04:
It also would've 100% benefitted from being a series rather than a movie. You spend so little time in each region and in general the pace of the movie felt rushed.
avatar's been there, done that (even if it had its own flaws representation-wise, there is plenty of soul in the story and setting imo). i can see why disney would try to avoid doing something too similar. there's also something to be said about their formula of using a movie to get people hooked, cashing in on its success with merch and perhaps a bad spin-off tv series, then rinsing and repeating.
Colubridae wrote on 2021-07-05 09:55:04:
the disney-fication of the world and designs
YEAH. it sure as heck FEELS like outright caricature at points. like what someone who knows nothing about southeast asia thinks southeast asia is like. (and no, that's not just from the general two-dimensionity of the setting. bad enough that what is
seen of the three nations that aren't heart or fang is 1. nonexistent, 2. thieves and 3. barbarians (and also nonexistent). c'mon.)
@
Vasarul wrote on 2021-07-04 23:12:55:
I'm no history buff, but what exactly is Fang supposed to represent?
not super sure, but there's almost certainly artistic license involved to make the characters more recognisable. for storytelling purposes, it's good to have audiences recognise namaari on sight, and raya's already occupied the slot for generic-southeast-asian-girl-of-mystery-ethnicity.
dead certain fang's palace is mirroring angkor wat, though.
