Pixar steals fat kid in Up from Wall-E

[Hyfi]

Watched Up the other night. What a great typical Disney story. I miss the old Wonderful World of Disney movies on Sunday nights. Instead of showing them then, they now sell them to you.

I really enjoyed UP but am now getting disappointed with Computer Generated movies. Is Pixar that strapped for money that they had to reuse a character from another movie? I doubt it but it was a good way to save millions and reap the benefits.

With all the talent and money Pixar has, you would think they could generate a new character for a new movie instead of recycling a model from an older movie.

[poppachubby]

Ya, UP was cute. My kid is at the right age for these types of movies now. If you want a real laugh, try "Cloudy, with a Chance of Meatballs". I was laughing outloud. Probably enjoyed it more than my son.

[Troy]

What fat kid in Wall-E? The kid in Up was asian, there was no fat asian kid in Wall-E.

Bear in mid also that Pixar used the same old guy character in several pieces as well. The one that was in the Chess short and the repair guy in Toy Story 2. Lasseter made a big deal of it at the time stating something to the effect that they were experimenting with the idea of making 'recurring actors' for their films just like every other director in the world has a stable of players that they use.

[Hyfi]

What fat kid in Wall-E? The kid in Up was asian, there was no fat asian kid in Wall-E.

I did not mean the boy as a complete character but modeled after all the same people on the space ship in Wall-e.

Oddly, I did not get the impression that the kid in UP was anything other than white. Did they make any reference to him being Asian?

The computer model used for him was the same as the one they used for Wall-E.

I also was unimpressed with the old man having Octagon shaped ears. I wish they would go back to actual animation first and use the computer for fill in as opposed to the whole thing being done as modeling with canned shapes and such.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

Both are Pixar productions, so they have not stolen anything really.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

I did not mean the boy as a complete character but modeled after all the same people on the space ship in Wall-e.

Oddly, I did not get the impression that the kid in UP was anything other than white. Did they make any reference to him being Asian?

The computer model used for him was the same as the one they used for Wall-E.

I also was unimpressed with the old man having Octagon shaped ears. I wish they would go back to actual animation first and use the computer for fill in as opposed to the whole thing being done as modeling with canned shapes and such.

Actual drawing of animation is too expensive and time consuming to meet production deadlines of today. Besides, animation of old could not render depth as well as computer generated, doesn't have the realism of today animation (see Polar Express, Beowulf, The Night Before Christmas), and does not have the smoothness of today animation.

Oddly, I did not get the impression that the kid in UP was anything other than white. Did they make any reference to him being Asian?

Look at the eyes.

[ForeverAutumn]

Actual drawing of animation is too expensive and time consuming to meet production deadlines of today. Besides, animation of old could not render depth as well as computer generated, doesn't have the realism of today animation (see Polar Express, Beowulf, The Night Before Christmas), and does not have the smoothness of today animation.

While that may all be true, I miss the old hand drawn cartoons. There is something charming about the old cartoons that I find lacking in today's computer generated world. While I'm sure that there is an art to making good computer generated animation, never again will we see the likes of artists like Friz Freling and Chuck Jones.

[Hyfi]

Both are Pixar productions, so they have not stolen anything really.

I hope that was sarcastic. I did indeed mean "use character model from 1 pixar movie for use in another pixar movie"

[Troy]

If you really want traditional cell animation, go see Disney's brand new Princess and the Frog. It's a total throwback to the old technology. I haven't seen it, but in the previews it certainly looks like it was made in 1948. I 'get' the attraction of this more painterly style, but personally, I'll take the CGI Pixar look any day of the week.

As far as Up using 'canned shapes' like the old man's ears, it's not that it was a canned shape because it was easier for them to do, believe me. Pixar doesn't do anything the easy way. That was just a stylistic choice. The entire movie has a much more cartoony look than anything else Pixar's done (that showed humans), consequently the shapes and forms are simpler. They were absolutely not going for realism there.

It's funny, but I didn't really make the connection between the Up kid and the fat people in Wall-E. I guess they're similar. My argument here is that in Disney's traditional animation, Arielle looked like Beauty (and the Beast) and Cinderella looked like Snow White. You can do back through all the Disney heroines and it's amazing how similar they all look. Oh sure, different faces, hair and clothes, but the bodies are almost identical. And what about live action directors using the same actor over and over again? Is Scorsesse copping out by using DeNiro or DiCaprio over and over again too?

[Hyfi]

And what about live action directors using the same actor over and over again? Is Scorsesse copping out by using DeNiro or DiCaprio over and over again too?

That has been one of my complaints over the last several years, not Rob and Leo per say but the use of the same 10 actors in everything. I mean come on, how many friggin movies can you put Tom Hanks in? He does not play a convincing part in all his movies and most times, the character fit is just plain wrong.

But people are just sheep and if they know one name, they will follow it to every movie. I would much rather see some unknowns or lesser knowns such as an Ellen Page who plays a totally convincing role in every movie I have watched with her in it.

I do understand all the comments about the animation and do think CG is way cool. My comment was merely that it looked as if the boy from Up could have been a child on the spaceship in Wall-E.





Funny I never noticed the Asian connection.