That alone makes me interested. I'm eager to see western comedy animation break out of this trend of always looking like TOY STORY. Sure, the technology is the same, but the art style doesn't have to be. I'd hate for our CGI movies to end up like Japanese anime, with every one following the same "rules" for art, characterization, plot-lines, and story progression. There's a reason I loathe anime, and it's the same reason I'm starting to roll my eyes whenever I see a new American CGI animated feature: Homogenization.

You could cut up parts of ANTS, TOY STORY, SHREK, OVER THE HEDGE and other CGI toons, and splice them together into a new movie that would maintain the same basic story, with a damn near identical art style. I hate that.

My biggest argument with American animation right now is this trend to hire established, famous screen actors to voice the characters, instead of hiring new talent. It's ANIMATED. If there's anything that is conducive to letting new people break into movies, it's animation!!! Their performance is what matters-- Not the name recognition! Without a face attached, it's detrimental to hire famous celebrities. When I watch TOY STORY, I hear Tom Hanks and Tim Allen and Cliff from Cheers. If they'd hired voice actors instead of screen actors, then we'd have ORIGINAL characters without the baggage of their own celebrity.

That's why things like VENTURE BROS and FUTURAMA are at the top of the heap. When they first appeared, the voices weren't all that familiar. Sure, Fry was also Stimpy, and Patrick Warburton was mildly famous, but for the most part these shows introduced new CHARACTERS, and those voices WERE those characters. When I hear The Monarch, I don't think of some other character from some other show/movie. He's ONLY The Monarch. The same goes for Hank, Dean, and most of the other characters. The same goes for Fry, The Professor, Bender, and Zoidberg. (Although I have to say Phil LaMarr is overused in animation, and his range of different voices is mediocre. He's getting to be the black Frank Welker: I know he'll ALWAYS be there whenever a particular character needed in the script. For Welker it's sidekicks, animals and guys who look like Freddie from Scooby Doo. For LaMarr it's ALL Black men. Are there no other Black male voice actors?)

Where was I? Oh yeah. Deviation in art styles!

All I'm saying is that it almost seems like every studio is looking at what Pixar did with TOY STORY and copying it point-by-point. They want it to "look like Toy Story" and "Sound like Toy Story" and "feature BIG NAME CELEBRITIES" (even if their voices are too recognizable or they SUCK at VO work).

Shake it up, people! DO SOMETHING UNIQUE!

Beowulf NEVER needed to be in 3D . . . it was a blah film with a gimmick, that's it.

One main problem I have with 3D is that you have to wear the glasses for it to work . . . for anyone who DOESN'T wear glasses all the time, it can be very distracting . . . if they're not squeezing my head or pinching my nose from being the wrong size, I'm always AWARE of them . . . it's a filter to the image on the screen, and you'll never get passed that . . . keeps me out of a film every time.

I agree with the idea that IMAX is the one that will eventually stick. My lord, TDK in IMAX was UNBELIEVABLE. I'll pay to see that any day . . . 3D will die a second death, to be sure.

you say that like it's a bad thing

And I do agree with Bloo-- Cell phones need to be banned in theaters. Frankly, I wish theaters would go back to the way they were in the old-old days, when they had ushers (REAL ushers, not trash-cleaning ticket-takers) and balconies. You know, back when they'd show shorts and newsreels before the feature, instead of Coke commercials? Back when the ushers STAYED IN THE THEATER and dealt with problems as they happened..?

Yeah. Get off my lawn.