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[mondhasen]

I got to watch Arrival last night and although it was hard to follow with surety at times (those who have seen it will understand) I liked its approach to extraterrestrial visits as well as how it developed and progressed. A few cliches here, a few new twists there...

Last week I started the new Pete's Dragon. Very Disney in its approach to families... wuss that I am, I started crying about two minutes in and finally shut it down after about half an hour. No Mickey Rooney here for comic relief.

Today the Library showed Trolls for a vacation week flick (kids are out of school). I have no interest in this film: I don't like the characters' looks whatsoever (I never liked those damned little Troll dolls/toys as a kid, either). However, I decided to do a pic for the board regardless, using googled pic for reference (I just realized now I forgot the eyelashes)



I was limited to three or four colors of makers so I couldn't get the blues in this. I'm not displeased with proportions even though these are freehand and not circle/line type sketch to drawings. But I still don't like the movie's animation look ;o)

Did I mention the new Ben Hur previously? It didn't appeal to me so probably not. Morgan Freeman's narration reminded me too much of Shawshank where he commented on Andy and the Sisters :D

Comments

[sunfire.livejournal.com]

Pete's Dragon is a treasure to me, so I won't watch the new one, I'm afraid of how badly dark and sinister this new version is. Trolls I never had any interest in. Those things always creeped the hell out of me, it's no wonder they call internet creeps "trolls".

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

Internet Trolls! Now that could be a movie parody indeed ;o)

If you saw Frozen they had some sort of rock-troll critters in that as well. It's funny how they take an image and rework it like this.

[sunfire.livejournal.com]

I did indeed see "Frozen". The trolls were about as necessary and likeable as that moronic snowman Olaf was.

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

Thank goodness for Sven! I'm surprised at the Troll sequence and wonder how it managed to escape the cutting room floor.

[lepaggoth.livejournal.com]

The drawing is fine!
Not too big fan of Trolls either, though I must admit I haven't seen the film nor do I intend to. In a way I liked the old faces of the trolls-toys in the earlier days, because they looked like little hobgoblins they were supposed to be - and the 80's version with earthly tones indeed made one think of some sort of fairy folk. 90's version with bright colored hair were a leap to more sugary direction, and the current toy line with pastel colors don't really even stand out from other pastel color toys with real hair to comb.

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

I only remember their naked little butts and pointed shock of hair. They were popular when I was in grade school and I had one, but I never warmed up to it. My kids had the ones with fluorescent hair and belly jewels (and no, I didn't buy them).

And thank you on the pic. I'm trying to restart myself drawing again, but lack the necessary motivation. Our library is doing a Mythical Creatures reading program this summer and the Librarian asked if I could draw something for it. I was thinking a Gryphon but she wanted, of all things, a Bigfoot! I told her Bigfoot would just look like a large version of the Addams Family cousin It without the had ;o)

[lepaggoth.livejournal.com]

I think I had a Troll-keychain charm in high school, that I got from a friend. Never warmed up for that, but it was just something everybody then had and some thought they were really cute, so I think I just passed on that keychain to someone who liked it more. Or then it will return haunting from some box of knickcnacks when I least expect it :D

Donald Duck comics seemed to have some Bigfoot theme issue recently :D

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

I find things like that occasionally and am sure the trolls are hiding in boxes just waiting to creep me out again ;o)

Donald Duck and Bigfoot? I'll have to check that out online :D

[moxie_man]

I won't watch Trolls either. Like you, I didn't like'em when they came out way back when as toys.

Nor will I watch the remake of Pete's Dragon. I'm biased 'cause the original was based in DownEast Maine. There's no way the scenery I saw in movie ads for the new one could pass off for DownEast Maine. So, I assume, they rewrote the tale for the American Northwest. At which there's probably no lighthouse, no musical numbers, etc. As such, it's only semblance to the original would be the boy and his dragon, now CGI instead of cell.

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

From what I saw this started to move toward an "I speak for the trees" concept ;o)

BTW- I only just learned that the lighthouse in the original was actually constructed by Disney in California!

http://sloblogs.thetribunenews.com/slovault/2009/03/petes-dragon-on-location-near-montana-de-oro/

[moxie_man]

As I'm sure all the segments of the film were shot in CA.

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

Something else I didn't know.

[moxie_man]

Well, that's just my guess as it was Disney and if they built and shot the lighthouse scenes in California, I highly doubt they traveled far to shoot the rest, especially when most of their budget was probably spent on creating/animating Elliot.

Passamaquoddy, Maine, doesn't exist, of course, but Passamaquoddy Bay does exist. Home of the largest whirlpool in North America (the "Old Sow"). On two different points of land, jutting out into it are the nation's eastern most city, Eastport, and town, Lubec.

I haven't seen the original in 35 years or so, but from what I recall, except for the rocky hill/mountain in the background, Passamaquoddy could be passed-off for Eastport back around 1900 when it was the sardine capital of the world. However, they should have made the lighthouse red and white like West Quoddy Head Light in Lubec, which does sit up on a set of (low) cliffs. (shrug)

Looking online, I see the remake was shot in New Zealand. No wonder it looked so scenery different in the previews.

Getting back to the "Old Sow", my wife and I are eligible to join the Old Sow Whirlpool Survivors Club and I'm almost tempted to pay the fee to get the certificates. :)

[sabotlours.livejournal.com]

For balance you should show the Norwegian horror movie "Trollhunters"

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

That would keep the kiddies entertained... ;o)

[lepaggoth.livejournal.com]

Trolljegeren is excellent film! It's a mockumentary with slips of horror comedy, and manages to bring something new to the "found footage"-genre as well as use local traditions instead of the most used international horror clichés. Some of the trolls are clearly modeled after old fairytale illustrations, which is very nice :)

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

Mm, I'm very pleased I put that pre-order in for Arrival, unseen - just wonderful. Its core is all about understanding, which is unfortunately rare in big screen drama, let alone sci-fi, not to mention the intelligence throughout. Lovely wrinkle in the storyline, too, and an interesting point to ponder. Definitely a film I can recommend highly. ^_^

Haven't seen the new Pete's Dragon yet, but I probably will before too long, especially if it turns up as a 99¢ rental on iTunes. Haven't yet watched Moana, at least beyond the opening twenty minutes or so, with the week having been a bit busy - maybe tonight.

I dare say I'll be giving Trolls a miss. ^_^; (On the other paw, the MLP movie comes out in October, and the indications are most positive!)

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

I took a few linguistics courses in college and found the approaches used in the film fascinating. It's nice not to have your typical English speaking alien arrive on the planet. Which reminds me of Boulle's Planet of the Apes: had it been true to the book I think our simian friends would have sounded like a mix between Charles Boyer and Maurice Chevalier *Honh-honh-honh-Honh!*...

My son has the Moana Blu-ray on order through the library. I may watch it if reports are good.

Another MLP? I only saw the first one and I found it fun.

[c-eagle.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear you felt your feelings stirred by the dragon mooovy.... ^v^ .... I didn't think it was all that bad (still prefer the cartoon one) , but definitely took a lot of different turns than the original did...

[mondhasen.livejournal.com]

Some situations just affect me that way - like this movie did
http://mondhasen.livejournal.com/4076.html

Glad you enjoyed it, though :o)