Author Topic: One Chapter at a Time - The Elite Eleven of Pixar + BONUS CONTENT  (Read 558756 times)

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36123
  • Marathon Man
The Elite Eleven: Bonus Content - Zootopia
« Reply #1420 on: September 14, 2016, 10:51:45 PM »

Zootopia - Missing Otter
"Life isn't some cartoon musical where you sing a little song
and your insipid dreams magically come true.
So, let it go."


Nothing big to talk about in this Chapter, but we finally get around to a case. Took 30 minutes to get there, but the set-up doesn't feel as long as it does in Big Hero 6 because the world here is much more interesting. There's a joke I didn't catch before. When Judy is being chewed out, one of the marks against her is "inciting a scurry." The scene's big joke (quoted above) I go back and forth on. It's too on the nose, but we largely live in a world now where you can't say those three words without putting the image of Frozen in people's heads.

Because I hated Jenny Slate's version of comedy in her film Obvious Child, I resist liking her here. The voice is a good fit, but my gut tells me anybody else would've been funnier in the part. (She already delivers her lines a lot like Sarah Chalke.) That said, I've already started using the quote, "And I've sent it and it is done, so I did do that." in my conversations.

This is one of my favorite scenes with Chief Bogo. Idris Elba does a great job not being the typical angry police chief. He's gruff and it's nicely done in an animalistic way with grunts and pounding his hoof on the table. He's also openly racist towards Judy, who he would rather fire than let her be anything other than a meter maid.

This is also the scene where I finally came to like Clawhouser, when the large cheetah runs into the office out of breath and holding his back because Mrs. Otterton ran past him. ("I tried to stop her. She's super slippery.")
Rating: * * * - Good

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36123
  • Marathon Man
Re: The Elite Eleven: Bonus Content - Zootopia
« Reply #1421 on: September 15, 2016, 10:54:08 PM »

Zootopia - It's Called A Hustle
"I hope you didn't stake your career on cracking this one."

Putting Judy onto Nick's trail to find the missing otter is too easy and convenient. Kids stuff to get the story rolling, just like how she easily finds him again. Putting the hustle on Nick is more clever. There's the convenience of the recordable pen we didn't know existed and where did that boot come from that she quickly slapped on the stroller, but the hustle works because it's so natural in the dialogue. You don't sense Nick is openly bragging about stuff just so it can get him into trouble later, he's just talking.

Judy just plays it up, quoting Nick when calling herself "just a dumb bunny," and watching his eyes go wide as her trap catches him. When she throws the titular, quotable line back in his face. It's just the cherry on top, and her look is the coolest. Nick's partner says what Judy is thinking. "She hustled you good!" Only he doesn't so much say it as laugh it in his face.

The field is now leveled and we're in happy buddy cop land.
Rating: * * * 1/2

Junior

  • Bert Macklin, FBI
  • Global Moderator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 28709
  • What's the rumpus?
    • Benefits of a Classical Education
Re: One Chapter at a Time - The Elite Eleven of Pixar + BONUS CONTENT
« Reply #1422 on: September 15, 2016, 11:38:10 PM »
I do very much like the pen. It's a funny touch, kind of an interesting character thing.
Check out my blog of many topics

“I’m not a quitter, Kimmy! I watched Interstellar all the way to the end!”

oldkid

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 19043
  • Hi there! Feed me worlds!
Re: One Chapter at a Time - The Elite Eleven of Pixar + BONUS CONTENT
« Reply #1423 on: September 16, 2016, 12:15:26 AM »
For me, this scene is where the movie really gets rolling.  I have a dumb smile on my face, which continues off and on the rest of the film.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36123
  • Marathon Man
Re: One Chapter at a Time - The Elite Eleven of Pixar + BONUS CONTENT
« Reply #1424 on: September 16, 2016, 12:54:13 AM »
I get the same reaction from the scene. Because of the trailer I keep thinking this leads into the DMV scene, but actually the nudist club comes first, and because it's one of my least favorite scenes in the film I sense the film getting rolling only to come to another speed bump.

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36123
  • Marathon Man
Re: The Elite Eleven: Bonus Content - Zootopia
« Reply #1425 on: September 16, 2016, 09:59:54 PM »

Zootopia - The Naturalist Club
"In Zootopia, anybody can be anything.
These guys... they be naked."


This Chapter is a bad SNL sketch. Now that the film has established the animals here act like humans, it can show them without clothes and call it naked. There's a 2nd joke here, that the elephant can't remember a thing while the stoned yak recalls tiny details. That's not clever either. The yak and Nangi the elephant are two of the least interesting characters in Zootopia. If not for Nick and Judy's banter and Judy's reactions this would be the worst Chapter in the film.

I don't even buy the premise. Judy and Nick come here because Nick says he knows where Emmitt Otterton went, which means either Emmitt went right into here after buying a pawsicle or Nick decided to follow Emmitt for no good reason. I find it a stretch to even believe Emmitt (who I barely know) would have a regular yoga class at a Naturalist Club. It goes against the sweet, family man established by the scenes with Emmitt's wife. Also, the yak recalls the license plate of the car he got into, even though he wouldn't be able to see the car unless he went outside. 
Rating: * *

pixote

  • Administrator
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 34237
  • Up with generosity!
    • yet more inanities!
Re: One Chapter at a Time - The Elite Eleven of Pixar + BONUS CONTENT
« Reply #1426 on: September 16, 2016, 10:33:59 PM »
I'm not reading along closely until I can watch the film, but is that the first subpar chapter?

pixote
Great  |  Near Great  |  Very Good  |  Good  |  Fair  |  Mixed  |  Middling  |  Bad

oldkid

  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 19043
  • Hi there! Feed me worlds!
Re: One Chapter at a Time - The Elite Eleven of Pixar + BONUS CONTENT
« Reply #1427 on: September 17, 2016, 12:00:37 AM »
I thought the nudist joke was funny.  The elephant forgetting and the stoned yak remembering wasn't funny, I agree.  I think Nick is really just trying to provide a distraction, a reason for Judy to give up.  He wants her to be very uncomfortable.  Perhaps that's not reason enough for this chapter to exist, but the pacing is right, I think.  His snide comments work well, here.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36123
  • Marathon Man
Re: One Chapter at a Time - The Elite Eleven of Pixar + BONUS CONTENT
« Reply #1428 on: September 17, 2016, 12:25:31 AM »
I'm not reading along closely until I can watch the film, but is that the first subpar chapter?

pixote
Safe at Home, though this one is worse.


I agree about Nick trying to get some enjoyment out of making Judy uncomfortable. They have an exchange at the end (leading into the DMV scene) that's the best part of this Chapter. That and the throwaway joke of hippos playing volleyball against giraffes.


1SO

  • FAB
  • Objectively Awesome
  • ******
  • Posts: 36123
  • Marathon Man
Re: The Elite Eleven: Bonus Content - Zootopia
« Reply #1429 on: September 17, 2016, 11:16:34 PM »

Zootopia - Dept. of Mammal Vehicles
"Hang in there."

I don't know what I can say about this scene, wisely used to generate initial buzz. It's hilarious and with the pace of the joke slowing everything down, you can appreciate the timing of the small details of animation, the drawn out sound effects. The look of complete frustration on Hopps' face when she has no choice but to wait. Even when you're familiar with the scene, there's the moment when Flash gets Nick's joke and his face slowly breaks into a wide expression of hilarity.
Rating: * * * 1/2
« Last Edit: April 09, 2020, 08:32:41 PM by 1SO »

 

love