Damien Presents: The Trouble With Stop Motion

By Damien.

Foreword

Before I write this post, I want to make it clear that I love stop motion, and the same goes for the films I'll talk about here. I wouldn't want those movies to be even slightly different, because I love them just the way they are, and they're all perfect in their own way; their imperfections make them even more perfect. I'm aware that last sentence made absolutely zero sense, but that doesn't mean it's any less true.

Aardman News 11 - 'Tis The Season for Get Togethers

It's been far too long since we've had an Aardman News post and what better time to do it than Christmastime? You love Wallace and Gromit right? How about Chicken Run? And Creature Comforts and Shaun the Sheep too? Shame we never get to see them all together and interacting. Oh well, we can't have it all... What? What's that you say Aardman? We can have it all? Hooray! Thanks Aardman!

Check out this cool little semi-promo for Google+, showing Aardman's stop-mo pantheon video calling each other this festive season. It seems The Pirate Captain hasn't quite got round to web-cam just yet. We can only hope he's working on some For Your Consideration ads instead.

Check out the charming and fun video above and, UK readers, get ready to check out any and all Wallace and Gromit shorts on the BBC in the next couple of weeks!

Interview: Peter Lord, Co-founder of Aardman and Director of The Pirates!

Today I had the fantastic opportunity to speak to the very kind, very friendly and very, very talented Peter Lord on the phone, from Aardman's headquarters in Bristol. Peter, who is a co-founder of Aardman, co-directed their first feature film, Chicken Run, and directed their most recent film, The Pirates! in an Adventure with Scientists. Despite his very busy schedule as one of the famed studio's top-brass, Peter was kind enough to speak to me for just over half an hour about all things Aardman.

I'd also like to take this time to extend my sincerest thanks to Emily Metcalfe, Julie Lockhart and Amy Wood from the Aardman publicity and production team for helping to set this up. As a huge fan of Aardman, it was a great honour to interview Peter.

Topics covered in our conversation include the history of Aardman, critical reaction to the studio, why their films have never caught on in a big way in America, working with DreamWorks and Sony and The Pirates! and The Pirates! 2. Be wary though, there is some (very) mild language used. Check out the full interview after the jump break:

Why Don't Aardman Films Do as Well in America?

Note the very British Blue Peter badge on the hat of the far-left pirate.

Aardman, for the few of you that don't know, is the studio that brought us Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Chicken Run, Flushed Away and Arthur Christmas, four brilliant films that all received critical praise, with the former two being lauded as fantastic. And now their latest film, The Pirates! In An Adventure with Scientists, is out; it's been out for about two months over here in the UK, and about one month in the US. However, whilst the critical praise is (as we have come to expect with Aardman) high, the box-office returns are not so.

So far, The Pirates!, branded in the US as The Pirates! Band of Misfits, the big screen adaptation of Gideon Defoe's popular children's books, has grossed about $100,000,000 worldwide. Only a quarter of that amount was collected in the US, with the majority coming from other regions (it had a particularly strong box-office run here in the UK). As we reported a few weeks ago, The Pirates! was received with, despite the positive word of mouth, Aardman's weakest opening ever stateside, and hasn't drastically improved on that since. Admittedly, $100 million isn't to be sniffed at, it's more than double the takings of the likes of, the equally great, live-action feature Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, but it's still disappointing for a film that has received such strong critical praise and a fairly good advertising campaign.

Unfortunately though, this is more the rule than the exception where Aardman films are concerned, despite an average Rotten Tomatoes score of 88% and a national following here in the UK, Aardman films average less than $170 million worldwide; largely due to none too strong performances in America. The question though is why, when they are such huge hits here in the UK?

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists Review - Worth it's Weight in Doubloons

Although it's been out a few weeks now over here in the UK (but it's not released stateside until the 27th of this month), I only got the chance to see Aardman's latest feature film: The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists on Wednesday, and it was well worth the wait.

The Pirates! is Aardman's first stop-motion animated film since 2005's Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and is directed by Chicken Run helmer, Peter Lord. And whilst The Pirates! retains the trademark British wit and endearing characters that made their previous films such hits with audiences and critics, it also - following in the footsteps of 2007's Flushed Away and last year's Arthur Christmas - broadens its style somewhat, boasting a lot more action and spectacle than the more simplistic Wallace and Gromit or Chicken Run.

New The Pirates Clip - We Laugh in the Face of Danger

Aardman have just released a new clip (above) from their next stop-motion animated film, The Pirates. Branded here in England as The Pirates! In An Adventure With Scientists (and The Pirates! Band of Misfits internationally), the film will be Aardman's first stop-motion film since 2005's Oscar winning The Curse of the Were Rabbit; it also mark's Chicken Run director Peter Lord's return to the director's chair.

The clip displays the trademark style and British wit of the animation giants that has made them a huge hit with critics and fans alike over the years, and also the luscious animation on display in the film.

The Pirates will be released in conjunction with Sony Pictures Animation on 28th March here in the UK, and 27th April in America.

The Pirates Voice Cast Revealed

Just as I'm beginning to get restless with the lack of updates on Aardman's second feature film with Sony Pictures Animation, due out next year, The Pirates: In An Adventure With Scientists, we get a huge block of news concerning the film.

Aardman and Sony's first feature film, due out on 11th November over here in the UK, Arthur Christmas, has an all star cast of such talented actors as Hugh Laurie, James McAvoy and Jim Broadbent, however The Pirates, if anything outshines that. The Pirates is due to star a veritable smorgasbord of British talent, led by Hugh Grant.

Hugh Grant takes the lead in his first ever animated role, the star of Love Actually, Notting Hill and Did You Hear About the Morgans? will bring a great British feel to the already quintessentially British Aardman. Grant is flanked by some equally fantastic talent, in the form of Martin Freeman (The Office, The Hobbit), David Tennant (Doctor Who) and Ashley Jensen (Extras, Ugly Betty), amongst others.

It truly is an all star cast that will only serve to boost an already fantastic sounding film, below is the announcement (courtesy of Aardman's website) in which you will find the entire all star cast:

Hugh Grant, starring in his first animated role, is the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain – a boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, terror of the High Seas.  With a rag-tag crew at his side (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen), and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the Captain has one dream: to beat his bitter rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to the much coveted Pirate Of The Year Award.  It’s a quest that takes our heroes from the shores of exotic Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London.  Along the way they do battle with the pirate-hating Queen Victoria (Imelda Staunton) and team up with a young Charles Darwin (David Tennant), but never lose sight of what a pirate loves best: adventure!



The film sounds fantastic (you can see an image from it at the top) and I cannot wait to see the next stop-motion film (with Arthur Christmas being computer animated) from the geniuses behind Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run.

DreamWorks Films

DreamWorks Animation have just uploaded a vast amount of videos to their YouTube page, showcasing their previous hits like Shrek, Madagascar and Kung Fu Panda. Whilst it is good to see the films getting some coverage, I was annoyed that DreamWorks are passing off Aardman films, like Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were Rabbit (below)and Flushed Away as their own, without sufficient credit (if any) to Aardman.