MEMO to Hollywood animators: Skip the zoo and lock the barnyard door. Let the animals in the mighty jungle get some sleep and the next time you feel the urge to draw a forest animal, just take a hike instead.
After a steady diet of cute talking animal movies, isn't it time to mix it up a bit? There was a herd mentality when the bovine adventure of "Home on the Range" was followed up by "Barnyard" and when "Madagascar" was followed by "The Wild."
The loopy hazards of taking forest critters in and out of the forest were apparently compelling enough for two films this year, "Over the Hedge" and "Open Season." "Flushed Away" is the new film about a European mouse with refined tastes and low-class friends; when you go see it, perhaps you'll see a trailer for next spring's "Ratatouille," which is very different because it's about a European \o7rat\f7 with refined tastes and low-class friends.
With several notable exceptions ("Cars" and "The Incredibles" spring to mind) it seems like every blockbuster animation project must draft its characters from the animal kingdom. All of them talk, a lot of them sing.
None of this is news to George Miller, director of "Happy Feet," which is the latest penguin movie to march into theaters.
"It's true. Lions, zebras, all of that's been covered. There's been penguins out the wazoo, as I can attest personally. Ants, bugs in general. You've had dinosaurs. Fish even, with 'Finding Nemo.' I think next we have to go down to the microscopic level, the stories of bacteria and single-cell creatures."
Uh, what about "Osmosis Jones"? Didn't that Chris Rock vehicle already cover the petri dish turf? "Oh, yeah, I forgot about that."
Why the safari mentality? There are several reasons. No. 1: Kids love animals that talk -- it just cracks them up. No. 2: Toy companies are aware of reason No. 1 and studios these days are mightily attuned to toy company interests.
The less obvious reasons, though, are the more interesting. The push toward photorealism in animation works in favor of cuddly animals but against people -- there becomes something unsettling about realistic-looking computer-generated people. There's also a component of human culture that make tales told with tails something special.
Miller says the history of animals revealing something about human nature in stories is in our blood. "I can't think of any culture that doesn't have stories or legends told through animals. You think Aesop's fables, of course, but you see it again and again in other cultures. I think it's a way to look at ourselves through another angle."
