Remember When 3D Animation Looked Like This?

[@doodley3d]

Thanks for watching! This is my full-time job, so consider supporting me: patreon.com/doodley EDIT: It's time for everyone's favorite pinned comment clarifying something in the video! This video isn't meant to compare live-action to animation directly, but moreso wonder "why didn't they just make an animated film?" and present that by showing this weird era of 2000's films, and showing how they did end up getting an animated adaptation down the line that was faithful to the source material. This is part of the intent behind the section on Casper and how faithful that adaptation was. I had a section written that acknowledged this, but felt like the rest of the video showed that and cut it for time -- but it doesn't come across for everybody, so I apologize if that seems confusing. That said, feel free to discuss your viewpoint regardless. I think it's an interesting discussion!

[@MortexBerri]

Got it!

[@malaksafa4074]

here in 6 minutes

[@tamari108]

#doodelyfulltime

[@mr.k1337]

300k special?

[@bandana_bloxYT]

as a swed we do call garfield GUSTAF love ur vids btw

[@David_Burt_Art]

I love where art direction is going now, but I hope this new era of animation leans into more unique stylization in general, not just more cartoony looks. Tin Tin and Rango are both examples of hyper-detailed “realism” that still maintains a strong sense of style and art direction. Stylization exists across the spectrum, hyper-detailed and cartoony. I want variety in animation more than any one style.

[@doodley3d]

True! Completely agree, I remember really wanting a movie that looked like the humans in Rango, since they appear so briefly. I showed the Lupin III: The First clip near the end to sort of show that you can do both, you just shouldn't sacrifice art style for realism. They can co-exist!

[@drewo.127]

@@doodley3d Another example are the Sonic movies and the two Transformers movies, Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts! Both feature semi realistic character models, but they also are much more stylized and stay true to their recognizable aesthetic while still looking real enough that they still feel like they’re actually there!

[@sargentgullible2794]

Detective Pikachu is also another excellent example of hyper realism blending the Pokemon and the humans together perfectly. Then again, this is Pokemon...

[@arvt_]

we love rango 🔥🔥

[@vintan8191]

Realistic=======CURsE!

[@stevepensando2593]

To me, the gold standard for photorealistic animation is the movie Rango. The characters in that movie all look extremely detailed and kind of uncanny, but that's the whole point. It fits with the dirty and unnerving tone of the film. They also also look very animalistic, but are stylized so they are still anthropomorphized and expressive. This is something I wish we could get for other movies that use "realistic" 3D animation, but it seems like most big studios can't find that middle ground that worked so well in Rango

[@hencethebeetroot]

I will say Rango works better because it used its own new characters; there's no idea of "taking the original designs in a weird direction" when that IS the original design.

[@skapaloka222]

@@hencethebeetroot this too, AND i'd like to add that the whole movie is 3D and the characters aren't insterted into the lives of human people (which is a really, really weird trend that I hate)

[@zooidiotgaming5784]

Yesss, another Rango enjoyer. That movie isnt talked about enough.

[@araknidude]

rango

[@stevepensando2593]

@@zooidiotgaming5784 Rango is an underrated gem. It's one of my favorite animated movies

[@hlibushok]

This really does explain one of the biggest problems with Disney's live action remakes - the trend was over 10 years ago.

[@nitroturbo7869]

That, and they want to print money with the least possible effort, so they reuse IPs in a way that'll age faster than the originals.

[@soundeffectsandsuch]

Fr

[@cryodual]

Very dated..

[@felixdaniels37]

The issue is that the very idea of these Live-Action remakes are inherently flawed. They're not like Scooby-Doo, or Casper, or Garfield, or even Rocky and Bullwinkle, who never had movies before so the CGI movies were justified. These are literally shot for shot remakes of already beloved classics in a cynical attempt at cashing in on people's nostalgia. It's a ghoulish short term strategy that offers nothing new to the table. It only takes from better movies like the parasites they are.

[@_kaleido]

@@felixdaniels37 I’ve had the idea that instead of doing live-action remakes, they could just update the original films with “Klaus”-esque 3D lighting and re-release them in theatres. I think that would be really cool especially with films that have unique, naturalistic environments like Bambi

[@kayshayjay]

I took an art history class and I learned that art styles are cyclical. Literally, from the beginning of art, people have switched from abstract, to realistic, and back to abstract. So I'm not surprised that abstract art is getting more popular. I really love it but I wouldn't be surprised is realism takes its lead in the future.

[@doodley3d]

Very true!

[@pn2294]

I remember hearing that once photography became popular, realism became a secondary objective because it wasn’t needed anymore.

[@Dargonhuman]

All history is cyclical, really. There's no such thing as a "timeline", time is made out of circles. That's why clocks are round. (yes, that was a slightly adapted Caboose quote)

[@hawshimagical]

japanese animation is swinging back into realism at the moment. mainstream shows over there almost feel like live-action. the inverse of what big american 3d film studios are doing. both sides are going great

[@anti_honey]

I'm personally glad that stylized art takes precedence over realism; it's more like 3D animation has matured enough to know when to use a specific style

[@Satellaview1889]

I thought about this quote from the great C.S. Lewis when I read your comment, “Critics who treat 'adult' as a term of approval, instead of as a merely descriptive term, cannot be adult themselves. To be concerned about being grown up, to admire the grown up because it is grown up, to blush at the suspicion of being childish; these things are the marks of childhood and adolescence. And in childhood and adolescence they are, in moderation, healthy symptoms. Young things ought to want to grow. But to carry on into middle life or even into early manhood this concern about being adult is a mark of really arrested development. When I was ten, I read fairy tales in secret and would have been ashamed if I had been found doing so. Now that I am fifty I read them openly. When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up.”

[@anti_honey]

@@Satellaview1889 what does that have to do with my comment?

[@LowPolyPigeon]

@@Satellaview1889 I get what you're saying; back then there were too many critics who based a lot of their criticisms on two major lines of false equivalency: cartoony = childish = bad, and realistic = mature = good. Now that the medium has had more time to grow and evolve, these lines of logic are (mostly) gone, and it seems like it's generally understood that it's better to match the art style to the tone, instead of pushing for movies to be more and more hyper-realistic for the sake of making them feel more 'adult', even when it clashed with the narrative or ended up looking horrifying.

[@ShinGallon]

It's doubly better in video games. Compare Zelda: Wind Waker to a game trying to have realistic graphics from the same year and tell me which has aged better.

[@0o0ooo0o0oo0]

The art style used in tmnt looks bad tho, it's just a bunch of random blobs and lines mixed around to look like details, and the characters all look like caricatures, the humans at least which look horrifying that and the corny ass marvel writing makes the turtles super corporate, nobody says I love bts and Rizz irl, they're just bad at being themselves

[@OGEdger]

Imagine how creative _the Lion King_ "live action" movie would have been if they kept the realistic character designs but made it into a sort of nature documentary (British man voiceover included) where the animals just sounded and acted, for the most part, like animals. It could've been interesting.

[@npcimknot958]

Imagine lion king in that tango realism style.. that would be pretty amazing.

[@gnf_2.056]

You know what,thats actually sounds nice. I enjoyed documentaries about animals

[@buiselbuisel8]

You're in luck (sorta), the dinosaur documentary Prehistoric Planet is by the same guy that directed the cgi of The Lion King, while narrarated by David Atteborough, who is British.

[@burritocat6038]

‘And now the lion is… uh… performing a musical number with a hog and meerkat?’ ‘Dam this slaps’

[@lagopusvulpuz1571]

No, because real animals don't behave like humans. Male lions delete all the cubs that aren't theirs. If Scar won, he would have to delete Nala and all the lioness would be pregnant. Before that Simba would have a lot of siblings and Nala most likely would be Simba's sister or cousin.

[@Whydoiexisthere-]

I feel like I should mention 2011’s gem: rio. It’s not live action, but it keeps the art direction fluid. The feathers are fairly detailed, but still stylistic. This is obviously not me mentioning my literal childhood, of course, but the way the art is handled in the film is so good! If only blue sky were still here.

[@delusion5867]

I considered Blue Sky one of the best animation studios in years. Rio, the Peanuts movie, Ferdinand, some of the Ice Age films and robots are all beautifully stylised films, I'd say most if not all of their catalogue are great too.

[@MeltyNote]

It's a shame Blue Sky was bought out by Disney :(

[@LightBluly]

​@MeltyNote I feel like people were too harsh on Blue Sky due to milking Ice Age but have no idea how their animation capable until it was too late. I grew up with Blue Sky and i always appreciate the studio despite their Ice Age treatment.

[@thegamingprozone1941]

​@delusion5867 I Remember watching robots on DVD player in the 2000s memory's 😢

[@gylfie7]

let's also not forget 2010 movie the Guardians Of Ga'Hoole ! The movie completely went the realistic route with their birds and the amount of details shown on the feathers and all, but it somehow mixed amazingly well and the movie is really pretty !

[@keiyakins]

Kinda surprised you didn't bring up Detective Pikachu, where they made the live action world more stylized by exaggerating outfits and sets to meet the Pokémon in the middle. It's odd, but it works.

[@MegaHills10]

This!!! I love the style in detective pikachu so much and wanna see more of it another films/franchises

[@miiirky1904]

honestly, the pokemon from that movie vary from ok to uncanny valley, with Ditto as a human as the worst, but pikachu doesn't look that ugly like the rest.

[@SonicKid7]

@@miiirky1904 I mean, yeah, Ditto was uncanny... But how else should that have been done? The idea that this gun creature is pretending to be human is, on the whole, horrifying. So the visual representation should be upsetting.

[@herlastborn]

@@miiirky1904 Ditto and Mr. Mime were purposely made to look like that.

[@AdahnFlorence]

I think something I appreciate about this video is the fact that you don't entirely discredit the merits or qualities of some of these live action hybrid depictions rather than just suggesting they're completely irredeemable.

[@doodley3d]

Yeah, I get why they exist!! They are more or less products of their time. It's just that, in retrospect, it's very silly that we didn't just start with the animated film first.

[@Dargonhuman]

@@doodley3d As someone who was just coming into adulthood during that era, I can assure you that a lot of people in my immediate social spheres were asking the same question. The other question was why they didn't just go full Roger Rabbit with the movies and insert fully cartoonized characters into the live action shots - we all knew what Scooby Doo, Garfield, the Chipmunks and so many others were supposed to look like, and many of us at least knew about Roger Rabbit, so we knew it _could_ work, especially after Casper (as you pointed out in the video) so we were left scratching our heads as to why they kept using the bad style. Garfield had to have been one of the most confusing, since they had the half-cartoon, half-real Garfield CGI ... and a completely real Odie that looked NOTHING like the cartoon. Why only CGI one character and not the other? Budget reasons?

[@Lawtumn]

I was NOT expecting Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl to pop up in this video, but as someone who was a beta tester for that game listening to you praise Garfields animations genuinely warmed my heart and made my day. Awesome video!

[@pastah6801]

It's because Garfield is fantastically animated and modeled in NASB the people love Garfield in NASB

[@Lawtumn]

@@pastah6801 SO TRUE PASTAH

[@phantomgamer9264]

​@@pastah6801he is so fun despite the problems with that game

[@darcybrown6486]

probably helps that Doodley worked on All-Star Brawl

[@dogferret]

bro your pfp is my google pfp and i thought i made a comment

[@Just_a_commenter]

Just gonna paraphrase another fella on this subject: _graphics are temporary, art direction is forever._ We can bump up the polygon count, add all kinds of special effects to perfectly mirror reality... But a well thought out style and solid art direction are best

[@Lukkak09]

Graphics are temporary, Art style is eternal

[@doctordice2doctordice210]

It's kinda sad seeing PlayStation fanboys of all people be the champions of uncanny hyper realism and the down players of unique art direction and styles considering that one of the best features both ps1 and 2 had was the sheeer absurd genre, stylistic, mechanical verity it had when compared to the other systems at the time

[@m0j026]

so true, pregnant latias pfp person

[@Sir_Hogarth]

pleaasee everywhere i look i see you PLEAASEE LEAVE ME AND MY FAMILY ALONE

[@skapaloka222]

also at some point, bumping up the polygon count will stop making any noticeable difference as it gets harder to distinguish animation from reality, to the point where it becomes pointless, but you will never run out of art styles to experiment with

[@OtterMusician]

I feel like a similar thing could be applied to gaming. A lot of studios are chasing realistic graphics, but stylized design tends to look way better imo.

[@megamillion5852]

I'm *still* waiting for another cel shaded, "comic book come to life" styled Spider-Man game, and I've waited even longer for Batman to have his!

[@legometaworld2728]

I get preferences but the difference is that there are no live-action video games (aside from some very unappealing-looking ones from the 1990s) whereas there can be live-action films.

[@mariatarp6177]

Stylized games tend to age better as well

[@sereapple]

As a kid who grew up watching movies and not paying any attention to visual effects or 3D stuff at all, I can safely say, and looking back on it, that it was really weird to watch these strange models with nearly no reaction to first seeing them whatsoever. I guess we all wanted some way of relaxing after a long day of work/school :D

[@dicey-bd4hh]

Same here!

[@apenasmaisumdiogo.7115]

It's also worth noticing how photorealism can be part of an art direction, rather than a different option. Rango and The Legend of the Guardians use photorealistic animals, but their designs still work by themselves. Rango in special has expressive and anthropomorphic designs to which the photorealistic textures give an unnerving tone, which is part of the whole movie. Despite being ligh-hearted, Rango is much more experimental than other movies about cartoon animals of the time, and the realism of the designs sells this tone: it reminds me of how artists used to illustrate fables with realistic animals doing human activities. The same with The Lego Movie, which is much more photorealistic than previous Lego animations, and yet this makes it more stylized.

[@bencs606]

yes small cartoon man, educate me about the nightmares beyond my comprehension

[@WeirdKid361]

I didn't realize how absolutely BEAUTIFUL Jayfoo's music truly was until I watched this video.

[@jayfoo]

[@lrgogo1517]

Did their work in Doodley’s prev. videos not hit right for you?

[@WeirdKid361]

@@lrgogo1517 No, Jayfoo's music just improved a lot in this video. I'm not saying he was bad before, I'm just saying hi songs were good and now they're better.

[@mostafabalboul3966]

4:10 Thank you!! It honestly bothered me that they changed Velma's design so dramatically while remaining faithful to the others. It feels like there's this idea that female characters should look archetypally "beautiful" among 3D modelers, and in yassifying her (perfect word choice by the way) they lost some of what made the original Velma so iconic.

[@Geshiko-GuP]

As a Belgian it is always weird to see people treat Franco-Belgian comics like this very unique and fun art style because for me this is the norm, All our Comics look like this and if they don't, Any Belgian or Frenchman can recognize it as non Franco-Belgian

[@doodley3d]

Yeah, I can see that. It makes more sense from the American perspective, where the comics industry is dominated by a lot of superhero comics, so anything else is a breath of fresh air (and the style in general just speaks to my own sensibilities personally). Graphic novels and webcomics have been shifting the landscape in America, but comics and animation in general are not very well respected here and tend to play it "safe" artistically, so it's cool to see something new when you come across it, even if it's very standard where it comes from!

[@nicholassmart4790]

I really like Franco-Belgian comics, and grew up reading them (although I don't live in Europe).

[@josephrusso4828]

@@nicholassmart4790 Yes, that art style is very nice and appealing 👍

[@jmonumber3]

that silhouette test at 1:26 really highlights the importance of good character design. i knew the first and third characters pretty immediately but had no clue it was garfield in the middle until the switch to the cartoony silhouette right after

[@theletters9623]

being a kid in that era of animation was so strange. I dont remember most of these movies despite watching a LOT of them, except in highschool when I reflected back on the live action garfield and I was like "oh my god he looked like he was high the whole time"

[@boredgabe4874]

I think its nice that we’re finally moving into an era of film where the animation not only looks much better and doesn’t rely on realism, but also will age much better in the future when we look back on these films

[@jay_sunday]

Stellar video as usual, Doodle! I admit I have a bit of fondness over the Garfield movie since I watched it all the time as a kid, but looking closer it does show its age.

[@lightcatdev]

Personally, i've always had nostalgia for the 2004 Garfield movie, as when i was little, me and my brother always used to watch it and our parents would just be creeped OUT by it. Looking back..Maybe Garfield is the reason i'm not scared of monsters..

[@SilentMeteorite]

I'm sorry but the last sentence of this comment is the funniest thing I've read maybe ever

[@lightcatdev]

@@SilentMeteorite Only maybe?

[@FEARLESS_FWOG0]

@@lightcatdev maybe it’s because their saying that it’s scary and funny at the same time, but it’s ok

[@lightcatdev]

i was being sarcastic..LMAO@@FEARLESS_FWOG0

[@dannmcdan2185]

Like everyone else i absolutely love the style of Into the Spiderverse and im so glad it has made so many people appreciate a good art style in a 3D movie. You can clearly see the effects it has had on new 3D movies like Puss in boots and the new teenage mutant ninja turtle movie. BUT i have a slight worry that studios will see the success of those movies and only see the art style and not understanding what makes it work. Meaning they will start injecting that style in every single movie but failing to capture the magic of spiderverse. And that making people hate that kind of limited animation style. I really hope it does not happen but not that many people realize that good limited animation in 3D is a lot harder than smooth realistic movement

[@EPQUSH]

5:14 *G U S T A F*

[@Leocitopants]

🇸🇪

[@radicool21]

I'm a year late, but I think the Tintin movie is the perfect example of stylized animation that stayed faithful to the original work, while making the jump to 3D motion feel genuine and "realistic" in-universe.

[@LucasRPDJ]

I got flashbacks of that quote from an art director at Disney, saying to the animator that something that looks “realistic” is not necessarily something with real life based proportions, but rather something that contains traits we can compare to reality (movement or expressions), while still having that appeal/design that makes it’s charm. And that why I love fully animated movies over live action, because you are not limited in art direction and expression. Including cartoon into live action is still very interesting, but it shouldn’t remove the characteristic traits over realism. As it was shown in Sonic’s example, the art direction does ALMOST the entire job to make the movie great.

[@CrypticInnkeeper]

I think it definitely would be a better option for Disney to implement these kinds of things in their live action remakes. While remakes can be a whole mixed bag in itself, I definitely feel that if they had done something other than going full realism, it would help prop the movies just a tiny bit. Absolutely fantastic video.

[@legometaworld2728]

Good question, but the 2022 Pinocchio and Tom and Jerry 2021 (I know the latter wasn’t Disney but it was a live-action CGI hybrid with stylized visuals) kinda prove that Disney would screw that up about as terribly, which is honestly super unfortunate because the second SpongeBob movie used stylized CGI well in a live-action environment.

[@djaydeved]

2:39 i'd totally love a video on the insanity that was the production of who framed roger rabbit on that note, no one is gonna make anything like that ever again.

[@MidnightDominaor3005]

10:12 huh you really nailed in the point of using that Little Mermaid clip, I never thought about it like that. Excellent!

[@juanrodriguez9971]

8:09 Isn't it interesting how some times limitations actually benefit the end product? Like, I remember quite some cases of creators finally getting ride of their chains just for the public to want to put them back because it ended up being bad. Warning: Long text ahead Also, this is not limited (npi) to tech capabilities such as a game not allowing to have super detailed designs or fluid animations, but also to other things such as censorship, I remember a few old shows having to deal with stuff such as no murder on screen, no swearing, no talking about specific topics, etc. And creators just had to go around, push their limits, and created unique pieces those could have been less iconic than the original idea, an example I can think of is the death of the Joker in the animated series, the original had Robin killing him with a gun but was changed to Robin throwing the gun and pushing the joker into something full of water just for him to accidentally pull a lever and painfully dying by electricity and proceed to show us the reaction of the other characters to that, which was honestly more disturbing and impactful than the kid using a gun.

[@landmindssoul4636]

Yeah!! Limitations push us to explore how to tell something and end up finding a unique way.

[@KeyierceAnimations]

As a fellow animator, I must say that the content on this channel is of very high quality and has exceptional educational value and storytelling abilities. Doodley, I already watch and observe your videos multiple times a day, and each time I can feel how much effort, attention to detail, and precise information delivery you put into them. I admire you greatly. I recommend your channel to my fellow animators every day, and I hope your channel continues to grow, introducing more people to the beautiful world of animation and inspiring them to create wonderful animations. 👊👍

[@ChickenHorse_BOI]

Man, I love knowing something that I'm passionate about in such a fun way. It just encourages me

[@super_carson]

A video idea I thing might be cool is to compared “Lupin III: The First” and “Earwig and the Witch”. Both are Japanese CG films that released around the same time, but I think these two films can make a really cool comparison

[@geniusface1234]

I remember watching Lupin III: The First a couple years ago, it was simply incredible love the points you make in this video, really makes it feel like the hyper-real segment of 3d anim was like its formative teenage years before it found it's own real identity

[@gabrielbreeding6073]

I'm really enjoying your sense of humor, and up-to-dateness on meme culture. Keep up the good work!

[@TheMikirog]

I think this video will age decently despite the use of meme humor due to how low key it is throughout most of the video and they would still work even if you didn't know the references.

[@TheSpeep]

I'd love to see a part two to this video tbh, because as much as this was an issue in film, it is still a development video games are knee deep in. And games have even more limitations on this front than movies do, since they are required to render all that detail in real time, and need to be a lot more flexible with what they can and cannot hide, since the artists arent in control of the camera the way filmmakers would be.

[@gulden4326]

Videogames also suffered from this for a long time. Heck, I'd argue that they still do.

[@chrisfratz]

I would like to add about Garfield, that poster is a modern poster for the film used on streaming services, I wouldn't be surprised if they just had to recreate the look of the model from scratch because they didn't have access to or didn't bother to go back to the original model for it. The other posters look much better because they actually use the model of Garfield that's in the movie.

[@doodley3d]

That's interesting! I didn't know that, it does feel like it's made from scratch.

[@infiniminer7677]

here after the minecraft trailer. movie companies still haven't learned it seems

[@elizadion4410]

Oh I so hope this video blows up cuz of the minecraft movie

[@tempestvenator9809]

​@@elizadion4410We need to spread the word.

[@aussie_mozzie]

I'm not an animation guy, or even an art guy, but I can't stop watching these videos over and over. It's so charming in a way that's hard to describe. The content also helps me appreciate the effort, time and love people put into animation and artwork. I look forward to seeing how animation is going to evolve.

[@latexu95]

7:15 It was also pretty impressive how they managed to make the Smurfs very close to their actual canon size, which is "three apples tall" (approximately 4-7 inches).😉

[@oracle_ow]

Who Framed Rodger Rabbit still looks amazing to this day it’s bananas. Great video as always!

[@Evil_Maddie]

8:40 I’m french and I’m so happy that this kind of comics and art style became popular

[@LXT987]

5:06 J̵̧͗͊o̵̹̭͆n̴̝̉ͅ,̶̛̘̾ ̴̣̇̏w̷͖̉h̵͍͋Ḙ̶͆r̴̜͊é̷̥̚’̵̬̻̓͐s̶͚̓ ̶̦͌͝m̴͓̗̅̄Y̵̛͙̙͛ ̸̘̇Ḽ̵͙̉a̵̖̽̓S̷̠̖͒͠Á̷̼̤g̵̜̎͝Ṉ̸̈́͑Ǎ̸͚͓̒?̷͇̒?̸̟̄͛͜

[@nerou76]

Its great that they are bringing art back into 3D animation now.

[@Axxidous]

And oddly enough, I think live action Garfield, if he's gonna be live action at all, looks perfect actually. I don't think you could do it any other way. It just looks like... Garfield. lol

[@_end3rguy_]

9:04 smash bros brawl vs Mario kart 8

[@JNSStudios2]

i dont care if im in the middle of a Wolfenstein mission, this is more important Edit after I actually watched it all the way through: Honestly, this applies to a lot more than just 3D animation. I’ve said very similar things about video game graphics for years. Realistic CGI or graphics always end up becoming “realistic FOR THE TIME” after a decade or two (heck, a few YEARS in some cases). But if you create a solid, appealing art style that doesn’t intentionally try to push against the limits of current tech, it makes the visuals hold up a lot better and make them a lot more timeless.

[@baqly]

Was it a good mission

[@JNSStudios2]

@@baqly still struggling through it. It keeps putting me at a checkpoint where I basically have no ammo and only a few weapons, and am basically cornered. Not sure if I’ll be able to pass this one.

[@genericuser984]

@@JNSStudios2 you must fully channel your inner William J. "Terror Billy" Blazkowicz

[@JNSStudios2]

@@genericuser984 it took me a while but i found out a decent-enough strategy to at least get me out of that cornered situation. I refused to turn down the difficulty because im stubborn lol.

[@IAmPainisCupcake1]

I wonder when the year comes where gta5’s graphics will be seen as unrealistic.

[@tonyssmurf2011]

I'm so glad that studios have FINALLY taken note of the importance of style over raw technological prowess. Funnily enough, this debate has been raging on in gaming for the past few decades too!!! I think some game studios have definitely taken note, namely Nintendo and others, but some still just come out with the same realistic graphical style that can just look kinda bland by comparison. Hopefully we continue to grow in our understanding of what styles work and which don't, and may we NEVER return to the realm of The Smurfs 2011. (Also, based mentions of BD artstyles! I love them so much, and weirdly enough I love them because they inspired Ratatouille's visual direction! It only makes perfect sense to use French comics as an inspiration for an animated movie set in France!!! Best Pixar movie of all time, don't @ me)

[@angel_foodcake]

10:00 Lupin is my favourite example.. my childhood show in a beautiful animation form

[@guilhermegigeck5946]

This whole ordeal in the movie scene is a great example of the toxic classical mentality that art is only good if it imitates reality. Some companies do be stuck 400 years old in the past

[@Iorworth_Falcon]

7:03 Let's enter a new decade! 2011 baby! What have we got in store for us now- ( *flashbanged by papa smurf* )

[@NunofYerbizness]

8:20 A quick addendum; The Smurfs 2 actually released in 2013, not 2014. Between the release of both that film and The Lost Village, a complete script was written for a cancelled "The Smurfs 3", which found its way on Wikileaks in 2014 (along with an early script for Sausage Party). It doesn't seem to be fully known why the third live-action film was canned? But seeing as this was still that point in time where live-action movies with realistic characters was the norm for theatrical movie adaptations, it could be in part due to Jonathan Winters, the voice of Papa Smurf, no longer being with us.

[@matthewmatthew981]

Regarding this conversation of realism versus cartooniness, I don't think you can find ANY more interesting of a use case than Transformers. The first film in the franchise came out in the 80s, fully hand-drawn, to total box office failure. While a long line of fully-animated TV shows run in the background, to notably few booms in popularity, Michael Bay's rebooted live-action hybrid films take the franchise's spotlight for years and years. However, even though the Realism animation trend is over and the Bayverse franchise died with it, you hardly hear ANYONE talking about returning the franchise to a cartoony aesthetic: seemingly everyone agrees that whether the next movies have live-action elements or not, the robots should all be designed with the realistic standard of detail.

[@PanewsONE]

Great video. I have to say that I don’t think realistic textures are unappealing in general, it’s mostly the eyes that screw up everything. The smurfs comparison is a perfect example. Sonic looked pretty good in the final movie imo and I’m happy to see studios embrace more stylized looks after an era of showing off technology. But I don’t think realistic textures are off the table for good. Taking the best of both worlds and combining them in a way that doesn’t look creepy could be an interesting way to go in the future

[@templin7]

Yeah, both Sonic and Scooby look really good, as they both are played to their strengths.

[@philledzone]

Would've loved to see the Chip and Dale movie in ehre somewhere, since this basically (at least to me) combines everything talked about

[@melone3113]

Thanks a lot for your videos ! I am working a 3d game with my friend and your animation videos have encouraged me to take on my old hobby again and dust away my drawing tablet for use, thank you !

[@Aleafplayz]

This aged well after the Minecraft trailer

[@jaysmasterpiece]

FR🔥🔥

[@captcha42]

Man, my inner child screamed when I saw Astérix, Gaston and Spirou ! We still have them and it's a treat to read them or even just look at he drawings, so many good memories !

[@ferenccseh4037]

4:45 "surely what comes after looks better and better, right?... Right?" *Ad plays with hyperrealistic uncanny CGI chikens*

[@ShadamyLover15]

I think alot of why the trend of realism was so popular in the 2000s was because of the film Shrek. Considering the time that film came out, it shouldn't have succeeded as well as it did considering the art direction they went with. Once that film struck gold, alot of other movies would really push to see how realistic they could make it without it be uncanny. (Many of course failed but you get the idea) of course Shrek is fully animated and different from CGI but the fact remains that it used realism as its art direction and to this day still holds up even 20 years later

[@VeeFerns]

8:57 and then in 2023 we have smurf cat, the perfect in between /j

[@yoshepop]

I enjoyed this video! It’s so interesting to see how 3d animated films have evolved, and you explain it perfectly! Keep up the great work Doodley :D

[@LoneFoxLounge]

I do really love the cartoon looking characters mixed with the realistic background. It makes the characters pop out, and makes you focus on the characters. But I also like the realism in sertain films, like Transformers Dark Side of the Moon. It makes them fit into the scene and makes them feel real, it also makes what the characters are capable of feel real. Which is what realistic films like TDSM feel well, realistic. (TDSM is the shortened version of, Transformers Dark Side of the Moon.) And that is what I love about these realistic movies. They can have realistic backgrounds and characters, but the main characters can be cartoon or realistic. And I agree with you that the art design is what pulls the movie together and makes them great. (But it still will need good scenes and a good story to make the movie good.)

[@Sidgirl5]

This video and recent movies are such a good example that your statement from your last video like this (the fact that movies are better when the artists are left alone with their craft) is 100% true and I love that

[@Zenlore6499]

I had a big shot of dopamine hit when I saw Lupin show up! So happy to see even a glimpse of that movie get the recognition it deserves for how awesome it’s animation and art direction are!

[@tanookilondon]

I think Sonic The Hedgehog was the exact moment when the studios finally “got it” because audiences forced them to. Other movies like Detective Pikachu had already proved that you could integrate the original cartoony look of a character into live action without ruining their design, and Sonic was still stuck in that uncanny look of past CGI. Until audiences forced them to change it. And thank God they did. That seemed to be the definite death of “that look”

[@JennJurassic]

I love seeing animation actually be "animated" again (energetic/joyful). Though there is a time/place for the semi-realistic designs, like Sonic and Detective Pikachu (emphasis on SEMI-realistic). The difference is they aren't done so much "realism for realism sake", because literally the whole point of those movies I listed is adding *just* enough detail to make the designs believable without murdering the designs (both pokemon/sonic live and die on their character design, and the sonic movie learned that the hard way). So by focusing on the existing design instead of getting something like the half-done garfield mess, you still have the character in a familiar form (though detective pikachu does go overboard sometimes still).

[@doodley3d]

Yeah agreed! When a live action adaptation has an identity and aesthetic, it's totally welcome. It's tough to establish that when the source material is cartoon, so when you lean on other aspects (like Detective Pikachu characters being more monstrous) it can work. A large part of my criticism of the designs in the films this video covers is they lack a cohesive identity, i.e a reason it needs to be live action over animation.

[@rishabhmalhotra7017]

I think Into the spiderverse movie deserves a LOT of praise for taking such a risk and breaking out of this mindset that animated movies can only look a certain way. God I love that movie hahah

[@CPT_tophat]

Doodley says 'flash Bang' 9:44

[@waynee2271]

I grew up with the love action smurfs movie and I KNEW it looked bad but for some reason I still liked it

[@FireyDeath4]

I was probably not even 10 when I first saw the Smurfs in the movies, and I didn't really notice anything wrong with how they looked. Am I just being really really stupid or are they purposefully indoctrinating all the impressionable children

[@Pangie12]

It's an exciting time for those of us who love 2D art. I feel exactly the same way. I think many people are honestly still stuck on the idea of realistic or semi realistic 3D models--but there's a whole world of possibilities out there now. I've always been a huge fan of 2D art so feels like my favorite era is just around the bend.

[@JamietheEmperor]

You opened my eyes, I didn't even realize how the styles of series and franchises shifted the last fifteen years

[@EverybodyIsWeirdLikeYouAndMe]

You make a good point, and now, looking at the video game industry, I feel like most big video game studios are kinda still in that realism era (maybe because graphic techonology is growing a lot), while some studios (especially indie studios/devs) are exploring interesting art styles.

[@Axxidous]

This video is a little weird to me because it's comparing 2 different takes as if they were aiming for the same thing. Like the Smurfs. Of course they're gonna look good it's a cartoon and they're faithful to the designs. But even amongst cartoony looks, you clearly have preferences with Garfield based on how faithful to the original it is. The live action adaptations have a secondary layer of objections to fulfill. They aren't interchangeable. So it's not even about which is better, but, yet again, personal preference on a case by case basis.

[@mrquackadoodlemoo]

How could you NOT talk about Adventures of Tin-Tin? That movie's art was so good it made goofy cartoon designs made realistic enough to make it out of the Uncanny Valley safe!

[@Justinjaro]

I always felt like it was the 1970s/80s adults pushing for realism/gritty. Same mindset as when The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker came out people were calling it baby-ish and what not then Nintendo followed up with Twilight Princess, a gray and black looking game.

[@jairovillamizar1966]

I love when gustaf says: "is gustaf'in time", and started to gustafing all over the place 😊

[@caseyjones2280]

I've always had a bit of nostalgia for some of the older CGI and computer effects they used in combination with live action, and find it kind of interesting when someone either leans full live-action or full animation with the same ip - like with Asterix. Asterix feels so *strange* to watch now - especially because they never compromised on doing both live-action AND animation (if I remember correctly, there's 6 live action and 10 animated films) and sometimes would release a live-action AND animated film within two years of each other. And with the success of the most recent 3D animated Asterix film, I never would have expected them to make ANOTHER live action film. Also I feel like the 2011 Adventures of TinTin film does a decent job at the ''stylized in-between of realism and compromise" for when the film came out - during that era of animation + realism.

[@iluvpandas2755]

I like the hyper realistic background CGI in movies that nobody notices.

[@Moth_907]

One Piece live action was surprisingly welcoming and it makes me hopeful for the future of animation

[@SlapstickGenius23]

It’s a nice change from the dreaded live action Hollywood and Japanese adaptations of manga franchises years back, such as Dragon Ball Evolution and the live action DevilMan movie.

[@thebananamelon5065]

In the new TMNT, I love how most of the humans look uglier than the mutants. I think it’s supposed to make us think how hypocritical the humans are for calling them disgusting monsters

[@kyrudo]

I think a large part of this change is also due to the current times. The newer generation doesn’t have the same stigma towards animation than the previous one.

[@bastian3461]

i cant get enough of your character animation 🥹🥹🥹

[@FunvoltGunvolt]

This is the most hilarious analysis video I've ever seen Also that whole "good character design connects to their silhouette" REALLY applies to live action Garfield

[@Rendon_Glee_Guy]

2:52 Speaking of which Bullwinkle Rocky & UnderDog were featured in Bullwinkle’s Family Food n’ Fun restaurants circa 1982, 3 still exist today but the animatronics are long gone.

[@TheMaestroso]

I would say that the success of 2018's Into the Spider-Verse, while not the movie that started the trend toward better art direction, made an enormous impact on studios' willingness since then to embrace good/unique art direction in animated films (see: the latest TMNT, the Bad Guys, etc.). If you don't count Warner Bros, that is :(

[@Axxidous]

I honestly think what I've noticed was simply a divide where some people prefer realistic live action and don't really care for cartoony animated visuals while others love cartoony animated visuals and hate realistic live action visuals. For me, I love both. I like blurring and crossing the line. Depending on the project. Yogi Bear I don't think is bad because of it, and I also don't think it needed it. It clearly gave them an attempted realistic texture while placing them in live action but maintained a cartoony design and antics. It just happens to not really be good material for a live action film. Transformers, on the other hand, I think was done really well in the first movie. They were recognizable but realistic, which made since for an action film about robots that transformed from vehicles. It works for live action and it looks cool. Not that I'm against leaning towards their more classic looks too, I think that's cool as well and makes people happen. But they did it without straying too far from what they already established in the live action design philosophy. The TMNT in the 2014 and 2016 movies I think actually look really great technically speaking. I just think their designs are ugly. And I don't believe they had to be super ugly or hulking sized in order to give them realistic textures. I simply saw it as using CGI to give more detail and animated costumes to live action actors. Alvin and the Chipmunks is a unique case as well. It was very popular with kids so it was rather successful. They looked fine, and cute. And honestly, their cartoony designs, although I like them, are rather lazy. Their original designs are actually closer to what we saw in the movies, funny enough. I also really like how the Sonic characters look in the Sonic movies aside from disconnecting Sonic's eyes. I mean he's already a blue speedy humanoid hedgehog, and clearly making him ugly for the sake of realism didn't work, so when they fixed his design idk why they wouldn't fix his eyes. It looks cool on him and there's ways to animate him being able to close his eyelids together or separately without worrying how it works. If anything, in live action it wouldn't look like one big eye with 2 pupils, it would be conjoined eyes. The connection point doesn't have to be that big either. At the very least, Sonic's eyes coulda been shaped more like Knuckles' rather than Tails'. But whatever. Nitpicks. lol

[@templin7]

I personally like the live action Scooby, since they work around his weaknesses really well.

[@cookinaryy]

The unhinged "Gustaf..." took me out omfg I was not ready But also side note: a movie that included a Franco-Belgian character (the Marsupilami) done in a realistic way was "Houba! On the Trail of the Marsupilami" and it worked really well in my opinion!

[@BlazeMakesGames]

I feel like this same thing happened in the gaming sphere as well. Around 2005 to 2015 games were obsessed with trying to be as realistic as possible. Especially during the era of "Brown Shooters" around 2008. And those games almost universally aged really poorly in terms of visuals because they simply lacked good art direction. The only goal was realism but they were also limited by the real-time graphics of their era so they would almost universally look outdated within only a couple years. And without a proper art style underneath the realism there wasn't much left to actually look appealing to most people. But before graphics got good enough to render "realistic" characters, developers knew that they were limited so they were forced to focus on a good art style so lots of 2D sprite based games and even early 3D games leaned into that and still look pretty good to this day. Meanwhile now we're starting to move past that notion that realism = good and we're getting more great looking stylized 3D games like Hi Fi Rush (rest in piece). And at least now when a game wants to look realistic, I think we've figured out about how much detail we should try and focus on and what to omit to make sure it actually looks good on its own beyond that goal of "realism" and still has some style behind it like in the more recent God of War games.

[@kevincooper7724]

7:01 Smurf Flash-BANG!

[@Bloxxer425]

4:49 The prowler theme really just makes Garfield's presence so much more menacing💀💀

[@notrobloxburger]

6:28 wait you worked on this game? That’s amazing lol

[@yogurtbunn5394]

You put a very complex topic into probably the best framing imaginable. Stellar work. I hope this message will make it more understood of the value of artistic minds and visual designers in the art and film world. Characters, especially animated ones, are designed with intent, not realism.

[@latexu95]

1:08 There was one interesting detail in the Jim Carrey Grinch that was fixed in the Illumination remake: in the first one, all the adult Whos had distinctive noses, but the children didn't. This was explained by stating that their noses would become like that when they get older, little like how puberty has those certain changes in the human body. But in the newest adaptation, both adult and child Whos have those same noses.🤔👃

[@theperidotboss9209]

the 2014 smurfs kinda look like a skyrim enemy