Cloudy with a Chance of Spectacular

Saw the new Sony movie this week and absolutely loved it. The basic story structure held few surprises (no one is changing any formulas here) but the execution was flawless and the characters were highly engaging. Mr. T's character was the unexpected star and I love his animation.

Speaking of the animation, I love, love, LOVE this style. The characters move so fluidly and then stop completely and outrageous poses, something I've only seen done successfully in Pocoyo. Entire body part will contort 2-3x their normal size to emphasize the emotions/mechanics needed in the shot. The eyes (or, in the fathers case, the lack thereof) were superb:


And the colors... oh my, the COLORS... they really did a lot of warm color with cool shadows (or vice versa) and in some movies it can be overdone but it worked wonderfully in this film. The clouds in the scene above are a perfect example of this. And the following scene shows the fluid movement of characters in action. Flint doesn't just move to his next pose, he flows...



I must buy this movie a dissect it scene by scene when it comes out. I will likely post one on these scenes (if they aren't taken down first) in the near future, but for now I am just going to bask in their glory a little longer.

I really hope more movies adopt this UPA style, I must animate in it!