Apparently both these joints shelled out $250,000,000 across their respective productions. Funnily enough, one of these guys employed that dollar far more efficiently than the other.
Sure, we’re dealing with separate media and commercial priorities here, to an extent. One’s an animated television show, and the other’s a live action movie. I’d emphasise the word ‘movie’ here rather than ‘film’, asRed One’s definitely aimed at a commercial audience rather than the arthouse crowd. But still, I kind of wonder where all the money went with that Christmas blockbuster. Anyway, onto the reviews. And a bit of rambling in between about Arcane’s inception.
Arcane
After the dramatic climax of season 1, Piltover and Zaun are left in disarray as revolution looms large. Sisters Vi and Powder/Jinx are now suitably estranged. Will they reconcile and save society from breakdown?
Yeah, that synopsis will do. But onto where I think their budget went. The animation, obviously. No one’s questioning that. And paying the hard-working staff, presumably. But it’s definitely worth remembering that, in its genesis, French animation Foriche had a mere 5 artists on its books. With a fair amount of financial backing, that number eventually ballooned to more than a couple of hundred. But still, animation’s a hefty amount of work. That pilot episode? That episode took 10 months. Heck. My closest comparison to that as a Brit would be Aardman Animation, the studio that created Wallace and Gromit by painstakingly and arduously (look! An Aardman pun! Almost. Not really) moving models by the tiniest of movements to create whole sequences. An entire day often yielded just a single arm movement.
I’ve now also been reminded of that amusing Fast Show sketch where Charlie Higson, as Wallace and Gromit creator Nick Park, shows an initially intrigued interviewer (oof, too many ‘in’s there, I know. They’re here to stay, though. And look! A rhyme!), played with typical comedic genius by Paul Whitehouse. As Park shows the interviewer how the animation works with increasingly monotonous and repetitive actions, the interviewer progressively loses interest and departs in search of search of a pint. Anyway, the sketch is more amusing than my description. YouTube it.
It’s also interesting to note how the production of the series was initially shut down due to poor reception regarding the dialogue. The studio responded by producing two highly stylised music videos, both of which would go on to provide major influences for the show’s now-signature musical sequences where character dialogue disappears. The emphasis on non-verbal music ultimately became one of Arcane’s biggest assets. As a big fan of conveying meaning through non-verbal means, I approve.
A decent amount of money probably went into the show’s iconic animation style, a blend of 2D and 3D created by the software Autodesk Maya. Smear Frames (a technique employed in the highly acclaimed Spiderverseseries) were also used to add the show’s zany, hyper-stylised aesthetic. Arcane remains one of the highest-budgeted animated series of all time, and it shows. Literally. Every frame is a painting. But in this case, literally. The 2D designs were painstakingly hand drawn, adding a complexity to the animation unlike anything we’re used to in an often-sterile world of animated techniques. The overall, ‘scratchy’, homemade look creates an authentic atmosphere of unrivalled beauty and originality.
The voice acting this season has been similarly great, and it’s been fun to look through YouTube videos of the voice actors speaking their lines next to their respective animations. There are great character developments, too, for the most part, and the pacing’s generally great. It’s wonderfully refreshing that, with the announcement that this season will be the last we see of Vi and Jinx. In a system chock full of sequels and remakes, it’s nice that we’re just stopping here on a high note.
Red One
Now, onto you. Ew. Yuck. I mean, I guess you could’ve been a bit worse. But still. Come on, man, you had a $250m budget. And a stacked cast. Where did all that dough go? Unimpressive special effects? Probably.
So, Santa is kidnapped. He’s played by J K Simmons, who’s doing a buff version of Santa for some reason. I guess to emphasise the fact that he has to get round a tonne of houses in one night? And his right-hand man is Dwayne Johnson/The Rock, who plays a kind of enforcer/bodyguard. And Chris Evans appears as a kind of Scrooge character that needs to be taught the magic of Christmas. I like Chris Evan’s goofy era after the serious Captain America stuff, and he was great in Knives Out, but he doesn’t feel genuine here. Also, I have more fun with straightforward angry/psychotic ‘not quite my tempo’ J K Simmons. Seeing him here as a jovial grumpy guy doesn’t work either. But I imagine they got decent pay checks, so that’s all good. Oh, and Lucy Liu’s in here too. Come on Lucy, you’re better than this.
There’s also that awkward meme where Johnson watched Oppenheimer in IMAX, noting that releasing the film in IMAX would be ‘game over’. Not sure what exactly you meant by that, Dwayne, but I think spending the extra cash to make that happen would’ve tanked Red One even more (its current box office is under half of its original budget). And it almost sounded like you were comparing Red One to Oppenheimer for a moment there. Were you? Trying to compare your festive financial sack of shite to my (current) ninth favourite film of all time? No, Dwayne. Just. No. I mean, there are festive films out there that I like less than yours. The Polar Express, for example. That ‘Hot Chocolate’ dance sequence was traumatising. But considering the huge budget that Red One had, it could’ve done so much more. Disappointing. A fresh pile of coal for you, sir.