GrumpyFan
Well-Known Member
I saw the movie over the weekend with my wife and daughter, and we all thoroughly enjoyed it!
Reading thru some of the comments here and looking at the numbers for this movie has really puzzled me. The consensus seems to be that it is a good movie, and should be worthy of pulling in much higher numbers than it has seen. It's definitely better, IMO, than the Chipmunks Squeakquel. So, the question is, why hasn't it? A few thoughts on that, if I may.
First, I DONT think it has anything to do with the medium. This film is vibrant and rich with great animation and color displays of the good and bad of New Orleans. The average movie goer doesn't know or even care how the film was created, whether it be on a computer or a traditional canvas. They just want to be entertained for 90 or so minutes with a good story, maybe some catchy music and a few catchy lines or scenes they will remember hours or days later. This film comes very, very close in providing some of those catchy elements, but doesn't quite do it like others have. Think about some of your favorite movies from the past, ones that made lots of money, and you'll probably be able to remember one or more things about it that you enjoyed, even now. This film, unfortunately, fails to provide anything like that, at least for me.
I really think marketing failed to promote this in the right way. This is a fun movie, that should appeal to most everybody, not just little girls. I don't know that they did a very good job of promoting it to anybody other than little girls. I base this on the fact that the theater I saw it in, was about 80% or higher female. In my opinion, they could've promoted the prince more as well as Ray and the crocodile. They could've promoted the twisted tale of the girl kissing the frog and then turning into one herself.
Sadly, I think the "color" of the film may have hurt it as well. Unfortunately, and sad for them, but I think some people may have avoided going to see the movie because it's about a little African American girl who turns into a frog and they've closed their mind to being able to enjoy such a story. Perhaps if Disney had used some other big names in the film this could've helped turn the situation around. Perhaps they should've made John Goodman's character, Big Daddy, more prominent or at least advertised his name more.
In the end, I really think the "buzz", or marketing for this film failed, and not the film itself.
Reading thru some of the comments here and looking at the numbers for this movie has really puzzled me. The consensus seems to be that it is a good movie, and should be worthy of pulling in much higher numbers than it has seen. It's definitely better, IMO, than the Chipmunks Squeakquel. So, the question is, why hasn't it? A few thoughts on that, if I may.
First, I DONT think it has anything to do with the medium. This film is vibrant and rich with great animation and color displays of the good and bad of New Orleans. The average movie goer doesn't know or even care how the film was created, whether it be on a computer or a traditional canvas. They just want to be entertained for 90 or so minutes with a good story, maybe some catchy music and a few catchy lines or scenes they will remember hours or days later. This film comes very, very close in providing some of those catchy elements, but doesn't quite do it like others have. Think about some of your favorite movies from the past, ones that made lots of money, and you'll probably be able to remember one or more things about it that you enjoyed, even now. This film, unfortunately, fails to provide anything like that, at least for me.
I really think marketing failed to promote this in the right way. This is a fun movie, that should appeal to most everybody, not just little girls. I don't know that they did a very good job of promoting it to anybody other than little girls. I base this on the fact that the theater I saw it in, was about 80% or higher female. In my opinion, they could've promoted the prince more as well as Ray and the crocodile. They could've promoted the twisted tale of the girl kissing the frog and then turning into one herself.
Sadly, I think the "color" of the film may have hurt it as well. Unfortunately, and sad for them, but I think some people may have avoided going to see the movie because it's about a little African American girl who turns into a frog and they've closed their mind to being able to enjoy such a story. Perhaps if Disney had used some other big names in the film this could've helped turn the situation around. Perhaps they should've made John Goodman's character, Big Daddy, more prominent or at least advertised his name more.
In the end, I really think the "buzz", or marketing for this film failed, and not the film itself.
. Nobody would expect a film to gain that long after release.
