Movies, the Animated Way!

"How about watching 'Madagascar' today?" I asked my friends a couple of days back. The derisive snorts and cold silence that followed told me what they thought about that idea. Oh well, .....Finally, I got a reasonably like-minded pal to accompany me to the film and yes, it didn't disappoint. Not the best, but definitely paisa vasool!

Got me wondering what exactly I find so appealing in these kind of 'children's cartoon' movies which my peers find so boring. One thing to be noted though, Iam not talking about the traditional Disney animation with Mickey, Donald and the like (not that I don't like them, but I definitely wouldn't pay 100 bucks to watch it at Sathyam). This is more about the likes of Monsters Inc., Shark's Tale, Shrek, .....which have this streak of delightfully intelligent humour running right through them. I guess it all began with 'The Jungle Book'. And nowadays, every animation movie seems to be targetted at a larger audience than just 'kids'.

More than the humour or the technology involved, I guess the one thing that gets me hooked on to these movies are the 'personalities' they portray. Animated characters are invariably just caricatures endowed with nothing more than a couple of distinct personality traits, which are completely exploited through the course of the film...And anticipating exactly how the director accomplishes that is what the movie is all about for me. Also, the sole existence of these characters is to fit into their particular role in their particular movie, which is unlike real-life actors. Consider Al Pacino in 'Scarface'. however well he played the lead role, you knew it was actually a talented guy called Pacino making the role come alive. In the absence of such prejudices, animated characters naturally are what they err...pretend to be.

Hence, some memorable 'personalities' like Baloo, the simple, fun-loving bear who believes only in the 'bear necessities' of life, Dory, the pleasant but horrendously forgetful fish, Scar, the cool and suave ultimate villain, Sid, the clumsy but eternally optimistic sloth, .....and so many more. Oh yes, it's the personalities that stand out!

And to all the doubters who are smirking while reading this, I will just follow the orders of the cunning penguin chief in 'Madagascar' who famously said, "Just smile and wave, boys. Just smile and wave."