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Digital
Media FX News Archives
Friday
- May 4, 2001
- Summer Animation & FX
Season Begins!
- The Mummy Returns
Opens to Mixed (Mostly Negative) Reviews
- Star Wars II: Behind the
Scenes of Making a Ship
- News Link of the Day
- Video Game Industry Poised for a Shootout
 Summer
Animation & FX Season Begins!
(by digitalmediafx.com) Today is the official launch of the summer
movie season, filled with major FX movies and a variety of animated
productions. Here's a quick look at May's four animated and FX
creations:
The Mummy
Returns (May 4, 2001 - FX Movie)
The summer's first big blockbuster is almost guaranteed to be
The Mummy Returns, the sequel to 1999's hit movie, The Mummy.
The Mummy Returns takes place eight years in the future where
more than one evil force is unleashed for Rick O'Connell and friends
to deal with. In the sequel, "O'Connell is married and has
a kid who is as mischevious as his wife. Big time visual effects
accompany this comedy action/adventure.
The Trumpet of the Swan (May 11, 2001 - Animated Movie)
Directed by Richard Rich (The Swan Princess, The King and I),
The Trumpet of the Swan is an adaptation of E.B. White's
book of the same name. The movie stars the voices of Jason Alexander,
Mary Steenburgen, Reese Witherspoon, Joe Mantegna, and Seth Green.
The Trumpet of the Swan is the story of Louis, a voiceless trumpeter
swan and his adventure in learning new ways to communicate.
Shrek (May
18, 2001 - Animated Movie)
In what could possibly be the highest grossing non-Disney animated
movie ever, Shrek hits theaters with the most expensive
marketing campaign in the history of animated movies. Shrek is
the story of an ogre whose precious solitude is suddenly shattered
by an invasion of annoying fairytale characters. All these characters
invade Shrek's domain after being banished from their kingdom
by the evil Lord Farquaad. Shrek tries to strike a deal with Farquaad
to get the characters out of his realm. The deal? Shrek must rescue
and bring Princess Fiona to Lord Farquaad so that Farquaad can
marry her. But things don't always turned out as planned...
Visit
the dFX Shrek Movie Site here.
Pearl Harbor
(May 25, 2001 - FX Movie)
Pearl Harbor is likely to be the highest grossing movie
of the summer and possibly the year. Following in the footsteps
of Titanic, Pearl Harbor tells a love story against the
backdrop of a major disaster. But this disaster contains some
of the best visual effects ever by Industrial Light and Magic
even though Disney's budget for such effects was limited. There
are no big acting names attached to Pearl Harbor, but the
building anticipation for the film will easily make it a mega-blockbuster.
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The
Mummy Returns Opens to Mixed (Mostly Negative) Reviews
(by digitalmediafx.com) The Mummy Returns - a nearly guaranteed
blockbuster - opens in theaters nationwide today with much fanfare
as the movie that opens up the summer season. Critic reviews have
been mixed, but mostly negative. Nearly all critics agree that
the sequel does not match the charm of the original. Here are
a few critic quotes:
 "…Like
almost all sequels, though, the second isn't as fresh or as fun.
The O'Connells don't get to meet cute, there isn't much romantic
tension, and we don't have the fun of discovering characters the
way we did the first time around. What it lacks in devilish charm,
The Mummy Returns hopes to make up with grandiose effects..."
- Gary Thompson of the Philadelphia Daily News.
"…For
loop the loop summer action, The Mummy Returns delivers
the goods, right? Well, yes, but we're letting blockbuster makers
off too easy, settling for the distractions of computer wizardry
rather than the dangers of emotional involvement. There's not
one minute, not one, when we need ever fear for the O'Connells,
because we know all along that the monsters are made of pixels
and, in the age of sequels, families populated by stars are always
safe…" - by Lisa Schwarzbaum of Entertainment Weekly.
"…The
Mummy Returns piles on at least as many subplots and legends
as characters, and by the climax, Sommers is cutting among four
battles being fought simultaneously. Action junkies may enjoy
this non-stop barrage, which barely pauses for anything but the
most rudimentary (albeit complicated) plot exposition. Others
may become worn down…" - by Mark Caro or the Chicago
Tribune.
"…From
its gushing orchestral soundtrack to its unabating neo-nostalgia
for another era of movie-making, The Mummy Returns may
be dumb but it's assuredly delightful. For more than two hours
the film holds you tight in its adventurous grip. Raiders of
the Lost Ark it's not, but it blows away Indiana Jones and
the Temple of Doom…" - by Brian McTavish of The Kansas
City Star.
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Star Wars
II: Behind the Scenes of Making a Ship
(by digitalmediafx.com) What goes into making a ship for Star
Wars: Episode II? George Lucas has released a short behind-the-scenes
QuickTime movie that gives fans a glimpse into the process. Click
here for Wedgie 'Em Out (the official name of the clip)
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News Link
of the Day - Video Game Industry Poised for a Shootout
According to CNN:
"Microsoft
doesn't settle for second place. The office desktop? Redmond owns
it. Internet browser? Bill Gates and company won that years ago.
A new generation of Web services? Already miles ahead. Now Microsoft
is ready to jump into a new arena: your living room.
Later this month, the tech titan will finally unveil the Xbox,
its high-profile entry into the video game business..."
Click
here for the full story.
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