Sujet : What's with Sly Cooper Animation

If Darkstar is making editorials, I can't be worse!

When the Sly Cooper movie trailer came out, the discussion about it’s animation began. Most people were angry, that the characters’ models are “ugly”, or “too different”. But to me, there was more to it. So, without further ado, let’s begin.

Best option?
I am often pretty annoyed by the bull… ahem, drivel that developers were trying to make me belive in on PS Blog (like James Stevenson claiming that Ratchet’s design in the movie teaser was ToD design…). That’s why I got angry after reading this on Sly announcement post: “When we met with PlayStation to discuss the film last year, we proposed that the CG art style would transfer best in the leap to the big screen.” The first thing I thought was “WHAT!?”. To me, there was only one and only way the Sly movie could be animated – A FREAKIN’ 2D ANIMATION! What’s wrong with these filmmakers? Wasn’t series’ cel-shading, all those “poofs” and “whams”, the comic book stylized cutscenes obvious? Sly Cooper games were a homage to comic books and old cartoons, how come the movie is CG? But then it hit me – it is not just the best way for Sly, it is the only possible way. It’s almost 20 years since Toy Story landed in cinemas and after all these years CG animation finally dominated the market – the last big classic 2D animation film in cinemas was “Winnie the Pooh” from 2011… And guess what? It earned $44,692,846 (less than any Pixar movie ever made). The classic 2D animation is dead – it doesn’t pay, so nobody makes it anymore (except for TV shows, but those are not cinema standards)… outside of Japan. Okay, when even such a big star like Winnie the Pooh can’t gross that much in 2D, I get that Sly’s got to be CG, fine. But that doesn’t explain…

That artstyle!
Okay, here’s the main problem – the artstyle is unfitting. This is a story about a raccoon thief and his pals, a turtle and a hippo pulling heists all around the world. The concept itself is not realistic, so why are they trying to make it look realistic!? Does it have something to do with the fact that Kevin Munroe directed TMNT? Look at the animations like “Hotel Transylvania” – they’re CG, yet they look like a classic cartoon. Why can’t Sly look like that? From what I see, Rainmaker really is a “talented team of animators”, so why can’t they put the effort they’re putting to make it look realistic… to make it more cartoonish! It is a homage to old cartoons and comic books, gosh! It’s not only that (yes, I will say that) – Sly and Murray are ugly and (that should appeal to the filmmakers) not appealing. Look at that picture below.

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Yeah, I’m sure parents will think “Oh, that must be a fun movie our whole family can watch” after seeing that on a billboard… No! It won’t interest parents, it won’t interest their children (it could make some of them have nightmares actually). Sure, technically it’s well-made, but that doesn’t change the fact it doesn’t look nice. Worst of all, I’m afraid it won’t change – it’s not R&C movie where they tweaked Ratchet’s model and everything was fine – here, everything needs tweaking! But hey, let’s hope for the best… while we still can.

Go on Heather, defend this animation if you dare!

I thought this was about the original trilogy's in-game animations… they were bad…

I think CGI could've worked as you said, Pixar movies do a good job of bringing a 2D characters into the CGI world (The Incredibles comes to mind), but in this case I think they didn't want it to seem like a kids movie therefore they had to change the artstyle to make it more… appealing to teens and adults.
They had to choose between hardcore fans and general audience. In the end, general audience is the more favorable choice.

I think CGI could've worked as you said, Pixar movies do a good job of bringing a 2D characters into the CGI world (The Incredibles comes to mind), but in this case I think they didn't want it to seem like a kids movie therefore they had to change the artstyle to make it more… appealing to teens and adults.
They had to choose between hardcore fans and general audience. In the end, general audience is the more favorable choice.

And Ratatouille, another Brad Bird movie emoji But as I said, in my opinion this arstyle fails to appeal to anyone. And "teens and adults"? If there are teens and adults that could get interested in a Sly Cooper movie, they are already an animation fans.

Sorry, can't defend it since I'm not sure whether I really like it anymore. The fresh hype of a Sly movie washed away and now I can see the bigger picture. The characters look too real. Bentley's eyes are visible, Murray looks flat out scary and Sly's whiskers look out of place. But there must have been a reason for this kind of artstyle. Somewhere in the pages of their Graphic Bible lies the answer to that.

It could also be that after many, many feedback. They've changed it around.

To me, there was only one and only way the Sly movie could be animated – A FREAKIN’ 2D ANIMATION! What’s wrong with these filmmakers? Wasn’t series’ cel-shading, all those “poofs” and “whams”, the comic book stylized cutscenes obvious? Sly Cooper games were a homage to comic books and old cartoons, how come the movie is CG? But then it hit me – it is not just the best way for Sly, it is the only possible way. It’s almost 20 years since Toy Story landed in cinemas and after all these years CG animation finally dominated the market – the last big classic 2D animation film in cinemas was “Winnie the Pooh” from 2011… And guess what? It earned $44,692,846 (less than any Pixar movie ever made). The classic 2D animation is dead – it doesn’t pay, so nobody makes it anymore (except for TV shows, but those are not cinema standards)… outside of Japan. Okay, when even such a big star like Winnie the Pooh can’t gross that much in 2D, I get that Sly’s got to be CG, fine. But that doesn’t explain…


I still think they could have a successful film done in 2D animation; like you said, one of the reasons there haven't been any successful 2D animated films for a few years is because very few people are bothering to make any - and the few 2D animations that there have been were either unsuccessful for reasons other than their animation style, or were perfectly good films that just didn't get theatrical releases, and subsequently got less media coverage.
But that doesn't mean that 2D animation no longer makes money - I mean, look at TV these days; there are plenty of popular cartoons that are animated in 2D, look at things like:

  • The Simpsons
  • Family Guy
  • Adventure Time
  • My Little Pony
  • Gravity Falls
  • Rick & Morty
  • South Park
  • Regular Show
  • And probably numerous more


All of these are cartoons are still airing on TV, and all of which are hugely popular, so it stands to reason that other recent 2D movies did not fail because of their animation style, but because of other factors.
Of course, you did point out that "TV is not cinema standards", and you're technically right, especially given that a lot of people seem to think that "The TV industry is dying", but let's look at that list again. Many of those shows have larger and more active fanbases than most recent movies, animated or otherwise, which suggests that the industry which is supposedly dying is still more popular than movies.

See, what I've done there is I set out to prove one point (that 2D animation is still a perfectly valid format) and instead inadvertently proved an entirely different point (that TV is still more popular than people give it credit).
Well I tried.



As for the Sly Cooper movie, I don't think I'd mind the CGI, realistic-ish aesthetic if it weren't for Bentleys Eyes! [shudders]. Why on Earth would they make Bentley's eyes visible???

What about the fact that not only are Bently's eyes visible, but also the fact that they gave him those enormous ugly teeth. The only time I remember seeing Bently having teeth were in about maybe 2 cutscenes in the entire series. Otherwise, last I checked, turtles don't have teeth. And honestly, I don't mind his eyes being visible, just get rid of those horrid teeth.

Turtles don't have teeth, but raccons don't have pants, and hippos can't talk. Truthfully, Sly would do better as a 2D cartoon series, but I dont care in the least about the gang.

At least ratchet and clank movie doesn't look realistic emoji

I thought the characters look pretty good in the trailer.Was quite funny too.

Was quite funny too.

About that… After TiT I am really, REALLY sick of food jokes…

Was quite funny too.

About that… After TiT I am really, REALLY sick of food jokes…


After TiT??

Was quite funny too.

About that… After TiT I am really, REALLY sick of food jokes…


After TiT??

Thieves in Time.

Was quite funny too.

About that… After TiT I am really, REALLY sick of food jokes…


After TiT??

Thieves in Time.


Ah Okay