In film, story, not CG, must be king

Some friends and I were reflecting on some of the failed CG movies of the past while. Movies like the Wild came up in our conversation. Critics declared such movies were bad, and audiences agreed.

Why? Because Hollywood, especially now with the maturity and popularity of CG films, has a bad habit of allowing eye-candy (special effects and show, and now CG) to be the reason for the movie rather than story.

Let me ask you: Why do you go an see a movie? For the eye-popping graphics? I'm sure that is a motivation. It has been for me at times. But what is it that you ultimately desire to see. Eye-popping graphics, yes. But far more than that, you desire a good story!

"The Wild" is a perfect example of a movie made for no other reason than to attempt to cash in on CG for CG's sake. What about "Monster House"? www.rottentomatoes.com gives it a 73% rating, but I have to agree with www.boxofficemojo.com that the movie underwhelms. And the fact that it was released to the theatres on July 21, 2006 and came out on DVD on Oct 24, 2006 proves this fact. I couldn't believe how quickly it came out on DVD. The graphics in it look great, especially the creepy house. But come on, I don't care how good the movie looks, if the story stinks, I'm bored! (Btw, http://www.boxofficemojo.com/ states that it only raked in ~73 million, on a budget of 75 million - poor Monster House).

Hollywood needs to take a lesson from Pixar and John Lasseter (Pixar's top creative man, and now Disney's top creative man). Despite the fact that they lead in their CG technology, blowing anyone away in my estimation, yet at the same time they treat the CG as incidental. That is how it should be. CG is nothing more than a medium. The computer is nothing more than a tool. For what, you ask? For the story. Listen to John and the other Pixar guys on the special features of their DVD's and you'll see this clearly. For them, story is king. That is how it should be.

Thankfully, Lasseter stepped in and stopped the creation of Toy Story 3 @ Disney that was already underway prior to the purchase of Pixar. I don't even want to think what a disaster that movie would have been.

Hollywood, take note. Story, not CG must be king!