Warcraft reviews not looking great

[Erttheking]

We are seriously on page six of a thread that claims that a video game movie is probably going to suck? Is this really a controversial claim?

 

[mduncan50]

I'll put it simply, I'd rather keep watching those charming Overwatch shorts than that very mediocre and CG-overdosed Warcraft movie.

Oh as if Overwatch is not overdoesed with CGI

But that's precisely the point!

Either you go full CGI and make a good job with it, like Overwatch, or you go for real actors who can act.
The botched mix that is the half-CGI cartoon half-movie WoW movie monstrosity, just doesn't sit well with me.

Avatar did and made 2 billion. What is Cameron's secret?

But people now realize what I've always been saying: Avatar is a very crappy movie.

If you ask me, I believe Avatar was a box office success simply because of the novelty of such high quality CGI for the time, plus a very basic straightforward narrative that the dumb masses can follow. It may sound harsh but it's how I've always felt about that movie.

WoW movie is too late doing that CGI trick since the novelty wore off.

Another thing that really helped Avatar was that it was pretty much the first movie to really pull off 3D right, which led to it being one of those movies where there are multiple viewings and "you've got to see this" groups of people viewing it together. Also I don't think it's fair to call Avatar a very crappy movie. It's very much average, and in no way deserves to be the #1 grossing film of all time, but taking away all of the politics and box office pressures, it's not a bad movie.

 

[minkus_draconus]

Shame, I was hoping it would be good enough to encourage Blizzard to keep making movies. And maybe one day make an Overwatch movie, cause that would be hella awesome.

Warcraft looked awful from the start to me. But, I agree - an Overwatch movie would be great, especially given the animated shorts we've seen so far have been pretty good. Some of the dialogue is pretty terrible, but I honestly think that's by design.

Going by animated shorts I would love me some borderlands films. Especially a Deadpool style film covering the Psycho character starting when he was just some normalish guy.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Shame, I was hoping it would be good enough to encourage Blizzard to keep making movies. And maybe one day make an Overwatch movie, cause that would be hella awesome.

Warcraft looked awful from the start to me. But, I agree - an Overwatch movie would be great, especially given the animated shorts we've seen so far have been pretty good. Some of the dialogue is pretty terrible, but I honestly think that's by design.

Going by animated shorts I would love me some borderlands films. Especially a Deadpool style film covering the Psycho character starting when he was just some normalish guy.

I'd be nervous about a Borderlands movie. The temptation to stick to the 'main story' would be too strong, I think. A 'hero of another story' movie, in the same universe as the core Borderlands games, would be awesome though.

 

[minkus_draconus]

Shame, I was hoping it would be good enough to encourage Blizzard to keep making movies. And maybe one day make an Overwatch movie, cause that would be hella awesome.

Warcraft looked awful from the start to me. But, I agree - an Overwatch movie would be great, especially given the animated shorts we've seen so far have been pretty good. Some of the dialogue is pretty terrible, but I honestly think that's by design.

Going by animated shorts I would love me some borderlands films. Especially a Deadpool style film covering the Psycho character starting when he was just some normalish guy.

I'd be nervous about a Borderlands movie. The temptation to stick to the 'main story' would be too strong, I think. A 'hero of another story' movie, in the same universe as the core Borderlands games, would be awesome though.

I agree with telling a story outside of the main vault hunters, it worked well for the Tell Tale game. The psycho would still work as clearly there is a huge amount of his life before his encounter with Lilith (which I assume results in his joining the vault hunters). we could cover that and end on that note with no danger of getting all into the main game plots.
Heck fleshing out what went down with Atlas, Athena and Gen Knoxx for instance would also be pretty free of the main story.

Point is the Borderlands universe/world has a lot that can be done and worked with. Also I really enjoyed the Psycho intro video.

 

[Charli]

Yeah okay, I knew it'd suck, but you know why I'm going to see it anyway? I want the Warcraft 3 movie. Everyone. EVERYONE. Wants the warcraft 3 movie(s). You know it to be true.

 

[Fox12]

In other news: Water is wet, the sky is blue, and a thread about a crap movie getting crap reviews will inevitably be attacked by fanboys because the critics obviously can't be trusted because they didn't bother to give the movie a chance because it's based on a video game. Or maybe it's Disney's fault again. I guess that petition to force Disney to stop paying off all of the reviewers to crap on every non Disney movie just didn't work. But seriously though, how could anyone actually be surprised by this?

Video game movie not up to much. In other news, sky remains blue.

*sigh*

I wasn't expecting greatness, the preview footage made it clear we weren't getting anything like that but I had dared to hope for a fun romp.

Meanwhile, comment sections are filling up with denial from people who haven't seen the movie but know beyond a doubt that it must be awesome. Also, water remains wet.

Did you do this on purpose, or is this another case of two scientists working on opposite sides of the world both independently and unwittingly inventing the exact same snarky comment?

OT: You mean that the movie isn't entirely CG animation? Why would anybody think that having live actors in a Warcraft movie was a good idea?

I think it was the lazy and obvious snark. We just beat the other thousand or so people that thought it to the punch.

I think they honestly thought the orcs were realistic enough to make it all look live action. As it is, it's not even Roger Rabbit levels of matching.

The problem is if the movie is fully animated in CGI including CGI humans than it would be considered animation. And sadly we live in an animation age ghetto where unless your Disney or SUperheroes and look cartoony as fuck and a Comedy, you will never be taken seriously.

There have been attempts to make more serious, for more older people animation and none of them became box office smashes.

And I liked some of them sadly:

Beowolf was pretty crap, as was the CG involved. As for non-Disney animation being taken seriously:
Anomalisia
Boy and the World
Shaun the Sheep
When Marnie was There
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya

All nominees for best animated feature Oscar over the past 2 years. Not including the LEGO Movie, which should have won two years ago. That's a lot of liked and respected non-Disney animated movies.

Perhaps, but none of those were really box office smashes. Heck, princess Kaguya lost money at the box office. That's part of why ghibli is shutting down. They don't think they can stay afloat without miyazaki's star power. Don't get me wrong, I cherish every film on that list, but it's nearly impossible to get a films like those made in America today. It's very telling that nearly every film on that list was from either Japan or Europe. The animation industry isn't doing too hot in the states, I'm afraid. Unless someone with some major clout, like Brad Bird, tries to turn things around, hand drawn animation will probably die out soon.

 

[mduncan50]

In other news: Water is wet, the sky is blue, and a thread about a crap movie getting crap reviews will inevitably be attacked by fanboys because the critics obviously can't be trusted because they didn't bother to give the movie a chance because it's based on a video game. Or maybe it's Disney's fault again. I guess that petition to force Disney to stop paying off all of the reviewers to crap on every non Disney movie just didn't work. But seriously though, how could anyone actually be surprised by this?

Video game movie not up to much. In other news, sky remains blue.

*sigh*

I wasn't expecting greatness, the preview footage made it clear we weren't getting anything like that but I had dared to hope for a fun romp.

Meanwhile, comment sections are filling up with denial from people who haven't seen the movie but know beyond a doubt that it must be awesome. Also, water remains wet.

Did you do this on purpose, or is this another case of two scientists working on opposite sides of the world both independently and unwittingly inventing the exact same snarky comment?

OT: You mean that the movie isn't entirely CG animation? Why would anybody think that having live actors in a Warcraft movie was a good idea?

I think it was the lazy and obvious snark. We just beat the other thousand or so people that thought it to the punch.

I think they honestly thought the orcs were realistic enough to make it all look live action. As it is, it's not even Roger Rabbit levels of matching.

The problem is if the movie is fully animated in CGI including CGI humans than it would be considered animation. And sadly we live in an animation age ghetto where unless your Disney or SUperheroes and look cartoony as fuck and a Comedy, you will never be taken seriously.

There have been attempts to make more serious, for more older people animation and none of them became box office smashes.

And I liked some of them sadly:

Beowolf was pretty crap, as was the CG involved. As for non-Disney animation being taken seriously:
Anomalisia
Boy and the World
Shaun the Sheep
When Marnie was There
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya

All nominees for best animated feature Oscar over the past 2 years. Not including the LEGO Movie, which should have won two years ago. That's a lot of liked and respected non-Disney animated movies.

Perhaps, but none of those were really box office smashes. Heck, princess Kaguya lost money at the box office. That's part of why ghibli is shutting down. They don't think they can stay afloat without miyazaki's star power. Don't get me wrong, I cherish every film on that list, but it's nearly impossible to get a films like those made in America today. It's very telling that nearly every film on that list was from either Japan or Europe. The animation industry isn't doing too hot in the states, I'm afraid. Unless someone with some major clout, like Brad Bird, tries to turn things around, hand drawn animation will probably die out soon.

Princess Kaguya lost money because the studio didn't believe in it, and thus didn't advertise it nor give it a proper release. The largest number of theaters it was out at in North America in a single week was 29. The same goes for the other movies on that list that didn't do well, almost all the same boat of barely any advertising and extremely limited release . You can't get upset at critics when they loved the movies, and you can't blame the movie goers when a) they don't know the movie exists, and b) have nowhere to see it.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

I'll put it simply, I'd rather keep watching those charming Overwatch shorts than that very mediocre and CG-overdosed Warcraft movie.

Oh as if Overwatch is not overdoesed with CGI

But that's precisely the point!

Either you go full CGI and make a good job with it, like Overwatch, or you go for real actors who can act.
The botched mix that is the half-CGI cartoon half-movie WoW movie monstrosity, just doesn't sit well with me.

Avatar did and made 2 billion. What is Cameron's secret?

But people now realize what I've always been saying: Avatar is a very crappy movie.

If you ask me, I believe Avatar was a box office success simply because of the novelty of such high quality CGI for the time, plus a very basic straightforward narrative that the dumb masses can follow. It may sound harsh but it's how I've always felt about that movie.

WoW movie is too late doing that CGI trick since the novelty wore off.

We had that High Quality CGI before Avatar, it was called King Kong 2006:


And I loved that movie, Owned the extended cut of it. That T-Rex fight was more exciting than the dissipointing Godzilla 2014 fight

 

[Imre Csete]

Watched it today with friends, it's obviously a movie for fans. If you know what the hell WarCraft is, you are probably going to have fun, although the lore isn't faithful, broad strokes mostly.

But if you aren't, then you won't know what the hell happens in the first fifteen minutes and why should you care. It literally speeds through 4 major and 2 minor locations without any build up, it's pure fanservice.

 

[Yuuki]

It literally speeds through 4 major and 2 minor locations without any build up, it's pure fanservice.

Going by the trailers/videos so far I had a good feeling it was going to end up being little more than fanservice.

Everyone on set seemed to be gushing non-stop about "omg the world and lore is so amazing" and coming across as giddy fans more than people vested in making a deep, compelling movie. That never ends well.

 

[BrawlMan]

I feel sorry for the Warcraft fans. I was never a fan of the MMO, but I wasn't surprised looking at the trailer. The only movie I am looking forward to is TMNT: Out of the Shadows. That looks fun, it comes out next week,.

 

[Hawki]

Come on guys, can't we all just agree they should have made a Starcraft movie instead?

And either go full CGI like Final Fantasy Spirits Within, or don't and just make it like Starship Troopers.

I think StarCraft would be better suited to a TV series personally - a space western with zerg and protoss in it. Problem is, StarCraft , like Warcraft, wears its influences on its shoulder.

So Duncan Jones is no James Cameron?

Give a Warcraft movie to James Cameron then

But on the subject of StarCraft movies, James Cameron has been listed as a likely contender for a StarCraft movie if one was ever made.

Which seems iffy, since Cameron directed Aliens, and StarCraft took its share of influence from that. It would be like Tolkein being asked to write in a tie-in book for Wheel of Time or Shannara.

Yeah okay, I knew it'd suck, but you know why I'm going to see it anyway? I want the Warcraft 3 movie. Everyone. EVERYONE. Wants the warcraft 3 movie(s). You know it to be true.

Eh, I dunno. Difference between WC3 and the other games is that Warcraft III tells a good story of its own, wheras in WC1 & 2, a lot of the story is left vague and very basic. It also doesn't help that you'd need more than one movie to tell the story of Warcraft III, and you have, apart from Arthas, a different set of core protagonists for each campaign (Artahs, Arthas, Thrall & Grom, Tyrande & Malfurion).

I mean, if a GOOD Warcraft III movie could be made in the new timeline then sure, I'd be down for it. But as much as I'm a fan of Warcraft...yeah. There aren't many films this year where my opinion is really that different from those of critics. Numbers rarely lie.

 

[Fox12]

In other news: Water is wet, the sky is blue, and a thread about a crap movie getting crap reviews will inevitably be attacked by fanboys because the critics obviously can't be trusted because they didn't bother to give the movie a chance because it's based on a video game. Or maybe it's Disney's fault again. I guess that petition to force Disney to stop paying off all of the reviewers to crap on every non Disney movie just didn't work. But seriously though, how could anyone actually be surprised by this?

Video game movie not up to much. In other news, sky remains blue.

*sigh*

I wasn't expecting greatness, the preview footage made it clear we weren't getting anything like that but I had dared to hope for a fun romp.

Meanwhile, comment sections are filling up with denial from people who haven't seen the movie but know beyond a doubt that it must be awesome. Also, water remains wet.

Did you do this on purpose, or is this another case of two scientists working on opposite sides of the world both independently and unwittingly inventing the exact same snarky comment?

OT: You mean that the movie isn't entirely CG animation? Why would anybody think that having live actors in a Warcraft movie was a good idea?

I think it was the lazy and obvious snark. We just beat the other thousand or so people that thought it to the punch.

I think they honestly thought the orcs were realistic enough to make it all look live action. As it is, it's not even Roger Rabbit levels of matching.

The problem is if the movie is fully animated in CGI including CGI humans than it would be considered animation. And sadly we live in an animation age ghetto where unless your Disney or SUperheroes and look cartoony as fuck and a Comedy, you will never be taken seriously.

There have been attempts to make more serious, for more older people animation and none of them became box office smashes.

And I liked some of them sadly:

Beowolf was pretty crap, as was the CG involved. As for non-Disney animation being taken seriously:
Anomalisia
Boy and the World
Shaun the Sheep
When Marnie was There
The Boxtrolls
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Song of the Sea
The Tale of Princess Kaguya

All nominees for best animated feature Oscar over the past 2 years. Not including the LEGO Movie, which should have won two years ago. That's a lot of liked and respected non-Disney animated movies.

Perhaps, but none of those were really box office smashes. Heck, princess Kaguya lost money at the box office. That's part of why ghibli is shutting down. They don't think they can stay afloat without miyazaki's star power. Don't get me wrong, I cherish every film on that list, but it's nearly impossible to get a films like those made in America today. It's very telling that nearly every film on that list was from either Japan or Europe. The animation industry isn't doing too hot in the states, I'm afraid. Unless someone with some major clout, like Brad Bird, tries to turn things around, hand drawn animation will probably die out soon.

Princess Kaguya lost money because the studio didn't believe in it, and thus didn't advertise it nor give it a proper release. The largest number of theaters it was out at in North America in a single week was 29. The same goes for the other movies on that list that didn't do well, almost all the same boat of barely any advertising and extremely limited release . You can't get upset at critics when they loved the movies, and you can't blame the movie goers when a) they don't know the movie exists, and b) have nowhere to see it.

Kaguya didn't do particularly well in Japan. If a ghibli film can't make the domestic box office then there's an issue, which is too bad, because that film was really good. Though, to be fair, it did go over budget.

Most of the films were released by Gkids, which certainly believes in the movies, but which lacks the resources for a major release. Do I think several of these great movies could be successful? With some proper backing, sure. Princess Mononoke, or When Marnie was There, probably could have done quite well with major backing. The problem is that a studio won't push a mature animated film when we can't even get hand drawn kids films made anymore. Honestly, we seem to be in agreement. It's not that a mature animated film can't be successful, it's that a serious american studio will never produce a quality adult feature. Even if they did, they would fail to market it, and it's failure would become a self fulfilling prophecy. Samtendo8 is right, we arein an animation age ghetto specifically for that reason, and the fact that most of those wonderful films can't get a real release only reinforces that.

The case is slightly different for CG films. They're doing quite well financially, but ever since Pixar got bought out the only people making thought provoking 3d films right now are Brad Bird and Pete Doctor. There isn't really a studio devoted to high quality productions, like what we got during the Disney Renaissance.

 

[Einspanner]

I feel sorry for the Warcraft fans. I was never a fan of the MMO, but I wasn't surprised looking at the trailer. The only movie I am looking forward to is TMNT: Out of the Shadows. That looks fun, it comes out next week,.

Don't. I've been playing Warcraft since Warcraft. I played on a little LAN with my friends, and we did the same with WC2. I played WoW from the time it came out, for about 2 years and just didn't have time for an MMO anymore. At no point did I, or anyone I ever met who liked Warcraft ever say, "I wish we had a movie of this shit!" It was just goofy fun, click on a sheep until it exploded fun, amazing looking cutscene (for the time) fun.

Now you have these poor, broken uberfans who in most cases are too young to remember why Warcraft and Blizzard are so big in the first place. They're not even worth trying to get through to, anymore than some poor bastard who lives and dies for 'wrastling'.

 

[Tsun Tzu]

Rare non-cynical moment for me, but I still remain kinda hopeful about it.

Certainly wouldn't be the first time critics and I disagreed on the quality of a film/game.

So. Eh. Fuck it.

The trailers looked neat and I played a lotta WoW/WC1-3, so I'll see it.

I do seem to remember Pacific Rim getting mediocre reviews (Ebert aside) and I fuckin' adore that movie. So... *shrug*

 

[mduncan50]

Rare non-cynical moment for me, but I still remain kinda hopeful about it.

Certainly wouldn't be the first time critics and I disagreed on the quality of a film/game.

So. Eh. Fuck it.

The trailers looked neat and I played a lotta WoW/WC1-3, so I'll see it.

I do seem to remember Pacific Rim getting mediocre reviews (Ebert aside) and I fuckin' adore that movie. So... *shrug*

Pacific Rim ended up at 71% on Rotten Tomatoes, Warcraft is currently sitting at 22%.

 

[DefunctTheory]

Spoiler

Rare non-cynical moment for me, but I still remain kinda hopeful about it.

Certainly wouldn't be the first time critics and I disagreed on the quality of a film/game.

So. Eh. Fuck it.

The trailers looked neat and I played a lotta WoW/WC1-3, so I'll see it.

I do seem to remember Pacific Rim getting mediocre reviews (Ebert aside) and I fuckin' adore that movie. So... *shrug*

Pacific Rim ended up at 71% on Rotten Tomatoes, Warcraft is currently sitting at 22%.

As much as I love Pacific Rim, 71% seems pretty damn fair.

Feels weird. While Rotten Tomatoes is usually in what I consider the ball park (Every time I've thought they were wrong, I found out I was the one wrong), we rarely are in agreement over specific numbers.

 

[Kolby Jack]

What a shock, the cynical video-game tie-in movie that even die-hard fans couldn't see the point of, is pointless? Next I'll hear that 'Angry birds' was a cash-grab.

According to a tweet from Lindsay Ellis (the Nostalgia Chick) The Angry Birds Movie actually got a rave review from a white supremacist site. So there's that.

 

[Wrex Brogan]

...Ehhh, fuck it, still going to watch it.