Cartoon Shorts and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island

I took my son to see Journey 2: The Mysterious Island yesterday.

The movie was ok. Nothing special, but watchable. The Rock was charismatic as always, Michael Caine was in it for the pay check but likeable, and I’m always fond of Luiz Guzman’s particular brand of sidekicks.

The highlight of course is that at one point The Rock plays a ukulele. As Mr Johnson himself points out – it takes a big man to play a tiny guitar.

But what was really interesting was something that I’d also noticed when we went to see The Muppets last week. It seems that short films before the main feature are making a comeback.

Pixar of course have been doing it for years. All their movies have had short animations preceding them. The Muppets of course is also a Disney film (and even has a Toy Story Pixar short), and so it can be argued that they were just continuing the company policy. But Journey 2: The Mysterious Island wasn’t Disney – it as distributed by Warner Brothers, but it too had a short – a Daffy Duck cartoon.

Actually now I think of it Yogi Bear back in 2010 had a Road Runner cartoon before it too.

I’m a big fan of this trend. I’m just about old enough to remember the tail end of short films before the main feature back in the 80s, and have always felt a little sad that they died out. I think that they can act as a sort of warm up act for the film. But more interestingly I think they have the potential to be a sort of experimental test bed where studios can put ideas and characters in front of audiences and see if they stick.

The beauty of this is that if the short film fails then people aren’t going to really care. They only had to sit through five to ten minutes of it and the main feature will be the main focus of their cinema experience anyhow. But if the short film hits the mark it will become another marketing tool for the main movie, and perhaps even encourage the studios to move the concept up to the big leagues.

And I don’t think short films should just be confined to family movies either – all genre’s could benefit. You could have had a Hawkeye short before the Thor movie for example. That would have been far more awesome than some stupid post end credit stinger.

What do you think? Are short films before the main feature something that should be encouraged? Let us know in the comments.

looney tunes

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  • http://quityourdayjob.com.au Lee

    I agree I think Pixar/Disney have helped bring back the short, we watched the Toy Story one before The Muppets as well. But your idea of a Hawkeye short before Thor is absolute solid gold sir. I would much rather they did that over the stingers at the end of the credits.

    Now that you’ve said it I’m really disappointed that they haven’t started doing that already. Also a great way to test if a concept has the legs in it to become a full fledged film – easy to test new directors and talent.

    Arrrrrrg damn you Hughes!!! Cinema feels too empty without these shorts now!!

    • http://allthatcomeswithit.com Dan

      As soon as I though of the Hawkete short I got a little sad that it didn’t happen :(

  • The listener formerly known as Jobless Jonathan

    Question: are movie popcorn and drink prices as horrifically high in Austrailia and the UK as they are in the states?

    For my wife and I to go to the movies it’s costs about $30-35 if we split a popcorn and each get a drink.

    Anyways, shorts would be a good added value after paying do much for the experience.

    • http://quityourdayjob.com.au Lee

      I’m not sure about the UK, I’ve a feeling it’s not that bad because I’m certain Dan and I have discussed this in the past. But yes here in Australia the cost of both the tickets and the movie food is ridiculously high.

      Unless of course you go to a cheap indie cinema then the popcorn is stale (obviously not in all but in Brisbane the local independent “chain” serves up crappy popcorn).

    • http://allthatcomeswithit.com Dan

      Yes stuff like that is rediculusly expensive over here too. The only exception to that is our cinema that has a special kids club on weekends where at the 11am showing you get one adult ticket, one child ticket, a small coke, small popcorn, and a packet of sweets (candy) for £4.50 for the whole lot. which is a bloody bargain! They are all films older than 6 months though, but still…

      Other than that you are looking to remorgage your house if you want to take a family of 4 to the pictures. You’ll have to sell your car too if it is a 3D movie.

  • http://www.facebook.com/chrisb1306 chris

    I have loved the Shorts before recent films, and i think with certain films it works well. My mum, brother and I went to the see the muppets yesterday and seeing the short made my brother laugh more than the muppet movie. As for a hawkeye short it would have been awesome, i recently just watched the agent colson one they did on youtube the other day and thought, if i had seen that before Thor it would have the movie just that wee bit better.

    As for cinema prices in the Uk, here in Belfast all are cinemas do a Crazy Tuesday thing were all films films and 2.50-3.00 all day which is great as this also includes 3d films and a lot people seem to use it as date night, but for the cinema yesterday afternoon for 3 people, with 2 large drinks and a large popcorn it came to almost £30 which really isnt worth it

    • http://midmoclub.com Dan

      I dunno – for the Muppets it’s possibly worth it. Not for many other films though.

      Actually we ended up seeing the Muppets for free. I shall explain why on the next podcast.

  • http://schwoit.com Dean a.k.a. Dan’s Mortal Enemy

    I love this trend. If they do it enough then perhaps the Australian short film festival “Tropfest” will gain in relevance. At the moment it is almost as if the only good films Australians make are limited to less than 10 minutes.

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  • http://dadwhowrites.wordpress.com Dad Who Writes (Gabriel)

    Definitely a good thing. Then there was the short that preceded The Darjeeling Limited which acted as both prequel and scene setter. Or else Wes Anderson being a bit of a smarty-pants again, depending on your point of view.

    It also had Natalie Portman doing some actual acting.