By Ed Sum
(The Vintage Tempest)
After watching Disney’s Christopher Robin, I could not help but wonder what’s next for CGI, and where can the use of puppetry shine in movie-making. There were times in this film where I believe puppets were used instead of CGI. Parts of the film required Ewan McGregor to have an on set puppet instead of a motion capture performer. Technology can offer wonderful things when it’s advanced enough. I would cuddle an animatronic doll of Winnie, Tigger or Eeyore.
They can be classified as a muppet. Purists will disagree. Folklorists like me see can only imagine the possibility. This film offers a possibility of these “puppets” of being real and interacting with the world. Reactions will be mixed because not everyone is aware of them. When considering the parent company now owns Jim Henson’s creations in addition to having some rights on A.A. Milne’s seminal bear, could a crossover or further expansion of the mythology happen? The idea of putting these creations into our reality has been experimented with.
Continue reading “Theories on the Muppets, Puppets and Pooh-Bear & Beyond”
On the March 11, 2014 printed edition of Variety Magazine, a leading publication on the entertainment industry of Hollywood, the star of the day to make the cover is not Leonardo DiCaprio or even Emma Thompson but someone with just as much star power and who has a longer history in the film industry.