But, then again, I don’t get why anyone would want to do animation like that anyway. What’s really the point of doing animation that close to real life anyway? Past a certain point, doesn’t it cost about as much to just get actual actors (if not name actors) in there to do the roles? Although I suppose big-name actors can be paid less for just using their voices, it still seems weird to me. If I’m seeing an animated film, I want it to be animated, not live action; I could (theoretically) see any of dozens or hundreds of movies every week/month/year like that. I find the quirkiness of something like The Incredibles far more visually interesting than something like The Polar Express.

Of course, the problem with animation of any sort is variety–not all animated movies can (or SHOULD) look alike. The trick, I would think, is finding exactly the right style for the story you’re trying to tell. What’s done for The Incredibles, for example, couldn’t remotely work with The Polar Express. But I can’t believe that no one was capable of finding SOMETHING that would work better than what they finally chose. I can’t even bear to look at it in commericals, so I certainly can’t imagine how bad 90-120 minutes of it would be in a theater.