How to make a Moomin film adaption?

[Airwings]

A few years ago, this came out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBSq15VC5nc

Holly fried beans, what is this kind of amateur project? Flat and bland movie, and cheap as if a bunch of kids would have done it.
I remember this style in a Moomin adaption from my childhood and I thought is was bad already then.
Now when they're were making a Moomin film, with some really great Scandinavian actors involved, why didn't they do something new and fresh, and really awesome looking stuff?
The last decade's explosion of fantasy films seems to not have affected the Moomins at all. It's sad to see

I would feel a lot of love in my heart if somebody could come with a modern take on the Moomins. We, as an audience, should be taken for a ride deep into the rich stories by Tove Jansson.
I guess it could have a Narnia feel to it. Not too much slapstick, but not overly "Harry Potter dark" either. The right combination of wonder and lightness would work well.

Should it be old-school animation, or "Tintin mo-cap"?
Would stop-motion suit the Moomin valley? Or is live action the right way to go?
I prefer the latter. The style will be more realistic then. The problem is to make the actors look like their characters. But I think several of the books could work as films.
Just start the franchise with the origin story called Moomins and the Great Flood.

 

[soundofyousick]

A few years ago, this came out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uBSq15VC5nc

Holly fried beans, what is this kind of amateur project?

I actually really like that style of animation, it is obviously done that way because they feel the most successful series to capture the mommins onscreen so far is the old stop motion series from the late 70s/early 80s(well, at least that is when I saw it on tv), and I have to agree.
The cartoons from the 90s were quality work(I did not watch them really, but they were always on in the background as my nephew grew up watching them, so I saw enough to compare), but that stop motion animation somehow captures the spirit of the original Moomin books much better imo.

I read all the novels(bar one i think, the moominpapa goes to sea one)when i was a kid, and the illustrations inside were very simple but ornate, and charming as a result, much like that animation you posted.
The Moomins were good because they felt like they lived in their own little world, and when they had their own particular style of animation, that suited them.
If you did the same kind of animation as everything else does, then that quality would be lost(something I felt was missing from the slick 90s cartoon, even though scriptwise it kept the same charm), so a particular style should be chosen carefully to keep that charm intact.

 

[Edguy]

My sister and I watched the animated show of this a lot when we were younger.. Love the setting, the world has a special charm to it! Do fear that a film will end up like the Smurfs, though.. What they need to do, is make an adventure film that is more about exploring the world, and less about drama. Ghibli & Miyzaki?

 

[soundofyousick]

I would love to see a Moomin film done in the same stop motion manner as 'Coraline'.

 

[Airwings]

I would love to see a Moomin film done in the same stop motion manner as 'Coraline'.

Yes, I would love that too. Much better done, and also "darker". It has that "Burton vibe" to it.

Regarding Moomin adaptions, I think the animated series of the 90s has been the best so far, in terms of quality.

 

[Airwings]

Do fear that a film will end up like the Smurfs, though.. What they need to do, is make an adventure film that is more about exploring the world, and less about drama.

I don't think it would need to be like The Smurfs. It will be a disaster if so
But I agree that the films should be about exploring. There are lots of interesting characters in the books. My favorite is the Groke, and I think she (it?) should be something really scary. Like Sauron or Voldemort, but without the evil side. The Groke should only appear to be evil.

Also, if they adapt Moominland Midwinter, I think Lady of the cold would look like White witch (Narnia). But even more icy/frosty

 

[soundofyousick]

I don't think it would need to be like The Smurfs. It will be a disaster if so
But I agree that the films should be about exploring. There are lots of interesting characters in the books. My favorite is the Groke, and I think she (it?) should be something really scary. Like Sauron or Voldemort, but without the evil side. The Groke should only appear to be evil.

Also, if they adapt Moominland Midwinter, I think Lady of the cold would look like White witch (Narnia). But even more icy/frosty

Yes, I would love that too. Much better done, and also "darker". It has that "Burton vibe" to it.

Regarding Moomin adaptions, I think the animated series of the 90s has been the best so far, in terms of quality.

They did a superb job of capturing the spirit and charm of the Moomins in the 90s cartoon, I just prefer seeing them done in stop-motion animation.

I have not seen the old stop-motion show since the early 80s, so I do not recall how well written they were, the 90s show may well have had the advantage there.
But in terms of animation capturing the Moomin's world, dude, holy moses, you have not seen the Groke onscreen until you have seen it in the old stop motion show, absolutely amazing, I remember what that was like(when they adapted Moominland in mid-winter), with it coming out of the mist and fog, scary and cool with the best possible atmosphere for it's arrival.

 

[Airwings]

But in terms of animation capturing the Moomin's world, dude, holy moses, you have not seen the Groke onscreen until you have seen it in the old stop motion show, absolutely amazing, I remember what that was like(when they adapted Moominland in mid-winter), with it coming out of the mist and fog, scary and cool with the best possible atmosphere for it's arrival.

So Groke can't be any better than in that old, flat, two dimensional stop-motion show? Like never, even with today's cgi?

 

[soundofyousick]

So Groke can't be any better than in that old, flat, two dimensional stop-motion show? Like never, even with today's cgi?

I dunno, they conjured up a very appropriate atmosphere for that character using that technique, see, no matter how today's tech was used, I don't think it would carry that strange quality that stop motion can bring, which helps certain types of characters.
Take the Medusa in Clash of the Titans(original, haven't seen the remake), now, of course, you can tell it's a stop motion dummy, but it has a strange non-human way of moving as a result, so who is to say the real Medusa would not move that way? So, you can tune into it being a real representation of that character.

With the stop motion Groke, well, there was something very poetic in it's visuals, like, with poetry there are 'gaps' right? Left for you to interpret, it isn't all explained to you, so the stop motion Groke is like that, the animation has gaps, it moves funny, it doesn't tell you everything, so it has an air of mystery, that is perfect for that character.
Whereas 3d CG, or standard 2d animation, they go to the trouble of telling you *everything*, they spend months filling in every detail, so no matter how much smoke and mirrors they throw at it, you know what it is, it is recognisable, it has no gaps, no mystery.
I know I am being a little abstract in my description, but, hey , you know what I mean right? haha, that is the best way I can describe it right now.

 

[Airwings]

Well, I would imagine Groke to be much more scary if she feels like a creature of flesh and blood. And they really have to make her scary, not a funny and dim-witted character like the trolls in Hobbit
The troll in Moria (LOTR) was some real threat, in comparison.

 

[soundofyousick]

Well, I would imagine Groke to be much more scary if she feels like a creature of flesh and blood.

Flesh and blood? It is much scarier if you don't know what the heck she is made of!

edit: Can i just say, opening your thread bemoaning an old moomin animation with the expression 'Holy fried beans' is hilarious, i was just re-reading it, lol, aw, i don't know why, just one of those random meaningless laughs.

 

[Airwings]

In the old stop-mo, she was made of cardboard, just like the rest of the characters
But what if Groke appears to be a kind of evil spirit that comes with the cold mist/fog?
Well, WE know she's just a creature (animal?) but the moomins don't know. And they find her more scary than we do, right?

 

[soundofyousick]

In the old stop-mo, she was made of cardboard, just like the rest of the characters
But what if Groke appears to be a kind of evil spirit that comes with the cold mist/fog?
Well, WE know she's just a creature (animal?) but the moomins don't know. And they find her more scary than we do, right?

Holy fried beans, I can't keep up with this Groke sh** anymore, I don't know what the heck, lol.

edit: seriously, i will have to get back to you on this one, i don't know how to answer whatever the heck you are saying, i know you are saying something but i am feeling a bit too giddy and spaced out in an abstract sense over this to be entitled to a coherant whatdamacallit, yes indeed.

 

[Airwings]

Holy fried beans, I can't keep up with this Groke sh** anymore, I don't know what the heck, lol.

edit: seriously, i will have to get back to you on this one, i don't know how to answer whatever the heck you are saying, i know you are saying something but i am feeling a bit too giddy and spaced out in an abstract sense over this to be entitled to a coherant whatdamacallit, yes indeed.

Try some fried beans that have been blessed

But seriously, do you want to see a Moomin franchise?

 

[soundofyousick]

Try some fried beans that have been blessed

Even though i am sober, i am feeling like a bit of a baked bean, a whole tin of them actually.

But seriously, do you want to see a Moomin franchise?

Yes, but the animation has to be something special, as I said, I was a big fan of them when I was a kid(my older sister still has a drawing i did of too-ticky when i was about 6 or 7 years old framed in her room), but i could not tune into the 90s cartoon show really because the animation was so normal. If they animated something like Coraline, I would trip out to Moominland again no sweat.

 

[Airwings]

The Coraline stop-mo should be the one to use for Moomins, not the style in the film a couple of years back. To attract some bigger audience, they have to make it look better.

Have you seen The Dark Crystal, btw? They had actors all dressed up as creatures then but the surroundings were real. It was like a "live action film with dolls". Maybe that's how to adapt Moomins?

 

[soundofyousick]

The Coraline stop-mo should be the one to use for Moomins, not the style in the film a couple of years back. To attract some bigger audience, they have to make it look better.

The ~Coraline stop-motion was astoundingly beautiful, the recent one they did this year, Paranorman, did not look half as good, i only saw a clip of that on tv though, and it looked so poor in comparison that i thought it was a CG version of their own stop mo style(like Aardman did with Ratatooie(sic)), then i read somewhere it was proper stop-mo?! not sure if that can be right, as Coraline looked much better.

Have you seen The Dark Crystal, btw? They had actors all dressed up as creatures then but the surroundings were real. It was like a "live action film with dolls". Maybe that's how to adapt Moomins?

No, i haven't seen it, but i of course know of it, the first Henson live action flick. If they did the Moomins like that they could end up looking like Hippos made out of marshmallows, I don't think that would be the best way.

edit: btw, there was a doc on Tove Janson on the BBc at Christmas, I didn't watch it as i didn't want to be in the same room as my visiting relatives, but maybe you can find it on the net somewhere.

In the old stop-mo, she was made of cardboard, just like the rest of the characters
But what if Groke appears to be a kind of evil spirit that comes with the cold mist/fog?
Well, WE know she's just a creature (animal?) but the moomins don't know. And they find her more scary than we do, right?

edit: oh, and in answer to your question earlier that confused me, the thing is, when we first see the Groke, we do not know what the heck she is, same as the Mommins, whether she is a ghost or what, so that is the kind of atmosphere I am talking about that the old stop-mo 2d brought with the atmosphere, the first appearance is the most important, before any explanation for the character is brought forward in the story.

 

[Airwings]

What stop motion is best - that one of the old Moomin show or that one of Coraline?