Animated movies have been a large fixture throughout
cinematic history. There is currently an
Academy Award category devoted entirely to animated features. They are an important part of the cinematic
landscape. Movies would be completely
different if not for the animated films that have been popular throughout the
past century.
Children have always been a large part of the popularity of
cartoons. This has not been solely a
movie based genre. Television also
thrives on animated shows. As a child, I
can remember watching cartoons on Saturday mornings. In the children’s cartoons, characters could
be forced into dangerous predicaments, get injured or nearly killed, and
continue on with their lives as if nothing ever happened to them. This was the way of cartoons such as Looney
Toons, where Elmer Fudd, Wile E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, and Yosemite Sam would
always suffer great physical trauma, then return to their normal selves in the
next scene.
Many movies have continued this trend of cartoonish
injury. These movies are live action
cartoons. The movie being focused on for
this discussion is Baby’s Day Out, which can highlight much of what is meant by
the term “live action cartoon.”
A live action cartoon is a term that I use for movies that
feel like cartoons, yet they are not animated.
Baby’s Day Out was a great example of this style of filmmaking. The main character was a baby, who was being
chased by some rather ridiculous criminals.
The movie flowed as a series of locations in which crazy things happen
to the criminals while the baby stayed conveniently out of harm’s way. It was a basic plot that was reminiscent of
cartoons such as the Mindy and Buttons segments of the show Animaniacs.
The other major factor in categorizing Baby’s Day Out as a
live action cartoon is how large certain comedic beats were. This came in the form of the injuries
suffered by the criminal characters.
There are falls from great heights, fights with animals, and an instance
in which some clothes got lit on fire.
These scenarios are played for comedy, and take place in a more
outlandish world. To elaborate on what I
mean by this, I am going to look at the fights with animals. Specifically, the three criminals fought with
a gorilla whose cage was where the baby happened to be. One man got his hand comically broken. Another character got thrown way up in the
air, beyond the camera frame, to an assumed extraordinary height. The third character got thrown across the
room into another cage where he was then tangled up in the newly twisted
bars. These three injuries were
portrayed as they would be in a cartoon, except Baby’s Day Out used live
actors.
Different movies take different stylistic elements in order
to better support their story. The story
of Baby’s Day Out was a simplistic, cartoon-like story, and the use of a cartoonish
style only helped to strengthen it. The
idea of a live action cartoon is an interesting idea, and Baby’s Day Out proved
that it could work.
The magical thing about a movie is that the material can be
anything from a serious drama to a live action cartoon. It all comes down to the director’s vision
and the material being worked with. If
more movies would have the perfect style complimenting the material, everyone
would have more movies to love. I love
movies.
I have one note before you leave:
- Find me on Twitter or leave a comment below if you would like to suggest a movie for the Sunday "Bad" Movie posts.
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