So hey, what's with the dancing at the end of recent animated movies?

J

JayDax

New member
It seems more and more common that at the end of animated films, the characters and every character that was in the film, regardless if they were in the scene where the music started, will end in dancing.

It started with Shrek but that seemed to be the only film that really did it, right now I count Horton Hears a Who!, Despicable Me, and Megamind.

And Megamind was really the only film I felt where it was appropriate seeing as how Megamind always had those few times where he would go out in style while approaching the city, and the city was celebrating.

I'm not so much bothered by it, I kind of like it when a film goes out with a celebration and fun music, but if they keep doing it I will get tired of it soon. Is this just like, the new cool way to end a film now?
 
I think the trend has definitely worn out its welcome. Another film that ended with a song was the underrated Igor. Blind children were singing "I Can See Clearly Now". The somewhat amusing irony was undercut by how much I dislike the song, and it made for an unfortunate blemish on an otherwise entertaining movie.
 
Off the top of my head, Madagascar (I can't remember if 2 did as well), Shark Tale, Shrek 2, Igor, and probably Robots also ended like this.

It's mainly Dreamworks that does it, but the others studios do it as well. I guess I excuse it for Shrek because it was a wedding after all, but everything else (ESPECIALLY Horton Hears a Who) just comes off as "Quick, we need to throw in a random pop song sung by the celebrity voice actors to sell soundtracks!", creating a completely wedged-in out-of-place ending. At least with Monsters Inc., the song was put in over the credits.



Honestly, those were two of the only films I could tolerate the "every CGI character in the area dances to a well-known song", because 2 had the whole "whatever happens, we'll stick together" message, and 3 was basically a "this is the end of the franchise that put our studio on the map, so let's go out with a smile" ending after the last string of heartstring-pulling scenes leading up to it.

Thank god Pixar hasn't played this to death, unlike the other CGI studios...
 
I was wondering if Megamind had the obligitory Dreamworks "entire cast rocks out to an old pop standard on the soundtrack" finale. Thanks for saving me $8.50. :shrug:

It was cute and novel when Shrek started this trend nearly a decade ago, but it's seriously gotten out of hand lately, like the filmmakers assume that, if all of the characters on-screen are partying and having a great time, then so should the audience watching. Horton Hears A Who was totally wrecked for me when they all started the karaoke singalong to "I Just Can't Fight This Feeling Anymore" at the end. :mad: At least Toy Story 2/3 had the finale sing/dance scenes set to gag versions of "You've Got A Friend In Me", instead of some worn-out Motown song from the 1970's.

I think it has to do with the death of the Broadway-style animated musical at the end of the 90's. How do you sell soundtrack units without songs for the kiddies...? Cram the soundtrack with songs their parents will be familiar with, of course. :sad: Pixar almost never does this, and I applaud them for it.
 
This thread is becoming a shining example of how Pixar can do the exact same crap that people always complain bitterly about other studios doing and people will kiss Pixar's ass for it and say it's great. Quick, let's talk about how Pixar never uses celebrity voice talent and gives breaks to little known voice actors, like, Tom Hanks, Billy Crystal and John Goodman.

Anyway, animated movies should go back to ending with everyone standing around having a really fake and forced belly laugh.
 
Uh, it really isn't considering that it took until the second post to name a Pixar movie. People need to stop being so sensitive about this.

I have no problem with it. It's fun. I don't think it's overstayed it's welcome, though I can concede that it shouldn't be an obligatory habit really.

It isn't yet, though. I see the Megamind ending (which was fun!) and raise detractors How To Train Your Dragon, which hasn't been named yet.
 
I actually don't mind them. Also it's not just animated movies, it's more like family movies as a whole are doing them a lot lately. I know that both NIght at the Museums and G-Force ended like that.
 
According to one of the features on the Toy Story Blu-ray, Tom Hanks and Tim Allen were not well known when they recorded their voices. It was only after the recording was done, but before the movie came out that they became well known. Pixar got lucky, but they unintentionally helped start the "big name actors only" trend in animated movies.
 
That's provably untrue with Hanks, who had been a leading man and headliner since 1984's hit Splash and huge after 1988's Big, which was before Toy Story started production. You can make a better case for Tim Allen, but he had already landed Home Improvement and was hot for his standup. At any rate, didn't they ask Billy Crystal to be Buzz first and get turned down? That doesn't sound like going with unknowns to me. Maybe they were being sarcastic?

Anyway, yeah, yeah, rabroad, I'll stop.
 
It's definitely overused (I made an animated trailer parodying its overuse), although it's not an exclusive trait of Dreamworks movies.
Don't forget "The Santa Clause", which was a surprise hit in 1994.
 
To be fair, there, Toy Story was in production for a long time and Allen had recorded most of his lines before the Santa Clause came out. But he wasn't a nobody, either.

I think that for the original question it is overdone, but it isn't necessarily bad. Some of the dancing scenes are a lot of fun. It just depends on the execution. And live action movies do it, too, like the singing at the end of Something About Mary.
 
Hanks was hired to voice Woody around 1992, and while it's hard to believe now, he was coming off a string of flop movies in the late 80's and early 90's (remember Turner & Hooch? Joe vs. The Volcano? Bonfire Of The Vanities?) It was almost precisely after he was hired by Pixar that he started taking better roles and his box office fortunes skyrocketed. A League Of Their Own, Philadeliphia, Forrest Gump and Apollo 13 were all released while Toy Story was in production. So, at the time Hankes was originally hired, he was far from a big movie star, just someone who was briefly popular in the 80's and who apparently was on a one-way trip into pop-culture obscurity. Tim Allen was probably more famous than Hanks at the time, with Home Improvement just taking off in its first season and his popular stand-up routines.
 
Nope. He may have had a couple of flops but he was still a big star and Turner and Hooch actually did well. And he wasn't on his way to obscurity, he turned it right back around with A League of Their Own in 1992. I was around, I remember. Let's not rewrite history to reinforce the myth of Pixar, okay?
 
I'm not huge on Pixar but I wouldn't say they're celebrity-driven. Hiring famous actors isn't the problem. I just went through commentary and DVD extras on Pinocchio, and that movie was full of known and even famous actors at the time of its release. But it's when you're casting someone like Brad Pitt... I get comedians and character actors... But when you're drawing from leading men and women from Hollywood, very rarely do you get the strong voice performance you need.

As for the dancing ending, this is what killed it for me- European animated films doing it. 5:50, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T7tvP5G8Tk
 
Well, from I what I remember Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs didn't have a dance ending, but they do dance in the credits, and it's just that; the credits.
 
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