This animated film, which was released in North America in 2008, is actually more than four or five times more cost-effective than "Avatar". As early as 2006, a group of CGI special effects experts rushed together and planned to do a new project. They got inspiration from a short film, and the 3D technology at that time began to pick up in movie applications, "Planet Tara" Start here. But compared with a big money-burning player like "Avatar", "Tower" has a production cost of only 8 million US dollars. A team of 7 animators and 7 CGI special effects artists created this CG in a year and a half. Although the animation did not have a huge box office success, its reputation is quite good. Its impressive story creation is quite a magnificent alien world setting, and it is virtually made for the "Avatar" that was still in production at the time. After warming up, playing the outpost, but the reputation that should have received more praise is all given to those latecomers who are all blue.
The difference is that "Planet Tara" does not follow the "adult" route as in "Avatar", which means that there is no love relationship between the protagonists, but a kind of friendship between adults and children. To some extent, this can even be expanded and interpreted in depth. One is the earthlings representing highly modern material civilization and technological power, who are expanding and aggressive in order to survive in the universe; while the other is living with spirituality. The ancient civilizations and races of Power Planet reflect more harmony, spirituality, tradition and cultivation in their bodies. In this context, the encounter of the two races appears to be extremely antagonistic and has dramatic contradictions. In their respective camps, there have been individuals who communicate with each other and sympathize with each other. After all kinds of misunderstandings, tempers, and crises, they have gradually moved towards co-prosperity and symbiosis. "Tara" and "Avatar" both adopt a more idealistic approach to the ending. After all, this is a commercial work. You can't expect how gray or desperate he will paint the possibility of reality, not to mention the former. It is an animated movie for children. It is commendable that the setting of the ecological landscape of the planet Tara has the meaning of the immortal world in the traditional Chinese culture. There are many Zen in the magnificence and transcendence, and it is not deliberately entangled in the reality. The shocking beauty of surreal, magnificent fantasy and various poses. In the handling of battle scenes, "Tara" is absolutely worthy of the expressive power of 3D visual effects. If you add to watching IMAX, the dizziness when watching "Avatar" will definitely regain the upper body.
Because of the limited production cost, "Tara" also has shortcomings, such as the rigid and single expression of the characters, the lack of dullness in the texture of the characters, and so on. It’s just that they are not so eye-catching in front of the director and the team’s ability to rejuvenate. What you can see besides this is not only sincerity and talent, but of course, Hollywood-like image thinking, for the country that is making rapid progress but not seeking to make progress. For my colleagues, this is not as simple as an animated movie.
Originally published in "Information Times" 2010-10-31 Entertainment Xindi Weekly
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