Loathing of corporate-formulaic animated talking-animal movies is building, building…a very healthy development. It basically means that even compassionate people of moderate dispositions have a breaking point and that those who maneuver and profit within the quiet corridors of power need to listen up. I cite two examples as proof:

(a) On 9.19, I printed the exasperated comment of a hard-working director (initially conveyed to his manager-producer), to wit: “If I see one more bus ad for one more fucking animated movie with fucking animals in it, I’m going to start screaming.”
(b) Now it’s 11.2 and MSNBC’s Dave White is ranting about essentially the same thing. “Why weren’t Antz and A Bug’s Life enough? Why did we need Ant Bully too? Were there not enough ant-centric films on the pop culture landscape? Did all the DVDs of those other two movies turn to dust, creating an aesthetic void? Why did Doogal get made? What was it even supposed to be about? Why was Jon Stewart a talking coiled spring? Why would I rather watch someone get beheaded on the internet than sit through another one of these stupid, cheap, insulting, corporate toy commercials? When will the eyeball-scorching awfulness end?”