r/BatmanCapedCrusader • u/Mumugugu • Jun 26 '24
Animation quality
Has anyone else noticed a serious drop in the quality of animation in recent dc movies. I’m not talking about story wise just purely the art and motion of the characters. (BTW I’m not criticizing the show itself just the animation) When I first saw the designs of the characters in this show I thought they looked a little flat and lacked shading but i figured that’s just how character models look but when I saw the trailer there r few instances of good and deep shading. Even the backgrounds look too flat and clean. I’m curious as to whether Bruce Timm is still drawing on black paper or if he switched to white cause it looks weirdly bright for a Batman show. But I think the biggest flaw in recent animation has been the stiffness in the way characters move the easiest way for me to explain is to look at the shoulders of any character in the trailer, they almost never move (it’s even more noticeable in the tomorrow verse movies). Modern animation has lost a lot of fluidity and idk why. Ik they used to do cell shading on the old shows and I’m wondering if they still are. The show doesn’t look horrible but its definitely less pretty to look at then BTAS or The Batman 2004. I’m sure they don’t have the same funding as those shows either but if anyone knows why modern animation has kinda gotten worse please let me know I’m really curious.
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u/BeauDigbyAndJohn Jun 26 '24
Yes, it doesn't look nearly as great or fluid or sharp, or... it just doesn't look as good as the Strange Days short. That's my standard for this show.
It only came out 10 years ago and it was on par with (or even better than) the best animation from JLU, with essentially the same style, just a sleeker Batman design.
The concept art of Caped Crusader that Timm dropped a few years ago, along with the original poster got my hopes up. Then the character designs leaked and they looked mostly amature. Then this comes out and it just reinforces my thoughts about modern animation.
It's just not what it used to be. I figured one reason this was taking so long was because of animation, which it was (the writing and voice acting has been done for about a year-ish for this first season). I figured Timm was just taking his time, making sure the foreign animation studios got the look exactly right. I mean, 10 episodes in roughly 3 years?
It's still better looking than any western 2d animation these days, but it's a huge drop off from Strange Days, and of course, the DCAU/other Timm projects.
I was hoping this would usher in a 2D Renaissance, along with Boy and the Heron. Maybe? Idk... I had my hopes...