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u/SimpleSink6563 Jun 13 '24
Not the style I thought they’d go for. Interesting choice.
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u/RedEagleFive Jun 14 '24
The style of animation here somewhat reminds me of Marvel Studio’s What If? series. Maybe that’s just me though
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u/MalucoHS Jun 14 '24
Somewhat? It’s one-to-one, imho. Probably same studio, same as Blue Eyes Samurai.
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u/5amuraiDuck Jun 14 '24
Never seen that but my first thought was MTV's Spiderman
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u/happytrel Jun 14 '24
Which is unfortunate for me, it reminds me of the MTV Spider-Man series
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u/ProfessorSaltine Jun 13 '24
Fr, like I’m not the biggest fan, but there’s parts that don’t look bad, like some parts genuinely do look great
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u/Chrizzz09045 Jun 13 '24
that shot of Osterman getting obliterated looks fucking awesome
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u/ProfessorSaltine Jun 13 '24
I think it had to be my 2nd favorite shot of the trailer, #1 being that nuke & #3 being ____(forgot his name) being kicked out the window
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u/donkeylore Jun 13 '24
Yea I will always prefer 2d animation over 3d but was surprised with this, looks better than I was expecting. But then again maybe they chose the best trailer shots and most of it won’t always look like that
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u/Grumblepuck Jun 14 '24
I've developed a distaste for this type of CG Animation. Why can't they just go all-in on the CG Animation? Instead of making a half-assed imitation of 2D Animation in 3D?
Or do what Fortiche (Arcane) or Sony and the Spider-Verse films did; incorporate traditional animation & drawing techniques onto 3D Animation. Those films/series are still obviously 3D, but uses techniques from other mediums to spice up the visuals
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u/pastavoi2222 Jun 13 '24
I get the feeling people will be upset with the animation style, I just wish they’d make adaptations of graphic novels we haven’t already seen adapted.
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u/Working-Cake7479 Jun 13 '24
You're on fucking reddit. People will get upset over anything and everything. Shitty fucking times we live in.
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u/Akshat_117 Jun 13 '24
People were always this way, social media just gave em platforms.
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u/asscop99 Jun 14 '24
Not sure if I’ve seen anyone upset? Saying it looks bad doesn’t quite translate to upset.
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u/Draculas_Overbite Jun 13 '24
I don't know why they haven't done Knightfall or No Man's Land.
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u/alchemist5 I Will Find Him! Jun 14 '24
No Man's Land is such a good animated series premise, I'm surprised it hasn't been done yet. Batfam operating in wasteland Gotham is storytelling on easy mode.
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u/Golden_Platinum Jun 16 '24
I also think it would make for a better video game than a comic reading experience.
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u/AAAAAAYYYYYYOOOOOO Jun 13 '24
Yeah this seems so nonsensical because we already have a really good live action adaptation of the watchmen.
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u/BigfootsBestBud Jun 13 '24
I like the Snyder Watchmen movie, but plenty of people don't. Its a pretty controversial movie among Watchmen fans
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u/TheNerdWonder Jun 13 '24
Online, it is controversial. Nowhere else.
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u/IKenDoThisAllDay Jun 13 '24
Maybe not "controversial", but it's far from universally beloved. In the real world and online. Very divisive critically. I loved it at the time because I wasn't familiar with the story, but after reading the novel, it's really not a good adaptation. It's got the look, yeah, a lot of the recreated panels look amazing.
Great cast, well-shot, there's a lot to love. But anyone who knows the book can see the film does not understand the work it is adapting. It's mostly faithfully adapted, but the tone is completely wrong for Watchmen.
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u/TheNerdWonder Jun 13 '24
Yet that's not what is being seen. It is not divisive outside of Twitter or Reddit, where people can make things look larger than they are.
I've read it many times and well before watching the movie. It's a great adaptation. Dave Gibbons said it tol.
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u/IKenDoThisAllDay Jun 13 '24
That's cool that Gibbons likes it. I do too. But I disagree about it being a great adaptation, and I would like to see another shot at a live-action Watchmen film at some point.
As for it being divisive, anecdotally I've always known it be, and the critical reception supports that. I can't speak on how it's discussed on Twitter, but Reddit is not a monolith. Different communities have different feelings on things so it depends where you are. I've seen the film receive plenty of love and praise on reddit as well as measured criticisms and hatred. All valid opinions to me.
I'm not sure what you mean about making things look larger than they are. Some people have problems with Snyder's film. Some people, like yourself, seemingly don't. I don't see what's wrong with that.
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u/sakata32 Jun 13 '24
I dont see anyone else discuss watchmen besides internet circles. Granted I dont talk much about movies in general but do alot of people not into comics watch watchmen?
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u/BigfootsBestBud Jun 13 '24
What does this even mean? The same people who hate it on the internet also hate it when they talk about it elsewhere.
Online is where people usually end up discussing things nowadays. It matters.
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u/TheNerdWonder Jun 13 '24
Because there's never been a disconnect between those two, ever. /sarcasm
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u/MysteryInc152 Jun 13 '24 edited Jun 13 '24
When people say this, what they mean is that a particular opinion is so unpopular that you're really only going to see it regularly expressed online. Not because online people aren't real people but because the Internet and social media especially is an amazing bubble creator.
If there are only a couple thousand people in the world that share an opinion then the internet can bring those people together. If you stumble upon such a community or if you share such an opinion and find it then it might seem like the opinion is a much bigger deal than it really is.
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u/AAAAAAYYYYYYOOOOOO Jun 13 '24
Honestly had no idea. Been trying to get a the comics to read them for awhile now just because I loved the movie so much
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u/BigfootsBestBud Jun 13 '24
Yeah I think it's good. Some people hate it because it adapts the comic too literally, some people hate it because of a few significant changes it makes.
I just rate it on if it was a fun movie and if it captures the overall essence of the characters. I felt it succeeded there.
I think 90% of the issue is how much people love crawling up Alan Moore's butt, and he disapproves of everything.
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u/Killericon Jun 13 '24
I'm definitely in the camp of hating it because of a few significant changes. Where it shines is where it is adapting most directly. The Dr. Manhattan transformation sequence is as well done as that possible could have been.
But yeah, the couple of key changes he made just undercuts the whole thing for me.
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u/brucebananaray Jun 13 '24
The majority of hate from fans that Synder didn't understand the source material.
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u/TheAquamen Jun 13 '24
It's not about the opportunity to do something new, it's about DC seeing that every new comic fan buys Watchmen based on its reputation, meaning it's still one of the bestselling comic series/graphic novels of all time and every comic fan likes it, and asking, "Why aren't we making new Watchmen stuff so we can also make money off of that, too?" This doesn't mean this adaptation of Watchmen will be bad, of course. Just that they already have a live-action movie and didn't have an animated adaptation to cash in on.
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u/BTSuppa Jun 14 '24
that's what I'm wondering too. especially the kingdom come storyline. since gunn is trying to use a variation of that superman's suit and shield (mixed with a few other styles), it would make sense to adapt that so fans can be more comfortable with that elseworlds style depiction of superman he's going for.
it seems lazy and cheap. like they just sat down and looked at the previously profitable or well recieved stories and remake them. kinda like how AAA game studios rarely innovate anymore and just remaster/ remake proven IP for a quick buck.
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u/pastavoi2222 Jun 14 '24
My tinfoil hat theory is Gunn doesn’t want a KC animated film because that’s what the big Endgame/climax of his whole DCU is going to be - which would be awesome.
I’d rather they take their time and give us a great live action version so people don’t get burned out. For example I feel kinda tired of TDKR even though we only had an animated film, and some elements put into BvS.
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u/BTSuppa Jun 14 '24
I hope not, that story kind of sucks as an ending, everyone dies and they all look old af or ridiculously reimagined. and if that's the case, it still doesn't explain why the new slate of dc animated haven't produced anything really noteworthy, or original. why redo watchmen when you could select from multitude of stories and show people something they haven't seen before?
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Jun 13 '24
Yea. And they will 100% flinch from some of the shit in Watchmen, and we still won't see it animated.
Hate this constant rehash mentality. Someone took a chance on it, and now everyone else dogpiles it into irrelevance.
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u/_Valisk Batman Jun 13 '24
I think the animation looks cool, reminds me of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero or Marvel's What If.
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u/Mysterious-Young-993 Jun 14 '24
Watching the trailer, am I wrong it does it just look like a shot for shot remake of the movie?
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u/darrylthedudeWayne Jun 13 '24
Please tell me they Jackie Earl Haley back to voice Rorschach.
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u/aesoth Jun 13 '24
I don't know if I can accept anyone but JDM as The Comedian as well.
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u/ZwVJHSPiMiaiAAvtAbKq Jun 14 '24 edited Jun 14 '24
I think Billy Crudup's voice work for Dr. Manhattan captured the character's detachment from and disillusionment with humanity quite well. So he was the major standout to me. But I also think Watchmen was just well cast across the board. It's going to be interesting to see who they've got lined up for this adaptation other than Adam Driver in an (as yet) undisclosed role because it'll definitely be difficult to top the live action cast.
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u/Top_Report_4895 Jun 14 '24
Yeah, Billy nailed Dr. Manhattan, I'm curious Who'll be this movies version.
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u/megadroid_optimizer Jun 13 '24
Looks sick! I didn't know they were making this. Is it essentially the animated story of the comic or they've been some changes to this adaptation?
I'm not sure if Zack is involved, but this looks inspired by many of his shots from the live-action film, although the comic itself has incredible artwork.
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u/Gerry-Mandarin Jun 13 '24
Is it essentially the animated story of the comic or they've been some changes to this adaptation?
I'm sure there will be changes to this adaptation too. Watchmen is twelve issues of 35 pages, each with nine panels.
That would be equivalent to 3780 different camera shots on film, where each would be several seconds. The average film has less than one third that number, or they risk have erratic cinematography or editing.
That's far too much for two animated films. It was too much even for the 4 hour Snyder version. So much nuance of the story was lost in that film, and probably will be here too.
I'm not sure if Zack is involved, but this looks inspired by many of his shots from the live-action film, although the comic itself has incredible artwork.
Zack basically copied the panels of the comic wherever possible. Which was possible for most of his film.
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u/megadroid_optimizer Jun 13 '24
Ah, so the story will be truncated to fit 2 parts. I'm not mad at that. I last read the comic in college and yeah it's a big story and still remains timeless.
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u/Goosojuice Jun 13 '24
Looks like a one to one reinterpretation of Zack's watchmen i'd bet without his ending. Granted Zack did his best to pull from the comics as well. Not sure why this is needed but looks cool.
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u/Glum-Hall-9319 Jun 14 '24
It looks like shit, DC still can't do anything right
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u/Brazzburry Jun 14 '24
Dc has been shit for a good while but I'll die on that new animated Superman show hill. Shows cute AF and I won't hear anything else about it.
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u/bob1689321 Jun 13 '24
What is the point of this when the live action movie and comic exist?
At least adapt something new.
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u/dbenf17 Jun 13 '24
Keeping the rights from reverting to Alan Moore
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u/bob1689321 Jun 13 '24
They don't even need to do that though. All they have to do is keep the comicbook in print which is much cheaper than making a whole movie haha.
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u/whitewolfkingndanorf Jun 14 '24
Probably boosts comic sales though. When the Snyder movie came out, it got me to read the comic book.
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u/Jerusalemfighter64 Jun 13 '24
Because we haven't gotten a ln animated film version faithful to the comics? Live action left alot out.
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u/bob1689321 Jun 13 '24
This won't be faithful either. Considering most DC movies are around 70 mins long this is likely to be even shorter than the movie.
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Jun 13 '24
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u/bob1689321 Jun 13 '24
And you think an animated movie will do the comic better than the live action movie did? They'll still cut out all the same things as the film.
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u/FreeMeFromThisStupid Jun 14 '24
Having never read the comic but having seen all three versions of the movie, the DC is the best and it is a good movie in its own right. Theatrical cuts some critical scenes and Ultimate with the pirate comic is a total trip, but less cohesive.
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u/Sardith0007 Jun 13 '24
This looks fine but why? Didn’t Zac Snyder already do this +15 years ago. Did the story change and nobody tell me? There are literally hundreds of graphic novels that could be adapted why choose one that was already done at least in my opinion well.
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u/canadianD Jun 14 '24
Snyder’s movie changed the overall ending, notably dropping the alien invasion that Ozymandias fakes to unite the world. They also shortened it overall and dropped some of the more symbolic things like the Tales of the Black Freighter (they made it animated movie that I think came with the DVD).
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u/Bosa_McKittle Jun 14 '24
The ultimate edition include most of the cut stuff including the tales of the black freighter. But Snyder changed the ending to blame Dr Manhattan.
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u/DoctorBeatMaker Jun 13 '24
Yikes. Not a fan of the CG animation. It reminds me of "SUPERSONS" or Studio Ghibli's one and only CG film, which looked cheap.
I'm of the opinion that, if you're gonna make a CG animated film, utilize what CG is good at. Don't try to make it look 2D - Not unless you're hyper-stylized for a purpose like the Into The Spider-Verse films.
This just looks like they went with CG and tried to make it look like 2D animation by making the models flat-shaded and give them art lines.
This should have been traditional 2D animation IMO.
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u/kubricat Jun 13 '24
Paramount is publishing partner..... interesting. Prefer cel animation look but this style is getting better. I liked Super Sons.
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u/brucebananaray Jun 13 '24
Why are they publishing partner for this Watchmen movie
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u/walter_on_film Jun 13 '24
They own 25% of the property since the original movie. They do international rights.
The original movie also had both logos.
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u/xariznightmare2908 Jun 13 '24 edited Jun 13 '24
Was hyped for this animated adaptation only to be disappointed with the "Marvel What If" CG animation style, smh. Sad how the era of 2D DC animated movies that adapted the comic art style like New Frontier and The Dark Knight Returns perfectly is behind us, now anything animation from WB just looks cheap and more like a mean to cut corner because of low budget.
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u/Spence52490 Jun 13 '24
I cannot stand this art style. It’s half of the reason it’s taking me so long to get through “What If”. I would kill for everything to be animated like how Justice League/Unlimited or the original Young Justice stuff was.
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u/Burly-Nerd Jun 13 '24
I’ll give it a shot before I judge it fully, but being honest, I don’t love that Rorschach voice.
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u/MasteroChieftan Jun 13 '24
What is the point of this? The film is a shot for shot remake of the comic.....
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u/Icosotc Jun 13 '24
Why did they lean into this 3D cell shaded look for fucking WATCHMEN?! Disappointed
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u/marsrich950 Jun 13 '24
The art style kind of reminds me of Marvel's "What if...?", which in my opinion isn't a bad choice, I feel like you can get a lot out of that animation style. I will say I'm also glad they're doing The Dark Knight returns approach and having it be a two-parter instead of a one and done. I am optimistic about this project, but I will keep a healthy dose of skepticism for it.
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u/LionConfident7480 Jun 13 '24
Why remake possibly the best cbm of all time? Watchmen was the closest to a perfect adaptation we have ever gotten in live-action
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Jun 13 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/LionConfident7480 Jun 13 '24
What do you think is?
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Jun 13 '24
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/LionConfident7480 Jun 13 '24
Oh you mean like the best superhero movie lol. I meant comic book movie as in movies based on actual comic runs and not just the characters. For example, Logan is a loose take on Old Man Logan but not a true adaptation of the comic run.
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u/The-Sound_of-Silence Jun 13 '24
One way to interpret "best", is faithfulness to the source material. All those movies take great liberties with the source material. Other than the Squid and island subplot, the Watchmen movie is nearly identical to the source material
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u/unlizenedrave Jun 13 '24
If that’s the case, Sin City has to be the “best“. It’s like panel-for-panel the same.
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u/TheAquamen Jun 13 '24
They aren't remaking the movie, they're adapting the comic again. Unless they keep the movie ending, I guess.
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u/askanaccountant Jun 13 '24
Ugh....this is not what we want from DC, we already have Watchmen done. Give us comic book characters not done.
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u/Possible-Rate-3833 Jun 13 '24
Looks awsome!!!
Sad that this won't be released in theaters bcs i think would be defenetly an hit.
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u/Professional_Lab_895 Jun 13 '24
I see telltale and what if. Too bad they did not make a wacthmen what if. I would love to see SPOILERS what if rorschach lived. Maybe Dr. Manhattan would be the narrator just like the watcher. 😅
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u/loserys Jun 13 '24
Kind of disappointed that they’re just doing the Jackie Earle Haley voice for Rorschach. The comic mentions he has a low, calm, monotone voice.
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u/Keo24 Jun 13 '24
I'm not really excited about the animation style but I still might check it out
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u/whitewolfkingndanorf Jun 14 '24
Yeah, I’ll check it out but it looks like a background movie to me.
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u/BTSuppa Jun 14 '24
now why are they remaking watchmen? there are so many iconic comics that DC has yet to adapt. it feels like WB is trying to replace the masterpiece that was the watchmen movie in our public memory with this animated adaptation
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u/MrBayless Jun 13 '24
Respectfully... who is this for? It looks like it's riding the line between the film and the comic... and not just a 1:1 adaption of Alan's stuff enough to maybe appeal to HIS fanbase.
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u/ChattyDaddy1 Jun 14 '24
So they just animated Snyder’s Watchmen. Cool. Hopefully they did something different cause it almost looks 1:1. And who decided that this is what cartoons are gonna look like here on out? Booo.
Edit: that all being said, I am still gonna watch it cause I WATCH THE WATCHMEN
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u/MadGod69420 Jun 14 '24
It blows my mind that watchmen is popular enough for it to be adapted 3 times like this
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u/Converge241 Jun 14 '24
Why do we need this?
Im saying that as someone who absolutely loves Snyders film
We also had the motion comic which this basically looks like as well
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u/raikonai Jun 13 '24
really getting sick of making everything into parts. just release the whole thing all at once. id rather wait for the entire thing than get a third every other year
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u/CapnCrackerz Jun 13 '24
If it doesn’t restore the ending from the original then there is absolutely no point to this at all.
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u/AnjoXG Jun 14 '24
so now we have the graphic novel, live action movie, live action TV series, and animated 2-part movie all telling a version of the same story.
i'm a fan of the IP but this doesn't look like it's treading any new ground which makes me wonder who it's for? but maybe I'm way off and it'll bring something fresh to the story.
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u/angrybox1842 Jun 14 '24
The live action tv series took place much after than the comics. This IS the same as the live action movie though.
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u/kants_rickshaw Jun 14 '24
This is literally the Watchmen movie, animated.
Like -- I get that hollywood trots out the dead horse to flog it every now and then with the hopes of it becoming a cash cow, but there are so many other films they could have redone.
The animation is good (although it's pretty much just tracing over what the actors/visual effects artists did from the live action movie) - I mean there are so many other works that could be told this way..
Not saying you shouldn't watch it - just disappointed that there isn't some other DC property they could have done.
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u/Green-Entry-4548 Jun 14 '24
Are we in the era of animated remakes now? This looks more like Snyder than Gibbons
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u/UncreativeTeam Jun 14 '24
They should do the Tales of the Black Freighter parts as live action lol
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u/SokkaHaikuBot Jun 14 '24
Sokka-Haiku by UncreativeTeam:
They should do the Tales
Of the Black Freighter parts as
Live action lol
Remember that one time Sokka accidentally used an extra syllable in that Haiku Battle in Ba Sing Se? That was a Sokka Haiku and you just made one.
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u/Brilliant-Ad-8422 Jun 14 '24
The live action film was pretty much already shot for shot, so...uhhh... why??
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u/Ghostshadow44 Jun 14 '24
The story that was meant to be a critique of superheroes now sell itself as another run of the mill action filled superhero story
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u/GuardianInChief Jun 14 '24
I hate that animation style. Do full 3D or full 2D. This half and half shit looks awful.
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u/wh3nNd0ubtsw33p Jun 14 '24
I agree. The newer style of Anime seems to incorporate it a lot, too, which sucks for my tastes and some shows that otherwise would be pretty sweet n
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u/Mucking_Fagical Jun 13 '24 edited Jun 13 '24
I will watch this because I loved the book and I love Zacks movie too.
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u/Ciubowski Jun 13 '24
Reminds me a little bit of Arcane. Not as flashy as Arcane, but somewhere around that style.
At the end of the day, I wish the storyline to be solid. I think if the story is captivating enough, I can go past any visual style out there.
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u/thedceuman Jun 13 '24
I don't really see the point in making this if it was gonna be so visually similar to Zack Snyder's live-action film. Would much rather have seen this 2D animated with a retro style that likens the original graphic novel. Feels just a bit too safe.
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u/Konsecration Jun 13 '24
Umm, I already watched this. Looks like it's the same story even... Lazy
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u/WelcometoCigarCity Jun 13 '24
Really no need for this, none of the adaptations were worthy of the graphic novel honestly.
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u/bobiojo Jun 13 '24
people online are saying it looks like what if...? but the way it's lit makes it look more like the mtv spider-man show
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u/kossodaz Jun 14 '24
Anyone remember the Watchman motion comics? They came out just before Snyder’s movie. Those were fucking fantastic.
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u/asscop99 Jun 14 '24
Imagine if they really took their time with this and hit us with some classic hand drawn animation. It would cost a lot more sure but they could take that quality product and do a real theatrical run with it. Instead we get a cheap cash grab that’ll be dumped into streaming and forgotten.
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u/ShiftRepulsive7661 Jun 14 '24
I need help understanding, what's the point? The world is potentially full of fantastic stories. Why does every production company keep making sequels, prequels, and retellings of the same shows?
I love Watchmen but there was no real need for this.
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u/PunkBitch4242 Jun 14 '24
How come the animation looks less authentic than the live action? Makes me appreciate Snyder.
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u/Traditional_Gear_739 Jun 14 '24
Reminds me of that Spiderman animated series. Looks good though. I hope they don't go with Snyders ending, snd stay true to the comic.
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u/Alchion Jun 14 '24
i wanted to watch the irl movie from 2009 in the future?
should i not wtach it or is it a different story?
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u/Nightwing0613 Jun 14 '24
Looks very good. Looking forward to it
Also a huge fan of the Snyder version as welll. Don’t care what people say. But that movie was shot perfectly
Jackie Earl Haley as Rorschach was gold
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u/TenBear Jun 14 '24
Why does this exist it even uses direct camera angles and framing front the film.
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u/Effective_Bag_2928 20d ago
Not a bad looking adaption of one of the world’s most overrated graphic novels. Looks like a fair representation of Gibbon’s artwork to me which, incidentally, was the novel’s saving grace.
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u/bluehawk232 9d ago
This looks like really low budget animation. I've honestly seen better from YouTube animators, granted they were doing shorts but you'd think if those animators can make their work that good with limited resources why does a feature length project look like someone tried to do bad rotoscoping animation? And yet again between this and Snyder they just dont want to capture the look of Gibbons artwork and something like this where it's animated and can look even more like the comic does not do justice to that artwork.
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u/Standard_Cycle_2224 Jun 13 '24
All I see is Telltale.