Certain Responses to the ALF Movie

[ALF'sgirl]

Ever since I found out about the new ALF film that's coming; I've been curious about what other people have to say. Unfortunately, ALOT of people aren't willing to give this new CGI idea a try; I mean, I was a little disappointed when I heard the original puppet won't be used, but I'm willing to try. And then there are people who won't see the movie because they just aren't fans of ALF, altogether; It's not like they're being forced to see it when it comes out! So why are they making such a big deal out of it? I, on the other hand am excited about the movie, and am hoping that year 2013 would hurry up and pass, already so I can buy the tickets!

[robodog]

We haven't heard any news on the Alf movie in awhile. I'm not even sure if it's even still coming. But if it is I'll see it whether they use CGI or puppets.

I think part of the reason a lot of people dislike CGI is because it loses some of the cool factor. A puppet or animatronic exists as a physical thing. In that way it makes it theoretically possible to "meet" the character and interact with it. But CGI is just an image on a screen. The fact that we are trained from birth to thoroughly understand how living things move also plays a part. If you see a creature onscreen you know from experience how it should move but that can often be hard for animators to replicate perfectly. Sometimes a CGI character's movements seem off. It's also hard on the human actors since they are basically having to learn how to interact with nothing. There is a lot that can go wrong. And if something is done wrong the best case is that it looks silly and the worst case is it plunges the character deep into the uncanny valley and creeps out the viewer.

I personally believe CGI should only be used if there is no other way to create a character or scene. Yoda needed to be CGI for his fight scenes but didn't need to be when he was just sitting around talking. Sure the Yoda puppet in The Phantom Menace looked off, but that is more the fault of the people who made it than it is the art of puppetry. After all the Yoda puppet in Empire Strikes Back is perfectly believable.

[Admin]

I can definitely tell you that the new movie is still a GO - no other news for me to share at this time.

[Ninjadragon5]

yeah, I can understand why some people are against CGI, with puppetry the character just seems more alive because it is really there and the natural movements of the character are easier to pull off, with CGI even though he as gotten a lot better of the years, it still lacks the certain realness you see from a puppet, you can still tell it created in a computer.

as for it with ALF, I can why the would want to go CGI with him, while the puppet was great for the show, they were severely limited to what they could do with the puppet and had to come with some pretty ingenious ways for to interact with the people and the setting around him. plus when they wanted full body shots of him they had to a midget guy in a costume. so I could see how the could use CGI to give Alf more movements for actions scenes and stuff like that.

the think the movie will be good regardless if he is a puppet or CGI because it's ALF! and you can't go wrong with ALF.

[robodog]

I'm glad the movie is still on. The more Alf the better.

I admit the full body Alf costume used in the series always looked a bit off. The differences between the puppet and costume was obvious. But that was a TV show, not a big budget movie. In a movie they could afford an animatronic costume akin to the ones used in the Ninja Turtles movies if they really wanted to. But CGI is easier so that's what I suspect they'll go with.

In the end it doesn't matter how he's brought to life. I'm on board with anything Alf related. Whether he is CGI, a puppet, an animatronic or a cartoon character I will always love Alf.