When taking on established animated franchises, you can’t just “listen to nostalgia,” according to Jeff Rowe, director of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.” “That’s when things get stale,” he said during Variety’ s “Innovation and Inspiration in Global Animation” panel at Annecy Animation Festival, moderated by international editor Elsa Keslassy. Rowe was joined by “ Transformers One ” director Josh Cooley, “The Smurfs Movie ” helmer Chris Miller and María Trénor, the director of “Rock Bottom.
” “It’s important to look at things with fresh eyes and ask, ‘Does this make sense? Does a man who was a sensei turning into a rat make sense?'” Rowe continued. “Our goal was to make a film that those who have never heard of ‘Ninja Turtles’ – or hated it and hated that the movie was even happening – were still able to enjoy.” Therefore, the team hired many people who had “no familiarity with the franchise.
” But it was the opposite when it came to making “Transformers One,” which premiered an unfinished version of the film at Annecy to a standing ovation. “It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t have any knowledge of it – it has been around for 40 years,” director Cooley said on the panel. “But it’s an origin story and we wanted to make a film my grandmother would understand.
She is a huge ‘Transformers’ fan. Massive.” He added that the “entire crew, myself included, were all fans of the orig.