Bad Natural History

[urbpan]

Okay, so when you watch a movie with animals acting like people (you know, talking and such), you must suspend some of your disbelief. I'm okay with that--it has been this way since Aesop.

But these days the filmmakers are mixing in lots of actual Natural History with animals acting like people. For example the fish in "Finding Nemo" look (and to some degree behave) real, but they don't eat one another. In "Antz," there are both male and female worker ants. (This movie, which I am only halfway through, is the reason I'm posting. There's an awful lot that I could say, positive and negative about it, but I need to finish it, and I probably have to watch "A Bug's Life" for comparison, and the go see "The Ant Bully," too.) Even the bug scene in "King Kong," while exciting, is laughable from a Natural History standpoint (beyond even the bugs' great size--I'm talking behavior).

I want to know this, from you all:

At what point does faulty Natural History interfere with your enjoyment of a movie?

Comments

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

i was pretty sure that's what you meant. i vaguely remember that episode.

did you like the cockroach one? that's one of my all-time favorites!

[badnoodles.livejournal.com]

I have not seen the cockroach one, but I will keep and eye out for it.

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

i'm like in shock. the humor value is through the roof. cockroach infestation, a whole town is freaking out. scully spills some raisinettes and everyone runs away screaming. the bug lady's name is bambi. she's hot.

War of the Coprophages

[turil.livejournal.com]

That's definately one of the best X-Files ever. Cockroaches, robots, exploding poop, MIT nerds... Mmmmmm.

Re: War of the Coprophages

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

I just love ...
Scully: Bambi?
Mulder: blahblahblahblah
Scully: Her name is Bambi?

Also, the last 5 minutes of the episode are pretty excellent. "Scully, you stink."

Re: War of the Coprophages

[brush-rat.livejournal.com]

My favorite episodes of the X-files were all written by the same guy, Darin Morgan who is writer Glen Morgan's brother. Glen wrote a lot more episodes, but I really loved Darin's work on the series. They combined weirdness, horror and humor in a way that really appealed to me. The episodes were "Blood", "Humbug", "Clyde Bruckman's Final Repose", "The War of the Coprophages" and "Jose Chung's From Outer Space." He was also an actor in the series, portraying the Flukeman before he started writing for the show.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Oh, and off topic, I really wish your icon had sound capabilities. Those little rattling guys were so funny!

[cottonmanifesto.livejournal.com]

at the very least, i should have an animated version. they're the 'clackity head guys' in our house. :)