Halo Cartoons

My initial reaction to hearing that Bungie and Microsoft were working on seven short Halo films was one of excitement. When I read that the movies were to be animated, I wondered what they meant. I wondered if all the realistic aliens, battles and vehicles in the video game clips done with digital animation are what they considered animated. When I opened the L.A. Times to continue reading the Halo Legends article. I was surprised to see a still of a bunch of cartoon characters. That couldn’t be right, I thought. So I logged into YouTube and quickly found this clip.



You have got to be friggin’ kidding me. Bungie goes from amazing trailers and in-game videos using cutting edge digital animation to make Halo seem life like, then they turn around and come up with the idea to make their first movies - cartoons. Talk about a letdown. I was hoping for the awesome digital animation graphics along the lines of Final Fantasy – the Spirits Within. Instead I see something along the lines of Dragon Ball and Avatar. I’m not knocking those two cartoon series, but it’s definitely a step down in graphics compared to the Halo game. Perhaps Microsoft and Bungie thought if Star Wars could go animated with the Clone Wars, they could do the same with Halo. They should recheck the demographic numbers on that movie. Most adults I know who liked or even loved Star Wars did not watch Clone Wars.

I feel most people equate cartoons with kids. Yes, Bungie is touting this as “anime”, to make it seem all grown up, but I doubt most audiences today, unless they are anime fans, would get a thrill out of seeing a cartoon. Kids would probably like it, but Halo games are rated M for mature so I’m sure most of Halo’s players are not preteens – of course I could be wrong about this.

But if I’m not wrong, Bungie is about to drop – or has already dropped a load of
money on a failed venture.

Then again, maybe they're making the movies animated to attract kids who are too young to play Halo and get them excited about it – cultivating them as you will.

In any event, I am supremely disappointed.