Spectral Motion's Animatronics Work For Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters Is Impressive

The folks over at Spectral Motion just released quite a bit of test footage regarding the development of animatronics for a troll called 'Edward' in the Hansel & Gretel. Inspired by the level of fidelity that Guillermo Del Toro managed to achieve with the Hellboy franchise (The making of Hellboy II is one of the best I've ever seen), director Tommy Wirkola decided to go with the same company that worked with Del Toro. Following Gustav Hoegen's stellar animatronic work on Prometheus, I wouldn't be surprised if the medium makes a major comeback over CG in years to come.

On a side note, Edward was probably the only redeeming feature that the film had to offer, after going to a screening for that awful, awful movie. Did you know that Hansel (Jeremy Renner, Hawkeye in The Avengers) had steampunk diabetes, called 'the sugar disease' in the movie from eating too much candy? Part of my brain died in that theater, but hey..At least I got to experience some truly amazing animatronics created by a passionate group of folks. Derek Mears manned the final animatronic suit in the feature.

Gustav Hoegen's Animatronics Reel Is Absolutely Incredible

Gustav Hoegen's work blew me away, especially after discovering that he had created animatronics so convincing that I simply accepted them as computer generated in this years 'Prometheus.' I had some notion that advances were still being made in animatronics, but his work is on an entirely different level. Gustav's 2012 reel is filled with some absolutely incredible feats of engineering accomplished over the last few years for the following movies: Clash Of The Titans, Inheart, Isolation, The Brothers Grimm, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy and more. Glad to know that the practical effects medium is still being used to such good effect in blockbusters today.