Animatronic Raccoon

In this video, an Animatronic Raccoon in the likeness of the Raccoon from the “Guardians of the Galaxy” movie answers questions in Japanese (the video is from Japan). The article goes on to say that the director of the movie is a little freaked out by this particular use of animatronics, especially the way the animal appears to get angry and laughs.

I haven’t seen “Guardians of the Galaxy,” but have heard a lot of good things about it. As far as animatronic animals go, I was wondering how many people would be as bothered by this video as the director was. What are some other examples of creepy animal characters which were the results of animatronics or some other form of animation?

We were watching the first “Alvin and the Chipmunks” movie, and my son said that the movie was actually pretty disturbing because there are talking chipmunks. I grew up listening to their songs, so I guess the idea of talking chipmunks doesn’t really bother me, but of course in the movie they have to talk a lot more. I could see why this would creep someone out.

There have been a lot of shows and movies which used tricks to create the illusion of a talking animal. The horse in “Mr. Ed” comes to mind. Not a show that I watched a lot of, but I understand that they fed the horse which made it smack its lips. If I remember right, when there is a dog that talks animal wranglers would feed it peanut butter.

“Dog with a Blog” is an example of a sitcom that’s on the air right now which features a talking dog as a character. The dog is real, but of course his lips are animated with CGI when he talks.

Talking animals are a thing of fantasy, so whenever humans encounter them they are often amazed and excited. Judging from people’s reaction to the portrayal of animals that talk, I’m willing to guess that in reality a talking animal would pretty much freak people out.

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