I watched the new Muppets movie on Sunday, which was funny although I wasn't entirely satisfied with the plot, and one of the previews shown before the film was for "The Pirates! Band of Misfits". Besides the made-for-TV feel of the title(short title with an extraneous and often redundant phrase added afterward), the thing that bugged me the most was the framerate. This is 2011, and yet this looks like it's 12fps at MOST. Hand-drawn animation has smoother, more natural movement than these pirates, and that's usually 12fps.
I'm sure some people prefer the jerky aesthetic of stop motion, but wouldn't people like claymation better if it moved more naturally? Well, CGI can replicate claymation PERFECTLY now, and at 60fps if they like! It's also easier! CGI has all of the same benefits stop motion has(you can even add the imperfections if you want). In fact, Flushed Away was CGI that mimicked claymation and it did rather well. Which makes me wonder... if I made Ferrets Vs Lemmings 3D cartoons at a stop-motion framerate, would it be as successful as if it was good claymation? This would cut render times by at least half! I might even add fake fingerprints to the "clay". I think I would still go 30fps, though, because the finished product is more important than render time unless it's a recurring series.

Here's the trailer for The Pirates! Band of Misfits...


Keep your eyes peeled for "Ferrets Vs Lemmings: Long Tube Critters Have Disagreements With Short Rodents With Hardly A Tail"