Sean Connery has retired from acting, this we all knew. The legendary actor ended his career with the 2003 disaster THE LEAGUE OF EXTRAORDINARY GENTLEMEN. After a legacy of movies that cemented him as one of the greatest movie stars of all time it was quite a disappointing final chapter to his career. However, Connery was not satisfied with ending it with a live action flop. Back in 2010, he provided his voice for the first animated film fully created in Scotland which has now gotten an official release date in the United Kingdom.
SIR BILLI, based on a short film from 2006 also voiced by Connery, tells quite the story:
An aging, skateboarding vet, Sir Billi goes above and beyond the call of duty fighting villainous policemen and powerful lairds in a battle to save an illegal fugitive – Bessie Boo the beaver! A heart warming and action packed family movie where thrilling car chases, heroic skydiving and daring stunts from this octogenarian, fueled with encounters with a hostile submarine, will keep you at the edge of your seat!
After being panned when it premiered at festivals in 2012, the movie will see a theatrical release overseas on September 13, 2013 and hit home video a few days later. No word on whether it will see the light of day in America. Hopefully it never will. The poorly animated film pales in comparison to the big budget products of Dreamworks or Pixar. It shares a lot visually with the HOODWINKED films, but even they were able to properly sync the actors voices to their animated avatars. In the trailer below you can see the finished film is just not good.
As a milestone for Scottish animators, I respect SIR BILLI. In every other regard, I am embarrassed for the man who was James Bond. Connery refused to take roles in THE LORD OF THE RINGS as Gandalf or THE MATRIX as Morpheus for lack of understanding the scripts. How the hell did SIR BILLI sound like a good idea?
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