Exaggeration in 3D Animation

If there is one thing I love to see and do is exaggeration. I think exaggeration adds a lot to a scene in animation, because it makes every motion in the scene so much more engaging and imaginative. I particularly love in kid's shows like Spongebob and Ren & Stimpy when they really have fun with the art style by pushing the flexibility of their characters.

These two shows manage take something as simple as eating and make it look interesting and hilarious, just by exaggerating it. That's why I love animation like this, because they really know how to go off-model. I can accept weird stuff like Ren's mouth and head changing size and shape like that, and Spongebob's tongue and left arm stretching to those disproportionate lengths because the transitions and the motions feel natural with the animation.

This is the benefit to animating in 2D as opposed to 3D, because you can be much more loose like that in 2D. With 3D, it can be really difficult to pull off a style like this, without completely destroying the 3D model in the process, being really good at making 3D character models, or, if you're really desperate, making multiple 3D models of the same character (though I highly doubt anybody's THAT crazy).

Though, that's not to say it's impossible. Films like Hotel Transylvania and TV shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are brilliant at exaggeration, for example.

With that said, though, it is clear that a lot of skill and effort is put into making 3D animation stretch like this, the problem for me is that it doesn't really translate as well with 3D as it does 2D animation. The transitions are hella smooth and the emotions are well-acted in the examples shown above, but I just think this style was always meant for 2D, and there's probably more reason that to wonder about why this style is rare to find for 3D animation.