A selection of the best animation news, opinions, and features from around the world for the week ending January 25th, 2020.
News
The 47th Annie Awards
ANIMATION MAGAZINE – Klaus cleans up, but Netflix is the real winner taking home 19 statues and somehow managing to win both Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Feature – Independent with Klaus and I Lost my Body respectively.
‘Bambi’ Remake in the Works (Exclusive)
VARIETY – With this news I’m genuinely considering starting a betting pool on when the live-action remake of Steamboat Willie is released. Seriously though, Netflix is ploughing money into original hand-drawn and CGI films and constantly releases them. Disney is giving us, what, more CGI sequels and even more CGI remakes? Can you guess which company is a safer bet in the long run?
Genndy Tartakovsky Speaks Out About His Star Wars: Clone Wars Animated Series
SUPERHEROHYPE – Tartakovsky has a few choice words for the apparent sweeping of his Star Wars series under the canon rug.
ALICE launched in Barcelona to champion European-made animation
CINERUOPA – European animation continues to organise with the goal of assisting the industry compete more effectively against the American juggernauts. ALICE (Animation League for Increased Cooperation in Europe) will help small and medium businesses who work within the animation industry find funding for their projects.
A Pixar Veteran Reanimates Herself: Director Brenda Chapman Makes Sundance Comeback
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER – Eight years after being unceremoniously sacked by John Lasseter, Brenda Chapman returns to filmmaking with a live-action project.
Cartoon Movie 2020 : projets de films d’animation européens
CATSUKA – You don’t need to know French to appreciate the astounding variety of films that will be presented at Cartoon Movie 2020 in March. Here is just a selection of what will be at the event.
Features
How we made Captain Planet and the Planeteers
THE GUARDIAN – The show may not hold up as well as some of its contemporaries but was prophetic in many ways. Here’s some first-hand accounts from the producer and star.
Animation That Broke the Rules
THE NEW YORK TIMES – The title is slightly misleading to a wonderful tribute to Satoshi Kon.
‘Happy Happy Joy Joy’ Film Review: ‘Ren & Stimpy’ Doc Celebrates Animation But Shies Away From Darker Subjects
THE WRAP – I haven’t seen this yet, but judging by the review, it’s hard to tell if it’s a vanity project, or a labour of love on the part of the producers. Either way, it seems like a missed opportunity.
Bojack Horseman’s animation is completely radical and underrated
POLYGON – Does the genius of BoJack Horseman equal the genius of Neon Genesis Evangelion? I’m going to withhold my opinion, but feel free to share yours in the comments.
Tekkonkinkreet is a forgotten landmark in animation
25YL – This is a rather nice tribute to a film that tends to be overlooked all too often.
Cool Articles of the Week
Real-life renders of animated bedrooms are strangely disappointing
CREATIVE BLOQ – Who would think animated characters would have such boring bedrooms in real life?
Zara just brought out a Bambi dress and it’s surprisingly chic
MARIE CLAIRE – A much better attempt at animation-related merchandise than the Mickey Mouse plates at Target.
Social Media
Who’s ready for a book full of Fred Moore’s work? Want to know a little more about him? This is what I’m doing with my life right now. pic.twitter.com/AShWgPVp9i
— Jenny Lerew (@blackwingjenny) January 22, 2020
According to the FILMGORE podcast by the R&S doc creators, someone close to them knew John, so they decided to develop/crowd fund a doc about the series (they didn’t really watch the show prior). They’ve been working on this thing for a few years. When John’s revelations came out, the doc was basically fully completed. The best they could, from what i can tell, without scrapping and restarting over, was just bringing it up for the last part of the film. It would have put a serious monkey wrench and derailed the “troubled genius” angle if they brought up the dark elephant in the room..
Thanks for the extra info. I guess they found themselves between a rock and a hard place and decided to try as best they could to address the allegations.