What if Pixar Made the Next Fantastia?

2 Comments / Animation, Disney, Film, Pixar /

The other day, I had a bit of a back and forth conversation on Twitter with Mr Sam Levine about Fantasia, in which he mentioned pitching a sequence featuring Gustav Holst’s suite “The Planets”. Afterwards it got me thinking about the whole concept of Fantasia and why it remains so popular even after all these years.

My personal opinion is that it epitomises the best of animation as an expressive artform. Now I don’t meant to say it has the best animation, that’s a statement that requires some serious research and evidence to back up, which I don’t have the time for today. What I mean is that the music forms the basis on which the animation is based, not the other way around, which is the way most films are scored these days. The result is a wonderfully complex series of sequences in which the animator is allowed a fair amount of creative license that is used to great effect. Does dialogue distract from the animation? Watch any animated show/film/etc with the sound off. Do you pay more attention to the character’s movements? I bet you do.

With the thought of seeing the film for the first time in a few years (since it’s coming out on DVD) as well as seeing Fantasia 2000 for the first time, it got me thinking: What if Pixar made the next Fantasia?

We all know that Pixar makes good movies (I know it too, in difference to my recent comments over on Cartoon Brew) and while their writing team has been given a ton of credit for their slate of films, the animation crew seems to be in their shadow to a certain extent. A film like Fantasia would be a wonderful opportunity to give them a chance to flex their creative muscles.

In comparison, Disney was at a similar stage when he made the original. Here he was, an established animation studio that had won critical and commercial success who was looking for a vehicle to showcase the latest in technology, which at the time included stereo sound and technicolour (yes, that had been around for almost a decade but I dare you to name more than a few, colour, World War II films).

Does Pixar need a film to showcase all their creative skills? No, not really, they already do that in almost every film they release. Would I still like to see them do it? Absolutely! CGI is in desperate need of something to show of the animation itself and not just the design or the backgrounds.

The realities of the movie business today mean that a Pixar Fantastia is unlikely to happen, which is a wee bit of a shame really, since the original is still immensely popular. I would not, however, rule it out altogether.

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Why A Film Review Should Make You Want To See the Movie

Animation /

Although I’ve mentioned that I’m not particularly fond of movie critics, they do undertake an important role, that of reviewing movies for the general public who simply do not have time to view them all. Naturally the quality of such reviews varies greatly and critics generally tend to come off as snooty, holier-than-thou types who will savagely beat a film before it goes on to become the top grossing one of the year.

Sometimes the best reviews I’ve read are not by real critics at all, they’re written by fans, movie-lovers or friends. The internet has been marvellous in that regard as I can Google said movie and discover literally thousands of personal responses to the film.

The proliferation of movie reviews on the internet does not mean, however, that the calibre or quality of said reviews are any better. Responses by fans can be tainted my personal bias, cultural bias or indeed national bias (for the record, we Irish did enjoy Four Weddings and a Funeral) and you always run the risk of a poorly written or worded review (I’ll put my hand up here) spoiling your appetite.

The interesting thing is, when you break it down, a film review, if done correctly, should encourage you to go see the film no matter how bad (or good) a film is. That’s not to say it should encourage you to go see a pile of puke, like say, The Mask 2 but it should present the reader with enough information about whether they want to go and see the film or not.

Take for instance Michael Sporn’s review posted yesterday for The Illusionist. It covers all the bases and discusses the negative aspects of the film (of which there are few). By the end, I wanted to see this film, not because of how brilliant Michael conveyed it to be, but because he made me believe that this is a good film through his spirited writing and comprehensive inclusion of other well known animation figures and their opinions.

In the end, the decision to go see the film will be made by you and you alone (although your friends and peers may have some serious influence). A good review will inform you of why you should see it and have minimal comments on the negative aspects the film, which of course, will leave it up to you to determine them for yourself.

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A Scary Dream I Had the Other Night

Animation, Disney, TV /

Via: Stuff We Like.com

Not the kind of blood-curdling, shivers down the spine stuff you understand, Hallowe’en is over for another year after all, but scary nonetheless. In it, I was in a film, a rather peculiar film in that it was a lice-action/CGI hybrid version of that classic Disney cartoon, DuckTales.

Yes, you read that correctly. How it came about, I do not know, although I sure hope it is not a premonition of some kind that is a window into the future. As an animation fellow, that would be unthinkable, a crime against humanity even!

Well, since then, I’ve been pondering the whole thing on and off and I’ve come to the conclusion that such a feature may well be within the realm of possibility for the foreseeable future for a number of reasons.

Firstly, Uncle Scrooge is one of Disney’s most successful characters (he’s had his own comic since the 50s after all). I could probably still recall the many, many comics I read as a kid at the kitchen table as I ate my breakfast and supper. The original stories by Carl Barks and the more recent stuff by Don Rosa continue to attract fans the world over. So it is safe to say that the character is far from being hung out to dry.

Secondly, such a film would not be the first time that Disney has capitalized on the character or universe. The TV series DuckTales was, for the most part, the adaptation for animation of some of Barks original stories. The series was massively popular and gave rise to a sequel in the form of Darkwing Duck.

What set DuckTales apart from other shows was the cinematic quality of the animation. So much so, that when a theatrical film was released (The Treasure of the Lost Lamp) the difference in quality was imperceptible to my untrained (at the time) eyes.

That film, apparently didn’t fare too well at the box office, which was a shame but not entirely unexpected. If I had to suspect a reason it’s that not too many adults watched the show, and thus were not as familiar with it as they could have been. By comparison, SpongeBob Squarepants had a pretty large adult following (including both parents and trendy college students) by the time a theatrical film was released. This ensured that it had a significantly larger potential audience than if it were just kids and their parents.

So, why would now (i.e. within the next few years) be a good time for a new film?

Weeeeeell, anybody who watched the original show is probably in their mid to late-20s with the cut-off being 30 years old, for the most part. With that in mid, they’re probably starting to get married and having a few kids. As humans, we’re suckers for nostalgia, why else would they play classic rock and 80s synth-pop on the radio?

There’s a good chance that since all the original viewers have grown up and now have kids of their own, they will be hungry for some link to their youth. A DuckTales film would be perfect and with the recent rash of live-action/CGI movies, it would fit the glove quite nicely for such a production.

I write all this in a somewhat sarcastic manner as I believe such a movie would be most likely horrendous. Why on earth I dreamt it in the first place is beyond me and while I would like to see some new animation from the Duck universe, a live-action/CGI film is certainly not on my list of possible ideas.

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Better Late Than Never: Steve Jobs and Cars 2

Animation, Pixar /

Yes, I am pretty late with today’s post and I offer my humblest apologies.

I read on Lineboil today that Steve Jobs, erstwhile boss at Apple Computer, has instructed John Lasseter to get his hands dirty and stick his nose into the engine bay of Cars 2.

While none of this is confirmed as of yet, if it is true, it could delay the sequel to a film that has absolutely raked in the merchandising dough for Disney/Pixar over the years and clearly has done quite well thus far with various TV specials and psuedo spin-offs.

The important lesson to learn is that either the story guys aren’t firing on all cylinders, or the race marshall thinks they’re running on illegal tyres and won’t let them leave the pit lane. Either way the instruction from Jobs represents a significant event in the Pixar assembly line production of movies. Is it a bad thing? Maybe, maybe not. However, it is the type of top-down management style typical of Jobs but somewhat foreign in a creator-orientated company like Pixar.

Since we’re unlikely to find out the truth for a while yet, I’m not going to take it at full face value. However, I hope that it does not signal the start of a worrying trend at the most successful CGI studio to date.

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The Wall Street Journal on The War Between Disney and Nickelodeon Over Pre-Schoolers

2 Comments / Animation, Disney, Nickelodeon, TV /

Thanks to Cathal Gaffney for tweeting this interesting article from the Wall Street Journal. You might want to grab a cup of tea (or coffee) before you read it. I’ll wait.

Back? OK, good.

The point of the article is that Disney and Nickelodeon differ on how they think pre-school children should be programmed for. Nick believes firmly in educational programmes whereas Disney is soon to switch to more story-based shows. The article makes it out like the two are locked in an epic battle for eyeballs that have absolutely zero purchasing power. Although that is not telling the full story, is it?

Of course not. it’s made quite clear that parents are the real ones being courted. Yes, there are the Jesuit ideals at work (get them young and they’re customers for life) but the networks seem to be pandering to parent’s wants even more. As is pointed out, there has been a shift in what parents desire for their kids. A decade ago, they wanted them to be well educated, now they want them to be happy.

What I think is that as parents, they should be spending more time with their kids! Why? Well, the programming may have a lot of educational content, but as pointed out in the article, the top advertisers during said programmes are the fast food and toy companies. Now there is nothing wrong with that, per se, however knowing how much TV kids in the US seem to watch, it can’t be a good thing.

Something that I admit kind of floored me was that 40% of Nick Jr’s viewers watch between 8-11p.m. What the #$%^(*&? When I was that age, I was lucky to stay up past 8, let alone up to 11!

I am not trying to disparage the idea of educational, pre-school TV shows, I did after all, watch Sesame Street religiously for years until I went to school.However, I also watched plenty of Postman Pat and Thomas the Tank Engine too. The point is that I enjoyed a good mix of programming, it wasn’t skewed heavily in either direction.

On the other side of the fence are the networks, who will come up with the relevant facts to prove that their content is beneficial, such as this from the article.

“Jake and the Never Land Pirates,” a new series launching in February, follows a group of kids who get into adventures with Captain Hook. Even though Hook is a bad guy, Jake still invites him to play at the end of the episodes, an important social lesson, Disney says.

Yeah right. From my own recollection, kids on the playground will heed their peers when it comes to including and excluding other kids from play. I did it and I was on the receiving end of it too and all the time I don’t recall using what I saw on the TV as a guide as to my behaviour.

Well, I take that back. once I told another kid to “get lost” as in an Oscar the Grouch way and man, did I get hauled up to the teachers desk, from where I had to make a very, very public apology to the entire class. I learned my lesson after that experience!

What worries me most is that the whole point and benefits of pre-school programming will be lost in the scramble to win parent’s affections and dollars. Responsibility for a child’s upbringing should rest with the parents. Networks are in the unenviable position of having to balance the need for high-quality programming with the need for earnings from advertisers. So far they’ve done relatively well. Should a war break out, we all know who will suffer the most.

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Animation Renaissance

Animation /

I’m a wee bit behind on various updates from my stable of animation blogs and websites so here is a belated link to a post by Michael Sporn featuring a magazine article written by the one and only Mr. John Canemaker discussing the state of the animation industry in 1980 (a.k.a. 30 years ago). The article serves as a good reminder that although the industry is always in a state of change, it is never permanently resigned to an unfortunate fate. It’s well worth a read.

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An Early Goal for 2011

Animation, Announcements, Book /

I had a nice post written all about the healthy state of TV animtion worldwide and then the computer went and lost it. Seeing as I am now late for work, it will have to wait for another day. In the meantime, here is the beginnings of my latest project. I have to juggle girlfriend, work, school and the dog in between everything else going on in my life so it may take a while (read: the better part of a year) to see some resutls. Nonetheless, I’m excited.

 

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Thoughts on the Tintin Movie

1 Comment / Animation, Film /

Via: Cartoon Brew

By now we’ve all seen the stills on Empire and read the comments on Cartoon Brew. I myself would have posted a lot earlier but the old PC is acting up (my motherboard is suffering from capacitor fatigue) and it got to the point this morning that I was halfway done writing this post before it shut off by itself.

But enough of my computer woes and onto some animation ones. The upcoming Tintin feature will be made in motion-capture, that much is certain. Now I am no fan of the technology. If something is considered animated, that means there are no humans involved in the actual movement process. When I say this, I do not mean to include rotoscoping. That process still relies on a degree of talent to draw the character. Motion-capture removes the vast majority of that skill and relies instead on a designer and set-builder.

Much of the hubbub around the film concerns the look of the characters and how much they differ from the comics. It’s nearly impossible to pass judgement on a film based off two still pictures, so a more complete opinion will have to wait until we see some actual footage.

It’s sadly becoming harder and harder to convince people that traditional animation is often much more appropriate for certain projects. Tintin is a prime example. The Nelvana TV series was very much true to the comics and was all the better for it. This film is likely to see a much greater departure from the books fans the world over know and love (myself included).

The final aspect to consider is what the overall plan is for the film. There were 21 Tintin books in total and unless the producers expect to make a James Bond-esque series, there are going to be some tough choices to be made.

The release date is still some time away so I will not be worrying about it too much until then and neither should you.

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All I Learned About American Politics I Learned From The Simpsons

1 Comment / Animation, The Simpsons /

Apologies for the lack of a post yesterday, you can collectively blame that deadline at work.

Today is Election Day here in the States and as a result, just about everything you see, hear and touch today will be tinged with politics and as you can imagine, trying not to post something political is really hard without showing off your colours.

Being Irish, my colours are green, so that doesn’t really matter and besides, they’re not having an election over there today.

Instead, I am going to encourage you to watch the one episode of the Simpsons that pretty much taught me everything I knew about US elections until I actually arrived here: Sideshow Bob Roberts

Via: Wikipedia

Being of the “classic” era, there are tons of jokes, references, one-liners and a plot that manages to tie them all together. In it, we see Sideshow Bob at perhaps his most menacing. He doesn’t murder anyone, but he does actually succeed in his plan until thwarted by Bart & Lisa.

The episode is as much a satire on the political system itself as it is on the politicians themselves and in a move that garners some praise, it manages to keep the leanings pretty much within the boundaries that the show has traditionally stayed in.

If you must watch anything today, watch this. I’m, not going to link to it because of the [ahem] temporary nature of the links but you should know where to look.

And before you go, here is the defining, hilarious quote from the episode:

Hmm…I don’t agree with his Bart-killing policy, but I do approve of his Selma-killing policy.

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Happy Birthday to Mr. Ralph Bakshi!

Animation /

Thanks to Jeaux for reminding me that today is the birthday of the one and only Ralph Bakshi. The influence of this one guy are still being felt today and his impression on younger animators is undeniable (thanks to Mr. John K.)

It’s fair to say that although he never had any excessive commercial success, the animation world would be a heck of alot poorer it wasn’t for him. Happy birthday Ralph!

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International Animation Day and Disney Princesses

Animation, Disney /

In case you hadn’t noticed, today is International Animation Day and thanks to the TAG Blog, here is the official animation by Simon Streatfeild:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnjgKQAvvLw]

On a different note, below is a picture I came across while checking my Tumblr dashboard yesterday afternoon,

Via: The Disney Princess

Some-one out there has created pictures centring solely on the negative aspects of each princess’ tale. If you read them, you’ll see that most are taken way out of context and none take into account the personality of each character.

The image above on the other hand, displays some very strong and encouraging traits (the exception being spoiled). Some of them (such as brave, artistic, defiant, independent, adventurous) are certainly traits that I would expect any female to have.

The important contrast between the opposing images is that one side heavily reinforces a point of view that completely removes the story and setting from the equation. The other focuses strictly on the personality trait that best describes the character.

I know I may be comparing apples to oranges (in fact, I probably am) but I would much rather consider the characters in the positive light. How about you?

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