Well, I guess it’s time for me to give my thoughts regarding this year’s best animated feature (according to the Oscars), “Brave”!
Pixar’s 13th animated feature seems to travel down the Disney road more than the usual Pixar highway, and that’s not a problem in my opinion! Continue reading “My Thoughts: BRAVE (2012)”
I personally hope not! The question was brought up at the annual shareholders’ meeting and Bob Iger mentioned that there are no current 2-D animated films in the works nor does there seem to be plans for any in the near future. I pray that this doesn’t become an ultimatum! They tried it once when “Home on the Range” flopped, but after the Pixar acquisition, they came back with 2-D films “The Princess and the Frog” and “Winnie the Pooh”. For more information see: http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/mar/07/disney-hand-drawn-animation
What’s your opinion? How would you feel if Disney stops making hand-drawn traditional animated films and only makes computer-generated animated films?
When one thinks of early animation, one generally thinks of Walt Disney and his early animated shorts and films. And that isn’t a bad thought to think of actually!
But when one studies the history of animation, at least in the United States, one finds that Walt Disney wasn’t ever one of the founding fathers of animation nor was he an early pioneer of the field! He was preceded by a plethora of animation pioneers whose names generally go forgotten by the masses. These include Winsor McCay, J. Stuart Blackton, John Bray, Earl Hurd, Paul Terry, and Max Fleischer amongst others! And yet if it wasn’t for these men, animation as an art and film medium would probably have been virtually dead by now!
So I thought I should pay tribute to the early days of animation and take a look at the second full-length American animated film.
No, it’s not a Disney film, believe it or not! It’s actually a film made by the last name that I mentioned in the paragraph above: Max Fleischer. The film is called “Gulliver’s Travels”, based on the book of the same name, and we’re gonna take a look at it! Continue reading “My Thoughts: GULLIVER’S TRAVELS (1939)”
I’m sorry once more! But, COME ON! Who knows Taran?! Who knows Hen Wen?! Who knows Princess Eilonwy?! Who knows Doli?! Who knows King Eiddileg?! Who knows Flewwwdur Flflflammm or however you spell his name?! It’s Disney’s black sheep! It’s just…AARRGHH!!!!
Ok, inhale!
Exhale!
Inhale!
Exhale!
Right, sorry about that, folks! Let’s start at the beginning! Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #25: Everybody from “The Black Cauldron””
Disney’s 24th animated feature, “The Fox and the Hound”, is an important one from a historical perspective. It’s the film that had the baton figuratively passed down from the old animators to the hands of the new generation of animators and colleagues including future famous names such as Glen Keane, Ron Clements, Richard Rich, Don Bluth, Henry Selick, John Lasseter, and Brad Bird.
It’s also the film during which Don Bluth left the Disney studios with a handful of other animators and went to form his own animation studios which would become Disney’s biggest competitor for a while.
But anyway, this post isn’t meant to be so much about the historical significance of the film as it about the film and its characters themselves. So let’s take a closer look. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #24: Tod’s Mom”
In a fix? In a bind? In a jam? In a scrape? Maybe you need the assistance of the Rescue Aid Society!
Disney’s 23rd animated feature, “The Rescuers” introduces us to this wonderful (and hopefully fictitious) organization of United Nations mice! Oh, I’m getting ahead of myself, let’s start with the background info. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #23: Euripedes Mouse”
Pixar’s “Brave” and Walt Disney Studios’ “Paperman” won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short respectively. And I can proudly say that I predicted those two correctly 🙂 ! So, how many predictions did I get correct in total? Well, out of 24 categories, I predicted 9 correctly!
I can sooo be a weatherman!
Anyway, a round of applause for our two animated heroes of the night!
I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I know I’m going obscure again!
But come on, who the heck is forgotten or minor from the “Winnie the Pooh” franchise?! Everybody all over the world knows about Winnie the Pooh and his friends. All kids know about them! All adults know about them! Heck, I’m sure extraterrestrials know about them!
Sigh…well let’s begin this post, shall we? Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #22: Mr. Sanders”
Trudging along the post-Walt Disney era of the Disney canon,
we find that Walt still hasn’t really left us! Released in 1973, “Robin Hood” was the Disney Studios’ 21st animated feature. It was based on the legend of Robin Hood, the outcast who “stole from the rich to feed the poor”. The studios had originally wanted to make a film about Reynard the Fox,
but after Walt deemed the hero a bad role model, they ended up using elements of Reynard the Fox in “Robin Hood”. So this film still shares some connection to the deceased Walt Disney. Continue reading “Disney Canon-Forgotten/Minor Characters #21: The Rhino Executioner”
Well, the first theatrical animated film of the year has received many negative reviews and opened with $16 million at the weekend box office! Do the people who actually make these bad films actually think that these films will be hits?
Oh, btw, this is my 50th post 😀 !
The Animation Commendation 