It always bothers me when I see an animated film advertised with this seal (at right) from the Film Advisory Board. It’s usually pasted on newspaper ads for G-rated family films, and it’s practically a kiss of death. I’d seen it before on such other animated “classics” as TRUMPET OF THE SWAN, GUMBY THE MOVIE and FREDDY AS F.R.O.7. No Pixar, Disney or DreamWorks film has ever lowered themselves to accept this supposed “award of excellence.” Warners used it to promote LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION and you remember how well that film fared. To me, it’s a sign of desperation by clueless movie distribution execs who have no confidence in the film or in their abilities to market it - and it wouldn’t surprise me if many parents, burned by previous movie-going disappointment, also see this seal as a warning of crap ahead. It’s especially sad to see it currently affixed to the ads for CURIOUS GEORGE (because, as I say below, GEORGE is a nice little film).The Film Advisory Board seems to be run by a cruise ship singer and a magazine writer - nice ladies I’m sure; comedian Fred Travelena allowed them to put his name on their letterhead as a “celebrity friend.” I have no idea why Hollywood cares what they have to say - I certainly don’t.

The long delayed PINK PANTHER movie starring Steve Martin (as Inspector Clouseau) opens this week. It is accompanied by several merchandising tie-ins including a DVD collection featuring every Pink Panther theatrical cartoon, a Sweet’N Low advertising campaign, and several books including one by yours truly. I haven’t seen the feature yet, but I’m looking forward to seeing the opening animated titles by Bob Kurtz and Eric Goldberg. Regardless of the quality of the new feature film, it’s nice to have an old animated friend back on the scene.

We’ve just received word that animator and director Myron Waldman died Saturday morning, Feb. 4, at the age of 97 at Long Island hospital. A major figure at the Fleischer and Famous studios, Myron remained active as an artist until shortly before his illness and death. He leaves behind his wife Rosalie, two sons and grandchildren. Mike Dobbs furnished the following information:

Waldman, while at Fleischer, created Betty Boop’s pet dog Pudgy and the donkey duo, Hunky and Spunky. He did outstanding work on the Fleischer Superman (Billion Dollar Limited, Magnetic Telescope) series and directed the two-reel Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy short. He was a director on the second Fleischer feature, Mr. Bug Goes to Town, and worked and the Popeye series as well.Born in 1908, Myron joined the Fleischer Studio in 1930 after he graduated from the Fine and Applied Arts program at the Pratt Institute. At the studio, he started as an opaquer and then moved into the inking department. After winning a studio competition, Waldman was promoted to the in-betweening department and was given his own animation unit in 1933. He once told me it was a thrill to have the chance to animate Ko-Ko the Clown in early Betty Boop cartoons as Ko-Ko had been a favorite of
his while growing up.One Boop of which Waldman was particularly proud is A Language All My Own (1935). Betty Boop was very popular in Japan, and this short was designed to appeal to the Japanese market. In the short, Betty travels to Japan and performs there. Myron wanted to make sure that none of her gestures and movements would offend the Japanese, so he asked a number of Japanese exchange students to check his work.He once carried in a script for one of the studio’s Stone Age short into Dave Fleischer’s office at the end of a stick. When Dave asked why he was doing that, Myron replied. “Because it stinks!” Waldman could put a roughhouse gag across, but he frequently was put on what he described as “ooo and ahh” shorts, those with sentiment. Waldman returned to animation after serving in the Army during World War II. He worked at Famous Studios on Screen Songs, Little Lulu, and particularly the Casper shorts. He wasn’t content just with a career in animation, though. He branched out to create a “novel without words,” Eve which was a critical success when it was published in 1943. He was the artist on the children’s Sunday comic strip Happy the Humbug. In the 1960s and ’70s, he worked on a number of Saturday morning series, and was the director on the pilot for the Out of the Inkwell TV cartoon series produced by Hal Seeger. Seeger, a former Fleischer Studio employee, had convinced Max Fleischer not only to sell him the rights to do the series, but to appear in the pilot episode as well. For his final appearance with his silent screen co-star, Waldman recalled that Fleischer had his hair dyed for the occasion.Myron was one of the last living links to the Fleischer studio that continues to influence animation today.

On a personal note, I met Myron and Rosalie many times over the years. Their hospitality and warmth will never be forgotten. Myron was one of the greats. Rest in peace.(Thanks, Mike Dobbs)

I had a chance to see the new CURIOUS GEORGE feature yesterday. Clearly this is a film aimed solely at pre-school children, and as such, it is quite successful. The character animation, production design and voices are great. If the producers’ goal was to create lush visual eye candy, they succeeded in spades. Kids will love the mischievious lead character and a very funny vocal performance by Will Ferrell will keep parents interested. Dick Van Dyke and David Cross were also good in their respective vocal roles.Is this the last U.S. studio-produced 2-D animated feature for the time being? If so, it’s a bittersweet way to go out. CURIOUS GEORGE proves that the talent is still here, and is desparately awaiting great stories to match it.

The ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Awards ceremony and party Saturday evening was an unqualified success. The award show has been growing and growing for several years and yesterday’s event certainly hit a new high - with a sold out theatre, Hollywood celebrities and animators from both out of state and out of the U.S. It felt more like an international festival than our usual local shindig.Seemed like everyone was there, and there were many memorable moments - John Canemaker giving Tyrus Wong his Winsor McCay Award, June Foray awarding Mark Kausler a special achievement honor, Tom Kenny’s hilarious ad libs, the touching tribute to Joe Ranft, and Nick Park and Steve Box’s numerous (and deserved) returns to the stage. I even enjoyed Seth MacFarlane and Jason Alexander’s on-stage schtick. William Shatner, Patrick Warburton, Brad Bird and Craig T. Nelson were hilarious as presenters.I especially felt good about the non-Wallace & Gromit winners: i.e. best short, THE FAN AND THE FLOWER by Bill Plympton and Dan O’Shannon; Ernie Gilbert’s character designs, and Acme Filmworks’ United Airlines commercial. Congratulations to all winners and nominees - and thank you ASIFA-Hollywood for a night to remember.

Aardman Animation’s WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT won this year’s ASIFA-Hollywood Annie Award for Best Animated Feature. Like the INCREDIBLES at last year’s Annies, WALLACE & GROMIT dominated the feature categories, taking home ten awards in total, including best directing, music, character design, storyboarding, production design, character animation, voice acting and writing in a feature. The award for best television production went to Cartoon Network’s STAR WARS: CLONE WARS II. Here is the complete list of winners.

Something a bit different for our Cartoon Brew Film of the Week. EVA GOES TO FOREIGN is a 1-minute, 45-second UK-produced public service announcement aimed at dissuading women in Carribbean countries who might engage in drug trafficking. The film is a powerful example of the medium, showing how animation can effectively communicate difficult, serious ideas in a short amount of time.

The spot is also impressive for its distinctive graphic look, courtesy of the film’s co-director and designer Neil Campbell Ross. The backgrounds have a painterly esthetic composed of solid swatches of color with no inked outline. The characters in front also have minimal use of line, with their bodies constructed of bold, colored forms. Both characters and backgrounds have highly abstracted light and shadows playing off their forms that really ties the piece together. Ross has previously done production design/illustration on films as diverse as ANTZ, THE CORPSE BRIDE, TARZAN II, CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY and Aardman’s upcoming FLUSHED AWAY. I’ve been a big fan since discovering his work online and was surprised to find a piece of animation like EVA that so faithfully translates his style to film. You can see more of his work, including lots of development art for EVA, at his website NeilCampbellRoss.co.uk. Also be sure to check out his BLOG and his incredible development art for THE CORPSE BRIDE.

I asked Neil if he could provide a few background details on the film and here’s what he wrote:

It is a public information short commisioned by FPWP/HIBISCUS, a voluntary organisation that works with drug offenders in the U.K. The story was conceived by Tass Darlington and is based on her interviews with Jamaican women doing time in British prisons for trafficking in hard drugs. It is now being shown on cable and local TV stations in the English-speaking Caribbean countries. Its purpose is to dissuade the kind of vulnerable individual, who gets lured into trafficking, from making the wrong move. The design ’style’ I would call graphic - realistic. The characters and their settings had to be believable for the intended audience. The sad story is an abbreviated but accurate account of how a young Jamaican woman - EVA - becomes a ‘drug mule’ and the tragic consequences for herself and her family.

My initial designs and all backgrounds were done in Photoshop. The animation was roughed in traditionally - pencil on paper - then cleaned up in Flash and composited in After Effects. The tight soul-reggae music track is by Paul Maxx and Deep Rooted Production. Eva’s beautiful Jamaican patois is spoken by Susan Lawson-Reynolds. Script by Mark Holloway. Adapted by Leone Ross. Co-direction is by myself and Richard Burdett for ANIMAGE FILMS.

EVA GOES TO FOREIGN can be viewed HERE, courtesy of Uli Meyer Studios, where the film’s animation was produced.

Quick reminder: Tomorrow afternoon, ASIFA-Hollywood’s ANNIE AWARDS ceremony at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Anything that brings together Brad Bird, Corny Cole and William Shatner has to be good. Highly recommended!