From the Cannes Film Festival: The Hollywood Reporter HATES IT and Time Out calls it “even less generally accessible than Waking Life.” This doesn’t bode well for its success.

This is Eddie Fitzgerald, animation artist and director, in a photo taken by me circa 1988 at the Bakshi studio during the production of Tattertown (aka Nickelodeon’s Christmas In Tattertrown). Eddie is one of the nicest, and funniest, guys I know - and one of the best cartoonists in the business. Eddie, who has worked for just about every studio in Hollywood (most notably on Bakshi’s Mighty Mouse, Spumco’s Ren & Stimpy and Warner’s Tiny Toon Adventures), has a well-known laugh - and lots of theories about classic animation, drawing, and life itself. It’s always worth spending time with Uncle Eddie - and now you can grab some of his demented genius everyday! He has started a blog, Uncle Eddie’s Theory Corner, where he will display his funny drawings, make lofty predictions, and even post his witty poetry. A daily visit is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

“TOMORROWLAND: CalArts in Moving Pictures” is an ambitious film program (curated by Josh Siegel) that aims to document the work of CalArts animation and live-action student filmmakers. It opens tomorrow at MoMA in New York and runs through August 13. A complete schedule of film programs and screening times can be found HERE. The rare student works of many of today’s most well known animation artists will be shown including Henry Selick, Paul Demeyer, Stephen Hillenburg, Craig McCracken, Kathy Rose, Joanna Priestley, Nancy Beiman, Jorgen Klubien, Gary Conrad, Chris Sanders, David Daniels, Eric Darnell and JJ Villard. There’s also a “School of Pixar” screening showcasing the CalArts films of individuals now working at Pixar including John Lasseter, Pete Docter (his film WINTER is at the top of this post), Joe Ranft, Andrew Stanton, Brenda Chapman, Ralph Eggleston, Doug Sweetland and Mark Andrews. An article about the show appeared last week in the NY TIMES (use BugMeNot to bypass registration).

And speaking of CalArts student films, below you can watch one that’s not on the MoMA program - BABY’S NEW FORMULA by cartoon genius Aaron Springer. It’s a bit crude in terms of content, so watch at your own risk.

Remember folks, the deadline is tomorrow afternoon to submit your entries for becoming a “guest brewer” on Cartoon Brew. We’ve already received dozens of terrific entries, and it’s going to be mighty difficult choosing our first winner. Submission rules are HERE.

I caught up with Leonard Maltin last week and he told me about two new books he contributed to - and I think you ought to to know about them too.Leonard wrote an introduction (actually “an appreciation”) for Fantagraphics’ new collection of Walt Kelly’s OUR GANG comics. This first volume reprints, in color, Kelly’s comic book work from 1942 and 1943 and is printed on a nice smooth/thick paper stock. Leonard’s appreciation, and an intro by Kelly historian Steve Thompson, really put this early work in perspective - both Kelly’s work for Western Publishing, and Our Gang’s literary history. Kelly wrote and drew these comics shortly after leaving Disney and moving back east, and it’s fun to see his take on Spanky, Buckwheat, Mickey (Robert Blake) and Froggy - especially during the war years, the last days of the MGM shorts series. Oh, and Jeff Smith (of “Bone”) also contributed a great cover.The other book Leonard showed me isn’t available on Amazon.com, Disneyland, nor at your local bookstore. And yet it’s published by Disney Editions and anyone can purchase it - if you know how. Disney Insider Yearbook 2005 is an interesting publication aimed at hard-core Disney buffs. Apparently, the folks who published the now defunct Disney Magazine have rounded up their writers to create a special annual limited-edition book, packed with unique articles on different aspects of Disney history - yesterday, today and tomorrow. Twenty six heavily illustrated articles are featured, including Leslie Iwerks on Pixar, Charles Solomon on the artists behind BAMBI, Paula Sigmond Lowery on the new Walt Disney Family Library currently under construction on San Francisco, Brenda Chapman and Mike Gabriel offer tributes to Joe Grant and Joe Ranft, and Leonard Maltin discussing the Disney Treasures “Rarities” DVD. Other notable contributors to this volume include David R. Smith, Jim Fanning, Brian Sibley, Jeff Kurtti and Tim O’Day.It’s over 170 color glossy pages of material that really adds to your Disney I.Q. There is a softcover version available for $24.95 or a hardcover edition (which comes with a limited edition lithograph and a bonus DVD of stuff) for $49.95. More information, and ordering instructions are located here.

Artist Caleb Johnston has taken a bunch of 19th century public domain illustrations and engravings from the Dover books, and transformed them into a sublime interactive Flash experience at NFCTD.com. Click around on objects to get different pieces of animation and to move forward to new scenes.

Cartoon writer Earl Kress discusses “The best Looney Tune you’ve never seen”, on his blog. The film, a Warner Bros. cartoon he wrote several years ago called LITTLE GO BEEP, is indeed an excellent one. I saw it at an animation festival several years ago and reviewed it on my Cartoon Research website here. Warner’s has several cartoon shorts, fully produced, sitting on the shelf. Let’s hope they make it to DVD in the near future.

On Thursday night, May 25th, the Walt Disney Company will celebrate the 65th anniversay of MY favorite Disney feature, DUMBO, with a two week booking at the El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood Blvd. It will be paired with WINNIE THE POOH AND THE HONEY TREE (itself celebrating its 40th anniversay). Animator Eric Goldberg, songwriter Richard Sherman and music historian Miles Kruger will discuss Dumbo on a special panel preceeding the Thursday night screening.