Tonight I’ll be in Pasadena at the Rialto Theatre to catch the latest edition of The Animation Show. I will also be doing a Q&A with filmmaker and SHOW co-founder Don Hertzfeldt after the the 7:30pm show and before the 9:45pm. This is an incredible collection of the world’s best contemporary animation—presented the way the filmmakers intended, on the big screen. Join us!

(The Animation Show is also playing tonight at the Main Art Theatre in Detroit Michigan. Check out the remaining cities and playdates here)

Brazilian Marcelo Garcia who runs the studio Molho is responsible for this striking experimental piece for the Brazilian music festival Virtuosi. Garcia acted as one-man band on the project handling direction, design, animation and compositing.

Click here to see the large size version of this promotional image, above, from Foodfight.

Can you spot the product placement? Foodfight is now scheduled for theatrical release this fall from Lions Gate Films (the same people who brought us Happily N’ever After). It’s a great idea for a film: after midnight all the packages in a local food store come alive, with the goodguy characters (including Mr. Clean, Cap’n Crunch, Charlie the Tuna, the Engergizer Bunny, et al) taking on a villainous band of Brand X characters for control of supermarket aisles. Of course this plot harkens back to several Merrie Melodies of yore (September In The Rain (1937), Goofy Groceries (1941), etc.). So far so good.

However, the real trouble begins with a visit to the Foodfight website. The character designs look awful. B-list celebrities are doing the voices. The film’s partners (read: producers) include Proctor and Gamble, Del Monte and Tootsie Roll, among others. We already get enough commercials at the movies as it is. I don’t know about you, but I predict a short shelf life for this flick.

Earlier coverage of Foodfight on Cartoon Brew here.

What does this Scrappy toy (pictured above) have to do Humphrey Bogart?

Harry McCracken, the mastermind behind the much acclaimed Scrappyland website - and the expert on all things concerning this forgotten 1930s cartoon character - continues his extensive research on his blog. Recent updates include these incredible finds: Scrappy comics, French strips, U.S. panels and a theory linking them to Will Eisner(!); and Scrappy’s cameo appearence in Bogart’s 1942 film All Through The Night(!!)

All this and more at Harry-Go-Round.

This one’s even better.

Click here to see the new Seinfeld Bee Movie trailer with Steven Spielberg - and some actual animation.

I doubt I could make up something as good as this even on April Fool’s. On Monday, Disney announced that they’re producing “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” as a live-action feature starring Nicholas Cage as the Sorcerer. To be clear, the film is based on Johann Wolfgang Goethe’s original poem, not the Mickey Mouse sequence in Fantasia. From the Hollywood Reporter: “‘Sorcerer’ is being envisioned as a tentpole fantasy adventure set in contemporary New York, where a powerful sorcerer is in need of an apprentice. While not based on a ride like the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ films, the in-development project continues Disney’s trend of reimagining classic Disney titles as live-action, event pictures.”

Nick Cross has released a limited edition dvd of his wonderful 12-minute animated short The Waif of Persephone. The dvd, which includes extras like director commentary, story reel and pencil tests, is available through Nick’s blog for $13.99 (via Paypal or money order) and includes free shipping. I’ve already plunked down my money, and anybody else who wants to support some independent, uncompromising cartoony goodness would be well advised to do the same. Nick has also posted a clip from the film on his blog.

Jim Hill blogged today about how Disney is revamping story of American Dog, now that Chris Sanders has been let go. Hill reports that:

“He’s no longer a cute little round brown hound dog. But — rather — a heroic-looking white German Shepherd with a lightning bolt-shaped patch that runs down the left side of his body. In fact, Bolt is actually this character’s new name. And Bolt stars with Penny (a 12-year-old girl) in the hit television show, “American Dog.”

After getting accidentally shipped to New York, Bolt is befriended by a hamster (named “Rhino”) who “is a huge fan of “American Dog,” having seen & then memorized virtually every episode of the series.”

For all the negative talk about direct-to-video sequels, some of these changes bring to mind plot elements and characters in 101 Dalmatians II: Patch’s London Adventure (written by Jim Kammerud and Brian Smith). Co-producer Leslie Hough writes us:

Our film “Dalmatians II” features a German Shepherd deluded by his own stardom named Thunderbolt. In our version Patch, the puppy, is Thunderbolt’s biggest fan and has memorized all the episodes of his show. When I first heard about American Dog, I thought the story was similar, but now it is too close for comfort.

Is it possible that the people at Disney Features have never seen 101 Dalmatians 2? Or have they and thought it was so good that they would use the same story in a bigger budget arena? Or do they just not care? Leslie Hough says, “Disney is welcome to rip itself off, but we, the filmmakers of the first film are kind of shocked.”