Let’s remake a classic hand-drawn animated commercial…

in CGI…

Are ad agencies so deprived of original thinking that the best they can do is recycle a forty-year-old soundtrack, and remake it shot-by-shot in CG?

What does this new version offer that the original didn’t? Less charm? Check. Uglier character designs? Check. Blander animation? Check. Fussy over-detailed backgrounds that overwhelm the characters? Check.

Computer animation is a wonderful tool. It’s a shame that more artists aren’t using it to explore new ideas which aren’t possible by other means, and instead use to incompetently replicate existing techniques.
(Thanks, Andrew Ebert)

UPDATE: In the interest of equal time, Ezra from LucidCircus, the production company responsible for the CG spot, made a comment below about the studio’s work. Here’s some of what he says:

I appreciate the critiques but it’s about a year too late. The style and overall look and feel were dictated to us. The agency folk in the room understand. What you see isn’t the original design but the final approved version. In a nutshell I was asked to copy Over the Hedge. We didn’t have creative license. This isn’t art, it’s a commercial. The client got what the client wanted. I feel your pain. I hate all CGI remakes as well. But it’s a good portfolio piece and the general public approves.

Apple and indieWIRE are presenting several Filmmaker Talks at the Apple Store Soho during the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Tomorrow our friend, Oscar-winning animator John Canemaker, will discuss The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation and how the Mac played a significant role in the post-production process. New Yorkers: Go down there at 4pm and say “Hello” to John on behalf of Cartoon Brew.

I love old movie serials, and really admire Kim Deitch’s graphic novels. Strangely enough both converge at the Silent Movie Theatre in Hollywood this Thursday.

Kim has curated a selection of silent era serial chapters highlighting the great serial heroines Pearl White, Ruth Roland and others, in a program starting 8pm, May 3rd, at the famed Fairfax Ave. theatre, and he’ll be signing his new book, Alias The Cat, beforehand, at 6pm at Family bookstore down the block.

Is it possible to have an animation magazine about animators, written by animators, and edited by an animator?

It is… and animator Steve Moore is doing it. The first edition of FLIP: Lifestyles of the Hunched and Goofy is now online. The debut issue features an interview with Nancy Beiman, a profile of Jeff DeGrandis, James Baker on his drive-in movie memories, a feature on Blue Sky designer Mike Knapp, book reviews and more. Moore is doing this as a sideline hobby, and has no idea what he’ll put in the next issue. Let’s hope he can keep it going—it’s quite refreshing and deserves our support.