Comments on: A Little Love: The Art of Bill Melendez

By: HARVEYJAMES

HARVEYJAMES — Thu, 28 May 2009 10:23:56 +0000

I watched this before and it really bugged me. Most of the stylistic decision in those movies could be better attributed to Charles Schulz or the producer Lee Mendelson, and the rest are just standard tropes of limited animation of the period. He’s really not the auteur this documentary makes him out to be.

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By: Charles

Charles — Wed, 27 May 2009 15:18:07 +0000

Beautiful documentary but I cringed at the DVNR in some of those clips. They need to re-remaster these cartoons (I hope good prints still exist).

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By: Emily

Emily — Wed, 27 May 2009 09:05:51 +0000

Love the analysis of the Peanuts palette and also the Wes Anderson juxtapositions! Very nice tribute.

By: Mike Fontanelli

Mike Fontanelli — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:32:29 +0000

Forgive me for being so off-topic here.

All well-deserved kudos to Bill Melendez aside, I’m a little tired of documentaries that parrot dubious opinions as fact, glossing over any evidence to the contrary. According to the narrator, UPA was “a more daring studio” than Warner Bros. Well, not so fast…

To the contrary, WB cartoons – especially during the war years, when Melendez was working there – were innovative on just about every imaginable level. It’s easy to dismiss their marvelous inventiveness because (unlike UPA cartoons) they’re SO entertaining! Even on a pure design level, Warners was there first with “The Dover Boys”. As a blanket statement, it’s short-sighted and superficial.

There is, after all, a reason few people can remember more than a handful of UPA cartoons. Their limited bag of tricks got old pretty fast. Even the best ones lacked the staying power of WB classics.

By: steve brown

steve brown — Tue, 26 May 2009 06:59:07 +0000

I just had the pleasure of watching Dick Deadeye this week. You can get used VHS copies from Amazon. It was hugely enjoyable! There is also a Dick Deadeye illustrated book, with Ronald Searle’s character designs.

Melendez was fearsome when talking about Walt Disney on the Secret Lives documentary from England. He didn’t pull any punches and my respect for him went up even more, if that’s possible.

By: John Paul Cassidy

John Paul Cassidy — Tue, 26 May 2009 03:20:28 +0000

I hope that DICK DEADEYE, OR DUTY DONE gets seen here one day. The clips I saw of that are pure awesomeness!

By: Adam

Adam — Tue, 26 May 2009 01:57:16 +0000

It’s always nice to see someone refer to the Melendez Lion Witch and Wardrobe. I have a much-watched VHS recording of it that I’ve had since childhood, and it remains my favorite version of that tale. Very sincere and enjoyable, more concerned with telling the story than with visual wizardry – and still a very pleasant film to look at, even though it isn’t complicated in style.

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 25 May 2009 20:09:54 +0000

I have so many fond memories as a child, watching all the Charlie Brown specials – and now, as a production animator working in the industry it’s so interesting to look at them artistically. They are more film art and character driven than there is high quality animation – but it makes them even more interesting on different levels.

Thanks for posting it.