This article in the NY TIMES interviews Brad Bird about the beneath-the-surface politics of THE INCREDIBLES:

If such scenes provide some knowing moments for the red-state audience, there may be something hiding in “The Incredibles” for blue-state denizens as well. The villain of the piece, who goes by the name of Syndrome, creates a mechanical weapon of mass destruction to terrorize the world so that he can disarm it and make himself a superhero.

Will some be tempted to think of the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?

Mr. Bird insisted that it was not his vision of Syndrome, a vision that predated the election of Mr. Bush and the war in Iraq. But, he said, “if you connect that with George Bush, that’s all right with me.”

(via The Disney Blog)

Here’s a two-minute VIDEO CLIP of the late Jules Engel discussing a conflict he had with Walt Disney about a cartoon frog. He also takes a jab at other Disney artists who were too afraid of Walt to make suggestions: “That was the characteristic of the studio, you know. Nobody would speak up. They were all afraid of him…That was, I think, to a degree a mistake. Even if he would say, ‘No,’ but at least you put another idea in his head or another way of doing something. He wouldn’t bite you.” (Thanks to Wilbert P. for the link)

Animation artist Floyd Norman has written a terrific article for JHM about animator Frank Braxton, who he refers to as animation’s “Jackie Robinson.” I’ve always been curious to find out more about Braxton’s career and this piece sheds much light onto his life and work. Below is a photo published in ANIMATION BLAST #6 of Frank playing the guitar at a Format Films Christmas party (ca. early-’60s). Other people in the photo include Joe Siracusa on drums, layout artist Rosemary O’Connor on far left, and June Foray and animator Rudy Larriva getting their groove on in the center of the pic. Photo was taken by Ruben Apodaca.

RE: Your new “Scissor Sisters” music video
Nobody wants to see a male striptease in animation…EVER.
PS: The year is 2004, not 1984. Stop re-using stale Eighties character designs.

This 3-hour Windows Media lecture by character designer Chen Yi-Chang (MULAN, TARZAN, ATLANTIS) contains a lot of solid insights. Also, here’s a couple articles worth reading: a 1975 interview with Ken Harris conducted by Richard Williams (posted on the promising new blog SewardStreet.com) and this 1990 interview with Mark Kausler conducted by John Cawley for his book HOW TO CREATE ANIMATION.

Animation historian and ASIFA-San Francisco prez Karl Cohen saw THE INCREDIBLES yesterday. Here’s what he thinks of it:

Brad Bird is just about to be recognized as one of America’s greatest feature directors. The last time I had so much fun seeing a feature for the first time was when I saw the original STAR WARS. Pixar’s THE INCREDIBLES is that good. I was grinning from ear to ear most of the time and was on the edge of my seat half the time. It is full of action, adventure, delightful twists and turn, amazing inventions, great surprises, etc. Never a dull moment is an understatement. It combines the best elements of fun from films that range from James Bond to Spider-Man. It combines those elements into a new entertainment package that is simply incredible. Pixar’s animation seems flawless, the voice actors are exceptional, the actors can really convey a full range of emotions, the background art is stunning – in short a film this great only comes along once every decade or two.

I had the pleasure of meeting Harald Siepermann at Annecy earlier this year. He’s another one of those incredible animation talents whose work is instantly familiar though his name may not be. In recent years, he’s contributed character designs to many Disney features including BROTHER BEAR, MULAN, TREASURE PLANET and TARZAN. Here’s a few of his designs from the latter film:

He’s also one of the co-creators of a popular European comic/animation character named Alfred J. Kwak. The Kwak comics and animated series never made it into the US so I was rather unaware of what it was all about when I first met him. A British friend at Annecy however was duly impressed to meet Siepermann at the festival and tells me that the show is one of the most intelligent and well-produced children’s animated series he’s ever seen.

So when Harald emailed recently to tell me about the newly released Alfred J. Kwak illustrated book, I asked if he could send over a short bit about the character’s history that I could share with Brew readers like myself who may not be familiar with the character. I’ll let Harald tell you the story…

Alfred J. Kwak, the main character of the book, was born as a stage character for a UNICEF children’s musical that Herman van Veen, a popular Dutch entertainer/singer, was asked to create in the early-Eighties. He was not visualised; Herman was doing all the voices and characters by himself, very Danny Kaye-like. After making Herman’s acquaintance backstage one day , I started to do comic strips with the duck, funny enough in collaboration with Hans Bacher [production designer, MULAN].

We were approached by a producer to work on a concept for a 52-part TV-series. The series was produced in Japan, directed by Saito-San, who also was the director of the legendary KIMBA THE WHITE LION. It premiered worldwide (excluding the US) in 1990 and won numerous prizes, mostly because we kept the socio-critical theme of the stageshows. We had episodes about apartheid, whaling, greenhouse-effects and lots of other issues, even about the Third Reich (Hitler was a crow in our show).

This new book, ABGEMACHT IST ABGEMACHT, which in English might be called A DEAL IS A DEAL, deals with the rights for children, ratified by the United Nations fifteen years ago, and plays against the backdrop of a war over oil. Similarities to recent events are absolutely intentional, though we never mention words like Iraq, Bush or Islam. Even if this all sounds very educational, 99% of everything connected to Alfred is purely fun and entertainment. Only if you look a bit deeper, will you see the issues.

The book is not available in the US, but can be picked up from Amazon-Germany.

Miniature babies in celluloid peanuts, whoopee cushions and vibrating eyes. Cartoonist Mark Newgarden will be speaking about these amusing diversions and countless others, as well as signing his new book CHEAP LAFFS: THE ART OF THE NOVELTY ITEM (mentioned HERE) on Tuesday, October 26 at the Barnes & Noble Park Slope (267 7th Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11215).

Here’s a few journal comments from various Pixarians who attended THE INCREDIBLES wrap party a couple weeks ago:

RotoMonkey.org: “The thing that struck me the most about the evening, aside from Sunday morning’s hangover, was how much joy and pride the entire company took in the film. There was genuine excitement from people who didn’t work on it for the people who did.

EnricoCasarosa.com: All of you out there, you don’t know what’s about to hit you. You can’t possibly imagine … X) I have to bite my lips … can’t say more.

James-Baker.com: I have been eagerly looking forward to seeing this movie ever since I saw the designs around 4 years ago (while at Pixar working on FINDING NEMO). I am happy to say that even though my expectations have steadily being rising over the past few years, THE INCREDIBLES didn’t disappoint on any level. The production design, character design, animation, and story are all fantastic. I haven’t enjoyed a movie so much in ages. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if it breaks records at the box office.

And just for the hell of it, here’s a wrap party pic of director Bird with animators Victor Navone and Dave Mullins.

A model sheet from the “All the Cats Join In” sequence of Disney’s MAKE MINE MUSIC (1946). Drawings are likely by Freddie Moore. (click on image for larger version)

Here’s a nice appreciation of caricaturist Al Hirschfeld written by fellow cartoonist Bob Staake. (via Shane Glines)

GUMBY DHARMA is a new documentary about Gumby creator Art Clokey. It’s directed by Robina Marchesi, with new animation by Tim Hittle, and includes interviews with Ray Harryhausen, Henry Selick and Hittle, among others. A rough cut/work-in-progress print will screen tomorrow afternoon at 3pm at the Mill Valley Film Festival. Details can be found HERE. According to ASIFA-San Francisco prez Karl Cohen, the film is not sugar-coated in the least and offers an insightful look into Clokey’s work and life. Says Cohen: “The film is about where his creativity comes from, but instead of this being a cute charming story about inspiration, it is a biography involving several deaths, a childhood interrupted by a broken marriage, a cruel stepfather, rejection and other non-Disney elements. There is much joy in it including Art living with a grandfather who provided him with a new lease on life. Art explains that Gumby is his vision of a world where he can safely celebrate life and that he and all of us can be Gumby. The Gumby episodes are his daydreams of a world he missed growing up.” If you’re unable to make the screening tomorrow, the film is eventually going to be released onto home video.

I stumbled across an interesting blog post over at RobotJohnny.com that again mentions the “Uncanny Valley” theory and how Brad Bird has overcome this obstacle with THE INCREDIBLES. This comment in his entry perfectly sums up my thoughts: “The moment I saw the trailer for THE INCREDIBLES, I knew that Pixar had done something that no 3D film had done yet – they had created human characters that had some style to them and that didn’t try to emulate life.”

‘Nuff said.