Author Archives: Jerry Beck

Keep Moving Forward

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This isn’t a review or critique of Meet The Robinsons, but I saw the film today at a screening at the El Capitan, in 3-D.

In a nutshell, it’s a very likeable film with eye-popping visuals, gorgeous art direction and pleasing character designs. The 3-D is great. The Streamline Moderne future is pretty cool, though the architecture reminded me more of Music Land (the 1935 Silly Symphony) than Tomorrowland. The story is a bit disjointed—shifting from heartwarming reality one moment to off-the-wall zaniness the next. In Disney terms, think if Pollyanna were grafted into Babes In Toyland. But it does hang together pretty well.

The film ends with a great quote from Walt Disney himself:

“Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things… and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.”
–Walt Disney

This quote perfectly caps the theme of the movie, but even moreso, it sends a subtle message about Lasseter’s commitment to Disney heritage—and possibly states a new direction for the beleaguered animation studio. Or at least I’d like to think so.

Am I reading too much into this? All I know is the quote was a nice touch, and I left the theater feeling pretty optimistic about the future—of Disney.

Ugly CG Peanuts

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Good Grief! Some drawn characters just shouldn’t be rendered in 3-D.

A German telecommunications company, Combots, is selling animated icons based on popular animation and comics characters. These Peanuts ones are pretty hideous.

However, there are some characters that could (and do) work. I suppose it’s all based on design. Check out some of the others, particularly these Spongebob icons, which look pretty good. It’ll be interesting to see how they handle the Looney Tunes characters, which they’ve apparently licensed.

UPDATE: Little wonder the Spongebob icons look so good. They were done by the talented crew at Studio Soi. Soi also created the Zodies series and the “Tom and Lily” site tutorials (click on ‘trailer’ on the homepage to watch the six episodes).

Disney at PhillyFest

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A ‘heads up’ on some Disney Programs at the upcoming 16th Annual Philadelphia Film Festival, April 5th through 18th.

Friday, April 6 • 6:45 • Prince Music Theater • Tickets $10.00
Fantasia (1940) — A screening of the landmark film with an ensemble of Philadelphia Orchestra musicians, performing onstage preceding the screening.

Saturday, April 7 • 2:30 • Prince Music Theater • Tickets $8.00
The Disney Cartoon: Nine Decades of Magic — A screening of Disney shorts spanning nine decades of the company’s history. Shorts will include Pixar’s Red’s Dream, Roger Rabbit’s Roller Coaster Rabbit and the Salvador Dali-designed Destino.

Saturday, April 7 • 7:15 • Prince Music Theater • Tickets $10.00
A Salute To Roy Disney, an on-stage interview with Leonard Maltin. (Maltin will also be hosting a screening of rare Our Gang shorts on April 7th at 4:30pm)

Sunday, April 8 • 2:15 • Prince Music Theater •Tickets $8.00
Disney Cartoon Rarities – 35mm prints of Disney shorts including Hell’s Bells, Egyptian Melodies, Music Land, The Whoopee Party, Hawaiian Holiday, The Band Concert, as well as examples of Alice in Cartoonland and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.

Non-Disney animation at the Philly Fest will include a screening of the forthcoming anime feature Paprika and a program of contemporary animated shorts.

An Open Letter

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Dear AOL/MSN/Yahoo/NBC-Universal and News Corp.,

Congratulations on the news of your new company to compete with YouTube.

The announcement of of this new partnership has me very excited. You say you are going to use your vault assets to create a new venue for programming—a “video-rich site… with thousands of hours of full-length programming, movies and clips, representing premium content from at least a dozen networks and two major film studios.”

One of my favorite quotes in your press release is the one from Yahoo’s CEO Terry Semel, who says, “We are excited to be a part of this landmark partnership that connects people to the content they care about…”, promising users “unprecedented access to their favorite shows”.

Allowing us access to the riches in your combined movie/TV libraries will be a great thing for our culture and will add to our collective knowledge of film history. It might even help thwart Internet piracy.

My only concern is that you might overlook the thousands of classic animation titles in your massive holdings. AOL’s parent company, Time Warner, holds the popular Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, the MGM Happy Harmonies, Tom & Jerry and Tex Avery masterpieces and the incredible Max Fleischer/Paramount Popeye cartoon; News Corp owns Crusader Rabbit, the historic first TV cartoon series; NBC-Universal has the wonderful Walter Lantz library of vintage Woody Woodpecker, Chilly Willy, and Oswald Rabbit. I’m not even mentioning all the TV cartoons and animated features contained therein, everything from Marine Boy to Wizards, all awaiting a chance to find—and entertain—a new audience.

And I’ll let you in on a secret. Your home video divisions have only released a fraction of the material you own.

Making them all available—the entire library, at minimal cost—will certainly connect your content to people who really care about it, namely our readers. There’s tons of money to be made from this proposition. This illegally posted 1940s Tom & Jerry short on YouTube has over 400,000 views. That’s more views than most of the modern animation posted there.

This is a watershed moment, the begining of a new age, with no rules, no ratings, no demographics to tell you people don’t want this or that. One thing we’ve learned from DVD is that people do want complete runs of great material. One thing we’ve learned from YouTube is that people are interested in esoteric material.

So release your old cartoons. Make them available for purchase. Believe it or not, people really want to see them. And I promise to be the first person in line to support the effort.

Best of luck,

Jerry Beck
CartoonBrew.com

Naruto Movie: A new approach for U.S. release

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We don’t usually report on anime releases (we leave that to others more qualified like Anime News Network and the like), but this one is worth noting—not for the film itself, but the manner of its U.S. presentation.

Naruto, the Viz manga series-turned-anime hit series (on Cartoon Network in the U.S.), about the trials of a young ninja, is one of the most popular Japanese series now playing. Three theatrical films have been spun off and released in Japan. The first of these Daikatsugeki! Yukihime Ninpocho Dattebayo!! (English Translated Title: Snow Princess’ Book of Ninja Arts) is being theatrically released in the U.S. this year, on Wednesday June 6th at 7:00pm.

It is being shown on that day and time only, in selected theaters in cities including New York, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Boston, Los Angeles and San Francisco. NCM’s Fathom Events is handling this distribution plan. Fathom’s approach is somewhat unique. Taking advantage of digital distribution technology, they are creating a nationwide locked date event for this film. This forces all those interested in seeing the film to attend the one-time theatrical showing, practically assuring sold-out shows at each location.

This kind of “four-wall” event showing has been done before, but I don’t recall it being done on a national basis. As a former film distributor myself, and a student of trends in animated theatrical distribution, this strikes me as a great idea, a great way to get specialized film (particularly foreign animation) showcased.

The plain truth is that these films can’t make big money theatrically in the US. DVD, cable and Internet distribution have wiped out commercial theaters as a financially viable place to screen foreign animated films. The shame is that some of these films deserve the big screen experience.

National CineMedia (NCM), a partnership of AMC Theatres and Regal Theatres, was set up to explore alternative movie programming. They are experimenting with events centered around targeted audiences: Nascar films, faith-based movies, a Metropolitan Opera series… even a repertory screening of Dirty Dancing. Naruto the Movie (now subtitled Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow) is clearly test of the anime/animation fanbase.

I think this distribution scheme may work for them. It’ll certainly excite Naruto fans and build anticipation for the US DVD release (in September). I’ll certainly be keeping my eye on it and, if successful, NCM has the potential to become a new outlet for many international films unable to attain a US release. And that would be a good thing.

Der Fuehrer’s Face

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David Lesjack, on his Toons At War blog, has begun series of posts about Disney’s 1942 Academy Award winning short Der Fuehrer’s Face.

David’s blog is normally filled with odds and ends, interesting bits of obscure information and minutiae on Disney’s World War II animation. These latest posts on Der Fuehrer’s Face contain all sorts of new things I’ve never seen before – the original sketch (possibly by Kimball) for the sheet music, posts on Oliver Wallace and Spike Jones, comic strips and merchandising. Fascinating stuff.

Walter Tetley

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Walter Tetley is a name you may not know, but you’ve definitely heard his voice.

He’s best known for his role as Sherman in Jay Ward’s Mr. Peabody (the Peabody’s Improbable History segments of Rocky & Bullwinkle), and he also did voice over for Walter Lantz (as Andy Panda and Reddy Kilowatt) and Warner Bros.

New York’s radio station WFMU posted a nice tribute to Tetley (1915-1975) on their blog yesterday. Check it out to learn more about the man behind the quintessential “kid voice”.

Disney Dog Food

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Okay, I promise to stop posting silly Disney food products–as soon as they stop making them.

Brew reader Michael Eilerman snapped this pic of Old Yeller Dog Food at his local Kroger’s supermarket last week. Memo to Disney: Old Yeller had rabies! Tommy Kirk has to shoot him at the end of the flick. It’s a very disturbing film. I’m not feeding my dog any of this stuff!

What’s next? That Darn Cat-food?

Earlier: Mickey Meat Burgers, Disney Tomato stickers, Mickey Mouse Liver Paste, and Popeye Paté.

New Animation Magazines

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Two new animation magazines appeared in my mailbox last week. Both are very well done, though aimed at completely different audiences.

CARTOONS (Vol. 2, Issue 2, Winter 2006), the John Libbey publication for ASIFA, edited by Chris Robinson, is the best edition yet. This 52-page color, glossy magazine is distributed free to all ASIFA members internationally. I’m not even sure you can buy this anywhere. Another great reason to join Asifa (check here for your local branch).

This issue contains many good articles – among them, Karl Cohen on how ASIFA helped win the Cold War; Martin Goodman on the making of Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue, and Chris Panzner on kids network demographics. But the standout is John Canemaker’s 13-page profile (part 1) of Disney animator-turned-influential Golden Book illustrator John Parr Miller. Per Canemaker standards, the piece is filled with meticulous research, great writing and rare illustrations. This is a must-have.

CEREAL:GEEK is another matter entirely. This isn’t for everyone. This is a lavish 100-page magazine, printed in full color on heavy gloss stock, devoted to 1980s TV animation. Publisher James Eatock understands that the animation of the era was “junk food” (hence the “cereal” of the title), but has a passion (hence the “geek”) for the cartoons he grew up with, and a sense of humor about it. He believes the 80s were a watershed decade where the young TV animators found their voice. I personally have no love for He-Man, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Inspector Gadget, but if you do, then this is for you. There are some in-depth articles, an interview with Larry Ditillo (Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors) and lots of insight into The Transformers, She-Ra and 80s anime. If this excites you, get it. You won’t be disappointed.

Brew Review: Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie Film

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I saw this film at a free screening today so you don’t have to. And I urge you not to.

AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE (COLON): MOVIE FILM FOR THEATRES is, without question, the worst animated film of the year. It may be the worst film (of any type) I’ve ever seen. A text book example of an unfunny comedy, with poor production values; no craft, no art, no laughs, period. I’ve only seen one episode of the TV series, so I’m clearly not the intended audience for this. But who is? High School drop-outs on pot? I suspect there may be 7 year old out there who may think this is the funniest film they’ve ever seen. If so, I’d be worried about that 7-year-old.

For those unfamiliar with the show, there’s really no premise. It’s about the relationship between three fast-food icons, Master Shake (an idiot milkshake cup), Frylock (a large side of french fries) and Meatwad (a stupid meatball). There is a whole load of unfunny side characters. In an effort to cram as much “funny” into the proceedings, every voice is “funny”, every character name is “funny”, every title card is “funny”, every action is “funny”. All this adds up to incredibly “un-funny”. For those who have been waiting for it, the origin of the characters is explained – and Space Ghost makes an unfortunate cameo (and is killed off quickly).

Needless to say, there’s a fart joke every ten minutes.

Is there anything I liked? The first two minutes, a spoof of the corny “Let’s All Go To The Lobby” trailers (again?) was fun, but after this pre-title skit it’s all downhill. I also like the elaboratly painted one sheet poster art (above), but that has nothing to do (visually or conceptually) with the film itself.

I used to imagine the process of making animated films was fun. This one looks like it was a chore for its creators – it certainly was to sit through. I haven’t squirmed so much in a movie theatre since the time I saw a 1972 Woody Woodpecker as a teenager at the RKO Keith’s in Flushing, New York.

Don’t see it. If you do, demand a refund. Adult Swim owes me 79 minutes of my life.

Cartoon Network: If you really want to hurt the members of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, you’ll submit this film for consideration, for Best Animated Feature. Now that might actually be funny.

Homage or Rip-off? (II)

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First, London based Matt Clark and Matt Everitt created this short, using dialogue from a Ricky Gervais Xfm radio show. This is one of a series of web shorts, which you can view here.

A short time later, a series of Irish Lotto ads began appearing on television. Brown Bag Animation in Dublin produced these.

Clark and Everitt believe they were ripped off. They’ve confronted Brown Bag about it. Everitt comments about it here and other blogs have written about it as well.