The new trailer for Warner Bros.’s upcoming ANT BULLY is posted HERE. It looks like a pretty good CG film…especially if it was currently 1994 and nobody had ever released a computer animated feature. The studio responsible for the animation, DNA Productions, has already laid off most of the ANT BULLY crew, and if the film does as well as I think it will, it’s unlikely they’ll have to worry about restaffing anytime soon.

This is the trailer for Aardman’s first CG film FLUSHED AWAY.
Looks like the new formula is (Aardman+CG = Aardman-charm).

OLI’S CHANCE is a new German short that I discovered on character designer Harald Siepermann’s blog. The film can be viewed HERE (Windows Media Player version). Directed by Saschka Unseld and Johannes Weiland, the short was commissioned by the German rail to warns kids against playing on or near railroad tracks. The film is in German but its story should be clear to those who don’t speak German. I agree with Harald, who writes on his blog, “It succeeds not only in terms of animation but also in its unpretentious, non-patronizing storytelling.” Some of the design choices are questionable - for example, the extreme separation of the eyes and nose on such realistic designs gives the characters an awkward alien-like quality - but all in all, it’s a pretty good film worth checking out. The film was produced by Studio Soi, a young German commercial animation outfit. Be sure to watch their super-appealing “Bunnies” commercial they produced for MTV; it’s posted on their site.

ADDENDUM: Jakob Schuh, one of the directors at Studio Soi, emailed to let me know that their studio has another website at ChezSoi.de where they have job listings posted. They’re currently looking to hire designers; submission info is on the site.

Don’t say I didn’t warn you. UTSU-MUSUME SAYURI (THE STRIKING DAUGHTER SAYURI) is a delightfully bizarre CG short from Japan. I first saw the film at a couple festivals back in 2004 and both times the audience reaction could be described as something between shock and utter admiration for how imaginative and surreal this film is. Everything in the film, including direction, animation, design and music was done by one person - Takashi Kimura. It can be viewed online at iFilm.com.

The Tale of How is a mostly CG animated short produced by the South African animation collective Blackheart Gang. Credits are Marcus Wormstorm (music, writer), Cherie “Ree” Treweek (design/illustration), Jannes Hendrikz (creative director/2D animation and compositing) and Justin Baker (lead CG animator). According to the filmmakers, the story is about an octopus named Otto, “and he’s an island that all the Piranha birds live on. His broken heart has made him mean, and he eats piranhas even though he’s not hungry.” The lush, densely layered visuals look completely unlike anything else out there. Blackheart Gang doesn’t fall into the all-too common trap of using computer animation to make photorealistic art, instead creating a fluid and organic world that draws upon the tradition of illustrators like Rackham, Nielsen and Beardsley.
(Thanks, Craig Clark)

URMEL AUS DEM EIS is a German CG animated feature slated for release in August 2006. You can suffer through the trailer HERE. I’m not sure what the translation of the title is, but I think it’s something along the lines of, “Our attempt at making an obnoxious, bland, charm-deprived, aesthetically repugnant, American-style CG film.” The film, produced by Ambient Entertainment, is based on a fondly remembered German marionette TV series from the late-1960s, though chances are it won’t be fondly remembered after this film is released. On a sidenote, is anybody keeping track of the number of animated features in recent years that have used Sister Sledge’s song “We are Family” in their trailer or in the final product? And has anybody considered, instead of having a song that spells out to audiences that the characters are like family, wouldn’t it be more impressive to create characters who exude warmth and personality, and communicate that feeling of family through their actions?

Dateline: Hollywood has a hilarious parody piece about what happens when pharmaceutical companies start producing CG features, like Mucinex’s MR. MUCUS and Lamisil’s THE ADVENTURES OF DIGGER NAIL FUNGUS INFECTION. Don’t laugh too hard though; the way the animation industry is headed, these films will become reality soon enough.
(Thanks, Steve Moore)