I really like this video of a hardcore cartoon fan offering his opinions about various animated features. Many of us are so heavily immersed in the industry that it’s easy to forget how the average moviegoer looks at animated films. It’s refreshing to hear a fan’s perspective, even though I cringed a few times, like when he expressed affection for Once Upon a Forest. Our chubby-cheeked friend also calls Looney Tunes: Back In Action “a classic ’90s style film,” says DreamWorks’s Over the Hedge reminded him of Care Bears, and touts The Chipmunk Adventure as one of his “all-time favorite animated films.”

The tortured history of the TMS feature film Little Nemo: Adventures In Slumberland (1992) could rival that of Richard Williams The Thief And The Cobbler. It was an American/Japanese joint project, with no less than Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata involved in the pre-production stage (1982-83).

George Lucas, Chuck Jones, Gary Kurtz, Ray Bradbury, Chris Columbus, Moebius, John Canemaker, Leo Salkin, Paul Julian, Ken Anderson, Frank Thomas and Brad Bird (who talks about his involvement in the comments below) were attached to this film at one time or another. Bill Hurtz (George of the Jungle, Unicorn In The Garden) and Masami Hata (Sea Prince and the Fire Child) ultimately directed the final release, admittedly a mixed bag.

The idea of making a fully animated adaptation of Winsor McCay’s comic strip masterpiece somehow seems like a good idea (McCay himself authorized a musical stage play based on the strip in 1908), and the names assembled (above) to tackle such a project were certainly capable doing so.

If you’re wondering what a Miyazaki version might’ve been like, check this out. Below I’ve posted a short test film dating from December 1984. Key Miyazaki animator/director Yoshifumi Kondo (Whisper Of The Heart) directed this test sequence, supposedly filmed in 70mm. The mind boggles as to what could have been.

Oh, and who authorized this?

Earlier today, Disney and Pixar announced their theatrical line-up through 2012. This is the lengthy press release with story details and release info. Your thoughts?

Pixar’s line-up is as follows:

June 27, 2008
Wall-E directed by Andrew Stanton

May 29, 2009
Up directed by Pete Docter

June 18, 2010
Toy Story 3 directed by Lee Unkrich

Summer 2011
Newt directed by Gary Rydstrom

Winter 2011
The Bear and the Bow directed by Brenda Chapman

Summer 2012
Cars 2 directed by Brad Lewis

Meanwhile, on the Disney side, there is:

November 26, 2008
Bolt directed by Chris Williams and Byron Howard

Christmas 2009
The Princess and the Frog directed by John Musker and Ron Clements (Note: this marks the return of hand-drawn animation to Disney)

Christmas 2010
Rapunzel directed by Glen Keane and Dean Wellins

2012
King of the Elves directed by Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker

It’s interesting to note that all of the Pixar films have one individual with top billing as director, while the Disney features are structured to have two directors per film. That certainly can’t be coincidence. As Disney regains its footing, hopefully they’ll discover individuals within the organization whose personal vision is strong enough to carry a film by itself.

Also, it was apparently important enough to merit being put into this announcement that Disney has four direct-to-dvd features starring Tinkerbell and friends: Tinker Bell (Oct. 28, 2008), Tinker Bell: North of Neverland (2009), Tinker Bell: A Midsummer Storm (2010) and Tinker Bell: A Winter Story (2011).

I see a lot of animated features in advance and, for the most part, keep my opinions to myself until the movie is in general release. Today I had the opportunity to screen Kung Fu Panda and cannot contain myself. I’m not going to write a review or post spoilers - but I just want to alert you to what I believe is one of the best CG animated films I’ve ever seen.

Yup. Right up there with The Incredibles. Dreamworks has done it. No joke.

The art direction, the voices, the character animation, the comedy, the action scenes, the opening 2-D cartoon sequence, the heart… it all works. Don’t miss this in a theatre. I don’t care what you think of the trailer, or Dreamworks track record, or anything like that. None of that matters. This film is good, and will a big hit. Mark my words - you’ll want the action figures.

Yes, this is a rave. I’ll post a more formal review as we get closer to its release. I just wanted to be the first to tell you.

[Disclosure: I am currently working on a book (unrelated to Kung Fu Panda) for Dreamworks.]

Instruction site eHow.com is known for posting some silly subjects, with equally silly solutions, but this latest one takes the cake: How to Enjoy ‘Horton Hears a Who!’

In the Things You’ll Need section they suggest:

• An appreciation for the works of Dr. Seuss
• A love of animated films
• The ability to feel young at heart

Oh, and don’t forget “step 5″ of their six-step program:

• Get some merchandise to extend the magic

I really want to like Horton, but with hard-sell marketing like this (to paraphrase Dr. Seuss) Oh, the places they’ll go!

(Thanks, Joe Cabrera)

Yesterday’s LA Times had an unnecessarily sensationalistic article about the difficulties of breaking into the directing ranks at Pixar. The piece is misleading simply because the idea of building a hand-picked stable of animation directors is not unique to Pixar but a cornerstone of most major animation studios, past and present.

The article uses Jimmy Hayward as an example of an artist who had to leave Pixar to get his shot at directing Blue Sky’s Horton Hears a Who! but what the article neglects to mention is that Blue Sky’s first three features were directed by the same two people: Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha. The simple math of hundreds of artists at an animation studio and one or two directors on each film makes it obvious that not everybody’s going to direct. Also, with the stakes so high on each computer-animated film, it makes sense that studios would develop a core of trusted directors instead of trying out new helmers on each pic. Why the LA Times feels that Pixar should be any different is beyond me.

In fact, the article fails to discuss one of the great things that Pixar does which most other feature studios don’t, and that’s how they use their short film division as a place to try out new directorial talent. In just the past few years, numerous Pixar folks have directed shorts for the first time including Andrew Jimenez and Mark Andrews (One Man Band), Gary Rydstrom (Lifted), Jim Capobianco (Your Friend the Rat) and Dan Scanlon (co-director, Mater and the Ghostlight). The short that’ll debut in front of Wall-E is again helmed by a freshman director, this time the talented Pixar animation veteran Doug Sweetland. Considering the relatively few directing slots available in animation in general, I think Pixar does as fine a job as any contemporary studio possibly can in terms of spreading directing opportunities amongst its artists.

[Disclosure: I am currently working on a book for Pixar.]

Pixar has released the final trailer for Wall-E before its June 27 release. All I can say is that I really want to see this film! And this is coming from somebody who’s not a particular fan of robots or sci-fi. It’s just that this film looks refreshingly different in so many ways.

I’m also predicting that Wall-E will be a huge success, if only because the title character reminds me of E.T., visually and also in its endearingly innocent personality (not to mention the name). Considering how moviegoers embraced E.T., I think it’s a safe bet that audiences will be similarly receptive to the character Wall-E.

DreamWorks has released the first latest official image from their March 2009 feature Monsters vs. Aliens. It’s hardly groundbreaking visually, but the simple fact that a DreamWorks publicity still doesn’t make me want to claw my eyes out is cause for celebration. I’ve been hearing the same whispers on this film that I have for nearly every other DreamWorks feature: at first, it was that the artists were getting a chance to really show themselves, and more recently, that it’s being watered down. What’ll end up on the screen is anybody’s guess but this image at least offers a glimmer of hope.

There’s an accompanying article in today’s USA Today about Monsters vs. Aliens, in which Jeffrey Katzenberg says that to avoid confusion between 3-D computer animation and stereoscopic 3-D, he’s going to begin calling stereoscopic animation “the Ultimate 3-D.”

(via Cooked Art)