Cartoon Brew

Bakshi Online

Dealing with the subject of the site I'm plugging today has personally been a most distasteful and unpleasant experience, but I'll be damned if he isn't a talented artist. That's why I like the new RalphBakshi.com because it allows you to enjoy his work while staying as far away as possible from the actual person. The site, exquisitely designed by illustrator/animation artist Chris McD, is packed with examples of Bakshi's animation and fine art, biographical info and all sorts of Ralph-related goodies. It's a work-in-progress with lots of material still to be posted including drawing lessons from Ralph and reprints of old interviews with him.

GOLDEN AGE CARTOONS

Seven dedicated classic cartoon historians have banded their websites together under a new central banner Golden Age Cartoons.

GAC is run by Jon Cooke (Unofficial Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies Page), Matthew Hunter (Looney Tunes Page), Jack Tatay (Classic Cartoon Records), Thad Komorowski (who updates a terrific Walter Lantz Cartune Encyclopedia), Pietro Shakarian (webmaster behind the Columbia Crow's Nest), Dan Porceddu and David Gerstein (The Felix The Cat Page).

There is a wealth of cartoon knowledge posted on these pages - I highly recommend you spend a few hours checking this out. Good luck guys!

SKY CAPTAIN

I caught an advance screening of SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW last night and enjoyed it immensely.
As a fan of cliffhanger serials & classic movies, It was fun to see someone try to recapture the magic of movies like King Kong, Lost Horizon, The Wizard Of Oz, pulps like Doc Savage and G-8, as well as chapterplays like Captain Midnight, Spy Smasher, The Lost Jungle, etc. And I think writer/director Kerry Conran succeeds. I was worried that his approach - to emulate that style of filmmaking, not be inspired by it (as Lucas & Spielberg were) - might not work with a general audience. For example, I'm a fan of Guy Maddin's films - they are shot in the the style of late 20s/early 30s early talkies - which seem limited to cult audiences and midnight shows. I think there is enough action and visual wonder in SKY CAPTAIN for a modern audience to enjoy.

Despite a lot of explosions and destruction, one element of classic serials was sorely missing - the fist fight. Yes, there are one or two punches here and there, and an abbreviated battle against a mysterious woman in the climax, but not enough Dave Sharpe, if you ask me. In fact, I noticed a reliance on close ups and spectacular establishing master-shots. The story itself was on the level of a B-film (but that's the point, right?). The bottom line: I loved it - but I don't expect many converts from the Spider-Man/Indiana Jones crowd.

A major dose of the plot is suggested by the Max Fleischer Superman cartoon Mechanical Monsters - and, except for the live actors, the film was entirely computer generated. It is quite an achievement - and a lock for some art direction and special effects Oscars. It opens September 17th - I plan to see it again that day.

DAVE MONAHAN BLOG

Sue Larkin has been updating an ongoing blog about her dad, lengendary Looney Tunes writer Dave Monahan, since his passing away in May 2003. Check it out for some great insight and facts about one of the less celebrated members of Termite Terrace.

LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN DVD #2

Our friends at TV Shows on DVD.com scooped us yesterday with some new details on the LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION Volume 2. However, I must give our loyal Cartoon Brew readers an advantage - so here are some further details on the bonus materials to be included on V.2 (keep in mind that the following is NOT a complete list of bonus goodies - more to come!):

31 Audio Commentaries

1. The Big Snooze - Bill Melendez
2. Tortoise Beats Hare - Mike Barrier (with Dave Monahan)
3. Slick Hare - Mike Barrier (with Paul Julian)
4. Bugs Bunny Rides Again - Greg Ford
5. Gorilla My Dreams - Jerry Beck
6. The Heckling Hare - Greg Ford
7. Broomstick Bunny - June Foray
8. Beep Beep - Mike Barrier
9. Whoa Be Gone - Greg Ford
10. Stop, Look & Hasten - Greg Ford
11. The Dover Boys - Mike Barrier (with John McGrew)
12. Mouse Wreckers - Greg Ford (and Chuck Jones)
13. A Bear For Punishment - Mike Barrier (with Chuck Jones)
14. Tweetie Pie - Greg Ford (and Friz Freleng)
15. Ain’t She Tweet - Greg Ford (and Chuck Jones)
16. Kitty Kornered - Mike Barrier (and Bob Clampett)
17. Baby Bottleneck - Michael Barrier (and Robert Clampett)
18. Old Glory - Jerry Beck & Martha Sigall
19. The Great Piggy Bank Robbery - John Kricfalusi
20. Porky In Wackyland - Mike Barrier (and Bob Clampett)
21. Book Revue - Mike Barrier (and Bob Clampett)
22. Corny Concerto - Mike Barrier (and Bob Clampett)
23. Hollywood Steps Out - Greg Ford
24. One Froggy Evening - Mike Barrier (with Chuck Jones & Mike Maltese)
25. What’s Opera Doc? - Chuck Jones, Mike Maltese & Maurice Noble
26. What’s Opera Doc? - Daniel Goldmark
27. Show Biz Bugs - Greg Ford (with Friz Freleng)
28. Rhapsody Rabbit - Daniel Goldmark
29. Back Alley Oproar - Greg Ford (and Friz Freleng)
30. The Three Little Bops - Jerry Beck & Stan Freberg
31. You Oughta Be In Pictures - Jerry Beck

Featurettes

1. A Conversation With Tex Avery (6 mins.)
2. Looney Tunes Go Hollywood (8 mins.)
3. Crash! Bang! Boom! The Wild Sounds of Treg Brown (10 mins.)
4. The Man From Wackyland: The Art Of Bob Clampett (20 mins.)
5. It Hopped One Night: A look at ONE FROGGY EVENING (6 minutes)
6. Wagnarian Wabbit: The Making Of “What’s Opera Doc?” (8 mins.)

Music Scores

1. Hyde & Hare - Music
2. Baby Buggy Bunny - Music & Effects
3. Bunny Hugged - Music & Effects
4. Broomstick Bunny - Music & Effects
5. Guided Muscle - Music
6. Gee Whizzz - Music
7. There They Go-Go-Go - Music
8. Scrambled Aches - Music
9. Zoom & Bored - Music
10. A Bear For Punishment - Music & Effects
13. One Froggy Evening - Music
14. The Three Little Bops - a. Music Only b. Freberg vocals only
15. What’s Opera Doc? - a. Music only & b. Blanc & Bryan vocals only

BONUS SHORTS will include, complete & uncut:

The restored ADVENTURES OF THE ROAD RUNNER featurette (pilot)
ORANGE BLOSSOMS FOR VIOLET
SO MUCH FOR SO LITTLE
BUGS BUNNY ROAD RUNNER SHOW opening titles
Another set of BUGS BUNNY SHOW bridgeing sequences!

And much more - including 60 uncut, remastered from the original negs Looney Tunes - including restored original titles on several cartoons including I LOVE TO SINGA, BABY BOTTLENECK, BOOK REVUE and BACK ALLEY OPROAR!

So remember to go out and vote for the LOONEY TUNES GOLDEN COLLECTION Volume 2 on November 2nd (it's also Election Day)!

Asian Inspiration

An incredible look at Japanese illustrators from the 1920s and early-1930s can be found HERE. The artwork is from a picture book magazine called KODOMO NO KUNI. (via fwak! blog)

Eggbert Little

An observant friend at Film Roman recently pointed out that it's nice to see that the WB character Eggbert (a.k.a. Egghead Jr.) is reviving his career in Disney's upcoming CHICKEN LITTLE.

UPA COMPOSER PASSES AWAY

David Raksin, who scored several classic UPA cartoons in the 1950s, including The Unicorn in the Garden, Madeline, Sloppy Jalopy and Giddyap, passed away Monday at age 92. Of course, Raksin is much more famous for Laura, The Bad and the Beautiful and dozens of other classic feature film scores... but we at Cartoon Brew tip our hats to Raksin for his innovative animation music.

The Fred Crippen Retrospective

I'm really excited about this year's Ottawa Animation Festival (September 22-26) and even more excited about the Fred Crippen retrospective, which (thanks to the festival's artistic director, the Animation Pimp himself) I have the privilege of programming for Ottawa. After many months of working with Fred Crippen, he and I have managed to compile an 80-minute program of his work which will be screened twice at the festival (September 23 and 26). The idea of compiling such a retrospective can be deceptively simple. After all, how difficult can it be to put together the films of one artist? But when somebody has been working in animation as long as Fred, and whose resume includes animation for SESAME STREET, The Playboy Channel and everything in between, the process of compressing that career into eighty short minutes becomes a monumental undertaking. For instance, Fred directed over a dozen shorts at UPA, but because of the screening time, we're only able to show one of those films. The film we ended up choosing was TREES & JAMAICA DADDY, which is not only quite entertaining, but a nice representation of the type of films he was producing at UPA. Fortunately during the BOING BOING SHOW retrospective at the last Ottawa festival, a few other films that he'd directed at UPA were also screened.

Then there's the stuff you'd like to show but can't, like a commercial for John F. Kennedy's presidential campaign that Fred made in 1960. In this case, the only print we found at Pantomime Pictures was incomplete, though luckily this particular ad can be seen online HERE. A less fortunate circumstance is a Coors Beer ad that Fred directed at UPA (image at right); nobody we know of has a copy of it and it's completely lost at this time. Then there's Fred's "art" film METROPOLIS PER DIEM. We had a beautiful print of that until we ran it in the projector and the print got completely scratched up. Thankfully, after weeks of searching, Fred's wife Julie discovered a clean copy of the film in their house. Another challenging part of compiling retrospectives is figuring out exactly what the artist has produced over the course of their career. Just last week Fred called me up and said that while he was looking around the studio he discovered a film called CRIME DOESN'T PAY. He'd made this two-minute short independently in the early-'60s. The funny thing is not only had I never heard of it, but Fred doesn't even remember making the film. The tiny 16mm film stills we've looked at are hilarious and we can't wait to transfer the print to video so we can finally see this long forgotten cartoon.

The contents of the Crippen retrospective can be previewed HERE. I'll also be moderating a "Meet the Master" panel with Fred where we'll try to figure out how he's managed to survive as an independent animator in Hollywood for so many decades. And perhaps the biggest Fred Crippen-related treat at Ottawa will be the debut of his latest short film IMPROVING COMMUNICATIONS which he's finishing up as I write this. The educational film (well, educational if you happen to be Dick Cheney) made it into the Ottawa film competition and will screen in Competition Program #1 (right before LORENZO no less) as well as in the retrospective screening.

POPEYE VILLAGE

Ever wonder what happened to the sets for the town they erected for Robert Altman's 1980 live action POPEYE feature film? Wonder no more: Click here!

AIN'T THAT DUCKY?

Classic Cartoon Meets Videogame

BREW reader Fnchnst points out this amusing online game:

Check out this new Flash game called Mister Fox (created by Thistler.net). It's a 2-D platformer that is very reminiscent of black-and-white cartoons from the 1930s. Everything from the characters to the music makes you feel as if Disney is still alive today.

Koji Morimoto

French BREW reader Tsuka writes in to make a correction to an ITEM from a few days ago. Masaaki Yuasa was the animation director and co-character designer for SOUND INSECT NOISEMAN, not the director as I had stated. The director was Koji Morimoto. Tsuka runs a fine webpage dedicated to Morimoto at KojiMorimoto.net. The site is only in French at the moment, but don't let that stop you from checking out the numerous images and video clips on his site.

1 ANIMATION NETWORK

I've just heard from Christina Lutz of 1 Animation Network, a new cable venture hoping to start broadcasting on digital TV services early next year. They hope to fill the animation void left by Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon and Disney and program independent, international, adult-skewing and classic animation. They are based in Chicago and are looking to acquire independent shorts. If you have something to offer, give Christine a call (312.527.4444) or drop her an e-mail at lutz@1antv.com

I've already suggested they look into Columbia's Totally Tooned In package (and other Classic Media properties). We'll get further updates on their progress in the next few months.

ANIMATION FESTS

If you live in these areas, check out your local ANIMATION FESTIVAL:

Los Angeles: Sunday August 15, 2004, Los Angeles Comic Book & Science Fiction Convention at the Shrine Auditorium Expo Center, in collaboration with Cartoonmogul.com, will present a new brand of independent animation festival: a 2-hour program with online animators from across the US and from as far away as the Netherlands.

London: August 24-29 The London Animation Festival will be running a Spumco/John K retrospective; and tributes to Prtitt Parn, Phil Mulloy, Estonian animation and other rarely shown eye candy.

Chicago: September 24-26 Cineme International Animated Film Festival, a competition, conference and film showcase which will include sneak previews from Nickelodeon and anime premieres.

Ottawa: September 22-26 Ottawa 04 International Animation Festival North America's biggest and best! Miyazaki, Popeye, Fred Crippen, Harvey Birdman, Soviet Propaganda and much much more!

The Difference Between Good and Eisner

Would Michael Eisner ever adopt a corporate policy of "no secrets management"? Would Eisner limit the pay of Disney executives to help them stay in touch with the average studio employee? Would he ever change one of his core business practices because of a confrontation with a protester? Of course not, but these are all things that Whole Foods supermarket founder/CEO John Mackey has done. There's an inspiring profile of him in last month's issue of FAST COMPANY that proves that operating an ethical humanitarian corporation is not incompatible with financial success.

Only the Design is Gay

When Disney president Robert Iger appeared on Fox News Channel last week to promote the new children's Disney Dream Desk computer, Fox host Stuart Varney managed to subvert the discussion about computers into an attack on "Gay Days," an annual gathering at Disney World organized by private groups. Media Matters writes about the incident and includes a video clip with this surreal line from Varney: "I mean, in June you have 'Gay Days' at your theme parks. You got any 'Gay Days' on the Mickey computer?"

MORE ANIME

Catnapped!

Several more obscure Japanese anime features will be having rare theatrical showings in Los Angeles in the next couple of months. Laemmle Theatres is hosting the Chanoma Film Festival at the Fairfax Theatre in Hollywood one week each month. This series includes the best Japanese family films, with two films being showcased each month.

JUNKERS COME HERE an excellent Miyazaki flavored fantasy from director Junichi Sato (Salior Moon) and producer Kazuo Komatsubara (Naussiaca) will play September 10th through 16th, each day at 3:10pm and 7:35pm.
CATNAPPED! a zany funny animal adventure written and directed by Takashi Nakamura, (animation director of "Akira") will screen December 10th through December 16th daily at 1pm, 4:30pm & 8pm.
THE DAY THE EARTH MOVED from director Toshio Goto is (like Barefoot Gen) the story of survival of several children during the massive 1995 earthquake in Kobe City. December 10th through December 16th daily at 2:45pm, 6:15pm & 9:45pm

More information, images, and trailers can be seen at www.chanoma.org