.... and I thought that was CGI: Fantasia 2000

Hand-drawn animation doesn't get much more detailed than that.  Happy Friday!

The Adventures of Prince Achmed

This is considered to be the oldest feature-length animated movie to still be in existence today and it's available RIGHT NOW on Netflix streaming.  I watched it last Friday night and was completely blown away by the craft that went into creating each frame of this film.  Even the story is engaging and each character has a sense of purpose; not just to be seen & never heard from again.  Just because it's from 1926 doesn't mean it lacks sophistication, and while the animation itself may be a bit rough I can't help but wonder how it looked back when it was initially released.  I can't recommend it enough to someone who loves the art of animation.

From Wikipedia: 

The Adventures of Prince Achmed (German: Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed) is a 1926 German animated fairytale film by Lotte Reiniger. It is the oldest surviving animated feature film; two earlier ones were made in Argentina by Quirino Cristiani, but they are considered lost.^[1] The Adventures of Prince Achmed features a silhouette animation technique Reiniger had invented which involved manipulated cutouts made from cardboard and thin sheets of lead under a camera. The technique she used for the camera is similar to Wayang shadow puppets, though hers were animated frame by frame, not manipulated in live action. The original prints featured color tinting.

STOP WHAT YOU'RE DOING I HAVE AN AMAZING IDEA!

... let's all go watch a movie about fucking owls.

pictured above: owls.

Finally -- a movie that really corners the market for those who love owls and the color treatment of Lord of the Rings.  Let's all congratulate the team on making everything look awkwardly-realistic.  Kids fucking LOVE feather textures, people.  I remember when I was growing up watching Looney Tunes on Saturday mornings thinking to myself, "Y'know what?  I don't really believe Bugs Bunny could exist in our own physical reality.  THIS IS ALL FAKE!"  I really had to struggle with that disconnect in life until I was about 14-years-old.  Thank you, Space Jam.*
I apologize for the randomness of this rant but I just don't understand how this movie made it into theaters.  I should mention that I'm completely uneducated on the whole subject of Legend of the Guardians.  I'm assuming it came from children's literature since I can't imagine someone pitching this to a studio as an original idea ("Guys! Owls you guys!"), but at the same time who really cares?  If you had the power of sophisticated CGI to create any imagery you could possibly imagine, what would compell you to make it this?

... an owl wearing a helmet, everybody.

It's a movie about owls doing things that more interesting animals or creatures could be doing... like dragons or dinosaurs or hell, what they did back in my day.  I think I'm a better man for being ignorant towards this movie.  I mean, c'mon... the owls of ga'hoole?  So on top of spending $15 to watch a movie about owls, the movie poster alludes to the fact that I'll also have to put up with an hour-and-a-half's worth of some owl language that somebody made up peppered with owl-puns.

You know what I think of when I think of owls?  This.

At least in five years' time all the CGI will look like crap.


(because chances are it always does)




* for the record I was also too cynical in my youth to ever watch Space Jam in its entirety.  Le sigh.

Congratulations, Traditional Animators!

... it looks like there's still jobs available out there for you after all. Check out this teaser trailer for Disney's next movie, The Princess and the Frog.

http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/princessandthefrog/

I haven't really paid Disney that much attention lately, so while that I'm a bit surprised that they're venturing back into the traditional animation, I can understand that they'd like to give it a better sendoff than their previous effort.* Unfortunately I'm a bit skeptical of this trailer and just how beneficial this movie will be to the company. It seems like Disney is in a creative rut, and while other animation companies like Pixar offer audiences a wide array of styles and storytelling, Frog looks like many other Disney works, complete with the princess, the watered-down "humor," and the loveable-yet-subtly-racist supporting cast.
I'm not a Disney-hater by any means. Up until the last thirteen years, their animation reigned supreme and stood ahead of any real competition. The wildebeest scene in The Lion King still holds up today and is as breath-taking to watch as it was in 1994. I watch the original Fantasia on a consistent basis and I think it's one of the most artistically and technically advanced features that they've ever put out. The Emperor's New Groove was one of the biggest surprises I've ever experienced watching a movie and I think it's a fantastic comedy with great writing and chemistry between its characters (Patrick Warburton steals every scene he's in). I just think that the fairy tale formula is a little tired, and the "updated & hip" fairy tale is just grating. I'm hoping for the best, but I'm not expecting anything spectacular.


* If it's any indication of just how successful Home on the Range was, I couldn't even remember the name and only came across it by googling "Disney" and "Farm" (I remembered that there were cows on the poster).