Ollie Johnston (pictured above at right, with longtime colleague, co-author and pal Frank Thomas), the last of Disney's fabled Nine Old Men, passed away yesterday, marking a symbolic end of an era.

I owe Frank and Ollie a lot. About 25 years ago, a few years after my first attempts at animating, I decided that just studying movement frame by frame wasn't going to cut it, and started reading about the process. The duo's Disney Animation: The Illusion of Life wasn't the first book on creating animation I borrowed from the library, but it had an impact that was, quite simply, life-changing.

Prior to reading the book I knew little about the actual history of animation in general, and next to nothing about the history of the Disney studio. I liked Disney movies—Kino Kid and I made a point of catching every new and re-released Disney film—but unlike the constantly rerun Warner Bros. productions, I couldn't tell you who directed what, or offer any analyses of the movies. The gorgeously produced Illusion of Life was a gift from the gods, offering the ultimate insiders' view of the studio's best decades, artistically and technologically, liberally sprinkled with concept, pre-production and final artwork. The final pages contained actual animation instruction, but in truth the whole book was a masterclass for anyone who cared to open their eyes.

I devoured The Illusion of Life. Twice. The first time was during an extended road trip that took us to Toronto and Saint Catharines in Ontario, then Ann Arbor, Michigan. The second time was just a few years later, after I'd started seriously immersing myself in animation publications and bought my own copy. Both times, I couldn't put it down.

I have to admit to more than a twinge of disappointment when I later learned about the 1941 Disney strike, and discovered that the divisions caused by the strike ran so deep that The Illusion of Life effectively elided the contributions of those who participated in it. But in the end, Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston were my first animation history teachers, and one of my earliest and most thorough animation teachers. Without them, and that book, my life would be very different—there would certainly be no Frames Per Second—and for that I offer my thanks to Ollie and belated thanks to Frank.

Labels: Disney, Frank Thomas, Ollie Johnston

Information revealed by a spokeswoman for Disney Japan on Thursday indicates a sea change is underway to Disney's approach to developing content for the Japanese market. Previously satisfied to rely on strong recognition of its classic animated characters, recent global hits and largely passive partnerships with local studios, Disney has reached out to several Japanese studios to both adapt current characters and jointly develop new content.

The anime aesthetic has been an elusive target for animation studios outside of Asia who seek to capture the older audiences and massively successful all-ages merchandizing abilities of Japanese content producers. The appearance of an enormous Western partner comes at an opportune time for the local anime industry, which has struggled to continue its breakneck pace of growth amid talent shortages, competition from other Asian countries and fears that the market for anime in Japan and abroad has topped out.

Disney has wasted no time lining up quality Japanese partners. Disney will work with Madhouse Studios to crate a new Lilo & Stitch series to air in Japan, which will be set on an island off Okinawa and will star a Japanese girl named Hanako as Stitch's sidekick. Fireball, a short feature produced with Jinni Animation is scheduled to air on Tokyo Metropolitan TV in April. A second short feature for television, Robodz, is in production with Toei Animation and will air in June. Although a partnership between Toei and Disney had been previously announced, Toei shares surged more than 3 percent in reaction to today's news.

Labels: anime, Disney, Jinni, Madhouse, Toei

Hake's Americana and Collectibles's latest auction features some interesting animation and comic-related articles. The current auction features almost 400 rare Disney art collectibles, including some rare Disney artwork, such as a Gustaf Tenggren sketch from The Old Mill and the first Donald Duck model sheet from the short, The Wise Little Hen. There are also Disney picture books and posters: check out the WWI poster of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. Art in the lot ranges from Silly Symphonies to more recent features like The Lion King.

While acquiring the Disney artwork and memorabilia is enticing, I thought the Winsor McCay posters and miniatures, Fleischer posters, Jay Ward and Dr. Seuss items equally fascinating. If you didn't blow your budget during the holidays, you can go crazy now.

You have until the end of the month to keep your wallet under lock and key.

Labels: auctions, Disney, Dr. Seuss, Fleischer Studios, Jay Ward, Winsor McCay

Last year, the Tokyo Museum of Contemporary Art (also just known as Museum of Tokyo or MOT) held a notable exhibition, The Art of Disney. A beautiful catalogue was also published for the exhibit featuring works that were once thought lost. This summer, the DVD catalogue of the exhibit was released in Japan as well.

I decided I was going to see whatever exhibit was showing at the museum when I was in Tokyo, as I like to do in any new city I visit. It ended up the major exhibit was also animation-related this year: a retrospective of work by Art Director Kazuo Oga.

Kazuo Oga worked on a diverse animation projects such as Barefoot Gen, Dagger of Kamui and Wicked City before creating the background art for My Neighbor Totoro at Studio Ghibli. He went on to work on all of the subsequent features for the studio, and last year, directed his own film for the studio, Taneyamagahara no Yoru.

The lush scenery he creates with his brush is truly breathtaking, and the museum selection was as dense as an of the green forest background he is known for. The sheer number of pieces was more than I have seen for comparatively-sized art exhibitions of any type, and I have never seen its like for animation artwork, mostly from the Studio Ghibli archives. He captures the spirit of the countryside, but also of everyday Japan with a balance of love and accuracy.

Almost all of the art is unphotographable. Near the end of the exhibit, after a room of multiplane setups, there are a number of backgrounds that are blown up so that people can pose in front of them, but most people just step back in wonder to take a whole new look at the art. (I couldn't help posing with Totoro, though.)

Afterward, everyone was invited to fold an origami Totoro in an open room, with mini-backgrounds. Here's mine.

Like the Art of Disney catalogue, a catalogue has been published for this exhibit as well. A DVD is forthcoming for the end of the year. The exhibit has been extended until September 30. If you find yourself in Tokyo, you won't want to miss it.

Labels: anime, art, books, Disney, events, exhibitions, Japan, Studio Ghibli

Just received a message from ASIFA-SF's Karl Cohen:

I just got an e-mail about the passing of Dave Hilberman from one of his sons. I've written him back asking if there will be an obit written by them or if they want help in this matter. Meanwhile if any of you wish to share memories of Dave with ASIFA-SF members, I'm happy to gather your comments and publish them in some form and/or to pass them on to his two sons that I'm in e-mail contact with. [Note: Karl's address is karlcohen at earthlink dot net.]

For those of you who are not familiar with Dave, he was a Disney animator in the late 30s. He was active with the strike and was hated by Walt after it ended. Walt considered him a ringleader and denounced him in public at a House investigation of unAmerican activities in 1947.

Thanks to loosing his job at Disney, Dave along with 2 other friends formed a company that made job training filmstrips during the war and several animated films including Hell Bent for Election to support Roosevelt in 1944 and Brotherhood of Man in 1946. By the time Brotherhood was complete Dave and Zack Schwartz had sold their interest in the company to the 3rd partner, Steve Bousustow. Steve went on to turn the company, now known as UPA, into a major animation studio after he obtained a distribution contract from Columbia in the late 1940s.

Meanwhile Dave and Zack were off to NYC where they became pioneers in TV advertising. Zack soon left Dave. Dave with Bill Pomerance as his partner formed Tempo and became a major player in producing animated TV commercials until right wing anti-communists denounced the two owners of the company. Tempo closed and Dave moved to England (and briefly Italy) for about a year.

I don't know much about his career after he returned to the US, but he did get work doing layouts and storyboards from Hanna-Barbera which he wasn't proud of (I recall his saying he hated doing rank TV shows, but I need to check my notes and letters from him for an exact quote) and he became SF State's first animation teacher in the late 1960s. He lived in Palo Alto in recent years and was interviewed a few times for books and documentaries that covered the Disney strike and blacklist. John Canemaker was one of the first scholars to write about him and he is a pivitol person in my writings about the early TV animation industry and in my chapeter of Forbidden Animation about the Disney Strike and the blacklisting of animators. Tom Sito interviewed him for Drawing the Line and Marc Elliot misquoted him in Disney, Hollywood's Dark Prince (I was told he was quite disturbed by Elliot and a British TV documentary twisting his statements around and putting an incorrect spin on his statements) In the 1980s he presented an ASIFA-SF event on his career at SF State. His wife Libby died recently (last.year or 2005). I believe he was in his early '90s when he died.

Note that the 1911 birthdate was the best I could figure on short notice; Hilberman may have been born in 1912.

Labels: Disney

Review by Terrence Briggs

Ratatouille is Pixar's best film since Toy Story.

It may lack the rapid-fire whimsy of Toy Story's dialogue, but it tells a more nuanced and imaginative story than Toy Story 2, with fewer softball cultural references. As in Iron Giant and The Incredibles, Brad Bird grounds the characters with largely believable dialogue, and goes through amazing pains to legitimize its many narrative conceits. It's drop-dead gorgeous, almost the equal of Finding Nemo, with more elaborately choreographed action.

Read the review

Labels: Disney, features, Pixar, reviews

Pixar has announced that their 2009 feature will be titled Up, making it the most concisely titled animated feature ever, at least until Shane Acker's 9 comes out. According to Variety, the movie will be about "a 70-year-old man who teams with a wilderness ranger to fight beasts and villains." That's just vague enough that I went straight to Up helmer Pete Docter and asked if he could provide even a little more detail at this early date. For instance, is the movie set in the past, present or future? "It's set in the present," he said, "But I'm not supposed to say much more than has already been printed—other than it's going to be really cool!" Hopefully he'll be more forthcoming before the movie's June 12, 2009 debut.

The Mouse goes to Bollywood: In an effort to crack the Indian market, Disney is teaming up with Yash Raj Films to co-produce Bollywood-style animated features, voiced by Bollywood stars. It's a step up from, say, pitching Mulan to Chinese audiences, but it'd be really cool if Disney set up an exchange program between the Indian studio and Feature Animation in the States. It's a small world, after all.

You know we're gleefully anticipating Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution, but gnash our teeth mightily while waiting for its September release date. Happily, we can get a taste when author Frederik L. Schodt chats with KQED's Michael Krasny next Tuesday, between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time. (If you miss it, you can download the archived podcast a bit later.) Oh, did I mention it's a call-in show? You can phone in with questions during the show at 415-863-2476 or 1-866-SF-FORUM (866-733-6786; toll free).

I had no idea there was such a thing as the Canadian Skills Competition, let alone that the thirteenth instalment happened last last week. And imagine my surprise at discovering that the "Olympic-style competitions that test the skills of young people at secondary and post-secondary levels in trade and technology areas" include animation! Specifically, there are two team events titled 3D Character Computer Animation and 2D Character Computer Animation. Congratulations to the winners, but of course I'm a little irked that animation is being considered a technology skill more than an artistic one.

I'm not a huge fan of '80s TV, and frankly the thought of another He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie bewilders me. (The Transformers movie, less so. The smart money has long known to bet on robot smackdowns.) But it's now been confirmed that Warner will be making the Thundercats movie as a CGI feature. Okay, they've got a cool logo and all, but... why? I know, I know, there's a fan base. But... why?

Labels: anime, Canada, Disney, features, India, Osamu Tezuka, Pixar

We've been quiet about this year's upcoming charity auction, but it doesn't mean we haven't been working on it behind the scenes. Yesterday I tallied the votes that had come in, and you've once again chosen to donate the proceeds from this November's auction to cancer research. Now we're asking for just one more bit of vox populi from you. Head over to the auction page and vote to decide which organization will be the one we'll be writing the cheque out to when the dust settles.

While you're there, you might also want to see our list of auction items, which I've finally gotten around to updating somewhat. Two items of note are a Meet the Robinsons baseball cap, made specifically for the feature animation crew that worked on the film (it says so right on the back), and a gorgeous Art of Disney catalogue from the Tokyo exhibit of the same name. I was going to gingerly scan segments of the book, but Chris Turner did such a great job back in November I decided to just link to his page instead. If you read Japanese (or just like to look at cool images), you can also see more about the exhibit itself on the official page.

While there are some auction items I haven't gotten around to listing yet, there's always room for more. If you'd like to donate something, by all means let us know.

Labels: auctions, Disney

The Bonhams and Butterfields auction house is selling artwork from the estate of Carl Barks on Monday, June 4th. Public viewings will be held in Los Angeles from June 1 to June 3.

Lot items include art by Carl Barks, including his comic and animation artwork, pin up art and landscape paintings. Also featured is animation art from a number of different productions, including a Charlie Brown special, Shrek and classic Disney films. There is art by various artists for Carl Barks, as well as awards he received for his outstanding work.

If you're too far away, the items (nearly 200) up for auction are available for viewing and bidding online here (skip to Lot 1250).

Labels: auctions, Carl Barks, comics, Disney

Looks like a whole lotta nostalgia going on. Compilations for Sonic the Hedgehog, Darkwing Duck, The Tick and more join the listings this week, as well as the complete run of Hal Seeger's Batfink series, which should make longtime fan Dave Mackey happy. (Dave wrote about Batfink back in 1992, for our second print issue. Check out his page on the Batman-spoofing rodent here.)

New titles:

May:
5/14 - Secrets of Oscar-winning Animation: Behind the Scenes of 13 Classic Short Animations (paperback) (Book)

June:
6/12 - Naruto OVA + Naruto Vol. 1 manga (DVD)
6/26 - Rataoing (DVD)
6/26 - Van-Pires Transform Vol. 1: Mission Demolition (DVD)
6/26 - Van-Pires Transform Vol. 2: Deep Freeze (DVD)

July:
7/3 - Batfink: The Complete Series (CD)
7/10 - Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Kids (DVD)
7/10 - Stellaluna (DVD)
7/17 - Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (DVD)
7/24 - Pink Panther Classic Cartoon Collection, Vol. 6: Inspector Cartoons (DVD)

August:
8/7 - Charlie & Lola Vol. 5: But I Am an Alligator (DVD)
8/7 - Darkwing Duck Vol. 2 (DVD)
8/7 - Tick vs. Season Two (DVD)
8/14 - Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters for DVD (DVD)
8/14 - Baby Looney Tunes Vol. 4 (DVD)
8/14 - Baby Looney Tunes Vols. 1-4 (DVD)
8/14 - Loonatics Unleashed Complete Season 2 (DVD)
8/14 - Loonatics Unleashed Complete Seasons 1 & 2 (DVD)
8/14 - Pup Named Scooby-Doo, A: Vol. 7 (DVD)
8/28 - The Legion of Super-Heroes Vol. 1 (DVD)

September:
9/1 - Opportunities in Cartooning and Animation Careers (paperback) (Book)

October:
10/24 - Yoshitaka Amano: The Collected Art of Vampire Hunter D (Book)

Date changes:

January 2008:
1/1 - Understanding Animation (paperback) (Book)

Indefinitely delayed:
Winx Club Season 2 Vol. 2: Battle for the Codex (DVD)

Labels: anime, Batfink, Disney, releases, upcoming releases

Meet the Robinsons is an inventive, engaging and fun film. It's enjoyable from start to finish and with luck could herald a new age in American animation. (That's not to say it's perfect or an instant classic, but it's got enough going right that the film gives us something different and special. In this day of copycat cookie-cutter films, that can't be overlooked.) This just-released Disney movie is a rare breed of Hollywood-produced animated films. It's not ironic, not moralistic, not a fairy tale on a grand scale; instead it's a pure story, well thought out and executed. It's the kind of movie that I left the theater liking and on the drive home found myself thinking back on and enjoying even more.

Read the review by Noell Wolfgram Evans

Labels: Disney, features, Meet the Robinsons, reviews

On Thursday, March 22nd, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will continue its free screenings of classic Disney features with Cinderella. One of my favourite touches in this film was the pumpkin carriage, which was inspired by the work of Beatrix Potter (one of the things I learned by attending the superlative exhibit, Once Upon a Time Walt Disney, to which these screenings are linked). If you can't make it for the film, Fantasia is showing on Friday, and I can't wait for Pinocchio on the weekend. See you there!

Don't feel for a feature film on Thursday? How about shorts?

Steamboat Willie, 1928, 8 min
Mickey's Orphans, 1931, 7 min
Mickey's Pal Pluto, 1933, 8 min
Mickey's Fire Brigade, 1935, 8 min
The Band Concert, 1936, 9 min
Donald and Pluto, 1936, 8 min
Thru the Mirror, 1936, 9 min
Clock Cleaners, 1937, 9 min
Don Donald, 1937, 8 min
Modern Inventions, 1937, 9 min

La Cinémathèque Québécoise will be screening these Mickey Mouse shorts (with appearances from the rest of the gang). These are all 35 mm prints.

Labels: Disney, exhibitions, features, Montreal, shorts

Just corrected a minor oversight: For people who'd rather not download our last two video podcasts but are still interested in the interviews, I've added two audio-only versions for your enjoyment, with the earlier one back-dated to when it was supposed to go up. You'll find the Bruno Girveau interview here and the Lella Smith interview here.

Labels: Disney, events, exhibitions, interviews, Montreal

Much of the artwork seen at the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibit comes courtesy of the Disney Animation Research Library, which is under the direction of Lella Smith. In this video podcast you can listen to my interview with her while watching a slideshow of some of the Library's artwork that's on display at the exhibit.

Watch the video

Labels: Disney, events, exhibitions, interviews, Montreal

Veteran Disney animator Andreas Deja was an unexpected guest at the press conference for the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibit at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. I sat down with him and talked about how he was inspired to become an animator, and how he feels about anime, CGI, and people referencing his animation the way he used to reference his predecessors.

Listen to the interview

Labels: Disney, events, exhibitions, interviews, Montreal

First presented at the Grand Palais in Paris in fall 2006, the exhibition Once Upon a Time Walt Disney: The Sources of Inspiration for the Disney Studios makes its way to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where it will undoubtedly create quite a buzz. It is indeed a rare occasion when animation films—let alone Disney—get the limelight in a museum.

The exhibition's companion catalogue is a luxuriously illustrated book whose scholarly analyses invite us to re-examine the Disney aesthetic through its relations with European fine arts.

Read the review

Review by Marco de Blois

Labels: Disney, exhibitions, Montreal, reviews

Two days before the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibit officially opened in Montreal, members of the press and other guests were invited to roam the museum during the morning press conference and the evening reception. Although the sheer amount of material is staggering, we hope this selection of photos will give you a taste of what's on display.

See the photos

Photos by Emru Townsend and Roy Patrick Disney

Labels: Disney, events, exhibitions, Montreal

There is lots of programming today at the Festival of Films on Art (FIFA). There's something for everybody.

If you missed the documentary Il Etait Un Fois... Walt Disney when it aired late last year with English subtitles, it will be showing again today and Sunday in French at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, where the exhibit of the same name has just started its North American run. The program begins at 2:00 p.m. (4:30 on Sunday) and is preceded by a documentary (with some animated sequences) on Kinder Surprise, a guilty pleasure of mine. (Note that today and tomorrow are also your last two chances to see Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the museum).

If you're all Disneyed out, at 4:30 p.m. there is a screening of Parnography, a documentary about Estonian animator Pritt Parn and his contemparies. It repeats later in the week.

The documentary airs with Drawing Lessons and Histoires Mysterieuses d'Aujourd'hui, a collection of six Japanese tales of horror and does not have the typical hallmarks of mainstream Japanese animation. Both sound utterly fascinating.

Labels: anime, Disney, documentaries, Estonia, events, exhibitions, features, festivals, FIFA, International Festival of Films on Art, Montreal, shorts

Matt Forsythe has posted in words and pictures over at Drawn! and Flickr about his experience at Tuesday's preview of Once Upon A Time Walt Disney, which opened today to the public. It's wonderful to read him write about his discovery of Mary Blair, one of my favourite Disney artists.

While I'm on the subject, Mark Mayerson posted a second fantastic commentary on a sequence of Pinocchio at the beginning of the week.

We'll be posting some more about the exhibit in the next little while as well. For now, don't forget to check out the video podcast with curator Bruno Girveau.

Labels: Disney, exhibitions, Montreal

Labels: Disney, events, exhibitions, interviews

As fascinating as it may be to see the inspiration, pre-production and final images from various Disney animated features, the Once Upon a Time Walt Disney exhibition wouldn't be complete without seeing the final products being discussed. To that end, the Cinémathèque Québécoise and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts are both screening Disney films to complement the exhibition, starting in March.

The Cinémathèque starts things off this Friday with a collection of Alice shorts, the series that Walt Disney worked on before the Disney studio we know was formed. These silent films mixed live action and animation—and when you think about it, that wasn't all that uncommon back then—and will be screened to live piano accompaniment. The other two programs will feature Mickey Mouse shorts and Silly Symphonies. All of the programs will repeat at least once between March 2 and April 5; you can see the schedule on the Cinémathèque's Cinéma d'animation page.

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts will be screening eight Disney features (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, Bambi, Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan) between March 8 and April 29. (They'll be showing all of the Disney movies until The Jungle Book through to the exhibition's end in June; the rest of the schedule will appear on the site in time.) There will be English and French screenings, and admission is free, though you do have to pick up a ticket; details are on the museum's Films at the Museum page.

Are you going to the screenings? And if so, which films are you looking forward to the most?

Labels: Disney, events, exhibitions, Montreal

Disney fever will be sweeping Montreal shortly, what with the Il était une fois Walt Disney (Once Upon a Time Walt Disney) exhibition coming to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts for a three and a half-month run. If you're in town between March 8 and June 24, why not enter our Once Upon a Time Walt Disney contest? We're giving away two double passes for the exhibition, and all you've got to do is click here to enter.

Labels: contest, Disney, events, exhibitions, Montreal

We'd heard the rumblings before, but now they've made it official and told the world: Disney is getting back into the hand-drawn feature animation game, with John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Treasure Planet) returning to direct The Frog Princess. On the 3D side of things, the retooled American Dog (Chris Williams has replaced Chris Sanders as director) is slated for next year, while Pixar's Lee Unkrich makes his directorial debut with Toy Story 3 in 2009.

It looks like Disney is getting its production groove back, but we won't know for sure until we see how these three first films of the Disney/Pixar era play out on the big screen. We'll see in'08.

Labels: Disney, Pixar

Years ago I got a press kit from Disney that gushed about their upcoming slate of animated TV shows. The series that got all the love was Teamo Supremo, an obvious and ill-conceived attempt at aping The Powerpuff Girls.

Another show received scant mention, but its blurb was the only other thing I would remember from the press kit: a show called Kim Possible, about a teenage girl who went on world-saving adventures with her childhood friend Ron Stoppable.

The names alone made me laugh, and I waited patiently until the show materialized on the Family Channel up here. My patience was rewarded. I discovered a show that married action, wit, slapstick humour, appealing design and memorable characters; it walked the fine line between goofy and action/adventure and made it look easy. I was particularly impressed by how the creators fleshed out perhaps the best-realized female character Western television animation has seen in a long time. K.P. (as Ron calls her) is smart without being a genius, funny without being a smart-aleck, popular but insecure, and independent but embracing of her familial support system. She can be deep or she can be shallow, selfless or selfish. In short, she's a good person and a capable person, but her flaws aren't so outsized that they rob her of humanity.

So, yeah, I'm a fan. And I'm quite happy that Disney has taken the rare step of creating a new series almost two years after the original ended. The first episode airs this Saturday on the Disney Channel in the US (it isn't appearing on the Family Channel in Canada just yet), and it picks up where the first series left off, with Kim and Ron now a couple—and if you know anything about these characters, you realize the comic potential that implies. After having to endure the return of The Family Guy, it's encouraging to see that such a smart and funny series is also deemed worthy of resurrection.

Labels: Disney

There's a brand-new production company in Hollywood, and it's set up shop on the Disney lot. The big surprise? It's headed up by Robert Zemeckis, Jack Rapke and Steve Starkey—and the as yet unnamed company will be producing performance-capture–based movies. Disney technically owns the new company, but the three principals will produce their own films, likely with Zemeckis directing; it just so happens that Disney will be their sole client.

(One wonders, what would Walt think of all this? On the one hand, he wasn't too keen on slavishly replicating reality, but rather on using reality as a basis for drawn animation. On the other hand, he encouraged developing new technologies as a means of advancing what could be done in animation.)

While on an emotional level it seems just plain wrong for Disney to be doing motion-captured films, it's hard to deny the business sense behind it. Polar Express, Monster House and Happy Feet did very well at the box office, and Zemeckis and co.'s ImageMovers studio were free of their Sony obligations; the deal means that the Mouse has some of that mojo in the fold, and eliminates a major competitor at the same time. Played right, Disney would essentially be overseeing three different brands of animated features. Jim Hill speculates that Zemeckis and Disney/Pixar's John Lasseter would team up to produce animated adaptations of Edgar Rice Burrough's John Carter of Mars books, which Disney recently optioned. If that's the case, and we do end up seeing some mixing and matching between the studios' talent, this could bode very well for Disney. As always, we'll just have to wait and see.

Labels: Disney

The Amazing Screw-On Head (DVD)
Where the animated version of Hellboy benefited by not using the original aesthetic of comic creator Mike Mignola, with a well thought-out, equally compelling design, the pilot episode for The Amazing Screw-On Head keeps Mignola's angular, shadowed look to good effect. While the animation is fairly good—not great, the smaller budget is apparent—the timing and story will keep you watching. Fans of the original comic will enjoy it, but some of the concessions to a new medium will be apparent. The voice acting keeps the entire show together, and it's pleasing that while the famous typically live-action actors get the billing, their work stands up with the trained voice actors and cannot be written off as an attempt at stunt casting. —Tamu Townsend

Cinderella III: A Twist in Time (DVD)
Cinderella III: A Twist in Time is the latest direct-to-DVD sequel from the Walt Disney studio. It follows 2002's Cinderella II: Dreams Come True and the original Disney film, 1950's Cinderella. While I have not been a fan of Disney's sequels to its classic film roster, I will admit that this particular film was a pleasant surprise. —Noell Wolfgram Evans
Read the review

Escaflowne: The Movie (Anime Movie Classics) (DVD)
One of the nice things about the better anime productions is that they're not afraid to take chances, even at the risk of displeasing fans. This is exactly what Escaflowne: The Movie did. Most of the familiar characters are there, but with a twist. The overall tone is grimmer than the TV series: Upbeat Hitomi is now a depressed schoolgirl with no psychic abilities, Van is more aggressive and violent, the redesigned Escaflowne itself now gets its energy from the blood of its pilot (much like a semi-mechanical vampire). The production values are still top-notch, and some will prefer the new character designs by Nobuteru Yuki. The soundtrack by Yoko Kanno is also another high point of the film. —René Walling

Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (Anime Movie Classics) (DVD)
This three-episode OVA is a great watch for a Gundam fan, because it provides viewers with the one thing that is irresistible to any good-natured otaku: backstory. There are many things to like about Endless Waltz—new villains, new mecha, old rivalries—but the opportunity to learn of the backstory of the five lead Gundam pilots is probably the sweetest of them all. —Aaron H. Bynum
Read the review

Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade (Anime Movie Classics) (DVD)
Jin-Roh, haunted equally by Japanese post-WWII social history largely unfamiliar to most Westerners and by the fairy-tale images of wolves twisted into a grisly variation of the story of Little Red Riding Hood, may be the most dazzlingly noir anime ever made, if such melancholia can be considered dazzling. The film, by taking its dual themes of loss and despair very seriously, achieves a gut-wrenching emotional depth. —Amy Harlib
Read the review

The Last Unicorn, The: 25th Anniversary Edition (DVD)
The Last Unicorn has been a cult favorite among fantasy lovers since the publication of Peter S. Beagle's novel in 1968. The animated version released in 1982 spawned new generations of fans. Although it is an American film, Rankin-Bass contracted all their animation to Japanese companies (going all the way back to Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which was done in a warehouse on the outskirts of Tokyo). The Last Unicorn was done by a Japanese contract studio called Topcraft whose other claim to fame was that right after The Last Unicorn, they were hired by Tokuma Publishing to animate the film Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind under Hayao Miyazaki. (Topcraft disbanded afterward and most of the staff joined the newly formed Studio Ghibli to work on Miyazaki's next film, Castle in the Sky: Laputa, so I have always considered The Last Unicorn to be a "proto-Ghibli" film.)

Although a cult success in the US, The Last Unicorn became a mainstream hit in Germany where its annual showings on TV became a tradition much like the annual broadcast of The Wizard of Oz used to be in the US. Sadly, all the video releases in the US (both videotape and DVD) have been cropped and based an inferior print. Only the German Region 2 PAL DVD release was in the original widescreen format using a restored print. Now the 25th anniversary release of the film on DVD in America finally allows us to see the movie in its full glory for the first time since it played in theaters. In addition to the restored film the DVD also has a "making of" documentary including interviews with Peter S. Beagle, who wrote the screenplay based on his own novel.

But that brings up the one lingering controversy about the film. Despite the million copies of the film sold on home video since the mid-80s, Beagle has never been paid any of the royalties he was contractually owed. Read more here about the controversy and find out how buying the DVD through the link above helps Beagle. —Marc Hairston

Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles (DVD)
There are many things that can be said about Robotech: The Shadow Chronicles: here are three. First, Louie Nichols' character still has some of the best lines whenever he is in a scene. Second, the battle scenes were compelling in the earlier incarnations of the Robotech series, but now they are entirely lacklustre. The poor 2D/3D integration makes these scenes disjointed and cold. It is a great example of things not being better simply because they are CG.

And the most frustrating, final point: Blame it on my old age, but I simply do not remember that many characters with double-D cups and scenes with gratuitous crotch shots in the earlier series. We know young men like stories in space, and they like pretty women, too, but there are plenty of female viewers who will be turned off. If this is the way the producers aim to rope in a new generation of viewers, I seriously hope it fails, so that fewer creators use the same model, pointing to this series as a precedent. If they improve the story, encouraging viewers to look in the Robotech back catalogue, I sincerely hope they meet their goals. —Tamu Townsend

Labels: anime, Disney, Hayao Miyazaki, releases, Robotech, Studio Ghibli, upcoming releases

Cinderella III: A Twist in Time is the latest direct-to-DVD sequel from the Walt Disney studio. It follows 2002's Cinderella II: Dreams Come True and the original Disney film, 1950's Cinderella. While I have not been a fan of Disney's sequels to its classic film roster, I will admit that this particular film was a pleasant surprise.

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Labels: Disney, reviews

Elevating a character from a supporting role to a starring one or taking a character from one medium to another can be a tricky proposition. There's no guarantee that what made the character popular in one incarnation (or at least popular enough to warrant more exposure) will translate to another. What usually happens is that either the character becomes homogenized or their traits are hyper-realized to a point that they no longer resemble their original self.

When the transfer goes right and all involved stay true to the character, exciting and entertaining things can happen. One example of this can be found in Disney's Ducktales—the late '80s television series that followed the adventures of Uncle Scrooge, Huey, Dewey and Louie. Ducktales Volume Two—a three-disc DVD set featuring nineteen episodes of the second season (plus the pilot—which was inexplicably omitted from the Volume One set) has just been released on DVD.

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Labels: Disney, reviews

Set the timer on your VCR/DVR, then tell your friends: The French documentary Walt Disney: Once Upon a Time, a companion to the similarly named museum exhibition that is nearing the end of its Paris run, is airing on CBC Newsworld across Canada on December 24 at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT and again at 1:00 a.m. ET/PT. If we could, we'd already be lining up for the exhibition's arrival in Montreal on March 8; as it is, we'll content ourselves with devouring the hour-long special.

Labels: Disney, events