Oscar Nominees for Best Animated Short on CBS Sunday Morning
CBS Sunday Morning did a great segment on the nominees for Best Animated Short today. The video for that segment isn’t available yet on their web page yet but it should be by the end of the day. It’s wonderful that CBS took the time to profile these fine examples of animation art on their Oscar show. They gave these animators more time than some of the high profile nominees in the major categories. Also, some of the scenes they showed are not available in on-line trailers.
The Oscar Nominees for Best Animated Short Film are…
It’s that time of year again. It’s time to review the films nominated for best animated short. First, a few small digressions. Dimples has been quite slack about posting and maintaining this site during the past six months. Please bear with us. We have a backlog of links to add and we will be posting more regularly. A spate of medical problems are behind the laxity but all seems to be well now. Also, we want to comment on the nominees this year for feature length animated film. Ratatouille will win and it is the best film by far but, being 2-D fans, Dimples wants to know why the Simpson’s Movie was not nominated. What’s with that?
Now, on to the nominees for best animated short film for 2007.
I Met the Walrus – Josh Raskin
I Met the Walrus is a Python-esque animated short by Josh Raskin with impressive pen and ink drawings by James Braithwaite. It’s an animation of an interview with John Lennon conducted by Jerry Levitan. It has an interesting style and the interview is historically interesting but it is not interesting animation.
Madame Tutli-Putli – Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski
It’s not 2D and it’s more than 3D. It’s very good. The biography of the creators says this is their first professional animated film. That’s hard to believe.
Chris Lavis and Maciek Szczerbowski have recently completed their first professional film, Madame Tutli-Putli, produced by the National Film Board of Canada. In addition to their role as filmmakers, Chris and Maciek wear many hats—as animators, sculptors, collage artists, screenplay writers, and art directors. In 1997 they founded Clyde Henry Productions, a Montreal-based film and production company specializing in multimedia, stop-motion animation and visual effects. They have received acclaim for their award-winning illustrations, music videos and broadcast design, and provoked a cult following for The Untold Tales of Yuri Gagarin, a serial comic strip published in Vice magazine.
Is it just me or does it look like these guys haven’t slept in years?
M̻me les Pigeons vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go To Heaven) РSamuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse
This is a beautiful film with beautiful storytelling. If you’ve visited Dimples before you know that we value storytelling above all else and this movie delivers. Unlike the previous entry, this effort was supported by a big crew of professional animators. Dimples loves this film on many levels. WE LOVED the french automobiles. Those creatures have more character than most animated characters from the big studios.
My Love (Moya Lyubov) – Alexander Petrov
Finally, something approaching 2D animation. Alexander Petrov is an animation god. He’s someone that should receive more press. He brings great art to his storytelling employing an animation technique known as “painted on glass”. You may have guessed that this is the film that Dimples enjoyed the most. It’s beautiful in every way. The art has a quality that is beyond even the ambition of the other nominated films. The only negative for us was the soundtrack. It was not as artfully done as the animation.
Peter and the Wolf – Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman
Finally, this seems to be the favorite to take home the Oscar. This is a slick professionally made film based upon a classic story told with artful tenderness. The makers of the film have come up with a few twists on the old tale making it fresh. It’s interesting to contrast the soundtrack on this film with the previous nominee. The soundtrack is appropriate and supports the animation and story in an unobtrusive manner. That’s not easy when dealing with a musical masterpiece.
Overall, Dimples was disappointed that there were no films nominated this year that felt like Badgered did a few years back. It was fresh and funny. Madame Tutli-Putli comes the closest to that fresh feeling but it’s not quite there. Watch the clips and pick your favorite. Enjoy.
T-Works – New Portal Planned for Warner Brothers’ Classic Animation
Warner Brothers promises a new web portal for their classic Looney Tunes animation as well as other properties. From The Hollywood Reporter:
Warner Bros. Entertainment will launch T-Works next spring, an interactive home for its iconic characters from Warner Bros. Animation, “Looney Tunes,” Hanna-Barbara and DC Comics along with newer animation.
T-Works will present old “Looney Tunes” cartoons, featuring characters like Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig, alongside Hanna-Barbara offerings like “Scooby-Doo” and “The Flintstones,” as well as more contemporary animation like “Batman Beyond.”
This sounds like a Dimples dream come true.
[tags]2D animation, animation, warner brothers, t-works, looney tunes[/tags]
2D Flash Animated Skunk Fu Coming to WB Kids
Skunk Fu, an animated cartoon previously available in the UK and Australia, is coming to the Saturday morning cartoon segment on The CW network known as the “Kids WB!”.
Skunk Fu is 2D flash animation from Cartoon Saloon. The basic story is:
Dragon and his Ninja Monkeys will stop at nothing to destroy the Valley Animals.
But wise old Master Panda believes that the answer to their prayers rests in the tiny paws (and smelly butt) of his young student – Skunk!
Panda trains Skunk in the art of Kung Fu. Besides Dragon, Skunk’s biggest enemy is his own impatience; he’d rather go on adventures than do boring old training.
Only time will tell if he’s ready…
The folks at Cartoon Saloon have also created a blog for Skunk Fu. You can see a number of stills from the series on the blog.
[tags]2D animation, skunk fu, cartoon saloon, The CW, Kids WB[/tags]
DVD Alert – 2006 Oscar Nominated Short Films Are Released on DVD this Week
You don’t have to live near a film festival to see this year’s Oscar nominees for best animated short. They’re being released on DVD this week together with the rest of the short film nominees. From the Netflix blurb:
Enjoy the best live-action and animated shorts from the 2006 Academy Awards. This eclectic collection includes live-action winner “West Bank Story,” a hummus-rich Middle Eastern parody of West Side Story, and animated winner “The Danish Poet,” which follows the title character on an adventure into romance and inspiration. Also included are nominees “Binta and the Great Idea,” “One Too Many,” “Helmer & Son,” “The Saviour” and “Maestro.”
Dimples is a Netflix junkie and this is one of the reasons why: You get immediate access to small treasures like these. The exact title of the DVD is “The 2006 Academy Award Short Films Collection
p.s. After viewing the DVD, I found the blurb to be misleading. “The Danish Poet” and “Maestro” are the only animated shorts from 2006 on this DVD. The other animated shorts are from the previous year. I assume this is an innocent error since many people confuse the year the film was made with the year the awards were made. Films released in 2006 would be eligible for the awards made in 2007. In any event, the rest of the animated shorts on this DVD were released in 2005 which wasn’t nearly as strong a year as 2006. Dimples suggestion is to rent this and not buy it.
[tags]Oscar Nominees, Oscar Winners, Animated Short Film, 2D Animation, DVD[/tags]
More Classic 2D Animation from John Lasseter and Disney
Disney continues the return to 2D hand-drawn animation under John Lasseter. Neither Disney suit Execs nor Lasseter have provided the reason for the full steam ahead return to traditional animation by the southern California arm of the company but Dimples is happy to see the trend continue. From FilmStew.com:
Chief Creative Officer and Walt Disney Feature Animation boss John Lasseter had an unveiling for Disney stockholders this week as they met in New Orleans. The shareholders got a first look at preliminary work on The Frog Princess, a return to traditional animation whose main character is not the typical Disney heroine. The film will be a musical comedy set in New Orleans and will be centered on a character that the execs call ‘The Newest Disney Princess’, a young African American girl named Maddy, who will be joining the studio’s franchise line of Disney princesses. The movie will be directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, directors of Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and Hercules. Those animators left the Disney fold several years ago, as the studio was turning away from 2-D traditional animation. But one of John Lasseter’s earliest acts as the new head of Disney Animation was to lure them back. Look for the film’s release in 2009, at which time you can enjoy the score by Randy Newman.
[tags]2D Animation, Disney, John Lasseter, Frog Princess, John Musker[/tags]
Feedburner