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Author Topic: Animation Education  (Read 23769 times)

roujin

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Re: Animation Education
« Reply #120 on: June 20, 2018, 08:52:26 AM »
Your Name is not good so this makes perfect sense.

DarkeningHumour

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Re: Animation Education
« Reply #121 on: June 20, 2018, 09:07:07 AM »
You all seem to have both these movies confused.
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FLYmeatwad

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Re: Animation Education
« Reply #122 on: June 23, 2018, 05:16:12 PM »
Your Name is not good so this makes perfect sense.

Liked it a good deal, but now I must question myself. Should I pass on Fireworks?

roujin

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Re: Animation Education
« Reply #123 on: June 25, 2018, 08:44:13 AM »
I would watch Fireworks. Though I don't remember if it's a remake or a sequel of the early 90's Shunji Iwai film.

oldkid

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Re: Animation Education
« Reply #124 on: June 26, 2018, 12:22:56 AM »
Your Name.
Stunning animation.  Just stunning.  Eye-popping.  But I doubt a small screen can represent the massiveness of the landscapes or the exquisite detail.  The gender swap was pretty ho-hum at first, but I like the twists in the final third of the film and I honestly didn't know where the film was going to lead.

4/5

Coco
Again, the animation is overwhelmingly excellent.  Amidst the many moments of amusement, the story chugged along, interesting, but nothing provocative.  Which also describes the music.  I'd rate it higher if either the plot or the music had more snap.

3.5/5

The Breadwinner
Kind of a Grave of the Fireflies for people who couldn't deal with that ending. The spiral of patriarchy has only one end, and they don't really change the inevitable so much as just don't show it to us, finishing on an up note.  While the animation is not as masterful as, say, Song of the Sea, the story sequences are fantastic.

3.5/5

Loving Vincent
I have to agree with pix-- this would have made a fantastic short.  We wouldn't have had time to get used to the stunning visual style, and the bland biopic of the story wouldn't have had time to slowly deflate our interest.  There is a great movie there at half the length.

3/5

"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

pixote

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Re: Animation Education
« Reply #125 on: June 27, 2018, 12:50:20 AM »



The voice of Donald!


Ernie the Cab Driver!


















Someone should cast the guy on the left as a ruthless killer.













The Reluctant Dragon  (Alfred L. Werker & Hamilton Luske, 1941)

I enjoyed this film more as part of the complete Walt Disney Treasures: Behind the Scenes at the Walt Disney Studio DVD release (check your public library!) than as a stand-alone movie. Paired with three episodes of the Disneyland television show that cover similar behind-the-scenes terrain, The Reluctant Dragon gains significant worth as part of a larger portrait of the studio's image and self-promotion — an image that's convincingly grounded in a love of storytelling and of animation (if not always grounded in facts).

The Reluctant Dragon itself is amiable enough — as amiable as star Robert Benchley — but ultimately just a bit too slight. The live-action scenes work as a nice studio tour before such things existed, with plenty of cool bits. I especially loved seeing the Bambi cel, the many colors of the paints, and the figurines of Peter Pan characters who were still a decade away from finding life on the big screen. It's all overly cutesy but forgivably so, more or less. It's actually more the animated sequences that bring the film down a little. The Donald and Casey Jr. moments are harmless enough, but the Goofy short is a bit of a chore and the title short felt rather disposable to me (despite the appeal of the dragon's being so comfortable with his sexuality). Baby Weems, on the other hand, is the best part of the film, with the happy-accident idea of telling the story using just storyboards (with minimal animation) elevating the short close to greatness. It's an ingenious conceit, well executed.

Grade: C+

pixote
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1SO

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Re: Animation Education
« Reply #126 on: June 27, 2018, 01:55:36 AM »
I had watched the short film many years before watching the full feature. I generally like Robert Benchley, though when he isn't work there's a self-satisfied Phil Silvers vibe to him. I don't remember specifics, but I recall a few moments where his behavior here would've gotten him in a lot of trouble with #TimesUp, something that's not normally part of his comic persona. I think he also does a good job fumbling in the presence of Mr. Disney. (For contrast, I suggest looking at this clip of Jack Benny trying to get free Disneyland tickets from Walt.)

This reminds me of a documentary about Pixar, called A Pixar Story. I wonder how uncomfortable that would be to watch now with Lasseter on the way out.

pixote

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Re: Animation Education
« Reply #127 on: June 27, 2018, 02:00:58 AM »
I'll probably watch A Pixar Story as part of this marathon, so if you can wait seventeen years, I'll let you know. Also planning to watch Waking Sleeping Beauty and The Kingdom of Dreams and Madness.

I don't remember for sure if Benchley crosses that line in The Reluctant Dragon ...

pixote
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pixote

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Re: Animation Education
« Reply #128 on: June 27, 2018, 11:50:11 PM »

The comma after "past" certainly makes a poor first impression.










If this globe still exists and ever comes up for auction, I want it!



Victory Through Air Power  (H.C. Potter & David Hand, 1943)

I accidentally threw my notes away for this movie after I reviewed the other films in the On the Front Lines DVD collection, leaving me helpless to justify why I actually liked Victory Through Air Power. Watching it in the context of those other shorts certainly helped. I also just enjoyed the craftsmanship on display, especially Potter's excellent handling of a non-actor (de Seversky) and the ability of animation to imbue a dry lecture with so much vitality. That animation is increasingly effective as the film moves along, too. I don't like the "History of Aviation" sequence nearly as much as I like the some of the evocative stand-alone images, like planes flying through a sky at sunset or the beep of the radar on a submarine. Even the animated strategy arrows on the maps and action plans have a certain life to them by the film's end.

I reread James Agee's review afterwards, and this quote remains money: "I had the feeling I was sold something under pretty high pressure, which I don't enjoy, and I am staggered at the ease with which such self-confidence, on matters of such importance, can be blared all over the nation, without cross-questioning."

Grade: B-

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pixote

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Re: Animation Education [Watership Down]
« Reply #129 on: August 23, 2020, 10:19:22 PM »


Watership Down  (Martin Rosen, 1978)

It at times helped watching this adaptation with Richard Adams' source novel fresh in mind. The film rushes through the story like a capsule review recap, and I think I would have often been very confused had I not had knowledge of the full narrative. But at the same time, Adams' novel is just too damn good, and it was inevitable that the viewing would suffer from comparison. The film is perhaps at its best when it brings to watercolor life the lush English landscape and merely evokes the general spirit and atmosphere of the story; when the film is impressionistic and free and not overly beholden to narrative details it doesn't have time to explain.

The animation is generally appealing, as anything that reminds me of Bambi is bound to be, but the characterizations of the rabbits are a bit lacking, with too little personality to distinguish them. I found much of the casting to be regrettable, largely because the voices are too old. John Hurt, for instance, was 48 years old when this film came out, and he brings far too much maturity and authority to the voice of Hazel, a character who should be young and inexperienced at the start of the tale and slowly grow into his leadership role as the story progresses.

A few other random thoughts: The Art Garfunkel musical interlude was a choice. I like how brutal the rabbits are. They did Kehaar wrong. Woundwort is appropriately scary, if a bit unnuanced. The final two sequences are probably the best parts of the movie.

Grade: B-

pixote


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