Oswald Iten just finished another in-depth analysis of one of my favorite films. This time he’s written a six-part piece on Fantastic Mr. Fox which I urge you to check out. Oswald’s analysis is always well written and researched, focusing on color and it’s important role in generating an emotional response from the viewer. Here’s some direct links to each article, but I urge you to explore his site for more of the same: Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four, Part Five, Part Six.

Interesting article : )

Kevin Koch has wrote an interesting article comparing the roles of an animator to a writer. Great blog!

Mike Peraza has started a excellent series of posts on one of my favorite shows growing up, Duck Tales! I haven’t watched the show since I was a kid, and I have a feeling that doing so now will only spoil the excellent memories I have of sitting in front of the TV every day watching it. After all, my eye for animation is much more critical than it was back then. Reading these posts sure brings back memories, and now that I have such a love for animation history, it’s awesome to learn about the people behind the show.  Click here for part 1, and here for part 2.

CG Society has an article on, “The Effects of Dragons, Fire, and Fur at DreamWorks.” Click the image to check it out.

Michael Peraza is a long time animation vet with a lot of great stories to share. He’s just started a blog that I’m already loving after only a few posts. Michael shares his experiences from his days at Disney much like Floyd Norman does on his blog, including lots of great pictures from back in the day. I’ve added a link to his blog on the side bar, and subscribed to his feed. I suggest you do the same, as I have a feeling it’s only going to get better. He’s already started a quality series of posts on Basil of Baker Street.

CG Society has an article up on the making of How to Train Your Dragon entitled, “The Effects of Dragons, Fire, and Fur at DreamWorks.” Click the image to go there now.

One of the blogs I read regularly is Oswald Iten’s, Colorful Animated Expressions. He’s recently done a couple studies on background and lighting for the Tom and Jerry Short, The Milky Waif (Here and here).

If you’re not already following his blog, I think you should. A quick scroll through his past posts will reveal a lot of very well written and intelligent posts pertaining to film making and animation. It should be right up your alley.

Check out this video over at AWNtv. I don’t know if any of the previous features or trailers for this movie has pysched me up about animation more. I think I spotted Mario in their too.

http://www.awntv.com/videos/the-princess-and-the-frog-featurette

Here’s a good article on UP from Famous magazine. I have no qualms about posting this because the mag is free at any Cineplex. But if I get complaints, I’ll take it down. So get it while it’s HOT. *Evil Laugh*

I saw Up again last night. I loved it again. I laughed, I cried, and was thoroughly entertained again. The Incredibles is still my favorite Pixar film, even with all the buzz Up is currently producing.

So with almost everyone loving this film, who doesn’t like it? Well unsurprisingly Thad ain’t crazy about it. Of course I disagree with everything the guy says, and almost always do, but his opinion is worth reading for diversity alone. I’m not naive enough to believe everything I read and study is the be all and end all to animation perfection. So a disgruntled, purist, hold no bars opinion is welcome on my blog roll. I laughed my ass off when reading his “review” as well as that of his commenters. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, especially if it’s funny.

Rotten Tomatoes.com just recently turned ten years old, and they’ve compiled a list of the 10 best reviewed films in their site’s history. Here’s a link to the article, but if you don’t want to click through them all, here’s the full list from 1998 to 2007:

1998 – The Truman Show (Runner up Antz)
1999 – Toy Story 2
2000 – Chicken Run
2001 – Monster’s Inc
2002 – The Two Towers (Runner up Spirited Away even though it rated 1% higher)
2003 – Finding Nemo
2004 – The Incredibles
2005 – Murderball (Runner up Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit)
2006 – The Queen
2007 – Ratatouille

Isn’t it interested how animated films won or were in the running in every year except 2006 (When Cars was released)? And if you consider the screw up for 2002, an animated film won 7 out of 10 years. Animation filmmakers do not get the credit they deserve. I truly love this medium.