Category: Animated
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Magical May Review: The Secret of Kells
Year: 2009 Runtime: 75 minutes Director: Tomm Moore Writers: Tomm Moore, Fabrice Ziolkowski Actors: Brendan Gleeson, Mick Lally, Evan McGuire, Christen Mooney, Liam Hourican, Paul Tylak, Paul Young By Joan Amenn Anyone who has taken drawing lessons knows that the first thing to master is basic shapes, like circles and triangles. “The Secret of Kells” […]
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Toy Story 4 Review: Animated April
Since the dawn of stories, sequels have been a dominant form of art. And there are a plethora of challenges that come with creating new adventures for familiar characters. Pixar’s Toy Story franchise isn’t new to the concept of a sequel, and outlines some of the best sequels of all time. These films hold a 98% average on Rotten Tomatoes and have grossed more money with each subsequent entry. And for my money, “Toy Story 4” is the best of the bunch.
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Film Review: Bubble
Year: 2022 Runtime: 100 Minutes Directors: Tetsuro Araki Writers: Gen Urobuchi, Naoko Sato, Renji Oki Voice Stars: Jun Shison, Riria, Alice Hirose, Mamoru Miyano, Yuki Kaji By Tom Moore The newest film from Wit Studio (“Attack on Titan”) and director Tetsuro Araki (“Death Note”, “Attack on Titan”), “Bubble” (2022), is a flowing fantasy adventure full […]
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How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Review: Animated April
All due respect to “Big Hero 6” and “Toy Story 3” & “4,” but the “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise going 0-3 in the Best Animated Feature category is one of the greatest mistakes in recent Oscar history. Director Dean DeBlois’s trilogy is not only great entertainment, but powerful emotional storytelling about what it means to grow up, and be responsible for others. 2019’s “The Hidden World” brings this franchise’s ideas full-circle, and delivers what might be one of the most satisfying conclusions to a trilogy in movie history.
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Anastasia Review: Animated April
For this Animated April, I decided to return to a few films that I adored as a child. In the past I have returned to the likes of “Thumbelina”, a film that I realised wasn’t as good as I had remembered it. I’ve always been wary about revisiting some of the other films that played a significant role in my childhood such as “The Little Mermaid” and “The Fox and the Hound” however I’ve decided to rewatch them both. I always felt very wary about re-watching “Anastasia” which had been a real favourite of mine. I really connected with Anya (voiced by Meg Ryan, with singer Liz Callaway doing the songs for Ms. Ryan) who was a spunky, no-nonsense young woman who just so happened to be a princess. I think a lot of girls secretly wish they were royalty even though they try to make out that they’re not ‘girly’. I was one of those types of girls.
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Klaus Review: Animated April
Wanting to watch something to feel the spirit of Christmas is how I ended up watching “Klaus” (2019) the first time. It ended up being a film that we all loved and deemed eminently re-watchable. This film has all the makings of a new Christmas Classic to be enjoyed by the whole family. It steps away from the traditional tales of how the legend of Santa Claus came to be and creates an entirely new story that still manages to explain the toy-making, the sleigh, the reindeer, the naughty list, the red suit, and, of course, the timeless tradition of Letters to Santa. This film further subverts other Christmas Classics because the central character is not Santa Claus but the new local postman, Jesper (Jason Schwartzman).
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Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: How One Movie Revolutionized Animation Again
Since the dawn of movies, animation has been one of storytelling’s most essential mediums, from stitched photography to the first hand-drawn renderings of dwarves and fair women to digitally enhanced visual effects (which are, in effect, an animation unto themselves) to the movements of clay through any number of frames. Animation is even so essential to filmmaking as to render otherwise unfilmable stories accessible to a wide scope of audiences – such was the case with “Flee” (2021) during this past year’s awards season. But not since the days of “Toy Story” (1995) has this filmmaking medium taken such a gigantic leap as in December of 2018, when “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” swung onto silver screens to chronicle the ascent of one Miles Morales from a semi-known comic book/video game character to the throne of all Spider-Man movies.
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Missing Link Review: Animated April
form of animated project is a labour of love but none more so than stop-motion animation. The studio behind classics such as “Coraline” and “Kubo and the Two Strings LAIKA”, is the ultimate Hollywood champion of claymation. But despite their 2019 Golden Globe winning feature “Missing Link” being an exemplary addition to their filmography, it, undeservedly, came and went with little fanfare.
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I Lost My Body Review: Animated April
Even for their comparable centrality to daily life, hands are rarely granted the same artistic fascination as eyes in terms of metaphorical and poetic consideration. Proverbs and clichés alike lean on ideas of sight. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Literature and cinema follow the same path, whether it’s horror stories fixating on visions and illusions or the very idea of voyeurism as a touchpoint for artists from Alfred Hitchcock to Gillian Flynn. Sight dominates sensory storytelling, yet it is eschewed in favor of the tactile significance of hands and touches in “I Lost My Body” (2019). Jérémy Clapin’s film offers the parallel narratives of Naoufel (Hakim Faris) as he yearns for Gabrielle (Victoire du Bois), and Naoufel’s hand which embarks on a perilous journey to reunite with its body.
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Wolfwalkers Review: Animated April
Ireland-based studio Cartoon Saloon has produced four feature-length animated films since its inception, and “Wolfwalkers” (2020) is their masterpiece. The third in a sequence of stories rooted in Irish folklore, “Wolfwalkers” builds on the artistry of preceding projects “The Secret of the Kells” (2009) and “Song of the Sea” (2014).
In Their Own League 