LFF2022 Review: My Father’s Dragon
Film critic Calum Cooper reviews the latest animated wonder from Cartoon Saloon, the exciting and throwback fantasy of My Father’s Dragon. Continue reading LFF2022 Review: My Father’s Dragon
Tag: Animation
Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Love is Just a Death Away
Year: 2022 Runtime: 11 minutes Director: Bára Anna Stejskalová By Caelyn O’Reilly “Love is Just a Death Away” is a beauteous little film about finding love in unlikely places. It’s also about corpse-puppeteering brain parasites. Stop-motion animation seems to always have a fascination with the macabre, the misunderstood, and societal outcasts. From Burton-produced features like “The Nightmare Before Christmas”(1993) and “Frankenweenie”(2012) to the entire filmography … Continue reading Femme Filmmakers Festival 7 Review: Love is Just a Death Away
The Women of the Watery World of Atlantis: The Lost Empire
By Joan Amenn Over twenty years ago, Disney did something extraordinarily out of character. They allowed animators to create a world more like a live action film than had permitted previously. No doubt it helped that the directors of “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” (2001) were Kirk Wise and Gary Trousdale, who had collaborated on the blockbuster hit “Beauty and the Beast” in 1991. However, the … Continue reading The Women of the Watery World of Atlantis: The Lost Empire
New Podcast Episode: Turning Red #Animated April
Join Bianca, Joan and Stephen for their latest podcast discussion. This time the trio review the new Pixar film “Turning Red”. Check it out here on Spotify. Continue reading New Podcast Episode: Turning Red #Animated April
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” (2009) is animated with that in mind as it tells … Continue reading Magical May Review: The Secret of Kells
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. Continue reading Toy Story 4 Review: Animated April
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. Continue reading How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World Review: Animated April
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. Continue reading Anastasia Review: Animated April
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. Continue reading Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse: How One Movie Revolutionized Animation Again
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. Continue reading Missing Link Review: Animated April
In Their Own League 