Tuesday, November 16, 2010

New Pooh

Not too sure how I feel about this. It seems like Disney is taking a step backwards with traditional hand drawn animation. Instead of going for something new and daring, they're going for something that already seemed to have worked before.



I've been reading a lot of different comments about this new trailer. Most of it negative. Yes, it is nice to see Winnie the Pooh back up on the big screen for a whole new generation. But, THIS is the best the Disney company can produce?! I know John Lassetter has been pushing for a resurgence of hand drawn animation at Disney. I'm all for it. But instead of going for something new, they go with something old. The Princess and the Frog is a great and beautiful movie. The new CG movie Tangled looks amazing. I would have loved to have seen it as a traditional hand drawn feature. (more on that to come later). But they keep going for the "safe" story lines and themes. Singing princesses and dancing animals. While PIXAR is going for the more daring and innovative story lines. THEY are the ones taking risks (Ratatouille, Wall-E, The Incredibles) and they are paying off big time!

I, of all people, am so happy to see a resurgence of hand drawn animation return to Disney. It's great to see new work from some of the animators that have inspired me over the years like Andreas Deja, Eric Goldberg and Mark Henn. Hopefully, their talents will not be wasted on material that could have been completed by a TV animation studio.

ZOMBIGOTCHI!!

Zombigotchi! from Michael Please on Vimeo.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

New book released today...


If you know me at all, you know that I am not political at all. But last night as I was putting out the new releases at work, I couldn't help but see the humorous implications of the two newest titles being released today: Decision Points by George Bush and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Ugly Truth by Jeff Kinney.