Tonight I got a chance to check out a sneak-peek of the upcoming Sony Pictures Animation & Aardman Animation joint venture, “Arthur Christmas.” I was only shown the first 30 minutes so this isn’t a full review but just some thoughts on what I did see. First… here’s a summary of what was in the first 30 minutes:

The movie opens with a long trucking establishing shot over a town in Cornwall, England where a little girl is mailing a letter to Santa. That letter is being read over narration-style by the girl which leads to a soft cut to Arthur in his small work room. He finishes reading, giggles at the picture the girl had drawn and begins to write a reply. This whole sequence is quite slow, cute and actually beautiful at parts (see: Cornwall and Arthur’s work room sets). But I was sitting next to fellow animator Dave Johnson, and he remarked that if his 4 year old were watching this he’d be fidgeting by now. It’s a very slow start.

This leads into a scene on MASSIVE overdrive where all the elves are delivering presents in a crazy high-tech, highly militant style and pampering Santa the whole way. I didn’t like Santa already. I’m not going to go into too much beyond that because it’s a LOT of fast flying camera shots, quick cuts, hard jumps and most of the gags are relative parody’s on action movie cliches.

The real charm of the movie isn’t felt until we get to the dinner table with the family. That whole shot is excellent and I got obsessed with the Grandsanta character and wanted to see more of him. I was very happy to see that the movie’s plot involves him and Arthur going on a rogue mission to deliver a toy to a forgotten child the “old school” way. Let me back up a little bit and comment on some of the specifics…

The character designs are… OK. Arthur’s relative blandness isn’t a surprise since he’s the main character and that’s a design struggle that often falls on the lead (think: Linguini from Ratatouille, who Arthur looks a lot like). The current santa is not too inventive and the character of Steve (unfortunate to my namesake) is the least interesting of the bunch. It’s Grandsanta, again, that steals the show here. He’s wonderfully designed and fun to look at. You get a sense of his character the very moment you first see him.

This is something that’s a little hard to comment on because it was only the first 30 minutes. All I can really say is that it wasn’t spectacular, but had its moments. There are little character choices that bugged me like having Arthur have his mouth half open when he was writing the letter and Mrs. Claus’ virtually immobile face, but again… Grandsanta saves the day! What really stands out in his performance is the emotability of his face. After the sneak-peek we were shown some WIPs and it was clear that for characters like Arthur, the upper dentures are not rigged to move at all. But with Grandsanta, his upper teeth can squish up with the rest of his cranium but also the molars move back into the head more with extreme expressions and it works perfectly for him. Not just that, but there’s a excellent short shot of him saying a fond greeting to “EVE”, his old sleigh. The walk cycles I saw, as well, were fairly good but only Arthur and Grandsanta really had any individuality which I assume was a direction choice.

The tone of the movie is more adolescent than child (at one point Arthur says “that’s impossible!” and the Grandsanta responds with ““we used to think it was impossible to teach women to read”) which works for what it’s doing and I think there will be genuine moments of laughter. The director, Sarah Smith, comes from a live action background and it’s not completely unnoticed in the result. The acting choices are much more toned down than I think they should be, considering their designs, and the gags are all relatively feasible to be done in real life which sometimes begs the question “why is this animated?” A lot of the camera movements were long sweeping shots which I’m getting really tired of seeing in EVERY CG movie but I have no doubt that they’ll look amazing in 3D (yes, you heard me… ANOTHER movie in 3D). Actually, a lot of the early scenes were clearly there solely because it would be in 3D and not any other reason. It’ll look good but if you see it in normal projection like I did you’ll be wondering “why all the flying about?”

I will say that I have higher hopes for the 2nd & 3rd acts than what I saw in the first and a very large part of that is Grandsanta. Mark my words: Grandsanta will steal this movie. If you’re looking for a film to go see next weekend anyway you could do worse than this, but it doesn’t look like a rush out and see-it kind of flick.

The answer has been guessed (check out in the comments below):

“Snow White…” was the first film to use hand-painted cells for the animation and “The Little Mermaid” was the last. After that point all films used the CAPS system.

Victor Kong is the winner. He wins “Drawn to Life,” the awesome first volume collection of Walt Stanchfield. Congrats, Victor!!

MOVIE:
“Turtles Forever” (2009)

GUEST:

Look at this guy! JON GORGA reprises his righteous role as our official “comic book guy” guest. First it was Batman, and now it is none other than the TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (or if you’re from the UK… “Hero Turtles”… SMH)!

For dedicated viewers, you’ll remember that JON GORGA writes for an excellent comic blog called The Long and Shortbox of It (clever) as well as posts his own webcomic series at The Comicsmithy.

That’s all excellent but this viewing party was THE DAY AFTER HIS BIRTHDAY!!

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This Rubber Onion Viewing Party is especially meaningful to me because…

Yea…

Sure, alright… I’m a “Turtle Nerd.” An über-nerd, to be sure.

But if I’m a TMNT Junkie then JON GORGA IS MY DEALER!

The concept of this movie simple:

The various iterations we’ve known throughout the last 3 decades are actually different versions of the Turtles in separate dimensions within a multiverse. The Turtles from the comics, 80s cartoon and the 2k3 series cross paths and team up to defeat the Shredder(s).

How can you NOT watch that??

On a serious note… the animation for the 2k3 series was really excellent for a Saturday morning cartoon and the team took a very respectful approach to the stories and didn’t dumb things down (particularly in plot). What we got was an epic series of entangled tales and amazing action scenes that made me want to get up early on a Saturday morning again!

As of this post there is a copy of “Turtles Forever” up on YouTube, so directly below this is the embedded Vimeo archived video of the Live show. Play that first. After that play the YouTube link below that when I call for it in the video… that’s it! Enjoy, and comments are welcome!!

We just wrapped on the new Rubber Onion animated short “Ghostbusting Wall Street!” The concept is rather simple: it’s a mashup of the Occupy Wall Street movement and the Ghostbusters featuring classic Ghouls & Ghosts from various classic cartoons.

(NOTE: this was made as a mashup of the pop culture perceptions of both
(and at one point, 3) sides of the Occupy movement. I, personally, support it)

From the moment I came up with the concept to the moment of its release was 3 weeks; that left only two weeks for the animation! Everyone involved did an awesome job and really put in the effort to get this out as soon as possible. I’ve listed the credits below the video. Enjoy the short & please tell the artists how great they are in the comments!

Director:
Stephen Brooks

Script Writer:
Thomas Cunningham

Animation:
Lucky Anastasov & Lamont Wayne

Character Design:
Jennifer Adkins

Background Design:
Chuck Arnold

Voices & Sound Mix:
Stephen Brooks

Add’l Voice Acting:
Mary Longshore

This was produced for ADA Sport Inc as part of their ADASport.com Animation competition. We’re looking forward to doing more of these in the future and might be ramping up to start on another one next week.

MOVIE:
“The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993)

GUESTS:

Remember these two?! ROB YULFO and CARESSE SINGH where our first guests on this new live format to the viewing parties… and THEY’RE BACK!

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For this Rubber Onion Viewing Party we celebrate the Halloween season watching one of my favorite movies: “The Nightmare Before Christmas.” The team of director Henry Selick, writer Tim Burton and composer Danny Elfman created the very definition of a timeless classic in this outing.

There are so many things that make this movie something that shouldn’t be missed under any circumstance! The animation is simply top-notch. The music is amazing in composition and delivery. The style is creepy and oddly cute. Everything comes together in a masterful witch’s cauldron of awesome!

As of this post there is a copy of “The Nightmare Before Christmas” up on YouTube, so directly below this is the embedded UStream archived video of the Live show. Play that first (there’s a commercial when you first click play… that’s UStream, not me). After that play the YouTube link below that when I call for it in the video… that’s it! Enjoy, and comments are welcome!!

One year.

ONE! YEAR!

That’s how long it’s been since the last VLOG… it’s been too long. I got some great emails, posts, and IMs from people telling me how much this series has helped and that was a big reason I was able to jump back into getting these out, so a BIG THANK YOU to those of you who sent messages.

My process for designing characters after doing the other steps first is pretty simple:

1. Make proof sheet of reference pics (Google Image Search FTW)
2. Redraw subjects on proof sheet using simple shapes
3. Play with those shapes to explore design varieties
4. Pick features you like from those & run with them

That’s it. After writing the story, performing voices, recording sound fx & music… I have a pretty good feeling for the characters when I see them. So all I’m trying to do here is get my pencil to show them to me.

Oh an also, you get to hear the FULL SONG I wrote for this short in the last VLOG… so keep an ear out for that & let me know what you thought!

MOVIE:
“Aladdin” (2009)

GUEST:

TIM SAGUINSIN, is a fantastic animator from Virginia who does Indie 2D animation, Freelance Work for clients like the Black Eyed Peas, Zynga, AARP, and Redbox, and is the current Art Director for k12, inc!

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For this Rubber Onion Viewing Party we took on the early 90′s Disney JUGGERNAUT that is “Aladdin.” The 90′s were an interesting time for specifically Disney animation and some of the best and dare I say worst stuff to come out of the studio were in that decade. “Aladdin” has it’s share of problems (color *ahem*) but the sheer brilliance of the 2nd generation of animation leads’ character animation as well as the technical innovations applied to the rendering of the movie cannot be denied.

The songs, the visuals, the fantasy and who can forget Robin Williams… one thing is for certain, this was a mega-hit; a box office monster for the studio and has remained a classic for all the right reasons. Both Tim and I have our own stories about how this impacted our lives & careers and we had a great time watching and talking about it! It was an excellent night of discussions and fun viewing of one of the most popular animated films in Disney’s roster!

As of this post there is a copy of “Aladdin” up on YouTube, so directly below this is the embedded UStream archived video of the Live show. Play that first (there’s a commercial when you first click play… that’s UStream, not me). After that play the YouTube link below that when I call for it in the video… that’s it! Enjoy, and comments are welcome!!

MOVIE:
“Mary and Max” (2009)

GUEST:

SPENCER MORIN, is an animator from Miami that son of Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist Jim Morin. After graduating from New World School of the Arts in 2007 and attending Hunter College in New York, he brought Frederator Studios’ “Drinking and Drawing” to Miami, became the head of animation at Miami World Cinema Center, and worked on the sets of Taking of Pelham 123, Project Runway, Burn Notice, 50 Cent: The Money and the Power, Law & Order, and the Oscar-winning short “The New Tenants.” In Miami, he was one of the founders of the Borscht Film Festival, a group of filmmakers committed to harnessing and showcasing local cinema talent.

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Anyone who’s been following the Rubber Onion Viewing Parties will notice that I’ve been been choosing traditionally animated movies. But these viewing parties aren’t just about the graceful art of hand-drawn (meh… I’m biased, so what), it’s about ALL forms of animation and this movie will kick off a brand new day of great films to watch and talk about! Our guest for this ROVP is an indie animator that works in many forms but is currently specializing in stop-motion so it’s the perfect time to make the jump in techniques. “Mary and Max” has heart, great characters, fantastic design and the animation embodies the best parts of all of these.

We got into some interesting conversations midway through the movie and it was fun to see the different perspectives on how animation is used. As of this post there is a copy of “Mary and Max” up on YouTube, so directly below this is the embedded UStream archived video of the Live show. Play that first (there’s a commercial when you first click play… that’s UStream, not me). After that play the YouTube link below that when I call for it in the video… that’s it! Enjoy, and comments are welcome!!

PRE-FILM SHORT:
Before the film starts we’re treated with an animated short, “The Ballad of Nessie.” Nessie wasn’t the greatest short ever but I think most importantly to the parents in the movie theater it gave them a buffer to work out the best arrangement for viewing vs food accessibility with their kids before the movie started… I’m not kidding. Kids talked a little and rearranged themselves and giggled a bit at the duck but weren’t really paying attention. From an effectiveness standpoint on it’s inclusion as the predecessor to a preschool movie it worked just fine.

I know it’s not a review of the short but there’s not much to be said really. The narration from Billy Connolly was excellent and the direction by the team of Stevie Wermers-Skelton and Kevin Deters (who were also the team behind the, in my opinion, much better How To Hook Up Your Home Theater) were excellent but the story itself was just not anything that had that “wow” factor. The animation, of course was great, but I’m a bit perplexed as to the message which seems to be something along the lines of if you cry enough you’ll get what you want.


STORY:
OK, back to Pooh-bear! The story wasn’t too complicated, which is to be expected of an animated Disney film aimed at preschoolers. I’ll first start off by saying that it held my niece’s attention for the first 25 minutes (which is saying a lot if you’ve ever been around a two year old). For me, the first 25 were the slowest and least interesting — it was once they got to trying to trap the Backson and dropped into the hole that the movie really clicked. There’s all sorts of gags and wordplay to be found in those scenes as well as a great musical number I’ll get to later. I have to say that I legitimately laughed pretty hard during the “Who’s On First”-esque segment in the hole about if Piglet “can tie a knot”, to which Piglet replied “I cannot.” And Owl (?) returned “Oh so you CAN knot!” … that went on for another 30 seconds or so and was good fun for all the adults in the room.

I found that every time Owl was on screen I was intrigued… he’s really the only one that progresses the plot. There were a couple points that made Owl, as well as Pooh, seem more self-involved than I remember from other “Pooh” movies. In the end, of course, Pooh had his redemptive moment; Owl did not. The movie also has a small but fascinating Tigger/Eeyore relationship. I really wish they would’ve done more with that but it was fun while it was on screen.


MUSIC:
It was a little strange at first to hear the 2011 rendition of the “Winnie the Pooh” theme sung by Zooey Deschanel, but her vibrato-less lounge-style singing is a perfect match for a “Winnie the Pooh” movie in 2011. That sentence might not make much sense until you see the movie but trust me… it works. The song that really steals the show, however, is the “Backson” song which reminded me a lot of the “Heffalumps and Woozles” song in the 1968 “Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day.”

VOICE ACTING:
Jim Cummings did a RIDICULOUSLY good job with the voices of Pooh and Tigger! His Pooh was an impressive likeness to Sterling Holloway and Tigger’s every syllable was an absolute joy to hear. Another standout was Craig Ferguson who was amazing as Owl! He has the perfect combination of elitist confidence and witless delivery that makes a pre-written script that truly makes it sound like his lines are stream-of-consciousness. Tom Kenny was very good as Rabbit and Travis Oates does an amazingly good job voicing Piglet considering he looks like he does (see image below, lifted from Andreas Deja’s blog):

ANIMATION:
There was a lot of movement in Tigger (animation lead, Andreas Deja) but it wasn’t as dizzying or seemingly unnecessary as, say, Rabbit’s (animation lead, Eric Goldberg). Piglet’s (animation lead, Bruce Smith) was excellent too and the favorite of my Mother-in-Law who was in town from Cyprus. She speaks English quite well but in movies, especially animated ones, gets a feeling for the character by what they do and how they do it rather than what they say so, to me, the fact she was giggling everytime Piglet was trying to rise to an occasion was a big win for the character (and, of course, Bruce Smith).

BOTTOM LINE:
“Winnie the Pooh” is not going to make your jaw drop on the floor, but it’s a solid movie and fits perfectly in the “Winnie the Pooh” animated series of movies and another great outing in Disney’s traditional animation. Let’s hope they can keep the momentum going!

3 1/2 Onions

What did YOU think?