Studio Ghibli Blu-rays

I just posted a couple of Studio Ghibli Blu-ray reviews up on Obsessed with Film:

Laputa: Castle in the Sky
My Neighbours the Yamadas

These two films are interesting to view alongside each other for a number of reasons. Most obviously, they represent work by both of Ghibli's key animation directors - Hayao Miyazaki having made 'Castle in the Sky' and Isao Takahata helming 'My Neighbours the Yamadas'. Another reason for their significance is that the two films differ wildly in terms of the form the animation takes. The former is a slightly more traditional anime, albeit with Miyazaki's unique sensibilities, whilst the latter is highly stylised, resembling a newspaper cartoon strip brought to life. The latter was also produced using computers, whilst 'Castle' is a traditional hand-drawn film. Finally, they were both made at nearly opposite ends of the studio's chronology. Miyazaki's film was the first to be released under the Ghibli banner back in 1985, whereas 'Yamadas' came out almost fifteen years later.

In any case, check out those reviews (and buy the Blu-rays) if you've any interest in animation as an art form.

'Winnie the Pooh' review:

"Promise me you'll never forget me because if I thought you would I'd never leave", says the young Christopher Robin to Winnie the Pooh in one of A.A Milne's original short children's stories about that stuffed bear of little brain. Milne's wit endures, but it is probably Disney who have done to the most to ensure the endearing little chap is never forgotten, along with his friends Eeyore, Rabbit, Piglet, Owl and Tigger.

Three Wolfgang Reitherman directed short films, made by the studio in the mid-sixties, were turned into the celebrated feature 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' in 1977 and Disney haven't stopped milking the "franchise" for all it's worth since - turning Milne's creations into a brand famous around the world among people of all ages. As well as piles of every kind of merchandise, the years since have seen dozens of small-screen series and even a handful of cheaply produced theatrical releases courtesy of the television unit.



Yet the latest commercial outlet for the series is a refreshing return to those early shorts and a loving, respectful homage to everything that is joyful about Milne's characters. Not to mention a faithful successor to the original film, with an opening tracking shot through Christopher Robin's live-action bedroom and with suitably retro styling on the credits. The new film, simply entitled 'Winnie the Pooh', is no half-hearted knock-off. Instead it's a proper part of the Disney animation canon - Disney Animation Studios 51st feature - and boasts some of the best hand-drawn animation talent the company has ever produced, with Renaissance-era veterans like Andreas Deja and Mark Henn reliably providing the nuanced and detailed character work demanded by the source material.

It may seem at odds with the folksy, laid back charm of this resolutely "old-school" piece to talk about the animation work in these terms, but a lot of work went into the film's apparent simplicity. Moments of good natured humour are emphasised by some of the finest character animation in memory, with subtle sighs and changes in facial expression being the principal joy here. The story is slight and the running time relatively short (though only a minute shorter than its 1977 predecessor), but that's what you want from Pooh. The film is a whimsical breath of fresh air that never comes close to outstaying its welcome.



With many of the original voice actors no longer with us, the characters have new voices, though they feel familiar as the new actors pay respectful tribute to those who came before. Pooh is hilarious as voiced by Jim Cummings (also the voice of Tigger), who captures the right level of sweet simplicity, with an edge of impatience for the bear. Scottish comic Craig Ferguson somehow manages to channel the spirit of Hal Smith as the pompous owl and John Cleese even sounds a little like the original film's narrator Sebastian Cabot (best known as the voice of Bagheera in 'The Jungle Book'). Only Tom Kenny as Rabbit is a little less effective than his ancestor, with his voice lacking the impotent rage of Junius Matthews.

There are several songs along the way, which are simple, forgettable and inoffensive and probably represent the film's weakest suit - especially when compared with ditties like "Rumbly in My Tumbly" and "Up, Down Touch the Ground" from the original. But Zooey Deschanel's rendition of the original theme song is suitably winsome and the tunes that misfire are still endearing in an ineffectual, childish way that is so very Winnie the Pooh. In any case, they are always accompanied with imaginatively animated sequences and full of innocent humorous phrases which take the curse off any faltering melody.



As with the 1977 classic, 'Winnie the Pooh' is at its heart a combination of three very simple short stories: a search for Eeyore's missing tail, Pooh's search for honey and the gangs' quest to rescue Christopher Robin from the dreaded (and imaginary) "Backson". But whereas the original feature was divided into three brief episodes, this new film more ambitiously entwines them into one feature-length narrative. Yet despite a slightly more plot-driven approach, the film is still content to meander at a leisurely pace towards its conclusion. Like a sunny stroll through the Hundred Acre Wood, it's much more about the journey than the destination and the amount of fun you have will very much depend on your pre-existing level of fondness for these characters.

As you might expect from a gentle children's tale, this film is very much aimed at youngsters - a fact amplified by the presence of two excessively toddler-friendly shorts beforehand. There are no nods to the adults or in-jokes at all. But it's nice to find a modern animation totally free of any post-modern winking and there is fun to be had here for adults so long as they are prepared to indulge their innermost child. As the credits rolled I found myself identifying with the sentiment of this bittersweet passage from Milne's The House at Pooh Corner: "And by and by Christopher Robin came to an end of things, and he was silent, and he sat there, looking out over the world, just wishing it wouldn't stop."



With the knowledge of a job well done, maybe Disney should allow these characters to get some rest for a while, safe from some of the more crass exploitations of recent decades. They needn't remind us of their charms quite so incessantly now, because with 'Winnie the Pooh' they've ensured that our old friends, as we remember them, are not soon forgotten - all with a wistful poetry and fondness for childlike wordplay that would make A.A Milne himself proud.

'Winnie the Pooh' is rated 'U' by the BBFC and is on wide release across the UK from today.

'Rio' review:

The weather has taken a turn for the better here in the UK and with the summer months come the summer movies. With crushing predictability, there will be comic book adaptations ('Thor', 'Captain America', 'The Green Lantern'), accountancy-driven sequels ('Scream 4', 'Pirates 4', 'Hangover 2') and, of course, family-oriented 3D animations. The heavy hitters in that field, Pixar and Dreamworks, will likely dominate the coming months with sequels to 'Cars' and 'Kung Fu Panda' respectively, but first out of the gates is an effort from Blue Sky Studios, the Fox-owned animation unit behind the 'Ice Age' series.

'Rio' is the fish out of water story of a domesticated bird, a rare blue macaw, named Blu (Jesse Eisenberg) who is spirited away from his comfortable home in a cold Minnesota town and taken back to his natural habitat in sunny Rio de Janeiro, in order to propagate his endangered species with the feisty, independent Jewell (Anne Hathaway). Directed by Rio native Carlos Saldanha, the film is a celebration of the vibrant musical life of the city, with a sanitised version of its world-famous carnival an ever-present feature as Blu aims to evade a gang of poachers and return to his obsessive owner Linda (Leslie Mann). Also along for the ride are a slobbering bulldog voiced with charm by '30 Rock' star Tracy Morgan, a paternal Toucan portrayed by Mexican American comedian George Lopez and a singing comedy duo courtesy of Will.i.am and Jamie Foxx.



It's bright, colourful and its intentions seem pure, yet 'Rio' is decidedly average from an animation standpoint and uninvolving on a story level. The human characters lack detail and incidental characters seem to come in two generic flavours (fat white man and thin black man), whilst the character animation lacks nuance. Every one of the wacky cast of characters derive their comic sensibilities directly from the Jerry Lewis/Jim Carey school, waving their arms (or wings) about and shouting every single line. Meanwhile Blu's personal journey - in which he must learn to embrace his animal instincts in order to fly - is a bore. To say it's sub-Pixar is to give the film too much credit - the truth is it's sub-Dreamworks.

Jokes fall flat, musical numbers are forgettable and most of the characters are irritating, albeit with two exceptions. Linda is funny due to her pathetic, obsessive devotion to her pet bird. It isn't clear from the start whether the filmmakers are aware of how crazy Linda's attachment to her feathered friend is, which makes it all the more funny. Sadly though, you soon find that this is written into the story and it starts to feel as flavourless as everything else as the film outstays its welcome. A more compelling reason to sit through 'Rio' is presented by the villainous Nigel, voiced by Jermaine Clement, one half of Flight of the Conchords.



Clement's delivery provides the film's only laugh-out-loud moments and his song is the only one which doesn't completely suck (though I'm not exonerating it entirely). He's certainly a lot more fun than the more overt comedy sidekicks played by Foxx and Will.i.am, who are frankly an embarrassment to behold.

Easily pleased children may find 'Rio' more diverting than I did. But with American animated films showing signs of increased maturity in the last two decades, the bar has been raised and 'Rio' is a relic. Little Timmy might find more to laugh at here than I did, but that isn't to say he wouldn't prefer to watch a film of greater quality - one which is less likely to send his parents to sleep, such as 'Up' or 'How To Train Your Dragon'. The best family films effortlessly cross the age divide and assert themselves as plain good films. 'Rio' is inoffensive and far from terrible, but that's about all that can be said for it - and that shouldn't be enough.

'Rio' is rated 'U' in the UK and is on general release from today.

'Alice in Wonderland' Blu-ray review, etc etc

I've been back from a ridiculously nice holiday in Tuscany for the past few days, but I've just started an internship that I'm hoping could become a full-time writing gig (AKA the Holy Grail). I'm still writing day and night but not about film, so I haven't the time to update here in the usual way.

However, before I left for Italy I did write a review of Disney's animated 'Alice in Wonderland' for the folks at Obsessed with Film, which you can read here.

I've already agreed to write reviews for a few more upcoming Blu-rays coming out on Monday, so there will be some more film stuff up here next week for sure. 'Tamara Drewe', 'Charlie Wilson's War' and an anime the name of which escapes me right now (but which is very good indeed) should be among them, so check back for that soon.

'Chico & Rita' review:

It has taken a long time, but in the UK we seem to be catching up with the likes of Japan and France when it comes to taking animated films seriously. For years animated films were almost always children's films and were routinely dismissed by critics and cinephiles. Eyebrows were raised when, in 1991, Disney's 'Beauty and the Beast' was (quite deservedly) nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Flash forward to 2010 and Disney's 'Up' was nominated for the same honour without the same murmurings of dissent. (In fact that film made many critics end of year "best film" lists.) Whilst those two Disney films are most certainly aimed at children (albeit with adult themes), it is no longer impossible to find animated films aimed at older audiences in UK cinemas, even if it isn't yet widespread. Earlier this year 'The Illusionist', a slow and poignant (and mostly silent) French film, did fairly well here playing mostly to adults. And now 'Chico & Rita', a sexually explicit, 15-rated Spanish animation, has been released in the UK to general acclaim.

By "sexually explicit" I really only mean that 'Chico & Rita' has a couple of sex scenes and some female nudity, deemed "strong sex" by the BBFC. Presumably this was because the next certificate down is a '12A' (the same rating as the latest 'Harry Potter' film) and the body wanted to make it clear that this is not intended as a film for children. This must be the rationale as compared to live action films the scenes of love-making in 'Chico & Rita' are fairly tame. But what makes this Spanish animation a movie for adults is not the tasteful sexual content, but rather the fact that there is really nothing here for children. There is no comedy relief and, save for one brief chase sequence, there is no "action". Instead this is a real love story, filled with all the melancholy that can bring. It is a colourful film of vitality and also a tale of regret and near tragedy.



'Chico & Rita' is partly told in flashback as an old man named Chico, living alone in a small and squalid apartment in a run down part of modern Havana, recalls his time as a virtuoso pianist as he falls for a beautiful singer named Rita. This love story is set against a backdrop of the vibrant and exciting nightlife that typified pre-revolution Havana in the 1940s (at least for visiting American playboys) with the film set to the rhythms of Latin jazz. Soon the duo form a popular musical double-act, but Chico is a bit of a cad and he loses Rita due to his drinking and womanising. Soon she is whisked away to New York City to become a major singer and even a star of MGM musicals, leaving Chico behind. Chico then sells his piano and pursues her in the hope of rekindling their love. As you can probably guess from the fact that the film is told in flashback by a sad man living alone, things don't go especially well and the couple are again separated by the cruelty of fate.

The film's beautiful animation is, from the looks of it, mostly done on computer but given the appearance of traditional animation (à la 'Waltz With Bashir'). The use of computers allows of a very fluid style of direction, that has much more in common with live action than animation - perhaps owing to the fact that the film's co-director Fernando Trueba comes from live action film (whilst the film's other director Javier Mariscal is a designer and not a filmmaker by trade). What the use of animation allows is great period detail, as the film recreates not only 40s Havana and New York, but also Paris. It also enables Chico to meet with long dead legends of music, such as Charlie Parker and Chano Pozo (to whose bloody death Chico bears horrified witness). Some of the film's details are (perhaps knowingly) anachronistic: for example although the Broadway show version of 'On the Town' debuted in 1944, the popular Gene Kelly film wouldn't be released until 1949, a year after Chico's voyage to New York upon which it is referenced (along with the tune of "New York, New York"). But regardless, these period details are a consistent pleasure - and there are lots of them to be seen.



The film's depiction of Cuba is also multi-faceted and nuanced. In the pre-revolutionary section we see Havana as a place that is fun and lively. It is a place full of possibility, where a talented singer or pianist can get noticed and make it in the USA. But also shown is the contrast extreme between the rich and poor, and racism, with the wealthy Americans who come to Havana shown going to racially restricted clubs which don't allow native Cubans. When Chico returns to Cuba amidst the revolution in 1959, things have changed again. Now we are shown the optimism Catro's revolution brought to Cuban people. Indeed Chico's first response seems to be positive. But before long he is told that his music is banned for being too American, which then shows us the limitations brought about by the move to communism. Similarly, the situation Chico finds himself in as an old man highlights the problems of modern Cuba - crumbling and stuck in the past. Whether you put that failure down to the extreme (and unreasonable) economic sanctions imposed on the island by the US or to the inherent failures of communism, it remains a reality which the film captures in detail.

'Chico & Rita' is a beautiful, bittersweet story about love, creativity and growing old, brought to life with vibrant, colourful animation. The period setting, the music, the atmosphere of the piece elevate what is already a really emotionally affecting story to even greater heights. It is a film which skillfully manages to romanticise the past it depicts without ignoring its shadier aspects. Overall it is a human story about well rounded characters, none of whom are really right or wrong, and all of whom are marked by their regrets and failings, but also by their unwavering belief in romantic love. A very good film which happens to be told via animation, hopefully proving we're ready for more.

'Chico & Rita' is rated '15' by the BBFC and is out in the UK on a limited release.

Trailers for 'Winnie the Pooh' and 'Tangled'

Last week Disney unveiled the first trailer for next year's hand drawn 'Winnie the Pooh' (above). Visually in keeping with the style of Wolfgang Reitherman's 1977 'The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh' - albeit lacking the "dirty" look of Disney's Reitherman era films, with a cleaner look - the new film looks beautiful and the character animation is as good as anything Disney Animation Studios ever produced (especially Pooh's thoughtful facial expressions, animated by Mark Henn). The Keane song on the soundtrack could stand to be removed, but I am fairly sure that won't be in the finished film when it's released next year, as Hans Zimmer is scoring the film.

This trailer was pretty good timing for me, as I've very recently been re-watching a lot of the classics, motivated in part by the recent Blu-ray releases of 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'Fantasia'. Disney's next "animated classic" is the computer animated, 3D film 'Tangled' (below), which opens before Christmas in the US, so I am heartened to see another hand drawn film shown by Disney following the excellent 'The Princess and the Frog'. I hope there are many more to come, and maybe they can leave the CG stuff to the chaps at Pixar?

Disney Fiercely Protecting Their Legacy on Blu-ray...

As a huge fan of animation I have eagerly devoured every one of the Disney Blu-ray releases from the so-called "animated classics" canon* as they have been released. Not especially prudent use of my money, as I already owned them all on DVD, yet the superior treatment afforded to the 50th anniversary release of 'Sleeping Beauty' in 2008 convinced me that they were well worth investing in, yielding new insights into the old classics. As well as being presented in its original aspect ratio (Super Techirama 70) for the first time since it's 1958 release, 'Sleeping Beauty' received a glorious array of extra features, the best of which was a commentary track by Pixar legend John Lassester, film historian Leonard Maltin and veteran Disney character animator Andreas Deja.

What made that commentary so brilliant was its unprecedented level of depth, as it looked at all the circumstances behind the film's production, even including picture-in-picture images which allowed for archive interviews with the film's animators, as well as storyboards and concept art, to be displayed alongside the relevant bits of the movie. Happily Disney followed suit with their next Blu-ray animation titles, investing just as much love and care in 'Pinocchio' and Pixar's 'Wall-E', both of which boasted those same picture-in-picture commentaries (dubbed "Cine-Explore" in the promotional materials).



However, I was really disappointed to find that the same treatment has not been afforded the subsequent releases. Don't get me wrong: 'Dumbo', 'Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs', 'Princess and the Frog' and 'Beauty and the Beast' have, by any other studios standards, benefited from a decent array of extras and the main feature has been provided in the best possible quality. But the thing about those other commentaries was that they were much more in-depth than the standard director's observations that we usually hear. They contextualised the films they accompanied wonderfully and the picture-in-picture element gave you the chance to see some interesting supporting materials alongside the feature. For example, when being told about the influence of Hieronymus Bosch paintings on Eyvind Earle's designs for Malificent's goons in 'Sleeping Beauty' we were also shown the paintings themselves. To my mind that was the way every Blu-ray commentary should have been done since. Certainly, those features certainly made me less reticent about re-buying films I already own on DVD.

But it seems Disney has its own quite canny and interesting new strategy for converting its customers to the format, eschewing extras as the big selling point. Disney have for a while now been at the forefront of the move to include a DVD with each Blu-ray as standard (they've been doing this since 'Sleeping Beauty' was released two years ago), but earlier this week (when buying 'Beauty and the Beast') I noticed a very clever and hugely interesting new development. With previous releases Disney has put out a cheaper standard DVD version alongside a more expensive Blu-ray version (with DVD included), however 'Beauty and the Beast' is the same price in DVD form as it is in its Blu-ray incarnation. The reason? The DVD edition now includes a "bonus" Blu-ray version of the film! In familiar DVD packaging, standard-def customers are now unwittingly buying Blu-ray.



Many may express anger at this bold move. After all, aren't Disney charging the majority of people extra money for something that they don't want/need? Well, yes. But, as a supporter of that format who hopes to see it take off (and take over) I welcome the move. What better way to move the discs into people's homes Trojan horse style? Of course there is more in it for Disney then just creating a user base for the next generation of home entertainment players. It is also a rather ingenious way of allowing their cherished classics to retain their value in a world where the £19.99 DVD is a thing of the past.

Disney has always been justly protective of these films, re-releasing them and subsequently withdrawing them from stores in an endless rotation designed to keep them "special", and what better way is there to reasonably keep the value of these films up? (And I say this as someone who has paid the full price for many of them more than once.) You never see a Beatles CD on sale for less than £10 for the same reason you never see a Disney classic in the bargain bins: like Apple Corp, Disney just won't let it happen. Just try making money selling copies of 'Men in Black II' once it's been available for 99p (or possibly less). Once you reduce somethings value you reduce it forever. You can't put the toothpaste back in the tube.



Whilst I wouldn't argue too strongly against those who would argue that Disney's keeping these films sacred is chiefly for financial gain (yes, they are a company with shareholders), I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the idea that the Mouse House is historically run by people with an earnest desire to maintain the company's heritage. After all, in 2006 Disney were rumoured to have paid a huge multi-million dollar sum to acquire the rights to Mickey Mouse's ancestor Oswald the Lucky Rabbit from Universal. Oswald, the first big claim to fame of Walt Disney in his earliest days as an animator, was purchased at the behest of the Disney family (the real family... that wasn't a creepy corporate metaphor) for no other purpose than maintaining Walt's legacy. Whilst Oswald merchandise is no doubt now available, it is not really a big money spinner - at least in the short term - and certainly not enough to offset the cost of buying the rights. You could say Oswald is just Mickey Mouse with longer ears and fewer fans: and you'd be right. But I guess at the corporate level buying him is the equivalent of paying out for the Blu-ray hoping to get that little extra you were missing.

Anyway, I have just sat through the commentaries on 'Princess and the Frog' and 'Beauty in the Beast' and wanted to spout off about it all somewhere. I am super excited by the prospect of the 'Fantasia'/'Fantasia 2000' box set which comes to Blu-ray on Monday - and which will no doubt cost just as much on Blu-ray with a free DVD as on DVD with a free Blu-ray! I am interested to see what form Disney's home video releases take in the next few years, namely on the subject of which titles will be re-released and what sorts of features they will boast (especially in the post 3D-TV era). Whether Disney's new pricing strategy will continue beyond 'Fantasia' and 'Toy Story 3', who knows? Could it continue into releases by other studios? As the format comes close to being half a decade old, surely the next few years are decisive if it's to become a feature of the living rooms of people other than early adopters and obsessive collectors. In summary: I hope more people are persuaded to buy these things so Disney can keep releasing them.

*As a random geeky sidebar: whilst Disney's effort to preserve a hallowed canon has been consistent for years, what actually constitutes an "animated classic" is under almost constant revision somewhere in the marketing department of the home entertainment wing. In the mid-90s predominantly live-action features such as 'Pete's Dragon', 'Bed Knobs and Broomsticks' and 'Mary Poppins' were treated as part of the canon, whilst the 2000 release 'Dinosaur' has only recently begun to be included in the official reckoning - now listed as number 39, with everything from 'The Emperor's New Groove' onwards shifting up a number.

Satoshi Kon (1963-2010): Anime director loses battle with cancer at 46

The world of animation has been rocked by news of the sudden death of the pioneering Japanese director Satoshi Kon, who died of pancreatic cancer at the age of 46 yesterday.

Kon was the anime equivalent of Charlie Kaufman, his four finished films were multi-layered and their concerns were generally introspective and psychological, with questions of identity usually in the foreground. In no film was this more apparent than in his most recent finished film: 2006's 'Paprika'. Four years before Nolan's 'Inception', 'Paprika' involved a device that allowed people to enter other people's dreams and the film blurred the lines between the dreamworld and reality.



But the anime film-maker had played with similar themes since his 1997 debut as a director, 'Perfect Blue', which amidst the now familiar questions of identity also explored celebrity and the (then) new dangers presented by Internet chat rooms. A Hitchcockian thriller, 'Perfect Blue' follows a young J-Pop star as she decides to change her image and try to make a living as a serious actress. A fact which angers some of her fans.



Then came perhaps his seminal work: 'Millennium Actress', released in 2001, was the story of an old actress looking back at her life through the parts she played, with reality and fiction becoming blurred. The actress, who has not been interviewed in years and has completely retired from public life, was loosely based on Setsuko Hara - the actress most famous for her starring role in Ozu's so-called Noriko trilogy of the 40s and 50s. The film plays with genre as a number of different epoch's of Japanese cinema are lovingly recreated, from Ishiro Honda-style monster movies to 'Throne of Blood' era Kurosawa pictures.



2003 saw a slight departure, with the release of 'Tokyo Godfathers', the story of three homeless people who come across an abandoned baby one Christmas and resolve to find her parents. There is one brief dream sequence and one of the homeless could be said to be in conflict with their own identity (the homosexual male Hana wishing to be the child's mother), but otherwise 'Tokyo Godfathers' is slightly more grounded in a solid reality compared to his other work - at least until the buildings start dancing over the end credits. Instead, much in the same way that 'Perfect Blue' and 'Millennium Actress' looked at issues of fame and celebrity, 'Godfathers' subtly questions Japanese society and its attitudes towards those who slip through the net. This isn't done via any grand soliloquy, but rather it is demonstrated by some of the obstacles that come between the trio and their goal. As Hana recites a number of Haiku, which enter the frame in elegant calligraphy, perhaps Kon was also satirising the Japanese traditions of formal beauty which exist in contrast to the reality of these people's lives.



Sandwiched between this oddity and the more conventionally Kon-esque 'Paprika' was the dynamic and experimental television series 'Paranoia Agent', a story of a mysterious, possibly imagined, juvenile thug told over thirteen episodes and from the perspective of as many characters. Kon saw the show as a way to make something which could utilise a number of his ideas which he felt did not fit into any of his features, and as such the show is richly filled with imaginative and memorable scenes.



Kon was known to be working on a fifth feature film, known as 'The Dream Machine', up until his death. It remains unclear whether this project will surface and in what form. Hopefully the late animator had finished the project, which he described thusly:

On the surface, it's going to be a fantasy-adventure targeted at younger audiences. However, it will also be a film that people who have seen our films up to this point will be able to enjoy. So it will be an adventure that even older audiences can appreciate. There will be no human characters in the film; only robots. It'll be like a "road movie" for robots

But whatever comes of 'The Dream Machine', Kon's legacy is not only the great imagination and psychological depth of his four existing films, but also the tone. Kon's work is an antidote to anyone who thinks anime is about cute, fetishistic school girls dancing around with giant robots, or whatever. Kon's films took a serious, gritty, non-exploitative tone and dealt with subjects usually found in live-action, but which could not have been realised in live-action (at least not without a huge budget). He used animation to the fullest and exploited all its possibilities in a way seldom seen inside of Japan or out.

And yet Kon is almost always overlooked when naming the great contemporary animators. When the definitive book is written on the last twenty years of animation, and sections are being given to Hayao Miyazaki, Sylvain Chomet, Brad Bird, Michel Ocelot, John Lasseter, Jan Švankmajer, Richard Linklater and Nick Park - let us hope space is reserved for Satoshi Kon. A true visionary and a master animator and a life cut tragically short. Tonight I will raise a glass to Kon-san.

'The Illusionist' review: a slight and melancholy animation from a modern master...

Fans of Sylvain Chomet's surreal 2003 animated feature 'Belleville Rendez-vous' will not be surprised to find his follow-up, 'The Illusionist', is a melancholic, mostly silent tale with an old-fashioned sensibility and a penchant for physical comedy. What this latest feature does, however, is take Chomet's obvious Jacques Tati influence to a new extreme. Whereas 'Belleville Rendez-vous' was full of playful allusions to the celebrated comedy film-maker (such as a poster for 'Les Vacances de M. Hulot' - a gag he repeats here), 'The Illusionist' goes one step further with the titular character bearing Tati's real surname (Tatischeff), and aping his mannerisms and appearance. It is also, most importantly, based on a long-forgotten and previously un-filmed screenplay written by Tati himself. And so 'The Illusionist' is, in its quirky, surreal way, a slightly more grounded film than his first as it functions as a sort of loose biography of Tati's bittersweet relationship with his own daughter (the late Sophie Tatischeff - to whom the film is fittingly dedicated).

If you have ever left a movie derisively declaring that "nothing happened", then it is safe to say that 'The Illusionist' is not going to be your idea of a fun time. The "plot" is slight: set in the 1950's an aging magician finds his act no longer appeals to people in an age of rock n' roll and television. But when he plays a remote Scottish island he finds a new fan in the form of a young girl who comes to believe he is genuinely magical. Perhaps beguiled by the young girl's sincerity and good nature, or possibly just because he has found an appreciative audience, the magician takes the girl under his wing and, like Chaplin in 'City Lights', has to work menial jobs in secret in order to maintain his increasingly expensive illusions - lest the girl learn the truth. This is essentially it. But this is enough. It is a serene film which takes you across the Scottish countryside and into a beautifully realised picture of 1950's Edinburgh (the city where Chomet's Django Studios is actually based).



It is a film which you can relax and enjoy as it washes over you. It is calming and purely joyful - that is, at least until its poignant and sombre conclusion, which is pitched perfectly. Whilst it never caused me to well up in the way something like 'Up' did, it still provided much to think about. Perhaps it is a film that asks you to be more reflective than reactive. It certainly isn't shamelessly manipulative like 'Toy Story 3'. I wouldn't like to spoil the ending, but I'll just say that there is a bit of business involving a pencil at the film's climax which is on the level of genius. It is also nice to see another traditionally animated film in 2010.

I have nothing against computer-generated animated films. However, in the last decade they had come to supersede all other forms of animation. But now that Disney have returned to hand-drawn and good stop-frame films like 'Coraline' and 'Fantastic Mr. Fox' are being made, Chomet's film is another reason to be cheerful for fans of the art form. There is some distracting CGI in 'The Illusionist' that seems to harken back in early 90s Disney, notably the cars, trains and one ill-conceived aerial shot of Edinburgh, but generally it is one of the nicest looking animated films you will ever see. To say it is charming is to revert to a wet cliché, but it is exactly that. Especially in its loving detail, which includes an accurate reproduction of the inside of Edinburgh's own Cameo Picturehouse, among other things.



It is true that the characters are broad caricatures (much like they would have been in one of Tati's own films), with a be-kilted, drunken Scotsman, a fat opera-singer and a number of unflattering depictions of the teeth of British aristocratic stock, but there is no malice here. In fact there is great humanity in the film, which also depicts a number of other vaudevillian entertainers now tragically down on their luck, such as a suicidal clown and a homeless ventriloquist forced to pawn his dummy.

'The Illusionist' is not just light entertainment, but it is a poignant and mournful love letter to a long-dead world of light entertainment (reminiscent of another Chaplin feature: 'Limelight'). In recent years Pixar have lead the way in addressing the fears of aging, of loss and of growing obsolete, in films as diverse as 'The Incredibles', 'Finding Nemo' and, of course, 'Up'. But what is brave about Chomet's film is that he is prepared to end on that particular note of melancholia. Though with animation this beautiful, Chomet is certainly keeping the wonder and the magic of Jacques Tati alive.

'The Illusionist' is rated 'PG' by the BBFC and is currently playing across Picturehouse cinemas, including Brighton's Duke of York's.

'Toy Story 3' review: Pixar falling short of greatness...

Pixar have created a big problem for themselves. Their last two features, 'Wall-E' and 'Up', have been universally heralded as masterpieces and sit comfortably alongside the greatest animated films ever made. Of course, the studio was already well ahead of its American competitors before that - at least artistically. Films such as 'Ratatouille', 'The Incredibles', 'Finding Nemo' and the original 'Toy Story' are easily up there with the work of international masters, such as Miyazaki ('Spirited Away'), Ocelot ('Kirikou and the Sorceress') or Chomet ('Belleville Rende-vouz').

After a filmography that only really boasts one dud (the 2006 film 'Cars'), the California based animation studio have set the bar remarkably, even dauntingly, high and, with 'Cars 2' on the way and now operating under full Disney ownership, the honeymoon period could be set to end for the team that pioneered the now-dominant CGI animation art form. It is with this concern in mind that I went to see the latest entrant into the Pixar canon: 'Toy Story 3'. But does it live up to, or even surpass, the lightness of touch, the wit and the sophistication of last year's 'Up'?

In a word: no.



This is not to say that 'Toy Story 3' is not charming and funny. It is. There are plenty of endearing new characters (notably "Mr. Pricklepants" voiced by Timothy Dalton) and it is fun seeing Woody, Buzz and the gang again. But whereas the question at Pixar has always seemed to be "where can we go next?" - with them constantly pushing at boundaries (both technical and narrative) - this sequel feels as though it has been inspired by accountants and people eager to sell a few more Buzz Lightyear figures this Christmas.

Well, maybe that's a little harsh. There are some good new ideas in the film, which sees the toys being donated to a nursery. The animation of the toddlers is amazing, with the animators doing a terrific job of capturing their movements. In this respect, the film is as detailed and lovingly put together as anything they have produced. Michael Keaton is fun as Ken - the male counterpart to Barbie - as is Ned Beatty as "Lots-O'-Huggin' Bear". The gags are perhaps broader than usual, with lots of in-jokes (a Totoro toy is prominently featured), film references ('Cool Hand Luke' is explicitly quoted) and sight gags, but 'Toy Story 3' on the whole stays true to the Pixar tradition of dealing with genuinely adult themes, such as loss, death and even mid-life crisis. And it must be said that the opening sequence, which takes us into a childs imagination as he plays with the toys, is brilliant.



But whilst Jessie the cowgirl's story in 'Toy Story 2' was genuinely quite moving, helped in no small way by a splendid Randy Newman song ("When She Loved Me"), the tearjerker moments in this sequel feel forced and contrived. 'Up' reduced all except the most hard-hearted to floods of tears in its opening moments and justly received plaudits for doing so in such an elegant way, and it feels almost as though this feat has gone to Pixar's (collective) head. One wonders what great sorrow will befall Lightning McQueen next year. Maybe his tyres will deflate to the strains of a string quartet or his lady-car will take a tumble off a cliff and explode. Whatever they do it won't work: because I don't care about a talking car and, it turns out, care only a fraction more for Mr and Mrs Potato Head et al. The prolonged curtain call that ends the film feels similarly manipulative and calculated as the action which proceeds it.

Far be it from me to go on a Kermodeian rant about 3D, but I have to say that the novelty (and it is a novelty) is really starting to wear off now. I have enjoyed a few 3D titles over the last year and have been impressed by the way that the most recent films have used the technology to create depth rather then to make stuff pop out of the screen. But I am no longer impressed because I have now been there and seen it already. I saw 'Avatar' and now I'm over it. Now all I am noticing is the increased admission price (over £20 for my girlfriend and I) and the splitting headache upon leaving the cinema. The 3D is tastefully implemented in 'Toy Story 3', but you gain precisely nothing from seeing it this way.



If I sound unenthusiastic about 'Toy Story 3' it is only because of Pixar's own exceptionally high standards. Without doubt it is fun film and - along with 'Inception' - it is the must-see blockbuster movie of this summer. But am I wrong to expect a little bit more from Pixar? However much of a good time 'Toy Story 3' is, it doesn't hold a candle to any of their previous three films. Personally, I enjoyed Disney's return to hand-drawn animation, 'The Princess and the Frog', quite a bit more. And with sequels to 'Cars' and 'Monsters Inc.' in the pipeline, could Pixar's golden age be behind them? Or do they have another 'Up' in them? I hope for the latter, but on this evidence there is some cause for concern.

'Toy Story 3' is rated 'U' by BBFC and can be seen almost everywhere in 3D and 2D versions.

Capital and Credibility in Sleeping Beauty: Eyvind Earle and the Disney Pre-Renaissance

I said, yesterday, that I would explain why it is that 'Sleeping Beauty' is one of my favourite films. The following is an essay I wrote in 2008. It explains the auteurist nature of the film and its unique place in the wider Disney canon. I was tempted to edit or improve upon it, but instead it is here warts and all. Enjoy:

1959 saw the release of one of the decade’s most highly anticipated event movies: 'Ben Hur'. However, William Wyler’s mega-hit was not the only big Hollywood event movie that year. 1959 was also the year that Walt Disney would release his long anticipated 'Sleeping Beauty' (1). Four years had passed since Disney’s fifteenth animated feature 'Lady and the Tramp' (2) had hit the world’s theatres. Disney fans had not been kept in the dark during this wait, however, as Walt promoted 'Sleeping Beauty' throughout its six year development (3 p. 299) on his weekly television show (4 p. 75) (even opening the Sleeping Beauty Disneyland attraction two years before the film’s release (5)). The film marked the studios return to the classic fairytale (6). At the beginning of the decade, in 1950, 'Cinderella' (7) had been a huge success credited with getting the studio back on their feet after financial difficulties during the war years (4 p. 75), where the studio released a series of progressively banal musical package films (3 p. 276). During a decade which had seen the success of 'Cinderella', 'Peter Pan' (8), 'Alice in Wonderland' (9) and 'Lady and the Tramp' (10 p. 9;48): 'Sleeping Beauty' “was conceived as the most spectacular of the postwar productions.” (3 p. 299) This hope is reflected in the following passage of Walt Disney’s biography by Neal Gabler: “Lady [and the Tramp], despite its long gestation period and despite the fact that it turned out well, was essentially make-work. Sleeping Beauty was something else. It was intended to be a magnum opus – ‘our most ambitious cartoon feature, to date’ Walt wrote...” (11 p. 558). But with a growth in the production of live-action films, with the creation of an ever expanding theme park empire, with aggressive interest in television programming and with ancillary revenues more important than ever to Disney (12 p. 4) (and more demanding of Walt’s attention (3 p. 300)), was there a place for art in an increasingly commercial House of Mouse?

'Sleeping Beauty' was certainly an expensive film to produce. It was the last Disney film to be hand inked before new Xerox practices were developed, which would be used on their next feature 'One Hundred and One Dalmatians' (13), saving time and money (and indeed making that film, with its hundred and one puppies, possible) (3 p. 301). The hand inked 'Sleeping Beauty' was incredibly labour-intensive as inkers had to hand paint all of the animators drawings onto each cell (it took 24 days to animate a single second of movement). This came at a great cost as the budget went through the roof. Eventually Disney spent over $6 million on 'Sleeping Beauty' (14 p. 15), although nothing in today’s Hollywood (Leonard Malton has joked that $6 million would be the “lunch budget” for a modern action movie (5)), it was a huge sum for an animated feature the fifties (indeed 'Lady and the Tramp' cost half the amount) (11 p. 557). The relative commercial failure of 'Sleeping Beauty' (11 p. 560), which “began in high hopes and ended in disaster” (3 p. 229), almost convinced Walt to scrap the production of animated feature films altogether (11 p. 559). Whilst 'Sleeping Beauty' and its relative lack of success at the box office didn’t put an end to animation at Disney, it did lead to a growth in live-action features, which continued to do well for the studio into the mid-70’s (11 p. 585). It also led to '101 Dalmatians' being made on a significantly reduced budget, which was cut even further for 'The Sword and the Stone' (15) (11 p. 620).

At the time of the film’s release, studios were experimenting with various widescreen aspect ratios. Sleeping Beauty was made in one of the widest: the Super Technirama 70mm format (3 p. 299). The film also took advantage of developments in sound recording, bring released in 6-track stereo sound (5). The widescreen process presented particular problems for animators, who, faced with more characters on screen at any given time, would have to spend more time animating each frame than they would traditionally. Ollie Johnston, who animated the fairies in 'Sleeping Beauty', noted this as a particular concern in regards to close-ups saying “you couldn’t get rid of a fairy” as they always seemed to co-exist within each frame. This complicated the staging of the movie in regard to the use of space, as animators had to think creatively to avoid the frame looking bare.

Though Sleeping Beauty was made by much of the same crew as those other 1950’s Disney features, celebrated Disney animator Andreas Deja describes the films style as being “more graphic than 'Lady and the Tramp'” (5). The film proved to be a break from the traditional Disney style in a number of ways. With Walt eager for the film to boast “a more unified look” (5), apparently inspired by an exhibition of medieval artworks known as the “unicorn tapestries” (fig.1) (5), he turned to background artist Eyvind Earle. Up to that point Earle’s work at the studio had consisted of backgrounds for 'Lady and the Tramp' and 'Peter Pan', as well as work on a handful of experimental short subjects, including the Academy Award winning 'Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom' (16). However, Walt was convinced of his talent and charged him with responsibility for styling 'Sleeping Beauty', with Walt’s instruction that it should resemble a “moving illustration” (11 p. 558). Ken Anderson, the film’s production designer, described Earle’s work on the film as a “strange and sterile look” given the dominance of vertical and horizontal lines and geometric shapes. Earle came to the project with a rich understanding of pre-renaissance, medieval and gothic art, which he faithfully incorporated into the look of the film:

“I’ve always been informed by pre-renaissance, medieval, gothic and here’s a movie based on that period of time. I first started with the old medieval artists and almost everything that was gothic. The tapestries [fig.1] were perfect examples of how foregrounds ought to be. The gothic came from the Persians and all their little details of grasses and weeds and trees fit perfectly, so I realised I could use anything that was in harmony with what I was trying to accomplish. And out of all of that a little tiny bit of myself came through.” (5)

Earle’s studies of Persian painting gave him major inspiration as he realised that everything was painted in focus, clear and clean all the time (5). This stylistic choice led to one of the biggest departures from traditional Disney on the movie, as Earle’s insistence on everything being in focus went against the purpose of multi-plane camera techniques Disney had made famous on previous films. The illusion of reality (by way of the presentation of depth) was being cast aside to give the film the more unified, stylised look Disney had insisted upon. The result was a series of backgrounds which were like nothing seen previously in a Disney picture, as Andreas Dejas suggests: “When you look at backgrounds from Bambi (17) and Snow White (18), as beautifully as they are painted in watercolour, but [if] you take the character level out of it they look like an empty stage set. These backgrounds [Earle’s for Sleeping Beauty] look almost like complete paintings with characters on top of them.” (5)

Pixar Animation Studios co-founder John Lasseter has been similarly enthusiastic about Earle’s backgrounds in 'Sleeping Beauty', also noting the departure from what had come before: “One thing Disney has always been good at is focussing the audience’s eye. Then here comes this film which is just gorgeous from one edge of the film to the other.” (5) This would prove to be a concern for the character animators, as it was feared it could distract an audience’s attention away from the characters themselves. Disney had become famous for their rounded and “cute” characters, from 'Steamboat Willie' (19) to 'Lady and the Tramp'; Disney characters were drawn to be appealing and warm. However, Earle was responsible, not only for the films lush backgrounds, but also in overseeing that the character animators styled and coloured characters to work with his backgrounds. This led to a certain amount of conflict between Earle and the animators, who petitioned Walt to remove him from the project, but Walt backed Earle and the animators were forced to make characters to fit the backgrounds (5), whereas traditionally the reverse would have been expected. Christopher Finch’s book The Art of Walt Disney describes this stylistic choice in unflattering terms: “unfortunately its [the films] stylised treatment tended to slow the action and interfere with character development.” (3 p. 299) He also backs up the concern of the artists that Earle’s backgrounds “are so busy they distract from the characters.” (3 p. 300) The way the characters were styled to achieve that stylistically unified look for 'Sleeping Beauty' marked another major change for Disney.

Earle’s influence on character design is noticeable when comparing Maleficent, the villain of 'Sleeping Beauty' (fig.2), with the stepmother from Cinderella (fig.3).These two are useful subjects of a comparison as both villains were based on live-action reference footage of the same actress (fig.4) and were drawn within the same decade. Maleficent is comprised of strong and distinct vertical and horizontal lines. Even the round parts of her design, such as her facial features and her horns, are jagged and almost appear as distinct vertical lines. Her colours are more subdued in order to compliment the dark grey spaces she usually operates in. By contrast Cinderella’s stepmother is a more traditional Disney character. She has rounded facial features, hair and clothing, whilst wearing comparatively bright colours. Whilst both characters are recognisably based on the same reference actress, Maleficent emphasises her eyes and her mouth, as well as her mannerisms, but puts then firmly within the films stylised look. The stepmother, on the other hand, resembles the actress more closely, but has exaggerated her into the more rounded classical style associated with Walt Disney. Ken Anderson has criticised the Eyvind Earle style character designs as “unfortunately quite stiff”, saying it “wasn’t possible for the characters to fit the style and be attractive” at the same time (5).

The three good fairies of 'Sleeping Beauty' represented something of a compromise between Earle and their animator Ollie Johnston, who managed to strike a balance between their geometric and angular costumes and their cute and cuddly Disney faces (fig.5). Walt Disney had discussed making the fairies identical (in the mould of Donald Duck’s three nephews), but the animators ignored this direction, giving them individual looks and personalities as distinct as those of the seven dwarfs. The fairies in the film fill the established Disney role of providing comic relief. However, this role is complicated by the fact that they are also (if only by virtue of screen time) the central characters. Rather than being the subject of a wacky sub-plot, the comic relief in 'Sleeping Beauty' is always part of the action, driving the story forwards. For example, as they make the cake and the dress for Princess Aurora’s birthday they argue and end up making a mess of everything they set out to achieve, yet this scene is not superfluous. In order to make the surprises they send Aurora out of the house and into the woods, where she happens to meet her Prince for the first time. The scene also enables us to see how much the fairies have come to care for Aurora during the years they have been charged with looking after her. It therefore serves to advance the plot of the film, show the development of the characters and provides emotional weight to the rest of the film. To a 1959 audience the three fairies voice actors would also have been recognisable, being comprised of popular radio and television personalities of the day. This would bring a certain likeable quality to the characters as audience expectation of their various roles would have provided a certain amount of pleasure, as it did to a contemporary reviewer in Variety (20 p. 6), perhaps lost on a modern audience.

Other characters with a clear medieval influence might include Malificent’s demon-like henchmen (fig.6) which resemble something from a gothic rendering of hell, like in this 15th century piece by Hieronymus Bosch (fig.7). They are not human, but nor are they animal, but some strange and grotesque hybrid. Similarly the crowds in the film are unusually static for a Disney animation and blend into the background, being comprised of ‘held cells’. This economy of movement allows for the film to feel like a moving illustration, where only the principle characters are moving in the frame.

The faces of people in these crowds in 'Sleeping Beauty' are either indistinct from one another or they are without detail altogether. Whilst art of the renaissance made a feature of celebrating the human through detailed portraits of faces, pre-renaissance art came before this humanist tendancy, the result being a lack of interest in individuals and in facial expression (21 p. 106). This tendancy is, understandably, not reflected in central characters, whose faces are expressive and detailed. The presentation of people in the art of 'Sleeping Beauty' is firmly routed in western Christian tradition: in Islamic art patterns and symbols are favoured over the depiction of humans and animals, which are considered idolatry (22 p. 110). By contrast (and in Disney tradition) 'Sleeping Beauty' depicts a plethora of woodland creatures, as well as people. The Persian influence Earle mentioned is, therefore, routed mainly in the details of patterns seen in interiors and in the painting of buildings and trees (22 p. 189).



As mentioned, the styling of these characters in this bold and graphic way was done in order to make them better read against Earle’s medieval/gothic influenced background paintings. The medieval influence on Eyvind Earle’s background work is visible throughout Sleeping Beauty. The films backgrounds are highly detailed (see the brickwork in fig.5 or the town in fig.9), and the colours are vibrant rather than naturalistic, with clean horizontal and vertical lines which dominate the look of the film. As Deja’s points out, there is also more than a hint of modernism: “It [Earle’s painting] takes the ideas and the colours and the motifs of the middle ages and then re-interprets them with a fifties point of view, being very graphic... it’s a modernist 20th century approach to re-interpreting pre-renaissance art.” (5) Flemish artists the Limbourg brothers, who painted the pictures for The Book of Hours (fig.8 & 11), “accomplished a revolution by introducing the landscape copied direct from nature into their painting” (22 p. 226). Earle has, similarly, taken their artwork and added a graphic modernism.



Shadows are usually absent in 'Sleeping Beauty' (with a few noteable absences such as the demonic fire dance in Malificents lair), which must be a stylistic choice rather than one based on limitation as shadows are rendered for all of the characters in 'The Lady and the Tramp'. Similarly, pre-renaissance art is usually devoid of the detailed recreation of lighting, including shadows, as can be gleened from the illustration (fig.8). Another influence emerges when you consider how the horses in the foreground in both pictures (fig.8 & 9) seem to exist on one plane. In medieval art details can exist in the foreground and the background, but without any real sense of perspective. Background objects are meerly drawn smaller and foregrounded items drawn bigger, all in sharp detail. The same can be seen in any frame from Sleeping Beauty (as in fig.9). The difference between this gothic stlyling and the art which would come later has been nicely described by Henry Focillon, who wrote:

“There are two kinds of painting: one imitates the light of the sun, with its play of brightness and shadow, and seeks to create the illusion of a complete space, modelled in depth; the other accepts natural lighting and utilises it for its own purposes, which are not those of nature, gives it a novel and perculiar character, and embodies it in a flatterned space... Gothic painting is essentially of the second category; even when it tends to give the figures the fullness of their substance...” (21 p. 110)

The gothic look is applied futher to the architecture of the film, with all of the castle interiors seen in Sleeping Beauty ressembling the interiors of great medieval Cathedrals like those at Salisbury, Troyes and Strassburg (23 pp. 45-53). If a Cathedral is “a universe devised by the power of human thought”, as Focillon suggests (21 p. 110), then a Cathedral is perhaps a fitting metaphor for the singular beauty of Eyvind Earle’s work on 'Sleeping Beauty'.

Earle’s unified styling of 'Sleeping Beauty' so impressed Disney that it came to infilrate all aspects of the project. The original plan for the film is that it would be a musical with broadway-style popular song tunes, like 'Peter Pan' and 'Lady and the Tramp' before it. However, when Walt Disney saw the elegance and refinment of Eyvind Earle’s paintings he decided that the song score had to be scrapped, with the exception of the song “Once Upon a Dream”. Instead he had a musical score composed based upon Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s ballet based on the same story (5). This move represents a huge commitment to the artistry of the project from Walt Disney, seeing as how Disney films made many millions each year from the sales of sheet music and records, based on the popular songs they featured (4 p. 77) (12 p. 4). Perhaps this was borne out of Walt’s desire to make another 'Fantasia' (24), heralded by the media as a masterpiece upon its release, in no small part down to its use of “high” art in the form of classical music (25 pp. 214-36). In Walt Disney’s biography, it is suggested that Walt’s determination to make 'Sleeping Beauty' “art” was in no small way due to a desire to prove the “superiority of the Disney style, and in doing so... would also constitute a major assault on everything [his rivals] represented” both in terms of content and form. (11 pp. 555-8).



Disney had long felt that the wonderful concept paintings of artists like Mary Blair (whose concepts for 'Alice in Wonderland' and 'Peter Pan' can be seen in fig.12 & 13) were being watered down and homogenised for the final film (11 p. 558). He had hoped that in 'Sleeping Beauty', by handing creative control of the overall design to one man, he could produce a piece of unparalleled animated art. As Walt Disney became more and more interested in theme parks and television, his interest (or at the least the time he could spend with) the animation department appeared to wane (11 p. 559) and in this period he seemed split down the middle between the hard-nosed businessman, whose empire had reached all four corners of the globe; and the young man with the wide-eyed facination of all things animated. People who worked on 'Sleeping Beauty' often recall that Walt would be enthusiastic about the artistic aims of the film on one day, and then go the other direction on the next, fretting about the mounting cost. On one of the bad days he fired Eric Larsen as director of the film because the scene he was working on (‘sequence 8’ in which Aurora meets her Prince) had run over budget and taken (literally) years to produce, and even then he hadn’t been happy with the results declaring that the scene needed “more cute animals” (5).

'Lady and the Tramp' could be seen as a more influential Disney movie than 'Sleeping Beauty', as it set a less formal tone, whilst being based in a contemporary setting, something which many of the 1960’s Disney films would seem to continue (3 p. 300). But whether Earle’s influence stayed with Disney or not, his time on 'Sleeping Beauty' seemed to stay with him after he left the studio following the films release to continue his career as an artist in his own right. His painting of northern Californian landscapes (fig.14) bare more than a passing resemblance to his work on the film, whereas his work prior to Disney had been more obviously modernist (fig.15).



Did 'Sleeping Beauty' represent a successful fusion between “high” and “low” culture as 'Fantasia' had been heralded as achieving nearly twenty years prior? Ollie Johnston never thought so, ever critical of the films style. He believed that the background paintings in a good film would “support the action by minimizing detail or bright colours that could distract from the action, thus the background palette is said to reinforce the characterization and the action’s effects subtly and plausibly.” (26 p. 109) Similarly, the faint praise the film is afforded in its highly critical entry in The Art of Walt Disney is that it features “some excellent moments”, but the characters are criticised as the “merest of ciphers... wholly compounded from clichés” whilst the backgrounds are “so busy they distract from the characters” (3 p. 300). In the 500-plus pages of Finch’s book (which only goes as far as 1973) there are only one and a half pages dedicated to 'Sleeping Beauty'.

The film did receive more encouraging contemporary write-ups though. Variety of January 21st 1959 featured a positive review which proclaimed the film as a guaranteed treat for audiences who it says may be impressed despite their familiarity with television. It also praises the characters voice work and singles out the Prince as “considerably more masculine than these Disney heroes usually are” and acknowledging that the characters “match the visual concept” (20 p. 6). In the next issue of January 28th a story expresses the excitement investors felt at a screening of the film, even going so far as to suggest the $6 million had been well spent (14 p. 15). February 4th sees an issue of Variety released which reports that the film had broken records for its opening showings in Los Angeles (27 p. 4).

Whatever the contemporary view of audiences and critics (and Disney animators) toward 'Sleeping Beauty', the fact remains that Disney has been (in the long-term) profiting from the film with endless Home Video reissues since 1986, as well as theatrical re-releases in 1970, 1979, 1986 and 1993 (with a limited release in 2008). When adjusted for inflation of ticket prices 'Sleeping Beauty' is the 29th highest grossing film of all-time in the US alone (28), earning a combined $523,267,600 domestically (making it the sixth most successful Disney film at the US box office). Recent years have also seen the film receiving greater critical attention, as more people start to appreciate the efforts made by Eyvind Earle to break from some established Disney traditions in form, whilst maintaining the fluidity of the animation itself (5). A highlight for this spectacular animation can be seen in ‘sequence 8’ (the forest dance) as Aurora’s dress moves so naturally in relation to her movements. The characters may have been stylised and vertical, to the ire of many of their animators, yet the Disney flair for animated movement still shines through and, arguably, compliments the films look far more than it hinders it.

'Sleeping Beauty' is a triumph of art, produced in a commercial setting. Whilst it has been exploited for theme park rides, dolls, home videos, recorded music, books, costumes, bedding and even video games, these things are irrelevant to Eyvind Earle’s art. There is a difference between the Disney Corporation and animators and artists whose life and vocation is animation, just as there was a difference between Walt Disney the businessman and Walt Disney the animator. Of course, this essay has ignored many things which would seem to criticise the art of Disney; namely gender politics. But whatever the politics of the Disney canon at large, 'Sleeping Beauty' is secure as the last classical Disney film: the last to be hand-inked and the last (for better or worse) to be so two-dimensionally embedded in a fairytale past. It was also the first (and possibly the last) Disney film to so wholeheartedly embrace the notion of animation as art: and there cannot be a better epitaph, for it or Earle, than that.

Bibliography
1. Clark, Les, et al. Sleeping Beauty. Disney, 1959.
2. Geronimi, Clyde, Jackson, Wilfred and Luske, Hamilton. The Lady and the Tramp. Disney, 1955.
3. Finch, Christopher. The Art of Walt Disney. Burbank, CA : Walt Disney Productions, 1973.
4. Gomery, Douglas. Disney's Business History: A Reinterpretation. [book auth.] Eric Sooodin. Disney Discource. New York : Routledge, 1994.
5. Dejas, Andreas, Lasseter, John and Maltin, Leonard. Audio Commentary. Sleeping Beauty: 50th Anniversary Edition. [Blu-ray Disc] s.l. : Disney Studios/Buena Vista Home Entertainment, 2008.
6. Perrault, Charles and Translation by Carter, Angela. Sleeping Beauty & Other Fairytale Favourites. London : Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1982.
7. Geronimi, Clyde, Luske, Hamilton and Jackson, Wilfred. Cinderella. Disney, 1950.
8. —. Peter Pan. Disney, 1953.
9. Geronimi, Clyde, Jackson, Wilfred and Luske, Hamilton. Alice in Wonderful. Disney, 1951.
10. All-Time Blockbusters. Variety. January 7th, 1959, Vol. 213, 6.
11. Gabler, Neal. Walt Disney: The Biography. London : Random House, 2006.
12. Disney Profits Continue to Rise. Variety. January 14th, 1959, Vol. 213, 7.
13. Geronimi, Clyde, Luske, Hamilton and Reitherman, Wolfgang. One Hundred and One Dalmatians. Disney, 1961.
14. Investors Predict Disney Growth. Variety. January 28th, 1959, Vol. 213, 9.
15. Reitherman, Wolfgang. The Sword and the Stone. Disney, 1963.
16. Kimball, Ward and Nichols, Charles A. Toot, Whilstle, Plunk and Bloom. Disney, 1953.
17. Hand, David D. Bambi. Disney, 1942.
18. Hand, David. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney, 1937.
19. Disney, Walt and Iwerks, Ub. Steamboat Willie. Disney, 1928.
20. Sleeping Beauty Review. Variety. January 21st, 1959, Vol. 213, 8.
21. Focillon, Henry. The Art of the West: Gothic Art. New York : Phaidon Publishers, 1963.
22. Bazin, Germain. A History of Art from Prehistoric Times to the Present. London : Bonanza Books, 1958.
23. Frankl, Paul. Gothic Architecture. London : Penguin, 1962.
24. Armstrong, Samuel, et al. Fantasia. Disney, 1940.
25. Luckett, Moya. Fantasia: Cultural Constructions of Disney's "Masterpiece". [book auth.] Eric Smoodin. Disney Discource. New York : Routledge, 1994.
26. Neupart, Richard. Painting a Plausible World. [book auth.] Eric Smoodin. Disney Discource. New York : Routledge, 1994.
27. This Week at the Box Office. Variety. February 4th, 1959, Vol. 213, 10.
28. All Time Box Office With Ticket Price Adjusted for Inflation. Box Office Mojo. [Online] [Cited: January 12, 2009.] http://boxofficemojo.com/alltime/adjusted.htm.
29. Thomas, Bob. Disney's Art of Animation. New York : Simon & Schuster, 1958.
30. Kühnel, Ernst. Islamic Arts. London : G. Bell & Sons, 1970.
31. Canemaker, John. The Art and Flair of Mary Blair. Burbank, CA : Disney Editions, 2003.

Figures
1. ‘The Unicorn is Found’, ca. 1495-1505. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Image obtained from http://www.metmuseum.org/explore/Unicorn/unicorn_hunting_2.htm
2. Malificent in Sleeping Beauty. See (1). Image obtained from DVD.
3. The Stepmother in Cinderella. See (7). Image obtained from DVD.
4. Eleanor Audley. Image obtained from http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0041598/
5. Three Good Fairies in Sleeping Beauty. See (1). Image obtained from DVD.
6. Maleficent’s Goons. See above.
7. ‘Hell’, Hieronymus Bosch, ca. 1490-1500. Akademie der Bildenden Künste, Vienna. Image obtained from http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/bosch/judge/
8. Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, Limbourg Brothers, ca.1485-1489. Musée Condé, Chantilly. Image obtained from http://www.christusrex.org/www2/berry/
9. Sleeping Beauty. Image obtained from DVD.
10. Sleeping Beauty. Image obtained from DVD.
11. Les Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, Limbourg Brothers, ca.1485-1489. Musée Condé, Chantilly. Image obtained from http://www.christusrex.org/www2/berry/
12. Concept for Alice in Wonderland, Mary Blair, Image obtained from http://todountipo.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/montreal-april-12-mary-blair.jpg
13. Concept for Peter Pan, Mary Blair, Image obtained from http://cartoonmodern.blogsome.com/category/mary-blair/
14. Gothic Forest, Eyvind Earle, 1999, Gallery 21, California. Image obtained from http://www.gallery21.com/a_graphic_gothic_forest.htm
15. Deer, Eyvind Earle, Image obtained from http://www.excellentvirtu.com/eyvind_earle_deer.htm
16. Various Home Video Boxes, found on amazon.co.uk.

All images belong to their respective owners.

Ray Harryhausen is 90 today!

Today marks the 90th birthday of Mr. Ray Harryhausen, the legendary stop-motion animator beloved for his groundbreaking effects work in a number of Hollywood movies from the 1940s up until the 1981 film 'Clash of the Titans' (arguably his most famous work). To celebrate this almighty birthday, here are clips of some of his most admired work:

Willis O'Brien won an Academy Award for Best Special Effects in 1949, thanks in no small part to Harryhausen's work as the animator of the titular ape in 'Mighty Joe Young' (appropriate as Harryhausen fell in love with cinema and animation watching another ape, King Kong, in 1933).



'The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms' (1954) was a real landmark movie, directly inspiring Eiji Tsuburaya's work on the first Japanese 'Godzilla' movie later that same year (and by virtue of that, all of the big monster movies of the 50s and 60s).



Harryhausen provided effects for many more monster movies (such as 'It Came from Beneath the Sea' in 1955) but in the 1956 film 'Earth Versus the Flying Saucers' Harryhausen turned to animating alien invaders. As you can see from watching this clip, the animation in this film was a big influence on Tim Burton's 1996 'Mars Attacks!'.



His first work on colour, 'The 7th Voyage of Sinbad' (1958) started perhaps Harryhausen's most famous work on swashbuckling sword and sandal adventure stories which really allowed him the scope to develop lots of different creatures and action sequences. Harryhausen would work on two further Sinbad films in the 1970s: 'The Golden Voyage of Sinbad' in 1974 and 'Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger' in 1977.







The 1963 'Jason and the Argonauts' contains probably the most haunting and famous Harryhausen sequence of all: the battle with the skeleton warriors. The jerky nature of the animation gives it a visceral quality unmatched in the cleanness of modern CGI. Watch it in full below:



One that always stuck in my mind (probably because of my dinosaur fixation) was the 1966 film 'One Million Years B.C'. I have always remembered the bit where a lava flow falls on top of a woman who is running away. The film is pretty dire, but there are some great effects to be seen, including the historically impossible sight of cave men fighting an Allosaurus with their spears. But you don't go to see a Harryhausen movie for a history lesson!



As mentioned above, the most well-loved of them all is probably the original 1981 movie, 'Clash of the Titans' (like 'Mighty Joe Young', the victim of a shoddy remake). Watch the trailer below, if only to laugh when a man shouts "destroy Argos!".



Anyway, happy birthday Ray and may we be wishing you a happy century in ten years time! Thanks goes to Sam Clements of the Ritzy Picturehouse in Brixton for tweeting Ray the first birthday message and starting this whole thing off. If you're on twitter, follow Simon Pegg's example and join Sam in wishing: #HappyBirthdayRay

If you want to watch some Harryhausen films in full, the BFI Southbank had some signed DVD boxsets for sale last time I was there (last week). So snap one of those up if you are a fan of the great man!