I’m back with another video.
I’ve noticed that many studios are plundering the past and making our nostalgic cartoons of the past into big-budget movies. I want to chime in on this trend. So this week I write a letter to Hollywood.
Author: artofthecartoon
Bootleg Classics: The Iron Giant
10 years ago, one of the finest animated movies ever to grace the bigscreen debuted in theaters. The Iron Giant was the breakout movie that put Brad Bird’s (The Incredibles, Ratatouille) name out there among the elite animation directors. Even though it underperformed in theaters and was a box office failure because many felt Warner Bros. didn’t properly market the film, The Iron Giant was praised by critics and is still seen as one of the better examples of storytelling in animation. See the original trailer here:
(Hit the jump to read more about this Bootleg Classic) Continue reading
X-Men anime intro (w/ commentary)
Wsup… Here’s my week 6 summer term video:
Iron Man Anime Trailer
I was requested to blog about this, so here we go. Here is the trailer for the new Iron Man anime series:
I’m impressed. What else can I write? (Hit the jump to see what else I wrote) Continue reading
Miyazaki’s Quiet Protest of the Iraq War
I found this article on Cartoon Brew. I have always enjoyed Miyazaki’s social commentaries in his movies, but his way of protesting the Iraq War was quite interesting. Also ,I knew Howl’s Moving Castle had that anti-war commentary attached to it, but I never thought it was a direct commentary of the Iraq War. I may need to re-watch it and do a retro-review…
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by: Amid
Hayao Miyazaki didn’t come to the United States in 2003 to accept his Oscar forSpirited Away because of his opposition to the Iraq War, he recently told the LA Times:
“The reason I wasn’t here for the Academy Award was because I didn’t want to visit a country that was bombing Iraq. At the time, my producer shut me up and did not allow me to say that, but I don’t see him around today. By the way, my producer also shared in that feeling.”
Critic Daniel Thomas MacInnes offers some context to Miyazaki’s actions onThe Ghibli Blog:
It should be common knowledge to any serious Miyazaki scholar that he abhorred not only the Iraq War, but war itself. The idea of violence is depicted in his work as violent tragedy, slapstick mockery, or both…I don’t think very many Westerners know that the war in Howl’s Moving Castle was itself a reflection on the Iraq War. It was a comment on that war, viewed through the lens of Miyazaki’s long career.
Top 5 Cartoon Wedding Moments…
For those of you not in school with me, this is a rare glimpse of the blogger behind Art of the Cartoon.
So every week for Animation Mentor (The school I’m attending) I make an intro video to the week. I try to be entertaining, it is more of a way to get my face out there and to put some fun into other students’ workspaces. Anyway, this last video I did I talked about my Top 5 Cartoon Wedding moments. Enjoy!
If this gets a good response, I may post up more of my intro videos in the future…
Set the VCR: Little Mac vs. Mike Tyson
At the moment there are 2 stellar video games that feature the sweet science of pugilism or boxing. Fight Night Round 4 is one of those games and the other is the revival of the classic Nintendo series Punch-Out!! on Nintendo Wii. I think I have already demonstrated once before how animation and boxing are related, and these new video games bring out both the great physics (Fight Night Round 4) and the great enterntainment (Punch-Out!!) of the sport of boxing.
Even though one is more geared toward simulation and real-life and the other toward exagerration and cartoon, they both have a common thread in terms history. They both harken back to this Set the VCR moment, from arguable the greatest boxing video game of all-time!
Hit the jump to read more about this Set The VCR moment: Continue reading
90’s X-Men Animated Series: Japanese Intro…
I am huge fan of the 1990’s X-Men animated series. It is still the best cartoon X-Men out there (It’s out on DVD now!) I think the intro was classic:
However, after seeing the Japanese intro for the 90’s X-Men…
I kinda wish the 90’s X-Men looked like this. They even made another intro!
Can we get a special edition 90’s X-Men series set DVD and/ or Blu-Ray with selectable intros… PLEASE!
Review: Black Cat (anime)
Black Cat (anime)/dir. Shin Itagaki/ 24 episodes/ 2005 – 2006
I bought the Black Cat anime series on a whim earlier in the year, about the same time I purchased the Beck anime series. I first watched Black Cat, a series I enjoyed, but then before I could ever write about it, I started watching Beck. And well, this happened.
Beck was one of the best anime series I have ever watched and the unfortunate side effect was that Black Cat was left as an afterthought. So for me, Black Cat has the unfortunate distinction of forever being paired with Beck.
So after a couple of months, I’m finally getting around to reviewing Black Cat, an entertaining series with nice visuals, an interesting set-up, and memorable characters, but the story sputters out towards the end.
(hit the jump for the rest of the review) Continue reading
