Reviews

Review: Monsters vs. Aliens 3D

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Monsters vs. Aliens 3D/ dir. Conrad Vernon & Rob Letterman/ 2009

Yesterday was that day in Seattle. The day when the sun came out and it was finally warm enough for folks to be active. It was a good day to be outside,  so I spent the majority of it outside. First at Alki beach, people watching and sketching, then enjoying a nice 8 mile run up Lake Washington blvd, ending with a bbq at a homies’ crib. But before I did all those things, I began my day with a trip to the movie theater to watch  Monsters vs. Aliens 3D.

Suffice to say based on this trailer, I was kinda excited to see this movie:

I actually meant to see it last week, but I had to finish watching a certain memorable anime series…

So what’s the verdict on Dreamworks’ newest animated feature?

A few years back there was another animation studio, I believe the name of that studio was Pixar, they made a movie about monsters as well. Anyway, you should probably stick with the Pixar movie. Hit the jump to read the rest of the review. Continue reading →

Review: BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad (anime)

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BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad/ dir. Osamu Kobayashi/ 2004-2005 (26 episodes)

beckseattle1I started the Art of the Cartoon blog this past January. When it first debuted, my marquee header was a little different, and my good friend and running partner, Angel, thought the anime character on my marquee was Koyuki, the main character from BECK: Mongolian Chop Squad (It was actually Naota from FLCL, but anyway).

After one of our runs, she played the opening song from the series on her car stereo and went off on what a good series BECK was. She mentioned it was about starting a rock band and how they got through struggles. This caught my attention and I was intrigued by what kind of series about a rock band would impress her.

A month later I saw BECK the complete series on sale at Fry’s Electronics. I was tempted, but I did not pick it up (money’s tight y’know). Over the next couple of weeks, I kept going back to Fry’s and staring at that set (there was only one left) wondering if I should pick it up before it was too late. It wasn’t until after my birthday, and a break from school that I finally decided to pick up BECK, and see what the fuss my homegirl was talking about.

So how was it?

Flawed. Actually, there were a LOT of flaws. HOWEVER, when a cartoon series is so powerful that it makes me do this:

sigh

You know that something went immensely right. In fact, watching BECK reinforced the reasons why I decided to get into the field of animation in the first place. Hit the jump for the rest of the review…
Continue reading →

Review: NKOTB “The New Kid In Class”

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New Kids On the Block/ “The New Kid In Class”/ 1990

nkotb-cartoon2One year before Hammerman came on the scene, the New Kids on the Block (NKOTB) were the latest musical act to have the honor (read: exploited!) of getting their own animated series. 

I  do remember hearing back then that the New Kids on the Block were getting their own cartoon series. I don’t ever remember watching a single episode. The reason, I just wasn’t that interested. People may not believe me, but I was NOT a New Kids on the Block fan when they first came out. Over the years, the feeling has dulled and for a good nostalgia trip I now enjoy a classic NKOTB song every now and then, but back then, I only  tolerated them because of my sister and some of my friends. Just to reiterate, NKOTB was just  not for me. 

So why after some 20 years, have I decided to go back and watch an episode of NKOTB? 

Well besides NKOTB’s unexpected return to music last year, after one of my biggest posting blunders, I posted this lighthearted clip of the NKOTB intro. Based on that clip, the show seemed really bad. Even still, I figured I should at least watch an episode to see if, in reality, either:

a) it was a good/ decent show with a bad intro,

or  

b) if it was as bad as I think it is. 

The result: I really should trust my instincts… hit the jump for the rest of the review and video of the episode. Continue reading →

Review: Wolverine and the X-Men “Hindsight” parts 1-3 (pilot episodes)

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“Hindsight” Parts 1-3 (pilot episodes)/ Wolverine and the X-Men/ 2009

wolverine_visuel

Wolverine and the X-Men is the new X-Men animated series that debuted this past January on the NickToons network (With teenage Iron Man heading to NickToons as well, it seems like NickToons is the place for your new Marvel Comics cartoons).

I’m going to come right out and state this, I am a BIG fan of the X-Men: Animated Series from the 90’s , my taste favors the more Jim Lee style X-Men designs, and I believe that the X-Men: Animated Series from the 90’s was the most faithful to the comic book.

The next X-Men Series, X-Men: Evolution, even though many people enjoyed it and thought it was a better series, was a disappointment for me. Yes, the character designs were more streamlined to help with the fluidity of animation (as opposed to the bulky un-evenly animated X-Men from the 90’s), but the big No-No was making most of the characters teenagers and in “regular” high school.

So how does the Wolverine and X-Men pilot episodes stack up?

Two words: Very Promising…

Hit the jump for the rest of the review… Continue reading →

Review: Watchmen (Film)

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Watchmen/ dir. Zack Snyder/ 2009

watchmenposterfinalWell it was a fun week of blogging. Watchmen week comes to its conclusion with this review of the live-action Watchmen film. 

Many thanks to those who came to dinner at Sea Garden to celebrate the birthday of a certain Art of the Cartoon blogger. Many more thanks to the 10 folks who also came out, waited in line in the freezing cold for about 3 hours, just to indulge my geek ego and watch the midnight showing of Watchmen. 

Now for the main event.

The Review

Ever since the end movie credits started to roll I have been trying to think of what to put in this review. At the very end, I just sat there trying to process what just happened on the big screen and in my head doing a quick comparison to the legendary comic book. Here are some of the questions that raced through my mind when Watchmen was over:

“Was it complete? Were the characters okay? Did this capture the essence of the graphic novel? Were the changes significant or were they easily overlooked? Did the film feel right? Was the original messages from the comic book also on the big screen? Should I take into account those who have not read the book? Do I compare this to the book? etc….”

For those who want the bottom line, here it is:

Go see this movie.

Be forewarned. You should read on though, because the reasons why you should see this movie is different from what you would expect. (I will try to keep the spoilers to a minimum, but there may be some minor spoilers ahead… hit the jump!) Continue reading →

Review: La Maison en Petits Cubes

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La Maison en Petits Cubes (House of Small Cubes)/ created by Kunio Kato/ 2008 (Japan)

La Maison en Petits Cubes (House of Small Cubes) won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film this Year. Fresh off the heels of the best acceptance speech ever (sorry Geo, the Man on Wire disappearing coin was good, so was Sean Penn’s sentiments on Prop 8, and the Heath Ledger win was moving, but this dude thanked his pencil, and the domo arigato mr.roboto made more sense after I watched the short film, all acceptance speeches from now on should handled by Japanese men):

I decided I had to take some precious time off of work and school to give this short film a look and review.

Synopsis

La Maison en Petits Cubes tells the story of a man living in house surrounded by water. As the water rises he must build another level to his house to stay dry. One day, he loses his favorite pipe in the water. As he descends into the waters through different stories, he relives the scenes of his life.

The Review

Subtle and simplistic, yet oh so very powerful. I was riveted more by the 11 minutes of this short film than I have by some full length animated features…

(hit the jump to read the rest of my review, and the video of La Maison en Petit Cubes) Continue reading →

Review: Coraline 3D

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Coraline/ dir. Henry Selick/ 2009

coraline-movie-poster-1Being an animation student has inspired me to see anything and almost everything animated. I’ve known about Coraline for a couple of months, and I really wanted to see it when it first came out on February 6. I mean how can you go wrong with the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas, and based on a novel by Neil Gaiman! Here’s the trailer that got me hooked:

Life gets in the way many times and I didn’t get a chance to see it that opening weekend. I heard that the box office numbers for that opening weekend weren’t as big as LAIKA (the animation studio that produced the film) hoped for. And that a dismal showing of this film could spell doom for this Portland , OR based company. I made it a point to see the film, even if I was by my lonesome. Luckily that didn’t happen. Many thanks to the cutest newlyweds in Seattle (maybe a lil too cute), Daps and Cherry, for a journey that started with brunch, went through Coraline and a trip to Fry’s Electronics, and ended with Anthony Bourdain’s No Reservations: Philiippines. (BTW, “Best Pig Ever” according to Anthony Bourdain…that’s high praise). 

On to the actual review: WOW…(hit the jump to continue): Continue reading →

Review: From Burger It Came (Sundance Short Film 2009)

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From Burger It Came/ dir. Dominic Bisignano/ 7 mins/ 2008

fromburgerI have to hand it Dominic Bisignano. He made a film that is both all over the place (in terms of animation) yet at the same time clear and concise (in terms of message). 

From Burger It Came deals with the paranoia of AIDS back in the 1980s. A time when nobody had any idea what AIDS was, and had no idea how AIDS was contracted, spread, etc. 

The story starts out very simply; Kid eats mysterious burger from cafeteria, then has this sudden fear that he has gotten AIDS. The rest of time expands on the kid’s fear of AIDS.

The narration of  this story is set to American folk music and has 4 parts that are intertwined. One part is the first person account of the story. The second is the mother’s account of the paranoia. The third is a conversation between mother and child about the fear of AIDS. And the fourth part is a 1980s teacher educating a class on the popular ideas of AIDS during that time (many of which were very, VERY wrong). It seems like it would be confusing but all these parts converge to outline the fear of AIDS back in the 1980s and the folksy music give it that “what the f… is going on” type vibe.

To compliment the narration and music, the animation and visuals match the crazy nature of what people thought AIDS was back in the day. The style ranges from 2-D cut-outs (via Monty Python) to old 40’s style animation, to 3-D animation, to digital paint. And when viewing this film, your eyes are so bombarded with various images and cartoons that you can’t help but be confused. 

Hence the point of this 7 minute film. Discussing AIDS in the 1980s was practically useless. Add in the fear and paranoia of AIDS with the simple fact that hardly anyone knew anything about this disease during the 80s and you get confusing jumble of misguided images and messages. I, myself, never really knew about all this until Magic Johnson “retired” from the NBA because of the HIV virus. 

In my experience, to truly get this film, you have to watch it several times. I will admit, I threw my hands up at first viewing and thought “what was that?” In truth it is a very weird film. I expect nothing less from  Dominic Bisignano, a CalArts Experimental Animation student.

Review: Spider-Man #583 (aka the Obama issue)

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obamaspidey

  Intro: I went to the Comic Den today, the local Renton comic book shop, to pick up a copy of Spider-Man #583. One for myself, and 3-5 copies for Thaswassup DJ Daps1. I usually head to Pike Place or the U-District for my comic fixes, but I knew that this issue would be popular, so I figured Renton would be the better stop. I was WRONG! 

As soon as pull onto the street where the store is located I see a huge crowd of dudes (Yup no women there). It took me about an extra 5 minutes to find parking, and once I got inside, No luck. Folks were already pre-ordering for the re-issue next week. 

I browsed about the store for an extra 10 – 15 minutes to see if there is anything else I wanted. (I was really looking to pick up the I Kill Giants mini-series). No such luck again. So I decide to place my name on the pre-order list. 

Not sure why (maybe because I’m so cute and charismatic), but the owner of the store says Merry Christmas and hands me the last copy of Spider-Man #583. 

I texted Daps, and said he could have this copy if he wants. But you know I had to read it first…

Spider-Man #583/ Mark Waid & Zeb Wells, writers/ Barry Kitson & Todd Nauk, pencils/ John Romita Sr., cover

Warning: minor spoilers ahead…

First off, the whole book is not about Spidey meeting Obama. In fact, the whole Obama story is just a bonus near the end of the book.It’s only about 5 pages. I’ll get to that in a second. 

The meat of the book is a story by Mark Waid called Platonic, which details the story of how Betty Brant tries to hook Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) up with a girlfriend. I haven’t been keeping up with the Spider-Man series lately and I’m not sure what storyline Spider-Man is in right now, but this was definitely a filler story. I found this surprising as I am a big fan of Mark Waid as a writer. Waid’s stories are usually grander in scale, Kingdom Come is still one my favorite stories (I’m planning to review Kingdom Come in the future), but Platonic was a throw-away one-shot. If anything, Waid did successfully capture the closeness and friendship of Betty Brant and Peter Parker (maybe that’s all he was trying to accomplish).

The art of the other hand, in my opinion, did not help the story one bit. I’m not too familiar with Barry Kitson’s art, but from this issue I have to say I am not a fan. Kitson used way too many medium shots, there were no dynamic shots, and the impact shots he tried weren’t very impactful in my eyes. If I had to use an analogy, I would say his character designs were like Archie characters with a little more detail. Since this was a light-hearted “find a date for Peter” story, maybe that’s why they were designed like that. Unfortunately, my fondness goes out to the ultra-detailed, too many muscles, 90s style of art, so there we go.

Onto the main event. Spidey Meets the President! is the bonus one-shot by Zeb Wells at the end of this issue. Even though it is only 5 pages, it does what it set out to do, which is to make Spider-Man and Obama meet. The story is very simple, I won’t spoil anything really, it is Obama’s inauguration day, before he gets sworn in there’s trouble. Luckily Peter Parker was sent to take pictures so Spider-Man happens to show up and save the day. Obama says thanks, etc..

Art is by Todd Nauck, not familiar with his work either, but it worked for me on this simple story. I mean it kinda of looks like Obama. 

All in all, Marvel did the business thing and cashed in on the Obama craze. It was a little tacked-on but oh well. I’m looking forward to the Obama/ Hope presidency. 

BTW: The 1st print of the Spider-Man #583 does NOT have Obama on the cover. It looks like this:

spiderman583

The 2nd print has got Obama on it, and I pre-ordered 3 of those bad boys!!!