Looking at Lee Unkrich’s Films

Today, January 18th, the animation community got a shock when veteran Pixar director Lee Unkrich announced that he left the acclaimed, Emeryville-based studio after a 25-year tenure there... Unkrich, who is 51 years old, was an integral part of the features since the beginning, having served as an editor on the original Toy Story, and quickly …

Next Level

Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse... I saw it last night. I'm arguably unable to review it, but I tried. I've written about this game-changing film time and time again on here and my old, defunct blog. It exceeded all of my wild expectations... I firmly believe Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse is a modern animated masterpiece and a …

Ralph Mirrors My Past

You know, I'll be brutally honest here... There are days where I question my love for Disney. Now don't be alarmed, I'll always love Walt Disney's work - from the majority of his animated features to his television show to his best live-action movies to Disneyland itself - and it'll always be a pivotal part …

Follow-Up: ‘The Lion King’ and The Future of Animation

Back in September 2016, I wrote about how Walt Disney Pictures' redo of The Jungle Book raised a lot of questions for animation's future. Then I updated said article after Disney officially announced that they were going to remake The Lion King, but now that its teaser is here and there's a plethora of other information out there... …

Modern Mouse: Contemporary Ideas and Disney Animation…

It appears that the latest Walt Disney Animation Studios film is starting a lot of conversations... Opening next week, Ralph Breaks The Internet, the sequel to the studio's video game-centric hit, happens to be a somewhat rare contemporary Disney animated feature. Since the trailers and marketing materials have highlighted lots of pop cultural references, memes, and …

‘The Nightmare Before Christmas’ – An Animation Thesis

Quite timely... My fifth pick for my "Animation Thesis" review series is a film that's unique in that it can be both a Halloween movie and a Christmas movie... The motion picture is none other than The Nightmare Before Christmas. Released in the autumn of 1993 from Walt Disney Pictures through their "adult" Touchstone Pictures label, The …

10 Writing About Animation DON’TS

Sometimes when you read about animation, whether it's a review of a movie or a piece on the state of animation box office, you often see writers - who aren't quite entrenched in the medium and its rich history - walk into these tiger traps. They write things about animation that indicate that the perception …

I Can’t Get Angry About Live-Action Remakes Anymore…

Recently, a particular quote from an incredibly divisive entry in a massive franchise has been on my mind... "Not fighting what we hate, saving what we love..." A film released by Walt Disney Pictures no less, the same studio specializing in live-action/CG remakes of their animated features. Those who know me well will know that …

Steady, Forward…

One thing I often hear is this... Animation is "evolving." Animation has "come a long way." I'll make it very clear upfront. I have a very unconventional and possibly controversial view on modern American feature animation. The films that rule the scene are family-friendly movies, many of which really haven't moved us forward from where …

2011: Life and Animation

I wanted to talk about a certain year in my life for some random reason... For a while, I had somewhat considered 2011 to be a downer year for feature animation. Why this specific, not-so-distant stretch of 365 days you ask? It just sort of came to mind... 2011 was a year of some firsts …