A Holiday (Double Feature) Review

A Holiday (Double Feature) Review

By Taylor Castro

With Christmas just around the corner, here's my double feature review of two children's animated holiday classics, "The Snowman" and "Mickey's Christmas Carol." First up is the 1982 film, "The Snowman", which was based on the children's book of the same name by Raymond Briggs. Interestingly, this film has no dialogue with the exception of the opening narration, and the lyrics to the song "Walking in the Air."

"The Snowman"

One Christmas Eve many years ago, a young boy was surprised when a snowman he made earlier that day magically comes to life. After playing around inside the boy's house, the Snowman and the boy fly to the North Pole to visit Santa Claus and other living snowmen. There was some joyful dancing and silliness. It was one Christmas night the young boy would remember for the rest of his life.

When I first saw the film as a kid, I was impressed by the film's animation style. It has that moving Illustration like feel, since it looked like they used colored pencils or pastels on each of the animation cells. The illustrations and movement convey a lot of emotion since there's no talking. The vibe is gentle, sweet, and whimsical. I give the film, four out of four stars.

"Mickey's Christmas Carol"

We fast forward to the following year of 1983: the 1977 Disney animated classic, "The Rescuers" was re-released along with the new Mickey Mouse cartoon, "Mickey's Christmas Carol." The film marked Mickey's return to the big screen since his last cartoon in 1953. It marked the movie debut of the late Wayne Allwine who provided the voice of Mickey Mouse.

The first time he did Mickey was for the short lived 1977 television version of the Mickey Mouse Club, which lasted for only one season. Allwine continued to do the voice of the character until his death on May 19, 2009 at the age of 62. The film also marked the last time that Clarence Nash provided the voice of Donald Duck. He passed away nearly two years later on February 20, 1985, at the age of 80. The voice  of Donald Duck was then handed over to Disney animator, Tony Anselmo.

If you're familiar with the original Charles Dickens story, it needs no introduction. This film has classic Disney characters playing the Dickens characters. For example, Mickey plays Bob Cratchit, and Scrooge McDuck plays Ebenezer Scrooge.

The animation style was the standard Disney 2-D of the time. The setting was true to the era of the original publication of the book in 1843, and added to the story. Even after nearly 30 years, the film holds up, and is one of those films you'll want to see during the holiday season. I give the film four out of four stars.

Next month will be my 24^th Birthday, I will review one of my all time favorite movies, the Disney version of "The Little Mermaid."

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Review

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm Review

By Taylor Castro

I decided to check out a TV showing of the animated movie, Batman: Mask of the Phantasm on the Hub Channel. I had seen parts of the movie when it aired on Cartoon Network back in the late 1990’s and on YouTube in recent years. So I finally got a chance to see it in its entirety.

Before I can discuss the film’s storyline, let’s talk about the making of the film. With the success of the Batman Animated Series, a movie version of the show would soon be made. According to the website IMDb, it was originally planned as a direct to video movie, but Warner Bros. decided to upgrade the movie to a theatrical release late in production. As a result, the movie’s aspect ratio had to be reformatted to widescreen. Many of the actors who worked on the Batman animated series reprized their roles for the film version. The film was released during the 1993 Christmas season, but it wasn’t a big hit as the studio had hoped for, but it was a hit with critics. In fact some of them said that the film was even better than the two Tim Burton Batman movies released before this film.

Here’s a summary about the movie. A new anti-hero named the Phantasm has arrived in Gotham City to take out a group of gangsters one by one. In the process, Batman is mistaken for the murders because of the similarities to the Phantasm’s costume. Now he must go into hiding from the Gotham Police while figuring out the mysterious killer’s motive. To make matters worse, one of the remaining crime bosses hires the Joker to take out Batman and soon discovers who the Phantasm really is. While that is going on a woman from Bruce Wayne’s past returns into his life and decides if he should retire Batman once and for all.

About half of the film is told in flashback which explored the relationship between Bruce Wayne and Andrea Beaumont, as well as Bruce’s first attempt of being a crime fighter before coming with the idea for Batman. After a while of being together, Bruce asked Andrea’s hand in marriage in which she says yes, but later rejects him due to personal reasons. This wave of bitterness finally pushed Bruce into becoming Batman.

Many of the voice actors from the Animated Series like Kevin Conroy and Efren Zimbalist Jr. reprise their roles for the film version. The voice acting here is great and as well the film’s score by the late Shirley Walker. If you’re a fan of the Batman Animated Series, I recommend checking this film out. I give the film ***1/2 out of ****. With the holidays upon us, next time I’ll do a double feature review. However these will be two animated shorts instead of a feature film. First up will be “The Snowman” and “Mickey’s Christmas Carol.”

Brodie Rush, Mixed Media Artist in KC

We here at MAPA wanted to thank all the local animators and new friends who joined us for Brodioke Night by taking a little deeper look at our host, Brodie Rush.  This mixed-media artist keeps us wowed on a regular mix of After Effects, video sequences manufactured in his basement studio set and amazing alternative rock rhythms/vocals.  Brodie works on a variety of different projects, from Bubbles & Blankets to his animated rock video Space.

Here's more on the man, the myth, the mystery...

 
MAPA: What is 'Bubbles and Blankets'?

BRODIE: Bubbles & Blankets is an outlet of energy spent to make "comedy" out of my After Effects learning curve.  I needed some way to have tasks for myself to accomplish and a way to get better at the craft without using my laughable skills on more serious projects and looking like a fool.

MAPA : Briefly explain Be/Non and how you use mixed media to create your art.

BRODIE: Be/Non is my band.  We have been together since 1994.  Recordings and audio training seemed like a perfect transition into video work.  Finally the video medium can be attained at home.  Animations have become my recent passion.


MAPA: Tell us about your musical influences and what in your life led you to this calling?

BRODIE: My musical influences are mainly classic rock.  I enjoy all kinds and types of music and they all make it into my music in some way or another.

My mother used to cater concerts for 13 years here in KC when I was growing up.  I was always backstage.  My parents were and still are big concert goers.  They love music.  I think that is what led me to this calling.  Although after trying to "make-it" for years... I have recently decided
that I will still play music and see where it takes me but, creating visual arts and scoring to that, I feel, is the fast track to making a name for myself. 

MAPA: Who is your work aimed at?

BRODIE: All persons throughout the world.  Those with an flair for the arts and an open mind.
I'm not overly concerned to satisfy the mainstream American public at large with my
work with Be/Non or Bubbles,  although I do make animations for commercial work. 
A man's got to be paid right?  Hahaha...

MAPA: Is there anything specific you want to say to your viewers?

BRODIE: Be patient, have an open heart and mind.  I hope you will laugh or get some kind of emotion from it.  Positive or negative, it's still an emotion.  I'm kind of a wacky person, so, if you're wacky too, I just might appeal to you.

Thanks so much Brodie for the update.  We'll check in with you again soon.

Any great projects brewing?

MAPA wants to keep Kansas City & Midwest animators and FX artists working! Maybe you can help.

Know of any animation projects going on in the area? Drop MAPA a line at kcanimators@gmail.com

Keep on Keyframing!


Dylan Dietz
(816) 267-0719

Tonight's the Night MAPA Returns to Trinity Animation

Hey MAP - Animaniacs!

Come celebrate a great 2012 with MAPA and Trinity Animation.

We will meet tonight at:

Thursday, December 6
6:30 P.M.

 at:

672 SE Bayberry Ln  Suite 101
Lee's Summit, MO 64063

The talented crew in Lee's Summit has invited us to come back and see what's brewing in local animation!

Just some of the things we'll see:

1. KC's biggest animation production studio and one of the web's biggest 3D software dealers

2. sneak preview of an Archer season 4 episode in its entirety

3. Demo elements of how Trinity built sets for that episode in 3DS Max with vray

4. 3DS Max "how to model cars" demo elements of Corvette C7 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfFyZ3aaiQg  and 67 CRC animations http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tD6Wk8jM5gA

5. The new Dell T5600 that has 32 cores (dual 8 core system with hyperthreading)

Not familiar with Trinity?

They specialize in photorealistic 3D architectural rendering, 3D animation, 3D industrial design and 3D visualization… and they do it picture perfectly.  They also produce the backgrounds for the hit T.V. series Archer.

“Some call it virtual photography or photo-simulations. We call it art.”

 So come out and see what Trinity is working on these days!