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On A Desert Island With....Digerati

Computer animators Steve Williams, Webster Colcord and Doug Dooley reveal their top ten animated films.

Doug Dooley.

This month, Animation World Magazine asked a few of "the digital elite," a.k.a computer animators, for their top ten animation films. While these artists may spend their days staring at computer screens and animating cutting-edge visual effects, they are the last ones to go home at night to watch Terminator 2. Their selections prove that the root inspiration for great animation lies in classic tradition. Steve Williams is a visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic, whose credits include visual effects animation on Jumanji , The Mask, Jurassic Park, and most recently Spawn., the comic-inspired live action feature due out this month. Doug Dooley is a senior animator on the creative team at Blue Sky Studios. He has worked on all of the studio's feature film projects, including Joe's Apartment, A Simple Wish, and Alien Resurrection. Webster Colcord is an animator who worked in traditional stop-motion animation techniques at Will Vinton Studios, as a freelance commercial director, and on Henry Selick's James and the Giant Peach, before he took on a position working at Pacific Data Images, as a computer animator on DreamWorks' feature film, Ants. Here's the ten animated films that Steve, Doug and Webster would want to have with them if stranded on a desert island. Steve Williams' top ten: 1. The Great Toy Robbery by Jeff Hale, National Film Board of Canada. 2. Lupo The Butcher by Danny Antonucci. 3. Ren and Stimpy: Space Madness by John Kricfalusi, Spumco. 4. Three Little Bops by Friz Freleng, Warner Bros. 5. Any Porky Pig films up until 1957. 6. Rabbit Hood by Chuck Jones, Warner Bros. 7. Rocket-Bye-Baby by Chuck Jones, Warner Bros. 8. Daffy Doodles by Robert McKimson, Warner Bros. 9. The Spirit of X-mas by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. 10. Man's Best Friend by John Kricfalusi, Spumco. Doug Dooley's picks: 1. Beauty and the Beast, because it is my favorite overall Disney film. 2. The Nightmare Before Christmas, because of the excellent design. 3. Toy Story, because it has a lot of great CG character animation. 4. Bambi, because it contains some of my favorite performances of any animated feature. 5. Jungle Book, for its great performances and music. 6. The Wrong Trousers by Nick Park. It is one of the most amazing short animations I've ever seen. 7. Nestor the Long Eared Christmas Donkey. It is one of my favorite Rankin/Bass holiday specials. 8. The Secret of NIMH by Don Bluth. My favorite Bluth film. 9. Akira, my favorite Japanimation film. 10. The Salute to Chuck Jones tape. Chuck is my favorite Warner Bros. short animation director.

Webster Colcord's favorites: 1. Mike Smith's Demo Reel. 2. Lord of the Rings by Ralph Bakshi. 3. A Christmas Carol by Richard Williams. 4. The Mascot by Ladislas Starevitch. 5. Symphony in Slang by Tex Avery. 6. Watership Down by Martin Rosen. 7. The Thief and the Cobbler by Richard Williams, with the sound turned off and one finger on the fast forward button. 8. James and the Giant Peach by Henry Selick. 9. Colonel Bleep episodes by Jack Schleh, Soundac. 10. Tale of Tales and a never completed cut-out animation film by Yuri Norstein.

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