I wanted to pass along this notice from Women in Animation's LA Chapter, announcing a fundraising effort to support Rusy Mills, Exec VP at Studio Kinate, animation teacher as well as award winning director/producer for Animaniacs/Pinky & the Brain, who is fighting a difficult battle with colon cancer.  We are all saddened to hear of his illness and our thoughts are with him and his family at this time.

 

As you can imagine, in my position at AWN, I receive a lot of DVDs.  Many great films, many not so great films. So it’s always a treat when the postman delivers a DVD of a film you really enjoyed and have been waiting to watch up close and personal in all its splendiferous Blu-ray-ness deliciousness (sorry, been watching too many Diners, Drivers and Dives lately).  I’ve been waiting with great anticipation for my copy of Wreck-It Ralph to hit the mailbox. Thankfully, it finally arrived.  I haven’t been this happy since my eldest daughter took over her car payment. 

As an unabashed fan of the film, I can honestly say, with all bias and lack of objectivity, that the high-def Blu-ray version is exquisite.  What a treat to watch on a big screen TV, comfy couch, warm slippers, hot popcorn and trusty bottle of Makers Mark in hand.  Not even my poor old mutt Cassie, polluting the family room with such toxic ferocity I thought Union Carbide moved in next door, could spoil my moment of animation fanboy bliss.

It’s nice to see our little neck of the woods get a bit of attention from mainstream media now and then, especially with meaningful and thoughtful commentary about films that while known to many in the industry, for the most part are unknown to most everyone else on the planet.

KPCC, a Southern California public radio station, has published an excellent audio review, complete with transcription, of the new Animation Show of Shows short film DVD collection.  The piece, by Charles Solomon, simply and succinctly gets to the heart of what makes independent animation so special. 

 

Mix stunning aerial pageantry from the best Cirque du Soleil shows with up close stereoscopic 3D camera work produced by legendary filmmaker James Cameron (Avatar, Titanic) and directed by Andew Adamson (Shrek), throw in a love story and wrap it all together with CG transitions and you have Cirque du Soleil: Worlds Away, which is now available on Blu-ray and Blu-ray 3D. 

The just released DVD set of Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie should be afforded a spot in the collection of any animation fan as well as any serious student of the medium.  Packaged in several different editions, including a 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack  (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy), the film and accompanying supporting materials are absolutely radiant – tremendous picture quality and high supplemental material production values make for a great viewer experience. 

We're giving away a copy of Sterling Archer's new book, HOW TO ARCHER, to the first person to email info@awn.com with the correct answer to the following Archer trivia question:

Where does Archer's codename "Duchess" come from?

We thank those AWN readers who contributed their thoughts on the passing of legendary Russian animator Fyodor Khitruk.

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"This is a great loss to Russian animation. Khitruk was the teacher of many famous Russian directors - Norshtein, Nazarov, Petrov, Maksimov, Aldashin and many others.  He was my teacher also. Khitruk was not only a good director and a teacher but also a unique person, a great conversationalist.  He always had positive energy."

Igor Kovalyov

Director

"Fyodor Khitruk helped modernize Russian animation. His sense of rhythm, his humor, his ability to tell stories concisely made him an example. But more importantly, his graphic virtuosity made history. Othello 67, the very short film (50 seconds) he made for the international competition organized for the Montreal World Exhibition is a masterpiece of irony and pacing."

Marcel Jean

Artistic Director, Annecy International Animation Film Festival

 

If you missed Bibo Bergeron’s (The Road to El Dorado, Shark Tale) 2011 animated musical-adventure, you’re not alone.  Unfortunately, the film was never released theatrically in the U.S.  However, you can watch it now, as Shout! Factory has released the film in a two-disc Blu-ray 3D combo pack.  The set includes Blu-ray 3D and 2D, DVD and a digital copy of the movie compatible with PC, MAC, iTunes, iPhone and AppleTV.

CNN has reported that Fox has pulled from its website the March 17^th “Turban Cowboy” episode of Family Guy showing Peter Griffin running down marathoners with his car in his bid to win the race. An edited Family Guy hoax clip making fun of Monday’s bombing was pulled down by YouTube as well.  Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane tweeted yesterday, “The edited Family Guy clip currently circulating is abhorrent. The event was a crime and a tragedy, and my thoughts are with the victims.”

Sorry, I couldn’t resist. Silly analogy not-withstanding, once again, Disney has done the animation community proud by digitally restoring and releasing one of its all-time classics on Blu-ray.  Almost twenty years in the making, Peter Pan was originally scheduled as Walt Disney’s second animated feature.  Work began in the late 1930s, but the effort was shelved with the start of World War II.  Picked up again in 1947, the film finally was released in 1953.  In celebration of the film’s 60^th anniversary, Disney has just released this animated classic bundled with a great selection of featurettes and some deleted scenes and songs.