Road Runner and Coyote in 3-D.

Animating classic, nay legendary cartoon characters is a daunting challenge. Theatrical shorts are no longer part of a four-hour day at the movies, along with a double feature, newsreel, shorts and coming attractions – they’re now a prestige item occasionally accompanying a suitably themed fantasy/family film. And as befits our modern truncated attention spans, they’re more often than not faster-paced and briefer in running time than their illustrious predecessors.

When Warner Bros. asked Matt O’Callaghan to return their yin-and-yang, would-be predator and hoped-for prey pair Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner, to the big screen – only in CGI-shape and 3D-depth, O’Callaghan took a deep breath and delivered the goods – and fortunately for all involved with the production, without once resorting to Acme technology…

Ted Soward's After Today Live.

Disney’s 1995 backup animated feature A Goofy Movie – and one of its songs in particular – struck a chord with a generation of school kids who are now in college. Fan videos and mash-ups are nothing new, but one student took it a step – or two – further…

Pictured: Fátima Ptacek voices Dora in DORA THE EXPLORER on NICKELODEON. Photo: Nickelodeon ©2012 Viacom, International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Why do I always start salivating when I’m invited to an event in the Viacom building? Oh yeah, it’s because they always put out the nicest spreads - and whatever they’re promoting is usually pretty interesting too.

Pete Docter remembered me – or at least my Route 66 pin.

I have a whole collection of them, shiny metal lapel pins I’ve gathered over the years. Last Friday I almost wore my 1960’s, Star Trek-ish NASA pin, but at the last minute switched to a favorite, one in the shape of a Route 66 road sign and headed out to meet director Docter to talk about his work on Pixar’s latest instant classic, Up.

Pete arrived and our chat (part of the promotion for Up’s blu-ray/DVD release) began. I started by mentioning I’d last seen him way early in the year at Disney’s New York screening room, when he and Up producer Jonas Rivera were in town to present the film’s top (or if you will, upper) half. “And you were wearing the Route 66 pin,” Pete said without a pause. “A different jacket, but I remember the pin.”

When you’re in charge of a $175 million film, you develop an eye for details.

The voice of Po, Jack Black.

I walk in, keeping my fingers crossed; the first Panda is one of my favorite animated films of recent years – why mess with perfection? That movie seemed so complete, so self-contained, with Jack Black’s Po character fulfilling his destiny as the Dragon Warrior; how do you build on it without repeating yourself?  And a skeptic might uncharitably describe Antonio Banderas’ feline swashbuckler as a one-note character: can he carry an entire film on his furry shoulders?

Toy Story 3. © Disney/Pixar.

To quote a line from Toy Story 2’s ad campaign, the toys are back in town, and to paraphrase one from What’s New Pussycat, together again for the last time. And it looks like the real deal too: Pixar is bidding farewell to Woody and his pals. Frankly, I wish all my goodbyes were this sweet.

Well, I guess it was too much to hope for, lightning striking twice in a row. (Then again, Pixar was able to pull it off to the third power with its Toy Story iterations.) But to put it bluntly, Kung Fu Panda 2 is no Kung Fu Panda. No, it’s not bad, it’s just that if KFP was a home run with two men on base, KFP2 is a double – a solid double nonetheless, maybe even drove in a run, but still a double. (Make that a triple if you’re not as much in love with Kung Fu Panda as I am.)

Beyond South Park and Dr. Katz, not much has stuck to Comedy Central’s cartoon wall. Drawn Together came close with three seasons. Lil’ Bush vanished with Bush II’s presidency, TV Funhouse came and went awfully fast back in Y2K – and anybody even remember Shorties Watching Shorties or Kid Notorious? Well, next month Comedy Central tries one more time with Ugly Americans, a higher-than high concept show that just might stick around for a bit.

Jim Cummings Ph: Eric Charbonneau ©Disney

Enterprises, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

By Jim Cummings, with an intro by Joe Strike

 Disney's simply-titled Winnie the Pooh movie opens this Friday, July 15. It's back to basics for the bear with very little brain; the new Pooh takes several previously never animated A.A. Milne stories and weaves them into a tale that harkens back to the warmth and charm of Disney's 1960s Pooh featurettes.

Pooh and Disney have had a long association since the first featurette, 1966's Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree. He's appeared in any number of TV series (in both puppet and animated form), direct-to-video releases and now the first theatrical Pooh release since 2005's Pooh's Heffalump Movie.

Sadly, Sterling Holloway (the original Pooh) and Paul Winchell (likewise Tigger) are no longer with us, but veteran voice actor Jim Cummings has vocalized these two inhabitants of the Hundred Acre Wood for over thirty years. His enthusiasm for voicing the bear and the tiger is of Tiggerish proportions, as you're about to read...

Saturday morning at the movies, watching a cartoon – what could be more reminiscent of the joys of childhood?

Well, the cartoon this particular Saturday morning (September 10, 2011) was not exactly the kind of matinee I used attend back in Brooklyn when the theaters had ‘matrons’ who kept the kiddie section in line. Today I’m wearing polarized lenses and watching Disney’s upcoming 3D re-release of The Lion King.

Been a while since I’ve seen Simba and company in action onscreen. In fact, I think I’ve seen the Broadway show more recently than the movie. (No.2 box office champ for 1994, and the film that triggered the short-lived 1990’s feature animation craze that gave us classics like Anastasia and Quest for Camelot.)