Conservation, inpainting and preservation to production cels and background from Walt Disney’s 1948 feature film Melody Time. Art gifted from Walt Disney to Hardie Gramatky, ex-Disney employee and author of the children’s book: Little Toot. Collection of Kendall & Linda Gramatky. Image courtesy of the Archive of Ron Barbagallo, Animation Art Conservation. Melody Time - © Disney Enterprises, Inc.

Once upon a time animation art wasn't worth the celluloid it was painted on. Art that would now be worth tens of thousands of dollars was washed or thrown away – and what was saved often handled thoughtlessly or just forgotten about. Things have changed since then, changed a lot. People now realize that animation art is exactly that - a thing of beauty in its own right, and a cultural heritage to be cherished and preserved. (The fact that original cels, concept art and similar items are high-valued collectibles that are transitioning to museum art hasn't hurt either.)

Preservation is where Ron Barbagallo comes into the picture. Even the most carefully preserved original art cannot escape the inevitable decay of the materials that went into its creation, and clients on the order of the Walt Disney Co., Warner Bros., Hanna-Barbera and even individuals like Roy E. Disney have turned to Ron's Animation Art Conservation practice for rescue and restoration projects that often border on the miraculous.

Ron's been at it for nearly 25 years. While his work has focused on the preservation of hand-painted cels and backgrounds, his work also includes physical objects like Mary GrandPré's Harry Potter pastel art book covers, Batman's suits from the Tim Burton and Christopher Nolan movies and a four-year preservation effort for the long-term care of Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride and James and the Giant Peach puppets. Ron's skills have even led him to the shattered remnants of the World Trade Center.

Hey kids! Play the Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Drinking Game!

It’s easy! It’s fun! You’ll get boozed out of your mind! Here’s how to play…

1) Every time someone refers to how old Indy looks, have a drink;

This alone will get you off to a smashing – and smashed – start. Shia LaBeouf delivers the best line here: “what are you, 80 or something?” Interestingly, Ford looks in pretty good shape in the action sequences, but noticeably older – wrinkled and white-haired – when he’s teaching his classes.

2) ...

Bugs Bunny & Daffy - The Looney Tunes Show

A free breakfast buffet (lox wrapped around a pretzel – whose idea was that?), a 2-gig flash drive and a flashy live/multi-media stage show: not bad for an April Wednesday morning in New York City: it’s your typical ‘up front’ presentation, wherein the networks showcase their new shows in full razzly-dazzly mode – and on this particular morning Cartoon Network has plenty to razzle-dazzle.

A Monster in Paris. All film images © 2011 EuropaCorp, Bibo Films, France 3 Cinema, Walking the Dog.

It’s baa-ack! The days are getting longer and warmer, but the real sign of spring’s incipient arrival is of the return of the New York International Children’s Film Festival. A Monster in Paris was the opening night feature, which festival director Eric Beckman first saw at  last year’s Toronto International Film Festival. Seems there’s a monster loose in Belle Époque Paris (duh) – but is he really a monster? The 3D CGI film is a charming piece of work with stylish character design and a sharp eye for getting its period details just right. (And be careful with those 3D glasses; bust them and the festival’s out $25.) It’s well-worth seeing for the mid-film fantasy dance number alone.

Jerry Bruckheimer may be the most soft-spoken, least bombastic man in Hollywood.

Not to mention one of the most conservatively dressed. Wearing a trim grey suit and tie, he showed up at a midtown NY screening room earlier this month to share a pair of scenes from his upcoming summer popcorn movie The Sorcerer’s Apprentice for an audience of appreciative geeks.

As dependable as the vernal equinox and the return of Daylight Savings Time, the New York International Children’s Film Festival is back in town to help wrap up another winter.

As usual, the Fest began with a high profile, mainstream movie for its opening night gala; this year, it was producer Robert Zemeckis’ latest mocap creation, Mars Needs Moms, courtesy of Disney. (A few notches up in the prestige dept. from 2001’s Recess: School’s Out, based on a Disney Saturday morning TV series.)

Perhaps I was a little harsh on Bob when I dismissed his mocap-fixated films as ‘Zombievision.’ Any form of CGI animation technology can’t help but improve as computers get faster and programming more sophisticated, and Moms’ human characters aren’t anywhere as jarring as the ones in Carrey’s Christmas Carol or God forbid The Polar Express’ living dead. (But still, in this age when middle school kids can green screen composite their friends into sci-fi settings, why does the Big Z still insist on mocapping people to play people in the first place?) Flesh textures still tend towards the rubbery and hands and feet look particularly doll-like in close-up, but eyes (ever so slightly larger than a real face would sport, a nice touch) shine with more life than they have in the past. Oh, and I’m not being nice towards the movie just because my niece is marrying one of its technical directors. (Hi, Mike!)

As you probably know, The Princess and the Frog is Disney’s first 2D effort in five years. It took John Lasseter, a Pixar guy who now runs all of Disney animation to get the studio to return to its 2D roots. Lasseter and company knew they had to hit a home run to make people care about hand-drawn animation again. They came to the plate swinging for the fence: would they ground into a double play or hit a grand slam? Is P&F 2D’s rebirth or its last gasp?

Hey, it’s a Disney movie – there’s gotta be a happy ending, right?

Damn straight – a happy ending to both the movie and the studio’s mission to show the world 2D’s still got the goods. CGI? We don’ need no steenkin’ CGI!

3D Filmgoers at the Be Film Festival

It may not get a fraction of the publicity showered on the high-profile Tribeca Film Festival, but in its seventh year the Be Film Festival has made a name for itself nonetheless. As so often happens when creative folks get together, Be Film is one of those things that spontaneously gives birth to itself and then grows and grows…

Dental hygiene, Zombie-style. Photo by LAIKA – © 2012 - LAIKA-Focus Features.

“It’s John Carpenter meets John Hughes.” 

 That’s how Chris Butler describes Paranorman, the spooky, shot in 3D stop-motion film co-directed by himself and Sam Fell (Flushed Away). And that’s just for starters; there’s no shortage of pop culture markers in the film, everything from The Goonies to Ghostbusters and even the random Scooby-Doo episode. “It’s a grab bag of anything from the 1980s.”