Don’t Go, a CGI/live action film from Turkey. All images courtesy of NYICFF.

The 2011 edition of the New York International Children’s Film Festival began early in March and wrapped on the 27^th with its Awards ceremony, classy post-ceremony reception and traditional goodie-bag giveaway. If the fifteen-years and counting Big Apple fixture needed any more legitimacy, its newly won status as an Oscar-qualifying festival (NYCIFF prize winners now have a shot at the Academy’s golden statue) surely kicked it up a notch.

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?

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!)

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures Center to right, foreground: Rango (Johnny Depp) and Beans (Isla Fisher) in RANGO, from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Movies. © 2011 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

I thought Rango’s character design would sink Rango, but the little lizard works. Those teeny-tiny eyes set in bulging trackball sockets are completely counterintuitive – don’t director Gore Verbinski and company know you’re supposed to give animated characters oversized eyes? Does Rango work because of, or in spite of his ocular resemblance to a real-life chameleon? Frankly, I don’t think it matters one way or the other: it’s Johnny Depp’s vocal and his ‘emotion-captured’ physical performances that brings Rango to life. I mentioned Verbinski’s cowboy dress-up strategy in my first write-up of the film: recording the actors not just reading their lines, but performing – and not in tights and motion marking ping-pong balls either, but in Wild West drag. It’s a brilliant brainstorm that judging from the final results paid off nicely.

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.

Ren & Stimpy board 2

One by one, the folding chairs set up in New York City’s Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art are being occupied. It’s the first evening of a three-night course in storyboarding – part of MoCCA’s ongoing educational program – and the dozen or so folks filling those chairs are here to learn from Stephen DeStefano.  Stephen’s MoCCA students are looking for a leg up in the craft, or are simply curious about the nuts and bolts of an animation fundamental. CGI animators, comic book artists and even a handful of School of Visual Arts instructors (not to mention one AWN writer) have come to try their hand at boarding.

Tron: Legacy. © Walt Disney Enterprises.

I haven’t been this disappointed by a Walt Disney sci-fi movie since The Black Hole.  Maybe I walked in with unrealistic expectations of seeing something as groundbreaking, and visually thrilling as the 1982 original. The trailer looked tremendous (as trailers are supposed to) and the idea of revisiting a ‘visionary’ film (the first Tron does indeed deserve that now-overused adjective) with 21^st century effects – and with the same actors playing the same characters they did in the original, only middle-aged – seemed irresistible.

Gore Verbinski - Rango.

Every now and then Paramount Pictures puts out a nice spread (mini-sandwiches, sliders and open bar, not to mention those killer chocolate chip cookies – there goes my diet) in their overlooking-Times Square 3^rd floor screening room. Tonight it’s in honor of Pirates of the Carribean-meister Gore Verbinski, in town to promote his premiering-in-March, Johnny Depp-starring, first animated feature Rango.

Megamind. All images courtesy of DreamWorks Animation.

Ever wonder how Wile E. Coyote would feel if he ever caught the Road Runner?

(Actually, Seth MacFarlane did more than wonder; in his Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy show, with the bird long digested, Wile E. turns to Jesus to fill the void in his heart.)

The inept arch-villain Megamind has the same problem; now that he’s finally offed his nemesis, the smug ‘n smarmy superhero Metro Man… what’s left to do? Terrorizing Metro City and kidnapping feisty reporter Roxanne “Roxie” Ritchi doesn’t have the same zing without someone to oppose him. There’s only one option left – and it ain’t looking for Jesus…

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…