go www. indiegogo. com / EndVfxSubsidies

Did it flop? I don't follow box office profits, but there was enthusiastic applause at the end of the movie when I saw it in the theater. Many of the criticisms I read above made no sense to me (not sure if they were yours or you were just reporting them), like Santa's accent? Really? I loved that. People I talked to did too. I guess my personal opinions don't matter so much, but if it did flop, I'm still perplexed as to why. If I'd have to guess, it's nothing but the simple answer: as far as blurb descriptions go, "Santa, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy team up to form a super hero team" just makes it sound stupid unless you're the parent of a 3-4 year old. At 42, I would have passed if my wife hadn't really wanted to see it. We loved it, as did the rest of the theater.

Another great article from animation historian Karl Cohen.

sorry to burst your bubble, but the only thing VFX did for movies is ruin them.

heaps of trashy movies make millions because of silly 3d effects. I'm sorry, bring back stop motion, and robotics.

it looked way cooler and more realistic.

Thanks for this article. Nice to be introduced to some new names on the experimental animation front as well as be reminded of some familiar ones. Really well written, highly informative, and I love how movies are embedded into the article providing examples of what's being written.

Thanks for this article. Nice to be introduced to some new names on the experimental animation front as well as be reminded of some familiar ones. Really well written, highly informative, and I love how movies are embedded into the article providing examples of what's being written.

The New episodes stopped coming on I NEED NEW EPISODES!!!!!!!

I have long believed and preached that cinema animation is the universal art medium, combining all the arts,
with a potential without limits. We can already see that animation has swiftly spread into the current new media and adapted the new technologies. It will surely spread again into any carrier of information, teaching, and entertainment
yet to develop. In inspired hands, it can endlessly live up to the meaning of its name, "The Breath of Life!"

i love smoll ptatiwes

i like it

Lisa,

Below is a reciently discovered Art Quotation that many of your readers

May enjoy

My inspiration is ART....because without art we are
just stuck with reality"
By Daniel R. Lynch

Dear Mark,

Your advise is very sound. Most suggestions are only useless opinions. Yours has Real merit

Thank You,

Robert Lynch

A 'Rocky and Bullwinkle' short? In front of 'Sherman and Peabody' Really? Whats next Dreamworks?
A 'Gertie the Dinosaur' movie?

This story has no news value whatsover. The production of all these movies have been reported before and all the images are old. Why even bother?

THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! :) Such a big help!

SO did you actually sell any shows?

This is a reply to "Don (not verified)".

You make an excellent point, except that I did not write, "What's wrong with Wreck-It-Ralph?"  My editor at AWN did that.  A little back-story for this blog entry might help.  In addition to the AWN blog, I write a monthly Acting for Animators newsletter which goes to those who ask to subscribe.  My deadline for getting out my November newsletter - i.e. the last day of the month - came up on me rapidly because I had spent a chunk of the month teaching in Ireland.  I originally intended for the craft notes, "Is an animator REALLY an actor with a pencil?" to run exclusively in this AWN blog, but I had to borrow it from myself in order to meet my newsletter deadline.  My AWN editor saw the newsletter, liked the notes and suggested that he go ahead and run it in the blog, since that was my original intention.  I did not know he was going to include the Wreck-It-Ralph part at all.  It is cool with me that it has run the way it has, but I personally would not have used the words "What's wrong with Wreck-It-Ralph?"  There happens to be a lot that is RIGHT about the movie.  It is lacking substance, that's all.  Those who subscribe to my newsletter understand that, to me, substance -- story, theme, a reason for the telling -- is the most important thing.  If you do not know me except for this blog, I can see how you might conclude that I am a loose cannon, and I apologize for that.  If you check my next (December) newsletter, you will note that I am giving a prime spot to a very smart reader who totally disagrees with me about Wreck-It-Ralph.

The moral of this story, for me at least, is to meet my own deadlines so that my left hand does not borrow from my right.

Cheers -

Ed Hooks

Whoa! Hold the phone!  I welcome passionately held opinions, especially from those who disagree with me.  But let's not attack me personally, okay?  I get it that the people posting here so far really like Wreck-It-Ralph a LOT! 

I stand by my opinion that the movie is substantively digital cotton candy.  That said, Wreck-It-Ralph is the strongest animated feature to come from Disney in a number of years.  It looks terrific, moves like a house on fire and makes for good natured fun.  That has not stopped it from dropping like a lead weight at the box office, and I doubt that the Disney execs even care.  Wall Street and investors are interested in the grosses of Disney theme parks and merchandising.

In general, I prefer a movie that starts with a story, a theme of some kind.  This movie was from the start - even back when it was called Joe Jump and High Score - simply a set-up.  It never had a story.  Once Mr. Lasseter came on board and it was green-lighted, the story we see on screen was basically just welded onto the set-up, which is that arcade characters have a secret life when the humans aren't watching. If there had never been a Toy Story, that might be more impressive.  I just don't think that any of that matters to Disney.  The objective all along was to get those arcade characters on the screen by hook or by crook, and that objective was achieved in spades. Next stop - Disney World.

Thank you for speaking up.  This blog can use the action. <g>

I thank the visual artist that have worked too long in the "dark" and have designed to speak, out, speak up and stand up. Visual art has been taken for granted too long, but no more. Thank you, Visual Artist.