Monday, January 14, 2008

Animated

The weather has turned a bit cold again and the boys don't start school until tomorrow...so movies have been a popular activity around here. Today alone we have watched three different types of animated films (none in their entirety).

My early-riser wanted to watch Cars this morning and what's this tired mom to do...go ahead. So, this is a Pixar movie....I love their films...they are some of my favorite movies from the past 10 years (The Incredibles, Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Bug's Life....). Pixar films are computer animated. And its truly amazing and in the beginning, it was really cool. Now all the films are computer animated so it is not as amazing but still good.

Then, the ever-lovin' Christmas 4yo wanted to watch some good ole' Rankin/Bass claymation. Compared to Cars, the animation is so simple. However, I think there is something around the look that immediately brings out the kids in all of us...remembering watching them on TV each December. And imagine the work to make those films....repositioning every movement. Amazing.

Now, after deciding he wanted to fix something, our 4yo fixed the VCR (which has been broken for months...despite several investigations, I missed the AA battery sitting right inside, I suppose I should have used the werewolf flashlight earlier). For a reward, he picked out a video...Aladdin. Aladdin was one of the first Disney movies to include some computer animation...but just backgrounds. The rest is hand drawn. Again, an amazing task. You can really tell that it is done by hand.

Anyways...what is this about...I don't know. I think is just amazing how times have changed. And how important is it to remember all the types of films from the past...yes, some are only on videotape (which I like better...they last forever, unlike DVD's that get ruined so easily). The library is still renting videos but I guess not for long. In the Friends of the Library shop at the new library you can buy used videos for cheap (like $1!).

1 comment:

Misc said...

Our family's big on animation as well and we love us some Pixar and classic Disney, hand-drawn films are the perfect panacea for a hectic, stressful day.

Have you seen any of Hayao Miyazaki's films? He's considered the "Walt Disney" of Japan. My favorite of his films is "My Neighbor Totoro." It's beautiful.