Exclusive: Crafting Po’s Return for ‘Kung Fu Panda: The Dragon Knight’ (NEW...
***This article originally appeared in the 35th Anniversary Issue of Animation Magazine (June-July ’22, No. 321)*** You have to hand it to Po, the sweet-natured, bumbling hero of DreamWorks Animation’s...
View Article‘Buñuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles’: Drawn to Reality
Spanish director Salvador Simó puts an animated spin on a special chapter in Luis Buñuel’s life and career. Imagine a movie that proposes to explore, through sometimes disturbing imagery, the troubled...
View Article2018’s Animated Feature Composers Strike a Universal Chord
With the checkered flag about to be waved on the 2019 Academy Award race, the list of likelies for the Best Animated Feature category not only contains several of the usual suspects, but has some...
View ArticleHip Tunes for Toons: Top Composers on Creating Eclectic Soundtracks
It practically goes without saying that children’s animated shows today don’t look like they used to. But neither do they sound the way they used to. Gone are the days of generic themes repeated over...
View Article‘Spies in Disguise’: Espionage Takes Wing
***This article originally appeared in the January ‘20 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 296)*** There’s a surprising message in Spies in Disguise, the new Blue Sky Studios/20th Century Fox animated...
View ArticleOscar Watch: Tunes that Makes Toons Fly
***This article originally appeared in the February ‘20 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 297)*** Feature animation and music have been Oscar-night dates for some eight decades now, and the musical...
View ArticleMuch A-Doo about ‘Scoob!’: An Early, Behind-the-Scenes Sneak Peek
Director Tony Cervone makes no bones about the latest iteration of animation’s venerable, lovable Great Dane, Scooby-Doo. “This is an opportunity to animate Scooby and Shaggy and the gang, and these...
View ArticleWarner Animation’s ‘Scoob!’ Cracks the Case of the Loveable Great Dane
***This article originally appeared in the May ’20 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 300)*** In his later years, Joseph Barbera was asked why he thought the gangly, goofy Great Dane Scooby-Doo was the...
View ArticleOn the Right Track: The Remarkable Success of ‘Demon Slayer the Movie: Mugen...
***This article originally appeared in the February ’21 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 307) and has been updated with current box office and release information*** Given its phenomenal success in...
View Article‘America: The Motion Picture’: George & Abe’s Excellent Adventure
***This article originally appeared in the June/July ’21 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 311)*** Forget what you learned in school. Turn a deaf ear to the yearly telecast of 1776. Ignore even the...
View ArticleLeBron Gets a New Dream Team in ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’
***This article was written for the August ’21 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 312)*** There’s a lot more going on in Warner Bros. Pictures’ Space Jam: A New Legacy than simply the reteaming of a...
View ArticleThe Road to Lake Eerie: Conrad Vernon Maps Out ‘The Addams Family 2’
***This article originally appeared in the Sept./Oct. ’21 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 313)*** We’ve all heard about Okie families of the 1930s traveling across the country in hopes of putting...
View ArticleShion Takeuchi’s ‘Inside Job’ Welcomes Viewers to Conspiracy Central
***This article originally appeared in the November ’21 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 314)*** The United States as depicted in Netflix’s new 2D-animated series Inside Job is rife with good news and...
View ArticleIllumination Hits All the Right Notes with ‘Sing 2’
***This article originally appeared in the January ’22 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 316)*** Buster Moon, you and your band of farm/zoo animals scored one of the biggest movie blockbusters of 2016!...
View ArticleFeature Animation Faces the Music: Exclusive Interviews with Top Composers
***This article originally appeared in the February ’22 issue of Animation Magazine*** If the 90-plus-year relationship between animation and music can be described as a marriage, 2021 might have been...
View ArticleCreating a Rubber Hose Wonderland for ‘The Cuphead Show!’
***This article originally appeared in the March ’22 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 318)*** Don’t think of Netflix Animation’s riotous new comedy series The Cuphead Show! simply as the latest TV...
View ArticleExclusive: Richard Linklater’s ‘Apollo 10 ½’ Launches Audiences on a...
***This article originally appeared in the April ’22 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 319)*** Tired of all those conspiracy theories claiming that the moon landing in1969 was faked; that it was simply...
View ArticleExclusive: ‘Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers’ Answers, Whatever Happened to Those...
***This article was written for the 35th Anniversary issue of Animation Magazine (June/July ’22, No. 321)*** Whether you remember them as chattering foils for Pluto in cartoons from the 1940s and ’50s,...
View ArticleYour 2023 Academy Awards Animated Feature Dossier
***This feature originally appeared in the December ’22 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 325)*** Which animated features are going for Oscar gold on March 13, 2023? Unlike recent years in which clear...
View ArticleThe Art of Designing Stand-Out Animated Characters
***This article originally appeared in the February ’23 issue of Animation Magazine (No. 327)*** Some of today’s top character designers discuss their craft and challenges. Things are looking a little...
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