Month: October 2008

All images © 2003 Walt Disney Pictures/Pixar Animation Studios.

Simplicity of story.

If anyone ever questions why I love Pixar’s Finding Nemo so damn much, this is my answer.

The basic story is so simple. And they do so much with it.

When planning their short films, I used to tell students there are two ways to tell a story. You can ‘enjoy the journey’ or you can ‘lead up to a great finale’.

Finding Nemo is a terrific example of enjoying the journey. Do we really think it won’t be a happy ending? Of course not. In a story like this we can pretty much assume everything will turn out just fine.

That’s not the point

It’s what happens along the way that makes it so great.

So if you are planning your own short (or long) story, remember that. If you don’t have a super satisfying ending that will knock the socks off your audience, you can always make the journey one heck of a great ride.

I’m over-simplifying things a bit, but I hope you get what I mean.

Same deal as my other feature favorites. No story summary or anything, I’m just digging in to my favorite bits of Finding Nemo.

Let’s Roll.

It’s gorgeous. Look at the image up top. The whole underwater world is so beautiful and believable. Makes you want to take up scuba diving (if I didn’t have such a nasty fear of suffocation).

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All images © 1995 Walt Disney Pictures / Pixar Animation Studios.

“To infinity and beyond!”

Sound familiar?

Toy Story is the third on my list of my favorite animated feature films. You can see the whole list in that link. If you’ve never seen Toy Story I’d really have to ask where the heck you’ve been. See it already!

What can I say about the first 3D full-length feature film ever made?

That it’s the Snow White of a new generation? Yes, I guess it is.

That it put Pixar on the map? Yes, I suppose it did.

That it was such a success because of all that fancy technology? Uh, no. Sorry.

Some will argue with me, but Toy Story was not a success because of the technology. It was a success because of the storytelling and characters.

Would it have worked in 2D? Yes, I believe it would have. A good story is a good story, no matter the medium. As I’ve said before, you can tell a good story with stick men as far as I’m concerned.

As I go through all my favorite bits from Toy Story, please note that I never mention rigging, lighting or texture mapping. Don’t get me wrong, it looks fabulous (even if the humans are a bit wonky 😉 ). It was freakin’ eye candy all the way when I saw this the first time.

Kids don’t care about eye candy (at least not after the first 10 minutes). Trust me. If the story sucks, a kid will let you know by their lack of interest…technology or not

But 3D worked for telling a story about toys. Period. These days, it’s just gotten a little out of hand. It’s everywhere! Gaa! Use it when it suits the story please.

That’s my two cents. Lecture over.

Let’s roll! Here’s my favorite bits from Toy Story.

The toys. It was a trip back to my childhood. I know the people making this film were from my generation because of the toy selections. I mean Weebles! Stretch Armstrong! Sweet.

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All images © 1999 Warner Bros. Feature Animation.

Oh Iron Giant, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways…

If you’ve never seen The Iron Giant, go now and rent it.

Then buy it.

And love it forevermore.

This is the second film I’m going to gush over from my list of favorite animated films. You can see the whole list here.

Again, I’m not giving a summary of the story. And it’s a given that I love it for the story and the strong characters and stuff. That’s usually why I love the films I love.

Spoiler Alert: I might be giving away a few of the good bits here, so if you haven’t seen it, you’ve been warned.

Here are some of my favorite moments (and other thoughts) of The Iron Giant. With maybe a few lessons thrown in. It was really hard to pick just a few. There so were many more I could have chosen.

Here’s why I love The Iron Giant.

Brad Bird directed it. You know the Simpsons? The Incredibles? Ratatouille? Yeah. That guy. If there’s anyone I’d like to share a beer with and talk about storytelling, this would be the guy.

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All images © 1994 Walt Disney Feature Animation.

After ripping ‘Igor‘ a new one when I reviewed it, I was asked in the comments what some of my all-time favorite animated films were (thanks Steph).

So why not make a series of posts about them?

In the ‘Igor‘ review, I pointed out many of the things they did wrong. With these posts, I’ll point out what they did right. You’ve probably seen most of them, so no boring summary.

I’m just going to dig right in.

These are some of my all time favorite animated films. I’m not saying they are the all time greatest films ever made. They are MY choices and I have my reasons. That’s it. They are:

• The Lion King (Disney, 1994)
• The Iron Giant (Warner Bros., 1999)
• Toy Story (Pixar, 1995)
• Finding Nemo (Pixar, 2003)
• South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut (Paramount, 1999) (yeah, yeah, I know…)

I loved ‘Wall-E‘ but don’t want to put it on the list yet because it’s so new and I don’t have a DVD to watch and capture images yet. When I can, you’ll be getting my rave review of that movie.

And yes, as an ‘animation professional’ I know I’m supposed to say ‘Snow White‘, ‘Pinocchio‘, ‘Fantasia‘ and all those classics. But I’m going by what I’ve loved and watched the most.

So in that case, The Lion King kicks Snow White‘s ass.

I will start with The Lion King.

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