Showing posts with label Animation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Animation. Show all posts

Monday, 16 May 2016

Zootopia (2016)



On the one hand this is a cartoon about a bunny wanting to be a cop, with lots of fish-out-of-water gags as the naive rabbit is variously patronised. On the other hand, the main themes of standing up for what you believe in as well as cultural/racial tolerance are really quite serious.

Of course this is a Disney animated kids film though, and as such it does everything right. The jokes are thick and fast, the creation of the utopian animal world is excellent with so much detail that repeat viewings will doubtless reveal ever more unnoticed touches, and the voice cast it excellent.

Would you like to know more?

Saturday, 16 May 2015

Waltz with Bashir (2008)



Award-winning animated film telling the story of one man struggling to remember his part in the massacre of Palestinian refugees in Beirut in 1982.  In the present day following a conversation with his friend about flashbacks, Ari has a flashback that night about his complicity in the notorious Sabra and Satila massacre.  He then travels meeting old friends to piece together what his role had been.  As the movie finishes, animation gives way to actual footage of the aftermath of the massacre.

Though it is an animated film, it is beautifully shot; there are many rich colours, and many inventive uses of the "camera".  It is a very powerful story, about an event that I knew nothing about - I would have been 5 years old.  However, it is the kind of film that makes you want to find out more.  Very powerful and made with tremendous attention to detail, definitely worth checking out.  I should really watch it again.  But, well, you know, that’s just, like, my opinion, man.