By Jake Friedman

The recent March 4th release of 101 Dalmatians: Platinum Edition will join the ever-growing list of classic Disney films to get the royal treatment. Expect complete digital restoration in picture and sound for this 1961 gem, no to mention a new making-of documentary, deleted songs, and a discussion of the famed villainess, Cruella De Vil.

Apparently, Walt was initially less than satisfied with the final product. It was Disney’s first feature to use the experimental Xerox process, copying the animators’ pencil marks directly onto cells. Sure, this made it possible to render all 6,469,952 spots on the dogs, but the pencil scratch marks were in conflict with the painterly storybook aesthetics that Walt strived for. Walt reportedly didn’t acknowledge the film’s artistic merits to production designer Ken Anderson until weeks before his death.

Nonetheless, the film is widely praised by animation buffs and film critics alike as one of the brightest jewels of the Disney library, with Marc Davis’s rendition of Cruella reaching legendary status. “It is perfection,” says “Anita” voice Lisa Davis (no relation to Marc), “It has good people and bad people, and nobody’s really fighting. It’s simple, but it has heart, and you find yourself totally involved in it.”

Within the bonus features of the DVD, Davis, along with others, shares many memories of working on the film. “Before I even started on the picture, they brought me into a little bungalow on the lot and allowed me to play Dalmatian puppies all day,” says Davis. “When you were working for Disney, you were definitely working for the Rolls Royce of the studios. I was doing a lot of television at the time and they would send a limousine for me and pick me up and take me to Disney for each recording session. It was lovely.”

Interestingly, Davis was originally contacted years before Dalmatians was even a proposal. “I was brought to America by Walt Disney to do the original version of Alice in Wonderland, as a live Alice with the characters animated around me. I came over from England, very, very excited. He had seen me in a movie that I had done for Sir David Lean, and he had me here for several weeks while I did wardrobe tests and voice tests. But he changed his mind, because he realized it would be too great an expense at the time. So he sent me back to England and I left a very, very disappointed 12-year old.”

Davis did a few B movies, including The Queen from Outer Space, where her experience working with Zsa Zsa Gabor inspired her to perfect an imitation of the star. Finally, Walt contacted her once more. “When Mr. Disney first thought of Cruella de Vil, thinking of her character loving fur and luxury, he thought of a Zsa Zsa Gabor-type voice, and actually called me in to read the part for Cruella. I was twenty-one years old and totally wrong for Cruella. I wound up sitting up in a room above the studio with the great Walt Disney, and he was actually reading Anita, and I was struggling to read Cruella. As I heard the character of Anita being read, I knew it was me. So I plucked up my courage and asked, ‘excuse me sir, would it be all right if I read Anita, because I feel so much more like Anita than I do Cruella.’ And he let me read Anita, and he became Cruella – a very good one, I might add. And that’s how I became Anita.”

Davis also contributes to a separate special feature titled “Sincerely Yours, Walt Disney,” in which she reads letters as Dalmatians author Dodie Smith which were written during the pre-production and making of the film. “The letters are delightful,” says Davis, “and you can see how excited both she and Walt Disney are about making this film.”

Today, Davis has her theories as to the film’s lasting success. “I think today,” she says, “we live in a world that’s so tough and hard, and when you watch something that’s so captivating and pulls you in and touches the heart, it shows you how wonderful it can all be.”

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by Rob Kohr

It’s a rare thing these days to find traditional animation in American theaters. Unlike their Japanese counterparts, theaters in the US are fraught with 3d eye candy pumped out by studios that will as soon as capture the movements of an actor and then throw them up on the screen and call that animation instead of ACTUALLY doing animation. True, there was a day when Ralph Bakshi was using live action video to make “American Pop”, but that was different, the hand of the animator still came through.

“Paprika” is the latest jaunt in animation from Satoshi Kon. Kon is well known for his psychological thrillers such as “Perfect Blue” and the television show “Paranoia Agent” as well as more subdued films such as “Millenium Actress” and “Tokyo Godfathers”. Not since “Perfect Blue” has Kon played with the ideas of psychological trauma and distress. In fact “Paprika” takes it to a new level.

29 year old Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a research psychotherapist whose work on a powerful new psychotherapy devise known as the “DC-MINI” allows her to enter into people’s dreams, as her alter ego named Paprika, and synchronize with their unconscious to help uncover the source of their anxiety or neurosis. It is believed that someone is manipulating the machines has a more evil purpose. The DC MINI is being used to destroy people’s minds and merge reality and fantasy.

Art Director, Nobutaka Ike, who has worked with Kon on all his past films brought forth really solid character designs that contrasted the world of reality and the dream world. For instance Dr. Atsuko Chiba is a very solidly realistic character, while her dream self Paprika is very solidly anime looking.

(Read the article)

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by Rob Kohr
Going into the theater I really didn’t know much about this movie other than it was written by and directed by two Americans, Anthony Weintraub and Michael Arias respectively. I also knew that it was animated by the studio that made the really wonderful film “Mind Games” which I also saw last year at the same venue, the MOMA. What I didn’t expect was a film that was over all disappointing and dull to the point that people were walking out early. (Read the article)

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by Rob Kohr

I hardly had a chance to see the Oscars this year, though I was fortunate enough to catch the animation portion of the awards. Over all it can be seen as a major upset.

The biggest of these would have to be “The Danish Poet” winning for Best Animated Short. The lone traditional film of the bunch created by Torill Kove, was about a young poet, named Kasper, who in search of inspiration, travels to Norway to meet the celebrated writer, Sigrid Undset. The film, though it includes some 3DCG was mostly a 2d stylization and pulls from a lot of Eastern European influences. Torill Kove, among others, thanked the National Film Board of Canada and her many funders from Norway. (Read the article)

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by Celia Bullwinkel

Being a non-driving New Yorker, I did not plan on Cars captivating my interest. It had plenty of time to try, with the running time of 116 minutes. Admittedly, I had an emotional attachment to the cars I had once driven (some ten years ago), but I was doubtful that Pixar could make me feel for a machine. After the giddy joyride of the Incredibles, would Cars be a hit or a lemon?

After viewing the film at New York’s Ziegfeld, I can honestly conclude: Cars is no lemon. I enjoyed the film better than I imagined. It deserves no comparison to any other Pixar film, it’s THAT good. Fans will notice the absence of Randy Newman’s singing, another Joe Ranft cameo, and a collection of pop songs (thankfully, it’s done well). While the film is centered on car racing, Cars has a slower pace to its previous films, partly due to Lasseter’s storytelling sensibility. His style comes on strong delivering smart humor, and heart. But that doesn’t mean the film crawls by. On the contrary, the film opens in an unexpected way, by jumping into a fast-paced, loud, vividly colored race arena, teaming with thousands of cars, and not one human in site. The Cars universe pulls itself together during main character’s big race, and then the story takes off! (Read the article)

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by Brad Chmielewski

Last October 2003, eleven independent animators met in a large Chelsea loft. Eleven went in, “Avoid Eye Contact” came out and sold an impressive 2000 copies worldwide. This was only the beginning for the urban animation movement. Talks of volume 2 were in the works as soon as volume 1 came out. Now the new DVD is out and Avoid Eye Contact Volume 2 is sure to follow in the same path exploring the thriving contemporary independent animation scene going on in New York City. The DVD offers a new program of films from animators spanning the last five years. “Avoid Eye Contact Volume 2” contains an overwhelming number of independent animated shorts and many of the same animators that made “Avoid Eye Contact” a great DVD. Returning in volume two is Bill Plympton, PES, Michael Overback, and Patrick Smith, as well as nine other outstanding independent animators. None of the Artists on the DVD seem to follow any trends and, although savvy, are not beholden to any technology. Each film on the DVD is an international award-winner, each with a distinct look, united only by genre and the gritty soul of New York City. (Read the article)

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Directed by Hayao Miyazaki
Written by Diana Wynne Jones & Hayao Miyazaki
Produced by Toshio Suzuki

by Robert Kohr

After many months of waiting in anticipation of this films release, Disney has finally let out Miyazaki’s newest feature film. I was fortunate enough to see “Howl’s Moving Castle” in Italy this past winter at the Future Film Festival in Bologna. The theater was packed for the premiere with many Italians as well as other international filmmakers and press. Regardless of such a discerning crowd, everyone still erupted in a cheer when the blue Totoro popped up on the screen to signal the start of the film. (Read the article)

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by Chris McCullough

I’ve been a Plymptonite for many years now, and last year when Hair High came to Austin I forced my lazy arse to drive the hour-long trip to see it, since I knew if I didn’t my next chance to see it would be when I bought the DVD. I’m glad I did, because there’s nothing like a Bill Plympton film on the big screen with great audio.

This year I eagerly awaited Plympton’s new Oscar-nominated short film; ‘Guard Dog’ to hit somewhere close by so I could check it out, as it has been getting awesome reviews. I got lucky because the Animation Show hit Austin, and no matter how lazy I am, I knew it was mandatory I made the trip to see it.

The trip was fine, and we found the theater pretty fast, so there was no bad times to spoil my viewing of the show. Which brings me to Guard Dog, the first short to blast onto the screen. When the credit of Plympton’s name first popped up on the screen, the audience applauded loudly, with some cheers and whistles, which hyped me up big time. I wasn’t disappointed. Guard Dog tells the story of a hyper little mutt that begs to to be taken for a walk in the park by it’s master, only to bark insanely at anything that it feels may be a threat to it’s master, such as a bird, cricket, and even a flower. The dog has funny little visions of the horrible deaths these things have in mind for it’s master, and barks at them to save him, then prances as if it just saved the world, only to see another evil threat five feet down the sidewalk. I won’t give away the ending, but the ironic ending was hilarious, and the final shot was both sad and funny, and I found myself laughing and crying at the same time. Living with two chihuahuas, I can relate to this film completely, and I will keep the ending in mind anytime I take them for a walk. (Read the article)

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