Waking Sleeping Beauty
[DVD]
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In Waking Sleeping Beauty, we go behind the doors of the Disney animation building and see an equal display of creative brilliance and management melodrama. As the 1970’s drew to a close, the legendary animation studio was producing anemic box office returns (by Disney standards) and those in charge of the purse strings viewed its limping continuation simply as a tribute to Walt’s legacy. Shifts in corporate leadership created new challenges to the once easy going, hippie-ish department and as a result, the company reached a range of highs and lows.
This film features interviews with animators, directors, composers and executives. In addition, the curtain is lifted and we’re granted access to all sorts of behind the scenes footage. We see the animators at work and goofing around, early film cuts and cells, actors recording voice-overs, corporate lectures, between take banter of Michael Eisner’s television introductions and even funeral speeches. Waking Sleeping Beauty is a film for anyone who is interested in the history of the Disney empire and ever wondered how the magic is really created.
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: Animation, Disney, Documentary, Film
The Illusionist
by Sylvain Chomet
[DVD]
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The Triplets of Belleville animator/director takes on an unrealized script of the late French comedian, writer and director Jacques Tati in the Illusionist. This remarkable, melancholic film features an animated Tati in the role of the magician named Tatcischeff (Tati’s actual last name) at a time when vaudeville performances are beginning to become a passé form of entertainment.
On a trip to Scotland for an appearance, Tatcischeff meets a young girl who winds up following him to London. The magician takes her under his care and winds up going broke funding her desire for expensive clothing. The two also come into contact with several eccentric and delightful characters surrounding the changing 1960’s entertainment industry.
What we have in the Illusionist is a funny, elegant and moving film which marries the essence of Jacques Tati’s brilliance and the stylish animation of Sylvain Chomet.
Reviewed by Jason
Tagged: Animation, Comedy, Feature film
The Triplets of Belleville
[DVD]
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Sylvain Chomet’s feature-length animated film is like nothing you’ve ever seen. It’s weird, funny, sad, serious, lighthearted, suspenseful, perverse, sweet, surreal, retro, postmodern, and fantastic (in both senses of the word). There is virtually no dialogue, but there is music, adventure and character aplenty. The animation is hand-drawn and loaded with sophisticated detail. There are homages to Fred Astaire, Josephine Baker, Jacques Tati, the Andrews Sisters, and Django Reinhardt. The plot is quite satisfying, yet the style is the overwhelming story here. Despite the near-total absence of language, it could only be French. I have seen it three times so far and haven’t begun to get tired of it.
Reviewed by Faith
Tagged: Animation, Feature film, Foreign film
