Michael Sporn Animation – Splog

– Well, Shrek 3 opened yesterday and is onto making a crop of cash for Dreamworks Animation. Good for them.

The reviews weren’t sterling. The most positive I saw in the NY papers came from AOScott of the NYTimes. He’s getting to be one of the reviewers I most enjoy reading for insightful, intelligent and creative writing.

This is how he ends his Shrek review:

“Shrek,” “Shrek 2” and “Shrek the Third,” by contrast, are flat and simple, hectic and amusing without being especially thrilling or complex. Their naughty insouciance makes their inevitable lapses into sentimental moralism all the more glaring. In this movie we hear some speeches about how it’s important not to care about what other people think of you, and to be yourself above all. Yeah, fine, whatever. This doesn’t strike me as necessarily good advice, and in any case today’s wised-up kids don’t need life lessons from an ogre. But then again, the kids are not the ones who identify with Shrek as he makes his grouchy way through the life cycle.

Dreamworks last year had a charming little short called “First Flight” which was light years better than Pixar’s “Lifted.” I hope they get away from the ugly Shrek graphics and into something a little more human like that short.

- The feature I’m waiting to see is Persepolis. The film is directed by Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud and is adapted from the her graphic novel.

This black-and-white animated feature recounts Satrapi’s experiences growing up in Iran after the fundamentalist revolution of 1979 created a more repressive nation and a climate of fear among educated Iranians. It features the voices of Gena Rowlands and Catherine Deneuve.

A number of clips have shown up on YouTube, and it looks as original as I hoped it will be. Unfortunately all of the clips are in French, but you can figure out what’s going on.
Teaser trailer
Clip 1
Clip 2
Clip 3

The film will premiere next Wednesday & Thursday in competition at the Cannes Film Festival.

– NY animator, Pat Smith has put together a collection of his animated shorts and calls the dvd Liquid Tales.

The collection sells for $25 from Smith’s Blend Films site or can be bought on Amazon or in storers everywhere.

The films included in the dvd are:
Drink Delivery
Moving Along
Handshake
Puppet.

It also comes with extras. Read reviews at Blend Films.

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