Animation &Commentary 17 Mar 2012 05:52 am
Some thoughts, some opinions
- I saw Andrew Stanton‘s film John Carter this past Tuesday. Actually, I saw part of the film; I walked out after about 80 minutes. It was unwatchable in my book. Hundreds of computer created alien creatures with long necks and horns on their heads, and they all looked alike even though they were supposed to have personalities, I think.
Meanwhile, John Carter is bounding miles around the Martian desert jumping all over the place for no particular reason. Creatures are shooting weapons at . . . oh who cares!
The film’s like a video game, completely without wit or any real intellect. It’s tedious beyond belief and a total waste of time. Go at your own risk. I don’t think it was worth the money it cost to make; Pixar could have made Finding Nemo 2 & 3 for the price. (By the way, Mars Needs Moms wasn’t good, but it was MUCH better than John Carter.) But I guess my opinion on this is really superfluous, and I’m not sure why I wrote anything about it.
What’s Opera Doc?
- Now onto a good film. William Benzon has an extraordinary article about
Chuck Jones‘ What’s Opera Doc? on his website,
The New Savannah. Plentifully illustrated he writes an
in depth article about the short, and it’s well worth the visit
for his commentary.
- On Wednesday I got to see a dress rehearsal of the new Disney theatrical Broadway presentation, Newsies. This is a brand new show adapted from the Disney movie of 1992 that starred Christian Bale and Robert Duvall. Alan Menken wrote songs for the film, and he’s rewritten songs for the show. Harvey Fierstein has written the book for the Broadway musical, and it’s set to open on March 29th.
The show talks about the child labor laws in the early part of the 20th century and the organizing of a u-nion of the newspaper sales force to protect them from the likes of the major industries seeking to make bucks off their backs. (Needless to say, this is a show for our times, as the super conservatives try to destroy collective bargaining thus destroy labor laws and u-nion representation.)
The show is full of rousing musical numbers, intense power dancing choreographed by a brilliant Christopher Gatelli and superb direction by Jeff Calhoun. It’s amazing with such a large and constantly moving cast, that Mr. Calhoun is able to keep the sight lines so beautifully clear. Excellent work. The cast does not include major stars, and that’s wonderful – almost like something new on Broadway. Jeremy Jordan, who leads the pack of “Newsies,” is obviously going to be a star.
Great use of space for a large cast.
The set design was by Tobin Ost, and it’s basically steel girder like objects that move around the stage forming and reforming different constructs that serve many purposes. It reminded me (very marginally) of the brilliant set to Company by Boris Aronson back in 1970.
There seems to be a bit of work to go in finalizing the show (I would have liked to have seen more intimate moments – especially in the dance work), but it really is all there. A fierce piece from Disney, that I hope does well. It’s supposedly set for a limited run, but I think that’s questionable. It’ll run for a long time – a crowd pleaser.
- I love a post that’s been placed by Hans Perk on his great site, A Film LA. It’s a real breakdown of the original Disney Hyperion Studio. Hans gives maps and directions to where this historic studio stood, and then proceeds to map out the entire studio giving us charts, photos and background information where everything stood.
I’m not sure we even have this with the main studio lot anymore. It was the Hyperion studio where the Disney brothers grew and outgrew themselves, producing all those great Mickeys and Silly Symphonies and Snow White and a lot of the preliminary work on Bambi.
I’m always taken aback by the meticulous detail that Hans provides for us over and over in all these incredible posts on his site.
- In the recent days I’ve been just about all consumed with the Miyazaki canon of films. I spent an enormous amount of time reviewing, watching, scouring Spirited Away and have really been taken with the film, the animation, the direction, the story.
This led me to watch some of the earlier films to see where the film came from. Kiki’s Delivery Service wasn’t much help, though it was good to see where he came from. However, I have been a fan of Princess Mononoke and watching that again gives me a lot of ideas and thoughts. The animation for that film is somewhat limited, but the use of well drawn crowd scenes and maneuvers really is enlightening. Watching some of the natural woodland planning, backgrounds and direction is quite special, and I have to admit a certain awe with how he pulled it out of the film with such seeming effortlessnessand beauty.
I like to think that this is all going into my recent concentration of my POE film, and I’m sure it is. I have so many thoughts about that one. It’s a project that’s pushing me forward like I can’t tell you, and the only inspiration I seem to be getting is from these Miyazaki films. I know the financial direction the film’s going to have to take to get done (next to no money), but I’m determined, and I’m hoping some deal arrangement can be made very soon.
The Kickstarter campaign is the juice for the whole thing, and I can’t tell you how important that’s been for me. I’m trying desperately to get a couple of heavy hitters to get that money realized, but nothing yet. Your support has been enormous and enormously helpful.
Anyway, back to Miyazaki. I have been watching the films of this master, but my tide is turning a bit. I received the new UPA book, When Magoo Flew by Adam Abraham, and have been reading that. Of course, it’ll lead to the shorts when that new DVD package reaches me – hopefully soon. The Jolly Frolics collection.
When I’ve finished reading it, I’ll write a review, and let me tell you it’s a fast read for me even though I’m trying to take my time. There’s a lot of solid research in there with a lot of strong details. It spends quite a bit of time talking about the politics of the time and studio.
However, once into it, I’m hoping for a bit more lyricism in the writing as a way of capturing the inspiration from the work they did on some of those gorgeous films. Perhaps I’ll only be able to get that from watching the films.
However, I still haven’t left the Miyazaki films, and I will write something probably too long when I get into it. The guy has my head twirling, I have to tell you, and it’s a bit hard for me to turn around and think about UPA with the material I’ve been getting from the Japanese contingent. I also want to watch 101 Dalmatians a little closer. I have seen the opening about half a dozen times in the last couple of weeks.
on 17 Mar 2012 at 11:59 am 1.Bill Benzon said …
Thanks for the link, Michael. I’m working on another post about What’s Opera, Doc? The standard Bugs & Elmer cartoon is more rapidly paced, with many more Elmer-thrust and Bugs-parry exachanges that are, necessarily, closer together. In this cartoon, there are only two, or two-and-a-half if you count Elmer’s opening spear moves. The long duet is all part of Bugs’ first parry. By the time “Return My Love” comes to a close we’ve all but forgotten the chase. This slower pace, and the sung duet, changes the valence of their interaction and moves it into new territory.
As for Miyazaki, yep, he’s a master. And I know what you mean about Spirited Away. While there are antecedents for bits and pieces, as a whole, it seems to come from nowhere. It’s just there, WHAM!
I’m become fond of his second feature, Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. It’s a whole alternative world. In particular, there’s the strange world of giant insects. It’s sort of a prelude to the inventiveness Miyazaki displays in the bathhouse world.
on 17 Mar 2012 at 10:43 pm 2.Joey P. said …
Makes me glad I now have Spirited Away and Mononoke on DVD, even though Disney has yet to re-release Mononoke with the 2-disc star treatment they give Miyazaki’s other movies.
(P.S. I do wish people would stop using “video game” as a pejorative. Maybe it’s just bwecause I have some knowledge and love for the medium, but it’s like when people use “cartoon’ in a derogatory manner. What’s wrong with a good cartoon? They’re hardly devoid of depth.)
on 18 Mar 2012 at 12:49 am 3.Tom Minton said …
I’m nearly through the new Adam Abraham UPA book too and it is a very quick read. Though an illuminating, welcome volume, mere words cannot express the visual richness of something like UPA’s work in “The Four Poster,” for one example. It’s difficult to get across in 2012 exactly how revolutionary that studio was.