Animation Dad

Script writers too.

It’s almost like there is a treasure trove of great stories and characters they could adapt, rather than whatever they were trying to do. Decades of storytelling.

a cartoon pig with a mustache and glasses is standing next to a window . ALT: a cartoon pig with a mustache and glasses is standing next to a window .

(1) Who else would be the greatest animated pig? He's the archetype and the best straight man ever. Porky is the king of animated pigs. I know I missed a few and even have some I am regretting as I type this. Porky would be #1 on all my lists.

a picture of a stuffed animal with the words all right all right nobody look until i get my cork back in ALT: a picture of a stuffed animal with the words all right all right nobody look until i get my cork back in

(2) Hamm. All right. I guess technically Hamm and Piglet are toys more than pigs, but they are such great characters I will let it slide.

a cartoon of a man in a red airplane with the letters ntv on the bottom right ALT: a cartoon of a man in a red airplane with the letters ntv on the bottom right

(3) Porco Rosso. Marked down because except for a few puns he's not really a pig, he just looks like one. Pretty cool dude, and these days it's important to remember it's better to be a pig than a fascist.

piglet from winnie the pooh is standing in front of a tree and says `` oh , dear . '' ALT: piglet from winnie the pooh is standing in front of a tree and says `` oh , dear . ''

(4) Piglet. Pooh's best bud. He might not be my favourite in the hundred acre woods, but he's still adorable.

a spider man and a ghost spider are standing next to each other and the words what a pig are on the bottom ALT: a spider man and a ghost spider are standing next to each other and the words what a pig are on the bottom

Good day for distractions, and I just found out today is national Pigs day, so off the top of the dome here are my top 5 animated pigs...
(5) Peter Porker (Spider Ham). Comic relief in Into the Spider Verse, and woefully underused in Beyond. How does he not have his own show?

Angels Egg now streaming on HBO Max in the states. I haven’t checked where it’s streaming in Canada where I live. This is wild and great considering the hoops I had to go through the see it the 1st time.

I wish they made the movie they were once planning.

I wonder if they kept the Mission Accomplished banner

I loved Kids on the Slope, especially the 2nd half. Beck is very of its time, but I liked most of it. Blue Giant was pretty good, but the plot is predictable and a little cliche. I haven’t seen Sound Euphonium.

When i started made in Abyss that’s what I thought it was going to be. Needless to say I was wrong.

Poupelle in Chimney Town?

I looooove that movie

My list so far is Belle, The Colours Within, Bocchi the Rock, Carol and Tuesday, and the Josie and the Pussycats movie (which is live action, but very cartoony live action)

Yes! I had The Colours Within and not K-on on my list. The other 2 are on there.

My friend says her 14 year old daughter loves KPop Demon Hunters and plays guitar in a band. She asked me for animation recommendations. I have a short list. I thought I’d open it up and see what people suggest. I’ll post the long list this week.

Cheadle is obviously a great actor, but Howard has a relaxed energy and Cheadle has a wired energy. Both play off RDJ very differently. They also clearly don’t know what to do with him as the movies progress.

YouTube video by MHDX The Fantastic Adventures of Unico (1981) - English audio

Every weekend I post an animated project available on the internet. This week it is a classic anime Unico (1981). It looks cute but goes to some surprisingly dark areas. If your kid can handle The Secret of Nimh they could handle this. youtu.be/LAkXAMhAYqA?...

As an aside I kind of forgot why Gwyneth Paltrow was such a star. She might not remember filming them, but her scenes with Downey are effortless and charming. They have more charisma in 2 lines than Kirby and Pascal manage in the entire film. Some of that is script, but a lot is just chemistry.

… I know these aren’t super original thoughts and it permeates a lot of genre films, but watching these 2 movies back to back the issues are so glaringly obvious. It’s also why I am more excited for Gunns DC movies than Marvel right now.

… The Fantastic Four though, is mid tier Marvel but top tier post Endgame, is just setup and quip. The characters act in ways that are nonsensical. Pascal (a good actor overall) is disastrous casting while obviously RDJ is inspired casting...

I watched with my kid the new Fantastic Four movie and the original Iron Man movie in the last few days and the differences are very telling on a script level. Iron Man had character arcs and differences among the characters. You could read a line of dialogue and know which character was saying it…

He just wanna lifetime achievement award (the Windsor McKay award) at the Annies. I can’t believe no one will fund another film from him.

(6) Kon finished the storyboards and finished animation on Dreaming Machine and expressed his wishes that it be finished after his death. I know budget stopped this project. That this sits unfinished is a travesty.

(5) Akira and Nausicaa are obviously masterpieces, but you can feel both being compressed after reading their more expansive mangas. Akira shows the strain more, but if you could maintain the quality showing the expanded story would be my dream project to see. (I can see this being controversial)

(4) After making Tekkonkinkreet Michael Arias has made a mixture of things, including live action and special effects work. He expressed frustration with anime after making the flawed Harmony, a project he claimed was hamstrung by production. I would like to see him without those limitations.

(3) Another director who hasn’t made a project in 10ish years is Saya Yamamoto. A director willing to experiment and whose projects are always a smart blend of style with heart. I know she tried to get the Yuri on Ice movie off the ground. I would let her make whatever she wants.

(2) My first three checks I will give to directors who haven’t made something in far too long. Michaël Dudok de Wit made some great shorts and then the sublime The Red Turtle. That his last film was a decade ago is a real shame.

This week I am doing a thought experiment for my list of 5. I asked myself what 5 animated projects would I greenlight if given a blank check? Just a fun thought experiment. Feel free to add your own. For the sake of argument assume the highest quality for each project…

There’s a good chance the 2 best anime this year both have Witch in the title.

We don’t need more Evangelion.

I mean, if we need Anno to make a sequel to one of his tv shows, the answer is right here: