Thursday, June 02, 2005

Animation show

One of my free DVD rentals from The Film Connection recently was The Animation Show. I have always liked animation, from Bugs Bunny cartoons as a kid to new Japanese anime today. I especially love the Pixar films. I have always thought that animation was a comic book put to life, a film that was capable of anything within those frames. So I watch a lot. I guess I've never grown out of it.

This DVD was brilliant. There were some very pretty pieces of animation. It always amazes me the skill and patience it takes to do something frame by frame. And these were the cream of the crop, funny, serious, and breathtaking.

This DVD has some early Mike Judge (creator of Beavis and Butthead) cartoons. There is one in particular called "Office Space" that is the precursor to his movie of the same name. It is neat to see the evolution of the character and show basically unfold before you.

There were many good cartoons, but by far the most captivating was the last one, the one called "Das Rad." These two rocks are watching ages go by as we watch seconds. They watch humanity start evolving right in front of them. When humans get too close, the whole time persepective of the film slows down to show our extremely short point of view. Humanity crumbles away and the rocks are still standing, talking about moss growing on their heads. The animation is awesome, a thing of beauty to behold.

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