Frozen (2013)

In 1937, Walt Disney Studios changed animated cinema forever with the release of "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs", their first feature length animated film. This would be the beginning of a long tradition of animated cinema that Disney would develop through the following years, taking inspiration from classic fairy tales to create films like "Pinocchio" (1940), "Sleeping Beauty" (1959) and "Beauty and the Beast" (1991). However, a famous story by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen had eluded Walt Disney almost from the very beginning: "The Snow Queen". Celebrated as one of Andersen's most beautiful tales, "The Snow Queen" would be part of a biopic on Andersen that Walt Disney wanted to produce in 1943, but unfortunately, the project fell down and was eventually forgotten. Years later, the "Snow Queen" project resurrected in the 90s, but once again it was considered too difficult to make. Finally, in 2008 director Chris Buck tried again to make it a reality, and after a long and tortuous process, Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" finally saw the light in 2013, as a free adaptation titled simply "Frozen".

"Frozen" is the story of two sisters, Anna and Elsa (Kristen Bell and Idina Menzel respectively), the young princesses of Arendelle, a kingdom located in Norway. Elsa has the incredible magic skill of creating ice out of thin air, but this doesn't stop the young kids from being very close. However, one night Elsa hurts Anna with her powers, prompting her parents to take the drastic measure of hiding Elsa, fearing her powers get too strong for be controlled. Anna's memories of Elsa's powers are also erased, in an attempt to create the idea that Elsa is a normal girl. The sisters are separated, with Elsa hiding herself in the castle fearing that she'll hurt her family with her magic. When their parents die in a shipwreck, Elsa must take the crown as Queen of Arendelle, an event that Anna sees as a chance to discover the world outside the castle. During the coronation, Anna falls in love with prince Hans (Santino Fontana), and wishes to marry him immediately, something that Elsa forbids at once. Anna argues with Elsa about this, and the stress makes her to show her powers to the public. Afraid of herself, Elsa runs away from Arendelle, becoming the Snow Queen.

Far from being a straight adaptation of Andersen's fairy tale, "Frozen"'s screenplay (written by Jennifer Lee, based on a story by Chris Buck, Shane Morris and Lee herself) takes only the core elements from the classic story as the basis for its universe, and then builds up a radically different story from it. Having a family bond between Anna and the Snow Queen, "Frozen" is essentially the tale of two sisters who need to solve their differences in order to recover the happiness they lived in the past. However, "Frozen" is also a story of acceptance, as the screenplay makes of Elsa, the Snow Queen, a complex character who needs to define her identity, tired of hiding who she really is and longing to be allowed to be herself in front of a world that condemns her. This is perhaps the most interesting element in the film, as Lee has created a "Disney princess" (or Queen) like no other, making her a symbol of acceptance of one's own identity (overtones are more than obvious). Anna, on the other hand, is a direct attack to the "Disney princess" stereotype, as she literally discovers that life isn't like fairy tales.

Given the deep involvement of Jennifer Lee during the project's development, she was given the chance of co-directing the film along Chris Buck, and her influence can be felt in every element of the movie. By transforming the Snow Queen fairy tale, Buck and Lee gave a twist to what perfectly could had been just another Disney princess film. Lee's main input was to make "Frozen" a modern film that doesn't hide its own femininity. That is, while Disney had previously released films outside the tradition ("Lilo & Stitch" and Pixar's "Brave" for example), those films protected their mass appeal in the universal theme of family matters. On the other hand, while "Frozen" has at its core a theme of family bonds, the individual development of both Anna and Elsa as grown women reflects an attempt of portraying a modern vision of femininity, attacking the outdated model propagated by Disney's own old classics (The Disney princess ideal). The extraordinary visual design of "Frozen", inspired in those very same classics (chiefly "Sleeping Beauty") makes the reference all the more obvious.

"Frozen", like the afore mentioned Disney classics, is first and foremost musical, so it isn't strange to hear Idina Menzel, a Broadway veteran, in the role of the Snow Queen, Elsa. While certainly Anna is the one leading the plot of "Frozen", Elsa becomes easily the most interesting character in the film. Menzel gives life to Elsa capturing perfectly her mix of fear and (apparently unlimited) power that make the burden of the Snow Queen. This is perfectly exemplified in her performance of "Let It Go", song that defines her character's struggle and reveals her as the story's true protagonist. Kristen Bell plays Anna, whose journey to rescue her kingdom will reveal her that the real world is actually different to the rose-tinted worldview she had as a princess (as a Disney princess). While Bell makes a terrific job as the youthful and cheerful Anna, Menzel's powerful voice outshines her in every way. The rest of the cast is in general pretty good, tough the film clearly belongs to Menzel and Bell. An exception is Josh Gad, whom as Olaf the snowman, manages to steal every scene he's in.

As mentioned before, maybe "Frozen" isn't the first Disney film with a non-traditional focus, however, the artistic quality of Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee's film are what elevates "Frozen" to the level of Walt Disney Animation Studios' true classics. Michael Giaimo's work in the art department is simply overwhelming, creating the perfect atmosphere for the devastating winter of Arendelle, which mirrors Elsa's conflicting emotions regarding her former hometown (Giaimo had previously worked in Disney's "Pocahontas"). Music is perhaps the film's weak spot, as while the film has a couple of truly remarkable song (the aforementioned "Let It Go" for example), the rest of the songs are far from having a similar dramatic impact in the story. Nevertheless, and even when this should be a major problem give the fact that it's a musical, the movie never loses strength thanks to the great care directors Buck and Lee unfold there story. Perhaps the most significative of this is the way in which Buck and Lee get into the character's personal drama, which makes "Frozen" something beyond the traditional adventure film, it makes it feel almost intimate to a certain extent.

Mixture of a return to the traditional and a reinvention of an old formula, "Frozen" takes the best of Disney's animated classics and gives it a more than welcomed modern twist. Still, the most interesting about "frozen" is that it proves once again that behind a great movie, there must be a great story. Jennifer Lee's intelligent screenplay is "Frozen"'s backbone and an instrumental piece in making the movie a reassessment of fairy tales as well as a reaffirmation of female roles in Disney movies. While not entirely without flaws, given its thematics and its enormous visual beauty, it would be fair to consider "Frozen" as one of Disney's most important films of recent times.

8/10

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La Revolución de Juan Escopeta (2011)

From 1910 to 1920, Mexico was immersed in a series of armed conflicts known collectively the Mexican Revolution, as they resulted in major social changes and as a whole formed the most important sociopolitical event in Mexican history of the 20th century. It all began with the uprising of Francisco I. Madero against the dictatorship of Porfirio Díaz, who had been in power for almost 35 years. Madero's rebellion was followed by many leaders across the country (like Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata), and their Revolution succeeded in ending Díaz' regime in 1911. Unfortunately, that would only be the beginning of the Revolution, as the conflicts between the rebels would continue with General Victoriano Huerta's betrayal and eventual coup d'état. This period of history would mark generations of Mexicans, and naturally, cinema would reflect its relevance. Jorge A. Estrada's "La Revolución de Juan Escopeta" is a film set right in the middle of the conflict, but what makes it even more interesting it's the fact that it's an animated film, in an industry that rarely produces animated movies.

"La Revolución de Juan Escopeta" (literally "The Revolution of Juan Escopeta") is set in 1914, during the battles against Victoriano Huerta's army. It's the story of a young kid named Gaspar or Gapo (Ulises Nieto) to friends. Gapo lives with his mother (Dolores Heredia) in a small mining town named Mineral de la Luz, as his father has died and his brother is away, having joined Pancho Villa's army. One night, Huerta's army arrives to town while Gapo is playing in the countryside, and when he returns he finds his house robbed and his mother dead. Gapo is taken by Huerta's army in order to recruit him by force, but he is saved by a mysterious gunslinger named Juan Escopeta (Joaquín Cosío). Escopeta is heading north, and when Gapo learns this he decides to join Escopeta, as his brother's army is there. Escopeta reluctantly accepts, and the two begin a journey through the Mexican heartland, which they will try to cross despite the constant battles between Huerta's army and the rebel forces. And to make things worse, another gunslinger is after Escopeta's head.

Written by director Jorge A. Estrada himself, "La Revolución de Juan Escopeta" follows essentially the classic pattern of a road movie in which two very different characters, the idealist Gapo and the tough Juan Escopeta, will learn to work together and an unlikely friendship is formed. All with a quite appropriate Western setting. Perhaps it's not the most original plot line, but an interesting element is the fact that Estrada builds his story around several historical moments of the Mexican Revolution, as the two travelers find themselves involved in some of its major conflicts such as the Battle of Zacatecas. While not without problems, Estrada succeeds in developing convincingly his two main characters, whom through their epic adventure also struggle with their very own personal dramas. Gapo, eager to follow his brothers' steps, faces the reality of a war that keeps taking lives; while Juan meditates about his mercenary ways and rediscovers humanity in his relationship with Gapo, to whom he becomes a father figure.

Director Jorge A. Estrada's visual narrative is traditional yet effective, unfolding his story at a nice rhythm, balancing the mix of comedy, drama and adventure that makes the core of the plot; and all without betraying its Western roots, which are constantly felt not only in the visual imagery, but in the way it tackles more mature themes, after all, "La Revolución de Juan Escopeta" is set in the middle of a war. In fact, while an animated film aimed towards a younger audience, "La Revolución de Juan Escopeta" doesn't shy away from serious topics, with Gapo discovering that the reality of war is very different than the games he played with his friends. Unfortunately, while Estrada displays good skills as a storyteller, the work of animation done in the film is mediocre at best, downright awful at worst. The film is a classic 2D animation, with some CG enhancements; but while the character design is for the most part good, the quality of the animation is very poor in almost every aspect.

As a saving grace, the quality of the voice acting is for the most part quite effective. As the young Gapo, Ulises Nieto is good in the role of a young boy about to discover the world. Perhaps some of his expressions sound anachronic, though that's more a failure on the screenplay than on his acting. However, it's Joaquín Cosío whom steals the film as the taciturn gunslinger Juan Escopeta. A character that's more about attitude than anything else, Cosío achieves to give a well defined personality to the tired gunslinger. Bruno Bichir plays Cuervo, the mysterious gunslinger who's after Escopeta, and while his performance is good, it does get a bit over the top at times. Julieta Egurrola has a brief but important role in the film as a lonely nun protecting an abandoned church, and her voice work is pretty good. The rest of the cast is effective, though certainly less impressive. Perhaps the weakest link amongst the main cast is Dolores Heredia, who delivers a pretty poor performance as Gapo's mother.

Estrada's "La Revolución de Juan Escopeta" has many remarkable elements to its favor, beginning with a truly inspired screenplay that actually develops its characters and story without limiting itself to just looking cool or being funny. Granted, it has some moments of tedium, and at times it does feel a tad episodic, but as a whole, "La Revolución de Juan Escopeta" is a very engaging tale of friendship and loyalty. In fact, it's so good that it's actually a real tragedy how awful the quality of the animation is. Developed by Animex (creators of "La Leyenda de la Nahuala"), the work of 2D animation is mess that never really rises up to the level the screenplay deserved. And it's not really a problem in Estrada's directing, as in terms of narrative the film flows nicely, with Estrada picking the right angles to tell his story. The problem is simply in the execution of the animation, which seems to had been done cheaply to save money. To the point that makes one wonder how much better the film would be if it had been a live action movie and not an animated one.

Animated films are scarce in Mexican industry, a filmmaking technique that has never been fully explored, not even during the years of the so-called "Golden Age of Mexican Cinema". In recent times, this has changed and more and more Mexican studios are making attempts at producing an animated film. Unfortunately, the real classic of modern Mexican animation has not been produced yet. "La Revolución of Juan Escopeta" could had been this classic, but while it had a good screenplay, it just lacked quality in everything else. It's sad, because many times it's in the screenplay where most films have their Achilles' heel. In the end, if one manages to ignores the awfully quality of the animation, "La Revolución de Juan Escopeta" will reveal itself as a truly engaging and entertaining story.

6/10

Oni (1972)

Bunraku, a traditional form of puppet theatre, captivated the mind of a young Kihachiro Kawamoto, who decided to dedicate his life to the fine art of puppet making. However, it would not be the only thing that would fascinate the young Japanese artist. Years later, Kawamoto would discover the works of legendary Czech filmmaker Jirí Trnka, whose work in stop motion animation impressed Kawamoto so much that the puppet master decided to learn the craft. Kawamoto began working with another legend of animation, Tadahito Mochinaga, and later he traveled to Prague and met his hero, Jirí Trnka himself, in order to perfect his craft. Trnka would suggest Kawamoto to find inspiration in his own culture, and so combining what he learned from the Czech master with his background in Bunraku theatre, Kawamoto would produce several short films in which he would show Japanese culture to the world. "Oni", released in 1972, is the third of these independently produced short films that would earn Kawamoto a place in the history of animation.

"Oni", which can be translated as "Devil" or "Demon" (name in which the film is known in English) is the story of two brothers who live in the mountains with their old mother. The brothers are hunters, and their mother is very ill and frail due to her age. One night the two hunters decide to go deep into the woods in order to hunt deer. The brothers set traps for their prey, which they intend to kill with their arrows. While the younger of the brothers is setting up a trap near a tree, a pale white hand comes from above and grabs him from the hair, pulling him into the crop the tree. In panic, the captured hunter calls for help, and his older brother arrives with his bow and arrow ready to shoot. The shoot is difficult, but the hunter manages to save his brother, as the arrow severed the arm that was holding him. The two brothers check the amputated arm and discover it's a demon's arm. They decide to return home and take the arm with them. When they finally get home, the two hunters will make a shocking discovery, when they find that their mother is hurt, and her arm amputated.

As in most of his early shorts, the story of "Oni" was written by director Kihachiro Kawamoto himself, taking inspiration from ancient Japanese folklore. In "Oni", Kawamoto presents a fable which explores two main concepts: the fear and respect to the spirits of the woods, and most importantly, the fear of old age. In Kawamoto's "Oni", when age becomes too much for old people, they become demons willing to eat their own children. The demon in "Oni", originally a frail woman weakened by her old age, becomes a monster in order to devour her sons. However, while Kawamoto could make his story a full fledged horror tale, he actually makes of "Oni" a tragedy. After the horror has been overcame, what is left is an ominous sense of sadness. The woman's transformation is not only a horror, but a tragedy. It's not treated as something she willingly wants, but something that actually possesses her and dehumanizes her. This dehumanization of old people with age may be a commentary on the mental degeneration that old age can bring.

In "Oni", Kawamoto displays his craft at his best, showing not only his roots at Bunraku theatre, but also the great influence that Noh theatre had in his formative years. "Oni" works like a Noh play, though certainly, Kawamoto's film is anything but stagy. The camera-work is highly dynamic, and by creatively playing with light and shadows (work of cinematography by Minoru Tamura and Ken Yoshioka), Kawamoto gives his story a surreal atmosphere that suits perfectly the story's narrative style, which works like an ancient fable. In "Oni", Kawamoto creates one of his most impressive puppets in the Oni herself, which is based on the Japanese artistic representations of the demons. The stylish demonic face looks impressive when captured by the camera of Tamura and Yoshioka. The film is silent, and the story is narrated in intertitles. However, this aren't intertitles as those of classic silent cinema, but dynamic texts that move and fade following the film's visual design, flowing with its rhythm, being themselves an integral part of the film.

Visually breathtaking, and full of a haunting beauty, Kihachiro Kawamoto's "Oni" is a powerful fable that displays perfectly the craftsmanship of the legendary puppet maker. With its surreal cinematography and its brilliant music (a score in the traditional way by Seiji Tsuruzawa), "Oni" is almost like watching the traditional Japanese art forms come alive through the magic of cinema. Melancholic and ethereal, "Oni" is more than a supernatural horror film, it's a powerful drama that in barely 8 minutes presents the tragedy of losing oneself in old age. After "Oni", Kawamoto would continue working in several short films of the same style, in which he would tackle classic themes of Japanese folklore, creating several masterpiece of stop-motion animation in the process.

8/10
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Mest kinematograficheskogo operatora (1912)

Amongst the early animation pioneers, the name of Wladyslaw Starewicz stands as one of the most revolutionary animators of all time, as his work in puppetry and stop motion animation has proved to be enormously influential. Born in the Russian Empire (in what is now Lithuania) Starewicz entered animation while working at the Museum of Natural History in Kovno, back in 1910. Trying to make short educational documentaries for the museum, Starewicz found himself unable to film a battle between two stag beetles, which as nocturnal creatures weren't too keen of the lighting needed for filmmaking. An inspired Wladyslaw Starewicz decided to recreate it through stop motion animation and the result was "Lucanus Cervus". To this first puppet animation with insects followed many more, which earned Starewicz international acclaim thanks to the great care he put to his animation. Amongst his oeuvre, his most famous films remain his shorts with insects, of which the best known is a funny masterpieces titled "Mest kinematograficheskogo operatora" or "The Cameraman's Revenge".

In its barely 12 minutes of runtime, "Mest kinematograficheskogo operatora" tells the tale of Mr. and Mrs. Beetle, a normal looking marriage between insects. However, behind the apparent happiness of the Beetles household, Mrs. Beetle is having an affair with another insect while Mr. Beetle is at work. As soon as Mr. Beetle leaves the house, she calls her lover, an artist, to spend the afternoon with her. Nevertheless, the cuckold husband Mr. Beetle isn't exactly an example of fidelity himself, as he leaves work early to visit his favorite club, "The Gay Dragonlfy", where his mistress (a Dragonfly) sings and dances. However, a Grasshopper is also in love with the beautiful Miss Dragonfly, which results in him getting beaten by Mr. Beetle. However, Mr. Beetle doesn't know that the Grasshopper is a filmmaker, and he films Mr. Beetle's extramarital affair in order to have his revenge. Going back home, Mr. Beetle finds his wife's lover and also beats him out. After his violent outburst, Mr. Beetle decides to forgive Mrs. Beetle and takes her to the movies, not knowing that the cameraman is ready to show his film.

Written and directed by Wladyslaw Starewicz, "Mest kinematograficheskogo operatora" is apparently a pretty simple story about an adulterous couple (in fact a common topic in short comedies of the era), however, there's more than just that in Starewicz' film, as the movie also presents the possibility of film as evidence of an act. Cinema as a weapon of sorts as in a way, Mr. Grasshopper's camera becomes the instrument of his revenge revenge on Mr. Beetle. In his writing, Starewicz also shows a taste for irony in his sharp criticism of the hypocrisy of the social values of his time. This is best represented in the moment when Mr. Beetle discovers his wife's infidelity, as the cuckold husband becomes furious and, after beating the lover, shows his "generosity" and forgives his wife, even when it's already clear that he is not really an innocent beetle. Certainly, her posterior violent outburst is not caused by her husband's infidelity, but by his blatant hypocrisy.

However, beyond the film's touch of comedy (which is great), what truly makes "Mest kinematograficheskogo operatora" a remarkable movie is without a doubt the innovative use of puppet insects to tell the story. In "Mest kinematograficheskogo operatora" can be fully appreciated the great amount of care that filmmaker Wladyslaw Starewicz put into his projects, not only in the extraordinarily detailed props and costumes built for the movie (to the point that the Beetles wear boots), but in the extremely fluid stop motion animation he achieves. It's almost as if the insects were really riding motorbikes or operating a camera. Also, using purely visual narrative, Starewicz manages to give personality to his insects, he fully humanizes them in remarkable ways. This isn't an easy feat, because since Starewicz' puppets are real insects, they obviously lack facial expressiveness, so what Starewicz does is to use their actions to tell who these people are, showing an enormous understanding of cinema as a storytelling medium.

As written above, the work of Wladyslaw Starewicz would give the Russian filmmaker international acclaim, and the chance to keep improving his technique. Eventually, Starewicz would experiment with many other styles, including directing live action films (like "Noch pered Rozhdestvom"). The October revolution would briefly pause his career, as he and his family fled to Paris. It would be in France where Starewicz would polish his style and move towards a more surreal vein. Of great influence for animators across the globe, Starewicz' "Mest kinematograficheskogo operatora" remains a testament of its maker's great imagination and his great domain, not only of stop motion animation, but of cinema's purest visual narrative.

9/10
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Suchîmubôi (2004)

In the year 2004, Katsuhiro Ôtomo, writer and director of the enormously influential anime, "Akira" (1988), returned to film-making after almost 10 years since his last directorial effort ("Memorîzu" or "Memories"), with another epic story of action and science-fiction named "Suchîmubôi", literally "Steamboy". In this film, Ôtomo dives into the sci-fi sub-genre commonly known as "Steampunk", stories often set in the 19th century where highly advanced steam machines are the fantastic technology of the time creating alternative history and settings. The Steampunk sub-genre shares many similarities with its "literary parent", cyberpunk fiction, so the idea of having the creator of one of the most celebrated works of cyberpunk fiction, "Akira", tackling a steampunk story is particularly interesting. Ôtomo's background and these similarities between the sub-genres force an inevitable comparison to "Akira", but while "Steamboy" won't revolutionize anime the way "Akira" did, it's one of the best feature length animated films of the decade.

Set in Victorian Britain, "Suchîmubôi" is the story of Ray Steam (Anne Suzuki), a young kid from Manchester who spends his free time working at a factory and inventing steam machines following the example of his father Dr. Edward Steam (Masane Tsukayama) and his grandfather Dr. Lloyd Steam (Katsuo Nakamura), both renowned inventors working in America. One day, he receives a box from his grandfather containing a small spheric steam machine, with explicit orders of not giving it to anyone except to famed inventor Robert Stephenson (Kiyoshi Kodama). The young Ray marvels at the device, and wonders about his grandfather's mysterious instructions. However, soon he finds his answers when he receives the visit of agents from O'Hara, the company where his grandfather works, violently demanding the spheric machine. Ray's grandfather appears too, and helps Ray to escape with the sphere, making Ray to realize that the small machine contains a power beyond his imagination. And everyone wants it.

"Suchîmubôi" is by all accounts a classic example of Steampunk fiction as it takes a historical setting and gives it a spin by adding the element of fantastic super science. Written by Katsuhiro Ôtomo and Sadayuki Murai, "Suchîmubôi" uses the sub-genre's setting and elements to tell a story about science, its possibilities and specially its consequences if handled in a bad way. Ôtomo uses the characters of the Steam family to describe what he sees as the two possible uses of science, and makes a sharp (although heavy handed) criticism to our modern capitalist society. In this way, it shares some of "Akira"'s themes, but "Suchîmubôi" has a decidedly more optimist tone, as it's essentially a story about the birth of modern science (in an exaggerated fantasy way of course) where mankind is still on time to learn the enormous responsibility of using science. Overall it's a pretty straight forward story of action and adventure, but the use of this themes through the movie makes the story really captivating.

As expected, the animation of the film is flawless, with a great (and often unnoticeable) combination of both traditional 2-D and 3-D animation that bring the incredible Steampunk machines to life. The movie has an exiting visual design, mix of real classic Victorian designs and Ôtomo's very own sci-fi style, paying honest tribute to the pulp adventures and Victorian literature that form the basis of the Steampunk sub-genre. Despite his limited output since "Akira", director Katsuhiro Ôtomo's visual narrative seems to be in top form, as "Suchîmubôi" has an exciting rhythm, pretty much in tone with the adventure inherent in the story. And this is another of the differences with "Akira": subtexts aside, "Suchîmubôi" is first and foremost, a tale of adventure, and to this effect Ôtomo keeps a fast pace that for his set pieces. And those set pieces truly showcase Ôtomo's great eye for visual flare, particularly in the epic finale, which is one of the best staged scenes in an animated film of the last years.

The voice work is of great quality, as director Katsuhiro Ôtomo has reunited a particularly strong cast for his film. Anne Suzuki makes an outstanding job as Ray, not only because the character is male (and she is female), but because the character is old enough to his voice be "manly". Suzuki makes Ray very convincing, as the young kid discovering the benefits (and dangers) of science. Masane Tsukayama plays Ray's father, giving a certain dignity and power to the character and avoiding most of the clichés this kind of character tend to have. On the same tone is Katsuo Nakamura, who in turn plays Ray's grandfather. Nakamura's eccentric character is effectively portrayed by the experienced actor, and is one of the highlights of the film. Finally, Manami Konishi plays Scarlett O'Hara, the young heir of the O'Hara company, making this spoiled little brat (by the way, a more than obvious reference to "Gone with the wind") annoying yet likable enough to make her a fine counterpart to Ray.

Probably the film's biggest flaw is that it's simply not "Akira", meaning that given that Katsuhiro Ôtomo's 1988 movie was such an important landmark in the history of anime, the expectations generated by "Suchîmubôi" were probably impossible to live up to. However, this doesn't necessarily mean that "Suchîmubôi" is a bad movie, it's simply a different experience than "Akira". In a way, "Suchîmubôi" is a simpler tale than "Akira", but this doesn't mean it's less remarkable. "Suchîmubôi"'s epic scope, apparent optimism and upbeat, colorful atmosphere doesn't mean it's only for kids. It simply reflects the timeframe in which it's set. A time where science is seen as the future, with great optimism and faith. And yet, despite this optimism, deep inside "Suchîmubôi" deals with the same dark subject that "Akira": Man must learn to use the science before it's too late. In this aspect it could be seen as a prequel of sorts (set several centuries before) to the world of "Akira", as the science in "Steamboy" seems to be getting advanced at a very fast pace.

In the end, the only real flaw of the movie is that despite having a runtime of 2 hours, the film feels rushed, and leaves one wanting for more; as if Ôtomo had not been able to condense his story in a tighter way, and often it seems that the plot is too complex for its own good. Anyways, while certainly less impressive than "Akira", there's a lot to enjoy in "Suchîmubôi", which stands as a fine piece of animation by its own merit. Director Katsuhiro Ôtomo spend almost 10 years conceiving and developing "Suchîmubôi", and the effort certainly payed off. With its excellent animation and captivating story, "Steamboy" is an excellent introduction to Katsuhiro Ôtomo's work. It's not going to change anime again, but Ôtomo's movie is still definitely one of the best.

8/10
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Blood: The Last Vampire (2000)

Since the 1970s, Japanese animation experience a tremendous growth in popularity thanks to the worldwide success of artists like Osamu Tezuka, Go Nagai and Yoshiyuki Tomino. Anime, the Japanese word for"animation", became the de facto term for the Japanese style of animation, and a synonymous for its very particular visual characteristics and wide array of thematics. Manga, the extremely popular Japanese comics, have been the source for countless anime films and TV series, thanks to the fact that adaptations of popular manga often guarantee an already captive audience. However, near the end of the 20th century, producer Mitsuhisa Ishikawa decided that instead of following that route, he wanted an original concept. To do it, he recruited famous anime producer Mamoru Oshii (of "Kôkaku kidôtai" fame), and settled on a concept by Kenji Kamiyama. With director Hiroyuki Kitakubo on board, the project became "Blood: The Last Vampire", a horror short film intended to break new ground in its genre. And, more or less, it did.

"Blood: The Last Vampire" is set in 1966, a couple of months before the Vietnam War, in the American Yokota Air Base located in Japan during the American occupation. A mysterious young girl, Saya (Youki Kudoh), enters the Yokota Air Base posing as a high school student but in reality, she is actually the secret weapon of an organization code named Red Shield. Armed with a katana, Saya's mission is simple: to destroy the vampire monsters known as Chiropterans. Saya's abilities as a vampire hunter come from the fact that she is the only remaining original vampire, and her relationship with Red Shield is more a partnership against a common enemy than a true collaboration. Agent David (Joe Romersa) is Saya's contact with Red Shield, and only human she respects. At school, Saya discovers that two of her classmates are vampires, and are plotting to take over the Air Base. Naturally a massive battle between the monsters and the vampire hunter begins, with Red Shield agents and the U.S. Air Force getting in the middle.

With a screenplay written by Kenji Kamiyama and characters designed by Katsuya Kerada, "Blood: The Last Vampire" brings a quite different take on the vampire myth, with the Chiropterans being monsters of unknown original able to transform into demonic bat-like creatures of great strength. The real vampire of the film is Saya, the sword wielding vampire hunter whose origins remain a mystery. In fact, this is actually one of the film's problems: basically everything is clouded by mystery, and not much is explained in the film's 48 minutes. Kamiyama's concept is certainly interesting, a young girl wielding a katana happens to be the last known real vampire, and is hired (used?) by the government to destroy the Chiropterans. Unfortunately, that is basically all that is known about the subject. What is known, is that Saya is unbelievably good at her job, and the battles she has with the Chiropterans are certainly the film's highlight. "Blood: The Last Vampire" is a highly dynamic action-packed film, but the mystery, while intriguing, is also a tad unsatisfying.

Where "Blood: The Last Vampire" succeeds is in the stylish visual aspect it has. Director Hiroyuki Kitakubo creates a haunting work of art with a very attractive visual design. Combining traditional and digital animation, the artwork in "Blood: The Last Vampire" is impressive, specially during the action sequences, which showcase a dark, gritty violence that still retain a certain beauty in their conception. The visual composition and overall mise-en-scène is particularly good. The music, by Yoshihiro Ike, adds a lot of atmosphere to the movie, fitting nicely the dark tone and atmosphere that Kitakubo was aiming for. However, the top-notch work of animation and Kitakubo's visual imagery are not enough to make for the lack of development the story has. It is true that often good stories are the ones that are kept simple, but "Blood: The Last Vampire" takes this simplicity to the extreme, and what results is a superbly animated piece that lacks the substance that would give a better constructed story.

The problem is that basically, Kamiyama and Kitakubo introduce a wide array of concepts that, while interesting, are never fully developed. From the mysterious Chiropterans to Saya's origins, not to mention Red Shield's real motives and the nature of its relationship with Saya, everything remains shrouded in mystery; and while this works nicely at keeping the intrigue high during the film's runtime, the lack of a proper conclusion leaves everything as a very unsatisfying mess. No answers, no solutions, just stylish and impressively animated action. Even the possibility of political commentary (given that the film is set in U.S.-occupied Japan) gets forgotten as are the several subplots that are hinted by the film. On a more positive note, the voice acting is particularly good, with Youki Kudoh delivering a very good performance as Saya. Interestingly, "Blood: The Last Vampire" was not dubbed, but actually produced almost entirely in English (as more than half the characters are American).

Unfortunately, "Blood: The Last Vampire" ends up being a mixed bag. The animation is flawless, and the visual design is quite attractive and interesting. But a the same time, in terms of story is a bit lacking and ultimately unsatisfying. The fact that it is a short film has nothing to do with this, as more care should had been taken to condense and develop the concept even in the shorter runtime. Because as it is, it can't help but feeling like an unfinished concept. Granted, a quite cool, original and interesting one, but still an unfinished concept in spite of that. Certainly, "Blood: The Last Vampire" has more positive elements than negative, but it still is a proof that amazing animation is not the only thing necessary for a great anime. The story is still essential.

7/10
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The Simpsons Movie (2007)

Very few American sitcoms (in fact perhaps none) have had the degree of success as "The Simpsons", the animated show created by Matt Groening that since its debut as a series in 1989, has become not only one of the most influential TV shows ever made, but also an icon of modern pop-culture, and technically a reflection of Western society. Originally a series of shorts that were part of "The Tracey Ullman Show" that chronicled the lifestyle of a dysfunctional family (Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie Simpson), the shorts were soon adapted into a half-hour series and so the legend was born. Through the years, the Simpson family won fans around the world thanks to the sharp writing of its stories and its very special brand of satire. A movie was always in plans, but it seemed a dream that would never get materialized. Even when the quality of the scripts began to decay, the dream of a "Simpsons movie" was still there. And now, almost 20 years after the show debuted as a series, "The Simpsons Movie" was released.

Everything begins when rock band Green Day are killed at an accident caused by the pollution in Lake Springfield, which prompts Lisa Simpson (Yeardley Smith) to convince the town to clean the lake. The lake gets considerably cleaner, but a distracted Homer Simpson (Dan Castellaneta) throws the feces of his adopted pig into the lake, with terrible environmental results. Noticing this, Russ Cargill (Albert Brooks), head of the Environmental Protection Agency, manipulates President Schwarzenegger (Harry Shearer) to use an unorthodox measure to keep Springfield's pollution contained: to enclose the town in a large glass dome. When Homer is found responsible for the town's doom, the townspeople decide to lynch him, but the Simpsons manage to escape from the dome and head to Alaska. Out of the dome, the family discovers plans to completely destroy Springfield, so Marge (Julie Kavner) and the kids decide to return and try to save it. Homer is against the idea, so Marge is forced to leave him behind. Abandoned, Homer will have to decide what to do to save himself.

"The Simpsons Movie" had been in development for several years, as this wasn't the first attempt to make a movie about the poplar yellow family. The screenplay that eventually became "The Simpsons Movie" began as an idea by Groening that he shared to the team of writers assembled for the movie. Along Groening, 10 writers from previous seasons of "The Simpsons" joined this team, including names such as James L. Brooks, Ian Maxtone-Graham, Mike Scully, Matt Selman and Jon Vitti among others, in hopes of the recapturing the spirit from the "classic" seasons of the show. And more or less they got it right, as the film is certainly an improvement over the current state of the TV series. Stretching the TV format to film, "The Simpsons Movie" has a bit more focus on the plot than on the characters, as it must sustain a narrative beyond the half-hour episode; nevertheless, the whole thing is filled with great comedy that manages to retain the same acid, ironic humor that made the TV series such a cherished show.

Starting as an animator for the first "Simpsons" shorts, director David Silverman has been with the family since the very beginning. Now that he's made himself a career as a filmmaker (with 2000's "The Road to El Dorado" and 2001's "Monsters, Inc." in his resumé), Silverman returns to Springfield to direct the film. Responsible for several of the series' best episodes, Silverman adds to the film an energy that seems to be missing in the later seasons, as well as that care for characterization that was a key factor in his days as a director for the show. As written above, the screenplay focuses a lot more on the story than on characters, but Silverman wisely manages to give them their proper place as he seems to be aware that in the end, it's neither the plot nor the jokes what makes "The Simpsons" great, but the humanity of the characters, and the power of their emotions. For example, in some scenes, Silverman makes the love in the relationship between Homer and Marge more than believable. He makes it almost real.

As in the TV show, the voice cast is really something special, taking the art of voice acting to whole new levels. The familiar voices of Dan Castellaneta, Julie Kavner, Nancy Cartwright, Yeardley Smith, Hank Azaria, and Harry Shearer are back and showcase the best of their talents in the film. Kavner specially is one special actress, as her performance as Marge Simpson in the film is easily her best job as TV's favorite mom to date. It's really amazing how emotional her performance gets and how natural it seems for her to become Marge. Same could be said of Castellaneta as Homer although to be honest, Kavner overshadows everyone else. The multiple talents of Azaria and Shearer are still at their best, although I found that roles of their characters weren't as big as they should. Albert Brooks is back as another super villain, and once again his presence is more than welcome in the film. As in the show, there are several guest stars that make cameo appearances in the film, like Green Day or Tom Hanks, but fortunately, they don't steal the focus of the film.

Unfortunately, "The Simpsons Movie" is not without its flaws, and a couple of them are pretty bothersome. The first and most notorious is perhaps the expected detail in every adaptation from a TV show: it can't help but being nothing more than an extended episode. Sure, the plot is bigger and more on the narrative of a film, but it's still one big "The Simpsons" episode. Fortunately, it's one good big episode, but those expecting something beyond the usual will be disappointed. And this is related to the second fatal flaw: the unavoidable feeling that a movie as expected as this should had been precisely more than a big, extended episode. "The Simpsons" was breakthrough television when it came out, and even today it's still breakthrough from time to time, so its arrival to the big screen should had been one big event, one unrepeatable chance of taking "The Simpsons" style of comedy to a whole new level. And it seems that the writers decided to play safe and deliver the familiar. They did it really great, but it wasn't the big event it could had been.

And in my opinion, it's that feeling of lost potential what prevents "The Simpsons" from being a masterpiece. It's not a bad film by any means, it is in fact a great comedy, and one that truly recaptures that classic style of "The Simpsons" early years; but it could had been something spectacular, something outstanding, a real classic. Perhaps this is just me nitpicking, but I can't help but feel that "The Simpsons Movie" could had been an unforgettable journey if the makers of the film had dared to break the rules and go beyond what was achieved by the legendary TV show. In the end, "The Simpsons Movie" is a remarkable comedy, and one that no fan of the TV show should miss. But it could had been more. Much more.

7/10

Buy "The Simpsons Movie" (2007)

Skeleton Frolics (1937)

In 1929, director Walt Disney and animator Ub Iwerks changed the face of animation with the release of the very first installment of their "Silly Symphonies" series, "The Skeleton Dance". Iwerks and Disney had been collaborating together since the early 20s, in Disney's "Laugh-O-Gram" cartoon series; however, their friendship suffered a tremendous blow when Iwerks accepted an offer by a competitor to leave Disney and start his own animation studio. That was the birth of Celebrity Productions, where Iwerks continued developing his style and technique (and where he created the character of Flip the Frog). While his work kept the same high quality, it wasn't really popular and by 1936 the studio was closed. Later that year, Iwerks was hired by Columbia Pictures, and Iwerks decided to return to his old skeletons for another dance, this time in color.

1937's "Skeleton Frolics" is essentially, a remake of the 1929 classic "The Skeleton Dance", the movie that borough him fame and fortune. Like that short film, it is set on an abandoned graveyard, where at midnight the creatures of the night come alive and begin to play. The dead rise from their coffins, ready for the show that's about to begin, as a group of skeletons has formed an orchestra, and begin to play a happy tune. Now, it's not easy to be a musician made of just bones, as some of the orchestra members have problems with their body parts, however, the band manages to put a good show and another group of skeletons begin to dance. A lovely couple of them faces the same problems that troubled the orchestra: it's hard to dance with loose body parts. Everything ends at dawn, and just when the sun is about to rise again, the skeletons run towards their graves.

Directed and animated by Ub Iwerks himself, "Skeleton Frolics" follows faithfully the pattern set by "The Skeleton Dance" years before, although with a crucial difference: Iwerks did the whole film in Technicolor. The bright tonalities allowed Iwerks to create a more visually appealing film, and also to use the many new techniques he had been practicing since leaving Disney, creating even better effects of depth and dynamism than those he conceived before. It is certainly a more experimental film than "The Skeleton Dance", although sadly, this doesn't mean it's necessarily a better film. For starters, the film is practically identical to the one he did with Disney, with the only differences being the music (more on that later) and the color effects. It looks beautiful, no doubt about it, but it definitely feels kind of unoriginal after all.

However, it is not the unoriginality of the concept what truly hurts the film (after all, Iwerks executes it in a wonderful way), but the fact that the musical melody created by Joe DeNat for the film is pretty uninteresting and lacks the charming elegance and whimsical fun of the one done by Carl W. Stalling for "The Skeleton Dance". In other words, while DeNat's tune is effective and appropriate for the theme, it's easy to forget about it rapidly while Stalling's song has a unique personality that makes it unforgettable. Being a musical film, this is of high importance, and so the mediocrity of the music brings down Iwerk's flawless work of animation. Personally, I think that with a better musical accompaniment, "Skeleton Frolics" would be remembered as fondly as "The Skeleton Dance despite not being as groundbreaking, as it's still a fun film to watch.

It's kind of sad that most of the work Iwerks did after leaving Disney is now forgotten due to his poor success, however, it must be said that if Iwerks lacked the popularity of Disney or Fleischer (Disney's main rival), he did not lack the quality of those companies' films. It was probably just a case of bad luck what made the man who gave life to Disney's mouse for the first time to face failure out of Disney. Despite its shortcomings, "Skeleton Frolics" is a very funny and visually breathtaking film, that while not exactly the most original and fresh film (one just can't help but thinking of "The Skeleton Dance" while watching it), it definitely reminds us that Iwerk's skeletons are still here to haunt us, and inspire us.

8/10


Buy "Skeleton Frolics" (1937)

The Skeleton Dance (1929)

It was in 1928 when sound entered the realm of motion pictures and with it a new age arrived to the young medium and the conventions of an art form were changed forever. This new technology, that allowed movies to be able to have their own musical score independent of the theater's orchestra, entered the mind of a young film director and animator named Walt Disney, who had been producing short animated films with the help of the brilliant cartoonist Ub Iwerks. Disney decided to take advantage of the novelty of sound and create a series of short musical animations to distribute along their Mickey Mouse cartoons (which also began to be produced with sound), in which they would be able to experiment with new techniques, characters and ideas. He named the series, "Silly Symphonies", and the very first one of them, 1929's "The Skeleton Dance", would revolutionize animation forever.

In "The Skeleton Dance", the action is set on an abandoned graveyard during a windy night under the full moon. It is the perfect night for the creatures of the night, and so the bats fly from the belfry, the spiders go out for a walk, and an owl watches scared the action that's about to begin: the dead rise from their graves, and they are ready to dance. A skeleton comes out first, scaring a couple of cats who were fighting, and then he calls his friends, other skeletons who are willing to play some music and celebrate. Using their bones as musical instruments, the Skeletons play a haunting tune, dance to the music, and even dance Ring Around the Rosie, having fun until the moon hides and the new day begins, because as soon as the rooster appears to announce that it's morning, the Skeletons must return to their graves, and prepare themselves for the next time.

Created by Ub Iwerks and Walt Disney, "The Skeleton Dance" is, as its tag-line says, a talking picture novelty in which audiences where able to witness a good song accompanied by an animated film, pretty much similar to what we now know as a musical video. What makes the movie amazing is the way it perfectly mixes the horror atmosphere of its setting with the whimsical comedy that made Walt Disney Productions' short films so popular with the audiences. Skulls, bats, cats and spiders make an apparition in the movie, in what could be the perfect scenario for a horror film, but this time the skeletons only want to have fun. Carl W. Stalling, composer of the film's song (and another influential figure in the history of animation), creates in "The Skeleton Dance" one of the best Disney tunes ever, perfectly putting in his music that mix of horror and humor that the short film embodies.

Ub Iwerks' art shines through the film, and Disney makes sure to take the most advantage of his friend's talent. As written above, they saw the "Silly Symphonies" as a way to experiment, and "The Skeleton Dance" showcases Iwerks and his team making a highly dynamic film, as well as creating pretty impressive sequences where perspective is put to great use. It's also very imaginative the many things they do with their skeletons, specially when they made them use the things found in the cemetery as musical instruments (including cats, and later, their own bones). The choreography of the Skeleton dance is very funny, and one gets the feeling that this group of young animators were truly having fun when making this little film. In many ways, "The Skeleton Dance" was way ahead of its time, and includes elements that years later would be part of the horror genre.

Among Disney's early films, "The Skeleton Dance" is one of enormous importance, as thanks to its big success Disney was able to produce more cartoons of his established characters. It also produced many imitators (WB's "Merry Melodies" and MGM's "Happy Harmonies" being the best of them) and a completely new style of short animations. Sadly, the friendship between Disney and Iwerks would be broken and Iwerks abandoned Disney in 1930 to open his own studio and later to work at Columbia Pictures (where in 1937 he remade "The Skeleton Dance" in color, under the name of "Skeleton Frolics"). While he never found the same success he had with Disney, Ub Iwerks' work proved to be among the most influential in the history of animation, becoming the teacher of other masters like Chuck Jones, and even now, animators today study the magic of Ub Iwerks and his dancing skeletons.

10/10



Buy "The Skeleton Dance (1929) and more of Disney's early shorts

Beowulf (2007)

Ever since the year of 1995 saw the release of Pixar's "Toy Story, the first computer-animated feature film, a whole new way of creating animated movies was born, as while computers were already used in traditionally animated films, now they could be used to create animated feature length films. And just like traditional animation has developed several techniques (like Rotoscoping), 3D animation also developed its own styles, like photorealism, which attempts to mimic real life employing techniques such as motion capture. Director Robert Zemeckis has been working with this style for a while, with his first animated film being 2004's "The Polar Express", which showed the potential of motion capture. His next animated feature was also based on the motion capture technique, but this time he used it to recreate England's oldest epic narration: the Norse legend of "Beowulf".

Following closely the epic poem, the movie chronicles the story of how a monster named Grendel (Crispin Glover) terrorized the famous mead hall Heorot, slaughtering the people of danish King Hrothgar (Anthony Hokins) and bringing death to his lands. Hearing of the problems at Heorot, a Geatish hero named Beowulf (Ray Winstone) arrives to Hrothgar's mead hall with his men, claiming to be the world's greatest hero and the only one able to kill the monster. King Hrothgar decides to give Beowulf and his men a chance to prove their courage and allows them to battle Grendel, however, this fight will prove to be decisive in Beowulf's life, as not only he'll face a monster beyond his imagination, he'll also be forced to confront his inner demons when he meets Grendel's mother (Angelina Jolie), and to make things worse, he'll fall in love with the King's beautiful wife, Wealthow (Robin Wright Penn).

As written above, "Beowulf" follows the Old English poem quite faithfully, in the sense that it covers all the major battles and challenges that Beowulf faced. However, writers Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary use the poem's outline to add a back-story that ties all the poem's events, and at the same time explores the theme of the difference between man and myth in heroic tales. This adds an interesting complexity to the poem's characters (which are more archetypes than real persons), as while we do watch Beowulf as the mythic heroic warrior the poem talks about, we also see him as man whose greatest wish is to be remembered as a hero, and often falls in the temptation of exaggerating his feats. It's a take that many purists of the poem may dislike, but personally I found the script to be the strongest part of the film. The touch of sly humor is also another welcomed surprise in the screenplay.

Director Robert Zemeckis makes a good job at making the Norse legend come to life again in animated form, recreating in a very detailed way the atmosphere of myth and magic that the epic tale conveys. While Gaiman and Avery's script takes some liberties with the original story, Zemeckis makes sure to keep that sense of thrill and adventure that has made "Beowulf" to be a captivating story for over a thousand years. The technology employed in the film is definitely a big improvement over the work done in "The Polar Express", and it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call "Beowulf" the best motion capture film ever done so far, however, Zemeckis' decision to use an extreme photorealism in the design (to the point that some actors look exactly as their real counterparts) isn't really as fortunate, as the closer the characters look to real life, the easier it gets to to spot flaws in them.

Now, this is not really a problem of the cast, as while they aren't all excellent, for the most part they all make an efficient job in their roles. As the heroic and proud Beowulf, Ray Winstone is very good and makes a very human portrait of the mythic warrior, taking advantage of the fact that the script has humanized his character a bit. As his best friend Wiglaf, Brendan Gleeson shines despite the small size of his role, and he gets some of the best lines in the film. Anthony Hopkins is good as Hrothgar, but nothing really surprising, and the same could be said of Robin Wright Penn as Wealthow. However, Crispin Glover steals the show as Grendel, as he manages to deliver a poignant performance behind the his computer generated facade. Angelina Jolie is also very good in her role, although her accent wasn't really the most appropriate.

With a very good cast, the best technology for computer animation and on top of that a solid script, one would think that "Beowulf" could be a flawless example of animated art, but sadly, something just doesn't work completely. The problem, in my opinion, is that once again Zemeckis seems to be too enamored of his technology, and in his choice of making an extremely realist animated version, he has put the animation's flaws on display to everyone. What I mean is that this search for realism brings to the spotlight a major problem: the quality of the animation doesn't look constant, as while some characters do look amazingly like the actors that play them (Grendel's mother being the most notorious), others look extremely fake (Wiglaf and Hrothgar for example), so the contrast between them is glaringly obvious, and that's really bad.

And this leads to another problem, or more precisely, a question: if Zemeckis wanted such an extreme photorealism in his film, why not use real actors to do it? But despite this, "Beowulf" is not only an interesting experiment, if one gets over the idea that it's an animated film, one will find that behind the flashy graphics there's a powerful story, a story that has been thrilling our imagination for centuries. And still can do that and more.

7/10

Buy "Beowulf" (2007)

Bottles (1936)

In 1929, Walt Disney Productions began to produce one of the most influential series of short films of all time, "Silly Symphonies". Unlike Disney's other famous series of shorts ("Mickey Mouse"), the "Silly Symphonies" shorts wasn't about the company's famous recurring characters, but were more about experimenting with new techniques and styles of animation. This approach made "Silly Symphonies" very popular, and soon other animation teams began to follow that approach, like Warner Bros' "Merrie Melodies". Among the best of the shorts influenced by "Silly Symphonies" was definitely "Happy Harmonies", a series of musical short films created by former WB employees, Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, which was distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Produced in Technicolor, "Happy Harmonies" showed a technical proficiency at times as good as the shorts by Warner and Disney, and 1936's "Bottles" is a good example of this.

The story of "Bottles" is pretty simple: During a dark stormy night, a Druggist is working late making what seems to be a new kind of poison, as the bottle has its top shaped as a skull. The druggist falls asleep, and at this moment, the Bottle of poison comes alive, using a potion to shrink the druggist to the size of a bottle. The druggist awakes, shocked after being magically miniaturized, but his shock becomes marvel as he discovers the secret world of his bottles, who by night come alive and begin to sing. Baby bottles crying in harmony, dancing Scotch whiskey, and two bottles of salt water who dance like sailors are just some of the many bottles who participate in the dancing and the singing with the druggist. However, not everything is fun and party, as the deadly bottle of poison has a secret plan for the druggist, and recruits the witch-hazel and the Spirits of Ammonia for his evil scheme.

Like most of the "Happy Harmonies", the movie was written and produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising, with the music and the songs written by their regular collaborator at MGM, Scott Bradley. As usual in their cartoons, the movie is based on the concept of inanimate things coming to life, in surreal experiences where the inanimate things sing, dance and behave as real persons. Anyways, inn "Bottles" they show a lot more of imagination and wit in the creation of the characters, as while at times the link between the bottle and their persona is pretty obvious, there are a couple where the connection between them is a very creative and unexpected one. The comedy is done in lighthearted fun, although the plot about the Poison bottle has a nice touch of the horror as it's filled with a good dose of suspense. Finally, Bradley's songs are fantastic, and some of the best in an MGM cartoon.

Produced in wonderful Technicolor, "Bottles" is a beautifully looking cartoon that makes excellent use of the variety of colors that the Technicolor process allowed director Hugh Harman to use. Harman brings Bradley's song come alive in remarkably well designed musical numbers where the highly detailed bottles (resembling popular brands of those years) act like singers and dancers in the film's choreographs. The visual look of the movie retains the same style that Harman and Ising had been developed since their years at Warner Brothers, with very fluid and dynamic animation and, as written above, carefully designed characters. Also, given the horror elements of the story, the directors add a nice touch of Gothic atmosphere to the movie that works perfectly within the film, with the serious looking "monster bottles" making good contrast with the "good" bottles.

While there's a lot to praise in "Bottles", it also carries with what was the bane of the musical "Happy Harmonies" films done without Bosko, their signature character: the plots were pretty much the same. So, even when "Bottles" does include some of the cleverest character design of all the "Happy Harmonies" films, when one has seen a film from this series, the rest will invariably look like repetitive. However, if one can get past these flaw, "Bottles" is a very rewarding cartoon, as it manages to play on the many stereotypes of the culture of 1930s without being insulting or disrespectful in any way (as some other short films from those years were). Showing a remarkable use of the Technicolor process, "Bottles" is all about good fun, good music, and of course, a few scares.

8/10

Hasta los Huesos (2001)

Through the history of Mexican cinema, animated films never had a really strong presence until the decade of the 80s, when the relative success of José Luis Moro's "Katy" (a co-production with Spain) renewed the interest in animated films. Granted, there had been many attempts of making animation before, but there was never a real tradition of animated films in the Mexican film industry. Still, the country's many economical troubles stopped the development of animation once again until the 90s when the films by Carlos Carrera ("El Héroe") and the team of René Castillo and Antonio Urrutia ("Sin Sostén") proved that there was still talented animators in Mexico working independently. The 21st century has brought once again a renewed interest in Mexican animation, with many new films done in its first decade. Castillo's second film, "Hasta Los Huesos", it's among the best of this new generation.

"Hasta Los Huesos" begins with the burial of a recently deceased man (Bruno Bichir). In a lonely afternoon, the undertakers carry his coffin while his widow cries hopelessly and a kid who was passing by watches the whole scene. After the coffin has been buried, the man suddenly awakes, however, he is not really alive, as the passage to an underground world opens at the bottom of his coffin. The man falls through the passage and lands in what seems to be a strange stage. As he gets up, he notices that he is now in some kind of bohemian bar where everyone is a skeleton and it seems that the party has just started. Confused, the man walks to the bar, bothered by a worm that keeps biting him and sad as he realizes that he is now dead. As a drink is served to him, a beautiful woman's voice begins to sing, it's the Catrina (Eugenia León), Death herself, who is here to help him understand that to be dead is not so bad.

Known in English as "Down to the Bone" (although it's not an exact translation), "Hasta Los Huesos" was written by director René Castillo himself, who inspired by the Mexican tradition of Day of the Dead, built up a story that thematically could be considered as a loose sequel to his previous film. While "Sin Sostén" was about a man choosing to die, this film deals with the theme of accepting death, as our hero here refuses to accept that death has already taken him away. Like in his previous film, Castillo uses a lighthearted tone of comedy to deal with this dark and melancholic subject, and once again he succeeds in creating a charming bittersweet fable that culminates in a fantastic use of the haunting traditional Mexican song titled "La Llorona" ("The Crying Woman"). Through its 12 minutes of duration, the plot unfolds nicely, and without dialogs (other than the song lyrics), Castillo manages to tell more with images than with words.

"Hasta Los Huesos" follows the same style in both character and set design that Castillo used in his previous film, but this time the result looks a lot more polished, with an even more fluid animation and more complex movements. The cinematography is again in charge of Sergio Ulloa, who once again makes a wonderful job in capturing Castillo's macabre fantasy world with great skill. Clearly inspired by the Day of the Dead festivities, the visual look of "Hasta Los Huesos" has a distinctive Mexican touch that gives the movie a special charm, as Castillo's vision of the underworld resembles the visual style of such celebrations, mainly the zinc etchings by Mexican printmaker José Guadalupe Posada. Despite the macabre themes, "Hasta Los Huesos" is certainly less dark than "Sin Sostén", as Castillo seems to prefer comedy over drama and have a more optimistic view of life this time.

With an astonishing visual look, beautiful music (performed by Mexican rock band "Café Tacuba") and a cleverly written story, "Hasta Los Huesos" is a wonderful animated movie that gives a glimpse of what animation in Mexico could become one day with the appropriate support, and that "New Mexican Cinema" can be more than urban dramas and touch genres such as fantasy and horror. Together with filmmaker Antonio Urrutia, René Castillo proved that clay animation wasn't out of the wave of new Mexican cinema that came out in the 90s. Three years later, Castillo returns and creates a masterpiece that infinitely surpasses what he achieved in his first short. Hopefully, his talents will create a feature length animated movie someday, as if "Hasta Los Huesos" is an indication of the future of Mexican animation, the future looks good.

9/10

Sin sostén (1998)

Despite its troubled history, Mexican cinema has had a long and interesting life since the first motion picture was shown in the country back in 1895. While it has been the source of several masterpieces and the industry where many directors and cinematographers showed their talents, Mexican cinema hasn't had a regular development and the lack of presence of animation in Mexican films is the best example of this. Through its more than 100 years of history, very few animated films have been released, as the few artists that dedicate their talents to this style find little aid to develop their projects. However, lately this seems to be changing and film animation is beginning to grow in the country. One of its most ardent supporters has been René Castillo, who along director Antonio Urrutia, debuted in 1998 with the clay animation short film "Sin Sostén".

In "Sin Sostén" (literally "No Support"), is the story of what happens the night a man decides to kill himself by jumping from the apartment building where he lives. Sad and disappointed with his life, our hero climbs to the top of the building in the middle of the night and prepares to jump. As he climbs up by the fire escape, some neighbors are awaken by the noise he makes but few realize that this man is serious in his intention. At the top of the building, only the images of two giant billboards witness his actions: the cowboy in the cigarette's advertisement, and the voluptuous model in the one for lingerie. After contemplating the sexy figure of the model for the last time, or hero jumps, but the model doesn't want him to die, so she comes alive and asks the cowboy to use his lasso in order to help her save the poor guy.

Written by directors René Castillo and Antonio Urrutia, "Sin Sostén" is a very good black comedy that, with a nice touch of fantasy, manages to be very funny despite the sad themes it explores. While the plot is very simple, it makes an interesting point on how our hero, despite living in a highly populated city, can only find comfort and help in the fictional persons of the billboards while his neighbors only watch him jump to his death with indifference. Exploring themes such as loneliness and hopelessness in a comedy is hard, but Castillo and Urrutia make it work smoothly without many problems, developing a charming, yet bittersweet story filled with many good gags and some unpredictable plot twists that give it a different style. It's also worth to point out that "Sin Sostén" also means "without brassier" in Spanish, making a double-entendre that nicely gives away the mood of this short film.

Both Castillo and Urrutia make an excellent job directing this movie, with Castilo focusing on the animation process and Urrutia commanding the narrative of the film. The artistic work done by Castillo's team is simply gorgeous, with a very fluid animation and a very appropriate character design that suits nicely the touch of fantasy the film has. The influence of modern clay animators like Henry Selick can be felt, but with Sergio Ulloa's excellent cinematography, Castillo gives the movie a very Mexican touch, creating an atmosphere that, while fantastic, still feels like the Mexican urban landscape. However, if Castillo's work of animation is the heart of the film, Urrurita's directing is the soul, as his subtle handling of the different emotions in "Sin Sostén" (not unlike what he did in his previous work, 1996 short film, "De Tripas, Corazón") is what makes the film so special.

It took the directors a year and a half to finish the movie, but in the end all their efforts were worthy. In a country without a real tradition of film animation, "Sin Sostén" proved that it wasn't late for Mexico to begin one, and that there were many talented animators interested in taking their art to cinema. While Urrutia went on to direct his first feature length movie (2002's "Asesino en Serio"), René Castillo followed "Sin Sostén" with another animated short film, 2001's "Hasta Los Huesos" (again with Sergio Ulloa), a movie in which he took what he did in this film to the next level. It'll be nice to see how Mexican animation develops in the following years. Melancholic, yet strangely optimistic, this bittersweet short tale of fantasy is a short film that definitely deserves to be seen.

8/10

El Héroe (1994)

During the first half of the decade of the 90s, Mexican cinema experienced a resurgence that seemed to point to a new "Golden Age". The critical and commercial success of movies like "Sólo con Tu Pareja", increased the optimism about the future of Mexican cinema, but sadly, the severe financial problems that the country suffered in 1994 made the survival of the "New Mexican Cinema" far more difficult than expected. Among the filmmakers of the "New Mexican Cinema" generation who managed to keep working through the 90s was Carlos Carrera, a prolific director of short films whose 1991 feature length debut was the remarkable "La Mujer De Benjamín". After the mediocre results his second movie, "La Vida Conyugal", Carrera returned to short films and produced "El Héroe", the animated short film that would give him worldwide praise.

Through its 5 minutes of duration, "El Héroe" (literally "The Hero") tells the story of a common everyman who lives in Mexico City and has to constantly face the different problems of the asphalt jungle. In a typical subway station, he witnesses the daily human drama of the urban citizens, often hidden inside the anonymity of the masses. Corruption and indifference seems to be overtly present, with pickpockets happening in front police officers without any problem. While waiting for the next train, our hero sees a lonely teenage girl with a sad look in her face standing too close to the edge, waiting eagerly for the next train. Realizing that the girl is going to jump, our hero decides to stop her and begins to walk towards her. Walking through the human wall with enormous difficulty, he manages to stop the girl from jumping, but there is a surprise for our hero in the end.

Written by director Carlos Carrera himself, "El Héroe" is a bleak and depressing story that obviously has social indifference as its main subject, however, it also touches several other themes, such as urban decay and its corruptive effects on society, specially the dehumanization and ultimate loss of identity of people living in the big cities. Of course, Carrera takes a very extreme approach in his representation of the urban nightmare, however, while his take on the subject is certainly exaggerated, his portrait of the city as a corrupting environment has a considerable dose of realism as it is a powerful reflection of what was the reality of Mexico during the 90s. While there is only one word in the whole movie, Carrera develops his characters with considerable skill, product of his extensive experience in making short animated movies.

Before making his first feature length film, Carrera made himself a name as director of high quality short films, and "El Héroe" was one of Carrera's personal projects that he had been preparing since his days as a student in the 80s. Since budgetary reasons disabled him from making it with actors on real locations, Carrera decided to return to his roots as an animator and made it an animated movie. While this would seem to make the film less realistic, it's actually the opposite, as by exaggerating the darkness of the urban landscape, Carrera actually makes it feel closer to home. His visual design is simply wonderful, as he makes the haunting and grotesque images look beautiful; and thanks to his excellent use of color, he manages to capture perfectly the atmosphere of decadence and nostalgia that fills every minute of his story.

While many people do not consider short films as "proper movies", they are actually an art form as valid as feature length films, and Carrera's "El Héroe" can be considered a masterpiece of that specific medium. Not only it shows that a lot can be said in a few minutes, the fact that there has never existed an animation industry in Mexico makes Carrera's work even more impressive. It took Carrera many years to create this project, but in the end, the movie was worth the effort, as "El Héroe" would win the Golden Palm for short films at Cannes that year. Thanks to the attention he won with this success, Carrera had the chance to keep showing his talent as a filmmaker and his career survived the difficulties that Mexican cinema faced in the 90s. Despite its short runtime, "El Héroe" ranks easily among the best movies that the "New Mexican Cinema" gave in the 90s.

9/10

Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics (1911)

While better known for his enormous influence in the history of comic strips and comics in general, the now legendary American artist Winsor McCay also played an important role in the development of animated films in the U.S. when he began to put his talents in animated movies, creating classics such as 1914's "Gertie the Dinosaur", where he interacted with his animated dinosaur in ways that precede what Walt Disney would do decades later in "Song of the South" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". Winsor McCay's first encounter with the movie industry happened in 1906, when his comic strip "Dream of a Rarebit Fiend" was adapted to screen by Wallace McCutcheon and Edwin S. Porter. Fascinated with cinema, McCay produced his first movie in 1911, the autobiographical short film titled "Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics", the movie that would contain his first 2 minutes of animated work.

In many ways, it could be said that "Winsor McCay and His Moving Comics" is a short biopic about McCay's decision to enter the field of animated films. The movie begins with McCay (playing himself) debating with a group of friends and colleagues (John Bunny and George McManus among them) about the possibility of using cinema to create animated movies. McCay explains them the process and his ideas to make it work in a way that the drawings move realistically. To his surprise, his friends laugh at the idea, thinking it's too laborious and complicated to create enough drawings to animate a cartoon the way McCay wants it. However, this only makes McCay more determined to prove he is right, so he bets that he can do a short film in a month. At Vitagraph studios, McCay works without rest, creating the four thousand drawings that will give life to his most famous creation: Little Nemo.

Written by Winsor McCay himself, the frame story for this wonderful "Little Nemo" animation is loosely based on McCay's real experiences with animation. While of course the plot about the bet is an exaggeration, McCay did face a certain degree of skepticism about the way he was planning to animate his drawings. It's not that animated films were new at the time, but the kind of movies McCay wanted to make were considered too difficult to create. In fact, even when McCay does joke about the amount of ink and paper used to make the animation, he really had to draw a lot to create the marvelous 2 minutes that make the last segment. Like in his comic strips, the "little Nemo" animation is a surrealist marvel in which McCay makes a brief introduction of his popular characters: Nemo, the Princess, the Imp, and of course, Flip.

While the animation segment was of course McCay's creation, the frame story was directed by J. Stuart Blackton, former employee of the Edison Production Company who in those years was one of Vitagraph's top directors. Knowing that the movie's highlight was the animation at the end, Blackton keeps a restrained style through his movie, although this doesn't mean he refuses to have fun, as he adds clever visual gags that keep the viewer's attention as McCay's story is told. His handling of the cast is also very good, although the credit for the film's natural and realistic performances must definitely go to legendary comedian John Bunny, who plays himself as a friend of McCay, and together with writer George McManus are McCay's main costars. Bunny's aid was certainly instrumental in helping McCay and McManus to look believable.

Now, as written above, McCay's animated segment is simply a masterpiece of animation, as he achieves a level of detail in his drawings that still few animators attempt to achieve. As in his comic strips, his use of perspective is remarkable, and the fact that here we see it animated just feels as if his drawings were alive. While short, 2 minutes are enough to present his characters, and he offers a small glimpse of what "Little Nemo" is about: a magical fantasy where like in dreams, everything is possible. A great detail about the animation is the fact that the same drawings he made during the frame story are the ones that eventually end up in his animation, enhancing this feeling of drawings coming alive by the magic of cinema. Even now it is truly a fascinating work of art.

"Winsor McCay, the Famous Cartoonist of the N.Y. Herald and His Moving Comics" is an amazing mix of biopic, documentary and animation that definitely is an obligatory viewing for everyone interested in the history of animated films. It is truly amazing how more than 90 years after it was made the movie still looks beautiful and impressive. No wonder why Walt Dinsey liked McCay's work so much that it inspired him to make animations. It is truly a film that must be seen to be believed.

9/10

Shrek the Third (2007)

In the year of 2001, the relatively young studio DreamWorks released the animated film "Shrek", the movie that would finally consolidate them as a major player in the field of computer animation and as the main competition for Walt Disney Pictures. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 children's book of the same name, "Shrek" was a highly original reworking of traditional fairy tales that took everyone by surprise with its fresh humor and extremely likable characters. Giving a twist to the classic concept of a princess locked in a tower by a dragon, "Shrek" had a grumpy ogre instead of handsome knight, a talkative donkey instead of dashing stallion, and a very down-to-earth princess with a dark secret. Obviously, the film's success prompted DreamWorks to make sequels, with part 2 appearing in 2004, and in 2007, "Shrek the Third".

In "Shrek the Third", we find Shrek (Mike Myers) and his wife, Princess Fiona (Cameron Diaz), living at the castle of Far Far Away as Fiona's father, King Harold (John Cleese) has fallen ill and Shrek must take his place. While not really happy about it, Shrek accepts hoping to return to his swamp as soon as the King recovers is health, but sadly, King Harold dies, leaving the grumpy ogre as heir to the throne. Not happy with the idea of ruling a country, Shrek decides to find the other heir: Fiona's cousin Arthur (Justin Timberlake). Together with his friends Donkey (Eddie Murphy) and Puss-in-Boots (Antonio Banderas), Shrek sails to his new adventure, but another unexpected event shocks the ogre: Fiona is pregnant. To make things worse, Prince Charming (Rupert Everett) is back and is decided to conquer Far Far Away and destroy Shrek forever.

Following the story that Andrew Adamson conceived for the planned sequels (apparently three sequels will be made), writers J. David Stem, David N. Weiss and Jon Zack join forces with script doctors Jeffrey Price and Peter s. Seaman, in an attempt to recapture the magic that made the first two "Shrek" movies a hit. Well, it could be said that they succeeded to a certain extent, as the movie still retains that wild anarchic humor that made the first one so fresh and interesting. While obviously lacking the novelty factor of the first one, the movie packs several great jokes surrounding Shrek's mid-life crisis and his doubts about paternity, as well as giving the "Shrek touch" to the Arthurian legend. As the other two films, this movie is also based around a life lesson, and while it's handled a little bit less subtle than in the other two, the writers manage to make it work fine.

Chris Miller and Raman Hui (Animatiors of the first two "Shrek" films) are the ones now in the director's seat, and together they manage to build what's probably one of the best looking movies of the last years. As former animators, the two directors put a lot of care in the visual design of the film, making an extremely detailed film, with a very fluid animation and wonderful character design. It certainly looks like the crew at DreamWorks have certainly improved their craft, as "Shrek the Third" has probably the best CG animation in human beings done to date. Miller and Hui remain faithful to the "Shrek" style that Adamson created for the two films, so fans of the first two won't be disappointed by the looks of this film. The film flows at a nice pace, although one would prefer that the same care taken in the visual department had been taken in the development of the script.

As usual, Mike Myers adds a lot of charm to the character, still making an excellent performance as the grumpy yet very lovable green monster, and this time he receives many of the best scenes too. As Donkey, Eddie Murphy keeps being hilarious, although since Shrek took the spotlight this time, Donkey's role is drastically reduced to mere companion together with Antonio Banderas' Puss-in-boots. As Puss, Banderas still steals every scene he is in, as unlike Murphy, his character did received a development this time. As Fiona, Cameron Diaz has less to do this time, but she still makes a solid performance. Finally, Ruppert Everett is delightful as the pathetic Prince Charming. In the supporting roles we find Julie Andrews and John Cleese reprising their roles as Fiona's parents in a good way, and Justin Timberlake and Eric Idle are nice additions to the cast.

While "Shrek the Third" is by no means a bad film, those expecting something on the level of the previous installments of the franchise will be left a bit underwhelmed. While the lack of the surprise factor of the first two can be considered an important reason for this, the writers are not without fault. The main problem I see is that they have an enormous cast of likable characters to put on the film, and by trying to give each one of them a moment to shine the result is that many end up tragically underused, never reaching the full potential of what the writers intended them to be (Eric Idle's Merlin is the perfect example of this). Anyways, despite these problems the movie still works, mainly because the humor is still as wild and clever as usual, so fans of the series won't be disappointed in that aspect.

While some may criticize the more mature nature of this movie (there's nothing inappropriate, but it's clear that more jokes are aimed to adults than to children), I think it fits perfectly within the "Shrek" universe, as even when the movie is quite popular with kids, it's target audience has always been those young adults who grew up with Disney's fairy tales. Those who didn't like the previous films won't find anything to make them change their mind, but those who loved them will find that the magic is still there.

7/10

Buy "Shrek the Third" (2007)