Computer Animated Zombie Apocalypse in A.D.
What do you get when Pixar-style animation meets zombie apocalypse? A great looking piece of computer animation like A.D. This is a trailer for a promised longer film by creator Haylor Garcia. An interview with those who are working on this film can be found here at the Zombie Info website. If the completed film [...]
Disney’s The Princess and the Frog: Cartoon Fantasy and Social Reflection
I haven’t seen Walt Disney’s The Princess and the Frog movie yet, but living in a neighborhood with young families many of them have, and they seem to have enjoyed it. The television advertisements for the film make me a little wary since it is supposedly the best Disney cartoon since The Lion King. But [...]
“Midnight Dance” Animation: An Interpretation of Danse Macabre
As readers are aware, this blog is devoted to the exploration and enjoyment of various facets of the fantastic in pop culture. Most of the time I pursue in-depth exploration, and through this receive a level of enjoyment. Hopefully my readers do to0. But with this post analysis steps aside in order to enjoy a great [...]
Disney Pixar’s UP: Art’s Tension with Profit Potential
The business section of today’s The New York Times includes an article of interest to TheoFantastique. The story by Brooks Barnes is titled “Pixar’s Art Leaves Profit Watchers Edgy,” and it describes an unfortunate situation. As the article notes, Pixar Animation has not released a movie yet that has not been “a commercial and creative triumph,” [...]
Monsters vs. Aliens: DreamWorks Hits a Home Run
Yesterday my family forced me to take a much-needed half-day off, and a part of my relaxation involved taking in a showing of Monster vs. Aliens. I must admit that when I saw the commercials for the film they looked promising but I had my doubts about the ability of the film to live up to [...]
DEAD SPACE: DOWNFALL Animated Exploration of Sci Fi/Horror and Gaming
Last weekend a new title on the shelves of the DVD section at Target caught my eye and quickly became a part of my animation collection. The film is titled DEAD SPACE: DOWNFALL, and it is a feature-length prequel to the EA Game DEAD SPACE. The subject matter, violence, and gore of this film make [...]
Van Norris: Surrealism in American Animation
A number of research sources have provided a variety of things to think about in my exploration of deeper levels to the fantastic. One thought provoking source was David Skal’s book The Monster Show: A Cultural History of Horror (Faber & Faber, 2001) where, among other things, he argued for a connection between horror films [...]
WALL-E: Moving Visual Storytelling, Laughs, and Subtle Social Commentary
It had been some time since my family and I took in a movie at the theater. Normally we keep our eye out for advertisements of upcoming films, and then once a movie is released to DVD we make a trip to the nearest Redbox DVD rental location and for $1 we have a [...]
Feast for Animation Fans
A number of items came to my attention this week that provided sustenance to my animation tastes.
The Ovation TV Channel has been running a week-long series of programs devoted to the theme of animation. This has included Chuck Amuk: The Movie, a look at animator Chuck Jones known for his legendary work on Looney [...]
Celebrating Creativity: Ub Iwerks and the Hand Behind the Mouse
This blog is devoted not only to an analysis of various facets of the fantastic, the imagination, and creativity in popular culture, but also to the sheer enjoyment and celebration of these things. With this in mind I highly recommend a documentary that has aired a couple of times now on the Ovation channel titled [...]
