animation
Top Cat: The MovieWednesday, 30 May 2012![]() The last time racial stereotyping (or at least, its cross-species equivalent) could be passed off as shorthand for a certain kind of slapstick humour was probably back in 1962 - coincidentally, the year that the last of Hanna-Barbera’s 30 episodes... Read more... |
A Spoonful of Sugar: Robert Sherman, 1925-2012Tuesday, 06 March 2012![]() Robert Sherman, who has died at the age of 86, was three years older than his brother Richard, and much quieter. Indeed, on the two occasions I interviewed the songwriting brothers – once in person, the other time on the phone from California – his... Read more... |
TatsumiMonday, 09 January 2012![]() The Western image of manga comes from the thick volumes of knicker-flashing schoolgirls and lurid s.f. teenage boys pore over, and the anime (cartoon films) which adapt them. Singaporean director Eric Khoo’s animated adaptation of five stories by... Read more... |
Puss in BootsWednesday, 07 December 2011![]() The Shrek series is resurrected once again for this amiable, action-packed - if less than purr-fect - 3D spin-off, featuring everyone’s favourite diminutive swashbuckler. If the franchise was a feline it would be running out of lives (and good will... Read more... |
The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the UnicornTuesday, 25 October 2011![]() It’s been a long time coming, and an extremely nervous wait for millions of fans who grew up on the boy reporter and his alliterating whisky-soaked maritime sidekick. Steven Spielberg first acquired the cinematic rights to The Adventures of Tintin... Read more... |
Rex Appeal, BBC FourThursday, 29 September 2011![]() Dinosaurs. Even just seeing that word takes me back to a letter my seven-year-old self wrote to Blue Peter humbly begging them for “More dinosaws pleez”. Back then, a sighting of these lumbering beasts on TV or at the movies was a rare and thrilling... Read more... |
The Green WaveWednesday, 28 September 2011![]() Four years ago a film called Persepolis told the story of a young woman’s experience of revolution in Iran. There has been a modest abundance of Iranian films making their way west over the years, but this distinguished itself from the others by... Read more... |
The Lion King's West End ReignSunday, 04 September 2011![]() The stage musical The Lion King has been seen by nearly 10 million people in the UK - almost 60 million worldwide – and Lord only knows how many must have seen Walt Disney’s animation. I have a friend who reckons he has seen it at least 26 times and... Read more... |
The Pendle Witch Child, BBC FourWednesday, 17 August 2011![]() A nine-year-old girl testifies in court. She’s clear, precise and damning. The case revolves around her testimony alone. All the accused – 10 of them, her family and neighbours - are declared guilty and executed. The girl is the only one of the... Read more... |
Rise of the Planet of the ApesThursday, 11 August 2011![]() Ever since the first Planet of the Apes film in 1968, in which astronaut Charlton Heston landed on a futuristic Earth being run by super-evolved apes, the idea has become a sci-fi staple, breeding a string of sequels, spin-offs and TV series. Tim... Read more... |
Shrek the Musical, Theatre Royal, Drury LaneWednesday, 15 June 2011![]() Broadway musicals can have a bumpy transatlantic crossing. For every New York entry that repeats its acclaim on the West End, others quickly fade, while still others never make it to the capital at all: consider The Light in the Piazza, which won... Read more... |
Q&A Special: Actor Nigel LindsayMonday, 13 June 2011![]() His only previous visit to musical theatre was as Nathan Detroit in the Donmar’s West End production of Guys and Dolls. And now Lindsay sits in the sumptuous dressing room – it feels more like a small flat – at Drury Lane once occupied, he is proud... Read more... |
