Boiling Point: Gets Animated!

Posted by Robert Fure (robert@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 2, 2008

I’m a fan of animation. Really, who isn’t? I grew up on Disney cartoon movies and endless weekends sitting in front of the TV for 2 hours watching the Saturday morning line-up. But, this column is Boiling Point and not Love Fest so you know something is coming up. Maybe you’ve even guessed it. Where the hell has 2D animation gone? Where are the real cartoons?

To me, a lot of 3D is bullshit. Yes, yes, yes, of course, Pixar Pixar Pixar. There are some good CG movies. But they also have good stories. 2D animation is no less viable and it can look amazing. Sub-standard 2D animation still looks pretty good, but sub-standard 3D looks atrocious. Characters bounce across the screen, never quite touching the floor right. Heads jerk around and cold, dead, lifeless eyes stare deep into your soul, damning you.

Who can’t look back fondly on traditional animation? Goofy, Mickey, Donald, the Dalmatians, Tom, Jerry, and Scooby Dooby Doo. Now that is some good stuff right there. Not that many people look fondly back on CG (other than some fairly recent additions) and almost all CG on TV looks like crap. Beast Wars and Reboot were some of the most awkwardly disturbing looking things to watch, as characters seemingly run, but never quite go anywhere.

Traditional animation is full of life. An artists hand touches every single frame. Warm colors and smooth lines are placed effortlessly and without algorithms. It’s not that expensive and it has a nice, rich history to it. Even recently, some modern properties have shown traditional animation to still be viable – Marvel has put out several 2D animated made for DVD movies which are alongside Hellboy Animated in the “looking good” department.

So why has traditional art been left behind? Is it because it’s not new? It’s not technology? There is no techno-wizardry behind it? What flavor is it this month? Yes, a few traditionally animated films bombed in the last years, but maybe we’re just dealing with sub-par plots here. Brother Bear, Disney’s Last theatrically released traditionally animated film grossed over $85million domestic and brought in a world wide total of $250million. Hardly a failure.

All I want to see is a resurgence of traditional animation. More regular cartoons. Let’s not be afraid to spice it up either. A lot of people trash on Western art in favor of eastern “Anime” when a lot of the difference can be placed on the age range. Western art when aimed for an older audience can be hardcore and awesome. I’d totally be down for more adult themed (ahem) cartoons as well! Cartoons are fun and you can go places with them you can’t go in normal films and I personally dig them way more than computer animated stuff.

So maybe I’m standing alone here and maybe the entire world loves CG animation and has left the traditional stuff in the dust. Maybe everyone is indifferent. But me, I’m just tired of a non-stop flood of CG animation, tired of the lack of variety anymore, tired of polygons, square characters and clunky movement. I want some damn cartoons and until I get them I’m past my boiling point.

Read more articles by Robert Fure