Tag: Animation
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Alice in Wonderland. Dir. Clyde Geronimi, Wilfred Jackson, Hamilton Luske, and Jack Kinney. Walt Disney Pictures. 1951.
A distinctive croquet game featuring flamingos as mallets and hedgehogs as balls becomes a symbol of societal norms and power dynamics in human-animal relationships, reflecting the era’s outlook on animal rights. Whimsy deviates from the real-world issues depicted in the original text, becoming rose-tinted rather than a mirror.
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Anastasia. Dir. Don Bluth, Gary Goldman. 20th Century Fox. 1997.
Oh great! A dog wants me to go to St. Petersburg. Anastasia. 1997. An adventure with strangers and a new puppy! Twentieth Century Fox’s whimsically animated Anastasia follows an orphaned Russian princess, who befriends a scruffy puppy, Pooka. The real journey begins once Pooka is introduced, winning the audience’s heart with his doe eyed, emotive…
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An American Tail. Dir. Don Bluth. Universal Pictures.1986
An American Tail tracks the adventures of Fievel Mousekewitz a brave (and reckless) little mouse, his Russian-Jewish family, and their treacherous journey from Russia to New York in the search for the American Dream that will put some distance between them and cats… or so they thought. The film tells a story within a story,…
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The Book of Life. Dir Jorge R. Gutierrez. 20th Century Fox. 2014
“I’m allergic to dying!“ -Pepe Rodriguez 20th Century Fox’s, 2014, animated feature film, The Book of Life, follows two best friends, Manolo and Joaquin, who are in love with the same woman, Maria, our independent and fiercely empathetic heroine. The married gods, Xibalba and La Muerte, exchange bets on who will win her heart first,…
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Kubo and the Two Strings. Dir. Travis Knight. Laika. 2016
Figure 1: Kubo lifted in the air by wings made of origami birds. Kubo and the Two Strings follows a boy whose life is made even more extraordinary when a perilous adventure, which his mother has tried to save him from, accidentally finds him. Kubo can tell stories using the magical music of his shamisen…
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Hoodwinked!. Dir. Edwards, Cory. Kanbar Entertainment, Blue Yonder Films. 2005.
A retelling of the folktake Little Red Riding Hood as a police procedural, using backstories to show multiple characters’ points of view.[1] Hoodwinked! follows the classic who dunnit trope, deconstructing the fable of Little Red Riding Hood with a modern twist to narrate the mystery of the Goody bandit. It entertains basic animal stereotypes to translate the…
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Porco Rosso. Dir. Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli. 1992.
Porco Rosso follows a former fighter pilot who abandoned the Italian military, transformed into a pig, and becomes a bounty hunter that fights pirates. One day he meets American pilot Curtis who was contracted by pirates and is in love with Porco’s friend Gina. Curtis realises Gina loves Porco despite him being a pig and…
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An American Tail. Dir. Don Bluth. Universal Pictures.1986
“There are no cats in America“ Don Bluth’s An American Tail is a 2D animation family film in which the human drama of religious persecution, poverty and immigration at the end of the 19th century is narrated through the eyes of a Russian Jewish family of mice, the Mousekewitz, and particularly through Fievel, the seven-year-old…
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Mason’s Rats. Dir. Carlos Stevens. Netflix. 2022.
“Like World War fucking IV.” The Love, Death and Robots’ episode, Mason’s Rats, centres around conflict regarding control and the co-existence of humans and animals, specifically rats, in a world dominated by technologically advanced humans. Significantly, the identities of the two clashing forces – the rats and Mason – are used to portray the errors of internecine fighting, with…
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The Sea Beast. Dir. Chris Williams. Netflix. 2022.
Chris Williams’ Netflix movie The Sea Beast is a film which follows the generational indoctrination of a society, in which the ruling classes have fabricated a war against sea beasts in order to maintain their power and control of humans and animals alike. In this scene however, the human/animal relationship of mistrust and antagonism begins to break…