The "Sanrio" guys did some pretty violent and disturbing stuff. And ppl though Walt Disney and Don Bluth were dark!
All joking (partially) aside, I fondly remember these films from my teen years. Loved the rounder character designs and fluid animation. But yeah, pretty dark and violent at times.
I had never seen these. By the time they came out I had more or less moved on from contemporary animation. But this is really interesting stuff. The stylization immediately reminded me of the old Fleischer films, but with some Bakshi blended into the mixture.
I don't know it some of this was rotoscoped or if the artists were just really talented with their motion cycles. I love rotoscoping.
@ Octoberman - I vividly remember Winds of Change. I think I saw it on HBO. And I totally forgot about Ringing Bell until I saw it on YouTube. I like the style and tone of each. Fuller animation, softer character designs, but more adult in concept.
During Winds of Change end credits roll I noticed the name Ron Dias. He was a brilliant background artist and color stylist. He contributed his talents on Secret of NIMH and The Chipmunk Adventure.
@ Jim Phelps - What the hell did I just watch? LOL Were they trying to turn the blacks on the whites in America?
I remember watching this on HBO in the 80's. (Dubbed and edited)
The French had a really interesting style. The art kinda reminds me of those 70's rock album covers. Not the best in the way of animation or character development but an interesting and imaginative alternative to Disney.
This appears to be the "uncensored" French language version.
Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto, whose best known work is ALLEGRO NON TROPPO, which is more or less a homage to FANTASIA, complete with satiric inter-sequence vignettes, but also beautifully animated sequences, set to pieces of Classical music, including Ravel's "Bolero," a particularly telling piece about evolution.
Available on VHS and DVD at some point.
There's also the French LA PLANETE SAUVAGE, which I found kind of oblique, but certainly interesting to watch.
Italian animator Bruno Bozzetto, whose best known work is ALLEGRO NON TROPPO (1976), which is more or less a homage to FANTASIA, complete with satiric inter-sequence vignettes, but also beautifully animated sequences, set to pieces of Classical music, including Ravel's "Bolero," a particularly telling piece about evolution. There's also the French LA PLANETE SAUVAGE, a.k.a. THE FANTASTIC PLANET (1973), which I found kind of oblique, but certainly interesting to watch.
Those are a couple of my favorites. Both very unique and both haunting in their own ways.
Don Bluth's first independent animated project. Bluth, his partners, and many Disney animators worked on this short in his garage, nights and on weekends for over five years. All while working full time at Disney.
"The Happy Prince" (1974), with a good score by Ron Goodwin (a project Howard Blake was replaced on after writing a song and a theme for the bird, without prior warning).
"The Happy Prince" (1974), with a good score by Ron Goodwin (a project Howard Blake was replaced on after writing a song and a theme for the bird, without prior warning).
Wonderful score! Love the camera moves and animated backgrounds. Very nice.
Edit:
Trying to remember an anime movie that was broadcast on cable in the 80's. It was sort of a rip off of Fantasia. The story centered around a young boy in music class. I think he meets some kind of fairy and gets shrunk down in size, like "Honey I Shrunk The Kids".
And then there's also Czech animator Jiri Trnka, who created some masterful stop-motion films, most notably THE EMPEROR'S NIGHTINGALE (1951), and a wonderful MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM (1959). EMPEROR'S NIGHTINGALE is available on DVD, in "The Puppet Films of Jiri Trnka," but MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, to my knowledge, has never been available on any kind of video.
(Once, I was able to catch bits of it during a showing in b&w on a local Pittsburgh station, years ago, but never since then. I'd love to get this on DVD. While viewing the Czech Pavilion at Expo '67 in Montreal, I saw a number of puppets Trnka had made for it on display, including a marvelous Oberon who had antlers, and a cloak of autumn leaves. Great stuff. I also once had a thick book on Trnka's films, with a lot of color photos from MIDSUMMER, but it's now long lost to time. Ah well...)
Years ago, I actually found a CD of music from Trnka's films, composed by Vaclav Trojan, who worked with him on most of his projects. The song for the Nightingale, from THE EMPEROR'S NIGHTINGALE, is particularly lovely.
Some fans of the no longer done comic strip Far Side still don't know there were animated specials.
The first one aired on Halloween, and the second didn't air as originally planned (though years later, as I recall, it finally did). They were offered on DVD with the Far Side calande, which was a neat deal considering at the time you couldn't find it in stores. Now of course, you can buy then online, like at thefarside.com (the site says they are currently unavailable).
As I recall, the music for the first special was re-done after airing. I guess they weren't happy the first time around. Both were scored by a composer who's not done much, according to his IMDb credits listing: Bill Frisell.
Even though Garfield is a famous comic strip, that has been translated into multiple TV series, TV specials, and some furball movies, it seems sometimes the Halloween special is just forgotten and has been for years now except for some core fans.
It was oddly titled "Garfield in Disguish" (1985). Everybody knows it should had been called Garfield's Halloween Special. Even some legit copies of it name it right. Weird to go by two names.
It's rather cheaply done, got some corny lines, but let me tell you it's just a bunch of fun. There is nothing I don't love about it, from the look, the voicing, the score, to the fun songs.
The score and songs are regular Garfield contributors back then, Ed Bogas and Desirée Goyette (his wife). Unfortunately, I still can't buy a CD of it. He still does a little scoring now and then, the last being a documentary from 2011.
Here's the opening theme song. I used to hum this tune endlessly. It's my all time favorite cartoon as a kid. (And the origins of my avatar.)
This was originally a Japanese production. If memory serves, thirteen episodes were produced in B&W. But the series was a ratings failure in Japan. Not wanting to give up, the creator looked over seas for funding. An American company agreed to fund the series, but only if it was done in color. Marine Boy is probably the least known anime in the US, and it even appears forgotten in Japan.
