Watch: Charming New John Lewis Ad, The Bear & the Hare

John Lewis always have great Christmas adverts. This year's one - as well as being part of a £7 million advertising blitz campaign (including "television, social media, soft toys, in-store events and even a mini manmade forest on the banks of the Thames" - via The Guardian) - is a great little animated piece, with a little bit of Disney in it.

Art Story: An Amazing Concept that can become an Amazing film with your Help!

Concept art from the film.

Kickstarter seems to be a very successful way to get your projects funded. Most recently, the Veronica Mars movie is now in development thanks to this crow-funding system. Is a great way to get audiences involved in projects that big studios are not interested in developing. Now, a very particular project needs your help to be developed and if you're an animation fan, you will want to help.

Brother Bear Blu-ray Review - A Flawed But Well-Rounded Set, Eh

©Disney

Brother Bear is available to own on Disney Blu-ray™ from 15th April 2013

The third of four Disney movies that are coming to UK Blu-ray players on 15th April is one often cited as a low-point for the studio, 2003's Brother Bear. That's because Brother Bear, the 44th feature animated film from Disney, came in the midst of an ostensible dark age for the Mouse House, amidst a storm of creatively damp and visually uninspired films like Dinosaur and Home on the Range. I put it to you though, that Brother Bear is in fact quite a good film: sweet, well-meaning and visually inventive - if not particularly groundbreaking. The Blu-ray, likewise, is a good, but flawed, package.

Beautiful Concept Art and Pre-Production Material from Scrapped The Legend of Tembo

It's a rough time for the animation and VFX industry as of late: DreamWorks are having to make massive cut backs; Rhythm & Hues, on the back of countless awards for their work on Life of Pi, including a BAFTA, have filed for bankruptcy. An earlier woe, though, came in September of last year, when Digital Domain ran into a whole host of financial problems, culminating in the shuttering of their animation division, Tradition Studios, and thus the unscrupulous demise of their first in-production animated feature, The Legend of Tembo.

Digital Domain's Tradition Studios Shuts Down

News broke today that VFX house Digital Domain's recently founded animation department, Tradition Studios, has closed its doors. Citing DDMG's (Digital Domain Media Group, Inc.) growing financial troubles, the closure of Tradition Studios means 300+ staff will be laid off and production on, what was to be their first animated film, The Legend of Tembo has been halted.

Check out the story after the jump break!