'Kubo and the Two Strings' Review: Don't Blink

It's been out for a while in the United States, but that's the chaotic worldwide release schedule for you: Kubo and the Two Strings is only being released in some European countries now, and as a result our review is pretty late, and everything (or close) has already been said on the film. Still, because we think Kubo is a terrific film we'll consider it's not too late, shall we? If you must blink, do it now; then consider reading our spoiler-free review below.

3rd Annual A113Animation Awards Results

So, it's that time of year again, time to present our A113Animation Awards, honouring the best of animation in 2012! 2012 was undoubtedly a very strong year for animated films, it was the first year in recent memory where there was no clear cut winner; rather, a slew of very strong, very exciting and very diverse animated motion pictures. Nonetheless, winners had to be decided, so check out the results below - winners in bold - and a breakdown of what and why afterwards.

BAFTA Nominations Revealed: Brave, Frankenweenie and ParaNorman Compete for Animation Award

The nominations for the 66th British Academy Film Awards were announced by BAFTA today - ahead of the reveal of the Oscar nominations tomorrow - and, naturally, as there always is with award ceremonies, there's a little bit of controversy and distaste with some of the categories.

New ParaNorman For Your Consideration Ads

Laika are taking full advantage of all the awards critical circles are lavishing on them as of late, as well as their Annie and Golden Globe nominations, working them into their For Your Consideration campaign and presumably hoping to segue this success into Oscar success in February.

Awards Daily have three new ParaNorman FYC ads (although two of them are actually ones we've already seen, now adorned with the film's awards success) and you can check 'em out above, as well as the previous batch here. ParaNorman's odds of taking home the Oscar seem stronger and stronger by the week, and Laika's second outing is slowly becoming the one to beat.

ParaNorman is out on DVD and Blu Ray now in the US, and arrives in the UK on 28th January, 2013.

UPDATED: Awards Roundup: ParaNorman, Frankenweenie, Ralph Take Home Coveted Prizes!

Awards season is well and truly underway. Kathryn Bigelow is surely making enemies out of Ben Affleck, Paul Thomas Anderson and Steven Spielberg, whose award-favourite films were fighting it out before the Hurt Locker director's latest, Zero Dark Thirty, came in and started swooping up all the awards. Because, in the last few days, the National Board of Review, Boston Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle and the Washington DC Area Film Critics Association have all announced their annual picks for the year's best films.

Zero Dark Thirty and Lincoln seem to be dominating the major share of awards (with Ang Lee's Life of Pi getting some worthy cinematography recognition), but, in terms of animation, there hasn't really been a clear winner.

NBR named Disney's Wreck-It Ralph Best Animated Feature, whereas the Boston Society of Film Critics went for fellow Disney film, Frankenweenie, directed by Tim Burton. New York's critics agreed with Boston's, whereas Washington DC ones opted for Laika's ParaNorman. UPDATED - 11/12/2012, 22:02 (GMT): The Los Angeles Film Critics Association also chose Frankenweenie as their "Best Animation", and the New York Film Critics Online went for 2010's Spanish-made Chico and Rita, which was nominated for the Oscar in February (losing to Rango).

Noteworthy is that there's no love for Pixar's Brave. Also noteworthy is that there's still no clear animated frontrunner, heading into a very tight race as we approach the "main" awards ceremonies early next year.

Congrats to everyone from Disney and Laika on their respective, and hard earned, wins!

Via THR.

Watch: Roundtable Discussion with Animation Directors

The L.A. Times have posted an absolutely enthralling roundtable discussion with five animated film directors, in anticipation of the very tight Best Animated Feature competition at awards season this year. Hosted by L.A. Times reporter Rebecca Keegan, the roundtable includes Mark Andrew (Brave), Peter Ramsey (Rise of the Guardians), Chris Butler (ParaNorman), Rich Moore (Wreck-It Ralph) and Genndy Tartakovsky (Hotel Transylvania).

It's not all too equal a discussion, Rich Moore and Mark Andrews tend to dominate it, and it would've been nice to see Brenda Chapman and Peter Lord in the mix, but it really is brilliant! The start's your general stuff: talk about your film, your studio, your team, etc..., but it really takes off in the last fifteen minutes or so, when the conversation turns towards animation as a medium, the problem with American animation, and the directors' shared interests in seeing more 2D animated films, more adult animated films, and the versatility of animation as a medium.

Check it out!

Via Cartoon Brew.

Interview: Pete Oswald, Vis. Dev. Artist on Hotel Transylvania and ParaNorman

This latest A113Animation interview seems particularly relevant given our recent competition to give away a copy of an Art of book. The companion books to most animated films are a great portal behind the screen, giving you a look at the colossal glut of fantastic visual development artwork that goes into a production and that we might otherwise never get to see. When reviewing The Art and Making of ParaNorman and The Art and Making of Hotel Transylvania, one artist consistently stood out to me, Pete Oswald.

Pete's work was colourful, lively, caricatured, playful and full of cartoony energy! So, I sought Pete out, I found his website and sent him an email saying how much I enjoyed his work and asking if he'd mind doing an interview. Thankfully, he said yes - and expressed a great deal of enthusiasm about it too! Pete's a great guy; modest, helpful and very talented, and I'm grateful he took the time to speak to me.

In our interview - which we did via email - Pete and I discuss his role on the two aforementioned films, what working on them was like, his other work (including The Ricky Gervais Show!), working on Cloudy 2 for Sony right now, and broader animation. Check it out after the jump break!

ParaNorman Review - A Tale of the Dead, Full of Life

*This review is largely spoiler free, but read cautiously if you haven’t seen the film yet*

ParaNorman is the latest from Laika, the swiftly-rising stop-motion house who arrived on the scene with 2009's Coraline. Coraline was fantastic, a dark, refreshingly tensely paced, nuanced and stylish film that not only cemented its director Henry Selick's reputation as a fine-filmmaker, but that of Laika as an artistically inventive and narratively bold studio. ParaNorman continues that success, as it is an inspiringly original and thoughtfully ghoulish film, that's also surprising fun!

The Art and Making of ParaNorman Review - A Spookily Different 'Art of' Book

Confession: I only watched Coraline fully a few days ago. I'm not often a fan of spooky films, but I am a fan of Henry Selick, and adored The Nightmare Before Christmas, so I wanted to see Coraline, I just never got round to it. A couple of days ago, though, I decided to finally do it, and am very glad I did. Coraline is a fantastic, nuanced and refreshingly original film, with stylish direction and gorgeous animation; I only wish I could've seen it on the big screen. I watched it in anticipation of the latest film from Laika, the studio behind it, ParaNorman.

Coraline's animation was amazing, but ParaNorman's is apparently even better. Factor in that I've heard nary a bad review about it, and you end up with a film I'm pretty damn excited for (it's not out over here until 14th September). So, I was very excited to check out the accompanying 'Art of' book, The Art and Making of ParaNorman, which Chronicle Books were kind enough to send me a review copy of.

ParaNorman's Out in the US - What Are the Critics Saying?

ParaNorman, the latest scary, stop-motion film from Laika, the house that brought you Coraline, is out today in US cinemas, and has been received thus far by the same enthusiastic acclaim that greeted their first film.

ParaNorman follows Norman Babcock, a young, outcast boy from the small town of Blithe Hollow, who has the inexplicable - yet somehow cinematically ubiquitous - ability to speak with the dead. Due to this, Norman is the only one able to try and stop the witch's curse that has plagued Blithe Hollow. Starring the voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Anna Kendrick, Jeff Garlin and John Goodman, and directed by Sam Fell (Flushed Away) and Chris Butler (storyboard supervisor on Coraline) was released today, with a new, intense, trailer (below), highlighting the scary parts of the film - rather than the comedy the earlier trailers focused on - released on the 14th.

The critics are enthusiastic so far; Laika's second film currently holds an 86% rating on Rotten Tomatoes (compared to Coraline's 90%), with a consensus reading:

"Beautifully animated and solidly scripted, ParaNorman will entertain (and frighten) older children while providing surprisingly thoughtful fare for their parents."

Top critics from all over the web seem enamoured with the film: Variety's Justin Chang writes "Few movies so taken with death have felt so rudely alive as "ParaNorman,"", and Rolling Stone's Peter Travers enthuses "Hey, it's not just Pixar that kicks ass in animation. Case in point: ParaNorman, a small miracle in stop-motion 3D from the wizards at Laika", rating it 3 out of 4 stars.

It certainly sounds promising!

Alas, ParaNorman isn't out here in the UK until 14th September (although we will have a review of The Art and Making of ParaNorman up soon!), but if you have seen it - or see it soon - please let us know what you think, either in the comments section, or on Twitter (@A113Animation).

In related news: The latest feature film from Henry Selick, who directed Coraline for Laika, has been dumped by Disney. Read the full story here.