French Animation, Chapitre 9 - The Big Bad Fox and Other Tales

Previously: April and the Twisted World

What is it?
While the United States are currently enjoying Cars 3, Pixar's latest outing will only open in August in France. Instead, French animation fans are treated with a new feature film by Benjamin Renner, one of the directors of the critically acclaimed Ernest & Celestine.
This time, Renner adapted one of his own comic books, Le Grand Méchant Renard, which was published in 2015 and for which he took his inspiration from French literature classic La Fontaine's Fables.
Though he was only a director on Ernest & Celestine, he co-wrote this one with Jean Regnaud and co-directed with Patrick Imbert.

French Animation, Chapitre 7 - Asterix: The Land of the Gods

Previously: The Secret of Kells

What is it?
Asterix is originally a French series of comic books created in 1959 by brilliant author René Goscinny (this reviewer recommends everything from him - Oumpah-pah, Le Petit Nicolas, Iznogoud, Les Dingodossiers, his Lucky Luke stories - it's all gold) and artist Albert Uderzo. It tells the adventures of a Gaulish warrior and his village resisting the Roman occupation. Asterix has become a massive success, and is one of the most popular French-Belgian comic series worldwide - if not the most popular. It has spawned numerous animated and live-action movies, of varying quality.

French Animation, Chapitre 6 - The Secret of Kells

Previously: The Illusionist

What is it?
Loosely based around the creation of the real book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript, the story follows Brendan, a curious boy living in the Abbey of Kells. He is interested in the art of illumination and is an apprentice at the Abbey's scriptorium, but he would also like to go outside. He is not allow to though, because his uncle, Abbot Cellach, won't let anyone outside the walls of Kells. Cellach is obsessed with the fortifications he's building around the Abbey in order to protect it from Viking invasion. To the Abbot, Brendan's passion is merely a distraction from what's important.
The Secret of Kells is an Irish-French-Belgian film, directed by first-timer Irish illustrator Tomm Moore, and written by French scenarist Fabrice Ziolkowski.

French Frozen Stuff: Trailer and Poster

The ice has thoroughly started to thaw on Disney's Frozen, as we're week-by-week getting more and more from the studio's 53rd animated feature film. After revealing a Japanese trailer last week, Disney today revealed roughly the same trailer, but in French, alongside a brand new poster.

French Animation, Chapitre 5 - The Illusionist

Previously: Ernest & Celestine

What is it? 
Helmed by Sylvain Chomet (The Triplets of Belleville), The Illusionist is based on a script written by French filmmaker/actor Jacques Tati. The famous director allegedly wrote the screenplay in an attempt to reconcile with his estranged daughter, and intended to shoot a live-action film out of it. But he never did, and the script ended up many years later in Sylvain Chomet's hands, who chose to do it as an animated film, because the very idea of someone stepping into Tati's shoes for the role of the main character was absurd to him.
The story, set in Scotland, focuses on the relationship between an illusionist and a girl who thinks he really is a magician.

Kung Fu Panda Director Helming The Little Prince

Apologies for the latency of this post, but news broke earlier this week that Kung Fu Panda director Mark Osborne is directing an animated adaptation of the beloved, 70 year-old, children's book, The Little Prince.

French Animation, Chapitre 4 - Ernest & Celestine

Previously: Persepolis

What is it?

Ernest & Celestine is loosely based on a series of books written by Gabrielle Vincent between 1981 and 2000; it's the story of an impossible friendship between a mouse and a bear. The film opened in France in December 2012, and is heading for a Fall 2013 release date in the United States - not sure about the rest of the world though. 

In the following review, I'll try to convince you to see Ernest & Celestine when you get the chance. You've been warned.

French Animation, Chapitre 3 - Persepolis

Previously: Le Roi et l'Oiseau

What is it?

Based on an autobiographic graphic novel of the same name, Persepolis tells the story of Marjane Satrapi, from Iran to France, via Austria. The film was directed by Satrapi herself and Vincent Paronnaud, and released in 2007.

French Animation, Chapitre 2 - Le Roi et l'Oiseau

Previously: The Triplets of Belleville

Also known as The King and the Bird and all sorts of variations around that (The King and Mister Bird, The King and the Mocking Bird...), Le Roi et L'Oiseau is considered by many the greatest French animated film ever made (although I think The Triplets of Belleville deserves that title) and I can see why a large number of people would think that. Le Roi et L'Oiseau is indeed a near perfect film, a one of a kind masterpiece, and it ranks just behind the Sylvain Chomet-tale in my hierarchy of French animation.

French Animation, Chapitre 1 - The Triplets of Belleville

Foreword
This is the first in a series of French animated film reviews I will be doing in the near future. This won't be an exhaustive list, as I'll only be talking about films that deserve to be reviewed; there are a few that I think are not as renowned as they should be, and I'll using this column to help resolve this. Spoiler alert: all reviews will therefore be favorable to the movie they discuss.
And here it goes...

La Luna: Details on an Upcoming Pixar Short

Courtesy of Indiewire, we get a look at an upcoming Pixar short, La Luna. The short (image above) is set to debut later this year at the Annecy International Film Festival, which takes place in France on 6th June 2011. The short is described as a "fable" coming of age film and the official description can be viewed below.

La Luna is the timeless fable of a young boy who is coming of age in the most peculiar of circumstances. Tonight is the very first time his Papa and Grandpa are taking him to work. In an old wooden boat they row far out to sea, and with no land in sight, they stop and wait.  A big surprise awaits the little boy as he discovers his family’s most unusual line of work. Should he follow the example of his Papa, or his Grandpa? Will he be able to find his own way in the midst of their conflicting opinions and timeworn traditions?

The film is to be directed by Enrico Casarosa, who has worked as a story artist on Cars, Ratatouille and Up and La Luna will mark his directorial debut.

The fact that the short is to premiere in France feeds into my next point, the animation on the short looks distinctly french, bearing some resemblance to Illumination Entertainment's Despicable Me and a heck of a lot of resemblance to the awesome French animated short film, French Roast (which I whole heatedly recommend). The animation in the short looks unlike anything we've seen from Pixar and the short in general sounds fresh and interesting.

Can't wait to see it.

International Poster A-thon

We've been treated to a whole new smorgasbord of international posters for 2 of the animated sequels coming up this year. Firstly we have the above poster, which is the newest French poster for DreamWorks' upcoming Kung Fu Panda 2 (which is personally my favourite poster for it so far) and is a very bright and appealing one.

Secondly, below you'll find 3 of my favourite new Russian Cars 2 posters (you can view all 7 of them at Daily Blam), they are also amongst my favourite posters for the film and are all just great, while the other 4 are also okay, these are my favourites.

Keep your eye out for both of these films later in the year. All posters courtesy of Daily Blam.