Ammended A113Animation Awards Nominations

I recently unveiled the nominations for the second annual A113Animation Awards. However, since then, I've watched Happy Feet Two, and while it wasn't good enough to have much of a drastic effect on my opinions of animated films in 2011, the music and animation were both fantastic, so it has been nominated for Best Song (for Bridge of Light) and the Best Animation, replacing Tangled and Kung Fu Panda 2's respective nominations in the category.

Moreover, I've added a new award: Best Animated Short Film, the nominations for which are:

• The Ballad of Nessie - Walt Disney Animation Studios
• Hawaiian Vacation - Pixar Animation Studios
• I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat - Warner Bros. Animation

Head on over to the A113Animation Awards page to check out the updated nominations.

Why Brave is my Most Anticipated Animated Film

There's a huge slab of animated films due out over the next few years, whilst it's debatable as to whether any of them are going to be worth your time, there's some that I simply cannot wait to see. The pinnacle of this anticipation is Pixar's Brave. The fantastic poster has got me even more psyched for Pixar's first fairy tale, but there's five reasons in particular that Brave is my most anticipated animated film - and one of my most anticipated films in general, behind The Dark Knight Rises of course.

These five reasons are as follows - in no particular order:

1. It's an original film, not a sequel, not to say that I have anything in particular against sequels, in fact my two favourite films of all time are sequels (Toy Story 2 and The Dark Knight). However, I love the feeling of uncovering a new world and new characters. Furthermore, I'm curious to see how Pixar handles their first fairytale.
2. The artwork we've seen so far looks utterly breathtaking, the visual style looks stunning. You can see just how much of a beautiful film Brave promises to be from the poster (above).
3. The brilliant Scottish feel should translate fantastically to create an authentic feel to the film. This is reinforced by the film's voice cast (lead by Scottish actress Kelly Macdonald and starring Scottish comedian, Billy Connolly - who recently provided the voiceover for Scottish Disney Short Film, The Ballad of Nessie) and the fact that the score is being composed by Scot, Patrick Doyle (who scored Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).
4. It's (probably) going to be prefaced by the equally amazing and beautiful looking short film, La Luna, which I can't wait to see.
5. Furthermore, it will also (probably) have the trailer for Monsters University attached. I can't wait to get a glimpse at Pixar's first prequel, and I have waited nearly 10 years for a Monsters, Inc. follow up.

Brave looks, and sounds, utterly amazing in every way, shape and form; it seems like a much darker film and a bold new step by Pixar.

Thoughts? Agree? Disagree? SOUND OFF.

The Ballad of Nessie Thoughts

Following on from my thoughts on Disney's latest animated release, Winnie the Pooh, I realised there was one aspect of the film I hadn't reviewed, the attached short film.

Technically I should be saying short films, we are treated to not one, but two short films. Well... I say treated, the first short film was the closest thing to torture I have ever encountered in the cinema, or indeed anywhere. This short film, entitled Jake and the Never Land Pirates, was the kind of torturous, dreadful, awful dribble that could permanently put me off Peter Pan (fortunately Winnie the Pooh didn't ruin its franchise like Jake et al did). Jake and the Never Land Pirates, from Disney Junior, was asinine, stupid, as shallow as a puddle in the middle of September and starred the least likeable characters I've ever had the displeasure of encountering. The plot of the short, and the animation used in it, were just as dreadful, and unfortunately the short lasted WAY too long - although it would be WAY too long if it was a commercial. This short film was more like a trip through Guantanamo Bay than through Never Land, shame on you Disney, for very nearly ruining Peter Pan forever.

As you may have guessed, I loathed this short film and the very thought of it makes me feel ill, if I had to rate this abysmal romp into Never Land, I'd give it, maybe, a 1/10, and that was just for being in close proximity to the excellence that was Winnie the Pooh.

I purposely shunned Jake and the Never Land Pirates from the title in favour of a far superior short film. The Ballad of Nessie, the second short attached to Winnie the Pooh, was sublime.

The classically, and utterly innocently, animated Ballad of Nessie was a Scottish tale of the Loch Ness Monster, with a fairly inspirational - if slightly dark - moral and a FAR more solid plot than the dreadful short film listed above. The film was very funny and original - while a bit too short - and the characters were very likeable. Strange as it may sound, this Scottish short has got me more excited for Pixar's Brave. However, the real star of the short is the animation, it is so refreshing to once again see some classic hand drawn Disney animation, particularly accompanied with Winnie the Pooh, it's just such a charming style. Hand drawn animation is Disney's forte, it always has been, while it's a tad outdated now, it's always nice to see the occasional return to good ole Disney hand drawn excellence.

Ballad of Nessie might as well be the antithesis of Jake and the Neverland Pirates, I'd give Ballad of Nessie a strong 9/10 and suggest napping through the first 5 minutes of the showing of these shorts to circumvent Jake and the Peter Pan Murdering Oiks.

Phew... Good to get that off my chest.

Details on The Ballad of Nessie

Today details emerged on Disney's upcoming hand-drawn animated short, The Ballad of Nessie! The short film is based on the Loch Ness Monster and will be attached to Winnie the Pooh! The short looks wonderful and seems to be embracing the good ole Disney hand-drawn magic, so fitting that this be attached to Winnie the Pooh.

Below you'll find stills from the film and some details by one of the animators on the short:

This short film is based off of Stevie’s (one of the directors) ideas she had come up with while back at CalArts I believe. The style is meant to be flat. The character animation was traditionally done on paper as well as the cleanup. The effects were done using Toon Boom and were drawn on Cintiq’s the same way we did all of the effects on PATF. All ink and paint and comp was done in Toon Boom as well. I even used maya (3d) on a couple of shots but you would never know it by the way it was treated in Toon Boom. I believe Joe Mildenberger (2d efx) used After Effects with Toon Boom for one of the sequences with art direction based of Lorelay Bove’s work. Dan Lund set up the look of the effects with some scenes he did. It is a simple story and the style is simply done. Not everything needs all the bells and whistles. Enjoy the animation and enjoy the story from this film. Both go hand in hand and neither one of them tries to overshadow the other. This film was completed at the end of PATF and was a nice way to roll of a very busy film. Andy Harkness was the art director and was so great to work with as was everyone at Disney. People who dont work there or never have need to find out facts before they bash on a place. Does Disney have its problems, yes but at the same time it employs some of the most amazing people and I believe in time things will get to where they should be at Disney.

Thanks to Cartoon Brew for the details!