OLD-SCHOOL 'TOONS TRUMP CGI.Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer Ask any moviegoing kid which was the best animated feature of the past year, and he might say the DreamWorks hit ``Madagascar'' or Disney's ``Chicken Little.'' The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences saw things differently, however, giving its three nominations Tuesday in the category to less-splashy projects: ``Wallace & Gromit in the Curse Curse Ancient Mariner cursed by the crew because his slaying of the albatross is causing their deaths. [Br. Poetry: Coleridge The Rime of the Ancient Mariner] Andvari king of the dwarfs; his malediction spurs many events in the of the Were-Rabbit,'' ``Howl's Moving Castle'' and ``Tim Burton's Corpse Bride.'' It was a triumph for relatively traditional forms of animation - Claymation for ``Wallace & Gromit,'' stop-motion for ``Corpse Bride'' and anime-style cel for Hayao Miyazaki's ``Howl's'' - and could be perceived as a put-down put·down or put-down n. Slang 1. A dismissal or rejection, especially in the form of a critical or slighting remark: "Such answers were, perhaps still are, a . . . for CGI CGI in full Common Gateway Interface. Specification by which a Web server passes data between itself and an application program. Typically, a Web user will make a request of the Web server, which in turn passes the request to a CGI application program. , the form that has all but taken over the industry. In addition to ``Madagascar'' and ``Chicken Little,'' two other CGI projects that were left empty-handed were 20th Century Fox's ``Robots'' and the Weinstein Co.'s ``Hoodwinked,'' the latter only recently in theaters but which qualified for 2005 awards. ``I would give kudos to the academy this year because it seems they gave credit to storytelling Storytelling Aesop semi-legendary fabulist of ancient Greece. [Gk. Lit.: Harvey, 10] Münchäusen Baron traveler grossly embellishes his experiences. [Ger. Lit. over new technology,'' said entertainment writer Josh Horowitz, author of the new book ``The Mind of the Modern Moviemaker mov·ie·mak·er n. One that makes movies, especially professionally. mov  ie·mak .'' ``They didn't go for the latest and greatest in CGI.'' Nick Park, who co-directed ``Wallace'' with Steve Box Steve Box (born South Shields Tyne and Wear UK 9 February 1956) is an Oscar-winning animator and director who works for Aardman Animations. His early work in animation included the popular British claymation television series The Trap Door , said, ``I really admire a lot of the CGIs that have been out this year - 'Madagascar,' 'Robots' and 'Chicken Little' - and the (academy's) choices seem to be films obviously not as commercial as the others, which is very encouraging for us. We aim to have our own vision at heart in terms of quirkiness quirk n. 1. A peculiarity of behavior; an idiosyncrasy: "Every man had his own quirks and twists" Harriet Beecher Stowe. 2. , and it's so wonderful to be recognized by the academy.'' Only 10 films, including Japan's ``Steamboy'' and the little-seen ``Gulliver's Travel,'' were qualified for inclusion in the best animated feature category. The rules say that such a small field allows only three nominations. ``Pixar had the year off, but clearly they'll be champing at the bit next year with 'Cars,' because they set the bar for both storytelling and technique,'' Horowitz said. Valerie Kuklenski, (818) 713-3750 valerie.kuklenski(at)dailynews.com CAPTION(S): photo Photo: ``Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit'' |
|
||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion