AnimationStuff

Greetings! And welcome to my hub about all things animation - from classic cartoons you remember watching on those Saturday mornings, to recent CGI stuff that's blowing our minds in movie theaters

Now, it's no secret that I'm a bit of a fan of animation (I wouldn't have created this hub otherwise :D) but when I heard that Dreamworks were planning to combine three of my favourite interests - martial arts, anthropomorphics and Jack Black comedy - there was a small tingle of excitement in this hubber.

Kung Fu Panda tells the story of Po, a noodle chef who dreams of becoming a kung-fu master. However, Po has an interest in food and is rather large (as pandas should be) but a stroke of coincidence (as well as a shedload of fireworks) leads to Po becoming chosen by the wise old turtle as the 'Chosen One' - responsible for defending the people from the vengeful snow leopard Tai Long (voiced by Lovejoy!)

After being shunned by Master Shifu's students (which take animals from the Chinese Zodiac - voiced by the likes of Lucy Liu and Jackie Chan) Po is lead on a journey of knowledge and understanding of the ways of kung fu by his reluctant red panda master. Evetually though, Po discovers the true meaning of the Dragon Scroll and faces Tai Long in a heated battle through the streets of the village.

The comedic quotes of Jack Black as the main character add some mirth to the equation - indeed, Po seems almost like a surfer dude mixed with a kung-fu wannabe in his attitude to training and understanding, but the journey from noodle kitchen to Dragon Temple is littered with challenges and strife - but that doesn't stop him trying, with hilarious results at times.

When I saw this at the cinema I was blown away by the feel of the film and the quality of the animation, particularly during the opening scene - which has a Samurai Jack-esqe feel about it - and the mix of 3D animation and traditional Chinese art makes for one of the best animations I've seen from Dreamworks in recent times.

5 out of 5

When it comes to animation in Japan - the first name that springs to mind for a lot of fans is Hayao Miyasaki. The legendary director began animating in the 1960's and his highly acclaimed work is known all around the world.

One of the biggest success stories of Studio Ghibli is the Oscar-winning animation Spirited Away. The story's unlikey heroine Chihiro finds herself trapped in a world of spirits and beasts after getting lost with her parents on the way to a new home. After seeing her parents turned into pigs, Chihiro sneaks into the bathhouse - run by the witch Yubaba - with the help of Haku, one of the witches' manservants, and ends up working for Yubaba in order to see her parents again - losing her name to the witch in the process to be called simply 'Sen'

Along the way she meets a spirit called No-Face, whose generous nature turns out to be false, morphing into a terrible beast whom Sen must stop, and encounters Yubaba's twin sister, who reveals to Sen the way to break her hold on the girl. After returning to the bathhouse and freeing Haku from his curse, Sen's final test is to pick out her parents from a pen full of pigs - which she does successfully. Upon returning to the real world her parents have no recollection of the events, Chihiro on the other hand, looks back to the mysterious tunnel as the family car drives away to their new home.

This, for me, is Ghibli's biggest success story, the animation is both captivating and beautiful - you're engrossed from the very beginning, whether it be the bathhouse or the flight scenes. With a mix of weird characters along the way, from Kamajii - the boiler room operator who is assisted by cute little sootballs, to the stink spirit who forms part of one of Sen's tasks in the bathhouse.

Audiences the world over have been capitivated by this animation, and has helped etch the name of Studio Ghibli into the movie world.

5 out of 5

So I decided to head to the cinema yesterday, it was a lazy Sunday and I had a buddy visiting. After some lunch we went and pre-booked tickets, we'd intended to try and catch Wanted, however it was on rather late so we decided to take in Pixar's latest production instead.

Let me just say that I'm in total awe of the quiality of work that Pixar produce - it seems that every movie they make exceeds the previous one. From taking on toys in Toy Story to the water effects used in Finding Nemo - and their venture into deep space does not disappoint.

The story focuses on Wall-E, a tiny waste disposal unit sent to Earth to help clean up the planet, whilst the humans 'relax' on a mothership, enjoying 'food in a cup' and lots of other facilities (but in the process have grown rather large in their hoverchairs)

As well as cleaning up the planet, Wall-E is something of a hoarder, and has a great collection within his home capsule. During a routine shift he encouters Eve - a research unit from the mothership Axiom - and is infactuated by her almost immediatly.

Throughout the film we see Wall-E's comedic attempts to woo Eve, whose heart is set on the 'directive' - upon finding a shoot discovered by Wall-E she goes into a state of hibernation before returning to the mothership (with Wall-E in tow)

After that, Wall-E finds himself in a race against time to overthrow a rebellious navigation system (with shades of Hal 9000) and bring the humans back to Earth, whilst trying to woo Eve in the process.

The film is extremely cute in looks and storyline, and the slightly sloped, sad eyes of Wall-E will draw you in from the beginning. Rather than speech, the communication between robot characters in the form of blips, buzzes and synthesized speech is nothing short of adorable.

This is most definatly a film I'd recommend if you're an animation fan, you'll be taken in by the graphics and the underlying storyline. One can only begin to wonder how Pixar can possibly top this, but they've done it before and could surely do so again.

5 out of 5