Review of 1947 – “Abandoned Little Cat Tora” – (Kenzo Masaoka)

Old Japanese cartoons are now some of my favorite cartoons I have ever watched. The style of the drawings, the music, and even the story of this animation is very consistent and has quality. It reminds me a lot of the older Disney animations in this time period, but also looks like an anime because of the thin uniformed lines and the shaded areas of the characters.

In the end, this animation made me want to watch more because I felt like I was part of the story with the cats and part of their family, and it was just amazing to feel that just from watching this.

Review of 1975 - "Paddington" - (FilmFair/Bond)

I had no idea that there was an older verison of Paddington, but I think it is a decent animation. I am not very fond of the realistic bear with the drawings of people together because it doesn't look right. Although, the setting of the animation is interesting because it is completely different from the traditional all hand-drawn style. It is pretty similar to a Rankin-Bass animation since the bear, or Paddington, is a puppet in a stop motion/hand-drawn animation.

To end,  Paddington is an animationthat teaches about politeness and about the English culture. In my opinion, the new and improved version of Paddington has a better story and quality than the the one from several years ago.

Review of 1950 – “Gerald McBoing-Boing” (UPA / Robert Cannon)

I had some different thoughts about this animation, but I liked it. It is very simplied like some of Disney's past animations, but mostly in the backgroind drawings. Also, the art style was very similar to Dexter's Labratory and Powerpuff Girls, but it was much more simple than those shows. It was the new look for animtion since it was in the 50s, and I liked it but I would rather in my opinion see it traditionally done.

To conclude, I thought the idea of just outline and some color looks cool, despite of how simple it looks. This is also similar to the Dumbo scene with the elephants, but less dark.

Review of 1950 – “Rabbit of Seville” (WB / Loony Tunes / Chuck Jones)

Warner Bros. is the best, in my opinion, animation studios on this planet. The way that they composed "Rabbit of Seville" was very humorous since it was about the conflict between Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd. I like how the music is sort of synced throughout the animation because it adds to what the character is portraying. For example, Bugs was brushing the beauty clay crumbs off of Elmer's face, and the rhythm of the music matched with Bugs hands moving. It is honesty beautifully done and still is consistent with its own style.

To end, this animation is obviously very recognized, especially in our class. This is interesting to me because I don't know any animations that are quite as recognizable as this one, but I think it is because it's funny and makes the audience want to watch more.

Anthropomorphic Character Idea

This is Jack(on the left)and Lester(on the right) and they are anthropomorphic hawks. Lester is Jack's big brother, and is trying to each Jack how to be a hawk. Jack can do almost anything Lester can do except fly and hunt for food, which Lester laughs at him for that. They act and play like brothers do, and would do anthing for each other.

Lester's character is laid-back and humorous, but Jack's character is more of an overachiever and sort of cocky.

Review for 1928 – “Koko’s Earth Control” (Inkwell Studios / Fleischer)

Fleischer's animation was interesting and slightly different from the other animations because it has a more imaginative perspective. Who wouldn't want to control what happens on the earth such as the clouds, the sky, and other types of weather? The art style of this animation was also beautiful, but I didn't like all the flashing involved such as the lightning effect and the faces coming closer and fading out.

To conclude, I overall enjoyed watching the animation because I thought it was a good concept. I feel like that this idea has been used in some movies about the earth and space. Also, people like to feel that they can have control over what they can't usually have control over, which I think is pretty impressive for an animation like this.

Review of 1937 - "The Old Mill" (Disney / Wilfred Jackson)

First of all, the style of the animation in this short film is very clean and beautiful compared to the previous animations I have watched. The lines on the characters were pretty consistent with each passing frame, and even the effects of nature such as the water and the wind were also consistent. 

I like how there is color being used in this animation because it adds a storybook-like theme as it would in the movies to come like "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" and "Cinderella." "The Old Mill" is still a musically synced animation, and it is probably one of the best synced animations so far. At the beginning of the short film, it shows the old mill in the country and they all are in for the night. At this point everything looks peaceful and calm until a thunderstorm creates chaos and fear, which is what gets pointed towards the audience watching the film. It then ends with everything going back to normal, and the peaceful, calming feeling returns.

To conclude, Disney's animation turned out to be pretty good for it's time. It is similar to the older types of animation, but what was different was that it had it's own original style. They told stories and made the audience fell like that they were in the film feeling and going through the same things the characters were. I have only seen more in this animation than the other animations.

Review of 1928 - "Steamboat Willie (Disney/Iwerks) by Jadyn Hall

This animated cartoon is very similar the past ones that we have looked at such as Felix the Cat, Gertie the Dinosaur, and others. The art style was the same with the black and white look to it. The animation style was similar to the past ones, but not quite because it steps a little bit from the usual style of the repetitive frames.

Other than that, seeing that this is one of the first Disney produced animated films is pretty amazing, but it is still not that different from earlier cartoon animations. I liked how the characters, especially Mickey, played on different objects and animals while in sync with the music. I haven't seen anything like that yet since we have been watching the earlier animations. 

To conclude, Steamboat Willie was enjoyable to watch. Although, I and many others I think have seen the one part of that short film at the beginning of some modern Disney films like Frozen and Inside Out.

Review of 1938 – “Optical Poem” (Fischinger) by Jadyn Hall

This is a very well made animation sequence, especially because of the music being linked to it. As I was watching the beginning of "Optical Poems," I saw the shapes and forms start to tell a story along with the music.

For example, in the middle of the animation, the circles started to form in a dancing matter. Another example is that the shapes and forms were the instruments. The bigger they got, the slower the music, and smaller they got, the faster the music.

To end, the colors that were chosen were beautiful, and about every 15-20 seconds it would change color schemes, which I thought was mesmerizing and cool. It was very different than the earlier types of animation because it did not have line, but it did have shadows.

Review of 1914 - “Gertie the Dinosaur” (Winsor McCay)

     I liked the short animated/live action film because of how it was produced. How the animator introduced Gertie thw dinosaur as an animated character was interesting and had a bit of humor to it too. The animator showed the audience what Gertie should do using text and music. Then, he showed the animation of the dinosaur afterwards with an improved look to the past types of animating, which I thought was pretty creative and humorous. In the end, the style of the animators work was still pretty good with the thickness of the lines and also shadows, and is similar to today's animation styles and techniques.