Sparkle Friends

Here's an animation from New Zealand animation studio, Mukpuddy. It's called 'Got Gunge?' and stars the Sparkle Friends. It's sort of nutty and colorful and does video game stuff and has goofy sounds. And lots of green slime!

Watch it here.

Zip and Li'l Bit in the Upside-Down Me

Trade Loeffler writes and draws an online comic that is updated every Thursday and Sunday. It's about a brother and sister and a mysterious upside-down character. It looks very nicely drawn and has that quiet charm and subtle humor that is somewhat lacking in many comics and animations.

Read the comic here.

Strawberry Pie - CGI Animation

Here's a great little film by a university student named Antonio Reyna. It's about a boy on a hilltop who tries mightily to welcome his new neighbor.

It is a charming little tale and it looks very good. You know, with all these incredible university animators around there should be enough entertainment available to save us all sorts of money we might otherwise waste trying to watch movies about talking Chevron cars.

Watch the film here.

Tenggren Illustrations for Grimms' Tales

The ASIFA-Hollywood Animation Archive has posted illustrations from a 1923 book of Grimms' Tales by Gustaf Tenggren.

You can see them here.

I do believe the one to left here is from Hansel and Gretel. Look at those big wondering eyes on the children. And I think Gretel has just dropped the piece of the gingerbread that she was eating. It's never a good thing to be caught eating someone's house.

An Inconvenient Truth - Global Warming Movie

Former Vice President Al Gore has been presenting a talk and slide-show around the country on the extremely serious problem of global warming. That presentation inspired the making of 'An Inconvenient Truth.' This movie presents information that the vast majority of the world's scientists say is accurate. They agree that global warming is a global catastrophe that can only be averted through immediate action.

Usually, when the vast majority of world scientists say something is so it is so. When the vast majority of scientists said we could land on the moon, we did. When the vast majority of them said we could split atoms, we did. When the vast majority of them said we could fly faster than sound, we did. The guy standing there arguing with them usually ends up as a historical joke. I am going to trust the vast majority of scientists on this issue.

Go see this movie. Take the kids. Watch a trailer for it here.

Sébastien - Another Gobelins Animation

'Sébastien' is another student animation from the Gobelins school in France. I like this one's idea about creativity and its excellent backgrounds.


Watch it here.

The Thief and the Cobbler - An Animated Masterpiece

'The Thief and the Cobbler' is an animated feature film by three-time Academy Award winning director Richard Williams who was the animation director for 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit.'

This film was made over a 25-year period and was never released in the form intended by its maker. This version has been restored by fans and posted on the YouTube service in 16 parts. It incorporates some of the original scene sketches in place of missing parts, but the majority of the film is here and it's just fantastic.

It is obvious in the first five minutes that this thing is one of the great animated films. It far surpasses Disney's 'Aladdin' which obviously owes a lot to this film. As soon as the film begins, you know you are in the hands of an absolute master of the medium. It's not often that Candlelight Stories gets to recommend something this great so enjoy it while it's available.

You can watch the entire movie on YouTube by clicking here.






By the way, I originally found this via Xeni's post on BoingBoing.net.

David's New Snail - A Flash Animation

Here's nice animation by Mike Adair. It stars his son's voice as the main character. The movie has great character touches and a nice simple design.

Watch it here