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DVD and Video

Spooky Little Boy Hangs With Monsters

“Well before he becomes the famed horror writer H. P. Lovecraft, young Howard Lovecraft is a curious and imaginative boy living with his mother while his father is locked away in Arkham Sanitarium. But after his mother unwittingly gives Howard the legendary Necronomicon, he is transported to a dangerous and frozen world populated by horrifying creatures. After saving and befriending one such creature – Spot – Howard and his new friend set off on a perilous quest to save the kingdom and get Howard home. But Howard soon finds out that not everything is as it seems and not everyone is to be trusted.” That’s the idea behind Howard Lovecraft and the Three Kingdoms, a series of graphic novels written by Bruce Brown — based on the actual life of Lovecraft himself — and illustrated by Renzo Podesta. Now the first of the three stores, Howard Lovecraft and the Frozen Kingdom, has been adapted into a CGI animated film (directed by Sean O’Reilly and featuring the voices of Ron Perlman, Christopher Plummer, and Jane Curtin, among others) which is coming this September on DVD from Shout Factory. You can find the graphic novels at Amazon, and learn more about the movie at the official site.

image c. 2016 Shout Factory

image c. 2016 Shout Factory

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Yes, Yes, Birds and Bees…

Flydra Creative is a collection of animations students at the University of Southern California (USC) School of Cinematic Arts. Lead by Jabril Mack, their first production is a 6-minute pilot for a 2D funny animal comedy series called Bailey & Clark — featuring the adventures of a bee named Bailey and a penguin named Clark, along with their friends and frenemies. The animated pilot is up on YouTube, but there’s also an official Bailey & Clark web site where you can find out more about the pilot and more upcoming adventures.

image c. 2016 by Flydra Creative

image c. 2016 by Flydra Creative

 

Just Two Little Monsters

Dave Hulteen Jr. and Jerome Green got together and formed Hulgreen Productions with the intention of making some seriously silly entertainment using puppetry, animation, and video effects. Their first creation was The Bang and Bump Show, featuring “two little monsters in a big studio”. According to their web site, “Finding two store bought and generic monster puppets, Dave and Jerome created a simple buddy style duet video naming the puppets ‘Bang’ and ‘Bump’. They were named after the respective sounds monsters make in the night. The video caused enough attention for the two to make a regular series.” They’ve since gone on to create many other humorous videos and animated shorts.

image c. 2016 Hulgreen Productions

image c. 2016 Hulgreen Productions

Bird, You Are Goin’ DOWN!

Out of nowhere department: Thanks to the folks over at Cartoonbrew we learn that Sony Pictures Animation are hard at work on a direct-to-video sequel to the 2007 surfing penguin epic, Surf’s Up.  (Gad, did it really come out that long ago??) Only this time it’s surfing… wrestling… penguins. Got that? “Cody Maverick, hungry for a new challenge, convinces an infamous big wave riding crew known as The Hang 5, voiced by WWE stars John Cena, The Undertaker, Triple H, WWE Diva Paige, and Mr. McMahon, to let him join them on their journey to a mysterious surf spot known as The Trenches, where legend has it, they’ll find the biggest waves in the world.” Okay then. “Abdul Williams (writer of the urban-comedy Lottery Ticket) will script Surf’s Up 2, and story artist Henry Yu will make his directorial debut. Yu’s previous credits include Sym-Bionic Titan and both Hotel Transylvania movies… Animation will be provided by Rainmaker Entertainment, the studio behind the upcoming Ratchet & Clank feature, as well as Sony’s Open Season: Scared Silly.Check out the Cartoonbrew article for lots of preliminary artwork and an interview with the director. Look for Surf’s Up 2: Wave Mania cresting in the spring of 2017.

image c. 2016 Sony Pictures Animation

image c. 2016 Sony Pictures Animation

One Day A Lonely Bear…

[We hope you all had a Merry Christmas — and have a safe New Year!]

Bear Story is a short CGI animated film by Gabriel Osorio at Punkrobot Studios in 2014. Since then it has won over 50 international awards in the animation festival circuit. According to an article at The Wrap, the film “…is an ingenious, dazzling piece of 3D animation, the sad story of a lonesome bear who builds an elaborate mechanical diorama in an attempt to remember (and perhaps recover) the life he used to live with his wife and son, before he was ripped from his home and sent to a circus. But audiences in Osorio’s native Chile immediately know that it’s more than that — it’s also an allegory for the way families were torn apart during the murderous Pinochet regime in Chile in the 1970s.” Bear Story has been short-listed for an Academy Award for 2015. You can see a short making-of film and a trailer for it over at the Punkrobot web page.

image c. 2015 Punkrobot

image c. 2015 Punkrobot Studios

Imagination Becomes Reality… Maybe

One of the mostly instantly-viral furry phenomena this summer has been the “opening credits” for an anthropomorphic “80’s cartoon TV series” called Super Turbo Atomic Mega Rabbit. The “leaked video footage” certainly looked the part of an 80’s cartoon show, and speculation ran wild — especially with posts popping up all over the Internet on various forums, asking pointedly “Does anyone remember this series?” Well, more recently, the truth has come out: STAMR is the creation of a UK team of animators and animation fans. The “opening credits” were directed by Wesley Louis and his team. Now, having come out of hiding on the Internet, the STAMR crew are actually trying to create a real episode of the imaginary show they’ve made so popular. To that end they are selling copies of a book called Groundworks, featuring production art and character designs from the creation of the STAMR short. Furry.Today has a link to the site, as well as the short (which now features proper credits!).

image c. 2015 WTL Productions

image c. 2015 WTL Productions

Find the Phoenix, Beat the Moo!

One of several Pokemon-wannabe series that appeared in the wake of that series’ massive success, Monster Farm (aka Monster Rancher for the US release) is one of a select few that made it to American shores in translated form. Now Discotek Media have release Monster Farm: The Complete Series on DVD. The story “… follows a boy named Genki Sakura, who is an avid player of the Monster Rancher video games. After winning a tournament hosted by the game’s creators, Genki wins a special CD that he can use to unlock a special monster in his game at home. However, upon using this disk in his game console, he finds himself transported to a world of monsters that, much like Genki’s game, are given life by scanning special stone disks within temples. There he meets a girl named Holly, who is seeking a stone disk containing a legendary Phoenix that will save the land from the tyranny of an evil ruler named Moo. While attempting to use the disk to try and release the Phoenix, they instead bring forth a different sort of monster, which Genki names ‘Mocchi’. Wanting to free the land from Moo’s rule, Genki, Holly, Mocchi and their other monster companions set forth on a quest to find the stone disk that contains the Phoenix!” Got all that? Good! Check it out over at Previews.

image c. 2015 Discotek Media

image c. 2015 Discotek Media

Scare the Bear!

CartoonBrew.com made note that the fourth feature-length animation in the Open Season series is in production and scheduled for release on home video in the spring of 2016. “Directed by Cow and Chicken creator David Feiss (who was also head of story on the original Open Season) and produced by The Simpsons’ John Bush, Open Season’s fourth installment [Open Season: Scared Silly], animated by Canada’s Rainmaker Entertainment, centers on the mystery of the Wailing Wampus Werewolf, who reportedly haunts the Timberline National Forest that serves as the setting for the franchise. Its possible existence so intensely scares the crap out of Open Season’s domesticated grizzly bear Boog that he elects to skip summer camp, which inspires his companions, led by the one-antlered mule deer Elliot, to bombard their ursine pal with exposure therapy to cure his fears.” No word yet on who’ll be voicing Boog and Elliot this time.

image c. 2015 Rainmaker Entertainment

image c. 2015 Rainmaker Entertainment

All Mixed Up But Not Confused

As quite often, the creators can explain this project far better than we ever could: “Somewhere far away, in the uncharted realms of the ocean, lies the mysterious island of Mutasia. As one of the few unexplored places left on Earth, Mutasia is home to a previously unknown collection of wildlife, unique to the island of Mutasia. The inhabitants are called Mutasians and are mixed up mixes of every type of animal imaginable. As you explore the island and meet the Mutasians, you’ll discover that they are a lot more like you than you might think!” That’s the story of Mutasia. It started with an illustrated book, Mutasia: Land of Illogical and Utterly Impossible Creatures. Now it’s expanded to a book series, a line of plushy toys, several sing-along CD’s, and an animated short film on DVD called This Mish-Mash Bash. All of that and more available at the colorful and award-winning Mutasia web site, of course.

image c. 2015 Mutasia.com

image c. 2015 Mutasia.com