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Animation

Pizza Cats on DVD

Feb 1st, 2013
by rodney.
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In 1990 Tatsunoko Studios of Japan released the “science-fiction historical gag battle anime” known as Kyattou Ninden Teyandee. It was fan-subbed in the U.S. as Ninja Pizza Cats, and eventually Saban Entertainment released it to television in a dubbed version called Samurai Pizza Cats. For many years, the rights to the show have been up in the air, but now Discotek Media have announced they will soon be releasing the entire series to DVD. According the review at Anime News Network, the series “revolves arouund Nyankii, a secret ninja team that protects the robotic animal inhabitants of Edoropolis (Little Tokyo) from the evil ninja organization Karakara.” That hardly begins to describe just how crazy this thing is. Discotek will be releasing two different DVD box sets: A 52-episode dubbed version and a 54-episode subtitled version.

image c. 2013 Discotek Media

Epic Mickey 2 Fizzles

Jan 30th, 2013
by rodney.
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Disney Interactive’s Epic Mickey video game was pretty popular — it even won an Ursa Major Award for Best Anthropomorphic Game. Admittedly, some folk complained about the fact it was only available for the Nintendo Wii system, but it sold well enough to be considered a moderate success in the gaming world. The follow up, Epic Mickey 2? Not so much, in spite of the fact that 2 was made available for many game platforms. Now comes the word (according to various articles) that sales of Epic Mickey 2 since its November 2012 launch were poor enough that Disney has decided to shutter Junction Point, the Texas-based game design firm that Disney purchased in 2007 to develop both the Epic Mickey games. From this point forward, Disney Interactive will instead focus their attention on Disney Infinity, the new figurine-based multi-character game (similar in some ways to Skylanders) which will premier in June.

image c. 2013 Disney Interactive

Rootin’ Tootin’ Cinderella

Jan 12th, 2013
by rodney.
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We’ve been following this one since we first caught wind of it in Animation magazine, and somehow it snuck by us… and right onto DVD at your local WalMart, no less. Cinderella: Once Upon A Time In The West (known as Cinderella 3D in Europe) is a new CGI feature from France, directed by Pascal Herold. The story is much as you’ve ever heard it before: Cinderella (a pretty pronghorn who can handle her own in a fight) lives with her cruel stepmother and ugly stepsisters (all of them big old hounds)… this time, in a town in the Old West. A handsome prince (also a canine, but much more… handsome) comes into town and… well you know the rest. Or do you?  Did we mention the sand pirate monkeys who fly on vultures? Yes, it’s that kind of film! It’s produced by Delacave Studio, and you can check it out at their web site. Oh, the DVD is in English, by the way.

image c. 2012 Delacave Studio

Pi-Rats (and Others) in the Sky!

Dec 29th, 2012
by rodney.
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Pirate 101 (from Kings Isle, the same creators as Wizard 101) is an on-line multi-player role-playing system of pirate adventure and battle — in the sky, no less. Yep, flying pirate ships.  It’s a decidedly family-friendly game throughout, though it has “adult” and “child” areas as part of it. The interesting thing is this: As you can see from the preview trailer, and in the picture below, there are plenty of anthropomorphic player characters to be had and played, as well as the more traditional human sort. Visit www.pirate101.com to find out how to get started with the game.

image c. 2012 Kings Isle

Hong Kong Phooey — For Real

Dec 27th, 2012
by rodney.
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Back to our friends at Cartoon Brew again, swooping in on one of their scoops. Not long ago they reported about an in-development Hong Kong Phooey live action/CGI feature, starring the voice of Eddie Murphy. The film is being developed and directed by Alex Zamm (Beverly Hills Chihuahua 2) and Alcon Entertainment for Warner Brothers.  Now, Mr. Zamm has posted a short test-film of the CGI lead character on line, and Cartoon Brew has the link.  See what YOU think. (In case the footage gets taken down, Cartoon Brew were kind enough to embed it in their article).

image c. 2012 Alcon Entertainment

A Little Girl and a Tiger

Dec 25th, 2012
by rodney.
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First off: Merry Christmas! And thank you for making us part of your lives for another year ^^

Also over at Cartoon Brew there’s a teaser trailer for a new short animation project by world-famous animator Andreas Deja. Here’s what they say: “Andreas Deja is a modern-day animation legend. He worked for 30 years at Disney where he was responsible for classic characters such as Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, Jafar in Aladdin, Scar in The Lion King, and Lilo in Lilo and Stitch. He left the studio a couple years ago to focus on personal projects, including producing independent animated films. This morning, Andreas teased audiences with a preview from his short film Mushka, featuring a girl and tiger as the lead characters. The film, which will be animated in a colored pencil style, is ‘a story of love and sacrifice set in Russia.’ On his blog, which also includes development sketches of the characters, Deja pointed out that he still has a long road ahead of him. He’s been working on story and pre-production this year, and plans to animate the film in 2013.”

image c. 2012 Andreas Deja

Flying from the TV to the Movie Screen

Dec 23rd, 2012
by rodney.
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Disney and Pixar have announced an interesting change to their 2013 movie line-up. This is from Jerry Beck over at Cartoon Brew: “Disney has decided to chase after Dreamworks’ Turbo next summer with its new “Cars-inspired” movie: Planes. Disney has just announced it will release this film theatrically on August 9th, 2013. Originally designed to go direct-to-DVD, Planes will now play in theaters all over the U.S. Jon Cryer is voicing the lead plane, “Dusty”; Klay Hall (Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure), an aviator himself, is directing.” In the same article Cartoon Brew also re-posted the original trailer for Planes, in case you missed it before.

image c. 2012 Disney/Pixar

Toothless on the Printed Page

Dec 7th, 2012
by rodney.
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The guys at Ape Entertainment put it very well: “Fans of Toothless, the flying Nightfury from 2010’s How to Train Your Dragon, have had many reasons to celebrate of late. First DreamWorks Animation announced it would release two sequels to the hit film, scheduled for 2014 and 2016. Then Global Creatures brought the character to animatronic life for a live arena show that has been touring the world since March. Earlier this month, Toothless made the transition to the small screen with the debut of a tie-in animated series on Cartoon Network. Now, he’s making the leap to the printed page in Ape Entertainment’s Dragons: Riders of Berk comic series, expected to hit newsstands in December.” The new full-color comic book series is written by Aaron Sparrow and illustrated by James Silvani, who previously teamed up on Disney’s Darkwing Duck for BOOM! Studios. You can also read an interview with them about the new comic at Animation World Network.

image c. 2012 Ape Entertainment

The Mane Six in the Spotlight

Dec 5th, 2012
by rodney.
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On the hooves of releasing the wildly successful My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comic book tie-in series (which sold hundreds of thousands of copies while it was still in pre-order!) IDW have announced a new My Little Pony Micro-Series. Each of these six full-color issues while feature one of the “Mane Six” characters from the series in their own showcase adventure. First up is Twilight Sparkle — ably assisted by her dragon friend Spike, of course. “Twilight Sparkle becomes enthralled in a literary masterpiece. Dismayed to hear the series never continued, Twilight goes on a quest to hunt down the reclusive author, Jade Singer. The first issue was written and illustrated by Thom Zahler. Look for it in February, or pre-order it (before everyone else does!) at Mail Order Comics.

image c. 2012 IDW Publishing

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