My thoughts on animation

I haven't seen Zemeckis's "A Christmas Carol," but from the previews alone I know I agree with The KC Star's Robert Butler: trying to create realistic humans in animation is always a miss. Compare the characters in this film to the beautifully stylized characters in "Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs"...no contest! The beauty of animation is that you have the freedom to create wonderfully colorful & inventive characters who still command emotion and interest, and move expressively and with enough exaggeration & style to enhance the scenes. In contrast, "human" characters look strange and wooden & move in stilted ways. Compare the shockingly creepy "Polar Express" to the well-rounded characters in Pixar's "The Incredibles." Which characters do you CARE about? My money's on the latter.

If you want humans that look like humans, hire a human! Don't waste the medium of animation by sucking the life out of it— under the pretense of making it "lifelike."

I've had a busy week & have been out of the house a lot; so Gypsy was extra-pushy this morning while I was reading the paper. Right after I took this photo, she stood up and shoved the paper down with both front paws, ripping it out of my hands, and then settled on my lap.