Animation Education
My Prime subscription is coming up for renewal and I've decided to let it lapse; Netflix is enough for now and my friend Sunee has graciously let me be her third wheel on HBO Max so I have plenty of shows to choose from. Lately, I've been focusing on watching cartoons. Although I did animation work in Miami, there are a lot of characters and styles of animation I want to become familiar with. For the past few days I’ve been on a cartoon marathon and found some gems:
SpongeBob SquarePants: Silly and cute. Kudos to Stephen Hillenberg. RIP
Rocky and Bullwinkle: A classic
Hero Quest: Great story; Sharon Stone's rendition of 'Puffy' is adorable
Charlotte's Web: Yes, of course I got something stuck in my eye while watching this. The 1973 version has a delightful array of famous voices. Paul Lynde is a scene stealer as Templeton the rat
Bugs Bunny and Porky Pig: As a child I regularly stuck my teeth out so I could look like Bugs, so my mom wouldn't let me watch him for a while. Bugs Bunny is still my favorite
The Addams Family (2019): A welcome surprise with an all-star cast. Charlize Theron is a sublime Morticia
Megamind: I guffawed repeatedly listening to Tina Fey and Will Farrell argue
Kung Fu Panda: Stellar. The animation is 2D at the beginning to honor Japanese Anime. Dustin Hoffman has great variation as Master Shifu
What I'll miss most about Amazon Prime video? The blurbs of general trivia they post on the side make it more interesting. However, I recently discovered with a library card, I can go to https://lapl.kanopy.com/ and watch films and cartoons for free. I also want to explore cartoons in different languages. I'm on the hunt for 'Topo Gigio', an Italian mouse puppet show created in the late 50's. Someone gave me a stuffed animal version of him when I was a kid and I've always wanted to see him in action!
