Storyboard:

The first star character from Ub Iwerks’ own studio faces numerous challenges in the country and the city, as he makes his way through the Depression years.

The Sweatbox Review:

My initial exposure to Flip the Frog came in late 1993, via my first purchase from the Whole Toon Catalog. (That would be mail order, kids.) I was enjoying my time living away from home after university, and was starting to enthusiastically indulge my love of animation in any way that I could. Somehow, I had discovered the wonderful, stupendous, revelatory Whole Toon Catalog, stuffed full of an amazing array of books and videos about cartoons. It was through the WTC that I found Leonard Maltin’s landmark book Of Mice And Men, which I devoured; that book had a short but illuminating chapter on the Ub Iwerks studio. The Catalog also introduced me to Bosko Video, who made VHS tapes of vintage animated cartoons. From the Catalog, I purchased Bosko’s tapes of the Fleischer Superman cartoons, as well as Van Beuren’s The Little King, Tom and Jerry (what, a couple of humans?!?), and Cubby Bear – man, what discoveries these all were! And, at the beginning of those tapes played an advertisement for more Bosko tapes, featuring a cartoon “star” that I had never heard of, a piano-playing amphibian named Flip the Frog! I was intrigued. I didn’t actually order the Flip tapes done by Bosko (sorry!), as I instead chose to go with the Cartoons That Time Forgot series of tapes (later upgraded to laserdisc and DVD); one volume of that series was entitled, Down And Out With Flip The Frog. Back then, any rare cartoons were thrilling to see, and I greatly enjoyed meeting that little froggy and seeing what he was all about. Years later, it is with great satisfaction that I now own a high-definition set of the complete Flip series, thanks to Thunderbean – that little operation based out of Michigan and run by cartoon mensch Steve Stanchfield.

But who is Flip the Frog? Forgive me if you’ve heard this before, but… in some ways, it all started with a mouse…

Mickey Mouse became an immediate sensation in 1928 with the release of Steamboat Willie. Producer Walt Disney was given much of the applause, but right from the beginning, another man was credited on the title card, in letters just as big as those in Walt’s name. That card read, “A Walt Disney Comic by Ub Iwerks.” Ub was a colleague of Walt’s from Kansas City, and he was Disney’s main animator on the early Mickey Mouse cartoons, as well as the Silly Symphonies series. Ub stayed with Disney’s California company for six years, beginning in 1924, and was therefore witness to all the highs and lows of Walt’s first few years in Hollywood. Ub was amazingly fast, doing hundreds of drawings per day. Legend has it that he animated Mickey Mouse’s first produced cartoon, Plane Crazy, all by himself in just two weeks. Other animators considered him a genius, not just for his speed, but also for his innate sense of movement and perspective. He was obviously a highly valued member of the Disney staff.

However, Walt and Ub did have disagreements, and that may have led to Ub accepting a 1930 offer from Walt’s own distributor, Pat Powers, to finance a studio to be run by Ub. Iwerks was the same age as Walt; amazingly, considering what they had each accomplished already, they were only 28 years old in 1930. At that tender age, following somewhat in Walt’s mighty footsteps, Ub put together a studio, hiring artists who answered a newspaper ad. He designed a new character, Flip the Frog. The initial design was indeed frog-like, with gangly limbs and webbed toes, and a head that melted into his chest. Iwerks made a pilot film called Fiddlesticks, using a double separation negative method called Harriscolor, a 1929 invention of one J.B. Harris, Jr. That color format never evolved past the experimental stage, so it is fascinating to see that first Flip cartoon now, and understand that this was a rare use of an early color system. (Notably, the first Disney color short was Flowers And Trees, which was made – with great publicity – two years later.)

Fiddlesticks and the next few shorts were initially distributed by Powers’ own company, Celebrity Productions. Fiddlesticks showed off exacting synchronization of sound and picture, using the system that Ub had largely developed himself while working with Disney. Fiddlesticks did not have much of a story, though, simply showing Flip among other denizens of the outdoors, dancing and frolicking about in a woodland environment. He does a jig to the tune of Sailor’s Hornpipe, which would soon also appear in numerous Popeye cartoons. Flip plays piano as well, accompanied on violin by a mouse that undoubtedly reminds one of Mickey, though in a skirt rather than shorts. (The skirt is red, too, though Mickey was still appearing in monochrome in his own cartoons at that time.)

The next few Flip shorts were also done in color, according to this set’s liner notes, but Fiddlesticks is the only one to survive in color. The next short was Flying Fists, a boxing cartoon. Then, in Little Orphan Willie, in which Flip adopts a baby mouse, Flip began his metamorphosis, gaining gloves, shorts, and shoes – familiar attire for certain cartoon characters of the day. After that came Puddle Pranks, where Carl Stalling gave Flip a theme song that accompanied each of his cartoons from then on. It was during production of this cartoon that a deal was being worked out with MGM, so Puddle Pranks exists with title cards for both Celebrity Productions, Inc. and MGM. Both versions appear on the disc. Ironically, MGM never released Puddle Pranks, and that cartoon had to wait for Powers to release the Celebrity version once the MGM deal was over.

Thus, it was after a few shorts were produced that Powers was able to sell the package to MGM, becoming that revered studio’s first supplier of animated films. The security offered by the MGM contract also meant new hires for the studio. That included another Kansas City colleague, aforementioned music director Carl Stalling; Stalling was hired away from Disney, this being a few years before his long stint at the Leon Schlesinger studio. The studio’s other composer was Scott Bradley, who later did superlative work directly for MGM’s cartoon unit. New artists at Iwerks’ included Grim Natwick, Rudy Zamora, Irv Spece, and Shamus Culhane. Even Chuck Jones had a small role at the studio. The first new Flip cartoon under the MGM deal was The Village Barber, which gained Flip by far his biggest exposure yet. Fortunately, it is a cartoon with strong gags, as Flip moves from the woods to a city setting, where he manages a barber shop.

At this point, Flip is finally really up and running. His next cartoons have him as a detective investigating a murder, taking on various positions at a restaurant, working as a blacksmith, and then as a dentist, before wooing his feline girlfriend in Ragtime Romeo. The cartoons still basically follow the “music & gags” model, like many cartoons of the day, but they do contain many technical flourishes (e.g. an animated sidewalk moving in perspective, lighting tricks, etc.) to support the bare narratives.

MGM encouraged Powers to ask Iwerks to make Flip more anthropomorphic, to add to his relatability. Thus, Flip eventually got a rounded head and more human proportions. His new look evolved over time, but is largely seen by the time of The New Car. Flip is more visually appealing by this point, though he remained in search of a distinguishable personality. The cartoons were still largely devoid of speaking, with occasional exceptions. When Flip did speak, he originally spoke with a falsetto reminiscent of Mickey Mouse. When he sang, however, such as in the cartoon openings, his voice was somewhat deeper. He sometimes lost the falsetto in the stories, but his voice remained inconsistent and nondescript. In the absence of a memorable voice like Donald Duck or Goofy, Flip’s personality was stifled. It’s perplexing, given all the other attention paid to sound in these cartoons. Still, the shorts had their good points. Stormy Seas followed, with lovely effects animation, and a wonderful Neptune animated by Grim Natwick.

However, the cartoons continued to squander good story ideas by failing to give us a character to root for. As Flip breaks into a film studio, fails as a plumber, hunts in Africa (beware some racist caricatures in this one!), encounters Spooks, and works as a firefighter and a milkman, we do get entertained by the increasingly polished visuals, well-realized gags, and zippy music; but the cartoons just don’t quite ascend to the next step of excellence relative to what audiences were seeing from Disney and Fleischer, and soon would see from Warner Bros. and Universal.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed every minute of watching these cartoons, and things got even better when moving on to the second disc. Here, the cartoons grow up, perhaps reflecting more the personalities and concerns of the crew that had moved to the studio from New York. The cartoons get a slightly harder edge, gain social consciousness, and become more reflective of Depression-era society. What A Life, for example, sees Flip and his young friend scrimping for change and struggling to get fed. However, audiences didn’t have to worry about the cartoons staying too serious, as evidenced by the cute dog vs. dogcatcher story in the following cartoon, Puppy Love. This cartoon also comes in an alternate European version, with changed music and dialog, which is also included on the disc.

Flip was picking up a bit of a recurring cast by this point. His girlfriend had evolved from a fellow frog to a dog (and soon a human), and his stories had gained a horse, a dog, a little boy, and an “old maid” character. This broadened things out, though unfortunately the issue of lacking personalities remained, aside from someone being happy or cranky or in love.

After a couple of cartoons where Flip was portrayed as being younger, he grew up enough to be hired as The Office Boy, a short that also featured a curvy secretary who had trouble keeping her clothes intact, making this (and the next one) the raciest of the Flips. There are more Natwick-animated lovely ladies in Room Runners, which sees Flip trying to get out of his hotel bill. The pre-Code nature of these cartoons is in further evidence in Circus; what could have been a pretty standard cartoon gets some spice with a sequence in which the old maid gets, um, felt by both Flip and a pickpocket, not all of which is unpleasing to her. A few seconds of this sequence were originally cut from prints, but that footage was found and is restored here – in slightly lesser quality from the rest of the cartoon. A football cartoon follows, then the rather amorous old maid returns for the fun western spoof The Pony Express.

Flip reverts to boyhood in The Music Lesson, then becomes a babysitter in Nurse Maid, before we get to one of his more well-known and unique cartoons: Funny Face. Here, Flip sees a plastic surgeon to help him look more human, and therefore attract the affections of a girl. The disc contains two versions of this cartoon, with different versions of the girl. One version is designed to have greater similarity to Betty Boop, whom Natwick worked on in the Fleischer cartoons. Next up is the Arabian adventure Coo-Coo The Magician, complete with harem girls. It is in this cartoon that the new Flip design is finally incorporated in the opening of the short, with Flip singing at the piano.

The last few cartoons see Flip once again working in a kitchen, inventing a robot to cut his grass, becoming a bullfighter in a truly looney bullring, returning to being a cop (with more racial imagery abounding in A Chinaman’s Chance), and trying his luck as a pioneer, only to face warring native Americans in Pale Face (naturally, some may also find those depictions somewhat unfortunate, to say the least). In terms of all those racial caricatures, let us keep in mind that they were common in cartoons back then; that does not excuse them, but it does put them in context with the times. Warnings about this appear at the back of the booklet and at the beginning of the discs.

Racial caricatures aside, Flip was picking up steam… just in time for his cartoon series to get cancelled! But there was one more short to go, and it is certainly my favorite: The Soda Squirt. When I first saw that Flip ad at the beginning of those Bokso Video tapes, that ad heavily featured The Soda Squirt and its music. I love The Soda Squirt, though, for more than sentimental reasons. The short also features several wonderful celebrity caricatures, including the Marx Brothers and Mae West, all attending his drug store soda shop. The short has some great synchronized movement, set to the best music score of the series. Flip would be done after this cartoon, but he went out with a bang. Given that trajectory, it is a shame that it was decided that Flip had had his chance already.

Despite all the talent at the Iwerks studio, Flip never really took off. A respectable 38 shorts were produced, and there was certainly a fine promotional push for them, but neither MGM or theatre crowds were excited about them. The conventional line is that the Flip cartoons had nothing new to offer. He was simply an “everyfrog”, doing everyday things (more or less), in a not particularly clever or amusing way. And even when the cartoons had moments of brilliant animation or effects, and even occasionally a more gripping or entertaining storyline, the characterization fell short. However, the Flip shorts do certainly have a charm to them, even if that is now enhanced by the “retro” appreciation of all that rubber-hosed, bouncy, black and white animation. As one views this two-disc set, it can be seen that, as the series progressed, the shorts became better realized and more polished. Boring farmyard or nature-based antics gave way to more urban adventures, and other genres were explored. The storytelling got stronger, and the gags funnier. Yet, they never fully competed with Disney or Fleischer. Over at the Schlesinger studio, they were just warming up, as they introduced Porky Pig in 1936, and went on to develop an amazing cast of characters, each with well-defined personalities and voices. The Iwerks studio never got there. Ub was a genius in many ways, but he didn’t have the same storytelling spark, or the same knack for shaping characters into commercial hits, as his friend Walt.

Flip only lasted a few years before giving way to Willie Whopper in 1933. Willie was a chubby kid who told tall tales, opening up the storytelling to be more fanciful. (Thunderbean has produced a restored collection of those shorts, as well, released a few years ago.) Willie lasted about a year with MGM. Ub also did a Cinecolor series called Comicolor Cartoons, which were distributed by Powers himself, as MGM had no involvement. The Comicolors were the most striking cartoons to come out of the Iwerks shop yet, but they continued to use bland characters and largely humdrum storytelling. By 1936, the studio ran out of steam and closed.

After the studio shut down, both Iwerks and Stalling went to work for Leon Schlesinger. While Stalling stayed on for a legendary career scoring Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts, Iwerks had only a brief stint doing a couple of Porky Pig cartoons for Schlesinger. Iwerks then went to Columbia Pictures’ Screen Gems to direct Color Rhapsody shorts, before returning to Disney in 1940. This time, however, he focused his genius on the technical side, creating special visual effects and doing some remarkable inventing. His work in combining live action and animation, pioneering Xerography, and as an early theme park Imagineer made him an extraordinarily valuable Disney employee once again. His career there lasted decades, and was legendary.

Thunderbean, in association with Blackhawk Films and Film Preservation Associates (owned by the late David Shepard, who passed away during the production of this set), has done fans and animation history a great service. This set was in the works for several years, facing numerous challenges – including the global pandemic, which shut down film archives for a while. Nevertheless, the best possible elements were eventually gathered to produce this set, and the cartoons were painstakingly restored. This complete set of Flip the Frog cartoons is a supreme achievement for Thunderbean, and is – more importantly – a fitting tribute to the talents and genius of Ub Iwerks.

Is This Thing Loaded?

The cartoons appear on two discs, and each disc is loaded with superb bonus content.

Disc One
When these discs were being produced, there was a long wait at the end for a mysterious final piece. Fans were assured online that this piece would be essential, and later it was hinted that it had something to do with the Iwerks family. After several months of waiting, that piece turned out to be a Leslie Iwerks Introduction (2:21), a most welcome appreciation by the granddaughter of Ub Iwerks. Ms. Iwerks, a filmmaker herself, discusses the legacy of Ub, and sets the stage for our historical and creative appreciation of these films.

The Audio Commentary Tracks number twelve on disc one, and six on Disc Two, by such experts as David Gerstein, Devon Baxter, Thad Komorowski, J.B. Kaufman. Mark Kausler, Leonard Maltin, Jerry Beck, Thunderbean head man Steve Stanchfield, and others.

The Fire Fire Reconstructed Storyboard Reel (7:02) offers a rare and fascinating glimpse at the development of that short.

The Behind the Scenes Gallery includes character studies, model sheets, story outlines, animation drawings, copyright synopses, and more. Each set of images has clear, written descriptions of what the viewer is seeing. It’s a stellar presentation.

Theatrical Leaders (2:12) is a unique look at pre-title cards from the original 35mm films.

Flip The Frog Annual is a presentation of the original UK hardback book, which had numerous stories of Flip and friends. After describing the origins of the book, the disc allows the reader to select from one of fifteen stories to read. That’s right – Thunderbean didn’t just give us an image of the book’s cover and call it a day; they actually scanned dozens of pages of stories for us to read.

The Frog Songbook brings us numerous original recordings of songs that were later used in the Flip cartoons. Titles include “The Bulldog On The Bank”, “Bull Frog Blues”, “By Heck”, and several more. These recordings date back to the 1910s and 1920s, so their inclusion here is most interesting.

Flip la Grenouille, Le Cine-Concert shows a performance by a musical group that played live music to accompany Flip the Frog films as they toured France in 2016 and beyond. The full cartoon Spooks (8:37) is presented with their accompaniment, along with excerpts from Techno-Cracked (2:53) (this time showing the musicians as well as the cartoon), and a teaser is also presented.

Disc Two
A Publicity and Merchandise Gallery features dozens (or was it hundreds?) of images, including newspaper clippings, exhibitor reviews, trade paper ads, licensed toys and videos, and more. Finally, I got to see the Bosko Video VHS covers!

Foreign Titles (3:43) shows samples of titles used in French, German, and Dutch releases; and Reissue Titles (5:41) shows those from the Pat Powers/Celebrity Productions versions.

The Flip the Frog Coloring Book introduces the book, then provides 58 images from the 32-page edition.

The World of Flip the Frog is a comic book produced by a young David Gerstein in 1986 (years before he worked on official Disney comics), done with the permission of the Iwerks family. Contained in this feature are a comic story, a 30-second animation based on flipbook art by Gerstein (nice job, little Davey!), and excerpts from a live film screening (9:16), introduced by today’s David Gerstein.

Case Study:

The Blu-ray case holds a disc on either side. This set comes with a booklet with extensive liner notes written by animation historian and author J.B. Kaufman, valuably commenting on each cartoon. There are further writings there from Gerstein and Stanchfield, as well as notes on the music in the cartoons by Chris Buchman. My package also had a note inside, offering a replacement disc, due to an issue regarding accessing a couple of the commentary tracks on Disc 2 on some players, though they should be reachable regardless through the Audio button when selecting an individual cartoon. A surprise little thank you card from Flip completes the package.

Ink And Paint:

Years in the making, and worth the wait! The shorts here look the best they have in decades, thanks to meticulous work from the Thunderbean crew. These shorts were never lost, as they appeared on home video all the way back to the Super 8 days of home film collecting. However, they didn’t look then like they look now on Blu-ray. Now, the shorts don’t exactly look like new, of course; some allowance must be given for the age of these films. Taken from original negatives and 35 mm fine grains, these shorts are, after all, over 90 years old. Plus, there are a few seconds here and there where obviously inferior materials had to be used to fill in the gaps. Still, the films are remarkably clean now, with good detail and a stable picture. There is some variation in density, some vertical lines occasionally running through the image, and almost subliminal flicker at times if you look for it. But that is all minor. Those that preordered will have the best opportunity to judge, as preorders also received discs containing the raw scans, but suffice to say that the immense amount of digital restoration has these films looking almost impossibly better.

Note that the actual Blu-ray picture contains the entire frame image from the films, complete with rounded edges. I have cropped my images here.

Scratch Tracks:

The mono sound is very good as well. There is no significant distortion or hiss, allowing no auditory distractions when viewing the films. Note that Soda Squirt has a music and effects track option, as well as an option to play only the music

Final Cut:

This just may forever loom large as Thunderbean’s largest and greatest project. Years in the making (my preorder was dated July 15, 2016!), we now have all 38 Flip the Frog films from the 1930s, encompassing the entire filmography of Ub Iwerks’ own creation, digitally restored using the best available elements, most of which were original negatives. It won’t get better than this for Flip the Frog. He has never been treated so well, and Thunderbean’s assemblage of copious extras makes the set even better. This year is proving to be a great one for vintage animation fans, and certainly for Thunderbean.

Storyboard:

The third volume of George Pal’s uniquely amazing stop motion shorts features over 20 Puppetoon delights, plus several European cel animated films.

The Sweatbox Review:

Ten years after the much-welcomed Blu-ray release of The Puppetoon Movie, and three years after the release of the similarly positively reviewed The Puppetoon Movie Volume 2 disc, producer Arnold Leibovit is back to present another collection of George Pal’s wonderful stop motion puppet films. Leibovit has worked with Paramount Studios and various archives in the USA and Europe to gather another twenty-one Puppetoons, plus seven hand-drawn animated works. Pal, of course, was the fantasy film maestro who was later responsible for bringing such classic films as The War Of The Worlds and The Time Machine to the silver screen, but he got his start producing both hand-drawn and puppet animation. His Puppetoons, released in the USA through Paramount Studios in the 1940s, are among cinema’s most unique and well-loved treasures. We live in a privileged time, when so many of these shorts have now been restored in high definition and are available on Blu-ray.

The Puppetoon Movie Volume 3 is not a true movie per se, but rather a collection of shorts, complete with opening and closing titles/credits. This is important to note, since the titles for these films are wonderfully crafted themselves. The disc’s main menu invites the viewer to select from three lists of random films, labelled Puppetoon Films A, B, and C. Each set runs over an hour, and has a selection of Puppetoon films from the USA and earlier ones from Europe, as well as some Pal-produced hand-drawn shorts. There is not much rhyme or reason behind the groupings, particularly given that not all the films are even Puppetoons; but it does offer a pleasingly diverse viewing experience. Personally, I would have stuck with just the Puppetoons in chronological order, and kept the hand-drawn ones to the bonus features; but as each film is individually selectable, the viewer can watch them in whatever order he or she wishes. Each of the three shorts listings also has a Play All function.

A few of the shorts will be recognized from the first Puppetoon Movie Blu-ray’s bonus features. In fact, Together In The Weather was part of the original Puppetoon Movie proper, but now it is fully restored and has its titles/credits. All of the other films that were in High Definition in the bonus section of the first Blu-ray are also now further restored to a higher standard, including the two Dr. Seuss shorts (The 500 Hats Of Bartholomew Cubbins and And To That That I Saw It On Mulberry Street), The Sky Princess, Rhapsody In Wood, Date With Duke, Jasper And The Beanstalk, and Rhythm In The Ranks.

Incidentally, of the twelve additional cartoons that appeared in only standard definition on The Puppetoon Movie Blu-ray (as well as the previous DVD), only Aladdin And The Magic Lamp gets an HD upgrade for Volume 3. (Note that The Ship Of The Ether was on Volume 2.) And in case you’re wondering if all the Puppetoons are now on disc, the answer is “no”. A few of the European shorts understandably remain no-shows, and Jasper has a few of his shorts unfortunately missing as well, partially due to potential controversy. Pal, a European, was not entirely familiar with American “negro” stereotypes, but some of the Jasper films nonetheless harken to what may be considered racist imagery and notions. For this reason, we’ll likely never see Jasper And The Watermelons and its like on Blu-ray.

Details about the Puppetoons and their creator have been mentioned in previous reviews. Suffice to say that these films are absolutely precious, utilizing hundreds of puppet figures to simulate dancing and running, and even squashing and stretching. Special effects, careful lighting, terrific music, and technical wizardry combine to make these films breathtakingly special.

Puppetoons A
The first cartoon listed is Western Daze (1940), which was – appropriately enough – the first to be released by Paramount. American audiences get introduced to Jim Dandy, a happy-go-lucky fellow who falls in love with a rancher’s daughter but gets framed by horse thieves. Another filmmaking legend, Ray Harryhausen, worked on this short, and voice legend Mel Blanc also pitches in.

The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe (1940) is a hand-drawn short that got released that same year in Europe, serving as an advertisement for Rinso soap powder. It may be an ad, but it’s a charming cartoon in its own right. Here, that poor old woman is threatened with eviction when she doesn’t agree to marry her froggy landlord.

The Ballet Of Red Radio Valves (1938) is another hand-drawn short, this time advertising for Philips.

The spirit of the Austrian people brings to life a statue of Johann Strauss, as he uses his musical skills to lead the invading Screwball Army into the river, in Bravo Mr. Strauss (1943).

Hotlip Jasper (1945) sees the Puppetoons regular find himself a trumpet, only to be fancifully brought to Hollywood to star in his own Paramount film, directed by his acquaintance The Scarecrow. Trumpet master Raphael Mendez provides the solo for Flight Of The Bumblebee.

Though Together In The Weather (1946) was also part of the first Puppetoon Movie, its new restoration is quite welcome here. While as folksy and charming as a Puppetoon ever was, it is also a surprisingly racy effort, portraying a perturbed Judy’s efforts to seduce clueless Punchy into becoming her beloved. Punchy’s reactions are reminiscent of the Wolf’s in Tex Avery’s “Wolf and Red” cartoons.

A Fairy Tale About A Melancholic King (1934) is a four-minute Gasparcolor short which was made in France. The story serves as a commercial for margarine.

Jasper’s Music Lesson (1943) is transformed into a lively boogie woogie show-stopper.

Seven Puppetoons were nominated for Oscars, and the first was Rhythm In The Ranks (1941), which sees toy soldier Jan disciplined for dereliction of duty after being distracted by an lovely ice skater, before redeeming himself fighting the Screwball Army.

The next Oscar nominated Puppetoon was also the stronger of the two Dr. Suess shorts, the quite delightful The 500 Hats Of Bartholomew Cubbins (1943). Poor Bart can’t doff his hat to the king, because another keeps appearing in its place. The king is initially unimpressed by the apparent disrespect, but eventually a satisfactory resolution is reached.

Puppetoons B
The Truck That Flew (1943) may be the weakest cartoon on the set, but it has its moments. This short, based on a book, introduces the dreamer kid Rusty, who has a love of vehicles. Rusty would return in better cartoons over the next couple of years, as seen on the Puppetoon Movie Volume 2 disc.

The Queen Was In The Parlour (1939) is another cel animated ad for Rinso.

Charlie’s World Cruise (1936), also hand-drawn, is a Philips radio ad.

Duke Ellington performs his Perfume Suite in Date With Duke (1947).

The previous set had some wonderful shorts promoting Horlick’s malted milk drink. By now, you should know not to discount the shorts that are ads, as they can be just as innovative and entertaining as the others. On Parade (1936) is the first of the Horlick’s ads, showing how fatigued soldiers can benefit from the famed drink.

The Tool Box (1970) was commissioned by ABC television, two decades after Pal had made his last Puppetoon. It aired on Curiosity Shop, a children’s show intended to compete with PBS’s Sesame Street, though it was short-lived. Chuck Jones served as producer for its 17 episodes.

Jasper And The Beanstalk (1945) naturally derives from the famous fairy tale, and it follows the regular story beats; but here, voice artist Peggy Lee is transformed into the sexiest harp ever captured on film. This one was also nominated for an Academy Award.

Friend In Need (1940) is a three minute hand-drawn short used to help raise money for needy children, commissioned by the Dutch Cinema Association.

My Man Jasper (1945) sees Scarecrow and BlackBird being held accountable for their years of scamming Jasper.

Puppetoons C
The Sky Princess (1941), as mentioned, was another short that was in HD on the first Puppetoon Movie Blu-ray, but I was very happy to find out it was undergoing a fuller restoration, since I find it one of the most beautiful of the Puppetoons, replete with crystalline imagery, a castle in the clouds, and other fairy tale wonder, set to the music of Tchaikovsky’s The Sleeping Beauty Ballet.

The Good Bear And The Bad Bear (1940) is another fun hand-drawn Rinso ad.

Jasper’s Boobytraps (1945) returns to the battle of wits between Jasper and Scarecrow.

Rhapsody In Wood (1947) tells the origin of famed musician Woody Herman’s clarinet, as told by Woody Herman!

World’s Greatest Show (1935) is an extremely rare hand-drawn Philips advertisement.

Jasper’s Derby (1946) sees Jasper encouraging a race horse to win the Kentucky Derby, using his violin.

Aladdin And The Magic Lamp (1939) is a Puppetoon ad for Philips, utilizing the famed tale of a boy and the wishes he can make with his lamp.

And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street (1944), is of course the other Dr. Seuss Puppetoon, and this one was also nominated for an Oscar. While not quite as fun as The 500 Hats Of Bartholomew Cubbins, it is nevertheless full of the whimsy of Seuss, exploring a lad’s ever-more hyperbolic and fanciful description of what he saw on his way home.

Jasper is left behind by Scarecrow, who is attending a jitterbug dance competition in Shoe Shine Jasper (1947). Not to worry, though, as Jasper is granted magic shoes that propel the story into another wonderful musical fantasia.

Is This Thing Loaded?

Sweet Pacific (1947) (1:05) is a Puppetoon ad for Mounds candy bars.

In a Previously Unreleased George Pal Interview (1970) (16:07), Pal discusses his life and inspirations, and looks back on his career. The video is quite good, though its audio has a slight echo to it. It’s great to hear from Pal in his own words, but the most interesting aspect is the film projects he speaks about planning to make, which never materialized, such as a Pal version of Logan’s Run. Logan’s Run was eventually realized by others in 1976 (the year after Pal closed out his career with the disappointing – but still pretty fun if you are in a campy mood – Doc Savage, Man Of Bronze).

The Fantasy Film Worlds Of George Pal (1985) Expanded Interviews (49:07) include those with Ray Harryhausen (over 13 minutes), Ray Bradbury, Gene Roddenberry, Roy E. Disney (eight minutes), Joe Dante, Russ Tamblyn, Wah Chang, and Duke Goldstone.

Another extended interview gets its own listing, as a former Puppetoon head animator and puppet builder discusses the techniques for making of the films in Bob Baker Talks Puppetoons (15:39). Baker was an accomplished puppeteer, who enjoyed a large career in entertainment after working for George Pal.

In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll note that my name appears in the booklet, as well as the Special Thanks section of the Full Production and Donor Credits (8:16).

Case Study:

The front cover once again features an image of Judy, for the third consecutive volume. While I can appreciate a sense of uniformity, it would have been a nice idea to showcase other Puppetoon characters to better suggest the diversity of the films. Jasper was really the biggest Puppetoon star, but I suppose one can understand being shy about promoting the release using a character who is a racialized caricature, though Jasper is arguably not terribly offensive (I realize and respect that opinions will certainly vary in that regard). The Blu-ray case follows the lead of the menus, oddly listing all films as “Puppetoons”, even the hand-drawn ones. A glance near the bottom of the back cover shows numerous logos, showing how many entities were involved in bringing the films to disc, including Paramount, the British Film institute, ASIFA, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, and others.

Notably, the case also holds an attractive 20-page booklet with extensive liner notes about the films and their restoration sources, accompanied by many images.

Ink And Paint:

The source for these films were all either 35mm Technicolor Successive Exposure Negatives, or Imbibition Nitrate Prints. The result is another stunning presentation, full of color and wonder. The Paramount films undoubtedly look the best, offering crisp, vivid imagery, making most of the shorts look brand new – and if a few of the films look less good, it’s only by a half-notch. Seriously, the Puppetoons look almost unbelievably good. The amount of care that went into transferring and restoring these films is admirable.

The European films look quite good as well, but generally cannot match the sharpness of the Hollywood shorts. Gasparcolor in particular will simply not look as great as the Technicolor elements seen on the Hollywood films (notably in the color department), but the same care has been taken in making them look as good as they possibly can.

All of the films look clean, being remarkably devoid of dust or other artefacts. Placing these films on a dual-layer disc has certainly allowed them proper room, and the mastering has them looking totally authentic to the film sources.

Scratch Tracks:

The mono tracks sound generally quite nice. The European films sound just a little more tinny or echo-ey in spots, but their rareness makes it hard to quibble. Meanwhile, the Paramount films sound immaculate, giving a proper presentation for these musical masterpieces.

There are no other language options. Subtitles are offered from the menu, but those are only available for three of the short subjects, though I am not sure which ones.

Final Cut:

I enjoyed this selection of Puppetoons and other shorts immensely. Watching these films makes one remember what one loved about animation in the first place. The skill, creativity, and sense of artistry is inspiring, and they are just plain fun to see. The list price may seem high to some, compared to big studio releases, but there are a whopping twenty-eight short subjects on this dual-layered disc. This was an independent production that relied somewhat on donors to make it happen, and one must keep in mind that proper restorations do not come cheap. The discs that have resulted from these projects are the main source of revenue for these restorations, and as such I’m happy to pay a bit of a premium. After all, one won’t find them on Netflix next week; they are only available on Blu-ray.

Placed next to the previous two volumes of Puppetoons, disc producer Leibovit has now provided fans with a trifecta of awesomeness. Animation fans should welcome this third collection, which is a gift to classic cartoon lovers, and to admirers of George Pal. He couldn’t have asked for a better tribute.

Storyboard:

Everyone’s favorite stone-age family — no, not that one! — are back for more of the same.

The Sweatbox Review:

I must admit that, if it hasn’t been Disney-branded (and I include Pixar in that designation), then I haven’t been the best in keeping up with the recent rush of animated films in the past five years or so. Not only is time a continuing pressure in picking what to watch and when, but a lack of really striking new concepts and titles that truly jump out amongst the increasingly homogeneous offerings doesn’t help. Indeed, even given the extra amount of screentime that the current pandemic has not entirely benevolently bestowed upon us, I’ve been looking back over a hundred years of cinema to catch up on many older — and better — flms that offer just as much, if not more, entertainment value than whatever CG blaze of color and shouting du jour.

And so, when DreamWorks’ latest plopped on the Animated Views review desk, I needed to turn back the clock, if not to prehistoric times then at least to 2013 (although in the current climate, it’s almost the same thing) and check out the original filmas a catch-up! The original Croods actually stands up well, even if I found the tone to be a little all over the place and the kooky “camera work” slightly erratic. And I could never make Nicholas Cage’s voice fit daddy caveman Grug: as much as I love the guy, his rather raspy it light delivery never quite landed the character with the weight that, say, a Vin Diesel or someone gruffer would have brought to it, although it turned out to mostly be Emma Stone’s movie anyway, as part of an otherwise fantastic ensemble cast.

The result of the breakup between DreamWorks’ and its deal with Aardman Animation, where the two companies had been developing the project, then named Crood Awakening, together, DreamWorks got to keep the overall property whereas Aardman parlayed whatever concepts they had been nurturing into the slightly similar inventor-caveman stop-motion feature Early Man (with Aardman’s Peter Lord and David Sproxton still receiving thanks in The Croods‘ credits). But whatever its fractured genesis, and despite this number of fine actors and people involved (Chris Sanders! Comedy legend John Cleese! An Alan Silvestri score!), The Croods‘ parts didn’t quite add up to the promise of the whole, as entertaining but forgettable as the film was.

But, as much as I found the first film frankly bizarre in parts, I hadn’t actually disliked it, and so it was with a fair amount of anticipation that we returned to the well the next night for more Croodity with A New Age, the second film in a franchise that also includes an intervening television spin-off series. Unlike that Netflix show, it’s nice that The Croods: A New Age manages to pull back the entire vocal cast, not only for consistency but because the actors now know the characters more and can perhaps inhibit them to a greater degree. Unfortunately, this also either seems to have given them all free reign just to play faster and looser with their personalities, or new director Joel Crawford isn’t as strong as Sanders in keeping everything under control.

Again I found Cage miscast, and if that’s perhaps not as much as first time around then it’s probably because I knew what was coming. But these aren’t really Grug’s films anyway, and again Stone’s Eep takes the nominal lead, although here the filmmakers seem to have become enamored by Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool act and turn the film into a two-hander, and little else, that just eventually becomes an Emma and Ryan show by the midway point. And it’s all just so random! The first third is possibly funnier, and certainly faster, than the first film, but this is mostly down to the bonkers nature of the cast and relentless gags, not least a slightly hyper Cage (yes, even more so than usual) who just seems to be playing to the idea of what we have come to expect from him rather than imbuing Grug with any real sensitivity or groundedness that we got first time out.

Indeed, as a sequel, A New Age goes the traditional and predictable route of both following on from a first film and resetting things so that the characters can again go on their story arc journeys. So, despite settling all differences and becoming a whole family of understanding at the end of part one, here Grug is again at odds with Reynolds’ Guy, and struggles with his role as head of the family, while everyone else does more of what they did in the first one. And the filmmakers know there isn’t much story in all this, because they resort to papering over the cracks with the barrage of thick and fast gags and reliance on nutty performances.

So it isn’t much of a surprise when they make it to their supposed paradise — actually quite quickly, as there isn’t much else to do with these characters — only to find it isn’t everything it’s cracked up to be, just settling in when they discover their new home is actually already occupied by another, predictably annoying (I’m with Grug here) family, the Bettermans (geddit!?), and their daughter, voiced by Kelly Marie Tran on her way to being promoted to lead vocalist in Disney’s Raya And The Last Dragon, and a very good job she does too, being slightly more dialled down from everyone else and playing off Stone and Reynolds well as the triangle that engulfs them all takes over the story.

But there are way too many safe and predictable beats that call back from scores of previous movies, from the annoying new family to the battles between fathers and daughters alike, and boring old gags that, yes, includes a “giant” threat that turns out to actually be a tiny little creature…only to then prove to be lethal anyway. This is studio filmmaking by the numbers, with all the 21st century beats hit, sometimes to overwhelming effect and so played for laughs all the time that stakes are never placed high enough to ever have any consequence or engage one in any investment, emotionally or otherwise.

Once again, the visually inventiveness of the many prehistoric creatures the Croods come across are the whimsical highlights of the film, and when the film is funny it can genuinely raise a few chuckles, even if a teased story point about bananas makes absolutely zip sense (if Better-Dad has been feeding them to the evil monkeys for safety, then why are there still so many bananas? Why doesn’t anyone notice them going missing when they are told not to eat them? What does it matter if Grug has one or two? Was any of this actually thought out or was it a late addition to give some kind of big ending to a film in which little actually happens other than running and talking?).

Of course, little of this will matter to the young kids who power these films and haven’t seen the mountains of movies that this rips…uh, takes inspiration from, and anyone who just leaves their brain at the door will find a few laughs, even if they are few and far between amongst the lazily formulaic filmmaking (which seems even moreso than usual). There are likewise very few bones thrown out to older audiences who might sit through this with their kids, and who will probably find that often the best gags are actually the least “whatever, just throw it all in” moments.

But it’s great to hear Cloris Leachman make a final career mark as Gran, and there’s no real faulting the overall vocal cast’s intentions, however one may feel it would be nicer if they had better to work with and a script (which, thankfully, at least doesn’t resort to fart jokes or other crood measures) that contained just a smidge of sophistication or substance to carry the humor and therefore make those moments of levity work more and feel better earned.

Is This Thing Loaded?

Hands down the best thing on this 4K disc is the additional short To: Gerard, another under-promoted gem from the DreamWorks short film program and a likely contender for Best Animated Short this year. It’s impossible to shake off the Pixar comparisons when modern CG shorts go the “silent” route with a gentle, heartfelt story told in a cosy manner, albeit with bright and flashy flourishes, and To: Gerard stands shoulder to shoulder with some of that studio’s best. Indeed, if the main feature had contained even an ounce of the warmth this wonderful short has in spades then it might have made more of an impact: as it is, this lovely little film, about how good mentorship can inspire and eventually fulfill even the mentor themselves, was a breath of calm air after all the boisterousness of the feature.

Two more Crood shorts get more attention on the box, though they’re both much more of the fairly standard DVD-extra fare. Dear Diary: World’s First Pranks has more of the hand-drawn style featured in sequences from both Croods films and, as far as I have seen, the television series, and Family Movie Night: Little Red Broanna Bread is an intentionally cheesy silhouette animation of a bedtime story told by Dawn by firelight. A Gag Reel is an unfunny couple of minutes of vocal recording session goof-offs by the cast, though a copious amount of Deleted Scenes expands upon a number of alternate and longer moments in the movie and reveals that even the filmmakers had a hunch that at least some of their ideas stretched even this world’s logic!

The Croods‘ Family Album is this disc’s voice cast featurette, with more vocal booth footage mixed with in-studio crew talk and inserted videocall contributions from the cast members, sans Leachman, obviously, although it’s something of a shame that they only briefly mention her character and miss the opportunity to pay tribute. Evolution Of The Croods is more of the same style but focuses more on the approach to the sequel and how director Crawford didn’t want to particularly go the traditional sequel route by going bigger and broader, but then seems to have made a bigger and broader film anyway.

This is more interesting, though, delving if briefly into some of the thought behind the choices in the film, although I was surprised to hear Crawford’s “piss off Grug”, before he corrects himself to “frustrate Grug”, stay in the final edit, especially for a kids’ disc that plays the extras through right after the film.

How To Draw: Caveman Style is your typical artist running through how to draw what seems to be practically every character from A New Age, while Famileaf Album and Stone Age Snack Attack> are other activities taking their leads from the film and its setting, while suggesting they be carried out under supervision. Lastly, a Feature Commentary track again includes Crawford, along with producer Mark Swift, story head Januel Mercado and editor Jim Ryan. While it does its job of providing some production context, background information and exploring various aspects of the show, there’s a slight lack of pizazz among the participants, considering how many there are and the supposed chemistry they boast of at the top of the chat.

Those who really enjoy the movie may find interest here, and there are some sparks that provide their own entertainment, though it’s not the most engrossing or enlightening of such tracks. That said, it’s great that Universal have still managed to pull together a decent extras package given the obvious pandemic issues in bringing everyone together, albeit virtually, and fill the disc out with all the usual kind of features that support the typical DreamWorks disc release, and fans of the film will be pleased with the insights.

Case Study:

An embossed slip replicates the sleeve art, and contains a Blu-ray edition of all the same content, as well as a Digital HD code.

Ink And Paint:

I didn’t find the colors particularly popped significantly more than the included Blu-ray, but the UHD image is vibrant and detailed, with the HDR predicably dialling down the brightness a tad in order to provide more contrast. Nighttime scenes, of which there are many, look nice, and there’s a depth to the picture, but I also appreciated the brighter and at times more color-popping look of the Blu-ray. Both discs offer up the best presentation of the digitally produced film as could be hoped for.

Scratch Tracks:

As with the image, The Croods: A New Age provides a first-rate 21st century home video experience aurally, with a Dolby Atmos track — on both discs — that makes full use of dialogue, score, source tracks and sound effects, and pounds away throughout for the over the top nature of the movie. Replacing Silvestri on composing duties is Mark Mothersbaugh, reprising some themes, or at least bringing the feel of them back, and supporting everything up with the glue that just about holds the movie together.

Final Cut:

Fans of The Croods will find more of the same here, and likely be content to lap up what’s been provided for a second serving. Watching both films in close proximity, I must confess to enjoying the first one more, mainly for being more focused on its titular family. Second time out, that focus is understandably expanded to fulfill the needs of a typical sequel, but any inventiveness or originality is forsaken for safe, simple storytelling and predictability, where the references can be seen a mile away and may provide a groan from some for just being so obvious and rehashed, even from previous DreamWorks films: often I kept being reminded of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, for whatever that’s worth, and may give you some kind of indication of how much mileage you’ll get from A New Age. Word is it’s already being worked on, but I’m not sure we really need a potential Third Age, especially when the first film is already so easily available to see again.

Storyboard:

This compilation grants us a second volume of amazing stop-motion shorts from Hollywood legend George Pal, including some rarities representing his earlier European works.

The Sweatbox Review:

The Blu-ray release of The Puppetoon Movie was Animated Views’ Best Release Of The Year back in 2013. With so many studios frustratingly sitting on their classic animation output, it was wonderful to see not only the 1987 compilation film, but also many additional amazing shorts (plus extras) being made available for viewing after years of – to be frank – unfair obscurity. Now, just as with that 2013 disc, we can give thanks to producer Arnold Leibovit for bringing to us many more of the stop-motion masterpieces in stunning high definition.

When Leibovit first announced the Volume 2 project a couple of years ago, I was personally extremely excited, and I began a correspondence with Arnie that led to me helping him in a small way behind the scenes on the release. Naturally, I am inclined to gush over the disc he has produced, but I am confident that the praise is all well-earned regardless. For some background on this release, and Arnie’s history with George Pal, I refer you to the interview we did in the summer of 2019.

Filmmaker George Pal would eventually produce or direct such film classics as The Time Machine, The War Of The Words, Destination Moon, and The Wonderful World Of The Brothers Grimm; but the first time that he imbued many childhoods with wondrous images of fantasy, it was in the 1930s and 1940s with the beloved Puppetoons – produced first in his native Europe, and then in the United States for Paramount. He also did a number of advertising films for clients such as Philips and Horlicks. His shorts utilized the puppet replacement technique of stop-motion animation, using hundreds of little carved wooden puppets in a single film. The extraordinary result is still thrilling to see, even now, with the wooden characters dancing, swinging, and otherwise cavorting… not to mention fighting, celebrating, and falling in love. Like the best stop-motion masters, Pal and his technicians also utilized music, color, lighting, and special visual effects in pleasurable ways to enhance each story. Contemporaries such as new-found friends Walt Disney and Walter Lantz were captivated, as were audiences the world over.

The first Puppetoon Movie used bridging sequences to introduce the audience to Pal and his creations, while this second volume is strictly a shorts compilation. While I would have enjoyed seeing Gumby come back with Arnie the Dinosaur for this go-around, just having another collection of the shorts themselves seems miracle enough. Leibovit was granted access to numerous sources, including Paramount’s own three-strip Technicolor successive negatives, and – most astoundingly – newly-found material from Europe. The British Film Institute also pitched in. Leibovit was also thrilled to be contacted by a collector just before the Volume 2 project launched, only to be informed that the collector had a nitrate print of the once-thought lost film Wilbur The Lion.

Previous restoration work of some of the Paramount elements had been done at UCLA, and new work was commissioned to other helpers such as Steve Stanchfield and his crew at Thunderbean Animation, who performed an immense amount of much-appreciated work for the project. Additionally, ASIFA paid to restore A Hatful Of Dreams and Jasper Goes Hunting, two of this set’s most anticipated films.

The resulting disc has no fewer than eighteen high-definition short films, plus surprising extras. The eighteen films include mostly Paramount subjects, under the Madcap Models banner, with a few rare European films inserted into the program. The disc opens with a disclaimer about the nature of the Jasper cartoons, featuring as they do the depiction of a caricatured little black boy. Hopefully, viewers will realize that there was never any intent to offend anyone in the audience. Such depictions, while now viewed as wrong, were commonplace at the time that these films were produced. And, as such things go, the depiction of Jasper is otherwise quite positive, with Jasper being a delightful, honest, and adventurous boy.

For reasons unclear to me, the main menu offers selections of Puppetoons “A” and “B”; the cartoon selection for each menu seems random. Each subgroup gets its own “Play All” choice. One is unable to “chapter skip” to the next cartoon on the Blu-ray, unless going back out to a menu. (The DVD, however, still allows chapter skipping.) Scanning ahead at increased speed is no problem.

Puppetoons A
Dipsy Gipsy (1940, 8:48) (Note: “Gipsy” is the spelling on the title card, but it is spelled with the alternate “Gypsy” in the menu, as well as in most listings of the short in the public record.) – The happy-go-lucky recurring character Jim Dandy is singing in the forest, as he is prone to doing. He spots a gipsy girl and instantly falls in love, and he decides to propose. She is smitten as well, but before they can get together, Jim must sneak into the gipsy village and convince her father that he is gipsy material. He manages to do so, primarily through some fancy fiddling. This is a very fun, energizing short with great music and a large group of background players.

Radio Valve Revolution (1934, 4:21) – This is a real prize on the set, being a rare Philips advertising short done in hand-drawn animation. Despite the absence of wooden puppets, it has the same Pal charm. Treats like this make the disc all the more special. Worn out radio tubes celebrate the arrival of newer ones to take over their jobs so that they can retire.

Ali Baba And The Forty Thieves (1935, 11:09) – The booklet that comes with this set proclaims this short as “an amazing archival find,” and indeed fans should be thrilled to see this rare film. The French print has the French language titles and credits subtitled, but the film plays out in English. Here, the short is presented as one of “George Pal’s Dolly Follies.” The puppets are a little more primitive in this early effort, but there is still a surprising amount of sensuality and action.

A Hatful Of Dreams (1944, 9:43) – Most will find this cartoon particularly notable because it features a character turning into Superman, under authorized use from DC Publications. (Superman’s own cartoons, of course, were being distributed by Paramount until 1943.) It was also the first Puppetoon to feature Pal characters Punchy and Judy. (Character design here was by Fred Moore; fans of the Disney artist will recognize Judy as an obvious example of a “Freddie Moore girl,” also visualized as the “centaurettes” in the “Pastoral Symphony” section of Fantasia.)

Punchy falls in love with lovely Judy, and tries to impress her through the use of a magic hat – a hat that allows him to turn into Superman! However, his antics bring him afoul of the law, and he ends up in court. Not to worry, though – he still wins the girl! While the appearance of Superman is certainly notable, I was most amazed by Judy’s animation, which sees her chest heaving while breathing in and out near the beginning of the cartoon. It is attention to detail like this that makes these cartoons so amazing.

Rescue Brigade (1937, 5:48) – This Dutch advertising film (given English subtitles) presents numerous episodes of life, showing the virtues of owning a telephone in order to make life more convenient. Housewives, parents, and store owners all agree that having a phone is peachy! The short ends with a closing message that says, “Neem Telefoon” – or, “Get Phone!”

In Lamp Light Land (1935, 3:33) – While this is another Philips advertisement, this time for light bulbs, it is quite delightful. It begins with a cel-animated sequence, and ends with Puppetoons.

Jasper And The Choo Choo (1942, 7:27) – Jasper’s friendly nemesis, Professor Scarecrow, tempts him to gamble. This brilliantly surreal adventure sees giant dice form trains, and Jasper finds himself in a pinball machine. The fantasy sequence in this short is one of the top joys on the set.

Love On The Range (1938, 6:20) – Cowboy Bill gets the cold shoulder from Susie, who soon finds herself victimized by a much less savory fellow in this musical adventure. It turns out that what Bill needs to save her and win her heart is to drink that wonder tonic, Horlicks! Yes, it’s another ad, but it comes nicely disguised as a tremendously fun and energetic story, inspired by classic silent film melodramas – complete with mustachioed villain.

The Gay Knighties (1941, 9:26) – Jim Dandy tells the tale of his ancestor, who saved a kingdom from a goofy music-loving giant, and thereby won the heart of a princess. To me, the giant here is a clear ancestor to the Abominable Snowman in Rankin-Bass’s Rudolph Christmas special – further evidence of Pal’s influence on future animators.

Puppetoons B
Two Gun Rusty (1944, 8:27) – Little red-haired Rusty imagines being a cowboy. Charmingly, everyone in his fantasy looks like him. The Rusty cartoons are simpler in some respects, but capture a certain lovely innocence.

How An Advertising Poster Came About (1938, (4:52) – This print is from the Netherlands Film Museum. The black and white film is a real novelty, combining live action, hand-drawn animation (with a nod to Fleischer’s Out Of The Inkwell cartoons), and stop-motion puppets to tell what could otherwise be a dull tale of the making of an ad poster.

Jasper Goes Hunting (1944, 7:19) – Jasper once again gets into shenanigans with Professor Scarecrow. Cartoon buffs will be thrilled to see Bugs Bunny here, voiced by Mel Blanc and courtesy of Leon Schlesinger Productions, though the appearance is brief. Fortunately, this short has much more going for it, telling another fanciful tale with particularly colorful African jungle sets.

Sky Pirates (1938, 6:47) – This is a British print (in Technicolor), of what turns out to be another Horlicks commercial. As usual, though, Pal’s focus is on an engaging and entertaining story, here about an air squadron that must find the energy to win an aerial battle. The astounding anthropomorphizing of the planes (as they gallop down the airfield and dodge bullets in the sky) has to be seen in action to really appreciate the brilliance of the animation. The planes actually squash and stretch, accomplished through the crafting of numerous wooden figures. This is one of the coolest cartoons Pal ever produced, in a very long list of cool cartoons.

Jasper’s Close Shave (1945, 7:15) – Bugs Bunny and Woody Woodpecker were not the only ones to use the music of The Barber Of Seville to excellent effect in a cartoon! Jasper gets another delightfully surreal outing, as Professor Scarecrow attempts to get Jasper’s coins in exchange for a shave and a haircut.

The Ship Of The Ether (1934, 7:23) – This is the sole short on this set that originally appeared on the first Puppetoon Movie Blu-ray, but that time it was only in the bonus section of the disc, and shown then in standard definition. Here, the Dutch film is a fully restored HD version. A glass ship’s fanciful journey through the airwaves is set to music. Philips gets subtle on-screen plugs, and finally a larger notice about their radio sets.

Good Night Rusty (1943, 7:29) – Rusty decides to snatch his dad’s cigars, but in return gets a fever dream of a lesson in why not to smoke. This short has generally simple sets, but brilliant use of color and special effects.

Wilbur The Lion (194, 9:13) – As mentioned earlier, this film had been thought lost for decades, until a collector contacted Leibovit and told him that he had a nitrate print. A circus lion retires to the jungle, but finds he misses the comforts of the circus. It is a bittersweet story of how one’s life takes one into new worlds, and how difficult it can be to return to one’s roots.

Jasper Tell (1944, 8:09) – It’s likely no surprise that this film’s music features Rossini’s William Tell Overture, and that Jasper stars as the son who stands in front of his father with an apple on his head. The tale is told in the context of Professor Scarecrow trying to get Jasper’s apple, but he’s in for a surprise.

Wow, what a wonderful selection of animated shorts. The ingenuity, skill, and precision evidenced in these films is really quite extraordinary. There is really nothing else quite like the Puppetoons, brimming as they are with colour, music, and genius.

Is This Thing Loaded?

This Is Oil, No. 1: Prospecting For Petroleum (21:59) was filmed in Technicolor by producer Pal in collaboration with the Shell Oil Company. It uses miniatures and puppet animation to convincingly make the case for how important oil is to our lives, and teaches us where oil comes from. This film appears here in standard definition only.

I have viewed Trailers From Hell: Arnold Leibovit On The Puppetoon Movie (4:48) and Trailers From Hell: Arnold Leibovit On The Fantasy Film Worlds Of George Pal (4:58) on YouTube already, but it is nice to see them archived here.

The Puppetoon Movie Speedy Alka-Selzer (4:47) is a nifty behind-the-scenes look at how Speedy was animated for the bridging sequences in the first Puppetoon feature. (Standard definition.)

The Puppetoon Movie Montage (10:51) is actually a montage of fascinating rare photos of George Pal, spotlighting the creaton of his films, along with assorted clips from shorts that are found in both Puppetoon movies.

Full Production And Donor Credits (5:41).

Case Study:

Standard Blu-ray case, with the DVD sitting opposite the Blu-ray. An informative fold-out booklet helpfully provides information on George Pal and all the films from the set.

Ink And Paint:

All of the films in the main program were transferred from 35mm materials. The Paramount and Horlicks films were shot in Technicolor, while the older European films were in the less vibrant Gasparcolor (obviously, the exception is the black and white Advertising Poster short). I have taken some of my screen captures off of the DVD for convenience, while Leibovit also provided me with high definition images to use. So, if any of the images here look less sharp or detailed, they are likely from the DVD.

The restorations overall are quite stunning. Some of the films do show their age, naturally, being over 70 years old; but everyone should be immensely satisfied, all things considered. The prize ASIFA-funded restorations look particularly sharp. The image, on all the Paramount shorts especially, is extremely clean, practically free from dirt or scratches, except in a rare instance or two. The Technicolor shorts naturally are also the most brilliant, and – by virtue of being primarily from original negatives – they look the sharpest as well. The age of the materials, and perhaps the filming techniques, means that some shots look a wee bit soft; and sometimes details get lost in the blacks, which is most true in Wilbur, which was transferred from a nitrate print. The European shorts do look more worn, generally (and even Ship Of The Ether is still quite soft, despite the new HD transfer), but their rarity makes one able to forgive that easily enough.

Caveats aside, the general impression is certainly that of a triumph of film preservation and restoration.

Scratch Tracks:

The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono sounds just about perfect, free from hiss or distortion. Lossy tracks were used in an effort to maximize the bit rate for the video, and I approve of the choice. Again, slight imperfections can show up on the older European shorts, but there are no strong complaints to be had at all.

The menu offers subtitles, but there are actually none to be had for the majority of the films. The only films that get English subtitles are the foreign-language films.

Final Cut:

This Blu-ray + DVD set has been years in the making, and it was worth the wait. The Puppetoon shorts are an absolute joy, and being able to see them looking so beautifully restored is a privilege. You really cannot fully judge these films by the screen captures shown in the review; the real magic is in the animation, and it is incredible. Arnie Leibovit has once again honored the memory of his friend and idol, George Pal. We look forward with great anticipation to a third volume!

The crew of the Ghost wrap up their mission on Mandalore before returning once again to Lothal to face off against Grand Admiral Thrawn, Governor Pryce, and their lackeys. The fate of Lothal is determined, and destinies are realized as the Rebel Alliance matures into a true threat to the Empire.

The Sweatbox Review:

The conclusion of Season Three found some of our heroes assisting Sabine on her home world of Mandalore, that place with all the cool warriors wearing jetpacks. If the Clone Wars TV show taught us anything, it is that Boba Fett was not the only great character to come from Mandalore, and Rebels has explored this even further. Here, Sabine is trying to recue her father from Imperial imprisonment in the two-part Heroes of Mandalore, but then the Rebels also face the need to destroy a terrifying Mandalorian-targeting weapon that was designed by Sabine in her Imperial academy days.

While the first two episodes provide great Star Wars fun and excitement, they are just prelude to the real story of the season – the Rebels’ attempt to liberate Ezra’s home planet of Lothal. First, though, in the two-part In The Name Of The Rebellion, the influence of another character comes to bear on the thoughts and motivations of our Rebel crew. After a stop at the new Rebel base on Yavin 4, where Ezra, Kanan and Sabine re-join Hera and Zeb, we find out that Mon Mothma and her colleagues are not willing to commit to a Lothal mission due to the strength of the Imperial blockade there. A communication by Saw Gerrera mocks the Rebels for their lack of willingness to take risks in order to see their goals achieved. The crew of the Ghost is frustrated, but soon have their next mission: tapping signals from an Imperial communication relay. As things often do for our heroes, things go awry, and the entire mission goes wrong, requiring Ezra and Sabine to be rescued by Gerrera, a rebel extremist practically seen as an outlaw by the Alliance. Gerrera then convinces Ezra and Sabine to join him on a mission to find further evidence of a rumoured Imperial super-weapon. Depending on how one looks at it, things then either go very well or very badly once again, ending in massive explosions.

With the success of that mission, Ezra feels emboldened to plea once again for assistance for Lothal. While Mothma still cannot support a major campaign, a few of the Ghost crew do get themselves smuggled back to the planet by their ally Vizago in The Occupation, where they reunite with the freedom fighter Ryder Azadi. Ryder is not happy about the Alliance’s lack of support, but his report of a new TIE Defender manufacturing project gives the local Rebels a new mission. The next couple of episodes deal with the Rebels’ efforts to work against the manufacturing effort, beginning with Flight Of The Defender, where they try to obtain a Defender flight data recorder. Once again, failure somehow leads to success as Sabine ends up stealing a whole fighter, before crashing in the desert.

Two major developments occur during this part of the story. With the Rebels becoming ever more a nuisance for the Empire, Grand Admiral Thrawn sends out his assassin Rukh (who also first appeared in the original Thrawn novels by Timothy Zahn). Meanwhile, Ezra begins seeing legendary Loth-Wolves, which haven’t been spotted on Lothal in generations. Rukh continues to be a menace to the Rebels for the rest of the season, and the Loth-Wolves take on greater and greater prominence, as the series veers more towards telling tales involving Force mysticism.

And that is where Season Four began to lose me a bit. Once we get magical wolves mystically transporting people through “Force wormholes” (in Kindred) it stopped feeling like Star Wars for me. My son, however, loves the mysticism in these episodes, so maybe it’s just me.

And, despite my reservations about Loth-Wolves, there is still a lot I enjoyed about the next few episodes. The Rebels have to take over a Mining Guild ore crawler (whose driver is voiced by Seth Green) in Crawler Commanders, and Hera comes to Lothal to join the others in Rebel Assault, where an attack on the TIE factory is attempted. It does not exactly go well, so Hera must be rescued in Jedi Knight. The rescue ends in massive tragedy as well as massive victory for the Rebels, and they will never be the same again.

In Dume, Governor Pryce seeks to shield herself from the disastrous events of the previous episode by holding a parade to celebrate the one part that went well for her. Thrawn is not fooled, and makes plans to come to Lothal. Meanwhile, the Rebels deal with their last mission’s tragedy, as Ezra makes further contact with the Loth-Wolves, spending time with a particularly regal one named Dume. The result of that meeting is a new imperative for the Rebels to return to the Jedi temple in order to keep its secrets form the Imperials. Wolves And A Door sees the Rebels’ attempt at disrupting the Imperials’ plans at the temple, and A World Between Worlds sees Ezra enter a sort of Force time portal to rescue someone from death, even as he sees the folly of saving someone else. In the end, the Empire’s temple plans have been dealt with decisively.

Again, the “Force time portal” threatened to lose me for good, as another new concept failed to feel like it belonged in a Star Wars story. However, the conclusion of the series still managed to stick the landing, beginning with A Fool’s Hope, where Ezra’s friends and allies (including my favorite character, Hondo, who shows a sincere affection for Ezra) decide to ignore the odds and liberate Lothal. Ezra hatches a crazy plan that actually seems to work.

This leads to the double-sized series conclusion, Family Reunion And Farewell. The entire series has kept reminding us of the need to save Ezra’s beloved Lothal, and the finale does not disappoint. A wild plan that cannot (and does not) work out, swiftly-changing strategy, and moving heroism all figure into a wrap-up that manages to bring the story to a close while acknowledging there are more stories to come for not only the crew of the Ghost, but the Rebellion as well.

Though the newer story elements introduced in the latter half of the season threatened to dampen my enthusiasm for the storyline, I still found this season to be satisfying and engaging. These characters that we have come to love see their destinies realized, cementing their importance to the broader Star Wars story. With the latest “Episode” films failing to connect with fans as much as we might have hoped, the TV team at Lucasfilm shows that they can still capture our interest and provide us with stories that (overall) flesh out the franchise in a way that is true to our childhood memories.

Is This Thing Loaded?

As usual, we get a lovely set of Rebels Recon segments, with host Andi Gutierrez. Though there are only eight segments, this is reflective of the many two-parters and two-airings-per-week episodes from this season, so everything is still covered. These seven-minute segments give all the background on each story that a fan could ask for, including interviews with cast and crew, and behind-the-scenes looks at the magic behind the making of the show. Plus, Chopper Cam!

Numerous featurettes are provided, discussing not only this season, but the entire series. Altogether, they provide a comprehensive overview of Rebels. First is a section called Ghosts of Legend (27:48), which serves as a wonderful retrospective for the whole series, from inception to examining how each character developed over the course of the show. It is broken into eight segments, or you may select Play All.

Force Of Rebellion (15:22) has four segments to it, examining various aspects of the Force in the Star Wars universe, largely from the perspective of executive producer Dave Filoni. Kevin Kiner: The Rebel Symphony (9:38) gives a proper spotlight to the series’ music composer.

Finally, executive producer Dave Filoni appears in six audio commentaries, along with a few other production members. By the time you have gone over all the featurettes and commentaries, there may not be much left to find out about the show. All that is missing, possibly, would be galleries of production art or animatics, but such things appear in the featurettes anyway.

Case Study:

The packaging stays consistent, with a matching embossed cover slip, and an insert with a Disney Movie rewards code. There are just two discs with this set, so each one can be found on the front and back interior of the case.

Ink And Paint:

As a digital-to-digital disc release, there is not much that can go wrong. The image is perfection, given the limitations of the TV budget animation. And when we get space battles, they are pretty indeed.

Scratch Tracks:

Disney sticks with lossy Dolby Digital 5.1, but for a TV show, it’s “good enough,” I suppose. We still hear lots of great effects, though your subwoofer won’t have to worry about an over-emphasis on bass. Sound design is always a Star Wars strength, and that continues to be the case in Rebels, with a grand assortment of bonks, bleeps and whooshes. Lossless tracks are always preferred for maximum fidelity, but there’s nothing really wrong with what we get, either. There are also French and German Dolby Digital 5.1 track, and a Spanish 2.0 track.

Subtitles are available in English, Spanish, and French, and there are a separate English captions.

Final Cut:

Star Wars Rebels has proven itself to be a treasured addition to the Star Wars mythos. I can recall that fans worried initially that the tone would be too juvenile, but the show ended up exploring and adding to the canon is very satisfying ways, while still providing plenty of action, characterization, and adventure. It has been a pleasure to watch the formation of a fledgling Rebel Alliance, with so many call-backs to characters and situations that we have been familiar with, while all still being fresh and informative. Dave Filoni and his crew crafted a number of great new characters, and expanded our understanding of that faraway galaxy from a long time ago. This season’s emphasis on Force mysticism was not always my cup of tea, but that is a minor quibble when one steps back to appreciate all the season had to offer— Manalorean battles, Ezra’s facing the Emperor, and the liberation of Lothal. The rich and plentiful bonus features then make this set all the more valuable to Star Wars fans. The show didn’t quite come up and meet Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in the timeline, but it came very close, solidly bridging a big chunk of the gap between Episodes III and IV in a delightful way.

Storyboard:

A young British girl happens upon a flower with mystical properties. Suddenly, she finds herself flying on a broom and is taken to a world of witches in training. Mary tries her best to cope up, but finds herself entangled in a devious plot involving the mysterious flower.

The Sweatbox Review:

When we all learned that Studio Ghibli was shutting down, or going on hiatus, or whatever they have done, there was a shared sense of loss. Aging director Hayao Miyazaki was retiring, rightfully taking time to spend with family, attend to his health, and hopefully generally enjoy life; but what of the young guys left behind? The studio had built up such a fantastic assortment of talent, that it would be a shame to see them scattered to the wind, many likely being forced to accept employment doing lesser work.

Fortunately, producer Yoshiaki Nishimura, whose filmography includes The Tale Of Princess Kaguya and When Marnie Was There, decided to address this issue by founding Studio Ponoc in 2015. Ponoc is taken from a Croatian word meaning “midnight,” the signifier of a new day. He recruited a number of Ghibli staffers, with the objective of following in the esteemed studio’s footsteps. Their first project is Mary And The Witch’s Flower, based on a story by Mary Stewart, 1971’s The Little Broomstick. He chose Hiromasa Yonebayashi to be his director. Yonebayashi had previously directed the well-received The Secret World Of Arrietty and When Marnie Was There.

Given this, the viewer might expect Mary And The Witch’s Flower to be reminiscent of the Studio Ghibli output, and the viewer would be correct. Even if one did not know of the film’s pedigree, its influences are obvious. The plot, though naturally inspired by the book, seems lifted from a combination of Kiki’s Delivery Service (a young witch), Spirited Away (a young girl meets fantastical creatures), Castle In The Sky (because of the… castles in the sky), and more than a little of another famed franchise, Harry Potter. The comparison to other Ghibli films may not have been so obvious if not for the visual style, which is tied strongly into the Ghibli aesthetic. That’s not a bad thing, of course, and few Ghibli fans will resent the fact that this looks and feels like the latest in a long line of Studio Ghibli successes.

The film begins with an exciting prologue, perhaps the best part of the story, in which a young witch escapes an elaborate treehouse via broomstick, while being chased by bizarre creatures. A satchel comes loose, spilling out some blue, glowing seeds that give rise to quickly-growing trees. The broomstick becomes encased by the suddenly large trees, seemingly lost forever.

Years later, we meet Mary, a young lady living in rural England, staying with her kindly aunt while her parents are off doing some undisclosed work. She tries to make the most of her situation, though it looks like a potentially boring summer. Only her clumsiness seems likely to keep things lively for her aunt and the help at the house. Mary meets a boy named Peter, and though their relationship is initially somewhat antagonistic, they immediately share a type of bond. Mary dislikes Peter, who teases her about her wild red hair and lack of coordination, but she does like his cats, Tib and Gib.

It is the cats who lead Mary to find some strange flowers, whom the gardener identifies as “fly-by-night” plants, apparently cherished by witches for their magical properties. Mary returns to the forest the next day, and discovers the small, old broomstick ensnared by the roots of a tree. While handling the broomstick, she accidentally breaks open a fly-by-night bud, releasing its gooey contents onto her hands and the broomstick. The broomstick seems to comes to life, and carries Mary up into the clouds, where she is taken to a city that contains the witching school of Endor. A fox named Flanagan reports that he is caretaker of the students’ broomsticks, and he scolds Mary for her rough handling of her broom, while insisting that she get back to school.

Mary soon finds herself at the school, meeting the headmistress Madam Mumblechook, who spots the black cat she is keeping company with, and assumes it is her “familiar.” Mary is shown around the school, and thanks to the fly-by-night juice absorbed by her hands, she demonstrates magical abilities that delight the headmistress and the students. The whirlwind day also sees her meeting chemistry teacher Doctor Dee, who likewise becomes convinced of her witching potential.

Their attitude changes, however, once they become aware of Mary’s possession of the fly-by-night flowers. Peter is soon kidnapped, and Mary must mount a perilous rescue. Along the way, she becomes privy to a mad plot, the mystery of the fly-by-night’s initial disappearance, and the true story of the young witch who took it away from Endor in the first place. With Peter’s life and the fate of humanity in peril, Mary must find her own magic in order to save everyone.

It’s a nice story for kids especially, and the visuals are certainly impressive and enjoyable. I appreciated the great design work and the imagination that went into the creation of this world and its inhabitants. The story itself feels derivative of several other sources, perhaps due to the age of the source material (though even in 1971, the book came out a long time after C.S. Lewis was writing his tales of English schoolchildren entering a magical land). The book may have been printed decades before Harry Potter or Percy Jackson, but in this day such a tale cannot help but seem overly familiar. Enlarging the cast could have helped, as there are not too many characters on which to hang the straight-forward plot, making our attention focus on the “little girl finds outs she’s a witch” angle. The other students are literally faceless and stay in the background, not intruding on events in the least. Even Peter really has very little interaction with Mary, despite the importance of their relationship. As big as the story is, it still feels small in scope. Not every story needs to be an epic, of course, but as a film it feels more like an exceptionally well-produced and lengthy TV special.

Still, one cannot deny that the film is a beautiful delight and a worthy if minor successor to the Studio Ghibli films, full of whimsy and wonder. Studio Ponoc may not have yet made its classic; but just one film in, it seems that they are well on their way.

Is This Thing Loaded?

The Blu-ray has several great bonus features. The first two are exclusive to the Blu-ray, while the others may also be found on the DVD. NTV Special: Creating Mary And The Witch’s Flower (38:50) is a thorough examination of the filmmaking process, beginning with the founding of Studio Ponoc, and striking out past the shadow of Studio Ghibli, before examining details of the production. I have a feeling that this will be even more fascinating years from now, once the studio has fully achieved its potential.

A Special Conversation: Sekai No Owari, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, and Yoshiaki Nishimura (31:34) discusses the film’s Japanese music, and how its theme song was created and the changes it went through.

The Film Completion Press Conference (14:18) also proves to be interesting, featuring a wide variety of talent associated with the film, and the Theatrical Promotional Movie (10:46) is further evidence of how marketing is handled today in Japan.

Interview with the Filmmakers (13:49) begins with describing the meaning of “ponoc” and what the studio hopes to achieve with this film and future ones.

The disc also has Trailers (10:43) for both the US and Japanese releases, as well as English-subtitled Japanese TV Spots (4:44), including advertising tie-ins with Morinaga Milk products.

More from GKids leads to ads for Only Yesterday, Song Of The Sea, The Tale Of Princess Kaguya and When Marnie Was There.

Case Study:

A standard Blu-ray case holds a Blu-ray and a DVD on each side. There is an insert for the Movies Anywhere digital code. If you hurry, you will be able to find this release with a cover slip. The packaging comes with the usual GKids trade dress.

Ink And Paint:

The best part of this film is its visuals, and the Blu-ray transfer conveys all the best qualities of the film’s outstanding design and color work. This is a beautiful traditionally-animated film, using today’s modern tools to their best advantage. I saw no flaws in the presentation.

Scratch Tracks:

Audio is here in DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 in either English or the original Japanese. Either way, the soundtracks are strong, delivering a variety of effects. The English voice cast, headlined by actors Kate Winslet and Jim Broadbent, does fine work, making either track suitable for even choosy viewers.

Subtitles are available in two brands of English – one for captioning of the English dub, and one translating the Japanese track. There are also French subtitles.

Final Cut:

While the basic plot may seem familiar, things get more interesting from there, and this is still a very impressive debut for Studio Ponoc. They are doing the Studio Ghibli legacy proud, and we should all be looking forward to what they produce next. Their first film is slick and exciting, beautifully animated and stunningly realized. Next time, they could maybe flesh out the script better and perhaps choose a less familiar subject, but the seeds of greatness are definitely there. The video and audio presentation on disc are perfect, and the extras are actually substantial. This is a great purchase for fans of family films, Studio Ghibli, or anime in general.

Storyboard:

A young Afghan girl responds to her father’s imprisonment with a mixture of grief and bravery as she transforms herself in order to support her family.

The Sweatbox Review:

Afghanistan is still a mysterious country for many westerners, probably known best as a centre of conflict, facing a succession of largely unsuccessful invaders and being also torn apart from within. Despite the nation being so prominent in the news for so long, many likely have only a passing familiarity with its history, culture and demographics. Canadian author Deborah Ellis went to Pakistan in 1997 to interview Afghans in a refugee camp and heard many stories of what their lives had been. She focused on learning all she could from women and girls, who had been the main targets of oppression in Afghanistan. Ellis was particularly taken by a small girl whose mother had helped her disguise herself as a boy in the camp. Out of these interviews she was inspired to write The Breadwinner, released in 2000. It has since won many awards and has had a few well-received sequels.

The grim tale of survival may not seem to some like an ideal property to adapt into animation, but the project was taken on by Toronto company Aircraft Pictures, who brought the idea for the film to the acclaimed Irish studio Cartoon Saloon, creators of The Secret Of Kells and Song Of The Sea. Angelina Jolie was brought on as executive producer to help guide the project, which was co-produced by Cartoon Saloon, Aircraft Pictures, and Melusine Productions in Luxembourg. Cartoon Saloon’s Nora Twomey was selected to direct, and she read the source material in an evening, immediately seeing the possibilities for a powerful film. Both the book and the film tell the story of Parvana, an eleven-year old girl from Kabul who watches helplessly as her father is taken off to jail by members of the Taliban. The film omits and changes some of the book’s details from there, but it is largely a faithful adaptation. Parvana struggles with the loss of her father and is absolutely determined to get him back. Her mother and older sister know it may be futile, but Parvana is insistent. Parvana and her mother go in search of her father together, despite the fact that women are not allowed to travel without a male guardian. The result is sadly predicable, with the mother being beaten, leading to a prolonged period of depression and recovery at home.

Of immediate concern is also how the family will survive day-to-day, as food and money run out. Parvana’s older brother has been killed, and her younger brother is still a baby, so there is no male to go out and earn money, or even to go to the market to procure food. The solution is simple: the family must create another boy out of available materials – Parvana. With her hair cut, and with the use of her brother’s clothes, the prepubescent girl can reasonably pass for a boy. She becomes the titular breadwinner for the family, selling small items on the street and assisting the illiterate with reading and writing, just as her father – a crippled former schoolteacher – had. Parvana is soon coached by a former classmate, Shauzia, who is leading a similar life of dangerous deception, and the two become close friends.

Eventually, a plot is hatched to bring back Parvana’s father by use of bribes, but the whole family is overtaken by events in the country. Though the novel was written prior to 9/11, the film leads right up to what appears to be the American invasion in October of 2001. Even as the film’s story moves towards a relatively happy ending, we know that life will never be the same for this family or their country.

Director Nora Twomey somehow manages to make this potentially bleak story a fascinating and even entertaining one. Her protagonist, Parvana, is totally endearing, with a bright spirit and admirable perseverance. She is naïve, but sometimes a little naivete is required to drag along those who feel blocked by difficult realities. While we know that Parvana’s success in life will be limited by her circumstances, it is inspiring to see her make the most of things, almost willing her family to survive their hardships. Mixed in with the main storyline are sections of a more light-hearted story begun by Parvana’s father and continued by Parvana as she soothes her baby brother. The artistry shown in the telling of this folk tale is stunning and stylized, told in CGI but in a style harkening back to cut-out animation, but with amazing sophistication of style and detail. The purpose of including this tale in the narrative becomes clear in the end, adding a further note of heartache, even as we admire the startling beauty of the presentation.

The Breadwinner continues Cartoon Saloon’s record of excellence, giving them three straight Academy Award nominations for Best Animated Feature. It is an engaging story exquisitely told. Though the subject matter is quite serious, even my mature ten-year old boy, who loves history, declared it a great film. My wife, recognizing the sad undertones, was bothered by it for the rest of the evening, even though she loved the film. The story stays with you for a while, because it is based on truth, and the truth is not always pretty. However, even in the darkest times, there is still room for joy, laughter, and the enduring spark provided by love. That is the tale of Parvana and her family.

Is This Thing Loaded?

The disc offers a brief Introduction by director Nora Twomey and executive producer Angelica Jolie (0:35). There is also an Audio Commentary with the filmmakers, including Twomey and other key art and directing personnel, to provide further insight into the production. From there, we also get a few well-constructed featurettes that go even further into the making of the film:

Behind The Scenes With The Cast (9:36) actually begins with further comments from Twomey and Cartoon Saloon producer Paul Young before capturing the thoughts and insights of several audio cast members, as well as Aircraft Pictures producer Anthony Leo.

Animating The Film (6:16) is largely narrated by Twomey and others, as we view artists at work and see a generous amount production and pre-production art.

Creating The Music And Sound (4:48) features a chat with composers Jeff and Mychael Danna, as they talk about the music and instrumentation. Then, sound designer JR Fountain discusses matching the sounds to the mood of each scene.

In Telling The Story (7:49), Twomey addresses tailoring the story to both younger and older audiences. Additionally, some of the voice actors – a few with Afghan backgrounds – speak about what the film means to them and could mean for others.

GKids disc previews that load automatically at disc start-up include those for Song Of The Sea, Miss Hokusai, and My Life As A Zucchini. The menu also offers the Breadwinner Trailer and one for Boy & The World.

The DVD included in this set has all of the same bonus content.

Case Study:

I really like how GKids packages stay consistent, whether they are released by Universal (as in this case), Shout! Factory, or other partners. That means the same trade dress on the cover and spine. Also as usual, early copies have cover slips. The standard Blu-ray case has a DVD and Blu-ray on each side of the case, and there is an insert for a US-only digital copy. At present, Universal’s Blu-ray is only being distributed in the US, though Canadian buyers can still find their DVD, or imported copies of the Blu-ray at Amazon.ca.

Ink And Paint:

The Blu-ray image is essentially flawless. Maybe I’m too lazy to look for problems, but I saw no issues with this encode. This is certainly a beautiful animated film, with the most outstanding parts coming from the CGI “folk tale” sequences, and the Blu-ray provides a beauty of a hi-def image.

Note that the screen captures have been taken from the DVD version.

Scratch Tracks:

The DTS-HD Master Audio is robust and strong. Music is crisp, and the effects range from the ambient sounds of the market to forceful rumbling bass when called for. Most of the film does not lend itself to fancy sound design, but the audio track shines when it needs to.

There are no alternative audio tracks. The only subtitles are English captions for the hearing impaired.

Final Cut:

It is always a pleasure to see an animated film reaching beyond the usual genres. The Breadwinner is a wonderful film that tells a difficult story. Its importance lies in how it puts a human face on a part of the world that we normally associate with conflict and war. Here we see how such events affect a family, and how a child can bring hope to her family in the midst of so much difficulty. Those who want to know Parvana better would be advised to read the books, but the film is a terrific adaptation, full of beautiful design, a compelling narrative, and heart. Though I really enjoyed Coco, I would not argue with anyone who said that it’s The Breadwinner that was the best animated film of 2017.

Storyboard:

The crew of The Ghost help to develop the burgeoning Rebel Alliance, while facing off against the suave and calculating menace of Grand Admiral Thrawn.

The Sweatbox Review:

Star Wars – Rebels has continued to be a deserving hit for Disney XD, often drawing a million viewers per episode. (Well, that’s pretty good in today’s fractured TV viewing landscape.) After ramping up the action and intrigue in Season Two, there was no doubt that the intrepid crew of The Ghost has become a vital part of the Rebel movement. Unfortunately, the growing strength of the Rebels has garnered the notice of the Empire. No longer does the Empire view the rebels as pests; there is a growing awareness that they present at least a small threat, and need to be dealt with.

Dave Filoni, who did such a terrific job overseeing Clone Wars and the first two seasons of Rebels, left his supervising director duties behind in the third season in order to accept a promotion, so he named Justin Ridge to be his successor. The show is in good hands, as Season Three quite credibly continues the saga of the Rebels over 22 episodes, portraying the rise of the Alliance while revisiting beloved Star Wars characters and creating a whole range of interesting new characters. As I’ve said before, the best compliment that can be given is that this show feels like the Star Wars that I grew up with. And, even more than previous seasons, this one sets up the eventual link to Episode IV: A New Hope. Still, there are plenty of call-backs to the prequels and the Clone Wars TV show, so this season feels very much like a bridge between eras.

The second season had left the crew of the Ghost rather scarred, both physically and emotionally. The Jedi Kanan was blinded, with his padawan Ezra blaming himself. Ezra was toying with the Sith holocron, and finally opened it, against all common sense and the warnings of Kanan. Meanwhile, Ahsoka Tano’s fate was unclear. Six months later, as season three opens, the Ghost crew is still adjusting to the new status quo, and life at their new rebel base. The first episode, Steps Into Shadow addresses the issues of the holocron and Kanan’s blindness, while introducing an ancient neutral Force-wielder named Bendu (voiced by Tom Baker), and also showing a mission to rescue the pirate Hondo (a favorite from the Clone Wars show) and ultimately steal a number of ships. It is a packed episode, full of action, drama, and humor, ably re-setting the show for what will be an exciting third season.

Both the Jedi and Sith holocrons figure into The Holocrons Of Fate, which also features the re-appearance of Darth Maul. After a hostage incident and an uneasy alliance is formed, there are visions shared, leading to Darth Maul voicing that he intends to find a certain man who is living on a desert world with twin suns. Another character from the films appears in the next episode, The Antilles Extraction, when Sabine infiltrates an Empire training base in order to find pilots who wish to join the Rebels.

A big part of Season Three is the introduction to the show of Grand Admiral Thrawn, a popular villain from the Timothy Zahn novels of the 1990s. Originally depicted as a leading light in the Empire who gained prominence after the Battle of Endor (in the old chronology, before The Force Awakens rebooted everything), we now see Thrawn in his earlier days, a capable and calculating agent of the Empire, who makes it his mission to track down the Rebels and destroy the threat they represent. Thrawn comes face-to-face with the Ghost’s captain Hela, when she returns to her now-occupied home world in Hera’s Heroes. As with all the best stories, there’s the plot, about Hera retrieving a family heirloom, and then there’s the theme: “home” and “family” are not made up of things, but of those one is closest to.

From there, the viewing audience is treated to reappearances of the Separatist battle droids, several episodes involving Sabine and her home planet of Mandalore, more of the entertaining rascal Hondo, a return to Ezra’s planet of Lothal (where a big revelation awaits regarding one of their biggest foes), a journey to Maul’s home world where we also revisit the Night Sisters, and a two-parter where the Ghost crew investigate the mystery of Geonosis. Ghosts Of Geonosis also introduces Saw Gerrera to the show, giving us an earlier look at the key figure from Rogue One. Though his physical appearance does not quite match up with the film version (even given that this takes place a few years earlier), Saw is voiced by his actor, Forrest Whitaker. Saw is portrayed as somewhat unhinged, though understandably so, given what the Empire did to his family. His rage is juxtaposed against the right of the Geonosians to avoid extinction.

There is also family intrigue, with Sabine returning to her parents while wielding the fabled darksaber. There is spy intrigue with Thrawn identifying the Fulcrum agent in his midst. And, quite importantly, there is the Secret Cargo that turns out to be the figure who will actually form the Rebel Alliance out of the various Rebel cells. And, as the season nears its conclusion, the big tease of Twin Suns finally pays off with the return of Obi-Wan Kenobi. These events certainly work towards bringing the show up to speed with A New Hope, but the season is not quite done yet.

The two-parter Zero Hour closes off the season, as Grand Admiral Thrawn makes his move against the Rebels, and his long-planned trap is sprung. Tremendous adversity leads to partnership for the Rebels, with the story ending at a familiar Rebel base. The pieces are almost all in place now for Episode IV, with the rest to follow in the fifteen episodes of season four.

Is This Thing Loaded?

This first disc goes straight to the main menu, after which the viewer has a couple of options. If you really missed seeing a trailer, you may select “Sneak Peeks” to get to the teaser for Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2:10).

Other than that, there is the return of the Rebels Recon segments, a behind-the-scenes report on every episode of the show, featuring a variety of talent. I love these seven-minute featurettes, as they always seem to answer all the questions I had about production, and include factoids I never anticipated.

Disc Two adds Audio Commentaries on Trials Of The Darksaber (with Executive producer Dave Filoni) and Legacy Of Mandalore (Filoni and a few others), in addition to the Rebels Recon segments.

Disc Three is the most packed disc, with more Rebels Recon, three more Audio Commentaries by Filoni and friends, plus a few other featurettes that each delve deeper into important aspects of this season: A Rebel Alliance (6:10), Return to Mandalore (6:59), Thrawn: A Legend Reborn (6:59), Apprentices To Outcasts: Kenobi And Maul (8:47), and The Original Rebel: Saw Gerrera Returns – Extended (3:19). These featurettes each have members of the cast and crew, and multiple looks at the production of the show. It’s all good stuff.

Case Study:

The three discs come in a case with no tray, so two discs must fit onto one oversized hub. My copy had no inserts, though normally there would be one for Disney Movie Rewards. The cover slip is embossed. I have to say, the covers for these Rebels releases have been stunning.

Ink And Paint:

The show, as ever, looks pristine on Blu-ray. The 16:9 image is basically without fault. There is even a little grain to be seen, helping the show avoid looing overly polished, even if the characters still look somewhat like marionettes. Any scenes with space battles or ligthsabers typically look especially awesome.

Scratch Tracks:

Anyone hoping for these releases to finally go for lossless sound will be disappointed… again. Dolby Digital 5.1 is what is available (at least it’s not 2.0, I guess), which can be had in English, French, or German. (Well, actually, Spanish speakers do only get 2.0— sorry about that, amigos.) Still, it’s not all that long ago that Dolby Digital 5.1 is the best we ever had on home video, and it still sounds quite good. The sound mix is not as dynamic or engrossing as in the film series, but for a TV show it’s pretty fun. All of the classic Star Wars “bweeps” and “thweets” are here, so that’s a far cry from the days of Droids and Ewoks, at any rate.

Subtitles are available in English, English for the Hearing impaired, French, and Spanish.

Final Cut:

Star Wars – Rebels continues to impress. These characters have become an established and welcome addition to the canon, with the stories nicely bridging the gap between the original and prequel trilogies (note the symbolism of Ezra Bridger’s name). The Lucasfilm TV shows have satisfied in ways that the prequel trilogy did not, by incorporating what fans love about Star Wars, while not focusing heavily on what fans find boring. The stories contain a great mix of plot and characterization, and lots of action. Even for a kids’ show, there is enough drama to maintain adult interest, as well as great visuals. Fans will also enjoy the bountiful bonus features on this release. One more season to go!

Storyboard:

A shipwrecked man makes it to an apparently deserted island, where his first instinct is to fight nature, before realizing that he is a part of it.

The Sweatbox Review:

Imagine that you are a Dutch, award-winning animated short film and commercials director, who has no prospects or even plans to direct a feature. Then, Toshio Suzuki and Isao Takahata from Studio Ghibli in Japan write you, and say that they would like you to direct a Ghibli film, with all the production work to be done in Europe, to be overseen by Wild Bunch. That seems awfully unlikely, right? And yet, so begins the genesis of The Red Turtle, a film that went on to be nominated for a Best Animated Feature Academy Award, and won major prizes at Cannes, in the Annies, and numerous film critic awards.

Being based in London, director Michaël Dudok de Wit could not have been expecting to be receiving a letter from Japan about a project, but that did not stop him from expressing interest immediately. Some people at Studio Ghibli had briefly met Dudok de Wit before, and were very impressed with his Oscar-winning short film Father And Daughter, and thought that he shared a certain sensibility with Studio Ghibli. They proposed an arrangement unique for the studio: they would produce the film, and provide creative support, but Dudok de Wit would retain full control over the Europe-based production. Famed director Isao Takahata would give some of the most helpful advice during the course of the creative process, though he encouraged Dudok de Wit to be brave and trust his instincts.

Dudok de Wit had a slim idea of a story that he thought could be expanded into a feature. Over time, it evolved into the tale of a man who, as the film opens, is adrift in a tumultuous sea. He finally finds himself on a desert island, devoid of human company. He must find ways to survive, cut off from any form of civilization. He is clever, though, and sure in his feeling that his intelligence shall allow him the opportunity to succeed in leaving the island. In his struggle to escape his island prison, he comes up against a giant red turtle, who continuously wrecks his escape raft. The man becomes violent in his frustration, angry that nature has chosen to oppose him so wilfully. He is shocked by his own rage, however, and comes to regret it.

His stance on his new life changes further when he is joined by a mysterious woman. She initially keeps her distance, but eventually they become intimate, and live out their life together on the island. This life includes many challenges, whether it be for food, reliable shelter, or protection from severe weather. Gradually, the man accepts his new home, and realizes that nature is not a thing to be fought, since we are all a part of it, and therefore such a stance means opposing oneself. Moreover, he must learn that happiness can be found even when life takes you to unexpected places. The destination is not always what you thought it would be, and the journey there is unpredictable. Ultimately, it is a personal choice to make the best of one’s circumstances, to choose to be happy.

This simple tale could have possibly been told effectively in a seven-minute short, but that would be insufficient to have the audience fully enter this man’s world. The film is devoid of dialogue, and so the audience instead enters into a more visceral experience of the man’s challenges and frustrations, and ultimately his happiness and contentment. The lush animation, produced in France and Belgium, lives up to the term—this world is simple, but extremely alive. The bamboo trees, the birds, and the sea all move continuously, bringing the world of the island to vivid, beautiful life.

The film serves as a fable, with some fantastic and unexplained elements, becoming almost dreamlike. The man is never identified by nationality, and only rarely do we hear anything more from him than a grunt or scream. He is an everyman, he is us— on a life journey that takes him to unexpected places both physically and in his soul. By the end of the film, the audience may feel that it has travelled alongside him, and reached a new level of enlightenment. The simplicity of the tale, and the way in which it is presented, allows for multiple experiences among those who view it. Some may think it boring, some may think it bizarre, but others may find it stunningly profound. For me, the depth of the experience grew in the days that followed my viewing of it. It is a story that stays with you, and sinks in over time. And I think it was lovely.

Is This Thing Loaded?

The Commentary with Michaël Dudok de Wit thoroughly explains the story and themes behind the film. This material is further enhanced by a number of great featurettes.

The Birth Of The Red Turtle (56:36) discusses the genesis of the art of the film, with Dudok de Wit describing all of his various choices concerning the film’s style and numerous artistic choices. It is a nearly hour-long lecture by a true artist, letting us in on his creative process. During the discussion, we see plenty of art and various stages of animation. This feature and the next are spoken in French, with subtitles available. The Secrets Of The Red Turtle (17:45) allows us to sit further with Dudok de Wit, as he demonstrates his art, with pencil in hand.

The Red Turtle At AFI Fest Q&A (20:47) is yet another wonderful talk by the director. He discusses how the film came to be, and— in case you still are not sure of the film’s intent— he lays out the themes he was striving to convey.

The disc begins with trailers for the live action international films Our Little Sister, The Eagle Huntress, and Dark Horse.

Case Study:

Sony has packaged the film in a standard Blu-ray case, with a single disc. There is also an identical cover slip, and no inserts.

Ink And Paint:

You cannot ask for more out of a film transfer. The film looks terrific, as one would expect from what is almost certainly a digital-to-digital effort. This film was mostly drawn on a graphics tablet, though the turtle was done via CGI, and so all the work exists in the digital realm. The rich colors and amazing beauty of the film is more than evident on the Blu-ray, and if one sees any occasional slight jaggedness or shimmering, one has to wonder if it was perhaps endemic to the original production process.

Scratch Tracks:

The characters may not speak, but as the saying goes, the film is far from silent. The sounds of the sea and the island are always in evidence, and the 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio track places you right in the middle of it. Oftentimes, it is the subtle sound of the wind or ocean, or skittering crabs (who amusingly struck me as a type of silent Greek chorus), but when a tsunami bursts forth, one certainly gets the full effect of swirling wind and water. The audio track is labelled as being “English”, but that’s a misnomer, since no real language is spoken. That didn’t stop Sony from providing subtitles, however. About the only word spoken is “Hey!”, or in Portuguese, “Ei!” The other choice is Spanish (“Hola!”). The only subs that have use are the English Subtitles for the Deaf and Hard-of-hearing, for those that require it.

Final Cut:

Though it did not win the Oscar (nothing was going to stop Disney’s hit Zootopia), this is a winning film for the art house crowd. Attractive visuals, a simple but arresting story, and a deep message make this a must-see for more demanding fans of film and animation. Such a film can be easy to dismiss by those looking for more obvious thrills, but the ample special features on the disc will help place the film in perfect context for those who initially found the film too weird or simplistic. Given the opportunity, this film can win you over, and it might be even better the second or third time. I hope that Studio Ghibli found enough success in this to encourage them to partner with other strong international directors. The result of further such collaborations could prove just as rewarding.

Storyboard:

In a world filled with animals, a showman koala quickly comes up with the idea of staging a song contest in order to keep his struggling theater in business.

The Sweatbox Review:

2016 may well have belonged to Disney, but each of the other major animation studios all put up a fair fight, especially in the last quarter of the year, when new movies debuted every few weeks. In fact, between Universal’s two Illumination feature releases – the only studio other than Disney to issue two animated pictures during the year – we were treated to a new animated film from the major commercial studios each month, from Illumination’s own The Secret Life Of Pets in June, Fox’s fifth (and hopefully final) Ice Age sequel, Blue Sky’s Collision Course, in July, followed by August’s much more critically acclaimed Kubo And The Two Strings from Laika (technically Universal’s third animated picture after its Illumination films), and September’s Storks, which saw Warner Bros. return to its comedy cartoon roots and break free from its recent Lego confines (even if the visual production was actually provided by Sony Animation).

Despite being hilarious, Storks seemed to get a little lost in the fray, and I didn’t catch it until it hit disc later in the year, a fate which also befell DreamWorks’ October release of Trolls, which I initially avoided because it frankly looked awful! However, both films proved to be hits of varying sizes, with Trolls already scoring a sequel from DreamWorks’ new owners (yep, Universal again) and each were more solidly entertaining than they may have first looked. Disney owned November with their juggernaut Moana, before Illumination returned to take on another Mouse House behemoth, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, opening its “American Idol with animals” film, Sing, just a week after Rogue‘s December release (is it me, or should that title have an exclamation point to really make it “Sing!“?).

It was a brave move, arguably going after much of the same overlap audience, but while Sing may have initially gotten lost in the shuffle, Universal’s banking on the Star Wars fans to get their fill early meant they could sit back and watch their singing animals turn into a hit with long legs, as the trades used to have it, taking full advantage of a long-trailed advertising campaign that targeted families looking for feelgood holiday entertainment at Christmastime. Not that the resulting movie is especially festive, although it’s an undeniably feelgood experience. An often overused trait applied to too many animated films recently is to remind of those big song and dance endings that used to wind up every other DreamWorks animated comedy and suggest that the likes of Trolls or Sing were like those moments…but stretched throughout the entire movie, and both films certainly looked like they played this way from their respective trailers.

Sing, especially, looked like a cartoon karaoke session, and a potentially interminable experience for some as a result, the only glimmer of hope being, for me, that it was written and directed by Garth Jennings, previously one half of the Hammer & Tongs music promo company and the director of the hugely underrated big-screen adaptation of The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy. He followed this up with the charmingly lo-fi Britcom Son Of Rambow, after which a Hitchhiker sequel fizzled out before it got in front of the cameras and Jennings seemed to fade from the filmmaking landscape. Bucking the trend for an increasing number of animation movie directors switching to live-action production, Jennings has always been a highly visual director, wringing top value out of the relatively low budget Hitchhiker’s Guide to deliver a film that looked each and every inch a blockbuster, and so even though Sing‘s previews didn’t promise much more than animated animals singing a selection of today’s pop hits, I suspected there had to be more to it than just that.

Thankfully, Sing delivers. Sure, the cartoon karaoke aspect takes up a huge chunk of the movie’s longer than expected, near two hour runtime, but right from the start (with a sly poke at the Disney logo, or at least that’s how it came over to me) and its Beatles’ song opener (actually Universal’s second use of the band’s catalog after Kubo), it’s clear that Sing means business. This may be a modern jukebox musical…but what a jukebox – a continually revolving mix of massive commercial hit songs and original tunes, both sourced from the original recordings and largely performed by the vocal cast assembled here, including a veritable who’s who of current A-listers and character voices where, for once, the celebrity voices don’t overpower the animated characters.

Indeed, it took me until a half hour in before I realised song contest organiser, a koala named Buster Moon, was voiced by Matthew McConaughey (following Kubo in his second animated Universal outing in the same year), since he really works to pull away from his usually laid back style to convey a continually “switched on” approach that’s hyper but not annoying. The other voices all deliver nice subtleties, too, with the likes of Reece Witherspoon, Taron Egerton, Peter Serafinowicz and Jennings himself all performing with accents or nuances that do much more than just plop a celebrity in a role. Even the Family Guy himself, Seth McFarlane, isn’t instantly recognisable, save for some intonation giveaways once we’ve heard him for longer during the movie, and most naturalistic is Scarlett Johansson, proving again what a strong vocal actress she can be after Her and The Jungle Book. There are a few other neat surprises in the cast list, and a quick in-joke for John C Reilly, referencing his other animated role of Wreck-It Ralph, adding to perhaps the best ensemble in an animated film for quite a while.

Set in a post-Zootopia world where it seems animals on both sides of the eating divide have settled their differences, Sing‘s actual locations may not come across quite as well realised conceptually as that earlier film – it’s essentially our world but filled with animals – but that doesn’t mean it still doesn’t pop via terrifically detailed rendering, and Jennngs has fun moving his animated camera around with a confidence and skill that holds shots when they need to be held and doesn’t fall into the trap of too many whip-pans instead of straight picture cuts as so many less experienced CG directors and cheaper productions often do. In fact, the zippy, economic storytelling reminded me of what an animated Michael Bay movie might be like, with multiple plot strands and several main characters all introduced within the first ten minutes in a brash but not obnoxious style that feels fun and keeps fresh.

As the film progresses, we learn more about the selected few that have made it through to a struggling local theater’s big hope, a song contest, in a series of intertwined plot threads that are as expertly handled and intercut as a Scorsese epic by way of terrific editing that I’m surprised didn’t help the film get more recognition during awards season, even in an admittedly very strong year. Remarkably, Jennings manages to keep the pace up, but not so breathlessly so as to wear out the audience. In fact, it was only when Sing slows down for a moment that I noticed we were already at the halfway mark. It’s here that a minor subplot kicks in, featuring Jennifer Saunders’ venerable but faded superstar (with the singing voice of Jennifer Hudson, pulled off better than you’d expect), which may feel a little unneeded, but no doubt giving the film a revitalised lift just when things might have become a tad too episodic and repetitive.

It’s true that Sing doesn’t always escape those kind of pitfalls entirely, and perhaps just begins to start to run out of steam two thirds through, but it stages a deft comeback in the last quarter, when the actual contest kicks into high gear, via Taylor Swift’s still-infectious Shake It Off, and the high energy returns with its “we can put on a show right here!” spirit, leading to an unexpectedly touching – but still funny – ending in which everyone finds what they need and everyone’s a winner, before the inevitable all-singing finale. It’s remarkable that the 65+ songs in Sing, including that old Idol/X-Factor standby, Hallelujah, took up a reported 15 percent of the budget and yet the film – lengthier than most Illumination features by almost a half hour – doesn’t look like it has had to skimp in other areas to keep to the studio’s strict $75 million price tags.

When the jukebox isn’t playing, Jennings’ regular composer, Hitchhiker’s Joby Talbot, provides a by turns delicate and bombastic score that hits all the right notes and fills in all the gaps with a variety of styles and orchestrations that pulls off the impossible and ties the entire soundtrack together. After such recent pop-tinged animated films as the enjoyable Gnomeo & Juliet and the downright strange Strange Magic, Sing comes along to mix its action, characters, story and songs the way it should really be done, like an animated Moulin Rouge tailor-made for today’s music and fame obsessed teenagers with attention spans of less than thirty seconds. Older viewers may also be reminded of the now unfortunately forgotten Animalympics, with music taking place of sport, and will also appreciate some absolutely beautifully nuanced character animation.

Sing turns out to truly be one of those movies with “something for everyone”, and its zippy pace means that if there’s a song or moment that isn’t right up one’s alley, there’s sure to be a quick cut to something else soon enough, with a fast and funny script that keeps things fresh, witty and inventive, even if it’s not always original and sometimes predictable. However, it’s easy to see how Sing sang at the box-office to the tune of around $600 million and is in line to become Illumination’s next franchise, with a sequel now due in 2020 (“Sing Again“? “Sing…And Dance!”? Just spitballing!), hopefully with Jennings returning. Coming right at the tail end of a packed and very strong year, Sing is another example of how great and different animated features were in 2016.

Is This Thing Loaded?

After enjoying the main feature much more than I had been expecting to have done, an audio commentary with writer-director Jennings would have been most welcome, although Universal largely forgoes the animation collector in their Illumination releases and instead focuses on added value of a more generic but no less entertaining nature. So, as is now standard for the studio’s animated properties on disc, Sing features three Mini-Movies of the short shorts variety, all running around four minutes and animated to the same high level of the movie. You’ll guess what Gunter Babysits is all about from its title, while Love At First Sight has Miss Crawly attempting online dating, and Eddie’s Life Coach features more Reilly. Throwing a bone to those that do like to know about such things, The Making Of The Mini-Movies is a six-minute peek behind the scenes, as informative as it is welcome.

The Making Of Sing covers the basics of production on the movie itself and, although it seems woefully inadequate at less than five minutes and mostly promotional in nature, it still manages to straddle between something that both casual fans of the movie and those more interested in the nuts and bolts will enjoy, with Jennings and Illumination producer Chris Meledandri among those popping up to deliver their soundbite remarks. Finding The Rhythm: Editing Sing is more of the same, and again short at under three minutes, but no less welcome in shining a light on Gregory Perler’s contributions; that Universal has chosen to highlight him specifically is an obvious sign that I wasn’t the only one to notice his fantastic work on this film. A series of Character Profiles turns attention to the voice cast, for a twelve minute Play All selection that catches McConaughey, Witherspoon, Tori Kelly, Egerton, Nick Kroll and Jennings’ brief takes on their characters, with actually a higher level of interest than one might expect in their individual approaches.

Being that Sing is a music-led movie, you’d be expecting some Music Videos to pop up somewhere, and here Universal provides two, for Kelly’s cover of Stevie Wonder’s Don’t You Worry ‘Bout A Thing (3:11) – also accompanied by a decent Making Of A Music Video clip (2:52) – and Wonder and Ariana Grande’s new track Faith (2:46), both of which explore one of the film’s central messages of hope. The current fad for Lyric Videos is fulfilled with a repeat for Faith (2:49) and another track, Johansson’s Set It All Free (3:40), although it could have been cool to also offer instrumental options for wannabe popstars to sing along to. Sing & Dance! – Faith offers up a fluffy chance to learn some of the dance moves choreographed for the movie, in a strictly for kids six and a half minutes.

The Sing Network serves up a handful of further character moments by way of not-terribly inspired fake commercials, for Gunter’s Dance Studio, The Moon Theater, Rosita’s Babysitting Gizmo and Miss Crawly’s Matchmaking Service. Getting shunted back to the main menu after each clip gets repetitive when surely a Play All choice would have put the commercial break idea over better, although that is optional for the final selection, In The News, of E!-style “true entertaining stories” for seven of the main characters, using clips from the film in a fun way that adds up to around 15 minutes of extra material. Finally, The Best Of Gunter throws the spotlight on the comedy pig for a minute, but I truly hope this isn’t the start of a character breakout – he’s a favorite because he’s funny, but nothing more, and to start to feature him in a bigger role in a sequel, or heaven forbid his own movie, would be to stretch a good joke character too thin, as even the mighty Pixar failed to do creatively with Dory. Besides, I’d love to see more of the Ride Like The Wind-singing snail instead!

At the top of the disc, previews play for upcoming Universal and Illumination product, including this summer’s Despicable Me 3, the Minion Mayhem attraction at Universal parks, a teaser for Mariah Carey’s what-the-heck animated holiday title All I Want For Christmas Is You (which, perhaps understandably, declines to show any actual animation) and, in a rare slice of cross-distributor promotion, DreamWorks’ Trolls (as released by Fox Home Entertainment), displaying Universal’s flexing its muscles over their new acquisition. Although this isn’t the most of immersive behind the scenes packages, Universal’s disc offers up decent added material that accompanies the movie well and, although a commentary track would have been the most welcome extra, there’s otherwise good enough value to be found here.

Case Study:

Available on every format from 4K to digital download, and all manner of 3D and DVD in between, it’s Sing‘s regular Blu-ray edition under review here, coming in a nice slipcase that replicates its sleeve underneath with some embossed elements but doesn’t extend to any flashy sparkle effects that could have pushed it into overkill. It does the job of giving the title an added touch in a fine way, with the standard BD case inside holding an added DVD and download code.

Ink And Paint:

Digitally rendered animated films are about the best source for any HD format, and Blu-ray is the purest way to see the least compressed version of those files. So it comes as no surprise that Sing follows the likes of Moana to disc with a spotless, demo reference quality transfer, especially in chapter thirteen’s flooding and destruction of the theater. We didn’t get the 3D edition in to review, but I expect Sing has fun with the format, although I can’t imagine how the concurrently released 4K disc could expand on the clarity and detail exhibited here, from the spittle coming from one animal’s mouth to the specs visible in the spots of light. Sing is a film more concerned with its soundtrack and characters than most, so there isn’t a standout action scene, but it’s filled with tiny, lovely little moments that add up to a striking visual presentation, including innumerable touches in the animation that truly belie its budget and make it look incredible.

Scratch Tracks:

In a perhaps unsurprisingly aggressive mix, I still felt some of Sing‘s voices could have been better treated to sound more natural to their surroundings, with everything coming over as too pure and close mic’d, and voices not always authentically feeling as if the characters really are “outside” or, in one case, sounding too boxy. This is perhaps a personal observation and it’s certainly not something that rings true all the time, especially within the confines of the theater itself, where there’s a nice ambience. The sound mixers no doubt already had their hands full with juggling the sheer amount of musical juxtaposing required to meld everything together, so in many ways this is a remarkable soundtrack, full of hyper effects, almost continuous music and energetic voices, but never becoming tiring or tiresome, and although some of the music choices might not be my personal preference, they are nevertheless well placed both in the film and the mix itself.

Final Cut:

Although Sing makes good on the promise (or the threat, depending on your point of view) of its ultra-commercial, song-filled promos, it’s ultimately much more than the sum of its parts, and somewhat makes for an interesting, if lighter, companion piece to Disney’s more more lauded Zootopia. It may not have that film’s depth and nuance, but Sing can still hold its own, with a sincerity and positive spirit that beats the more routine similar aspects in the straight-out comedies of Storks and Trolls, and a flat-out killer soundtrack with one heck of a playlist.

With its larger, expertly handled cast and multiple story strands, Sing also feels more substantial and, now that the film’s theater has been put on the map, I wonder if a sequel might take things to the next logical level and introduce an international singing contest that could have fun with an even greater expanded cast. After all, anything less would simply be a re-run, and I’m already fatigued by the amount of such shows on TV. Hopefully it’ll do something new with the format, because Sing works, and works well, as quite a joyous slice of family entertainment.