Alternate Animation

02 July 2008

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This weeks sees Dreamworks' domination of the animation section of the movie market continue with the release of Kung Fu Panda, which the company hope will enjoy Shrek-like success.

And later this summer Pixar, Dreamworks' biggest rival and the leader of quality animation in recent years, release their new project Wall-E, which has already topped the American box office.

In recent years, and with the major competition between Pixar and Dreamworks, the animation market has slowly become saturated as other studios jumped on the band wagon creating below par cinema that still enjoyed success.

For film lovers who are becoming a little tired of the mainstream animation that is currently on offer, no matter how technically superb Pixar have become, FemaleFirst has dug out some alternative cartoon cinema to celebrate and enjoy.

Leading the way is Japanese Studio Ghibli as Hayao Miyazaki's anime movies Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle have broken into Western cinema in the last few years.

2001's Spirited Away, about a ten year old girl who finds herself in a fantasy world and has to save her parents, was the first anime picture to win an Oscar and was the first movie to gross $200 million before opening in America.

Miyazaki followed this up with Howl's Moving Castle about Sophie, an eighteen year old girl who meets a mysterious wizard called Howl.

With a gross of over £231 million it's one of the most successful Japanese anime movies of all time and was nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars.

Or you could always watch movies that are a little closer to home with Aardman Animations, the people behind the success of Wallace and Gromit.

Despite early success with the likes of A Close Shave and The Wrong Trousers it wasn't until 2005 that they released their first feature length project Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

In true Wallace and Gromit style the film was the worldwide number one for three consecutive weeks and bagged creator Nick Park his fourth Oscar.

In the last couple of years French cinema has been gaining a foothold in the animation sector of the movie industry and enjoying major success.

In 2005 Belleville Rendez-Vous was released about an elderly woman who was searching for her grandson who was kidnapped during the Tour de France.

The film caught the attention of the Academy and it was nominated for best Animated Feature.

And this year they have enjoyed further success with the film Persepolis from Iranian filmmaker Marjan Satropi.

Shot in black and white the film is based on the graphic novels by Satropi which told of her oppressive childhood set to a backdrop of the Iranian Revolution.

Like Belleville Rendez-Vous before it the film was nominated in the animation category at the Oscars and was France's entry for the Best Foreign Language Film, but it was not nominated.

Also worth a look is anime pictures Ghost in the Shell, Akira, Steamboy and Vexille as well as A Scanner Darkly which used rotoscoping technology where director Richard Linklater filmed live actors before animating over them.

However if non of this tickles your fancy Kung Fun Panda is released 4th July

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

View the Alternate Animation gallery.

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