Interview With Disney Legend Bill Peet

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Here’s an interview with Disney animation artist and legend Bill Peet. The interview is rather long and I haven’t had time to read it yet myself. But my friend Dan sent it to me and he’s usually pretty good at passing on interesting sites related to art and animation.

Animation Lovers Rejoice!

Today several new animated DVDs are hitting the store shelves. Time to add to your collections:

Pixar Short Films Collection – Volume 1. This looks super cool! 13 short films with audio commentary plus at least one behind-the-scenes featurette.

Ratatouille. Not nearly a good as The Incedibles, but a reasonably entertaining movie with stunning visuals. Unfortunately the DVD is light on special features. There apparently is no audio commentary, only deleted scenes with introductions by Brad Bird. There is also a documentary and two short films.

At one time there were reports that a 2-disc special edition of Disney/Pixar’s Cars would also be released today, but instead there is just a one-disc version for Blu-Ray.

Other DVD animated curiosities released today include Opus N’ Bill in a Wish for Wings That Work; Chuck Jones Collection (an ambiguous title–no Warner Brothers work here, just six little-known short films by Jones); and Beetle Bailey: The Complete Collection.

Also, don’t forget to check out Looney Tunes – Golden Collection, Volume Five, which was released last week.

Putting Life In Your Poses

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I recently purchased the special edition DVD of Disney’s Jungle Book. It is widely regarded as one of the all-time classics of animation. Not because of the story. The plot is so simple that the movie should be a total bore. The movie is revered because of the characters. They are so incredibly entertaining and delightful to watch that you can’t help but get caught up in the fun.

That is no small feat.Read More