Animated movies have become quite the thing of late.
With the really good ones combining a mixture of intelligent writing, winning characters, and delightful pop culture knowingness, they now appeal to a broad range of demographics, and not just the children of old.
It all probably started with movies like Shrek, Ice Age and just about every Pixar movie ever, animated masterpieces that weren’t afraid to mix in some wry in-jokes that only adults would pick up on and enjoy with the straight out visual slapstick that children love and tie it all together with whippet-smart plots and characters who weren’t just cute but capable of exercising a brain cell or two.
And with its rising prominence in the pop culture sphere – Pixar Movies UP and Toy Story 3 were even nominated for Best Picture Oscars in 2009 and 2010 respectively – it’s inspired artists everywhere to create their own images to pay homage to these new animated darlings.
Here are two I have come across + all the latest releases from Disney, which is well and truly back in the animation game:
The Minions from Despicable Me 1 & 2
Works by a broad range of artists including André Holzmeister, Tahirisoa RVD and Leandro Silva Cruz, among others – I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to read the signatures and track these artists down so please let me know if there are any artists you recognise on the following sites – have been grouped together on a number of sites, all of them imagining what the Minions would look like if they were a part of other pop culture entities.
The results are delightful as this piece of art from Leandro Silva Cruz illustrates …
You can find a selection of Minions art here and here.
Future DISNEY projects
The biennial Disney event, D23 Expo, which showcases up and coming Disney movies to member of the Official Disney Fan Club – The “D” stands of course for Disney while 23 refers to 1923 the year that Walt Disney arrived in Hollywood looking to make a name for himself – is in full swing at the moment, with a raft of exciting movies being announced including Zootopia, which takes places in a world where humans don’t exist and animals have crafted a modern society that resembles actual fauna habitats, and Big Hero 6, about a young man called Hiro who battles evil in the mega city of San Fransokyo, which arrives in theatres in November 2014.
They have also provided further details on already announced projects such as Finding Dory and Inside Out.
It’s an exciting slate of upcoming titles and I can’t help but agree with Chris E. Hayner at blog.zap2it.com when he said:
“It’s a very promising slate from Disney. The company isn’t resting on the promises of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Star Wars to keep them going down the line. Instead, they also keep an emphasis on what made them a name in the first place: cartoons.”
You can read the full run down on what’s been revealed so far at bleedingcool.com.
SCCOBY DOO AND ZOMBIES
It’s true that Scooby Doo and the gang have ecnountered more than their fair share of ghouls, goblins and supernatural nasties.
Granted they have pretty much been all make believe, the product of evil guys and gals who “would have gotten away with it too, if it weren’t for you meddling kids” but what if they encountered the real undead? What then?
What if instead of Rick Grimes and his beleaguered band of survivors, you had Scooby, Shaggy, Daphne, Fred and Velma battling the legions of the undead, all from the dubious safety of The Mystery Machine?
It’s a scenario that definitely gets the imagination racing – even if all I can see is Shaggy and Scooby cowering in the safest hidey-hole possible with as many Scooby Snacks as they could find next to them – and one that has captured the attention of talented photographer Jeff Zoet (discovered via io9.com).
In his Scooby Doo vs the Zombie Apocalypse reality, Shaggy and Scooby are bravely standing side by side with the rest of the gang ready to do their bit to keep the undead at bay.
It’s brilliant, clever and one of the best Scooby Doo/Zombie mashups I have ever seen.
You can see the full range of shots at Jeff Zoet’s Facebook page.
