First airing, in seasonally-appropriate style, on 21 December, 1982, Yogi Bear’s All-Star Comedy Christmas Caper was the third and final festive special for Jellystone Park’s favourite pic-a-nic loving resident. (Yogi Bera is voiced by the legendary Daws Butler) Gathering together a panoply of Hanna-Barbera characters from the well known likes Continue Reading
Animation
Christmas in July: Lucas the Spider makes some festive friends
Lucas the Spider is freaking adorable any time of the year. But there’s something about Christmas, a time of peace, goodwill and togetherness (and stripey festive peppermints), that makes him even more adorably sweet as he tries to befriend a fly to be his buddy at the most wonderful time Continue Reading
Stranger Lambs: Shaun the Sheep’s Farmageddon gets very zeitgeist-y
SNAPSHOTWhen the intergalactic visitor – an impish and adorable alien called LU-LA – crash-lands near Mossy Bottom Farm, Shaun soon sees an opportunity for alien-powered fun and adventure and sets off on a mission to shepherd LU-LA home. Her magical alien powers, irrepressible mischief and galactic sized burps soon have Continue Reading
More than just toys: How Toy Story beautifully explores issues of abandonment (video essay)
No one likes to be abandoned or neglected. It cuts to the very core of our self-worth and lovability and the even the prospect of it, quite understandably, leaves us quaking in our existential boots. The same goes for the toys of Pixar’s Toy Story series, says Isaac of The Continue Reading
Weekday movie poster art: Toy Story 4
I love movie posters and I love and adore the Toy Story series of films, the latest of which Toy Story 4 is a brilliantly-worthy addition to films 1, 2 and 3, and so, the creation of posters by a group of artists celebrating what I would argue is Pixar’s Continue Reading
Movie review: Toy Story 4
Belonging is one of the most fundamental needs we have as a species. If you’ve been any attention at all to Pixar’s superlatively-good Toy Story series, you will have come to appreciate that it’s pretty fundamental to toys too. Time and again in Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Toy Continue Reading
As heartfelt as it gets: Director of UP, Pete Doctor explains the creation of its poignant opening sequence
The opening sequence of 2009’s UP, which is, if you do the maths, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, is one of the most moving and beautiful pieces of cinema out there, absolutely and utterly, in any genre, hands down. That may be seem like an extravagantly hyperbolic claim but Continue Reading
The Bravest Knight: New Hulu animated series makes a beautiful case for love being love
SNAPSHOTBased on wildly popular children’s book by Daniel Errico The Bravest Knight Who Ever Lived, the story chronicles a young pumpkin farmer’s adventure as he attempts to become the bravest knight who ever lived. The new series is breaking boundaries, featuring a household with two dads (Sir Cedric and Prince Continue Reading
Retro movie review: Toy Story 3
If there is one thing that the Toy Story franchise has done beautifully, and deeply movingly it should be added, it is depicting the way all of us have invested vibrant, authentic humanity into our beloved play things. When we’re kids and playing with our teddy bears, action figures and Continue Reading
Retro movie review: Toy Story 2
If you’ve lived long enough to be told you should put your childhood toys away and act like a grown up – seriously, why would you even do that? Don’t, just don’t, your toys need you still – you will likely have developed a feisty aversion to movie sequels. They Continue Reading