Tag Archives: Animation

post

The Bootleg Files: Hokey Wolf

Posted on by

BOOTLEG FILES 806: “Hokey Wolf” (a short series of Hanna-Barbera cartoons from 1960-1961).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Two episodes were included in a DVD release.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Probably not.

During the early 1960s, the Hanna-Barbera animation studio flooded television viewers with a surplus amount of cartoon mischief that quickly became incorporated into the popular culture. Creations including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, The Flintstones, Top Cat and The Jetsons gained instant iconic status.
Continue reading →

post

The Bootleg Files: Wacky Wigwams

Posted on by

BOOTLEG FILES 804: “Wacky Wigwams” (1942 animated short).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: It fell through the cracks.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Probably not.

Unless you are a die-hard animation aficionado, there’s an excellent chance that you are unfamiliar with the output of Columbia Pictures’ Screen Gems animation studio in the 1930s and 1940s. Truth be told, their films were never as invigorating or innovative as those from the major Hollywood animation studios of the time, and their obscurity was compounded by not being part of the television rerun culture that ensured cult status for the Warner Bros. and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer animation.
Continue reading →

post

The Bootleg Files: The Seven Stooges

Posted on by

BOOTLEG FILES 799: “The Seven Stooges” (2014 animated short inspired by the Three Stooges).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: The film did not clear the trademarks associated with the Three Stooges characters.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Definitely not.

I was not planning to devote this week’s column to an animated fairy tale inspired by the Three Stooges, but YouTube posted “The Seven Stooges” in a list of recommended videos and my initial reaction was “Huh?”
Continue reading →

post

The Bootleg Files: Duck Amuck Reanimate Jam

Posted on by

BOOTLEG FILES 795: “Duck Amuck Reanimate Jam” (2020 fan film that reimagines the classic cartoon “Duck Amuck.”).

LAST SEEN: On YouTube.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Unauthorized remake of a copyright-protected work.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Nil.

In 2018, an unlikely project caught the fancy of animation addicts: a group of 90 animators were gathered together to reanimate the 1942 Warner Bros. cartoon classic “The Dover Boys at Pimento University.” Each animator was given a small slice of the cartoon to reanimate – the soundtrack of the original film remained and the scene had to adhere to the basics of the sequences’ actions, but the animators were able to redesign the characters and animation style in any manner they desired.
Continue reading →

Osamu Tezuka’s Metropolis (Metoroporisu) (2001) – Steelbook Edition [Blu-Ray/DVD]

Posted on by

I saw Osamu Tezuka’s “Metropolis” back in 2002, and I vividly remember not being a fan at all. Maybe it was because I was more ignorant toward anime, then, but either way disliked it and openly avoided it for years. It was until recently I had to sit down to re-watch it. I don’t know what I was expecting then, but today I can safely describe it as merely an okay anime film.

Continue reading →

post

The Bootleg Files: Half Baked Alaska

Posted on by

BOOTLEG FILES 792: “Half Baked Alaska” (1965 animated short in the Chilly Willy series).

LAST SEEN: On B98.tv.

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: Included in an anthology of Walter Lantz cartoons that is now out of print.

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: No one is rushing to get it into home entertainment release.

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: It was briefly available, and hopefully it will come back.

Among the cartoon characters from the Golden Age of animated short subjects, Chilly Willy occupies a strange niche. This Walter Lantz-created penguin was cute and mischievous, but the character’s films were rarely laugh-out-out hilarious and Chilly Willy never truly occupied the iconic status of other creations of that era. Most people would point to the Oscar-nominated, Tex Avery-directed 1955 short “The Legend of Rockabye Point” as being a peak in the Chilly Willy series, although most of the humor in that short does not come from the penguin himself.
Continue reading →