James and the Giant Peach, created through the hand-crafted art of stop-motion animation, debuted just five months after Toy Story, the blockbuster computer-animated feature that signaled a shift coming for the industry. At the time, the world was looking more toward the bright and shiny technology of computer-generated imagery on the horizon. In a 1996 […]
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Gold Standard: Oscar-Winning Animated Short Subjects Celebrating Anniversaries
April 25th, 2021 
Michael Lyons Good things, small packages. It is true for animated short subjects, especially those nominated for and who have won the Academy Award. Like everything else globally, this Sunday’s Academy award ceremony looked much different this year. Thankfully, the tradition of celebrating animated short subjects will continue, as it has since the first year the Academy […]
Animation of “Note”: The 75th Anniversary of Disney’s “Make Mine Music”
April 17th, 2021 Michael Lyons There’s a caricature of Walt Disney that a Studio artist did during the 1940s. In it, Walt is sitting at a table looking exhausted, with his head supported in his hand, cigarette hanging from his mouth, eyebrow arched, he is staring off in the distance, trying to process, and he looks completely exhausted. The caricature […]
Monster Match: Godzilla and King Kong Get Animated
April 13th, 2021 Michael Lyons It’s been a match made in Monster Movie heaven. Fans have eagerly awaited Godzilla vs. Kong since its debut on March 31 (in theaters and HBO Max). The film has also divided these devotees into two camps: “Team Kong” or “Team Godzilla.” No matter where your loyalty may lie, there’s no denying that it’s fun […]
Hare Apparent: The 10th Anniversary of “Hop”
April 3rd, 2021 Michael Lyons When Hop opened in 2011, film critic Nick Schager in The Village Voice said that the film was “…just demented enough to deliver a fleeting sugar rush.” A perfect summation of Hop, the comedy from Illumination Entertainment, (the animation studio behind such films as the Despicable Me franchise), which looked to put a hip spin […]
24 Carrot Gold: The 50th Anniversary of Rankin Bass “Here Comes Peter Cottontail”
March 28th, 2021 Michael Lyons It’s only natural that the Rankin/Bass Studio produced Here Comes Peter Cottontail. After all, before the special airing in 1971, the Studio had made quite the name for itself, translating popular Christmas songs, such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, Frosty the Snowman, and Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town into equally popular TV specials. It […]
“Egg-stra” Special: The 45th Anniversary of Rankin Bass “The First Easter Rabbit”
March 19th, 2021 Michael Lyons The First Easter Rabbit, the Rankin Bass’ T.V. Special from 1976, plays almost like a “greatest hits” from the Studio synonymous with Holiday specials. It does what the Studio is known for: providing an “origin story” for an iconic holiday figure (in this case, the Easter Rabbit). Additionally, there are other Rankin/Bass “hallmarks,” such as […]
A St. Patrick’s Pig-Out: “The Wearing of the Grin”
March 12th, 2021 Michael Lyons Anyone who thought of leprechauns as cute little creatures that bring good luck has never seen the 1951 Warner Brothers Short, The Wearing of the Grin. As it does feature leprechauns, many may consider it the perfect fare to watch as we head into St. Patrick’s Day…but it also has a darkly comedic tone that […]
Rhyme Time TV: The 50th Anniversary of the Television Special, “The Cat in the Hat”
March 5th, 2021 Michael Lyons Dr. Seuss has been in the news quite a bit this past week. Before the decisions and discussions around a number of the author’s books, the following article was written several weeks ago. It commemorates the 50th anniversary of the animated TV adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s book The Cat in the Hat. It’s being run […]
Tom & Jerry’s Greatest “Hits”
February 26th, 2021 Michael Lyons “Best of Enemies. Worst of Friends.” This “tag line” on posters for the new live-action/animated movie Tom & Jerry, perfectly sums up the relationship the two have had since their debut almost 81 years ago. The world-famous cartoon cat and mouse continue their prominent role in animation history with this new film, debuting this weekend […]
Singing its Praises: The 40th Anniversary of Ralph Bakshi’s “American Pop”
February 19th, 2021 Michael Lyons Sure, today seemingly anything is possible in animation. Everything from bringing the internet to life as a “living world,” to soaring on the back of a dragon at dizzying heights can and has been realized. However, even today’s filmmakers with the latest technology at their disposal, would be hard pressed to tackle a subject like, […]
Love Stinks: Celebrating Pepe Le Pew
February 12th, 2021 Michael Lyons When it comes to a list of the most romantic leading men in film history one name stands out as creating a true “air” of love in all of his performances: the one and only Pepe Le Pew. Undeterred by his own fragrant shortcomings, this socially active skunk has continually sought his true love through […]
Goal Setting: Football-Themed Cartoons
February 5th, 2021 Michael Lyons Like so much over the past year, the Super Bowl this weekend will be a much different experience, but it will still bring with it some traditions that don’t change: a large television audience, much-discussed commercials and mounds of buffalo wings, pizzas and nachos. To help set the mood for all that’s coming to this […]
Posted in Animation Cel-ebration 
Tags: Animation Cel-ebration, Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Popeye 
No Comments » The 50th Anniversary of Rankin/Bass’ The Jackson 5ive Show
January 29th, 2021 Michael Lyons The studio Rankin/Bass conjures up comfortable, Christmas images of Rudolph, Frosty and Santa, but many forget that the Studio also brought the Jackson 5 to Saturday Morning television, with a landmark animated series based on the iconic musical group during the heyday of their juggernaut popularity. The Jackson 5ive show, which debuted on ABC on […]
Spot On! The 60th Anniversary of Disney’s “One Hundred and One Dalmatians”
January 22nd, 2021 Michael Lyons When Walt Disney’s One Hundred and One Dalmatians opened on January 25, 1961, it was a “first” in so many ways. For the first time, a Disney animated feature would have a contemporary setting; it would also be the first “non-musical” animated feature to come from the Studio and the first time Disney was using […]
