On the topic of stop-motion filmmakers, Aardman Animations, George Pal, Joop Geesink, Charley Bowers, Willis O' Brien, Ray Harryhausen and Emile Cohl have all to some extent been covered here, although words frequently escape this writer to begin to describe their blazing genius. In all these years of blogging, one stop-motion master we somehow haven't covered is Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer, stop-motion animation's answer to the surrealists.
The Quay Brothers are so much the artistic and spiritual descendents of Švankmajer (and the surrealists) that they produced a homage titled The Cabinet of Jan Švankmajer.
Like the Jan Švankmajer films, this could be seen as a homage to Salvador Dali, Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp.
And, speaking of artistic and spiritual descendents, both Jan Švankmajer and the Quay brothers would very likely mention that among their key inspirations in the stop-motion field was the one, the only Wladislaw Starewicz.
A.K.A. Ladislaw Starewicz, Ladislas Starevitch, Ladislaw Starevitch and Ladislaw Starewitch, he created astonishing works and could be considered in a three-way tie with Cohl and Bowers as the most innovative of the early stop-motion animators.
While Starewicz films can be difficult to find on Blu-ray and DVD, the following DVD can still be ordered via Amazon.com. This Starewicz compilation is an astonishing compendium of stop-motion brilliance.
The Mascot packs more startling imagery into its 33 minute length than can be found in 140 minute feature films.
Another stop-motion master is the great filmmaker Henry Selick, responsible for several of our favorite movies.
First became aware of his work via a couple of independent short subjects featured in Tournee of Animation programs back in the late 1980's - early 1990's.
A year or two later, was utterly bowled over by the first feature film packed with Henry Selick's signature stop-motion, The Nightmare Before Christmas.
The Nightmare Before Christmas was followed by another compelling and enjoyable feature, James & The Giant Peach. Both were in many respects departures for Disney at that point riding high from Beauty and The Beast and Aladdin.
The 2009 film Coraline, preferably seen at the movies in glorious 70mm (or 35mm), or at least on Blu-ray on a big screen HDTV, is a particularly outstanding synthesis of stop-motion animation and CGI.
Read about a Henry Selick feature titled The Shadow King, which Disney and Laika opted not to release and eventually would be distributed by K5 International. Don't know the "who what when where why" behind just what happened with the film - or how accurate the following video is regarding what happened. Since Henry Selick specializes in unorthodox, unusual and unconventionally beautiful films which do not fall into formula or practice "sequel-itis," it's clear how difficulties with studios and distributors could occur.
Never saw The Shadow King, but the clips look good. . .
There will soon be a new Selick film, Wendell and Wild, featuring voice work by Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, two actors comedy geeks know quite well from their very funny and appropriately named television series Key and Peele (and, before that, Mad TV).
We at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog await this eagerly and shortly shall give a listen to the latest and greatest Maltin On Movies podcast, in which the guests are his fellow animation and film history experts Jerry Beck and Mark Evanier.
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