Word: aardman
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...good for them? In movies, that is? A child of the decade just ending has been exposed to some of the grandest, most imaginative entertainment in film history: the Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter series, to be sure, but mainly the animated features from Pixar, Dreamworks and Aardman. These films did more than teach life lessons about the value of friendship, loyalty and initiative; they gave priceless instruction in what movies can be, and how to watch them. Seeing Finding Nemo, Kung Fu Panda and Chicken Run - not to mention this year's Up, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Coraline...
Director and co-writer Bowers worked at Aardman Films under Nick Park (of Wallace and Gromit glory) and directed Flushed Away, that uneasy alliance of the gnome-artisans at Aardman and the brasher gang at DreamWorks. What both outfits stress is telling stories through characters, and Bowers (along with co-writer Timothy Hyde Harris) breathe a solid emotional life into Toby and Tenma, while adhering to the confines of a kid-oriented feature. The animation style is supple and assured. And if the audience includes any precocious kids like Toby, they'll be diverted by references to Isaac Asimov...
...None of this is to say that stop-motion animation is inherently noble, or that computer cartoons can't bear the imprint of one creator-can't have soul. It's in a way a matter of corporate identity for a hand-made film studio. Should Aardman go fully into 3-D? For stop-motion specialists, is CGI a hare-brained scheme, like the ones Wallace is always hatching, needing Gromit to extricate him? Or does it represent the inevitable next step? Once the Aardmen have made a film with computer, can they return to the old ways? Go back...
...could be that I'm no less a traditionalist than the dear eccentrics in Curse of the Were-Rabbit, determined to celebrate their vegetable festival as they've done for 500 years. Aardman is a business, and with Were-Rabbit earning only half the box office cash of Chicken Run, DreamWorks will want to protect its investment; Park and Lord will have to listen more attentively to Katzenberg. (He is unlikely, for example, to approve another Wallace and Gromit feature after the first one tanked...
...There's one other traditionalist at Aardman: Nick Park. He hasn't gone 3-D, or Hollywood. And if his subordinates remain dazzled by the facility of CGI, Park may be back in his basement, making his sad and beautiful creatures come to life...