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Leonard Maltin
BUGS BUNNY’S OSCAR BATTLE
- By Leonard Maltin
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- March 3, 2013 1:00 AM
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- 4 Comments
Did you know there was a furor over two strikingly similar cartoons—one from MGM with Tom and Jerry, one from Warner Bros. with Bugs Bunny—back in 1946?
Classic Animation In Prime Time
- By Leonard Maltin
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- October 18, 2012 1:00 AM
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- 6 Comments
When I was growing up, TV was a living museum of animation. Every day I was exposed to everything from silent Terrytoons to Looney Tunes from Warner Bros. I learned the name Ub Iwerks from the main titles of Flip the Frog and Willie Whopper shorts I saw every morning, and became familiar with such now-forgotten characters as Molly Moo Cow. What’s more, Walt Disney and Walter Lantz showed me how animated films were made on their weekly shows.
Frankenweenie—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- October 5, 2012 1:00 AM
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- 5 Comments
Tim Burton has returned to familiar turf in 'Frankenweenie'. That will come as good news to some fans and bad news to others, who may feel that he’s gone to the same well once too often. I enjoyed this feature-length remake of his 1984 short, even though the seams show.
Paranorman—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- August 17, 2012 1:30 AM
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- 4 Comments
'ParaNorman' is the first of three horror-movie-inspired animated features this year, to be followed by 'Hotel Transylvania' and 'Frankenweenie'. Laika, the studio that gave us 'Coraline', is responsible for this tale, which assumes that kids will get the “joke” and not be distressed by its macabre content.
Ice Age: Continental Drift—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- July 13, 2012 1:00 AM
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- 3 Comments
I was charmed, and pleasantly surprised, when I saw 'Ice Age' a decade ago. Its enormous success has prompted multiple sequels, which have made a ton of money around the world (with Fox cannily hiring well-known actors and comedians to provide the voices for their individual countries). This money machine, with its sure-fire kid appeal, makes the fourth entry in the series, 'Ice Age: Continental Drift', virtually critic-proof.
Brave—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- June 22, 2012 1:05 AM
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- 13 Comments
If you have kids, you’ll want to take them to 'Brave', and they’ll almost certainly have a good time. If you’re an animation buff, you may have quibbles with the film, which looks great but isn’t up to Pixar’s high standards in terms of story. That’s the problem with creating so many innovative and memorable movies: when you do something that’s “merely” pretty good, it feels like a letdown.
Hollywood’s Kiddie Connection
- By Leonard Maltin
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- May 15, 2012 9:25 PM
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- 7 Comments
What do Jerry Lewis, Bugs Bunny, and Hopalong Cassidy have in common? They all recorded special material for an innovative kid-oriented Capitol Records series in the 1940s and ‘50s. This amazing output, perfectly timed for the baby boom of the post-World War II era, has now been exhaustively documented by Jack Mirtle in his self-published book 'The Capitol Records Childrens' Series: 1944 to 1956: The Complete Discography'.
The Pirates! Band Of Misfits—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- April 27, 2012 12:56 AM
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- 0 Comments
I’m a sucker for Aardman Animations’ films, and have been ever since I first set eyes on Nick Park’s unforgettable short 'Creature Comforts' more than twenty years ago.
UPA Cartoons—At Last!
- By Leonard Maltin
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- March 28, 2012 1:00 AM
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- 7 Comments
I’m proud to be associated with TCM’s exclusive new three-disc DVD set of 'Jolly Frolics', the innovative, award winning UPA cartoons that have been neglected on home video so long. I’m speaking of 'Gerald McBoing Boing', 'Unicorn in the Garden', 'The Tell-Tale Heart', 'Rooty Toot Toot', and the first Mister Magoo cartoon, Ragtime Bear, among others. These shorts, made by former Disney staffers who embraced modern art and graphics, wowed pop-culture critics, audiences, and Oscar voters in the late 1940s and 50s, but haven’t been readily accessible in recent years.
The Secret World Of Arrietty—movie review
- By Leonard Maltin
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- February 17, 2012 12:55 AM
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- 4 Comments
We’ve come to expect so much from Japan’s Studio Ghibli—especially the films directed by Hayao Miyazaki like 'Spirited Away' and 'Howl’s Moving Castle'—
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