First Volume of UPA cartoons now released!!!

[EC2151]

Prefatory remark:

NOW I LOVE CARTOONS.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/dvd/upa-on-dvd.html

And I know the date has long passed, but I had forgotten about it until my newspaper mentioning it yesterday.

All the same, I'm pretty excited.

UPA was a mid-century cartoon studio that really made some cutting-edge, stylistic modern cartoons that were unmistakably anti-Disney, and anti-WB! Artists and animators wanted to try something different in terms of style, so for about 6 years (until the studio closed down) they were on the cutting edge of cartoon-making in America, at the time Disney was settling into its long dark age (in which it never fully recovered) and WB was losing the last of its bright bright stars.

SOME CARTOONS:

Mr. Magoo and his funny comments on those darn drunk undergraduates.

Rooty Toot Toot (the first picture) is arguably my favorite of what I've seen from UPA. It's the perfect zany, snazzy, jazzy, edgy cartoon that you wouldn't think have been made in the 50s considering how Filmation is just around the corner. At that point in time, cartoons still had bite to them.

Now some, like John K. (of Ren and Stimpy fame) have argued that UPA is responsibly for the decline of American animation - which is odd since he seems to praise and emulate the UPA style in many of his recent commercial works. I would say not so (other factors are to blame, like the loss of larger budgets), and that the UPA cartoons are rather entertaining in their own, perhaps "sophisticated" way. That's not to say everyone can't enjoy them. They can. Personally, i love their heavy jazz and swing influence, their "modern" stylized look, and their way of portraying people that has a definite human touch (whereas you'd be hard-pressed to relate anything in a Disney cartoon to reality!).

So if you are also a cartoon lover, like me, you might want to look into this. The Dvd can only be ordered off of TCM's website (meh), but it's a great opportunity to get a piece of animation history.

[Meteo Xavier]

Why would anyone care what John K. thinks about anything? His greatest achievement was Ren and Stimpy, a show he created and got FIRED from.

On topic, YES. Many in my family are die-hard fans of cartoons from the generations past and I can see this as a birthday present for Ma come August. I'm tempted not to tell her about it so I have something to get her for 2012.

[EC2151]

I think John K. has some insightful things to say, and can be helpful if you want to learn how to start drawing a bit more cartoonishly (which I did, a summer or two ago). Those moments are usually in-between a lot of stupid posts, though (at least on his blog).

But this topic isn't about John K.!

That sounds like a great birthday present - it's probably what I'll subtly suggest for my birthday come the summer. I would still love to get some stuff like Betty Boop, Popeye (the early Natwick stuff), etc., as well.

UPA cartoons are kind of like seeing old New Yorker cartoons in motion. And the result is surprisingly watchable.