The Animation World Network has put together
an Oscar Showcase featuring short clips and still images from all of the animated films nominated for Oscars this year.
While the three nominated features (Howl's
Moving Castle, Corpse
Bride, Wallace
& Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit) are included in the Showcase, what's most valuable to most of us
is the presence of all five of the nominated shorts. The clips are infuriatingly brief, but the shorts are hard enough
to track down that anyone who provides even a glimpse at them deserves our thanks.What's fascinating about the clips is how incredibly diverse they are: while Pixar's entry (One Man Band) is visually what we'd expect from them, several of the other nominees feature hand-drawn, 2D animation with amazing personality. My personal favorite, Badgered, is only seven minutes long, and was created with a series of drawings that are almost childlike in their simplicity. In a period when everyone and their brother spends a lot of time talking about the lack of creativity in Hollywood, it's just really refreshing to see the magic that animators are coming up with while we're all looking the other way.
[via Luxo]
