I stomached watching the Powerpuff Girls on the Cartoon Network this morning. Then I flicked over to the old Donald Duck cartoons on the Disney channel which was totaly enjoyable. In terms of cartooning abilitey its like comparing an Italian kid scrawl of mummy to the Mona Lisa.
The entire PPG is simple Euclidian in basic shapes of the suroundings and charicatures themselves - in 5 mins flat one could draw up Professor Neutonium or Bubbles using Paint, compared to the old hand-drawn Disney ones that certainly took a lot of time and effort.
Is there such a thing as Low Cost cartoons quickley whipped up with computer software? Have cartoonists been forced to sacrifice quality and salary in order for the boss to maximise profits? Have modern cartoonists lost the art of drawing? Does Mr O' bloodey Leary own Cartoon Network?
You'd be surprised how much animation is done on computers. To my certain knowledge, South Park & Family Guy are computer animated & designed to look hand drawn - particularly South Park.
Besides, your kids will moan about the cartoons their kids will watch, it's the way of the world, so go worry about the wart on the end of your wand or some other weightier problem.
I can't stand the politically correct cartoons which must have a moral to them, must display the correct number of ethnic and skin-hued minorities and cannot show gratuitous violence, except to robots.
Bring back the Road Runner, Bugs Bunny and Foghorn Leghorn, Rocky and Bullwinkle, any of the old Merrie Melodies, Woody Woodpecker, Mighty Mouse etc.
Saw a Disney cartoon last week where Black Pete had been sanitised to Pete. Even Heckle and Jeckle are outside the acceptable area because they were not white.
So I guess Speedy's out these days? 'Ze fastest mouse in alla Mexico?' Pity, it was first Spanish I ever learned...
Funny though it is, The Simpsons had really lousy animation quality for the first couple of seasons and I think the rest have lowered themselves to the same standard. The Disney and Warner Brothers cartoons of the 40s - 60s have wonderful animation, but they used to pay through the nose for it and had heaps of staff drawing everything frame by frame. Why use a big team of professionals if you can still get an audience with crud? This is the motto of most modern television.
Concur Slasher - modern cartoons are generally cheap and nasty efforts, more interested in appealing to the MTV school of harsh visual aesthetics than being easy on the eye.
Cheap animation simply looks just that - it's bland and soulless. That's the difference Disney made. You cared about the characters because the animators cared about them.
In any Era there are good and bad cartoons - and powerpuff girls has to be among the bad ones.
Try (from the current crop)
Ben 10,
Ben 10: Alien Force or
Star Wars: The Clone Wars
In the (computer animated) Star Wars thing, people even get killed on camera, and the animation is pretty good. The writing is actually better than any of the movies (admittedly not difficult).
Still a Jonny Quest fan, though.
edit: talking about "children's cartoons" here - love Family Guy and The Simpsons as well.
TELEVISION ANNOUNCER: We now return to the Smurfs...
(on television screen) Smurf #1: Hey, did you have a good time last night? Smurf #2: Smurf-tacular! Smurf #1: Yeah, I saw you leave with Smurfette. Smurf #2: Oh man, as soon as we got out of the bar, she started smurfing me. Smurf #1: Shut the Smurf up! Smurf #2: Yeah! Smurf #1: Right in the Smurfing parking lot? Smurf #2: Smurf-Yeah! Smurf #1: Oh! That is freaking Smurf!
I can still remember the sudden burst of delighted anticipation from the cinema audience (mostly grown adults who should have known better!), when this sort of non-PC mayhem came on screen:
There's a lot of the old Warner Bros. cartoons that have fallen to political correctness. Speedy Gonzales has been off the screens in America for years because it stereotypes Mexicans as lazy louts. There are 11 old WB cartoons in a vault in NYC that will never see the light of day again because of the insanity of political correctness. Never mind that it was a reflection of social values at the time they were made. The stupid fs think they can change history by banning a cartoon. Here's a few of examples of the Banned Eleven.
Modern cartoons
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s think they can change history by banning a cartoon. Here's a few of examples of the Banned Eleven.
