In 2004 Mark Kausler--the best modern-day animator--made his own cartoon, It's the Cat. It was originally on Cartoon Brew when they used to host 2D-animated indie shorts. Kausler made it because, according to him, he wanted to tribute animation from the 20s and 30s, in the Nolan/Iwerks tradition. He conceived it during a lull on Beauty and the Beast. Though cartoons were "cartoony" when he made this, they were not fully-animated, so this makes this more a treat; he did it all straight-ahead, while two inkers traced every drawing.
What's strange is that there was a sequel, called Some Other Cat, that had been "inked" already, but it must've cancelled production at some point.
Sadly, the film cannot be seen anywhere, as hard as I've tried to find it. But a pencil test version is available. It's probably the closest thing to Golden Age since the Golden Age. Considering that it has no dialogue or story to speak of, and it's only four minutes, it's 100% better than the garbage pretending it's "animated"--so called. You could probably just take one still drawing and it beats Adventure Time any day. And that's just the pencil test!
Here are some snapshots:
And here is the actual film, albeit pencil:
Hi Pete, Thanks for the nice review of "It's 'The Cat'". The sequel, "There Must Be Some Other Cat" was completed in 2012. I love it just as much as the first cartoon, it's a Mojave Desert picture. I'm sorry I cannot permit the cartoons to be shown to the public for free on the Internet. These cartoons cost a lot to make and many years of effort to finish, so I just can't give them away. They get shown in theaters from time to time, and people seem to like them. However, no one has ever offered even a Cheap offer to distribute them, and I've found no outlet on the Internet that will pay me anything for putting the cartoons on there. So the moral is, if you don't mind giving away your work for free, you can get all the distribution you want. That's a rotten economic model. Nobody can afford to continue making cartoons with hand inked and painted cels if there is no income to support the enterprise. So welcome to cartoon reality! All best, Mark
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that, Mark. I hope they can be seen some time in the future!
DeleteThe cartoon is actually included in one of Craig Clark's Kustomonsters YouTube series.
ReplyDeletehttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gf4-r_LN_V0
Thanks for the link! I'll check that out.
DeleteI'm kind of sorry I made that deal with Craig, I would prefer that It's "The Cat" not be on the Internet at all. MK
ReplyDeleteYou should ask him to remove the video.
DeleteIt's OK, a deal's a deal.
ReplyDelete