Megamind is the bulbous blue-headed protagonist of Dreamwork’s bright and fiendishly clever riff on post-mod superhero fiction, helmed by director Tom McGrath. Surprisingly, perhaps, it has more than a touch of existentialism about it, writes Luke Buckmaster.
Animation
The Simpsons animation: we like your old stuff better than your new stuff
Two short clips from the opening of The Simpsons, one used through the 90’s and the other new to high-def, highlight a valuable lesson for animators: that slick and glossy does not necessarily equal better, writes Jaime Weinman.
exposed 
Why 3D movies are a scam
A top Hollywood visual effects artist explains how studios are trying to cash in on the success of Avatar with a swathe of “fake” 3D flicks, using the cheap and lazy method of turning them “stereoscopic” in post production, instead of shooting them in stereo to start with.
Video of the Day: Playing Tetris with Soviet Bloc blocks
Does old Soviet architecture remind you of anything? Animator Sergej Hein says he always saw a giant game of Tetris. And so he made this:
Video of the Day: Creepy cardboard monsters
A lovely (if slightly scary) stop-motion clip from made by Dutch animation student Sjors Vervoot.
Up and away in Pixar’s beautiful new film
Like the best all-ages animation, Up mingles serious concepts into whimsical situations. It’s consistently entertaining from first frame to last but it’s also worthy of cinema studies-style analysis, says Luke Buckmaster.
Simpsons producer: “all other animated shows ever are crap”
“I say this with the greatest respect, but all other animated shows ever are crap!” says executive producer of The Simpsons, David Mirkin, who may want to watch from about season 10 onwards before casting too many stones.
Video of the Day: Sand, fingers and the German invasion of Ukraine
Watch out Adam Elliot! Using fingers, sand and some clever religious imagery, this contestant on Ukraine’s Got Talent manages to bring half of the audience to tears with her sand animation of Germany’s invasion of Ukraine. CGI now seems a little passé.
Video of the Day: Bend it like Fred
The tale of Fred, expert origamist, who can rid the world of noise and destruction in 100 paper folds or less.
Can Pixar put a foot wrong?
With its latest feature, Up, which opened the Cannes film festival, Pixar has won the critics over again. That makes 10 hits out of 10.
Video of the Day: Reach: an Aussie animated short
Australian animator Luke Randall made the finals of the National Film Board of Canada and Cannes Film Festival’s Online Short Film Competition with this short film. He didn’t win, but we still think it’s lovely:
Q&A with Adam Elliot
Cinetology chats to animator, Oscar winner, and Mary and Max director, Adam Elliot.
