Mellotron Sounds

Last week I was complaining about animation in my post for Metropia. But truth is, despite my many beefs there is a lot about the genre that interests me, and when I find one that I like, I generally like it a lot–like Persepolis, Wall-E, even Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. I just don’t see enough outside of the blockbuster talking animal circuit.

So for the sake of balance, there really has been a good amount of cool-looking non-live-action trailers out lately–one of which being the French stop-motion film A Town Called Panic, and another Mary and Max. Trailer for that one embedded at the foot.

What I like best about Mary and Max is everything. There’s voice-acting by Toni Collette, Eric Bana and the great Philip Seymore Hoffman; it’s the feature debut for Adam Elliot; I love the music and whimsy of the preview; and the coloring, split half-and-half between colored and washed-out clay, looks insane. Not to mention how completely it’s cleaning up at festivals. Besides that, I really don’t have too much to say about it except that it’s cool.

Mary and Max is available now OnDemand on the Sundance Channel and should be out in at least a few US theaters starting November 9th.

A Town Called Panic will have a limited US release on December 16th.