James R Whitson Author Archive
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Calvin and Hobbes: America’s most profound comic strip
Big Hero 6 takes home Oscar

Disney took home both animated Oscars this year winning the Best Animated Feature award for Big Hero 6 and the Best Animated Short award for Feast. Interstellar won the trophy for Visual Effects. Big Hero 6 beat out How To Train Your Dragon 2, Song of the Sea, The Boxtrolls, and The Tale of Princess […]

Oscar Night 2015

The biggest night in movies is here…even if none of the movies themselves are that big! Come be part of our 11th Oscar event, with live show chat, our contest winners, and the consensus picks from our readers!

Dragons, robots, trolls run tight race for animation Oscar
Sneak peek of DreamWorks Home
Pixar in Concert depicts pairing of animation and music
Do animated features turn people into suckers?
After renovations, Disney’s animation building will be a hub of creativity
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water

While Sponge has the humor and style kids expect, it never reaches the amazing highs the show achieved in its glory days — this is one sponge who should’ve stayed underwater.

Sony finally bringing Spider-Man to Marvel’s Cinematic Universe in new partnership
The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water opens

Sponge Out of Water, Spongebob SquarePant’s second feature film and the first since the 2004 original, opens today in 3,641 theatres according to Box Office Mojo. The film is doing well with the critics earning a respectable 73% on the Tomatometer. Their consensus is “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water won’t win over many […]

The voice behind SpongeBob speaks
Burger-Beard Antonio Banderas likes variety when choosing roles
Animated Views’ 2015 Oscar Contest

Animated Views is giving away $100 worth of movies — your choice of either an Amazon gift card or a Fandango gift card — during our 11th Annual Oscar Event! Enter today for your chance to win!

Strange Magic

Want a head start to making a great movie? It’s no secret. You just need a good solid story. Otherwise you’ll have to resort to cheap tricks and strange magic.

First look at the Art of Home book
Behind the scenes on the Shaun the Sheep movie
A look at the Oscar nominated shorts of 2014
How DreamWorks Animation can claw its way back
Nut Job sequel gets 2016 release date
AV Interactive #3: Readers’ Choice – Best Animated Feature Film of 2014

The Academy, guilds, critics, and even the AV staff will be rendering their judgment on the year’s top films. But now it’s your turn to pick – what was the best animated film of 2014?

Laika announces new feature Kubo and the Two Strings

PRESS RELEASE LAIKA and Focus Features, the two companies behind the Academy Award-nominated Coraline and ParaNorman and the current Critics’ Choice and Golden Globe Award-nominated release The Boxtrolls, today announced production on their fourth collaboration, Kubo and the Two Strings. LAIKA President & CEO Travis Knight and Focus CEO Peter Schlessel made the announcement today. […]

AV Interactive #2: Sorting the Classic Animated Christmas Specials

With the holidays just a few weeks away, we want to find out how well you know those Classic Animated Christmas Specials from the 1960s and 1970s!

Penguins of Madagascar

Penguins of Madagascar is not Pixar, but it’s not trying to be either. It compares much more favorably with the Looney Tunes cartoons of the past — zany, silly fun for fun’s sake. And, Hoover Dam, does it succeed!

Annie Awards nominations for 2014 films revealed

ASIFA-Hollywood announced the nominations for the 42nd Annual Annie Awards today. Best Animated Feature nominations include: Big Hero 6, Cheatin’, How to Train Your Dragon 2, Song of the Sea, The Book of Life, The Boxtrolls, The LEGO Movie, and The Tale of The Princess Kaguya. ASIFA-Hollywood Executive Director Frank Gladstone said. “We had a […]

Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6 is yet another winner from Disney — with an assist from Marvel! Despite some nit-picking criticisms of the story, audiences will be more than satisfied with their film.

Big Hero 6: To 3D or not to 3D