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Discover the art of Fawn Veerasunthorn, Cartoon Brew's Artist of the Day!

The 'Minions' is a hit with audiences and a miss with critics. Who got it right?

Illumination/Universal's push to make its Minions a household name is reaching into some kooky corners.

"The Secret Life of Pets" makes no bones about its aim to launch an arsenal of non-stop animal gags.

Nothing beats the morbid delight begot from a good old-fashioned bad dream. It’s the stuff memorable horror movies are made of. There’s no denying, being tantalised and terrified go hand in hand. But what about those bad dreams that leave you thrashing in a bed of sweat-soaked sheets and screaming for salvation? Nightmares can plague […]

New York's favorite hangdog comic is set to play an actual dog.

We've got our first look at Illumination Entertainment's "Minions," the spin-off/prequel to the studio's massively popular "Despicable Me" franchise.

Today we look at the work of Robin Joseph, Cartoon Brew's Artist of the Day!

Whether it be for lack of budget or a desire to take center stage, series creators lending their own voices to their animated television shows has always been fairly commonplace – Mike Judge (Beavis and Butthead, King of the Hill), John Kricfalusi (Ren and Stimpy), Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) and Trey Parker and Matt Stone (South Park) immediately spring to mind. However, in recent years, more and more feature directors have started getting in on the trend. From throwaway one-liners to continuous roles throughout entire franchises, here is a list of some animation directors and the characters they brought to life in their own films.

1. Eric Goldberg

As the animation director for Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), Goldberg not only supervised the animation of the WB’s classic characters but he voiced some of them as well. Goldberg recorded the dialogue of Marvin the Martian, Tweety Bird and Speedy Gonzalez.

2. Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud

The distinctive sputters, spurts and high-speed mutterings of The Minions in Despicable Me (2010) and Despicable Me 2 (2013) belong to the films’ co-directors Pierre Coffin (above left) and Chris Renaud. And as the character’s popularity grows, so does their vocal commitment, as the two will reprise their roles in next year’s prequel Minions.

3. Ralph Bakshi

In his debut film Fritz the Cat (1972), director Ralph Bakshi voiced one of the boorish antagonist Pig Cops, who is also referred to as “Ralph” multiple times in his scenes.

4. Brad Bird

Agnes Gooch, Edith Head, Patricia Highsmith, Linda Hunt – when it comes to figuring out who inspired the character of Edna Mode, people love to toss out many names, but in the end, the cutthroat designer of superhero fashion was brought to life by The Incredibles (2004) director Brad Bird.

5. Rich Moore

Rich Moore, director of Wreck-It Ralph (2012) provided the dreary monotone of acidic jawbreaker Sour Bill, the henchman to the bombastic King Candy.

6. Richard Williams

Even to this day, the toon celebrity cameos in Who Framed Roger Rabbit(1988) remain some of the best nods to the golden age of cartoons, especially that of Droopy Dog, who gets his opportunity to best Eddie Valiant with some traditional ‘toon high-jinks as a tricky elevator operator, sluggishly voiced by the film’s animation director Richard Williams.

7. Chris Wedge

What began as the high-strung snivels and snarls of Scrat in Ice Age (2002) has become a second career for director Chris Wedge who has gone on to vocally personify the prehistoric rodent in 3 sequels, 6 short films, 2 video games and in a walk-on role in an episode of Family Guy.

8. Chris Miller

Royal messengers, tower guards, army commanders, friars and penguins, story artist Chris Miller has lent his voice-over skills to numerous animated films, most notably his returning roles as Geppetto and The Magic Mirror in the Shrek franchise, including Shrek the Third (2007), which he co-directed.

9. Mark Dindal

The often ignored and underrated animated film Cats Don’t Dance (1997) features some beautiful hand-drawn work and stellar vocal performances, including that of director Mark Dindal as the tight-lipped bodyguard/butler Max.

10. Joe Ranft

Pixar story artist, the late Joe Ranft, brought a handful of memorable animated characters to life, including Heimlich (A Bug’s Life), Wheezy the Penguin (Toy Story 2) and Jacques the Cleaner Shrimp (Finding Nemo). But it was in Cars (2006), which he co-directed, that he voiced three characters including the semi-truck Jerry Recycled Batteries.

11. Chris Sanders

In Lilo & Stitch (2002) co-director Chris Sanders takes on the nuanced role of Alien Experiment 626, aka “Stitch,” who escapes from an intergalactic prison only to find himself trapped on the Hawaiian island of Kauai.

12. Nathan Greno and Byron Howard

Nathan Greno (above right) and Byron Howard not only paired up as co-directors of Tangled (2010) but also doubled as duos of Thugs and Guards in the animated picture.

13. John Lasseter

With five features under his belt, John Lasseter has had plenty of opportunity to throw himself behind the microphone, however upon review of his filmography, you’ll find he has chosen his roles very carefully, as the role of John Lassetire in Cars 2 (2011) and the hilariously bug-zapped Harry the Mosquito in A Bug’s Life (1998).

Leading up this week’s release of the sequel, Despicable Me 2, the minions are the center of an inescapable advertising bonanza, overshadowing even the human characters in the film. The yellow pill-shaped creatures are on billboards, bus ads, and commercials. They have their own upcoming attraction at Universal Studios Hollywood (they’re already at Universal Orlando), themed hotel suites, video game and a feature-length prequel set for a 2014 release. And then there’s the Despicablimp, a 165-foot-long, 55-foot-tall airship which is currently on a six-month, 20,000-mile journey across the United States to promote the film.

No longer the background entertainment, the minions are the cornerstone of the marketing plan for Despicable Me 2, starring in nearly every ad for the film. Their success among audiences surprises even the film’s writers. “We never knew the minions were going to be so popular; it just became a force of nature,” said the film’s co-writer Cinco Paul in an interview with the Los Angeles Times. The bumbling gibberish and clumsy nature of the minions easily translates across cultures and age groups to win over fans. The minions have also tapped into the striking power of yellow, a color that has found wide recognition in animation and entertainment.

We’ve seen large groups of secondary characters become unofficial film mascots in the past—the aliens from Toy Story and the penguins from Madagascar were breakout stars from their respective films. Hordes of animated characters were a rarer sight when hand-drawn animation was the preeminent feature film technique, but with computer animation, it is easy to replicate and tweak models to achieve a cast of many. The relative ease with which the makers of Despicable Me 2 have created their army of minions would’ve made the 101 Dalmatians animators cry with joy.

The Los Angeles Times recently published an article on the success of the minions, which twice praises the characters’ simple design and says that even children can draw them. But it’s more than just the “simple, graphic nature” of the minions that makes them a success with audiences. Their childlike mannerisms and brazen stupidity is a brand of humor that translates to almost any demographic. Their giggles and gibberish, though annoying to some, is downright infectious.

Even though they risk overexposure, the minions could become a coveted marketing model for animated features, and it won’t be surprising if other studios attempt to copy the formula. But this could result in derivative forms that feel superficial, especially if the characters’ personalities aren’t developed with care. The minions’ push to the forefront grew organically from audience response to the first film. Perhaps then, the real lesson here is that even in this modern era of sequels, prequels, spin-offs, remakes and adaptations, audiences still value and reward original creations.

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: August 1, 2010

Exciting news: The winner of our Despicable Me prize pack has been drawn. Sarah Jones was selected by the random sequence generator at random.org to win:

Sleepy Kittens
My Dad the Super Villain
The World’s Greatest Villain
Despicable Me: The Junior Novel
Despicable Me T-shirt
Despicable Me pencil

Sarah Jones said: It was so fluffy I could die!

Special Mentions:

Amanda said: This movie looks hysterical! I especially love the little girl saying “It’s so fuzzy, I’m gonna die!” I adore animated movies Great giveaway!

Brandi Beverly said: Such a great movie! I loved the part when Gru read the kids to sleep. I am so happy to see they made a real version of the kitten puppet book!

Winners of TCBR giveaways are notified by email and have 72 hours to claim their prize. Unclaimed prizes are awarded to an alternate winner and the above list will be adjusted accordingly. Thank you to everyone who participated. Special thanks to Little, Brown and Company & Universal Studios for sponsoring the giveaway.

For those of you who were not so lucky, you can still add this books to your collection: Sleepy Kittens

Visit: Official Despicable Me website

Disclaimer: Books will be shipped directly from sponsor, delivery of the giveaway item lies solely on the sponsor. Names, e-mail address and physical address of the winner will be shared with the sponsor for the purpose of fulfillment of the giveaway.

Sign up for our free newsletter to be in the know about all of our giveaways!

©2010 The Childrens Book Review. All Rights Reserved.

'Despicable Me' overshadows 'Eclipse' at the B.O. (following the animation domination footsteps of "Toy Story 3." Still not too shabby a weekend for 'The Twilight Saga' bringing in 17 nominations for the 2010 Teen Choice Awards. Also the creators of... Read the rest of this post

Today, Toy Story 3 surpassed Finding Nemo as the top grossing domestic Pixar feature. However, as Box Office Mojo points out, “it will still rank in the bottom half in terms of estimated attendance.” In other words, an evening at the movies in the United States increasingly becomes an elitist activity for middle and upper-class audiences who can afford to pay inflated prices.

The big surprise at the box office was the stellar debut of Despicable Me which opened with an estimated $60.1 million. Even the most generous estimates pegged this in the $30-40 million range. Score one for producer-driven Katzenberg-style filmmaking. Looks like this won’t be the last we hear from Chris Meledandri and Illumination.

I went in to see Despicable Me with very low expectations… and came out very pleased with the film. It’s not Pixar… but it’s in the same ballpark Sony Animation plays in. The visuals are wonderful (Mac Guff, the Paris-based studio behind the neglected Dragon Hunters did the animation), particularly the layouts and color design, and though the story isn’t important, it is fun. It’s a kid’s film - and a good start for Universal’s new Illumination Entertainment.

But what did you think? The film opens this weekend and now its time for you to have your say. Comments accepted only by those who have seen the film.

By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: July 6, 2010

One (1) Winner will receive:

Sleepy Kittens
My Dad the Super Villain
The World’s Greatest Villain
Despicable Me: The Junior Novel
Despicable Me T-shirt
Despicable Me pencil

Despicable Me, a 3-D animated movie about a super villain that is planning to steal the moon, releases on July 9. And, to celebrate, we have a great prize pack (as mentioned above) to give away to one super special reader. One of the books in the prize pack, Sleepy Kittens, is based on a book featured in the Despicable Me film. You can learn more about the books at the official Despicable Me website.

Movie overview: In a happy suburban neighborhood surrounded by white picket fences with flowering rose bushes, sits a black house with a dead lawn. Unbeknownst to the neighbors, hidden deep beneath this home is a vast secret hideout. Surrounded by an army of tireless, little yellow minions, we discover Gru (Steve Carell), planning the biggest heist in the history of the world. He is going to steal the moon (Yes, the moon!) in Universal’s new 3-D CGI feature, Despicable Me.

Gru delights in all things wicked. Armed with his arsenal of shrink rays, freeze rays and battle-ready vehicles for land and air, he vanquishes all who stand in his way. Until the day he encounters the immense will of three little orphaned girls who look at him and see something that no one else has ever seen: a potential Dad.

One of the world’s greatest super-villains has just met his greatest challenge: three little girls named Margo, Edith and Agnes.

Genre: 3-D CGI Feature
Cast: Steve Carell, Jason Segel, Russell Brand, Will Arnett, Kristen Wiig, Danny McBride, Miranda Cosgrove, Jack McBrayer, Mindy Kaling, Jemaine Clement and Julie Andrews
Directed by: Chris Renaud & Pierre Coffin
Written by: Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio
Produced by: Chris Meledandri, John Cohen, Janet Healy
Executive Producer: Nina Rappaport-Rowan

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