Manchester Animation Festival DAY ONE (Aardman and the Phantom Boy) (OUAN402)

A few more things from day one that I'm keen to discuss:

Aardman Fellowship Award Event:

This was great fun. I found it inspirational to see the classic true story of an underdog company started in a garage that shot to success through creativity and perseverance. Inspirational and daunting, because I realised that no matter how much I persevere there will be a billion other jerks with their own startup companies with an equal love of animation, who I will one day have to fight for dominance in a world where everyone is a special snowflake. Aardman's humour is sort of timeless, which I really appreciated watching some of the early shorts. Even stuff like morph remains absolutely delightful and Aardman have continued this tradition of likeable characters, animated in a style that's transfixing to watch.

The Phantom Boy: Dirs Jean-Loup Felicioli, Alain Gagnol / France, Belgium

The premise of this film I really loved. The concept of astral projection was really cleverly used as a plot device to get the boy and the temporarily incapacitated cop to be an interesting team. That duo were the heart and soul of the film and they reminded me a bit of Hogarth and that bloke who owned the scrapyard in "The Iron Giant", except not as great. Astral projection also allowed the audience to witness more touching moments from the perspective of the phantom boy. An example of this that stood out for me was when phantom boy's mum is talking to him in hospital very calmly, and then goes to her car and breaks down in tears, all while phantom boy's astral projection is watching. That was moving. The art style is pretty fun as well. My main quibbles with the film are with the characters. My favourite character is the cop since he has the most development and seems to not be so much of a cookie cutter stereotype. Otherwise, I'm tired of bumbling Brooklyn mob bosses and their dumbass henchmen. It's a parody of a stereotype that has itself become a stereotype  I'm also tired of plucky kids who have a tendency to slip into being mildly irritating. Other than that, I really enjoyed this film!