Here’s an interesting little teaser for a forthcoming zombie apocalypse animation called A.D., from writer Haylar Garcia and director Ben Hibon.

I’m a somewhat vocal critic of the zombie genre; appealing though it may be, the sheer volume of terrible films, movies and games featuring some form of the walking dead has led me to develop an involuntary shudder whenever anyone mentions a brand new title (or plain old re-hash) in the works.

That said, I like the animation and overall style of this clip, and would be interested to see some more. Director Hibon is responsible for the frankly rather excellent Codehunters, a post-apocalyptic sci-fi animated short released in 2006.

Source: BoingBoing.

If you’re not especially smitten with fine art and architecture, you’d almost be forgiven for overlooking The Third & The Seventh.

At a whacking 10 minutes plus, you might think it a bit of an investment to sit through what is admittedly a very pretty montage of architectural shots overlaid with a gentle, haunting instrumental melody.

But what’s truly amazing about this piece is that it is the work of just one man, Alex Roman, and that it was created almost entirely using computer generated imagery. With very few exceptions, everything in the short film was skilfully crafted using Autodesk 3ds Max, V-Ray, Adobe After Effects and Adobe Premiere.

Source: The Third & The Seventh at Vimeo.

Well here it is, then. A brand new trailer for Tim Burton‘s upcoming update of the old classic, and it looks – for lack of a better adjective – rather timburtony. The usual suspects are here – Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter – alongside a strong and suitably kooky cast including Crispin Glover, Alan Rickman and Stephen Fry.

Relative newcomer Mia Wasikowska plays the title role of Alice, who returns to Wonderland many years after her original adventure. She finds the place overrun by the army of the Red Queen (Bonham Carter) and the vile Jabberwock (Rickman).

The animated style of the film includes many characters wearing exaggerated masks of the actor providing their voice; none more obviously than the Red Queen, whose grossly oversized head compared to her diminutive frame gives the despot a somewhat ridiculous appearance to go along with her irritating manner.

I’m still not sure about this film. I mean, the trailer shows the full cast you might expect from any faithful revisit to Wonderland, and the cast is as exceptional as we’ve come to expect from your average Burton fare. But as recent experience has shown us, even a great premise and decent cast can leave you feeling short changed (Sweeney Todd, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory).

The film is out in March 2010.

Despicable Me is a forthcoming animated feature from the executive producer of Ice Age, starring Steve Carrell as Gru, the world’s #2 supervillain, and following his disaster-fraught scheme to steal the moon.

Also featuring the voices of Will Arnett, Julie Andrews and, er, Russell Brand, Despicable Me looks like enjoyable, slapstick fun.

The film is due out mid-2010.

Source: GeekTyrant.

Pomplamoose, the duo comprised of multi-instrumentalist Jack Conte and his girlfriend Nataly Dawn, formed in 2008 and have played only a single live show to date.

Nonetheless, with their steady stream of stop-motion animated videos on Youtube, the band showcase their affectionate, indie-folk take on classics from such luminaries as Edith Piaf, Simon & Garfunkel, and Nat King Cole.

Official Youtube channel

Jack Conte’s website

Look, I’m just going to come out and say it: I hated Shrek. The first one and all its lousy sequels.

Maybe it’s that I was already sick of Mike Myers’ ‘Scottish’ accent long before the first Shrek came out, or that I can’t stand Eddie Murphy, or that the goofy animation style really bugged me, but I never understood the appeal of the series, let alone how anyone thought making a trilogy was a good idea.

Dreamworks’ latest CGI adventure, though, looks worth a punt. It’s based on the first book in a series by Cressida Cowell about a young, awkward Viking youth named Hiccup (voiced by Jay Baruchel – Kevin from Tropic Thunder). In it, Hiccup’s attempts to impress his fiery-tempered father, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler) result in him inadvertently adopting a young dragon. The dragons are the enemies of the Vikings in this world, leading to a comedic conflict of interest for the young Hiccup.

The film has been shot in 3D for Imax audiences, and also stars Ugly Betty’s America Ferrera and the guys that played Seth and ‘McLovin’ in Superbad. It’ll be out in the second quarter of 2010.

This exceptionally-crafted piece of stop motion animation, made as part of a feature-length episode of classic Hanna-Barbera favourite The Flintstones, sees Fred indulge in a Lebowski-esque flight of fancy.

The clip was made for a Cartoon Network special entitled “Flintstones: On the Rocks” in 2001. The company responsible is LA-based animation specialists Screen Novelties.