Animated Oscar Winners 2020

Its been an interesting year for animation with the return of a more traditional hand drawn look with films like Klaus and shorts films as well. Two animated shorts, which are in competition for this year's Oscars Short Film(animated) catagory are "Hair Love" and "Kitbull". 

Both are in color and are traditionally animated. Both films are sponsored by movie studios; "Hair Love" with Sony Picture Animation and "Kitbull" with Pixar SparkShorts program.

I had seen Hair Love and was sure it would win, however after seeing Kitbull, Hair Love has found its competition.

I'm going out on a limb here to make a prediction, Hair Love is a human film about love, hair and the black community, but its more of a universal story with appeal. Its has a lot of strong storytelling inside it, as well as a message of hope. I am predicting that "Hair Love" will win the Oscar!

If it does, please take a look/listen to this recent interview with the directors of the film. https://youtu.be/7CPvoVOooPk  

Now, don't get me wrong, I like Kitbull too. The story is about a small abandoned kitten who meets an abandoned Pitbull. We learn that the Pitbull wants to play, but is chained up and used in a bad way by his owner. 

The animation of the kitten is great and like Hair Love its colorful, traditionally animated and told with music. Kitbull also is a story of hope, where the two animals finally find a better home together.

I know there is not much time before the Oscars begin on this wet and rainy Sunday, but please leave a comment below. Which film did you like like the most?

Noir Interview Part 2

Watchcat's creator and head writer, Greg J. Bradley is currently working on finishing an independent feature called " Noir". Here's the second part to an interview from our last post."

Last month, my family and I fostered kittens to help out our local Animal Shelter. We kept a few kittens, fed them and got them use to living with us (people). A lot of the kittens are found on the streets and are given to other fosters who help raise them in their homes.

The hardest part of the program is taking your kittens to the Animal Shelter's kitten adoption fair and saying good bye. You meet a lot of people and families who want a kitten or to add a kitten as a friend to their other home pet. This is where the Foster parent must decide if the person, family or household would be a good fit. They usually find out what the other pet is which could be a younger cat, an older cat or a dog, who has lived with a cat before.

I always want related kittens, to be adopted together. Its the best of both worlds, the kittens are siblings, they play together and are never alone. Adopting a single cat is possible, but it all depends on the cat itself or the person who adopts it.

We met a woman who wanted only one kitten and not the kitten's brother it was playing with in the cage. I did my best car (cat) salesman pitch, however she ended up taking only that one kitten. 

As things turned out, she picked up the single kitten and took it to her house. All she had was a single scratching post and she called me the next day to ask why the kitten wasn't responding to her.

It was obvious to me, the kitten was now all alone in a new place and probably was depressed. The woman was disappointed and ended up returning the kitten to the shelter a few days later for a full refund. Luckily, this story has a happy ending since the kitten ended up in a better home. 

Cats can be fickle felines, but sometimes people are too. Here's a link to an article about dealing and living with a cat.
Do you have any cat tales to share? Let us know below.

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Watchcat Review: Isle of Dogs

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This Watchcat Wednesday, we review the new animated feature film by Wes Anderson called "Isle of Dogs". We will try not to give away any spoilers, and we recommend not  watching the film's trailer, since it gives a lot away. Instead, here's a trailer of the voice actors who explain the characters they play in the film.

This is the second stop motion feature from Anderson, the first film was "The Fantastic Mr. Fox" based on a story by Roald Dahl.

"Isle of Dogs" is about a dystopian Japan of the near future where dogs have been banished to live on "Trash Island". Atari, a 12-year old Japanese boy flies small plane over and searches for his bodyguard dog named Spots. He meets other dogs who help him on his epic journey.

The film was set in Japan a distant future, the dog characters talk to each other in English, where most of the human character don't. There are some clever scenes where a character is speaking in Japanese, but a news reporter is interpreting what is being said into English. Very clever ways to set up this kind of storytelling.

If you aren't familiar with Wes Anderson's work, here's a link  that will help,

http://www.indiewire.com/2018/03/wes-anderson-best-commercials-short-films-1201942532/

Both cat and dogs lovers will enjoy this movie. A lot great animation in the dog's dialogue and how they interact with one another. Without giving too much away, if you don't Wes Anderson's live action films, you might like this one. Its quirky and fun to watch.
  
And now, something about cats...

Again, only $18.52 in ad clicks to go and Google will write us a check for $100, which will go to our local Animal Shelter. Please click on the ads to help us get to our goal.