animation

Sept. 11 turns life upside down for a 'Happy Family' in Ramy Youssef's animated show

1:31pm May 13, 2025

Youssef was in fifth grade and living in New Jersey when the Twin Towers fell. His new show, #1 Happy Family USA, draws on the experiences of his own Egyptian American family during that tense time.

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Why Australian Open live streams look like Wii tennis — and what it means for sports

5:00am January 17, 2025

The Australian Open's animated tennis livestreams are making a splash. U.S. leagues have used similar technology to put Simpsons on the football field and superheroes on ice skates.

In Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget, the chicken factory is like a creepy Disneyland for chickens.

Arts

It took 23 years, but a 'Chicken Run' sequel has finally hatched

5:11am December 13, 2023

by Elizabeth Blair

It's Bond meets The Truman Show in Aardman's sequel to Chicken Run. This time, the chickens break in — not out — to save the flock. Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget premieres on Netflix this week.

In Leo Adam Sandler voices a 74-year-old lizard who learns he has a gift for helping kids sort through their problems.

'Leo' is an animated lizard with an SNL sensibility — and the voice of Adam Sandler

4:35pm November 21, 2023

by Elizabeth Blair

If the pets in a 5th grade classroom could talk, what would they say? That's the premise of Leo, the new coming-of-age movie musical from Netflix.

Issa Rae voices Angela, Brooke Monroe Conaway plays Zuri and Scott "Kid Cudi" Mescudi is Stephen in Max's Young Love.

Arts

There's a lot to love in the 'Hair Love'-inspired TV series 'Young Love'

11:52am September 21, 2023

by Eric Deggans

The animated series on Max follows a young Black family getting back on its feet after the mother is struck by illness. The show is a spin-off from an Oscar-winning short film by Matthew A. Cherry.

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Concept art for Disney and Pixar's Elemental by the director Peter Sohn.

Arts

Earth, air, fire, water — and family — are all 'Elemental' for Pixar's Peter Sohn

5:05am June 15, 2023

by Elizabeth Blair

In science class, Sohn saw the periodic table as an apartment building. The son of Korean immigrants, he felt the elements were a "beautiful metaphor" for cultures mixing in his New York hometown.

Ruthie Tompson at a screening at the 2018 TCM Classic Film Festival on April 28, 2018 in Hollywood, California. The legendary Disney animator passed away on Sunday at the age of 111.

Ruthie Tompson, an animator with the longest history at Disney, dies at 111

3:29pm October 12, 2021

by Rachel Treisman

Ruthie Tompson's painting and animation work at the Walt Disney Company dates back to the 1920s — from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Rescuers.

When Beavis and Butt-Head debuted on MTV in 1993, critics called the duo "crude," "ugly" and "self-destructive." That did not stop the 1996 film Beavis and Butt-Head Do America from getting good reviews.

Arts

MTV Is Turning 40. Here's How Beavis, Butt-Head And Daria Upended TV Animation

4:22pm July 30, 2021

by Jason Slotkin

"Animation has been critical to the MTV brand from its inception," says MTV Entertainment president Chris McCarthy. The network helped bring adult and experimental animation into the mainstream.

Arts

Kobe Bryant Removed As Animation Festival Juror After Protest Over Past Allegations

9:10pm October 18, 2018

by Vanessa Romo

A petition launched by "women and allies in the animation community" demanded "that accused rapist and sexual predator Kobe Bryant be removed" from the Animation Is Us festival.

Japanese animation movie director Isao Takahata received many honors over his career, including France's officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, which he accepted in 2015.

Studio Ghibli Co-Founder Isao Takahata Dies At 82

4:12pm April 06, 2018

by Bill Chappell

Takahata founded Japan's film and animation house Studio Ghibli with Hayao Miyazaki in 1985.