Music Videos : Soundtrack : DVD quality
Paul McCartney - The Music And Animation Collection (2004)(HQ Artwork & Disc Scans Included)(DVD)
Rupert and the Frog Song is a 1984 animated film written and produced by Paul McCartney and directed by Geoff Dunbar and Raymond \'George\' Taylor. The making of Rupert and the Frog Song began in 1981 and ended in 1983. The film was released theatrically as an accompaniment to McCartney\'s feature film Give My Regards to Broad Street. The song We All Stand Together from the film\'s soundtrack reached #3 when released in the UK Singles Chart. It was released in 2004 as one of the segments of Paul McCartney: Music & Animation.
Cast:
Windsor Davies (voice) - Rupert\'s Father / Father Frog
Paul McCartney (voice) - Rupert / Edward / Bill / Boy Frog
June Whitfield (voice) - Rupert\'s Mother
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_and_the_Frog_Song With three short films and a few extra features, Paul McCartney: The Music and Animation Collection DVD seems a little sparse. But Tropic Island Hum, Tuesday and Rupert and the Frog Song, each about 12 minutes long, feature high quality animation. The second two titles have the look and feel of the childrenΓΓé¼Γäós books on which they were based.
Kids who are too young to know who McCartney is will enjoy these films, and their parents will too.
At first glance, the DVD seems like a vanity project for McCartney. To his credit, he seems to care about the quality and was willing to spend the money to get it. The animation is hand-drawn, with computers used only for coloring. McCartney also took an active role in making the films, composing all of the music, providing most of the voices and even helping out with some of the live action modeling.
Special Features:
The DVD includes a brief interview with McCartney, in which he talks about how he got interested in the subjects for the three films and his fondness for hand-drawn animation, among other things.
The rest of the extras give an interesting look at the animation process: two featurettes go behind the scenes for Tropic Island Hum and Tuesday. A glance at the source material for Tuesday shows that the animators did an excellent job of capturing the look of the book. The last of the features are storyboards and test animation (in which the pencil drawings are animated so that the filmmakers can check the quality of the animation.)
Picture and Sound:
All three films are presented in widescreen in their 1.85:1 aspect ratio. The high quality of the hand-drawn animation is evident. The colors are as bright or as muted as the moods of the films. The Dolby Digital 5.1 surround sound is subtle, but noticeable. It is especially evident in Tuesday, giving the sensation of being surrounded by croaking, levitating frogs.
http://www.moviehabit.com/reviews/pau_dm04.shtml The Shorts:
Made in 1997, Tropic Island Hum begins with a squirrel escaping some hunters in a hot air balloon piloted by a three-legged frog (he had a run-in with some French chefs). They land on a tropical island animal sanctuary, where the residents have a party and sing the title tune, which was written by McCartney. The animal rights message ΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥ a cause embraced by McCartney and his late wife Linda ΓΓé¼ΓÇ¥ is obvious, but not overbearing. Of the three films, this is the cutest and most Disney-esque.
Tuesday, based on a childrenΓΓé¼Γäós book by David Weisner, begins in a swamp on ΓΓé¼┼ôTuesday evening, around 8.ΓΓé¼┬¥ Some frogs unexpectedly levitate on their lily pads. They fly into town and have adventures while the human population sleeps. With its pensive score, written by McCartney, and its slower pacing, the experience of watching this film is closer to looking at the book, than it is to watching the typical animated fare on television. This visually inventive film is the cleverest of the three shorts.
The third film, Rupert and the Frog Song, features Rupert Bear, a beloved British storybook and newspaper cartoon character. Young Rupert, who looks like human with a bearΓΓé¼Γäós head, heads off into the country to play. He follows some frogs to their secret lair, and is privileged to witness a fantastic symphony and ballet performed by the frogs. Rupert also has moments of visual inventiveness, like a tree whose leaves turn out to be a mass of rainbow-colored butterflies.
http://www.moviehabit.com/reviews/pau_dm04.shtml http://www.rupertandthefrogsong.co.uk/ ENJOY & AS ALWAYS: REMEMBER TO KEEP SEEDING FOR OTHERS!!!
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