The Mask

So today I headed over to my local Fry's Electronics, because I heard they were having a sale on some Blu Ray movies. I hate going to Fry's. The parking is always a mess, and the actual store is a dump. But hey, I couldn't pass up Mrs. Doubtfire on Blu Ray for $14.99.

But his post isn't about Mrs. Doubtfire, it's about The Mask. Not the movie with Cher and the weird looking kid... but the one with Jim Carrey. Fry's was actually playing it on one of their demo TV's. Why? I don't know! Anyway, the bug was planted, so I had to pick it up on DVD. I used to love this movie when I was a kid, and I even had a cassette of the soundtrack! I haven't seen it since the days of VHS, and I wanted, nay, needed to see it again. Mostly out of curiosity I suppose. Was it still good? How does the 14 year old CGI look?

So? How was it you ask? Surprisingly good. It holds up really well still, and CG still looked decent. A heck of a lot better than those monkeys in Jumanji at least. I was also surprised on some of the adult jokes I never caught. In one scene, the Mask is making balloon animals, and when he reaches into his jacket to pull out a balloon, he pulls out a used condom. I kid you not.

I highly recommend watching it again, especially if you used to like it back in the day. And heck, for $7.99 on DVD, you can't go wrong. I'll leave you with this:





4 Cogs out of 5

Book Review: Bambi Sketchbook

This review covers Walt Disney's Bambi: The Sketchbook series. This is the first of the "Sketchbook Series" of books put out by Disney and Hyperion, and was first published in 1997. It is on the relatively short side, clocking in on a whopping 88 pages.

The book itself is done in a sketchbook format (who would have guessed?) covering various sketches of Bambi, Thumper, Friend Owl, and all the characters. It is done in a neat sepia tone, to give it an aged look. The sketches in this book are incredible, many of which are from the private collections of two of the "9 Old Men," Frank Thomas, and Ollie Johnston and have never been seen by the general public before. Other notable contributors found on the pages are Marc Davis, Milt Kahl, Eric Larson and one of the real highlights of this book, Tyrus Wong. Sadly not as recognized as the rest of the contributors, Tyrus Wong was responsible for honing the colors and look of the forest of Bambi, and his paintings here are reproduced at 1:1 scale in full color, each measuring about 5 inches across. Tyrus Wong was born in 1910 in Guangzhou, China. He worked at Disney from 1938-1941, and, after leaving due to the animators strike, later worked at Warner Brothers until 1968.

Overall, this book is a great start to the Sketchbook Series. While not very long in terms of page number, the quality of the reproduction of the sketches and paintings more than makes up for it. The art behind Bambi is some of the best done for an animated film, and sadly, I feel Bambi has gone overlooked as one of the best animated classics of the Golden Age. Bambi: The Sketchbook Series is an excellent book, and great for lovers of Bambi, animation, or art in general. Sadly, it is now out of print, but can be purchased through Half.com, Amazon, or eBay for around $30, which is what it retailed for. There also is a "special edition" of this book, signed by Frank 'n Ollie and coming in a large slipcase. Expect to pay over $100 for this version.




4 Cogs out of 5