Any overview of today's animation is woefully incomplete without a section on Don Hertzfeldt. He's hands down the most important American animation film maker alive. One can only guess that he just didn't want to be involved with the book??

Otherwise this book is an OK, but very scattered look at some famous names in 1970's and 80's animation.

This is not a book about how to make animation, is a great sample of the work of many studios, styles and artists in the animation world. The photos are great, and is easy to read. I think that if you love animation, or you want to have an animation culture, you gotta have it.

LALO

The animators represented in the book and DVD of this overpriced book are by and large TERRIBLE! If this is a true reflection of the state of the art, than we are in some serious trouble. But it can't be -- because I've been to too many animation festivals to know that this is a slipshod piece of work. It took me literally an hour to realize that there was very little of any worth in this text; and if there was a studio that looked like it had interesting material, it was given two paragraphs (like all of the entries). Where are the interviews? Where is the analysis? THIS BOOK SUCKS. And the DVD! Whoa what a stinker. Some of the commercials are so bad, so grating, so abnoxious it makes you want to strangle the animated characters. And then the "serious" material is LAUGHABLE. I mean, it's like a SNL skit with the droning cellos and violins, ridiculous metaphors and pointless exercises in technique. What is the meaning of seeing a Picasso painting morph into a Van Gogh? Must have been tough to do -- too bad it's almost completely without artistic merit. What a colossal waste of time! And I don't want to spend any more of mine writing this review.

First and foremost, you're probably wondering which short films are included on the DVD (which is Region 1 compatible and plays beautifully). Here's the list:

Feet of Song - Erica Russell
The Man with the Beautiful Eyes - Jonathan Hodgson
Mt. Head - Koji Yamamura
Yo Yo - Little Fluffy Clouds Studio
Interrogating Ernie - Loose Moose Studio
Anijam - Marv Newland
Death + the Mother - Ruth Lingford
Local Dive - Sarah Watt
Dia de los Muertos - Vinton Studio
A Dog's Cartoon - Wild Brain Studio

There are, as others have mentioned, a wealth of other extras including excerpts, trailers and showreels. Combined with the book, which is too light on text but abundant in beautiful animation stills, the consumer is getting a tremendous value and the animation fan is getting a wonderful addition to her collection.

I particularly appreciated the integration of commercial studio work with the work of the independent masters - it gave the package a more rich overview contemporary animation. Plus, I finally got my first glimpses of some much acclaimed but hard-to-find animations: Daniel Greaves (Flatworld), Igor Kovaliov (Bird in the Window) and Gil Alkabetz (The Swamp) among others.

This book is a real treat -- highly recommended! Enjoy!

A must for you folks who work in the animation business. The eighty studios included have from six to eight spreads showing stills, roughs, storyboards and sometimes model sheets. The color, design and printing are first-class. Most of the studios are American, no surprise there but the rest of the world gets a good showing, England, France, Holland, Brazil, Russia, Australia, Japan, Portugal etc. Having so many countries helps to produce an amazing range of styles.

The several hundred beautiful images in the book are all very well but animation implies movement and this is where the DVD comes in, divided into these sections, Short films, Excerpts, Trailers, TV commercials, Making of and finally a Show Reel, it all adds up to three and a half hours viewing! My favorites are the work of Little Fluffy Clouds and Duck Soup Studios but again the work is from around the world and so really varied.

'Animation Now!' is a super package just as a book but throw in the DVD and it surely is a 'must have' goodie.