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Welcome to Part 3 of this look at Annecy 2018. This time, instead of looking at the films that are complete and are in competition, or out of competition, we are going to look at the films that are “in progress”. These are films coming out later this year, or are getting made for viewings for the upcoming year. While they will have TV work, I’m not going to cover that here. I also won’t be talking about films like Spies in Disguise, because there is no trailer for that upcoming Blue Sky Studio film, and I already talked about The Swallows of Kabul, which looks amazing. I will also be putting down the films that will have special screenings at the event. Let’s get started!
Work in Progress
Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse: While I definitely understand where a lot of the criticisms aimed at Sony Pictures Animation are going, you can’t deny that Sony is actually one of the few studios willing to take risks with visuals. This is exactly the animated feature Sony needs to shake things up a bit. While some have complained about the movement fluidity, it’s a visual marvel. Its comic book art style pops, and brings something wholly unique to the animated feature landscape this year. I just hope the story can match the visuals. It has the potential to be one of the best animated feature films of 2018, and I want it to live up to that expectation.
The Famous Invasion of the Bears in Sicily: Now that we got the first western feature out of the way for this list, it’s time to go back to our foreign offerings. This upcoming French/Italian collaboration is about a group of bears that live in the mountains of Sicily. Due to a harsh winter storm, they are forced to move down from the mountains. Along with that situation, the bear king has another motive of getting back his son, who was taken from him. While sadly, there is no trailer for this film, some of the screen shots and the poster shown look promising. I love how vibrant the colors are, and the designs are pleasant to look at. It’s a film that also has its own identity in terms of visuals. Can’t wait to see what happens next, and who might distribute it.
Bunuel in the Labyrinth of the Turtles: Movies about famous or infamous filmmakers is nothing new. Last year, we got The Disaster Artist, and a few years back, we got that one film about Alfred Hitchcock. This film is about Luis Bunuel, a filmmaker that almost lost his career during the Golden Age of film, and how he saved his career with a documentary. Because it’s an animated film, it can take full advantage of unique and surreal visuals that the director was known for. It also happens to have some of my favorite human designs. It just looks interesting to me, and they can take advantage of telling a fascinating story through a creative medium. Just because it’s animated, doesn’t mean you have to tell a family friendly story.
Penguin Highway: Based off the book by the same author of Tatami Galaxy, Tomihiko Morimi, Penguin Highway follows a young boy who must find out why a bunch of penguins have shown up in his town. Since this is by the same individual who did Night is Short: Walk on Girl and Tatami Galaxy, there is probably going to be some kind of symbolic meaning behind the penguins. The animation looks great, and I rather enjoy the absurd setting. The only thing I’m not really fond of is this young boy crushing on a dental assistant who’s much older than him. It’s a little weird, and the trailer constantly has points emphasizing her chest. I know boys get curious around 4th grade about sexual stuff, but I hope it’s not too creepy of a dynamic, because it does seem like a charming film. We can only hope for it to not be super weird. I know sex jokes are a popular thing in Japanese anime/comedy, but that stuff doesn’t really translate well at all to other countries. Otherwise, it looks like a good movie, and I hope I can check it out.
The Other Side of Animation 