Congratulations to Andrew Leal



Congratulations to one of our newest. In addition to being our official
balloon animal artist, 1st year MA student Andrew Leal's co-authored book THE ANIMATED MOVIE GUIDE arrived today. Andrew wrote over 50 entries for the collection whose main editor is Jerry Beck. The book was published by The Chicago Review Press.

From the jacket:

"Here for the first time in print, is an accurate and complete guide to every
animated movie ever released in the United States. This lavishly illustrated companion traces the origin of the art form,
discusses what it takes to make a great animated feature, and guides the reader through all manner of hits and flops that make up this previously uncharted world. Every film listing includes reviews, four star ratings, background information, plot synopses, accurate running times, consumer tips, and MPAA ratings.

Going beyond the box-office hits of Disney and Dreamworks, this guide to every animated movie ever released in the United States covers more than 300 films over the course of nearly 80 years of film history. Well-known films such as Finding Nemo and Shrek are profiled and hundreds of other films, many of them rarely discussed, are analyzed, compared, and catalogued. The origin of the genre and what it takes to make a great animated feature are discussed, and the influence of Japanese animation, computer graphics, and stop-motion puppet techniques are brought into perspective. Every film analysis includes reviews, four-star ratings, background information, plot synopses, accurate running times, consumer tips, and MPAA ratings. Brief guides to made-for-TV movies, direct-to-video releases, foreign films that were never theatrically released in the U.S., and live-action films with significant animation round out the volume."


for more: Chicago Review Press
and on Amazon.