Raya and the Last Dragon, Superheroes, Super Awards, and More News Than You Can Shake a Stick At! - Renegade Animation #7
Welcome one and all to a rather low-key episode of the Podcast Formerly Known as Tooned Up! Mike and Cameron, our Captain and Guru, take us through all the news that’s come out of the animation world over the past couple of weeks, chat about the Critics’ Choice Super Awards, and look over the upcoming animated films scheduled to be released in 2021, including Raya and the Last Dragon and DC’s slate of superhero titles! Whew, even on a mellow episode, these two put in all the work! Hit that play button and enjoy the episode!
For these somewhat free-form show notes that I always do, I figured I’d go over the winners of the animated categories of the Critics Choice Super Awards, of which there are a few! Of course, Pixar and Disney cleaned house in the Best Animated Movie, Best Voice Actor in an Animated Movie, and Best Voice Actress in an Animated Movie categories, with Soul sweeping the competition under the rug. Jamie Foxx won Best Voice Actor and Tina Fey won Best Voice Actress, while the film itself won Best Animated film. And deservedly so. Soul is a fun and unexpectedly poignant film, which we have praised a lot on our podcast. Kudos to Pixar for creating yet another modern animated classic, and for another really cool jazz-infused soundtrack! The world needs more jazz in it, I always say.
The Best Animated Series award went to Netflix’s Bojack Horseman, which is a great adult-oriented show that deals with trauma, depression, and addiction. So, y’know, fun stuff. But hey, they’re all anthropomorphized animal characters, so yay for metaphors and allegories! Will Arnett, who voices the titular Bojack, won the award for Best Voice Actor in an Animated Series, which is, like Foxx, another well-deserved victory. Meanwhile, Kaley Cuoco won Best Voice Actress in an Animated Series for her work as Harley Quinn in the mature-rated HBO Max show. Congrats to her, but with all due respect, my personal favorite Harley voice will always belong to the great Arleen Sorkin.
In other news, there were a couple of tragic deaths that touched the animation community. The first was prolific voice actor Brad Venable, who passed away at the age of 43. Venable had a long list of credits to his name, such as Final Fantasy VII Remake, the Demon’s Souls remake, and Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War. He also added his vocal talent to the character of Venom in the 2018 movie. Venable seemed like a wonderful guy, and I’m going to share an interview he had with Inside the Voice Actors Booth on Youtube below.
Second, the character designer of Bob’s Burgers, Dave Creek, sadly lost his life in a skydiving accident. What a tragic way to go and a loss that shall be felt throughout the industry. He was only 42 years old, and looks like a kindhearted soul. Both of these men were so young, and very close to my age, so I can only say that the best way to honor them is to move forward and hold on to the memories we share of their work and their worth as people. Rest in peace, Dave and Brad, and our thoughts and well wishes go out to their friends and families.
Dave Creek, the late character designer who worked on Bob’s Burgers. RIP.
Third, the Guru and the Cap’n preview the Animation First film festival, which is run by the non-profit French Institute Alliance Française, a French cultural center located in New York. The film festival is not region-locked, as Annecy was last year, and costs $20 for an all-access pass to watch the films they’ll have online. Seems like a cool way for audiences to check out some intriguing French animation that you may not have the chance to see anywhere else!
Loving that Darwyn Cooke-inspired character design, too.
The dynamic duo also share their feelings about DC’s upcoming slate of animated superhero projects, starting with Batman: Soul of the Dragon, a fun ‘70s-infused look at the Dark Knight which was recently released on digital platforms, and Justice Society: World War II, which features an awesome ensemble cast led by Matt Bomer as the Flash and Stana Katic as Wonder Woman. Soul of the Dragon was a cool martial arts-inspired take on Batman, Lady Shiva, Bronze Tiger, and Richard Dragon (who was clearly inspired by Bruce Lee in the film, which completely worked for me!), and the JSA film sounds extremely fun! Can’t wait for that one! And Batman: The Long Halloween is getting the two-parter treatment, just as Dark Knight Returns did! DC’s got a ton of excellent-sounding animated stuff on the way!
Also, kudos to the Captain for his comic book knowledge about the Justice Society and the Justice League! Look up the history of those two teams, kids!
I’d also be remiss if I didn’t bring up the utterly stunning new Disney animated film, Raya and the Last Dragon, which is coming soon to Disney+ on March 5th. The more I see of this movie, the more I’m dying to watch it! The character design looks incredible, especially on young Raya’s very Korra-esque outfit, and the animation is superb as always. This could be the best animated film of the year, but we’ll have to watch it and find out!
And finally (for these show notes, not for the podcast, which has a ton more news tidbits), viewers who saw the Critics Choice Super Awards also were “treated” to a six-minute preview of Kamp Koral: Spongebob’s Under Years, which features the entire cast reprising their roles as a younger version of Spongebob and his friends. Unfortunately, that seems to be the only good news about the project, as Cam and Mike buried this one during the show. See for yourself with the preview above, and honestly, I’m sure the show will be a successful series on CBS All Access/Paramount+, since Spongebob is pretty much a juggernaut franchise.
Well, that’ll do it for the show notes this time ‘round! Be sure to listen to the podcast in its entirety as I don’t have the room to cover all the topics that Mike and Cameron touch upon in the show, and let us know how we’re doing in the comments below! We hope 2021 is treating you at least moderately better than 2020 (all things considered), and we hope you stay safe and sound during these hectic days, fellow Renegades!
(Also, I disagree about Space Jam, but that’s a story for another podcast. Bye!) -Neoplasmic
Previously on Renegade Animation, Captain Kaye, The Animation Guru, Haley, and Teresa dove head first into the Spring anime season and took in the good, the bad, and the bizarre. And now… Squid Game: The Anime.