Somehow I missed it until today, but Peanuts animator José Cuauhtemoc "Bill" Meléndez died last Tuesday at the age of 91. The Peanuts specials often get slagged for being low-rez, jumpy pieces of work, but I think Melendez did a great job of interpreting the comic strip. It certainly would have been incongruous -- if not downright jarring -- if they had been lush, 3D, "uncanny valley"-transgressing Disneystraganzas. Also, TV was TV. Budgets were budgets. The classic Peanuts specials were great, and I won't tolerate contentions to the contrary!
OK, so maybe the Saturday morning cartoon shows weren't quite as good, but it's still hilarious in Portuguese:
"ISN'T THERE ANYONE WHO KNOWS WHAT CARNIVAL IS ALL ABOUT?!"
*sigh*
So long, Bill. Thanks for everything.
No comments:
Post a Comment