Animaland DVD preview

Here's a quick look at Animaland on DVD, enjoy the preview!

## Back cover story

From Disney legend, David Hand, renowned worldwide as supervising director of Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and Bambi. comes the classic animated masterpiece-Animaland! Recovered after being lost for nearly fifty years, this wonderful collection of animated stories has been restored to its original splendor, and remains as enchanting and exquisive today as when it first lit up the screen. Imagine a make-believe wood, somewhere near the one where the young deer Bambi played, full of sweet, funny little animals at the center of adventure, musical uproar, laughter, and love. Well, imagine no more, as the most adorable array of animal characters ever created comes to life and captures your heart in their series of fun-filled tales. Just for kids DVD is proud to unveil this treasure to a whole new generation of cartoon lovers, as well as collectors for whom Animaland represents a milestone in the glorious history of classic animation!

"Evokes a more innocent era of family entertainment, with echos of vintage Disney-Steven Smith, HBO

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> "Historically,there are keepers!"-John Cochran, New York daily news
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> "A lost piece of animation history recused!"-Leonard Maltin
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## About the series

Once upon a time there was a brave British toon studio which hoped to conquer

   new animated heights. It was called GB-Animation (short for Gaumont-British)

   and it was set up at Moor Hall in Cookham-on-Thames in 1949, by the highly

   regarded American animator David Hand, with backing from J Arthur Rank.

   Hand came to Britain via Disney, having been employed on the likes of

   "Snow White", "Pinocchio" and "Bambi". Under his leadership, a crew

   of some 200 personnel were assembled, and production began on two

   series of short animated films; nine "Animaland"cartoons and ten more

   Musical Paintbox shorts.

   Of the two, the "Animaland" cartoons are best known. These featured a host

   of colorful critters at play. Four of them starred a chipper squirrel called

   Ginger Nutt and his pals Loopy the Hare, Corny the Crow and Dusty Mole,

   as well as Ginger's sweetheart Hazel. The studio was grooming young Ginger

   for animated stardom, and several licensing deals were struck in his name.

   The other five toons in the series adopted a "mockumentary" approach, observing

   animal antics from a distance with the aid of a narrator. But these sat rather

   awkwardly next to the Ginger Nutt films. Ginger's antics took place in a specfic

   woodland, with talking characters, whereas most of the fauna in this

   second selection were non-speaking. Even so, they were umbrellred beneath

   the same "Animaland" title, and both sets of critters were united in one

   celebratory film "Ginger Nutt's Christmas Circus".

   Sadly, the "Animaland" shorts failed to find their audience. Technically,

   they were faultless. Each toon was lushly painted and the characters

   had great vigour. But critics pointed to poor storylines and characterization

   which seemed merely a paler imitation of the American short form, rather than

   something distinctly British. And it's true that the critters inhabiting these

   toons might well have stepped straight off a Disney sketchpad.

   Their voices were awkward too. Our "star", Ginger Nutt had a particularly

   weedy intonation. His four films featured some lively interplay and hijinx,

   but the hero just lacked that certain winning sparkle.

   In the end, GB-Cartoons folded within three short years of its launch.

   But the studio's legacy lives on, and although the story and character flaws

   remain, the modern-day viewer can now look back and marvel at the

   draughtmanship on display in these underappreciated gems. Seriously,

   you can't find fault with a film like "The Cuckoo", which features a

   delicious, dark interlude and some dazzling design or the comedy of a parrot who tricks a weasel in "Christmas Circus". It's surely one

   of the very best cartoons this country has produced..now on DVD!