Beware the Links of March

Toonish Links for a Spring day ... (watch out for French sprites ...)

Apparently there is blow-back over having Dora (the well-known explorer) grow older:

Many parents were up in arms recently when Nickelodeon announced plans for a new-and-improved Dora the Explorer. Specifically, an older, more sophisticated, 10-year-old Dora for tweens.

"As tweenage Dora, our heroine has moved to the big city, attends middle school and has a whole new fashionable look," the press release stated, showcasing a silhouette of the new Dora that looked to be wearing a micro mini skirt, long hair swinging sexily below her shoulders.

...With images of Bratz dolls pole-dancing in their heads, many parents took to the internet to protest the change. "What, little girls don't have enough fashion-obsessed trash idols?" one commenter quipped over at CafeMom.com. "The outrage is powered by pent up outrage over the sexualization of our daughters, of their dolls and their clothing," ...

These people don't seem to appreciate that in conglomerate land, it's anything for a smooth buck. And if enlarging the franchise makes Viacom more money, then the franchise gets enlarged, capice?

Pixar's Ronnie Del Carmen explains his passion for drawing comic books.

... I gravitate towards books that have a controlling idea behind them, no matter how slight. I think it makes the editing process easier but more than that it makes the book about something. The question I deal with in my day job as story supervisor is: "What is--insert project here--about?" So, rather than just having a series of images that can run the gamut of drawings and scribbles I have in my sketchbooks I thought about what I was experiencing over time with my sketchbooks. What could a compilation of my drawings be about? ...

It's been noted elsewhere in more than a few places, but we still note the passing of Millard Kaufman, co-creator of Mr. Magoo.

A former newspaperman who launched his screenwriting career after serving in the Marines during World War II, Kaufman quickly made a mark on pop culture by writing the screenplay for "Ragtime Bear," the 1949 cartoon short directed by John Hubley that introduced the near-sighted Mr. Magoo.

The character, which was voiced by actor Jim Backus, was modeled in part on Kaufman's uncle.

"My uncle had no problem with his eyes," Kaufman said in a 2007 National Public Radio interview. "He simply interpreted everything that came across his way in his own particular manner, and he could at times be a little bit difficult, but he would only see things the way they existed highly subjectively to him."

The Nikkster projects Monsters Vs. Aliens opening, domestic and worldwide grosses, citing a box office specialist:

Media analyst Rich Greenfield of Pali Research today writes (registration required) that his prediction for Monsters vs. Aliens' worldwide box office estimate of $483M is "conservative ($186 domestic, $297 international), given the recent strength in domestic movie attendance trends (consumers escaping from the gloomy economy) and the benefit the movie should see from premium 3-D" pricing ...

(Nikki's commenters write of their disdain for DreamWorks animated product, forgetting the old Hollywood axium: "A good movie is a movie that makes a lot of money.")

Not to rest on its laurels, Disney/Pixar's Up will get the big launch at some French resort or other:

Disney-Pixar announced that a 3D presentation of its coming animated feature “Up” has been selected as the opening night premiere of this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

But speaking of the country that helped launch our own ... the French film business is on a roll:

French filmmaking powered up in 2008, with budgets and production levels rising for the second year running.

The number of French-nationality pic productions rose to 240 last year from 203 in 2006 and 228 in 2007 ...

French investment in domestic pic production skyrocketed 28.6% to 1.22 billion euros ($1.6 billion).

Much of it was driven by two high-bracket animation features from EuropaCorp, both directed by Luc Besson: "Arthur and the Two Worlds War" ($89.3 million) and "Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard" ($82.0 million), plus Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud's docu "Oceans" ($64.7 million).

Have a glorious Friday.

Nikkster Add On: Nikki F. is now hyperventilating over DreamWorks Animation's tie-in with B of A for movie tickets:

Though I suppose it was just a matter of time before the Hollywood moguls figured out a way to get their hands on some of that U.S. goverment bailout money, albeit indirectly. But why in the world are American taxpayers helping foot the bill to promote a big-budget 3-D DreamWorks Animation movie? Well, it appears the reason is because the president of the Jeffrey Katzenberg-led Hollywood animation studio just happens to be Bank of America's former Vice Chairman and CFO.

It took respected media analyst Rich Greenfield of Pali Research to uncover this staggering scheme...

A scheme! A nefarious scheme! Quick! Pass a bill in congress!