Films with live action and animation
This is a list of films that combine live-action and animated elements, typically interacting.
History
In the later days of silent film, the popular animated cartoons of Max Fleischer included a series where his cartoon character Koko the Clown interacted with the live world; for example, having a boxing match with a live kitten. In a variation on this concept, Walt Disney's first directorial efforts (years before Oswald the Lucky Rabbit was born in 1927 and Mickey Mouse in 1928) were the animated Alice Comedies short cartoons, in which a young live-action girl named Alice interacted with animated cartoon characters.
In the era of sound film, the 1940 Warner Bros. cartoon You Ought to Be in Pictures, directed by Friz Freleng, can be seen as a predecessor to Roger Rabbit. The animated sequence in the 1945 film Anchors Aweigh in which Gene Kelly dances with an animated Jerry Mouse is one of the actor's most famous scenes.
The Disney studio mixed live action and animation in several notable films (which are primarily considered live-action):
- In The Three Caballeros (1945), Donald Duck cavorts with several Latin-American dancers, plus Aurora Miranda (sister of Carmen Miranda), who gives him a kiss.
- In Song of the South (1946), Uncle Remus sings "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah" in an animated field, and tells the stories of Brer Rabbit through the animated sequences.
- So Dear to My Heart (1949) features sequences of a similar nature.
- Mary Poppins (1964) is one of the best-known films of this nature, including a scene in which Dick Van Dyke dances with cartoon penguins as Julie Andrews watches.
- Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) features a hybrid sequence in which Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson dance together in an underwater nightclub, while Tomlinson must bear the brunt of aggressive, anthropomorphic soccer-playing animals in the latter half.
- Pete's Dragon (1977) does the opposite of its predecessors: it puts the animated dragon, Elliott, in a live-action setting. Disney had been inspired by the Swedish success Dunderklumpen from 1974.
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) from Disney and Amblin Entertainment broke new ground with its advanced special effects and "realistic" portrayal of the interaction of animated characters and live actors. Memorable moments include the piano duel between Donald Duck and his Looney Tunes rival Daffy Duck, Jessica Rabbit's entrance, Bugs Bunny and Mickey Mouse in the same scene, and Bob Hoskins handcuffed to the title character.
With the commercial and technological success of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and Space Jam, a number of live-action/animated films followed from other studios, including Cool World, and Looney Tunes: Back in Action - though none of them have had any major commercial success equal to Roger Rabbit or Space Jam.
There were also many previous films combining live action with stop motion animation using back projection, such as the films of Willis O'Brien and Ray Harryhausen in the United States, and Aleksandr Ptushko, Karel Zeman and more recently Jan Švankmajer in Eastern Europe. The first feature film to do this was The Lost World (1925). In the 1935 Soviet film The New Gulliver, the only character who wasn't animated was Gulliver himself. See also: List of stop-motion films
Ralph Bakshi combined live-action and animation in 1973's Heavy Traffic, 1975's Coonskin (a.k.a. "Streetfight") and 1992's Cool World.
The combination of live action and animation is very common in TV commercials, especially those promoting products appealing to children.
Techniques
Originally, animation was combined with live action in several ways, sometimes as simply as double-printing two negatives onto the same release print. More sophisticated techniques used optical printers or aerial image animation cameras, which enabled more exact positioning, and better interaction of actors and animated characters. Often, every frame of the live action film was traced by rotoscoping, so that the animator could add his drawing in the exact position.
With the rise of digital special effects, combining live-action and animation has become more common. The Star Wars saga and the Lord of the Rings trilogy, for example, include substantial amounts of animation, though it may not be recognized as such because of the animation's realistic, non-cartoony appearance. However, critics like Roger Ebert do not consider this to be animation, saying, “in my mind, it isn't animation, unless it looks like animation.”[1]
Live-action/animated films
- This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.
1900s
- 1900 - The Enchanted Drawing
1910s
- 1917 - När Kapten Grogg skulle porträtteras [2](When Captain Grogg would be portrayed)
1920s
- Alice Comedies (live-action girl in animated surroundings)
- 1929 - Bosko, the Talk-Ink Kid
- Out of the Inkwell (animated characters in live-action surroundings)
1930s
- 1930 - The King of Jazz (animation segment made by Walter Lanz)
- 1934 - Hollywood Party (animation stagement known as The Hot Choc-Late Soldiers)
1940s
- 1940 - Fantasia
- 1940 - You Ought to Be in Pictures
- 1941 - The Reluctant Dragon
- 1943 - Saludos Amigos
- 1943 - Victory Through Air Power
- 1943 - Who Killed Who? (two live action sequences)
- 1945 - Anchors Aweigh (Tom and Jerry make an appearance)
- 1945 - The Three Caballeros
- 1945 - The Enemy Bacteria
- 1946 - Song of the South
- 1947 - Fun and Fancy Free
- 1948 - Melody Time (with Amigo Lady from Blame it on the Samba)
- 1948 - Two Guys from Texas
- 1949 - My Dream Is Yours
- 1949 - Senior Droopy (MGM short featuring a segment with Lina Romay and Droopy)
- 1949 - So Dear to My Heart
1950s
- 1950 - Destination Moon
- 1953 - Dangerous When Wet
- 1953 - The Three Little Pups (cowboys riding horses; Southern Wolf riding on black-and-white live-action horse)
- 1956 - "Invitation to the Dance" (The third and final segment of Sinbad the Sailor)
- 1957 - The Black Scorpion
- 1958 - Fiend Without a Face
- 1959 - Behemoth, the Sea Monster
1960s
- 1960 - Dinosaurus!
- 1964 - Mary Poppins
- 1964 - The Incredible Mr. Limpet
- 1965 - Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines (opening credits animated by Ronald Searle)
- 1968 - Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day (live action opening and end credits footage 1966)
- 1969 - The Valley of Gwangi
1970s
- 1970 - The Phantom Tollbooth
- 1971 - Bedknobs and Broomsticks
- 1972 - The War Between Men and Women
- 1973 - Heavy Traffic
- 1974 - The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
- 1974 - Dunderklumpen!
- 1975 - Coonskin
- 1975 - Monty Python and the Holy Grail
- 1976 - Allegro Non Troppo
- 1976 - Futureworld
- 1976 - Eraserhead (one scene)
- 1977 - Pete's Dragon (Elliot the dragon animated character)
- 1977 - Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger
- 1977 - Dot and the Kangaroo
- 1978 - The Water Babies
- 1978 - Laserblast
- 1979 - Life of Brian
1980s
- 1980 - Popeye (opening sequence in black-and-white)
- 1980 - Xanadu (animated sequence by Don Bluth)
- 1981 - Around the World with Dot
- 1981 - Maria, Mirabela
- 1981 - The Evil Dead
- 1982 - Creepshow
- 1982 - The Thing
- 1982 - Pink Floyd The Wall (animated sequences by Gerald Scarfe)
- 1983 - Dot and the Bunny
- 1983 - The Meaning of Life
- 1984 - The Neverending Story
- 1984 - Dot and the Koala
- 1984 - Dreamscape
- 1985 - Return to Oz
- 1985 - Better Off Dead
- 1985 - Pee-wee's Big Adventure
- 1986 - Dot and Keeto
- 1986 - Dot and the Whale
- 1987 - Creepshow 2
- 1987 - Scruffy
- 1987 - Dot and the Smugglers
- 1987 - Dot Goes to Hollywood
- 1987 - The Gate
- 1987 - Twilight of the Cockroaches
- 1987 - Evil Dead II
- 1988 - Treasure Island (Soviet film)
- 1988 - Alice
- 1988 - Moonwalker
- 1988 - Maria, Mirabela in Transistorland
- 1988 - Mickey's 60th Birthday
- 1988 - Who Framed Roger Rabbit
- 1989 - Going Overboard (a few sequences)
- 1989 - McGee & Me! (series of 12 videos produced 1989-93)
- 1989 - Raja Chinna Roja (First Indian film to feature live action blended with animation)
1990s
- 1990 - The Neverending Story II
- 1990 - Grim Prairie Tales (dream sequence)
- 1990 - Rockin' Through the Decades
- 1991 - Rock-A-Doodle
- 1991 - Volere volare
- 1992 - Cool World
- 1992 - Stay Tuned (one scene)
- 1992 - Evil Toons
- 1992 - Braindead (one scene)
- 1993 - Last Action Hero (one character)
- 1993 - Army of Darkness
- 1994 - The Neverending Story III
- 1994 - Dot in Space
- 1994 - Faust
- 1994 - The Pagemaster
- 1995 - Casper
- 1995 - Balto (live-action opening and closing)
- 1996 - Conspirators of Pleasure
- 1996 - James and the Giant Peach
- 1996 - Space Jam
- 1996 - Joe's Apartment
- 1999 - Stuart Little
2000s
- 2000 - The 10th Kingdom (animated butterflies and hearts, and the singing ring, in the Kissing Town sequence and the coronation banquet scene)
- 2000 - The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle
- 2000 - Thomas and the Magic Railroad
- 2000 - Fantasia 2000
- 2000 - Little Otik
- 2000 - How the Grinch Stole Christmas
- 2001 - Osmosis Jones
- 2001 - Monkeybone
- 2002 - El Rey de la Granja (The King Farm)
- 2002 - The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
- 2002 - Scooby-Doo
- 2002 - Stuart Little 2
- 2003 - Elf
- 2003 - The Lizzie McGuire Movie
- 2003 - Looney Tunes: Back in Action
- 2003 - The Cat in the Hat
- 2004 - Immortal (animation sequences)
- 2004 - My Baby's Daddy
- 2004 - Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed
- 2004 - The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie
- 2004 - Fat Albert
- 2004 - Garfield: The Movie
- 2004 - The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
- 2004 - Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
- 2004 - The Lion King 1½ (live action sequence)
- 2005 - Lunacy
- 2005 - Son of the Mask
- 2005 - The Piano Tuner of Earthquakes
- 2005 - Reefer Madness
- 2005 - Chicken Little (live-action sequence)
- 2006 - Happy Feet (live-action sequences)
- 2006 - Charlotte's Web
- 2006 - Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties
- 2006 - Re-Animated
- 2006 - The Sparky Book
- 2006 - Miss Potter
- 2006 - The Science of Sleep
- 2007 - Arthur and the Invisibles
- 2007 - Enchanted
- 2007 - Alvin and the Chipmunks
- 2008 - WALL-E
- 2009 - The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (one scene)
- 2009 - The Velveteen Rabbit
- 2009 - G-Force
- 2009 - Aliens in the Attic
- 2009 - Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
2010s
- 2010 - Alice in Wonderland
- 2010 - Diary of a Wimpy Kid (animated sequences)
- 2010 - Surviving Life
- 2010 - Yogi Bear
- 2010 - Higglety Pigglety Pop! or There Must Be More to Life (live-action puppetry and stop-motion)
- 2010 - Ultramarines: The Movie
- 2010 - Shank
- 2011 - Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules (animated sequences)
- 2011 - Hop
- 2010 - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1 (The Tale of the Three Brothers sequence)
- 2011 - A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner!
- 2011 - The Smurfs
- 2011 - Priest (opening sequence)
- 2011 - Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
- 2011 - Paul
- 2012 - Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days (animated sequences)
- 2012 - Life of Pi
- 2012 - Halo 4: Forward Unto Dawn
- 2012 - Ted
- 2013 - The Smurfs 2
- 2013 - Walking with Dinosaurs
- 2013 - The Starving Games (animated sequences)
References
- ↑ "That's Not All Folks!". Siskel&Ebert.org. 1999. Retrieved 2011-12-24.
- ↑ "Victor Bergdahl - När Kapten Grogg skulle porträtteras (1917)". YouTube. 2008-12-07. Retrieved 2013-07-05.