The Look of 'Ernest & Celestine'

A still from Ernest & Celestine (2012)Welcome! This is another Sunday edition of the Animation Obsessive newsletter, and here’s the plan:1. On the design and animation of Ernest & Celestine (2012).2. Inside early computer animation.3. Newsbits.With that, let’s go!1. Its own graphic universeAnimated movies from Europe take risks. Plenty aren’t as far outside the box as, say, Flow — the wordless gem that won an Oscar last year. But a lot of European animation has tried things this century, from The Secret of Kells to Robot Dreams. For one, European governments support filmmakers. For another, these are small productions with room to maneuver. “The fact that we have low budgets, it’s possible to take risks,” said one director from the scene.1The speaker there was Benjamin Renner, discussing his Ernest & Celestine (2012). It was another of those risky movies. By now, it’s a modern classic — recommendable to anyone. The film is warm and funny from its first scene, and its…