This was shown this afternoon on Sky channel 201 in the UK and by chance I caught just the last 9 minutes knowing nothing about it. But two things were quickly apparent - how reminiscent this 1934 animation short was to the work of Tim Burton. And how this was some of the best stop-frame animation I've ever seen - I still don't know how some of it was done, it perhaps is a mixture of techniques. The dark quirkiness suggested East Europe, the charm that it was French. While the overall appearance, darkness and quirkiness are to be seen in Tim Burton's productions, some of the effects achieved I have not seen anywhere else. It is startling when some movement of a puppet is so natural that it looks alive. The maker was originally an entomologist who had experimented with filming insects and analysing their movements frame by frame. I think he may have done the same with human behaviour. There are subtleties about human (and animal) behaviour in The Mascot I don't think any later animator has equalled - and now there is a vast industry making CGI versions of humans yet they have still missed some things. It is a masterclass.
Review of The Mascot
