The second edition of Graham Webb's authoritative listing of twentieth century animated films contains not only an additional 20 years of entries, but also documents one of the most innovative and popular developments of the film industry in recent years – CGI. Since Webb's first encyclopaedia was printed in 2000, computer graphics have advanced fresh and more realistic special effects in “live action” films, and created a whole new sub‐genre of animation. Disney have been churning out cartoons and feature length animated films since the 1920s, with a back catalogue of classics including Snow White (1937), Bambi (1942), The Little Mermaid (1989) and The Lion King (1994), but working with Pixar to make the first Toy Story film in 1995 helped to revitalise the company's image for a new generation. More and more CGI productions, such as Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Cars (2006), have followed the success of Toy Story, establishing computer wizardry as the next chapter in animation.
Starting with the earliest known animated segment on film from 1900 – a silent short titled The Enchanted Drawing – to Fantasia 2000 in December 1999, and covering every style and process in between, Webb has compiled a fascinating and detailed history of animation for film fans. Over 7,000 entries have been packed into little over 500 pages, without a single illustration or section heading to interrupt the text, so the Animated Film Encyclopedia is definitely more of a reference tool than a browsing book for the coffee table. Cartoon shorts and series, full‐length films and animated sequences, and a range of methods from traditional cel animation and stop motion to 3‐D and CGI, are all covered. The long‐running careers of Mickey Mouse, Casper the Friendly Ghost and Popeye are itemised alphabetically by title, with only a series index in the appendix to make sense of the order (unless each episode helpfully contains a keyword, as with the Pink Panther series). Production information – date, running time, synopsis and voice credits – might run from a few lines to several columns, depending on the length of the film. Feature length animated productions like All Dogs Go to Heaven (1989) take a long time and a large crew of talented artists, writers and editors to create, and Webb makes sure to list the whole team where known.
From Betty Boop to Beavis and Butthead, the full history of animation is contained within this extensive encyclopaedia, listing nearly a century of black and white cartoons, puppet animation and realistic computer graphics on screen. In 1945, Gene Kelly tap‐danced with a two‐dimensional, superimposed mouse called Jerry in the musical Anchors Aweigh, yet only 50 years later actors were walking with scarily realistic dinosaurs in Jurassic Park. Young viewers in the 1920s would have had to go to their local cinema to watch Krazy Kat or Gaumont Kartoon Komics, whereas children in the 1980s could enjoy My Little Pony or The Transformers on the television at home. Animation in the past has also combined entertainment with public service, using cartoons to explain the process of “talkies” to cinema audiences in the short film Finding His Voice (1929), for example. The second Animated Film Encyclopedia is a treasure trove of fascinating information to find on any library shelf, and we can only wonder what creative and technical additions the next edition will feature.
