The first animated movie in history isn't two minutes long and yet contains all the possibilities of this new medium: boundless imagination uncompromising by budget or physical limitation, the ability to subvert everyday life, the ability to create complex, non-linear narratives, the pleasure of experimentation.
The movie itself is still rudimentary, displaying a loose collection of gag episodes about a man morphing into several things, showing the limitless possibilities of a medium that operates outside the boundaries of real life.
But Emile Cohl's was a great legacy for thousands of future animators, and there isn't anyone, from Tax Avery to Shawn Acker, who isn't in his debt.
The movie itself is still rudimentary, displaying a loose collection of gag episodes about a man morphing into several things, showing the limitless possibilities of a medium that operates outside the boundaries of real life.
But Emile Cohl's was a great legacy for thousands of future animators, and there isn't anyone, from Tax Avery to Shawn Acker, who isn't in his debt.