While it is not the first hand-drawn animation film ever made, it's definitely the best among them and the first to feature a dinosaur.
PLOT: In a live-action sequence, cartoonist and movie director Winsor McCay and a few of his friends enter a museum where the skeleton of a dinosaur is displayed. He takes a bet with one of his pals that he can make the dinosaur live again. After six months of hard labor, hand-drawing over 10,000 cartoons, he is ready to introduce Gertie. At a dinner, after drawing an inanimate dinosaur on a large board, he tears the paper off and displays the backgrounds where Gertie lives. Then he asks the creature to come out and starts interacting with her.
THE GOOD:
THE BAD:
ACCOLADES:
VERDICT: This early in the film industry, the animation process had to be experimented because there was very few previous productions to document it. Considering the technology of the time and the effort necessary to create such an animation, this movie is an incredible achievement and an absolute milestone in that field. The quality of the animation even surpasses some of the stuff I saw on TV back in the sixties.
PLOT: In a live-action sequence, cartoonist and movie director Winsor McCay and a few of his friends enter a museum where the skeleton of a dinosaur is displayed. He takes a bet with one of his pals that he can make the dinosaur live again. After six months of hard labor, hand-drawing over 10,000 cartoons, he is ready to introduce Gertie. At a dinner, after drawing an inanimate dinosaur on a large board, he tears the paper off and displays the backgrounds where Gertie lives. Then he asks the creature to come out and starts interacting with her.
THE GOOD:
- Details. So much attention has been placed in the duration of the movements, the rhythm of breathing, and the shifting of the weight that it looks natural. Gertie even interacts with the background and other animals in such a surprisingly realistic way that the audience can feel the depth in the creature's surroundings.
- The premise. The original way Gertie is introduced to live-action people is clever and gives the whole movie a purpose.
- The clumsy guy. The gag of the guy falling with this huge heap of cartoons was inevitable. One can only imagine the extra labour to sort them all back in the right order.
THE BAD:
- Some movement sequences can be repetitive and boring, but considering it was still done decades later in so many cartoons, this one is not so bad after all.
ACCOLADES:
- Added to the National Film Registry in 1991.
- #6 in the list of the 50 Greatest Cartoons: As Selected by 1,000 Animation Professionals
VERDICT: This early in the film industry, the animation process had to be experimented because there was very few previous productions to document it. Considering the technology of the time and the effort necessary to create such an animation, this movie is an incredible achievement and an absolute milestone in that field. The quality of the animation even surpasses some of the stuff I saw on TV back in the sixties.