Modern children's cartoons tend to be an uninspiring run of copied ideas and animation styles, all geared at selling your children some horrid plastic toy to get stuck in your foot at a later date, or to “educate” using patronizing narrators to teach really basic lessons parents should teach their children themselves.
However, sometimes a gem shows up, and 'Jane and the Dragon' is an absolute diamond
A collaboration between Weta Workshops (You know them as the armorers, the CG guys and the genius behind Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy) and a children's picture book writer, Martin Baynton, it's a simple series about a young girl who, through her own hard work, belief in her own abilities, and pure hard headed tenacity, befriends a dragon and becomes a female knight in training.
But more then the render, more then the talented use of colour and staging, more even then the brand new animation technique is the pure passion that's gone into it.
There are some things- books, cartoons, movies, where you can almost FEEL the passion of the creator reaching out at you. This is one of them.
Each character is meticulously detailed, each with their own careful idiosyncrasies. Dig a little on line and you find huge back stories to even the most minor of characters, their ages, their loves, hates, heck, even their various stages of puberty (most of the cast are young teens). But it doesn't stop there.
The world they live in is a fabulous blend of medieval fact and fiction. Their clothing, their food, the heirachy, everything is beautifully researched then seamlessly blended into modern ideals and realities, so their world remains true to the era it's set in, but not completely unrelatable
They even have a reasonable excuse for the fact the castle only houses six adults, six adolescent teens and two children.
There's absolute life in this cartoon. It's created for passion, for the need to tell a story, not to sell, to rate or deliberately educate. The creator is a true creator, not just a writer or conceptual artist.
I think he sums himself up best in one of his question and answer sessions:
Q: There are a lot of people who think of "Jane and the Dragon" and many other animated shows as "just a cartoon." How do you feel about that kind of thinking? Also, do you think fiction can strongly reflect reality? What do you think about the relationship between fiction and reality?
A: I feel the way a parent feels if told their child is just another child. Every child is unique and special, and we have all loved creating a very special cast of characters that we love. Since we could first tell tales 'round a campfire, stories have been the way of handing on truth and experience and lessons learnt, so yes, I think fiction reflects reality and then shapes it.
Sadly, 'Jane and the Dragon' seems to have been discontinued, despite the rumour of another season. Still the creator, so passionate about his story, is determined to finish it by writing a book.
I look forward to it immensely.
It's my firm belief that Tilt will share this same spark of life that ensnared me so well with this simple cartoon. I love what I do, and that's why I do it. There's nothing more inspirational then that.
Natalie
