Please Help “Hullabaloo”

For some of you out there, I don’t think I need to stress the fact that 2D animation is pretty much entirely dead in the United States. Sure dozens of television cartoons are produced here with 2D animation, but every single one of them is actually animated over in Asia or up in Canada. And thankfully there are many many countries who produce their own 2D hand-drawn films on a semi-regular basis. The French film “A Cat in Paris” was released a few years ago. And the 2007 film, “Nocturna” has just been announced for a US Blu-ray release this November.

But the Walt Disney Company has no future plans to revive its 2D animation department, and neither does anyone else, because they all still believe that people just don’t want them. But I think we all should know by now that the reason 2D animation has ceased to be an American staple is not because the art-form has failed, but because the stories of many of the last few 2D animated films were horrible, or at the very least they weren’t quite as entertaining or engaging as other films were at the time. “Osmosis Jones,” “Home on the Range,” “Lion King 1 1/2,” “Teacher’s Pet,”  “Brother Bear,” “Winnie the Pooh” (which was the very last one that was made); and of course tons and tons of cheap sequels. This is the legacy that has been left behind.

So thankfully, people like James Lopez are hellbent on bringing the art-form back to life with his new short-film/feature-film pilot project, Hullabaloo: (a steampunk styled-short) “is the story of Veronica Daring, a brilliant young scientist who returns home from an elite finishing school to find her father–the eccentric inventor Jonathan Daring–missing without a trace! The only clue left behind points Veronica toward Daring Adventures, an abandoned amusement park used by her father to test his fantastical steam-powered inventions. There she discovers a strange girl named Jules, a fellow inventor who agrees to help Veronica in locating her missing father and discovering the secrets of his work.”

That’s just the first part of the description. The rest you should go read at Mr. Lopez’s IndieGogo page, which has just passed it’s half-way goal mark at 55,755 (at the writing of this article); and impressively he still has a whopping 29 days left to go. So he is surely going to go far beyond his initial funding goal.

You can support James Lopez’s 2D hand-drawn steampunk adventure by going here: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hullabaloo-steampunk-animated-film

You can also read an article interviewing Mr. Lopez from this morning here: http://insidemovies.ew.com/2014/09/02/can-indie-cartoon-hullabaloo-save-hand-drawn-animation/

And this may actually be more important than you might think; as there has already been another 2D animation revival project, entitled Art Story, that managed to reach its incredible funding goal of $365,670 as of August 23, 2013. So if all goes well, both Hullabaloo and Art Story will help to rejuvenate interest in 2D animation in the next few years.

(UPDATE:)

At this moment, Hullabaloo is not only fully funded, but it is 340% funded, at $272,138. They have recently announced that due to the amazing success of their funding, that they will be able to complete 3 animated shorts, all  with fully orchestrated soundtracks; which are all downloadable through the $25 perk and up.

They still have a staggering 20 days to go, and are well on their way to their next stretch goal. If by some amazing luck they can make it to $340,000, they will have enough to produce 4 entire shorts, all with orchestrated soundtracks, and a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of the entire Hullabaloo project. There is more than a good chance that they will make it to that final goal, so do not hesitate and pitch in a few bucks. This may very well be the revival of 2D animation as the United States knows it.

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