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A documentary essay about the unsung animation visionary, John Halas. An Animated Utopia explores his desire "to save the world using animation" and highlights his prescient and influential work in exploring new technologies. Though he, along with his wife Joy Batchelor, headed the longest-lasting and most successful British animation studio, he remains an enigma - his achievements, his influence, his success still unknown to so many. This is his story.
Director
Writer
Status
Released
Original Language
EN

Waking Life is about a young man in a persistent lucid dream-like state. The film follows its protagonist as he initially observes and later participates in philosophical discussions that weave together issues like reality, free will, our relationships with others, and the meaning of life.

By the mid-1980s, the fabled animation studios of Walt Disney had fallen on hard times. The artists were polarized between newcomers hungry to innovate and old timers not yet ready to relinquish control. These conditions produced a series of box-office flops and pessimistic forecasts: maybe the best days of animation were over. Maybe the public didn't care. Only a miracle or a magic spell could produce a happy ending. Waking Sleeping Beauty is no fairy tale. It's the true story of how Disney regained its magic with a staggering output of hits - "Little Mermaid," "Beauty and the Beast ," "Aladdin," "The Lion King," and more - over a 10-year period.