Growing up in the 50's and 60's exposed me to some of the masters of animation and the ever consistent ten minute gag. Back then an animator was lucky if they could create a few dozen cartoons in their entire career. They put love and creativity on cellulose, and kept us entertained no matter how many times we saw the same old cartoon. We heard classical music for the first time, laughed at corny jokes we may not have completely understood due to our age and inexperience, and generally had a great time. In that vein, ChalkZone is an intelligent, creative, and well thought out adventure with some very subtle commentary deeply embedded into a topsy turvy land located just beyond that 2D surface that anyone schooled before the "white board" knows as the chalk board. Students from my era knew just how dusty the tool of learning could be. We were all burdened at one time or other with cleaning the erasers. We all got called forward to write on that surface. Bad little boys would intentionally scratch their dirty fingernails across its dull green surface sending involuntary goosebumps up everyone's spine. Some of our teachers could draw an entire world on that board, and those images taught us things by graphic representation that followed us the rest of our lives. Here is a cartoon that mirrors an experience common to everyone of my era. We all suspected there might be a huge, strange world just on the other side of its flat reality. And, most of us drew those imaginary images in chalk when the teacher wasn't looking.
ChalkZone uses a simplified line image and characters to convey a fun experience on the other side of the chalk board reality. It was probably never meant for students whose primary education came from film, television, and pretty pictures in a book. Here you must imagine, define, and draw the solution to a problem. Here the animators were probably having far too much fun discovering what they could do with the lines. And, if you look closely, you'll see that every line drawn behind the board has a consistent chalk look. Look closely, listen carefully, and you'll see a gem of a production with a very wry wit and commentary on the world of adults through the unbiased eyes of children. It's all here; love, loyalty, insanity, order and chaos. If anything, the production may be a bit too cerebral in its own innuendos to please the Beavis and Butthead crowd. Here are cleaver story lines with much less absurdity than Spongebob Squarepants. This one fact may explain the incredible number of flatly stated negatives in the reviews listed here.
Finally, besides the subtle intelligence of clever animation, producer Bill Burnett has crafted a fine grouping of short songs as an aside to each adventure. Burnett is one of those rare song writers that delight in composing music that is serious, funny, absurdist and/or thought provoking. He doesn't mind composing in simple form while concentrating on the tune, not the orchestrated gimmick. Two of my favorites composed for ChalkTales are "Puttin on the Dog," a countrified, corny salute to the music of the hills, and a haunting, beautiful, yet sweetly short piece called, "Dream a Little Dream" that evokes some of the wonderful experiences to had in the land of nod. I was so taken by those songs, I went and visited Burnett's website at www.billburnettsongmine.com . You can also hear some of those ChalkZone songs on YouTube.
I highly recommend these toons to anyone who would enjoy visiting another less defined reality that depends on the creativity of children for its entire content.
