As art forms go, animation is still one of the youngest. It's been less than a century since the first cartoon was put on film and less than half a century since the first full-length animated film was made.
Now, with "The Secret of NIMH," an action fantasy in the classical style, comes The Second Age of Animation.
Here are a few highlights from the past:
--1831: Joseph Plateau invents the phenakistoscope, a device consisting of two discs. The bottom one has action drawings painted on it, the top one has slits in it. When both are rotated, the illusion of motion is born.
--1860: Desvignes designs the zoetrope, a shallow drum-shaped machine into which strips of pictures, each a little different from the others, is dropped. Also gives the illusion of motion.
--1891: Thomas Edison invents the kinetoscope and the motion picture is born. With it, the animated cartoon becomes a recognized form of entertainment.
--1906: J. Stuart Blackton produces the first cartoon on film for Vitagraph.
--1911: Winsor McCay of the New York Journal, known for his character Little Nemo, begins performing a vaudeville act, giving orders to Gertie the Dinosaur, who is animated and projected beside him. When she obeys his orders, audiences go wild.
--1912: Earl Hurd invents the celluloid sheet method which is still used (though the sheets are now plastic, they are still called "cels"), eliminating the need to redraw and repaint the background for each frame of film.
--1923: Walt Disney comes to Hollywood with his cartoons, a combination of live-action and animation, his "Alice in Cartoonland" series.
--1928: Mickey Mouse debuts in "Steamboat Willie," the first sound cartoon released.
--1932: United Artists releases "Flowers and Trees," the first cartoon in color, the first Academy Award for Walt Disney.
--1937: "Snow White," the first full-length animated feature is released.
--1958: Xerography processes adapted for animation, eliminating exorbitant process of hand-inking each drawing.
--1972: Ralph Bakshi changes the message in animated films with his first X-rated animation, "Fritz the Cat."
--1982: Don Bluth ushers in The Second Age of Animation with his first feature film, "The Secret of NIMH," employing classical animation techniques and finding new realms of creativity for the art.
"The Secret of NIMH" was produced by Don Bluth, Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy and directed by Bluth. It is based on the Newbery Award-winning book, "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien, with a story adaptation by Bluth, Pomeroy, Will Finn and Goldman. Jerry Goldsmith composed and conducted the songs and score, and Paul Williams penned the lyrics. Mel Griffin is production executive. Rich Irvine and James L. Stewart are executive producers.