Pencils vs. Pixels is a pretty surface level look at the history of traditional 2d hand-drawn animation and the rise of CGI/3D. It doesn’t take too much of a adversarial tone (given the “vs” in the title) but it does come down on the side of retaining the 2d art form.

They nailed a lot of old school animators for interviews plus some name brand talent like Pete Docter, Seth MacFarlane, and Kevin Smith. Ming-Na Wen (Mulan) acts as the narrator (and animated character in a fun little end credit sequence which is worth watching through).

The film is very American – and Disney – centric. There’s maybe three references to Japanese animation which, note to film, is one of the stalwarts of classic hand-drawn animation. The film is so focused on Disney it occasionally made me wonder if it was their promotional materials (it’s not).

It occasionally wanders outside the Disney umbrella… but even then its largely a diversion into Don Bluth only as an excuse to introduce the Disney Renaissance. It notes that Disney didn’t adapt to the changing culture brought on by the 60s and early 70s but then skips to Bluth, ignoring Ralph Bakshi who was very much reacting to the culture shift of that time period.

But I get it, it’s a sub 90 mini overview of the state of animation and they can’t cover everything. What they do cover though is done well with a lot of interview subjects and a ton of archival footage and video reference.

This is a hit or miss doc but would be a great starting point if you are just getting into the history of animation. Just don’t think its covering everything and you’ll be alright.

Score: 77