Animation

"Beavis and Butt-head Do America's" impressive leap to the big screen ($20.1 million for a first-place finish and a record-setting December gross) was a vindication for its creator, Mike Judge, who had argued against releasing a live-action version of his MTV series. The sixth-best opening for an animated film, "Beavis and Butt-head" was also the fulfillment of a long-standing vision on the part of Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone.

The year is 2029, and man and machine have become one. In "Ghost in the Shell," an animated sci-fi thriller based on a Japanese comic book, humans have mechanically augmented bodies and can dive into the virtual world by plugging their brains directly into the Internet. "If man realizes technology is within reach, he achieves it," muses the heroine, Maj. Motoko Kusanagi, a tough, 21st century cop with a cybernetic body even Barbie would envy.

Rhythm & Hues is the digital effects company that made Babe the pig talk and did it so well that one of its owners won an Academy Award in March. Those Coke-swilling polar bears are theirs. And every time Eddie Murphy in "The Nutty Professor" goes from fat to thin or back again on screen, that's Rhythm & Hues' handiwork on display.

By now you've taken the kids to see "The Hunchback of Notre Dame." Maybe even twice. This leaves you with the problem of quenching the ensuing Disney Fever until next summer's probable blockbuster, "Hercules," comes along. Luckily, the bulk of Disney's animated features are available on home video. This guide is designed to provide children (and parents--you'll be watching too) with handy information about the best of Disney's releases.

In the kitchen of Aardman Animations' offices in London, there's a cabinet weighed down with all the awards the company has won in the past few years, including two Academy Awards for best animated short film, and some 30 other awards for one of those Oscar winners, "The Wrong Trousers." As Nick Park, the man responsible for a good many of those trophies, says, "It's a pretty heavy cabinet. It'll kill someone if it falls off the wall."

Who is Chuck Jones? Short answer: the mad genius behind Bugs Bunny. The long answer will be offered Monday night by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the form of a tribute to the 82-year-old animation artist and director, culminating in the presentation by Robin Williams of an honorary Oscar. The Oscar is one of two being presented in recognition of exceptional career achievement (the other going to Kirk Douglas).

Who is Chuck Jones? The short answer: the mad genius behind Bugs Bunny. The long answer will be offered Monday night by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in the form of a tribute to the 82-year-old animation artist and director, culminating in the presentation by Robin Williams of an honorary Oscar in recognition of exceptional career achievement. Charles Martin Jones created or was instrumental in creating such classic creatures as Daffy Duck, Wile E.

Mike Judge sits in his Austin studio and laughs when he thinks of the spastic, hard-rock music loving punks who used to push him around in junior high. In fact, that laugh should be familiar to much of the country by now. "Huh, huh, huh. Hey, Beavis, let's play frog baseball. Huh, huh, huh." "Yeah, Butt-head. Heh, heh, heh. Frog baseball is cool. Heh, heh, heh."