A keen but accident-prone dragon learns how to become a dragon at Dragon School.

With six godchildren, aged four to ten, in my life, I have spent a fair amount of screen-time watching (and re-watching and re-watching) animated films. I can recite paragraphs of dialogue from Cars and Madagascar. I have also read a few children’s books over the last ten years, all in an attempt to get the critters to go to sleep.

As my half-dozen loved the animated versions of the Gruffalo books and Revolting Rhymes, I was thrilled to hear that the Julia Donaldson book, Zog, illustrated by Axel Scheffler, was being turned into an animated film. I was even more thrilled when I heard a local boykie, Daniel Snaddon, was co-directing, and that the Oscar-nominated Cape Town-based studio, Triggerfish, was doing the animation. They impressed with Revolting Rhymes, and they carry on the tradition with Zog.

First off, the film is incredibly funny. It certainly made this adult laugh out loud. Donaldson has written it into the text – the learning-to-roar sequence, Zog sitting in the naughty corner, facing the only remaining wall of a ruin – but there is an added layer of humour in the animated version, a very enjoyable slapstick-style comedy – Zog flying into a tree, his face dropping, his high-pitched scream, etc.

As you would expect from Donaldson, the moral compass of the story points north, towards a better future. As the princess prefers being a doctor, to well, a princess prancing around, it is a film every girl and boy should see.

The original music is joyful and very apt for the physical humour and wittiness of the text. The different coloured dragons make up the perfect autumn colour pallet. There is no lull in the pace and the editing is precise – there is not an excessive frame.

That brings me to the animation. I am at a loss as how to best describe the CGI. Here goes. Combined with a balanced colour pallet, Zog comes across as a slick version of the old-timey clay animation I grew up with. It stands apart from the glossy animation we’ve become accustomed to. It has a tangible feel to it, which draws you into the film immediately.

I can recommend this film for all ages.

PRESS RELEASE

For Immediate Use

• ’Zog’ to screen as opening night film at Cape Town International Animation Festival

• Based on bestselling Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler picture book classic

• Produced by Magic Light Pictures and animated in Cape Town by Triggerfish

• Voice talent includes Kit Harington, Lenny Henry and Tracey Ullman

• Directed by two-time Oscar-nominee Max Lang (‘The Gruffalo’, ‘Room on the Broom’) and South African Daniel Snaddon (‘Stick Man’)

• Snaddon co-founded the animation festival; now returns with opening night film

Proudly presented by Animation SA, The Cape Town International Animation Festival (CTIAF) kicks off this Friday, 8 March 2019, with the African premiere of Zog, Triggerfish’s latest BBC Christmas special with Magic Light Pictures.

Here are eight reasons to book your tickets while you can:

#1. ‘Zog’ is based on the Julia Donaldson bestseller

Zog is based on Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s much loved 2010 picture book, which won the Galaxy National Children’s Book of the Year Award and has sold over 1.5 million copies.

Zog tells the tale of a keen but accident-prone dragon who gets himself into mischief while learning how to fly, roar and breathe fire in his first three years at Dragon School. Each year he meets a kindly young girl who patches up his bumps and bruises, but can she help him with his trickiest challenge yet: it’s Year Four, and he has to capture a princess!

#2. It stars Kit Harington as Sir Gadabout

Hugh Skinner (Harlots) plays the title role; Patsy Ferran (Jamestown) is the princess with medical ambitions; Sir Lenny Henry (Broadchurch) is the narrator; Kit Harington (Game of Thrones) is the bumbling knight Sir Gadabout; Tracey Ullman is Madame Dragon; and Rob Brydon is many characters, as usual for a Magic Light special.

#3. It’s from the team behind the Oscar-nominated ‘Revolting Rhymes’

Zog is the latest BBC Christmas special to be produced by Magic Light Pictures and animated in Cape Town by Triggerfish, following on from their multi-award-winning adaptations of Donaldson and Scheffler’s Stick Man (2015) and The Highway Rat (2017), and Roald Dahl’s Revolting Rhymes (2016), which was nominated for an Oscar last year.

#4. It was nearly as popular as the Queen at Christmas in the UK

Zog placed fifth on the UK’s viewing chart this Christmas, with only 200 000 less viewers than the Queen’s Christmas broadcast. The Telegraph gave the “hypnotising, inspiring tale for all the family” five stars; Den of Geek called it “a thing of perfectly spherical loveliness; it is lovely from every conceivable angle”; The Guardian warned parents “once this has been added to iPlayer you may never be allowed to watch anything else again on your TV – ever!”; and Donaldson told The Herald that Zog was her favourite BBC adaptation to date.

#5. It’s directed by South African Daniel Snaddon, who co-founded CTIAF

Zog is directed by two-time Oscar-nominee Max Lang (The Gruffalo, Room on the Broom) and South African Daniel Snaddon (Stick Man). Friday’s screening is particularly special for Snaddon as he was the founding director of Kunjanimation, which grew into CTIAF. “When we started the festival in 2011, it was one day of workshops at Wits and two nights of screenings at Alliance Francaise. It’s been amazing to watch it grow and be accepted by the international community. This year, they have Peter Ramsey, director of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse – just after he won the Oscar! And Aron Warner, who produced Shrek and The Book Of Life… I’m proud of the small role I played, but festival director Dianne Makings really deserves all the credit – what she’s done with the festival is remarkable.”

#6. You’ll relate to the clumsy dragon who just wants a gold star

Snaddon’s looking forward to Cape Town audiences falling in love with Zog, the keenest but clumsiest pupil in the class, who longs to win a gold star at Dragon School. “He’s super enthusiastic and he loves what he’s doing; he’s just not very good at it,” says Snaddon. “I think a lot of us feel like that. Hopefully not all the time but certainly there are times  when you know you’re falling short of your aspirations.” 

#7. It’ll make your daughter want to be a doctor, not a princess

Snaddon describes Zog as “this great playing-against-type, progressive story about two people who are told by society that this is the way you do things and say, ’No, we’re going to make up our own minds.’”

But he says he’s found it funny that Zog has been hailed as a feminist story. “I’m delighted, but I do think it’s an awfully low bar if all we’re advocating is that women can be doctors,” he says. “Maybe it’s because we’re saying that being a doctor is more aspirational than being a princess. That’s cool. My father-in-law is a doctor and my sister-in-law is studying to be a doctor – it’s a very worthwhile, noble pursuit.”

He recommends Cape Tonians go watch Zog, “because it’s funny, sweet, short and sharp, and it has really good values, especially if you have kids and don’t want them to be slaves to other people’s opinions.”

#8. It’ll make you feel patriotic

“Zog really is the product of some of South Africa’s finest digital artists,” says Snaddon. “We can get behind the Springboks or the Proteas or Ryk Neethling or any of our athletes because they are exceptional people on top of their game, doing amazing things on a world stage. You should go see Zog for that same reason; it’ll make you feel proudly South African!”

Zog will have its African premiere at 8pm this Friday, 8 March 2019, at The River Club in Observatory, Cape Town. The screening will be followed by Studio Ponoc’s animation anthology Modest Heroes. Tickets cost R50; bookings can be made at http://www.webtickets.co.za.

Watch and embed the trailer:

About CTIAF

Proudly presented by Animation SA, The Cape Town International Animation Festival takes place from 8 -10 March 2019 at The River Club in Observatory,  Cape Town. A full Festival pass (valid 8 to 10 March) costs R600. A day pass costs R280 and student passes cost R300 (tickets include access to all events and masterclasses). Tickets to screenings at the Outdoor Cinema cost R50 and access to the stop motion and Zoetrope workshops are free. Seats at all events are based on a first-come, first-serve basis. All events require a ticket for access, except the workshops at the clubhouse. Bookings can be made at Webtickets. For more information, visit http://www.ctiaf.com.

About Daniel Snaddon

Snaddon was born in New York but grew up in the Lowveld, where he started drawing comics and making video games and animations in high school.

After studying animation at Boston Media House in Johannesburg and Griffith University in Brisbane, he got his break at Bugbox Animation on The Adventures of Toby: Crunch Time, which won Best Animation at The International Christian Film Festival.

He joined Triggerfish as lead animator on their box office hit Khumba and has since co-directed Stick Man, which won the Cristal For Best Overall TV Production at The Annecy International Animation Festival in 2016, and been the animation supervisor on Revolting Rhymes, which won the very first European Animation Award for Best Character Animation in the TV category.

He’s also the co-founder, with his wife Julia Smuts Louw, of Draw For Life, a volunteer-based programme that teaches underprivileged learners the fundamentals of drawing for animation.

Snaddon is currently co-directing The Snail and The Whale, another Donaldson-Scheffler adaptation with Lang and Triggerfish for Magic Light Pictures. He’s also developing a feature film based on Daniel and James Clarke’s graphic novel Kariba.  

About Triggerfish

Established in 1996, Triggerfish is a Cape Town-based film and entertainment company. The studio has produced two of the top five highest-grossing South African feature films of all time: Adventures in Zambezia (2012) and Khumba (2013).

In collaboration with Magic Light Pictures, Triggerfish has also animated four BBC Christmas adaptations: Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s Stick Man (2015), The Highway Rat (2017), and Zog (2018), as well as the Oscar-nominated Revolting Rhymes (2016), based on the Roald Dahl classic. For more information, visit https://www.triggerfish.com/ and follow the animation studio on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.