Wednesday, 4 January 2012

Non-Disney Career


  • Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Adventure (1977); Goldberg was an assistant animator in this animated film about a group of toys, Raggedy Ann being a rag doll. These toys go on a quest to rescue a French doll who has been kidnapped by a pirate. The film itself isn't a great film, but the animation in it is really smooth, and "squash and stretch" is used very effectively to make the soft toys look as though they are a bit floppy. Raggedy Ann's hair also moves behind her head very well. 
Raggedy Ann in Raggedy Ann & Andy: A Musical Advernture

  • Ziggy's Gift (1982); Working through Richard Williams' studio in L.A., Goldberg was an animator on this TV short about the joy of Christmas, which was a Christmas special, based on the comic stip Ziggy. This was the first project that Goldberg worked on with his wife, Susan. This TV short also won an Emmy for "outstanding animated program". I really like this animation because it's so funny and cute, but it's also very simple. The animation is also very smooth and clear, so it is easy to tell what's going on.

  • Goldberg is well known for having founded his own animation studio in London, called Pizazz Pictures; a studio dedicated to creating animated television commercials, which was very successful until, after 6 years, he closed it in order to focus on his work at Disney.
  • Rupert and the Frog Song (1985); Eric Goldberg was an animator on this musical short about Rupert the Bear and a group of musical frogs which he befriended. Rupert was a character of a well-known children's program during the 90's, which I myself remember watching. The video below isn't the whole episode but it is the moment when Rupert first sees the frogs and I think it shows the great animation used in this cartoon, particularly at the end. It is also well synchronised with the music, overall very well done and I found it quite entertaining to watch, even at my age.

  • Whilst working on Aladdin, Goldberg was also working MC Skat Kat's music video for Big Time. He completed it in 1992 but it was never aired. I find it interesting how the cat in this music video pulls  a lot of similar faces to the Genie in Aladdin, so it is likely that some inspiration for the cat's character design came from the Genie. I like how the singers have been turned into cats, but they have been charactatured so you can still recognise who they are supposed to represent, however I don't like the song.
  • Goldberg spent some time working on Universal Studios' Where the Wild Things Are. However when there was a hold up in development and the film was put on hold, Goldberg moved on to work on Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
  • Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003); Goldberg was the animation director on this film. It was his first film working for Warner Bros. and the first project for many years which wasn't made for Disney. The film is actually pretty good, and the animation works really well with the live action because they seem to be able to fit in the same world together without either of them looking out of place; a triumph for the animators. Goldberg himself also provided the voices for Tweety Bird, Marvin the Martian and Speedy Gonzalez.

  • A Monkey's Tale (2006); Goldberg directed this animated short, which was only 12 minutes long, for  a Buddhist cultural centre in Hong Kong as a fable for teaching people about greed. However, there are no copies of this animation online.
  • Boy's Night Out (2003); far from the family-friendly style of Disney films, Goldberg served as an additional animator on this short animation, directed by Bert Klein and Teddy Newton. Some parts of this are a bit uncomfortable to watch and makes you think "oh great, pervy men -_-", but as it gets further into the storyline, it becomes very funny and the end ties up well.


  • Fat Albert (2004); taken from the cartoon series Fat Albert, Goldberg was an animator on part of this film where the cartoon characters escape from the TV, into the real world. It was directed by Joel  Zwick, under 20th Century Fox.


  • Son of the Mask (2005); the sequel to The Mask (1994), Goldberg was an animator on this movie. It was directed by Lawrence Guterman through Dark Horse Entertainment. However it suffered bad reviews, and made a gross loss of about $66,263,830. Personally, I don't think the film is as bad as what critics said, but it's not a great film either; namely the storyline is a pore. Which is a shame because the animation has been cleverly done.

  • Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry (2005); instead of being an animator for this project, Goldberg was a layout artist. It was directed by Bill Kopp through Turner Entertainment. I like this film because I always liked Tom and Jerry cartoons when I was younger, having been brought up watching them due to how much my Granddad loved watching them. So what I especially like about this movie is that, even though it is a relatively new movie, they have still managed to keep the classic Tom and Jerry style, rather than trying to update it. 


  • The Pink Panther (2006); Goldberg was an animator on the opening credits of this movie. The animation in the title sequence set the film up to being a very funny film, so since it's a comedy, is doing its job well. Many people are familiar with the Pink Panther cartoons, so the film opens with the familiar face of the Pink Panther, drawing in people's attention so that they're more inclined to watch it; using Pink Panther also helps set up for a comedy as the Pink Panther cartoons are known for being funny.

  • Tom and Jerry Tales episode 5; Din-o-sores/Freaky Tiki/Prehisterics (2006); Goldberg was an animator on this one episode of Tom and Jerry Tales. I like Tom and Jerry as a series, and this episode is in line with the classic Tom and Jerry style, great work. The timing is excellent, the storylines are funny and, even though there is not usually any talking, it is still clear what is happening.

  • Pups of Liberty (2009) is a film about the Boston Tea Party, aimed at children, using cats as British colonists and dogs as American colonists. I think this is a good method of teaching children about historical events, which would otherwise probably not interest them at all. The characters in this are well-animated, and their design is quite cute and simple, so is great for the target audience. Goldberg was the lead animator of this film and it is his most recent project that has not been made through Disney.







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