I've been a sucker for Tim Burton ever since I saw "Beetljuice" back in '88.  When I first heard he attached his name to this project based on the strength of the original short, my ears perked up.  Throw in the name Timur Bekmambetov, who gave us the "Nightwatch" films and I knew we had something unique.  I hadn't heard of filmmaker Shane Acker before, but this trailer added him to my Cool Book pretty quickly.

And here's the original short that started it all, three years ago.  I'm pretty blown away by it, and I understand how it caught Burton's attention - despite the fact that it's CG and not stop motion.  As stunning as I find the visuals, the actual animation itself is pretty flawless.  Truly inspirational. 

Update on Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 10:37PM by Sruli Broocker

Update:  Here's a really great interview with Shane Acker, the filmmaker.  I love reading about the genesis of these stories, and what inspired the content and stylistic choices.