Awesome Animation

Animator What Pixel You On takes the retro pixel art style and breathes new life into it by popping it into the third dimension. If our old Nintendos could have done this, we’d probably still be playing them.

Stop-motion master Alex Kobbs made this montage featuring LEGO-fied versions of last year’s most popular video games – from Portal 2 to Skyrim – for the 15th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.

250 VFX artists – including some from Hollywood – are contributing time to this Anime series about two lovers who have never physically met – yet are connected psychically. Help fund production here.

Disney UK outs 2 minutes of footage from Pixar’s eagerly-anticipated human-filled flick. In this clip, Merida (voiced by Kelly Macdonald) shows off her superior bow (and fabric-ripping) skills.

Lord Broadforce seems to be a cruel soldier, but when it comes to aliens, he’s quite the expert. A short film from the Media Design School, based on WETA Workshop’s Dr Grordbort universe.

CGI stop-motion video showing the assembly of the LEGO Millenium Falcon. Francisco Prieto spent three years modeling bricks and animating. The song is Chambermaid Swing by Parov Stelar.

One of the songs on the soundtrack for Cameron Crowe’s We Bought a Zoo. Most of the songs were composed by Sigur Ros leader Jónsi, although this track was co-written by Crowe.

A short film by Digital Miso about a man who has synesthesia, a neurological condition wherein a stimuli activates multiple senses. In this man’s case, sounds cause him to see colored blocks.

Sit back, put on your headphones, and let your eyes and ears drink in this ethereal animated music video by WINTR for Swedish alt-pop artists Niki & The Dove. Get the track here for free.

Green UK energy company Ecotricity would like to put an end to dependence on traditional energy sources. Let’s say goodbye to the old by knocking down some anthropomorphized cooling towers.

Sorry Chris Evans, but this minifig does a better job of portraying the Star Spangled Avenger. Watch him tear the flesh out of his enemies. This Cap would have punched his way out of the ice.

Power of the horse! FULL FORCE! This throwback from students of The Animation Workshop is the opening sequence of a mind-blowing 80s cartoon that never existed. Buy the soundtrack here.

Playmates Toys is set to release a line of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles merchandise based on the upcoming animated TV series from Nickelodeon. The Ninja Stealth Bike is radical. (Thanks, Kyle!)

Joel Trussell’s music video for The First Time I Ran Away, a soothing track from indie artist M. Ward. The song is from the Oregon native’s upcoming album A Wasteland Companion. Pre-order here.

Another touching gem from StoryCorps. Because of their initials, Ruben P. Salazar and Rachel P. Salazar ended up with similar email addresses. A mistakenly sent email brought them together.

Jeff Tweedy and the band enlist the help of Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto and a can of Wilco spinach for their quirky new animated music video for Dawned on Me. If you don’t like Popeye, it’s still a great song.

An Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Short Film, The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore is an “allegory about the curative powers of story.” Also available as an interactive book.

Stop-motion master Patrick Boivin pits the original Optimus Prime against the Michael Bay version in an interactive fight with two possible finishers for each Autobot. G1 All the way!

Directed by Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal, Chico & Rita is a love story set in 1948, a time rich in both conflict and music. A nominee for Best Animated Feature at this year’s Academy Awards.

(NSFW: Language) RL7 is a war machine, a robot made for combat. But it keeps having what it claims are memories and dreams. A short film by concept designer and VFX artist Aaron Sims.

A dark comedy by Felix Massie about the mundane, absurd and random cruelties of life. Don’t let the primitive animation fool you – this is still a great and superbly written short film.

It used to be that CGI cinematics in games were the things you skipped, but DIGIC proves these sequences can be powerful, dramatic, and every bit as good as anything you’d see in the theater.

A pirate digs for buried treasure, and gets an unexpected surprise in place of his usual bounty. A clever and funny claymation short courtesy of Samuel Lewis and Oh Yeah Wow.