An Imaginative World of Fun

"Tchou - Tchou" was a delightful little animated film.  I found myself immediately in awe with the highly-detailed block town that Co Hoedeman created.  The way he created and animated his block characters was unlike anything I had ever seen before...I loved how each side of the block showed a different side of the character.  I enjoyed when there was a 3/4 angle of the character, and you got to see both sides of the character's legs moving.  That was quite unique.  The dragon also was a joy to watch - the amount of detail and careful effort that went in to moving each one of the dragon's individual body sections was amazing.  But it also had an engaging story, a perfectly paced edge-of-your-seat suspense.  The sound effects for the dragon were great as they further enhanced this menacing creature.  And of course the ending was a delightful surprise, as you finally discover why the film is entitled "Tchou-Tchou".  I can only imagine how much fun Hoedeman had playing around with his block world.  This film truly brought be back into the mind of a kid again.  It reminded me of a picture book I used to look at time and time again: "Look-Alikes Jr.", by Joan Steiner.  It was kind of like an "I-Spy".  The book is filled with beautifully detailed scenes depicting normal things, such as a school bus, a kitchen, a racetrack, and yet if you look at it, you will notice familiar objects, usually normal household thingamabobs, that make up these bigger objects.  For example, the school bus is actually made out of pencils, doughnuts, jacks, crayons, buttons, and so forth.  As a kid, I remember staring at these pictures for hours, taking in all the detail.  Ah, I loved that book.