Life is but a dr...drawing

There is something mesmerising about animation films. Watching them always takes me back to being a kid watching the roadrunner cartoons on a Saturday morning and things like that. There is an innocence in animation that comes so naturally to the art form you can't help but love it.

As I write this I'm watching Up, not for the first time yet still that opening has left me with a tear in my eye - and a few on the floor but who's counting! What a truly magnificent start to a film. The way it just floors you in minutes, animation shouldn't make you cry!

Or should it? After all there are scores of animation films that have been known for their sad scenes. When Mufasa dies in The Lion King - since the invention of DVD I have skipped that scene and will continue to do so because that is bloody upsetting!

Bambi's mother dying is another such tearjerker. All Dogs Go To Heaven again is ridiculously depressing at times.

Right let's move away from admitting that animation upsets me because that is not a good look nor why I wanted to talk about animation.

Disney animation is of course brilliant and since the creation of Pixar, animation has gone to a whole new level but for me the two types of animation that draw me in most are Anime and stop motion.

Studio Ghibli has produced some of the most beautiful examples of anime in history and Spirited Away is up there in my list of greatest movies of all time. This film is spellbinding. The vision of director Hayao Miyazaki is awe-inspiring. You can't help but be immersed in the fantastical world that Chihiro finds herself sucked into and some of the other worldly creations are sublime. The talent to make a film like this is mind blowing considering every single scene is hand drawn and if you have never seen a Studio Ghibli film then start with Spirited Away and I recommend Howls Moving Castle and the moving Princes Mononoke.

Stop motion animation is an altogether different type of creation but equally as stunning as anime. The Nightmare Before Christmas was the first time I'd seen a stop motion animation and I just fell in love with the whole look and atmosphere of the film. Yes I do love Tim Burton but that's not why I love this film. The painstaking patience it takes to make a movie like this is amazing. It's not just what's going on centre frame that is amazing it's the background and scenery of the entire film that is magnificently created. Christmas town is a place I would love to visit!

Animation allows you to envisage a story that is not possible to create in the real world. It's escapism in the truest sense of the word. Sometimes we all need to just get away from the reality we live our lives in and submerge ourselves in Halloween Town or mythical Japan.

I could really go on about animation for hours, I will be coming back to this magnificent art form on many occasions here at The Armchair Director.

I've decided the next time I throw a party it will have an animation theme. So fans I ask you this, which animation character would you be?

Tim Burton - the man, the legend

We all have one, whatever it is we love, be it film, music, sport, anything. One person, one band, one game that above all else makes us say "if I could be anyone", "write any one song" or "play any game"

"I'd choose..."

For me, in film. Simple. I'd be Tim Burton, this guy takes an idea, an image, a book and adapts, twists, darkens and moulds it into a visionary piece of work.

I've lost count of the times I've said to myself "god I wish I had his brain!"

Now we all know film is subjective so don't for a second think I'm trying to tell you to feel this way, just let my love of an artist spark the thought in your head of 'who inspires me?'

My first experience of Tim Burton at work would have been Batman, I certainly remember watching it on video as a kid. My over riding memory of that experience was the darkness, literally pitch black. So yes, I was too young to appreciate his talent as I was four when it came out, boy genius I was not!

The first film I saw of his and I thought 'wow this is really my kinda director' was of course, Edward Scissorhands. The scene that did it for me - as I'm sure you are aware when I talk about scenes in films I'm very visual - the ice sculpture scene. Edward sculpting a huge ice angel making it snow as Kim dances under him, with Danny Elfman conducting a moving soundtrack as we see and feel Kim falling for Edward. Sensational. To this day when I watch that film with someone who hasn't seen it I get excited at that scene.

From then on I was hooked, The Nightmare Before Christmas is, in our house, one of those films that 'it's not Christmas until we have seen this' - as is It's a Wonderful Life, we will get on to Christmas films later my friends - one year we sat till the early hours to catch the film on itv. Yes we had it on DVD but seeing it on tv just adds that extra special sparkle to it.

The film is breathtakingly stunning at times and the scene that stands out for me is after Jack has been shot from the sky he lays to rest in the arms of an angel. So simple but beautifully striking.

It's clear I love Tim Burton, anyone who knows me would tell you that. His ability to make a film that is dark yet innocent is a talent I think is hugely underrated. One of his criticisms down the years is his inability to tell a story - have you seen Big Fish? Honestly, some people are impossible to please!

Talking of Big Fish, that was the first film I cried at at the cinema I believe. When Edward Bloom is being carried to the water as he says goodbye to all his friends before swimming free - yes I was gone, in bits. Tears and snot everywhere. So what. Deal with.

So who or what inspires you? Why? Whoever they are or whatever it is surround yourself with the inspiration. Never listen to anyone telling you you are wrong and never be afraid to say what it is you feel.

Check me out with the inspirational speech, can you tell I've just watched Dead Poets Society?

I'm off to stand on a table...