Saturday, December 04, 2004
Animated Children
The children huddled around the computer screen, hearing their voices coming out of the speakers and watching with amazement the colorful, one-dimensional figures with big heads dance across the screen.
For two New Britain residents and one Plainville resident, supplying the voices for characters in an animated film represented an experience outside the traditional middle-school spheres of drama and athletics.
The youth were part of a cast of nine that supplied the voices of characters for the Hartford Animation Institute’s inaugural full-length cartoon show, which premieres on television in December.
The half-hour film, called “It’s Christmas, Dr. Joe,” is based on the “Scruples” cartoon characters created by Hartford animator Joe Young. The characters are a group of sensitive orphans who are trying to find the real meaning of Christmas while dealing with bullying, diversity and other social issues, Young said.