Megamind American 3D Computer-Cartoon Animated

Megamind is a 2010 American 3D computer-animated superhero action comedy film directed by Tom McGrath. It was produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures. The film was released in the United States in Digital 3D, IMAX 3D and 2D on November 5, 2010. It features the voices of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross and Brad Pitt.

The film tells the story of a super-intelligent alien supervillain, Megamind, who after a long-lasting battle one day actually destroys his nemesis, the much-loved superhero Metro Man. Having the fictional Metro City for himself, Megamind finds out that his villainy has no purpose and thus creates a new superhero for him to fight.

Megamind received generally positive reviews from critics, praising its strong visuals, but criticizing its unoriginality. With a budget of $130 million, the film grossed over $321 million worldwide, and despite being a moderate box office success, it became one of the lowest grossing DreamWorks' CG animated films.

A short film, titled Megamind: The Button of Doom, was released on February 25, 2011, on the Megamind DVD and Blu-ray. Megamind received positive reviews from most critics, with the film garnering a 73% "fresh" rating on review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes based on 172 reviews with an average rating of 6.7. Its consensus states the film "regurgitates plot points from earlier animated efforts, and isn't quite as funny as it should be, but a top-shelf voice cast and strong visuals help make Megamind a pleasant, if unspectacular, diversion." Another review aggregate, Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated an average score of 63 based on 33 reviews.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times awarded the film three out of four stars, stating "This set-up is bright and amusing, even if it does feel recycled from bits and pieces of such recent animated landmarks as The Incredibles with its superpowers and Despicable Me with its villain." Stephen Holden, of The New York Times, positively wrote in his review, "Visually Megamind is immaculately sleek and gracefully enhanced by 3-D." Entertainment Weekly reviewer Owen Gleiberman graded the film a B+ and wrote, "...too goofy-surreal to pack a lot of emotional punch, but it's antically light on its feet, with 3-D images that have a lustrous, gizmo-mad sci-fi clarity." Peter Travers of Rolling Stone commented, "What this raucous 3D animated fun house lacks in originality (think bastard child of The Incredibles and Despicable Me) it makes up for in visual and vocal wit." In a mixed review, Betsy Sharkey of The Los Angeles Times wrote, "Just as Megamind struggles to find his center, at times, so does the film." Movie Room Reviews gave the film 4 out of 5 stars saying "In this film you will want to root for the villain".

The film also had theatrical releases around the world. It was supposed to be released in Japan sometime in 2011, but because of the earthquake and tsunami in Tōhoku of that year, the Japanese release has been postponed indefinitely. It was unknown if it would ever be released in Japan. However, it was later added by iTunes in the same region as a downloadable video.

Thomas & Friends Cartoon Animation Series

Thomas & Friends  the Tank Engine & Friends until 2002 is a British children's television series, which had its first broadcast on the ITV network on 4 September 1984. It is based on The Railway Series of books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher Awdry. These books deal with the adventures of a group of anthropomorphised locomotives and road vehicles who live on the fictional Island of Sodor. The books were based on stories Wilbert told to entertain his son, Christopher, during his recovery from measles. From Series one to four, many of the stories are based on events from Awdry's personal experience.

The series started production in 1983 by Britt Allcroft Productions, Clearwater Features Ltd David Mitton and Robert D. Cardona's company and the ITV company Central Independent Television. The series was originally shot and produced with live action models at the Clearwater in house studio in Battersea London, Series 1, then relocating to Shepperton Studios, Middlesex, southwest of London for subsequent Series'. The use of moving models was seen at the time of the show's conception as an effective method of animating the stories. Locomotives and other vehicles were operated by radio, while humans and animals were static figures. Stop-motion was occasionally employed for instances in which a human or animal character would move. Hand-drawn animation was used in Series 3 to create bees.

The original live action models were filmed on an extensive model railway layout built at the studios. The models were built to the 1:32 scale, known in model railway circles as "Gauge 1". The locomotives used chassis made by Märklin with specially made bodies. Along with the moving-eye and eyelid mechanisms and clay faces, these bodies also included smoke generators. Coaches and trucks were made using Tenmille kits. Later models were constructed entirely from scratch. Some of the models from the sister television series Tugs were reused in later episodes of the series.

Mike O'Donnell and Junior Campbell composed the show's original main title theme, incidental music and songs, (see List of Thomas & Friends songs), which were used for Series 1 to 7 comprising 182 episodes between 1984 and 2003.

In 2004, Robert Hartshorne took O'Donnell and Campbell's place as composer, while Ed Welch became the show's songwriter from Series 8 to The Great Discovery, and Welch left after The Great Discovery and Hartshorne took his place as songwriter from Series 12 and onwards. Peter Hartshorne joined Robert Hartshorne as composer and songwriter in 2011, starting with Day of the Diesels.