Kennedy Cartoons was an animation studio founded in Toronto by animator Glen Kennedy in 1989, with a branch in the Philippines opening in 1992 (largely for ink-and-paint/camera work). It is known among animation fans for its varying animation quality and its many Off-Model moments. The studio is also known for its stretchy and bouncy character animation.
Some of its Manila staff (such as Annabelle Galvez, Joseph Balderas and Ronaldo Delfino) migrated to Toon City. After Kennedy closed, Glen founded One Shot Pro, which worked on Hoze Houndz. Glen has since become a freelance storyboard artist, with credits including Transformers: Rescue Bots and Arthur.
Here's Glen Kennedy's site: Kennedy Animation Inc.
Compare StarToons, which worked on some of Kennedy's cartoons.
Kennedy Cartoons worked on the following shows:
- Aladdin: The Series (12 episodes)List
- Bibi Blocksberg (animated adaptation)
- Bonkers (8 episodes)List (1 short)List
- Britannica's Tales Around the World (1 short)List
- Darkwing Duck (6 episodes)List
- Fantastic Four: The Animated Series (1 episode)List (plus the opening sequence with Encore Communications)
- Iron Man: The Animated Series (storyboards for season 1)
- Goof Troop (15 episodes)List (with assistance from the Manila branch, along with Wang Film and Bon Art on four episodes, plus the opening animation for the syndication airings)
- Mutant League (storyboards)
- Space Jam (uncredited, confirmed by several animators of the Philippines unit who worked on the film)
- The Pirates of Dark Water (uncredited; animator James Straus has mentioned working on it)
- Tiny Toon Adventures (17 episodes)List (with assistance from Fil-Cartoons and Wang Film) (layouts for 1 episode)List
- Timon & Pumbaa (assistance for 3 segments by Toon City; uncredited)
- What A Cartoon! Show (1 short)List
NOT animated by Kennedy Cartoons but similar in style:
- A Pup Named Scooby-Doo (animation by Wang Film and Cuckoo's Nest. The first season episodes featured Glen Kennedy as an animation supervisor. The episodes that are most Kennedy-esque are "A Bicycle Built For Boo", "The Sludge Monster From the Earth's Core," "Now Museum, Now You Don't", "Scooby Dude" and "Lights, Camera, Monster".)
- Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers: "Fake Me To Your Leader" (animation by Wang Film and Cuckoo's Nest. Glen Kennedy supervised the animation in this episode while in Taiwan.)
- Hägar the Horrible: Hagar Knows Best: (animation by Wang Film and Cuckoo's Nest. Glen Kennedy was one of the animation directors and some scenes are animated in his signature style.)
- Jetsons: The Movie (animation by Wang Film, Cuckoo's Nest and Fil-Cartoons. Glen Kennedy was an animator and his style is unmistakable. (see about 31 seconds in)).
- The Smurfs: "A Maze of Mirrors" (animation by Wang Film and Cuckoo’s Nest. The seventh and eighth season episodes featured Glen Kennedy as an animation supervisor.)
- The Wacky World of Tex Avery (the opening sequence was animated by Animasia, a Singapore-based studio where Glen Kennedy was a staff member.)
- Yogi's Treasure Hunt: "Goodbye, Mr. Chump" (animation by Wang Film and Cuckoo's Nest. Glen Kennedy supervised the animation in this episode.)
as One Shot Pro:
- Hoze Houndz (seasons 2-5, with DQ Entertainment, Sriven Multi-Tech and PiP Animation Services)
Tropes found in Kennedy Cartoons' work:
- Animation Bump: Certain animators from the studio (such as Glen Kennedy) went above and beyond by producing full animation for their sequences. For a TV production, this was (and still is) rare, especially from a domestic studio.
- Say what you will about the character designs, but when it comes to the amount of drawings, the first few minutes of "Fields of Honey" are exceptional. The same is true for the first short in "Best O' Plucky Duck Day".
- Generally people will agree that the best animated sequences were done by Jon Mcclenahan (who would later found the animation studio StarToons) and John Williamson.
- Art Evolution: When the studio began, Glen Kennedy's bouncy style heavily influenced many of the animators, but his visual influence became less and less evident with each passing Disney show, to the point that his style is barely present in Aladdin.
- Declarative Finger: Characters animated by Kennedy often have a tendency to do this as they speak.
- Depending on the Artist: And how. One of the major differences between Kennedy and other studios is how easy it is to differentiate between different animation styles during an episode. Opinions differ on whether this is a good thing; proponents like that an individual's thumbprint is still seen in the final animation because it gives the work a more personal touch, while opponents consider this is a sloppy practice because to them, if the designs/animation style aren't 100% uniform throughout the episode, it's considered Off-Model.
- Deranged Animation: Some scenes Kennedy animated for TTA that usually lasted for a split second or two.
- David Feiss animated on a few of the early Kennedy episodes (most notably in "Buster and the Wolverine" and "You Asked For It Part II"), and his scenes stick out quite a bit, looking somewhat similar to Cow and Chicken.
- Everybody Do the Endless Loop: In the Tiny Toons work, sometimes characters would do a rather nutty dance move reminiscent of Kennedy's earlier work on A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, and on occasion, characters may break out into dance for no reason (such as in "Buster and the Wolverine"). This practice was quickly nixed after the first few KC episodes, though. This did still pop up in some of their later work, including the can-can scenes in the Goof Troop episode "Cat's Entertainment" (though they also did the Dancing Theme opening for the Syndication run, this trope isn't as blatant there) and during Johnny's rap in the Fantastic Four episode "Mole Man".
- Signature Style: As far as Glen Kennedy is concerned, bouncy and stretchy characters, mouths that are frequently in the "o" position, shuffling feet, and many oft-repeated sight gags (such as characters stretching to absurd lengths before zipping off-screen). This YTP encapsulates many of those traits.
- David Feiss would animate his scenes in an angular, almost deranged quality. This is especially noticeable on Plucky, whose beak seems to change often.
- Thick-Line Animation: Most pronounced in the Tiny Toon episodes "Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow" and "Buster and the Wolverine".
- Wild Take: Glen Kennedy could do some really crazy and off-the-wall wild takes that would've done Tex Avery and Bob Clampett proud. This is mostly prominent in A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and their earlier Tiny Toons work.
