The Chicago 10 and Cartoon Counter-Culture

Animated movies still haven't fully made the transition from family oriented fare to a more "adult" state of mind. The New York Times profiled Brett Morgan's (The Kid Stays in The Picture) Chicago 10, an animated documentary that tells the story of the infamous 1969 trial of the Chicago Seven as possibly the next step in animated films.

In 1968, eight student protest leaders and counter-culture figures were charged with conspiracy to incite violence at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Originally, the group was comprised of eight defendants including Abbie Hoffman, Jerry Rubin and Black Panther Party activist Bobby Seale -- Seale's case was later separated from the group. It took two years and a series of appeals for the seven defendants to finally be found not guilty of the charges. Morgan's film uses motion capture animation to re-create the events of the trial. He says, "I didn't want the film to be a valentine to the '60s. I didn't want to see a bunch of old men talking about how vibrant they were in their youth -- they'd be looking at their grandfathers." Morgan worked with original trial transcripts for the film with voices provided by Mark Ruffalo, Hank Azaria, and Nick Nolte

The news is good for Morgan, because there is already speculation of a bidding war when the film opens up the Sundance Film Festival. Set for a 2007 release, we'll have to see if Morgen can successfully blend his style of flashy animation with political commentary.