Children and grownups all over the world are enthralled and captivated by the challenges and exploits of inspiring heroes, children, people, kings that are faithfully brought to life through the power and creativity of animation.
So, is the idea of an Animated Kid's Bible so far fetched?
Not really when you consider that animation is the most artistic and highest form of illustration that exists in these contemporary times. Furthermore illustration has been part of telling the story of the Bible to children since mankind has been able to document images.
Children love to be told stories, give them crayons and they will create pictures, play them a song and they will sing and dance to it, tell them a story and they will listen. Animated Children's Bible stories are just one step further in the evolution of telling this story which began with Gutenberg's publication of the Bible in 1450. Even that primitive book was elaborately illustrated with beautiful figures, flora and fauna.
There are many illustrated Bibles in existence and this includes everything from the etched woodcuts that decorated the pages of early Bibles to the illustrated children's favorite known as the Lion's Bible to the very controversial Japanese graphic novel known as the Manga Bible. The very first illustrated bible comic came from DC comics. DC Comics and Spire books also put out full cartoon versions of the Bible in the 1940s and 1950s. Like these Bible comics which are collected and respected by many enthusiasts as being genuine works of art, the Animated Kids Bible serves to dish up the moral lessons that our children need to learn while at the same time delivering timeless tales of courage, faith and endurance such as the tales of Noah, Abraham, John the Baptist and Jesus of Nazareth.
Whether we like it or not it is cartoons, graphic novels and animations that are grabbing our children's attention nowadays.
The success of animation by big time graphic novelists such as Frank Miller (who did the film noir called Sin City in 2005 and the story of Sparta called 300 in 2006) are certainly inspiring Christian animators as most graphic novels and animated films take the form of morality tales. This is exactly why the stories in the Bible so well suit the graphic animation format. Like a graphic novel most tales told in the Bible are morality tales with messages that warn us "not to go there" unless we end up like the tale's protagonist.
Furthermore the Bible contains some pretty spectacular scenarios that would put even James Cameron, Stanley Kubrick and Quentin Tarantino to shame. There is probably no creation story as incredible as the book of Genesis nor is there an apocalypse film on the market as powerful as the book of Revelation.
Don't get the idea that the Animated Kid's Bible is anything like Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments. These DVD videos are state of the art biblical animation in 3D-CGI and are exactly like the animation you see in major blockbuster films.
The Animated Kids Bible satisfies the imagination of children and encourages their education, with thrilling adventure stories from the bible, brought excitingly to life in language that children today can understand.
To preview go to http://www.thekidsbible.com or take a look at http://www.squidoo.com/AKB
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