AFI FEST Los Angeles International Film Festival 2009

Marking his return to animation after 20 long years, director Ji_í Barta’s latest wicked brew is a welcome reminder of why stop-motion fans consider him one of the few true masters. Barta’s previous works, including THE PIED PIPER (1985), have been notable for their distinctive aesthetics and a knack for exploring deep, daring themes. These qualities energize IN THE ATTIC, a grand, ingenious fairy tale about friendship and standing up to tyranny. When Buttercup, the fairest doll in the land is kidnapped, it falls to her best friends—Teddy, Sir Handsome, and the spastic ball of clay Schubert—to undertake an epic quest to the darkest reaches of the attic to save her. Barta’s inventive and original world of misfit toys is a fully realized fantasy realm that will delight the young and the not-so-young alike.

–Matt Bolish