It's Alive

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is currently hosting a wonderful exhibit of animatronic characters and creatures, called "It's Alive." Guests can view character designs, maquettes and animatronic puppets from a variety of movies including Labyrinth, Star Wars, Spiderman 2 and The Dark Crystal.

The exhibit showcases work from such premier creature-effects shops as The Jim Henson Creature Shop, Tippett Studio and Amalgamated Dynamics and features the work of artists Rick Baker, Lyle Conway and Ray Harryhausen.



Among my favorite pieces were three versions of the Audrey 2 plant puppets from the 1986 film Little Shop of Horrors. In my opinion, Audrey 2 is still one of the best animatronic characters created for film. It was interesting to see the massive bundle of cables jutting from the neck of the medium-sized plant.



It was also cool to come face to face with iconic characters from my childhood, including Sir Didymus, from Labyrinth, and Johnny 5, from Short Circuit.





The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. The exhibit runs through August 20 and is open Tuesday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends, from noon to 6 p.m. Admission is free.