This paper considers the concept of movement in animation films expressed in the kinesic performance of the character(s). Movement is of primary concern in this simple definition and in earlier critical analyses of animation, Sergei Eisenstein “recognised ‘if it moves, then it’s alive'” (Leyda, 1988:54 quoted in Wells, 1998:14). As an animator, Norman McLaren believed “the most important thing in film is motion, movement” (in Bendazzi, 1994:117), whilst Wells describes animated films as “the artificial creation of the illusion of movement in inanimate lines and forms” (1998:10).

In animation the issue of movement is central to any discussion of its nature, irrespective of its form, style or process of creation.