Jim Kammerud (born July 23, 1960) is an American director, writer, producer and animator, best known for his work with

the Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

. Kammerud attended the

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

in the mid-1980s. There he developed his cartooning style by working as an editorial cartoonist, as well as creating the comic strip "It's Working", for ''

The Lantern ''The Lantern'' is an independent daily newspaper in Columbus, Ohio, by students at Ohio State University. It is one of the largest campus newspapers in the United States, reaching a circulation of 15,000. Copies of the paper are free and avail ...

'', the University's student newspaper. Also on staff at ''The Lantern'' at the time was Jeff Smith, later known for the comic book ''

Bone A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, ...

''. After college, while still living in Columbus, Ohio, Kammerud and Smith formed the Character Builders animation studio. There, Kammerud began working on ''

Rover Dangerfield ''Rover Dangerfield'' is a 1991 American animated musical comedy film starring the voice talent of comedian Rodney Dangerfield, who also wrote and co-produced the film. It is about a street dog named Rover, who is owned by a Las Vegas showgirl. ...

'' and worked as an animator and storyboard artist for ''

Bébé's Kids ''Bebe's Kids'' (also marketed as ''Robin Harris' Bébé's Kids'') is a 1992 American adult animated comedy film produced by Hyperion Studio for Paramount Pictures. Directed by Bruce W. Smith, in his directorial debut, it is based upon comedia ...

'' as well as ''

Space Jam ''Space Jam'' is a 1996 American live-action/animated sports comedy film directed by Joe Pytka, with animation sequences directed by Bruce W. Smith and Tony Cervone, and written by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris, and Herschel ...

''. He became involved with

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

as sequence director for the additional animation in '' Pocahontas II: Journey to a New World'' and later joined to direct and design the new characters in '' The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea''. His next film as director was '' 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure'', when he also worked on part of the screenplay. His second film where he worked on the screenplay was ''

Tarzan II ''Tarzan II'' (also known as ''Tarzan 2'' and ''Tarzan 2: The Legend Begins'') is a 2005 American direct-to-video musical animated film, and the third and final Disney ''Tarzan'' film after ''Tarzan and Jane'', though it chronologically takes pla ...

'', in addition to producing the film, and his most recent Disney project, ''

The Fox and the Hound 2 ''The Fox and the Hound 2'' is a 2006 American animated direct-to-video buddy comedy drama film produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Disneytoon Studios, and an intermediate follow-up to the 1981 Walt Disney Animation Studios film '' The Fox and ...

'' is his first film without co-direction from Brian Smith. He also worked on ''The Aristocats II'', which has since been shelved after the decision to drastically reduce the number of direct-to-video sequels made by Disney. He has also done storyboards for many non-Disney animated films with Toronto-based animation/animatic studio House of Cool, including ''

Gnomeo & Juliet ''Gnomeo & Juliet'' is a 2011 computer-animated romantic comedy film directed by Kelly Asbury from a screenplay by Rob Sprackling and John Smith. It is loosely based on the play '' Romeo and Juliet'' by William Shakespeare and features the voi ...

'', '' Ice Age: Continental Drift'', ''

Escape from Planet Earth ''Escape from Planet Earth'' is a 2013 computer animated comedy-adventure science fiction film produced by Rainmaker Entertainment and distributed by The Weinstein Company in the United States and Entertainment One in Canada, directed by Cal Br ...

'', '' Epic'', ''

The Nut Job ''The Nut Job'' is a 2014 computer-animated heist comedy film directed by Peter Lepeniotis, who also wrote the film with Lorne Cameron. It stars the voices of Will Arnett, Brendan Fraser, Liam Neeson, Katherine Heigl, Stephen Lang, Jeff Dunham ...

'' and ''

Rio 2 ''Rio 2'' is a 2014 American 3D computer-animated musical comedy film produced by Blue Sky Studios and directed by Carlos Saldanha. It is the sequel to the 2011 computer-animated film ''Rio'' and the second installment of the ''Rio'' franchise. ...

''. In 2009, Kammerud was featured in ''

The Cartoonist ''The Cartoonist: Jeff Smith, Bone and the Changing Face of Comics'' is a 2009 documentary about the life and art of Jeff Smith, the creator of the ''Bone'' comic series and described as one of America's greatest living cartoonists. The feature- ...

,'' a documentary film on the life and work of Jeff Smith, creator of ''Bone.''

Filmography

Notes and references

External links

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Ultimate Disney Interview
1960 births Living people Animators from Ohio American film directors American film producers American storyboard artists American animated film directors Walt Disney Animation Studios people Blue Sky Studios people Illumination (company) people Ohio State University alumni American male screenwriters {{US-film-producer-stub