Simon Wells is an English-American film director of animation

Animation

Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...

 and live-action films. He is the great grandson of famous author, H. G. Wells

H. G. Wells

Herbert George Wells was an English author, now best known for his work in the science fiction genre. He was also a prolific writer in many other genres, including contemporary novels, history, politics and social commentary, even writing text books and rules for war games...

.

Born in Cambridge

Cambridge

The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...

, he attended De Montfort University

De Montfort University

De Montfort University is a public research and teaching university situated in the medieval Old Town of Leicester, England, adjacent to the River Soar and the Leicester Castle Gardens...

 where he studied audio-visual design. Upon graduating he found a job at Richard Williams's studio where he animated commercials and other projects.

Wells was a member of Amblimation

Amblimation

Amblimation was the animation production arm of Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, and was active from 1989 until about 1997.The feature animation studio was located in London, England, UK...

, a studio owned by Steven Spielberg

Steven Spielberg

Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...

, where he served as director on films such as An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West

An American Tail: Fievel Goes West is a 1991 American animated film produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio and released by Universal Pictures. It is the sequel to An American Tail, and the fourth installment in terms of the series' fictional chronology...

, We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story

We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (film)

We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story is a 1993 American animated film, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio, distributed by Universal Pictures, and originally released to theaters on November 24, 1993 for the United States. It was rated G by the MPAA...

and Balto

Balto (film)

Balto is a 1995 American animated comedy-drama film directed by Simon Wells and produced by Amblimation, and the first of the overall trilogy. The film is based on a true story about the dog of the same name who helped save children from the diphtheria epidemic in the 1925 serum run to Nome...

. Wells was set to direct a sequel to Casper

Casper (film)

Casper is a 1995 American comedy fantasy film starring Bill Pullman and Christina Ricci, based on the Casper the Friendly Ghost animated cartoons and comic books. The ghosts featured in the film were created through computer-generated imagery...

but the project was cancelled.

After the closure of Amblimation Wells joined Dreamworks

DreamWorks

DreamWorks Pictures, also known as DreamWorks, LLC, DreamWorks SKG, DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC, DreamWorks Studios or DW Studios, LLC, is an American film studio which develops, produces, and distributes films, video games and television programming...

 where he worked as storyboard artist on many animated projects, he also directed The Prince of Egypt

The Prince of Egypt

The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 American animated musical drama film and the first traditionally animated film produced and released by DreamWorks Animation. The film is an adaptation of the Book of Exodus and follows the life of Moses from being a prince of Egypt to his ultimate destiny to lead the...

which was nominated for an Annie Award

Annie Award

The Annie Awards have been presented by the Los Angeles, California branch of the International Animated Film Association, ASIFA-Hollywood since 1972...

.

In 2002 he directed his first live-action film, a film adaptation

The Time Machine (2002 film)

The Time Machine is a 2002 American science fiction film loosely adapted from the 1895 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells, and the 1960 film screenplay by David Duncan...

 of his great-grandfather's book The Time Machine

The Time Machine

The Time Machine is a science fiction novella by H. G. Wells, published in 1895 for the first time and later adapted into at least two feature films of the same name, as well as two television versions, and a large number of comic book adaptations. It indirectly inspired many more works of fiction...

.

In 2011 he co-wrote and directed Mars Needs Moms using motion-capture technology during the filming.

Film

Year	Film	Notes
1988	Who Framed Roger Rabbit Who Framed Roger Rabbit Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 American fantasy-comedy-noir film directed by Robert Zemeckis and released by Touchstone Pictures. The film combines live action and animation, and is based on Gary K. Wolf's novel Who Censored Roger Rabbit?, which depicts a world in which cartoon characters...	supervising animator
1989	Back to the Future Part II Back to the Future Part II Back to the Future Part II is a 1989 American science fiction comedy film and the second installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. It was directed by Robert Zemeckis, written by Zemeckis and Bob Gale, and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson...	consultant: future
1990	Back to the Future Part III Back to the Future Part III Back to the Future Part III is a 1990 American science fiction comedy Western film. It is the third installment of the Back to the Future trilogy. The film was directed by Robert Zemeckis and starred Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Mary Steenburgen, Thomas F. Wilson and Lea Thompson. The film...	thanks
1991	An American Tail: Fievel Goes West An American Tail: Fievel Goes West An American Tail: Fievel Goes West is a 1991 American animated film produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio and released by Universal Pictures. It is the sequel to An American Tail, and the fourth installment in terms of the series' fictional chronology...	director
1993	We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (film) We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story is a 1993 American animated film, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblimation animation studio, distributed by Universal Pictures, and originally released to theaters on November 24, 1993 for the United States. It was rated G by the MPAA...	director
1995	Balto Balto (film) Balto is a 1995 American animated comedy-drama film directed by Simon Wells and produced by Amblimation, and the first of the overall trilogy. The film is based on a true story about the dog of the same name who helped save children from the diphtheria epidemic in the 1925 serum run to Nome...	director
1998	Antz Antz Antz is a 1998 American computer animated action adventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation. It features the voices of well-known actors such as Woody Allen, Sharon Stone, Jennifer Lopez, Sylvester Stallone, Dan Aykroyd, Anne Bancroft, Gene Hackman, Christopher Walken, and Danny Glover as...	additional story artist
	The Prince of Egypt The Prince of Egypt The Prince of Egypt is a 1998 American animated musical drama film and the first traditionally animated film produced and released by DreamWorks Animation. The film is an adaptation of the Book of Exodus and follows the life of Moses from being a prince of Egypt to his ultimate destiny to lead the...	director
2000	The Road to El Dorado The Road to El Dorado The Road to El Dorado is a 2000 American animated adventure comedy film by DreamWorks. The soundtrack features songs by Elton John and Tim Rice, the music team from Disney's The Lion King....	additional story artist
	Chicken Run Chicken Run Chicken Run is a 2000 British stop-motion animation film made by the Aardman Animations studios, the production studio of the Oscar-winning Wallace and Gromit films...	additional story
2001	Shrek Shrek Shrek is a 2001 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. Loosely based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!...	special thanks
2002	The Time Machine The Time Machine (2002 film) The Time Machine is a 2002 American science fiction film loosely adapted from the 1895 novel of the same name by H. G. Wells, and the 1960 film screenplay by David Duncan...	director
	Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron is a 2002 American animated film that was released by DreamWorks. It follows the adventures of a young Kiger mustang stallion living in the 19th century wild west. The film, written by John Fusco and directed by Kelly Asbury and Lorna Cook, was nominated for the...	story artist
2003	Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas is a 2003 American animated swashbuckling fantasy aventure film produced by DreamWorks Animation, using traditional 2D animation with some 3D...	story artist
2004	Shrek 2 Shrek 2 Shrek 2 is a 2004 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film, produced by DreamWorks Animation and directed by Andrew Adamson, Kelly Asbury and Conrad Vernon. It is the second installment in the Shrek film series and the sequel to 2001's Shrek...	additional story artist
	Shark Tale Shark Tale Shark Tale is a 2004 American computer-animated comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation. In the story, a young fish named Oscar falsely claims to have killed the son of a shark mob boss to win favour with the mob boss' enemies and advance his own community standing...	additional story artist
2005	Madagscar Madagascar (2005 film) Madagascar is a 2005 computer-animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation, and released in movie theaters on May 27, 2005. The film tells the story of four Central Park Zoo animals who have spent their lives in blissful captivity and are unexpectedly shipped back to Africa, getting shipwrecked...	story artist
2006	Over the Hedge Over the Hedge (film) Over the Hedge is a 2006 computer animated family action comedy film based on the characters from United Media comic strip of the same name. Directed by Tim Johnson and Karey Kirkpatrick, and produced by Bonnie Arnold, it was released in the United States on May 19, 2006.The film was produced by...	story artist
	Flushed Away Flushed Away Flushed Away is a 2006 computer animated British film directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell. It is a partnership between Aardman Animations of Wallace and Gromit fame, and DreamWorks Animation, and is Aardman's first completely computer-animated feature as opposed to the usual stop-motion.The film...	story artist
2007	Shrek the Third Shrek the Third Shrek the Third is a 2007 American animated film, and the third film in the Shrek series. It was produced by Jeffrey Katzenberg for DreamWorks Animation, and is distributed by Paramount Pictures. It was released in U.S. theaters on May 18, 2007...	story artist
2008	Kung Fu Panda Kung Fu Panda Kung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures...	action sequence supervisor/story artists
2011	Mars Needs Moms	director/writer
	Kung Fu Panda 2	additional story/story artist

External links