Review: PUSS IN BOOTS

For a movie that centers on the unlikely friendship between a talking boot-wearing feline and a sentient bank-robbing egg, as they search for a golden egg laying duckling who lives in a castle in the clouds, Puss in Boots is incredibly straight forward in its narrative. You have seen this story before, and if you were born pre-Y2K, you might have heard a few of the nursery rhymes it amalgamates. There are no surprises and it pretty much plays out the way you expected it from beginning to end. But it remains good harmless fun within tradition of DreamWorks’ double entendres.

Review: KUNG FU PANDA 2

Now, this is my kind of family movie. Kung Fu Panda is exactly what it promises the title says it will be; it is about kung fu, a panda, and because this is the sequel you know the stakes are going to be higher than in the first one. Last time Po (voiced by Jack Black), the cutely overweight panda, became the Dragon Warrior after defeating Tai Lung, his master’s old apprentice, and training alongside the Furious Five. Now the evil Lord Shen (Gary Oldman), a peacock with serious daddy issues and a fear of pandas, has taken over China and the invention of gun powder threatens the very existence of Kung Fun; it's up to Po and the Furious Five to stop his evil reign and restore the balance to… I guess the force? Kung fu, maybe?

HOP trailer cracks open!

In this film by the makers of Despicable Me, Russell Brand plays the Easter Bunny, who is reluctant to take up the job of his ancestors. The film also stars James Marsden, Marshmallow Peeps, and poop made of Jelly Beans. I think Russell Brand is hilarious, personally, and who doesn't love crazy Easter based shenanigans?

Dreamworks' "Rise of the Gaurdians" gets cast

Glendale, CA – January 27, 2011 – DreamWorks Animation SKG, Inc. (Nasdaq: DWA) today
named its all-star cast for Rise of the Guardians, featuring Chris Pine in the lead role of Jack
Frost, together with Alec Baldwin, Hugh Jackman, Isla Fisher and Jude Law. The film,
scheduled for release on November 21, 2012, is based on “The Guardians of Childhood,” a series 
of highly anticipated children’s books by William Joyce.

Review: THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA, VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER

The Narnia films have served as child-friendly option to Lord of the Rings; that is what they are and they are honest about it. The first two books (or second and fourth depending the order you prefer) had a very straight forward formula: there is trouble in a magical kingdom, human kids are magically transported there, they face great odds followed by an epic battle, and Aslan appears at the very last minute to save the day; Voyage of the Dawn Treader, however, is quite different. The third (or fifth) book is more of a travelogue across a sea of wonders than the battle for the kingdom, like its predecessors were. And I can understand why adapting this installment would be a greater challenge than the first two. Sadly, the filmmakers did not live up to the challenge. By collapsing the story to serve formula, and not taking the time to appreciate the world of Narnia like its predecessors Voyage of the Dawn Treader turns out to be a very unimaginative film. This is very disappointing because the book is possibly the most imaginative and surreal of the whole series.

Review: ICE AGE: DAWN OF THE DINOSAURS

Third time IS the charm.

As a small practically independent studio Blue Sky has learned a lot in the last few years. They began with Ice Age, an entertaining and somewhat whimsy film about friendship. It was a noble attempt but Toy Story, another “road film” about friendship it was not. Next they came up with Robots, which sadly was a step down from Ice Age. But last year they came up with Horton Hears a Who, which delivered genuine entertainment, was rendered beautifully, and did not shy away from deeper meaning. The whole family could enjoy it at an equal level. Ice Age: Dawn of The Dinosaurs s stands more or less at the same place Horton Hears a Who did, though a little less deep and a little more whimsy, but certainly above all the previous installments of the franchise. What makes this film so effective is that it knows what comedy is about and how animated worlds, such as those made by Disney in its earlier years and Pixar, work.

Review: CORALINE

Let's keep this short and sweet.

Coraline is the 4th film from Director Henry Selick (Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Monekybone), and it is based on a book by Neil Gaiman.

YOUTube Pick of the Week: 2008 a Year in Review

Hey all,

Since it is the New Year, I would like to present Jibjab.com's newest animation - "2008 - A Year in Review"




Personally I prefer their video for 2007. Check out all the videos on JibJab.com


HAPPY NEW YEAR and SEE YOU IN 2009!

Review: THE TALE OF DESPEREAUX

I have not seen an animated film like this in a long time.

Watching Despereaux is like watching an old fairy tale animated movie classic. There is a hero that is not yet a hero who goes on a quest becoming the hero he was always meant to be along the way. While this story has been told in almost every animated movie, Despereaux is different. They don't go for the jokes, pop culture gags, and fart humor. They tell a story and if a joke happens to come out of it then all the better. Finally, this gives an animated movie a full story, one we haven't heard or seen in a while.

Despereaux is the tale of a mouse with large ears who isn't afraid of anything. He lives in the Kingdom of Dor, which has always loved Soup and Rats (?). One day though, a rat ruined the soup, causing the death of the queen - and leading to both being banned from the kingdom. Years later (apparently - cause nobody ever seems to age) tiny Despereaux is set with the task of bringing all of these things back with the intent of being accepted into his community in the process.

This is not done with out flaws.

You never catch the name of any character besides Despereaux, there are a few too many plots happening at the same time, and the ending just seems to happen coincidentally - not for any real reason or chain of events. It just wraps up to nicely. Also there is a terribly overbearing Narrator - voiced by Sigourney Weaver, who chimes in literally every five minutes with a new moral to say - but then taking it back later so the next moral will make sense. It gets annoying fast.

However, the art is astounding. The backgrounds are some of the highest quality I have ever seen, and while the character animation and models are nothing special, they do have a certain charming aesthetic to them. Especially the rats, the leader of which looks so much like Anton Ego from Ratatouille, it is absurd.

Overall I enjoyed the movie a lot, but it could have been better. It certainly is a film that the whole family can enjoy though, and hopefully other studios take a tip from the key points of what made Despereaux good, and don't just gawk about what is missing.

Upcoming Film: Coraline

Coming soon from director Henry Selick (Nightmare Before Christmas, Monkeybone, and James and the Giant Peach) is an all new soon to be animated classic - Coraline. Coraline tells the story of a girl who has a terribly boring life and one day stumbles into an alternate reality where everything is perfect. But as we all know, nothing is as perfect as it seems.

Once again, Henry Selick's fantastic stop motion animation team comes together to show us a world full of imagination and excitement. I think it looks like a solid mix of "Being John Malchovich and Alice in Wonderland". Based on a book by Neil Gaiman (Stardust), and with a cast including Keith David, Dakota Fanning, and Terri Hatcher, this film looks to be fantastic. But don't take my word for it - Watch the trailer below!




Coraline will release limited on December 19, 2008, and worldwide on February 6, 2009.

YouTube Pick of the Week

This is called "SnowBlood". It's a delightful and very bloody animation about an evil snowman chasing and killing a bunch of snowboarders for no reason other than just to do so.

"Why put something so morbid?", You might ask.

Well, while it is almost a 4 minute horror film, it is quite hilarious and the animation is simply fantastic. It is so high quality, including camera moves and character animation, that I am surprised that it is not studio produced. It is made by students who seem like they attend an animation school.

Enjoy it.

New Spaceballs Spinoff Animated Series continues to look awful

The first commercial for G4's long in development Spaceballs: The Animated Series has recently gone online here (very NSFW). If you set aside the offensively bad and stiff Flash animation, you still have an incredibly juvenile looking series that retains the Spaceballs franchise in name only. The most depressing thing about this latest trailer is that the series was penned by none other than Mel Brooks himself, he's even including two voices in the series. This is not even just a dumb advertisement on G4's behalf either, but it represents the entire marketing campaign for the series (again, NSFW).

Mel Brooks would be rolling in his grave...if he was dead...and he didn't write this.

Added Note***

Taken From Wikipedia:

Spaceballs is a 1987 science fiction parody film of Star Wars co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks. It was released on June 24, 1987, and earned only modest returns, but has gone on to become a cult classic on video.
Its plot and characters contain numerous parodies of elements from the original Star Wars trilogy and Star Trek in particular, as well as other popular science fiction films. The script was written by Mel Brooks in only six months, and was approved by George Lucas, as he was a big fan of Brooks's previous films.[1] Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic was also involved in the special visual effects for the film. As of 2007, an animated sequel TV series is in preparation.

Follow Up: Kung Fu Gecko

This post is a follow up to the previous post about movie rip-offs from a few days ago (See: 'Spot The Difference' 8/18/08), where I spoke about out-of-country studios that pump out weird, low-quality knockoff's of already popular or soon to be released movies.

This is Kung Fu Gecko. A amazing LOOKING movie (Background and Rendering-wise), but the story seems to make no sense and the actual movement and animation sucks. However, the art is fantastic and near the same quality as that of a big budget studio film.

http://www.kungfugeckothemovie.com/

Siggraph 2008 - New Information Revealed!

Another Siggraph has come and gone. For those who do not know, Siggraph is a convetion devoted to Film Technology, Animation, Special Effects, and other Film Media. This year it was held in Los Angeles, at the LA Convention Center. Many studios and effects houses were in attendance, including, Laika, LucasArts, Walt Disney Feature Animation, PIXAR, Image Movers Digital, Blue Sky, Autodesk, and many many more. Each had its own booth full of displays and demos, ready to show to the masses and line up some incredible stuff for the coming year.

Motion Capture technology is moving away from the little suits with balls on them, to suits with bend-proof metal straps that allow the user to capture motion to a computer with absolutely no cameras, and easily trackable data.




Robert Zemekis' "A Christmas Carol" looks absolutely fantastic. Many of the sets are more epic than Beowulf, and the graphics are even more astounding. Jim Carrey plays Ebenezer Scrooge, a crotchety old man who hate everything except money, as well as plays the three ghosts that help him change his life for the better. As more images are released, they will be posted here.



3D Stereoscopic projectors are the future of film. Or so I was told. Or so I was shown. Starting next year, 99% of animated films are going to be created in Stereoscopic 3d, meaning it will feel like you are in the movie. With a pair of open/close 3D glasses, films will take you into an immersive world where you are a player and not just a critic. It seems that this will soon roll over to normal film and then (hopefully the industry says) to home viewing, where you pop in a game to your PS4 or Blue Ray player and instantly are a part of what before you could only see. The projectors I was shown were dual-HD meaning that you can see HD in each eye and through each lens. Also, the 3d creates itself in a way that it does not require someone to throw something at the camera to show you the effect. With a projector like this, and a set of surround sound speakers, I think this may be the coolest idea for gaming and film viewing ever... at least, so far.

Disney had lots of people demoing drawing and showed many clips from Bolt, which has already been covered by this Blog. Russ Edwards (animator) came in and animated a scene for the upcoming "Princess and the Frog" (see previous post) and then Andreas Deja (animator), dropped by to draw some pictures, give a history lesson of his life, and sketch out the Character of "Mama Odie" who he is animating for "Princess and The Frog". Very exciting stuff indeed.

Andreas Deja draws a frame of 'Mama Odie' from the upcoming Disney flick "The Princess and the Frog". Read more about "The Princess and the Frog" in the previous devoted post.


Siggraph 2009 will be held in New Orleans. See You There!

Screen Writes: Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio

Whether you have heard of them or not, Ted Elliot and Terry Rossio have probably been very influential in your movie watching life. Together, this dynamic duo of screenwriters have penned many many blockbuster hits including: Aladdin, The Mask of Zorro, Godzilla, Small Soldiers, The Road to El Dorado, Shrek, National Treasure 1 &2, and the 3 Pirates of the Caribbean films.

There is not much about them around, for a biography's sake, but each was born in Michigan and they use Movie Magic Pro software to write their screenplays.

There will be more on them in time.

Upcoming Movie: The Princess and the Frog

This may be the first Disney animated movie ever to have mad crazy hype. Let me begin by saying..... its a musical. Its traditionally animated (2d), and its about a black princess, Disney's first ever.

Basically it is the story of Tiana, a princess in 1920's new orleans, and other than that is based on the story of 'The Frog Prince', which is a story about a prince that has been turned into a frog and needs to be kissed by his true love to turn back into a human.

Not much is know about the film other than the fact that music is being done by Randy Newman and the film is being directed by John Musker and Ron Clemets, who directed films such as Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Hercules, and Treasure Planet (among others).

Keep your ear out for more news on this film. I'll write more when I know about it. There is a cast list on Imdb, so check that one out perhaps.

Heres the Trailer.

The Little Mermaid 3: Ariel's Beginning

The Little Mermaid 3: Ariel's Beginning tells the tail of Ariel the mermaid growing up under the sea in a prequel set years before 'The Little Mermaid'. From what I can tell from the trailer, it is the uber-dramatic tale of Ariel living in a world of other mer-people, when her mother is kidnapped by humans (maybe Prince Eric) and since she enjoyed singing so much, King Triton decides to make all music illegal in the land, kind of like the musical Footloose (Kevin Costner). Little by little all the kids, especially Ariel, Sebastian, and her fish friend Flounder get together to restore music to the community.

Lets Talk About Motion Capture

Lets talk about motion capture animation for a minute. I remember beating 'Legend of Zelda: The Ocarina of Time" and seeing credits for the motion capture team. I was amazed that people could capture motion and translate it digitally, and now as video game and film technology progresses, it is amazing to see all the things that can be done with motion capture animation.

Animation has always been a form of motion capture. Great animators from all over the world, Including Walt Disney Studios, hire actors and performers to come preform many actions live in a studio, so they can 'capture' the motion with their eyes and translate it to hand-drawn animation correctly. Many animated movies, especially those from Don Bluth studio, rotoscope which is a form of Motion Capture, where an action is filmed, and literally traced over with a pencil to become the finished animation. Rotoscoping is often frowned upon in most creative circles, because it is seen that the artist is not good enough to do the animation him/herself. PIXARr uses no motion capture (as told humorously in the end credits of Ratatouille)




Rotoscoping turned 3d is called motion capture. It is taking the action that is recorded and using it to become your final project. Using light reflections and an infrared camera, actors movements are recorded and translated into animation. Robert Zemekis is a large supporter of this, creating such fully mo-cap movies such as "Polar Express" and "Beowulf". Often time, people ask why the movies were not made with real actors in live action, but Mo-cap offers things that are impossible in real life, such as sweeping cameras and closeups in fights, and magical characters, such as Gollum (Andy Serkis) in Lord of the Rings, and Grawp in Harry Potter 5.



What are your opinions on Motion Capture? I think that in live action films it is amazing for effects and makes stunts safer for everyone, but stunt people are against it saying that they are being put out of jobs. What are your opinions? More on this to follow.

PIXAR's UP

Pixar's next movie is called UP. It is about a little old man named Carl, who covers his house with balloons and flies away to South America to go on the adventures he wished he had went on with his wife when she was still alive. He meets up with a little wilderness scout and together they journey the land doing all sorts of fantastical things.

Disney's BOLT

BOLT

Bolt is the next animated feature from Walt Disney Animation studios, and is set for release this November. After a Q&A with the Directors, and being shown 20 minutes of footage, I am ready to give a preliminary report of this film.

It is well known that this film has been going through crazy 'Development Hell'. It was conceived by Chris Sanders (The creator/director of "Lilo and Stitch", and was shuffled around when Pixar's John Lasseter took over the studio. Now Sanders is over at Dreamworks, and Bolt is being helmed by Byron Howard and Chris Williams.

The film tells the story of a movie star dog and his friends as they try to get across the country from New York to Hollywood, with the dog, Bolt, thinking he actually possesses the superpowers that he uses onscreen. Slowly he learns he does not have powers, and learns who he really is.

For the visual style of this movie, Disney has 10 patents pending on a software that allows them to have what seems like had painted brush strokes on all the sets and locations, making the whole movie seem more handcrafted and stylish. The style is a nice noticeable change, and is probably the same software used in Tarzan's tree surfing sequences, and will probably be expanded again for Glen Keane's Rapunel due to hit theaters in 2010.

Look forward to this, it may not be what many people expected, but will be a nice movie, and probably very enjoyable none-the-less. Also, the primary voices are done by Miley Cyrus and John Travolta, so it can be expected to be a major hit.