Review: THE MUPPETS

Sometimes, movies are just done right. Everything about this movie is done right. The casting is right. The music is right. The story is right, and the heart is right. The Muppets is just right.

New Images from CAPTAIN AMERICA

Watch these images move on the big screen July 22nd! (Though why a movie called Captain America doesn't come out July 4th is beyond me)

The 38th Annual Annie Award Nomination List for 2011 Arrives!

With all the hub-bub about the upcoming Academy Awards, one should not forget about the Annie Awards, the highest award honor exclusive to animation. An annual event at Royce Hall in Westwood, CA; all of animations highest rollers get together to celebrate the years achievements in black tie. Previous winners and guests include Henry Selick (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline), Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands, Beetlejuice), Andreas Deja (Lead Character Animator at Disney), Ron Clements & John Musker (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin), Chris Sanders (Lilo & Stitch, How to Train Your Dragon), John Lasseter, Ed Catmull, Jeffery Katzenberg, and many many more.

After the jump is the list of nominations (production and individual) for this years Annie Awards which will take place on Saturday, February 5th at Royce Hall. Tickets to the award ceremony are $25, and are available here. Who do you think will go home with an Annie this year?

Review: TANGLED

When I say Disney's back, I very much mean it. Ever since the renaissance of Disney animation ended in 1999 with Tarzan, and Disney Feature Animation fell into a mediocre movie slump people began to ask the question - "When will Disney get back on its game and dominate the animation industry again?" Clearly, this took a little while, but when Princess and the Frog was released it seemed that Disney was finally getting back on the quality horse. Now, having seen Tangled, I can very happily say that Disney is on that horse and riding it at full force again. Welcome back Disney. We've missed you.

TRAILER: Winnie the Pooh

The first trailer for Winnie the Pooh was released and boy does it bring back memories.

If Owl sounds familiar, then you need to get more sleep at night. Craig Ferguson joins Jim Cummings, Tom Kenny, Travis Oates and Bud Luckey in the voice cast. The tone is amplified by "Somewhere Only We Know" by Keane.

Winnie the Pooh will be in theaters July 15 2011

Tangled Teaser Surfaces

I say surfaces because hopefully this trailer only scratches the surface of a film that's seven years in the making.




There is no hint of the villain here, any other characters, or any of the plot, so I think there is a lot more in store to see. It also looks GORGEOUS.


Still think it should be called "Rapunzel" though...

Monsters Inc 2 Confirmed!

Today, Rick Ross (Head Executive over at Disney) revealed that MONSTERS INC 2 is currently in production due to be released in 2012.

In other Disney news:

PIXAR's "The Bear and the Bow" has been renamed "BRAVE", while Newt has been shelved, along with Roger Rabbit 2, Disney's The Snow Queen, and likely a few others that you'll never hear of.

Shame, with the exception of RR2, I was looking forward to those films.

Review: ALICE IN WONDERLAND

It's been 12 years since little Alice tumbled down the rabbit hole and lived the story many of us know and love, yet ever since that day she has been having terrible nightmares of the preceding events in Wonderland. Now, 19 years old and at her own "surprise" engagement party, she spots the white rabbit again, and in a moment of overwhelming pre-marriage stress, decides to run after him. She ends up tumbling down the rabbit hole again, but this time, things in Wonderland are very different.

New Princess and the Frog Trailer

It's long, and maybe a bit "spoilery" - but oh man, it just makes me want to see the movie even more.

The Princess and the Frog Official Internet Trailer - The best bloopers are a click away

Old Dogs

Fine. It's a Disney Family Comedy. I know. But I did giggle a lot while watching this trailer. And I love Robin Williams - and face it- he looks hillarious in this.

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: UP

Hands down, this is one of the most phenomenal animated movies I have ever seen. From animation quality, to characters, to PIXAR'S Godly render machine - everything was perfect as far as I am concerned.

Trailer: DISNEY'S "THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG"

I just watched this trailer and ran around the room cheering and texting/iming it to a bunch of my friends. I think this film looks phenomenal and is going to do what 'The Little Mermaid' did to Disney back in 1989. I believe that as I have said in older posts, Disney is back now, back on top, and this is the best thing to happen to animation since PIXAR started.

If you don't believe me - watch the trailer and "Prepare to be Amazed!"

Review: EARTH

Remember those horrendously monotonous two hours of your life entitled the March of the Penguins? Where extreme boredom was interchanged with a few scenes of cuteness? Well, the good news is Disney’s Earth is not as boring; the bad news is it is just as unoriginal.

In the past few years documentaries have been able to become successful business ventures, some of them even blockbusters. Unfortunately these documentaries are usually not the smartest most insightful of this otherwise highbrow genre. Disney’s Earth falls somewhere within this category. In fact Disney was one of the first to venture into the making of documentaries. We learn this in the opening of Earth when Walt Disney himself tells the story behind Disney’s Real Life Stories, a set of documentary shorts that Disney produced until the 1960s. Unfortunately for us Disney has lost some practice since its last production of the Real Life Stories.

Earth is not an original production. In fact its footage is a collection of previous documentaries edited together into a feature length film. If you are a fan of nature documentaries you will even recognize some of the footage; I myself had a brief moment of déjà vu in the scene with the lions sharing a watering hole with the elephants. So I guess this narrows down the technical aspects of the film to how well it is put together. In Earth this is particularly important since its ambition is to encompass all of the Earth’s ecosystems under two hours. It achieves this by using the seasons as a narrative device. The film begins in the Artic during spring then move down through Africa until it reaches Antarctica during its winter, when it is summer in the north, and then it traces its steps back up until it is winter in the Artic. Through out this we follow a family of polar bears, a heard of elephants, some humpback whales and everything else we meet along the way.

Earth’s ambition in covering all the planet’s ecosystems is both its strongest point and its weakest point. It works because it keeps the film from getting too monotonous but it fails in giving the film cohesiveness.

Finally documentaries are supposed to make the audience care about something real. In the case of Earth it wants us to care about the Earth or rather nature in particular, but dozens of documentaries make the exact same points every year. For everyone who has seen a nature documentary Earth will feel as a “been there, done that” and for those who have seen one in Imax it is more of a “seen better”. I suppose the film’s target audiences are the little ones, who will enjoy seeing a nature documentary like this for the first time on the big screen. If this is the case it is likely to be very enjoyable.

Oh the bloopers during the credits are highly enjoyable and I recommend staying and watching.

Review: BEDTIME STORIES

This movie easily places in my top 5 favorite Adam Sandler movies. Adam plays a nicer (less jerky of a guy than usual) guy, the rating helps keep the cursing down from more recent comedies, and the plot - though very predictable - is super delightful.

Basically Sandler is a guy named Skeeter who has lived in a hotel his whole life with his dad and sister. The hotel gets bought by a rich mogul and Skeeter is promised a position of power in the hotel one day. Unfortunately, he serves his entire life as the janitor of the hotel. The hotel changes hands to new management and this is when the story truly begins. Skeeter is places in charge of telling stories to his niece and nephew. He tells stories, and whatever the kids contribute to the story happens for real to Skeeter in the following day. So he gets his chance to become the new hotel manager, and uses the new storytime opportunity to weasel life enhancing story arcs from the little kids so his life can be better.

Everyone in the movie is great. Guy Pierce makes a great, more-or-less believable villain (teamed with Lucy Lawless), and Keri Russell is a good foil for a love interest. The story is cute and the bedtime stories that Sandler tells are full of good ol'e clean yet Sandler-esque humor. Russell Brand was a great surprise in the film (He's not in even one trailer), he's basically Skeeters friend that sleeps over and watches the kids every night, providing a very wavy opinion at every choice made in the story, in a hilarious way.

The film does a great job of lampooning the degree that schools and parents watch over what their kids eat nowadays, with Rice Crackers and Wheat Germ being all the kids have, and when it comes down to it, when the kids in the movie eat sugar, nothing bad happens, showing that sometimes people just need to lighten up and have a good time once in a while, knowing that little harm is going to come of a light unhealthy experience.

The only thing I did not like about the movie was the inclusion of an obnoxious CGI Guinea Pig named Bugsy (Cause he has HUGE eyes). He is there for a constantly absurd call back gag, and I have no idea why the kids insist on taking him everywhere they go. Other than that, the movie is well worth the trip to go see.

The Pixar Effect: IT WORKS!

The saga between Disney and Pixar has been settled as of late with the merger of the two companies. As a result, John Lasseter has been given the power of green lighting films from Roy Disney himself. This has led to a great increase in quality of Disney franchise as a whole. Not only did he eliminate the production of straight to DVD, but is a chief Imagineering executive.

In the theme parks, he is taking Disney's California Adventure park from a partial day experience to an all or even several day happening. The original Disneyland park is focusing less on budget and more on quality for the guests. It's showing, as Tomorrowland got a complete stylistic overhaul, the Sleeping Beauty Castle walk-through returning after seven years and, of course, the Finding Nemo Submarine.

As for films, the change is very noticeable. Meet the Robinsons was far enough into production to not qualify for any change, but Bolt, back then called American Dog, was substantially different in look and story. The original story was about a TV dog being stranded in Nevada with a one eyed cat and a radioactive rabbit that are trying to find new homes. Bolt was also a larger dog, more of a heroic looking collie like dog. As everyone saw from our review, Bolt is a fantastic movie. As an aside from me, it was reminiscent of the Disney movies of old and that makes me excited for future endeavors.

Pixar has definitely been the highlight of the Disney franchise in recent years, but now that they are working on the same level, let's hope the "Pixar Effect" has a longstanding results. Maybe Disney can enter it's second Renaissance.

Review: BOLT

Yes.

Yes is the answer.

Yes is the answer to the question, "Can Disney make Pixar-quality movies without the actual Pixar team?

Bolt is proof. I know there are people out there who will disagree with me. I know there are things about this film that are not Pixar-quality. But I honestly believe this was just as good as any film that could have come out of their animation studios. The story was strong enough, the voice acting was strong enough, and the animation was certainly strong enough. The directors, Chris Williams (The Emperor's New Groove), and Byron Howard have brought this movie to life, and it is pounding with greatness.

First trailer for Up, Pixar's next film appears online

When WALL-E was released Pixar broke its tradition of including a teaser for the studio's next film alongside the previews and instead opted for giving Disney's Bolt the full spotlight. Now the first official teaser for the film has surfaced, while there was previously footage of a house with balloon's attached to it this is the first time we get a glimpse into the characters and the premise of the film. Much like the teaser for WALL-E, Pixar seems to be banking more on reminding audiences of the studio's ridiculously high reputation than fully focusing on the film itself.


You can download the trailer at Disney.com in these resolutions: 480p, 720p, 1080p.

Up will be directed by Pete Doctor who's directorial debut was Monster's Inc. and has directed the English localization of Hayao Miyazaki's Howl's Moving Castle. Up will hit theaters May 29th, 2009.

Review: TINKERBELL

Let me address your either vocal or mental, "No he didn't!" with a very real, yes. Yes I did.

Now don't get me wrong, everything leading up to this movie led it to look like a crappy Disney knockoff.

It wasn't. In fact, this film was more than just watchable, I actually enjoyed it. The music and the voice acting definitely helped with the sometimes hokey jokes. Tink has never talked before, so giving her a voice in general seems like a bad idea, but for you Avatar fans out there, it actually works for this film. Mae Whitman, voice of Katara in Avatar, voices Tinker Bell in the movie. Her fairy friends are played by familiar faces as Raven Simone voices Iridessa the light fairy, America Ferrera voices Fawn the animal fairy, Lucy Lui voices Silvermist the water fairy and Kristen Chenowith voices Rosetta the garden fairy. Each fairy has their own quirk that will probably be expanded upon further in the rest of the Disney Fairies series, and it doesn't look like they'll be uninteresting. Rob Paulsen of Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, etc. voices a fellow tinker named Bobble who is one of the fairies that Tink first becomes friends with. Anjelica Huston, Madame Morticia Adams, plays the Queen of all the fairies, whose entrance is very beautiful and showy, but not condescending in any way, it's just right.

The story was essentially a Tinker Bell finding her place in Fairy Glen and realizing that using what you have been given is more important than trying to be something you're not. There is a good character arc with Tink and even an appearance by someone from the main story at the end. It's pretty fast paced, clocking in at a whopping seventy minute running time, they had to get a lot in quick. The 3D animation in this film is very soft and fantastical, just what one would expect from a film about fairies. Disney definitely put a good chunk of time, money and effort into this film and it really shows. If more of Disney's direct-to-DVD offerings had calibur like this, they wouldn't be as kicked down as they have been.


The score was written by Joel McNeely, who has done other Disney films like Mulan II and Return to Neverland, but this score is possibly one of my favorites of any Disney Film. McNeely found a violinist named Mairead Nesbitt to play a classically styled, yet strong Celtic piece after seeing her on PBS (Thanks to viewers like you). In a word, beautiful. It portrays a sense of wonder and curiosity that one should have in a movie about self discovery. It did it's job of keeping me in the movie at points where I may or may not have cared less. If a CD of the score exists, I will buy it and won't be ashamed of it.

Overall, this film succeeds in furthering the amazement with Tinkerbell. With a new meet and greet coming to Disneyland and more, the folks down in Burbank are going to milk this thing for all they got. With that in mind, and despite John Lassetter's intervention, I actually want them to make a direct sequel to this movie. Now that we know how she came to be, a lot of questions start popping up. How did she lose her voice? How did she meet Peter? Anyway, I suggest finding a little cousin or sister that has this movie to give you a reason to watch it.

Review: BEVERLY HILLS CHIHUAHUA

I had it coming. Ever since I penned my Beverly Hills Chihuahua defending debut post at the Movie Watch I knew I was destined to see it, even if I knew I'll be eating crow in the process. The result, well as I stated in my previous post Beverly Hills Chihuahua is far from a Disney classic but considering the awfully low pedigree it's coming from (Raja Gosnell, the director of the dreadful Scooby-Doo live-action movies and Big Momma's House amoung others) I found the film to be a pleasant surprise. Beverly Hills Chihuahua will entertain anyone in the 6-9 year old crowd that laughed at the teaser before WALL-E and is inoffensive enough to keep parents from checking their watch too often.

The plot of Beverly Hills Chihuahua mostly serves as a vehicle just to get more talking animals on the screen. The basic premise follows Chloe (voiced by Drew Barrymore), a spoiled Paris Hilton-esque chihuahua as she gets lost in Mexico and caught up in a dog fighting circuit. There's also Papi a day laborer who sounds and acts like George Lopez (voiced by George Lopez) who is in love with our titular hero. Offensive stereotypes aside the plot is very simple but it has a few genuine moments here and there which sort of half work due to a lack of a proper build-up.

Luckily, the horrible CG seen in the teaser trailer is fairly scarce in the actual movie and apart from a few "pee-jokes" the humor is fairly low-key. As for Raja Gosnell this is a huge step up from his previous dreadful work but as an actual Disney branded movie it would be a bit of a letdown for families expecting the depth of WALL-E or even Bolt for that matter. Then again, the Disney "brand" has already been diluted to the point where a Little Mermaid prequel is reduced to a plot about hip hop music spreading to Atlantica.

The question of whether or not you should see it really boils down to how much your "kids" want to see it and if you'd like anything that happens to have a cute animal in the leading role. Young children will love the quirkiness (albeit wholly unoriginal) in the film and parents will love the fact that it gives them an hour and a half of peace while being mildly amusing at the same time. While I cannot recommend Beverly Hills Chihuahua, you can certainly do a lot worse, even when dealing with Disney comedies about anthropomorphic dogs.