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: 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.