Can Pixar beat Disney, its parent company and corporate partner, at its own game? That is, could Pixar create en emotional fairy tale with a moral core that will survive beyond its current generation? That was probably the question in every creative and executive working for Pixar during the production of Brave. The answer is not simple; Brave is a lovely film, with endearing characters. And like most of Pixar’s it is at its core strength is being a well-told story, but it is also missing a certain oomph for a Pixar film.
If you saw Cars 2 this weekend you would have been treated to a pick of Pixar's next film, Brave. But in case you didn't, or you were late to the theater, here it is:
I have to say it looks different. Certainly looking forward to it.
The short film categories in the Oscars are a bit of an oddity. They used to be much more important way back in the day when a short film usually played before the feature presentation at theaters. But today the only Pixar has maintained this tradition consistently. Thankfully, now with the Internet these short films have become available once more for all to see that is if you can find them and if someone was kind enough to share it. Otherwise, the only other way to see them is at a special screening of some kind. That is how us, here at The MovieWatch were able to see them, and here is our reviews:
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?
It's been 11 years since Toy Story 2, one of the most solid sequels ever, was released. I've been waiting for this day for quite some time.
I'll get to the point. Toy Story 3 doesn't disappoint. It's a movie that really defies all logic, for it's animated movie that drew more emotion out of me than any live action movie I've ever seen in my life - and it's not even about humans.
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.
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.
While the previous Up trailer teased the premise of Pixar's next movie, this is the first one to reveal the details of the plot and even give us a brief glimpse of a villain slated to appear in the latter half of the movie. Check out the full trailer below, and make sure to click that swank HD button.
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.
Many people are excited for next years "The Princess and the Frog" by Disney Feature Animation Studios. To do a quick recap on an earlier post about the film - It is a new traditionally (2d) animated musical by Disney. It features the first black Disney Princess, and is basically the story of 'The Frog Prince' but in 1920's New Orleans and from the princess's perspective. Also, is it directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, the directors of fine animated films such as 'The Little Mermaid', 'Aladdin', 'Hercules', and 'Treasure Planet'.
When people heard that these guys were making another film (and it's about time), everyone naturally assumed that Alan Menken would be returning as well. (For those who don't know, he is responsible for the catchy music from about every Disney musical including and after The Little Mermaid, excluding Tarzan, Mulan, and a few others). However, John Lasseter (the current head of Pixar and Disney Feature Animation) decided that the studios history with Menken, including last years 'Enchanted', was getting a bit repetitive. So, he decided to replace Menken with a composer new to Disney, but with a long list of Pixar credits... Randy Newman.
When one asks "what is the first animated Randy Newman song you can think of?" The answer is usually 'You've got a friend in me.' from Pixar's first feature, Toy Story. Then one assumes that all songs by Newman are just like this one. This lead many people to groan with horror when they found out that Newman was creating the songs for "The Princess and the Frog", not in the sense that he is a bad composer, because he is great, people just could not imagine songs like that in a classic Disney musical.
Now, here is why I believe Randy Newman should be looked at for this film in a much more positive light.
Cat's Don't Dance.
Cat's don't dance was the first and only film made by Turner Entertainment. It was produced by David Kirschner, producer of The Pagemaster, An American Tale, Curious George, and Miss Potter. However many people have not heard of this film, and if they have heard of this film, they rarely know that Randy Newman was responsible for all the fantastic big band Jazzy songs.
The film revolves around Danny, a cat in the 1930's who wants to break into Hollywood. The film is a lively piece of work, and every song sounds both original and is very catchy. For further proof of why I trust Randy Newman, I point you towards the film clip below.
I think he can be trusted to handle 1920's New Orleans music for at least this reason, if there aren't any others. There are other reasons though... perhaps this blog post will get a follow up in a few months time.
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!
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 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.
This review will be short because of the fact that there are not all to many actors to critique. Lets start with the fact that the robots don't talk very much, and when they do it works well and is not obnoxious. Jeff Garlin does a magnificent job as the Captain of the Axiom, a man who wants to return to Earth so badly, he will disobey orders to do it.
This is the first PIXAR movie to feature live action segments, and because of the story and art direction of the film, it fits flawlessly. Fred Willard is fantastic as the CEO of Buy 'n' Large, and subsequently, the world. And when the live action cuts back to animation it does not feel awkward at all.
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