Breathe a sigh of relief, TOY STORY 3 is going to be great
Mar 23
The 3rd and presumably final chapter in the Toy Story trilogy isn’t set to hit our theatres till June, however those who were lucky enough to attend the Showest Film Festival in Las Vegas don’t have to wait any longer.
Director Lee Unkrich was at the festival to screen a still-in-development version of the film. A lot of the animation was not finished and the score was still temp music. The basics of the film were there though; the story, the editing and the voice acting.
So what did people think of it then? Well, I’m happy to see that pretty much everyone came out with extremely positive things to say. Here are a few early impressions that appeared immediately after the screening:
slashfilm
Toy Story 3 was great, last 30 minutes were pure brillance.elguapo1
Toy Story 3 was fantastic. People were crying at the end.firstshowing
Toy Story 3 was wonderful, so much fun and heartwarming, too! Totoro is in it a few times as well. Pixar at their best as always.colliderfrosty
Toy story 3 continues pixars streak of brilliance. Last 20 or 30 minutes wrecked me
A couple more in depth thoughts via slashfilm and latinoreview:
Peter Sciretta at slashfilm.com
The story is a fun ride to places unknown, and takes some twists and turns you might not expect. The conclusion is a fitting end to the series, and will probably leave you in tears. The last 20-30 minutes are pure brilliance. I can’t wait to see the film again when it’s completed and in 3D.George ‘El Guapo’ Roush at latinoreview.com
Like I said I can’t talk about the plot but the story about how we outgrow the things we grew up with seemed to hit a lot of people in the theater. The last act had some around me crying, probably thinking back to when they had favorite toys of their own growing up. The voicework was great. Jim Varney is still missed as Slinky Dog but Blake Clark was so dead-on you couldn’t tell the difference. It was also cool to hear a now grown up John Morris play Andy once again.
I was super pleased to read that the ending packs an emotional punch, as Pixar have been building upon the emotional core of their films with each release (like the beautifully constructed montage at the beginning of Up). While the Toy Story films are perhaps the most comedic of all Pixar’s releases, it’s nice to see that they’re continuing to carry on that old Walt Disney mantra “For every laugh there should be a tear”.
The general consensus seems to be that this will be the last Toy Story film (unless Disney put an extreme amount of pressure on Pixar I guess).
The major theme in the 2nd film put the toys in an almost paternal position as they came to terms with Andy growing up and dealing with the eventuality that he’ll stop playing with them.
Toy Story 3 seems to continue this trend, presenting us with the future that Woody in particular was so afraid of. Judging from the comments that the last 20-30 minutes are quite upsetting, I’m guessing that Woody has one final moment with Andy before he has to move on forever. Kind of makes me sad just thinking about it!
The 24th of June can’t come quickly enough. It’ll be bittersweet enjoying one last adventure with this group of characters, but I wouldn’t miss it for the world!
MEGAMIND teaser suggests Dreamworks never learn
Mar 22
Dreamworks have released a teaser for their upcoming film Megamind. Unfortunately, it does nothing to help their image as a second rate animation studio. Sure, it looks nice, but it’s full of clichéd pop culture references and that horrible LA/Hollywood/Hip sense of humour. You know the kind where saying things like “Hit it!” and “You’re kidding, right?” are funny for some reason, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if “Talk to the hand” and “You said it sister!” were in the movie somewhere.
But I digress, what’s the film about? Well, in a way it’s Dreamworks answer to the 2005 Pixar film The Incredibles. Here’s the official plot synopsis:
When super villain MegaMind (Ferrell) defeats his archrival Metro Man (Brad Pitt), the world should be his oyster. But instead, MegaMind falls into total despair. It turns out that life without a rival is life without a point for him. So, he creates a new superhero rival, Titan (Jonah Hill). Unfortunately, the new hero wants to be a super villain, too. Caught in the middle, star reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey) asks the tough questions: Who can we turn to? Who has what it takes to stand up to this menace? Who will defend the innocent? MegaMind! That’s who.
The basic idea, of centering a film around a Super Vilian who has defeated his arch nemesis is pretty cool. Unfortunately, when it’s run through the Dreamworks Animation factory it appears to contain all of the negatives troupes associated with the company. It’s annoying also that they continue to hire big name stars to do the voice acting purely for the fact that they can market the film on these names. How about focusing on developing a good story guys? Then you don’t have to depend on big name actors, just ask Pixar!
After the release of Kung Fu Panda, I had hopes that the studio was taking a step forward and moving away from their over abundance of cheap laughs, boring pop references and horrible music choices. Alas I was wrong, although I’ve been reading good things about How To Train Your Dragon, so there is still hope.
Last year an image made the rounds on the internet showcasing the difference between Pixar and Dreamworks. It was biased in Pixar’s favour, but there was some truth to its hilarity:
It was somewhat of a revelation to see that facial expression plastered over every character. Of course, I’m sure Pixar have used this expression many times, but nowhere near as abundantly. So, I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw how overused it was in the Megamind teaser.
I know it’s typical to praise Pixar and look down on Dreamworks. But I think this general consensus is based on the fact that Pixar are much better storytellers at this point in time. I hope I’m wrong about Megamind, but at this point in time I don’t want to waste my money seeing it.
Megamind hits US theatres on the 5th of November and will probably hit Aussie shores around the same time.
Is there a chance ROBERT ZEMECKIS will return to live action filmmaking?
Mar 17
Remember back in the good old days when Robert Zemeckis was a director whose work you looked forward to? The guy could seemingly do no wrong after creating the Back To The Future trilogy, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Forrest Gump, Contact and Cast Away. Zemeckis was one of the few Hollywood directors who was able to combine his love for technology with the ability to tell a great story (something that I’m really scared James Cameron may be losing).
You could count on Zemeckis back then.
But In 2004, with the release of The Polar Express, this all changed. Zemeckis introduced the world to a type of animation called ‘motion capture’ (whether it’s really animation is a whole other matter). The general public is quite familiar with the technique now, but back then it was pretty much unheard of. Gone was the need for keyframe animation – that’s the traditional style – instead we were treated to stiff, zombie like virtual actors. The technique has been improved upon since then, but hasn’t really proven it’s worth until now, with the release of Avatar.
So, The Polar Express was an interesting experiment, but not much more. It didn’t stop there though, motion capture gave Zemeckis unparalleled freedom as a director. No longer did he have to sit and wait for actors to have makeup applied, or to get the perfect lighting, he didn’t even have to set up a camera. All of this was done later after the fact, when the actors had delievered their perfomances and gone home.
What followed was a collection of films (Beowulf, A Christmas Carol) that improved upon the technology, yet still failed to reach the heights of Zemeckis’ previous live action work.
Now there are reports that Disney-owned ImageMovers Digital, the studio that produced A Christmas Carol, will be shut down in 2011 after the completion of its current in-production-feature Mars Needs Moms. This will result in the loss of around 450 jobs. Unfortunate news to say the least. It’s never a good thing to see such a large group of talented people fall out of work (all opinions of the films themselves aside, these guys are obviously damn good artists). The official press-release from Disney reads as such:
Bob and the entire IMD team successfully built a state of the art studio and produced an amazing film, A Christmas Carol, at a time when the dynamics of the industry are rapidly changing. But, given today’s economic realities, we need to find alternative ways to bring creative content to audiences and IMD no longer fits into our business model
It makes sense and although A Christmas Carol performed okay at the box office, it was hardly a roaring success, not after the cost of R&D, production budgeting and marketing costs.
It’s interesting to see that this announcement has come after the release of Avatar. Is it possible that Disney saw how advanced the motion-capture technology is at Weta Digital and decided that IMD couldn’t compete and simply weren’t worth the money? It’s all speculation at this point, and we’ll probably never know for sure.
However, there is an interesting question that arises from all of this; What will Zemeckis’ next feature be?
He has already started production on a motion capture remake of the 1968 Beatles film The Yellow Submarine (a project which perhaps would have benefitted the most from this technology) although it’s future is obviously – for the time being – up in the air. The way I see it, there’s roughly two paths Zemeckis can take. Either he continues experimenting with motion capture and sets up camp at another studio somewhere, or he takes a break from the digital world and returns to live action filmmaking, at least for a while.
The latter option is most likely just wishful thinking on my behalf as Zemeckis has put too much time, money and yes, artistic effort into this technology to give it up so quickly. Disney have officially stated that they want to continue working with Zemeckis, although nothing has been confirmed yet and such statements are often simply PR talk.
Still, I think the coming few weeks/months will be quite interesting, if for no other reason than to see who takes on Zemeckis and his crazy digital obsession next.
WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY promises to shed light on unsung Disney heroes.
Mar 03
If you asked a group of people in their twenties what films come to mind when you hear the word “Disney”, you’d most likely get responses along the line of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast and The Lion King.
These films have managed to stand the test of time with all of them having reached, or nearing, their 20th anniversaries (how old does that make you feel?). But what is it that makes these films so special?
Like many great works of art, they were created under extreme pressure. The animation team at Disney was facing one of the worst periods in feature animation since it’s beginning. Their last few theatrical efforts left a lot to be desired, and audiences were making it known with their wallets (or lack thereof).
Executives being the fiscially focused group that they are, were eyeing the animation department very closely. Another flop, and they were at serious risk of being downsized or closed indefinitely.
Luckily for us, the team responded to this crisis by firing on all cylinders and delivering some of the most memorable films of all time.
Waking Sleeping Beauty is the real life story of how all of this went down. It looks to be a tale not only of artistic achievement, but of a group of artists banding together and doing what they love FOR the love of it.
It’s great to see the guys behind these films getting the recognition they deserve. Any praise that’s showered on animated films is generally only given to the studio as a whole (“That was a great Pixar flick” etc). Because of the sheer number of artists working on any given film, it’s very rare that they’re put in the spotlight. It’s a shame really, because many of these guys are tremendous artists whose names will never be known…hopefully Waking Sleeping Beauty helps to curb this effort a little.
People are quite happy to inform everyone that The Lion King is their favourite family film, but have no idea who made it!
It’s commendable too that Disney are releasing this film, as it apparently has a ‘real-world’ take on what was happening within the studio at the time. Very little sugar coating, in other words.
So while the film ultimately looks to be about a bunch of ‘great Disney artists who pulled together through a tough time’, it’s also not holding back on the darker, mistake ridden past of the studio.
Filled with footage from the 80s taken by the employees themselves (it’s pretty awesome to see a young John Lasseter, Tim Burton and Joe Ranft), plus interviews with some past and present Disney giants, Waking Sleeping Beauty looks to be an entertaining insight into the studio that managed to capture our hearts and minds all those years ago…and occasionally still does.
Waking Sleeping Beauty hits US theatres on the 26th of March, no word yet on an Australian release date.
UP secures both Best Animated Film and Best Picture nominations and it totally deserves it.
Feb 24
[Writer's note: This review was originally written when Up was in theatrical release and my thoughts on it haven’t changed since then. I’m thrilled to see it nominated for both best animated feature and best picture at the Academy awards. When reading over this, I found it funny that I compared it to District 9 and Inglourious Basterds in quality, both of which have also been nominated for best picture awards.]
I was on the train just a few days ago, travelling into the city (I live on the outskirts of Melbourne) and I couldn’t help but notice that the guy sitting opposite me was rather desperately trying to flirt with the girl he was seated next to. He was attempting to get a conversation going, constantly asking her questions, leaning against her when he laughed and just generally making things painfully obvious. At one point, she began leafing through a magazine and pointed to a small advertisement for Pixar’s latest film: Up.
“I really want to see that” she said to him, either being polite or flirting back, I couldn’t tell. The guy threw his head back and laughed a little too hard, saying “Oh, you child!” The girls face went a little red and she muttered something like “whatever, I think it looks good”.
Meanwhile I was sitting opposite this guy, silently stewing with thoughts of anger. Didn’t he know anything about Pixar? Hasn’t he seen any of their films? How could he say that?
I came to the conclusion that it’s a common misconception that Pixar films are only for children.
I think there is a very important distinction to be made between a ‘kids’ movie’ and a film for ‘everybody’.
Pixar make films that are for everybody. I’d argue too, that as the studio has expanded it’s been allowed to take more creative risks and thus, the last few Pixar films have been quite mature in their themes. Sure, they’re often bright and colorful and feature characters who revel in slapstick humour – but that’s a part of animation, the ability to stretch the boundaries of your imagination, to present you with a world that could not ever exist in live action.
In a way, Up is perhaps their most mature effort yet. It tells the story of 78-year-old Carl Fredricksen, who sets out to fulfill a lifelong dream shared by both himself and his deceased wife. How does he travel? By attaching hundreds of helium filled balloons to his house, ripping it from its very foundations and taking flight. It’s not long in his journey when Carl discovers that there is a stowaway in his house; 8 year old Russell, a local wilderness explorer (which is basically a cub scout). The two find themselves caught in a terrible thunderstorm which sends them crashing to the ground…
This is the plot synopsis that you’ve probably heard before, but it’s really all you need to know. Part of what makes this adventure so exciting is the sheer amount of discovery along the way. It’s been years since an adventure film was made which really pulls you along for the ride (the less said about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull the better), but Up manages to stand on its own purely as an exciting romp through the fantastical South American wilderness. It’s this aspect which is most likely to keep the younger members of the audience entertained, along with some fantastic character humour.
Don’t get me wrong, this adventure/action will also entertain the elder members of the audience. As I mentioned, UP contains some of the best adventure set pieces to be seen on the silver screen for years. It will keep you on the edge of your seat for a majority of the running time.
The most impressive element to me, aside from the brilliant character animation, was the fairly mature thematic content. On a simplistic level the ‘moral’ of the film is that life’s real adventure is made through the time you spend with the people you love. How many of us have big plans for the future, yet often neglect the little pleasures? It’s a curse which plagues almost everyone at one time or another and brings to mind the famous John Lennon quote “Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans”.
The film also explores themes of death and loss. Again I do not want to give too much away, but there is a painfully beautiful montage only ten minutes into the film that will leave you breathless and reaching for a tissue or sleeve. In fact, the emotional impact of Up is vastly superior to any other Pixar effort to date. I found myself wiping away a tear or two quite often.
I suppose you can’t talk about an animated film without mentioning the animation itself, but it’s almost a moot point when it comes to Pixar films. They are constantly improving and delivering the best feature animation around, hands down. Up is no exception. Never once do you question the reality or consciousness of these characters. One moment in particular, involving a character flipping through a scrapbook is animated so subtly that despite the caricature design, you’d swear you were watching a live action performance.
The art design is simply stunning, with the wilderness of South America practically leaping off of the screen with its colour and vibrancy. The film is worth seeing for the visuals alone, although they’re really just the icing on the cake.
Along with District 9 and Inglourious Basterds, Up is one of the best films to come out this year. If I was forced to pick a flaw, it’s that the middle of the film doesn’t quite stand up to the beginning and the end, but this is really just nitpicking. If you’re reading this, then you probably know that it isn’t just a ‘kids’ film’, that the concept of animated features as nothing but childish fluff is a deeply flawed logic. You know this, but maybe your partner doesn’t, maybe your housemate doesn’t, so why not show them something different? Take someone to see Up right now, and then go again. It’s one of the most action packed, adventure filled, emotionally satisfying films to come out in a long time. What more can I say?
Oh, that guy did end up getting the girls number. Hopefully she forces him to see this movie.
“I think there’s a ‘cleverness’ to our films that’s pretty deep, I think there’s an emotion that’s deep. It’s very different from most animated films where people think ‘ah, these are just for kids’. Our movies are for everybody. And we really do mean that, they’re truly for everybody” – John Lasseter, director of Toy Story 1/2, A Bugs Life, Cars and an Executive Producer on Up.
Up score
85/100
OPINIONS COUNT