Saturday, October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween!...foolish mortals.


Halloween is great. It is about celebrating past scary movies, enjoying the popular characters of the year (and of all-time), and catering to our primordial love of fright. Loving Disney as much as I do, I have several traditions when it comes to Halloween that you may be interested in.

The first frightening tradition of mine is to watch the Disney double-feature The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad every Halloween:



It is one of the great features produced by Walt. Even though I watch the feature on Halloween because of the scary Ichabod story, I definitely enjoy the hilarious and beautiful Mr. Toad short much more:



The tale of The Wind in the Willows retold using the talents of Frank and Ollie, Ward Kimball, Milt Kahl, and Wolfgang Reitherman is certainly one of my favorite cartoons ever produced. The characters are simply so unique and good at acting that the cartoon is a treat to watch.

The next tradition I have is to just listen to the "Grim Grinning Ghosts" song from the Haunted Mansion. I think that the ride at Disneyland is the epitome of Halloween with its visual tricks, great set design, and very real presence of eerie things. Plus, I don't think you get much better than X Atencio's script:

Your cadaverous pallor betrays an aura of foreboding, almost as though you sense a disquieting metamorphosis. Is this haunted room actually stretching? Or is it your imagination, hmm…? ...And consider this dismaying observation: this chamber has no windows, and no doors... which offers you this chilling challenge: to find a way out! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Of course, there's always my way...

I wish that I made it a tradition to go on the Haunted Mansion every Halloween, but that'd be a bit pricey. I suppose I'll have to settle with "Grim Grinning Ghosts" for now:



I hope you enjoyed some of those little Halloween things that Disney has shared with us over the years... Happy Halloween.

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Saturday, October 17, 2009

New 'Princess and the Frog' Artwork, and the First Five Minutes


I keep getting more and more excited for The Princess and the Frog. The style looks simply magical and true to what Disney really is. The story seems like it will play out nicely, and the characters all seem very well-rounded and funny (especially Louie the Alligator--or is it crocodile?). Anyways, here you can see plenty of new artwork from the upcoming film, as well as the first segment. Enjoy...


















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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

'Toy Story 3' Character Posters


Here are the set of Toy Story 3 movie posters that have recently been released. They're pretty neat and nice to look at. They are also a bit odd, but worth a look. Once again, I sure can't wait to see Toy Story 3...







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Monday, October 12, 2009

Official 'Toy Story 3' Trailer



There it is! The great Toy Story 3 trailer. I can't wait for June...

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Sunday, October 4, 2009

The 'Toy Story' Double Feature [and the Full 'Toy Story 3' Trailer!]


I just got back from seeing 4 straight hours of Toy Story, and it was great. Not only did I thoroughly enjoy seeing both movies again, but I loved seeing it with an audience. I was glad that I'm not the only one quoting lines, and that I am not the only one who finds many of the jokes laugh-out-loud funny. I really enjoyed seeing it in a theater full of people. Also, seeing them on the big screen was a treat, since I don't really remember seeing them previous to the DVD release. The intermission was fun since they had trivia and short little "Toy Story Treats" which were funny--one, for example, was a staring contest between Woody and Lenny. Great Stuff. Some other new things never-seen before were a short scene before the film of the toys' silhouettes in the projection booth, and a short hand-drawn animation sequence discussing the intermission.

Even more exciting than the double feature, however, was what came before it: the full Toy Story 3 trailer! It begins with a series of video taped clips of Andy and his toys, playing with a new Randy Newman song. Then there are clips from the movie which include a funny sequence of the toys being massacred at the daycare, a really funny scene where Buzz's Spanish-language setting gets engaged, etc. Below you will find a very, very low quality version of the trailer, seeing as it hasn't been released officially online yet. It's a recording from the theater, and, yeah, kinda dishonest. But, you've gotta love the trailer:



June had better hurry up...

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