Briefly: Lee Unkrich's TwitPic page is a wealth of information. Recently, he uploaded several pictures from the production of Toy Story 3! These include him directing Tom Hanks (who is, of course, the voice of Woody), as well as some pictures of the recording sessions with harps, harmonicas, and quite an orchestra. See the best pictures below (look for the screenshot from the movie!), or check out @leeunkrich's TwitPic page for more. Toy Story 3, directed by Lee Unkrich, will come out on June 18, 2010.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Some Early Behind-the-Scenes of 'Toy Story 3'!
'The Sorcerer's Apprentice' Teaser Released Online
Click here to see the teaser trailer for the upcoming Bruckheimer flick, The Sorcerer's Apprentice. It is, of course, based on the classic animated short from Fantasia of the same name. I doubt this live-action version will be anywhere near as great as the cartoon, but I am interested in seeing how they plan on making it a full-length feature. Will it be a good movie? I have no idea. Will it be entertaining? Well, it is Bruckheimer...
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
A Short Review of 'Prep & Landing'
Prep & Landing, a 30-minute animated short from Walt Disney Animation Studios, just premiered on ABC, and it was great. It follows the adventure of what happens to one elf when he gets himself, temporarily, on the naughty list.
While the story is a bit cliche with the "guy wants a promotion but ends up forgetting about it when he learns his lesson" theme, the overall special was wonderful. It took an exceptionally unique twist on the world of Santa and the elves with high tech gear cleverly connected with traditional Christmas keywords and names for things.
The reindeer were funny and all of the character designs were very quirky and cool. The animation was also unique and great. The whole Christmas special felt very "John Lasseter" to me with its formulaic plot and focus on character. The score by Michael Giacchino was also great--he managed to work multiple, recognizable Christmas tunes into a score that fit the action perfectly. Other tie-ins to Christmas, such as the classic Nat King Cole Chirstmas Song and a TV playing Mickey's A Christmas Carol made the special even better.
While not perfect, I'll certainly watch Prep & Landing again before Christmas. Even though the plot was lacking, the characters were unique, the animation was flawless, the score was wonderful, and its premise was very clever and interesting. You'll definitely want to check out the first 30-minute TV Christmas special to ever come out of Walt Disney Animation Studios.
'Queen' May Overrule 'Elves'
Briefly: It is being strongly rumored by multiple sources that Disney Animation Studios will be releasing a hand-drawn rendition of Hans Christian Andersen's The Snow Queen sometime in 2013. Animation producer Peter del Vecho, before any official statements have been made, let this little bit of information sneak out in a recent interview. Due to this new information, the release date for Disney's King of the Elves is under strong speculation.
Source: Blue Sky Disney
Friday, December 4, 2009
"Toy Story The Musical" to Open in California Adventure [UPDATED]
Briefly: I never liked the
I don't know what to think. Woody and Buzz singing along together (especially the versions of them in the picture above) seems flat wrong. I doubt this play will live up to its movie, either. But, even if it is good, there just seems to be something wrong with sitting in a theater for an hour when there are rides to be had! Oh well, we'll see come 2011 when this play opens in Disney's California Adventure. Read more about it at the official D23 blog.
UPDATE: Disney and More has gotten their hands on plenty more information, as well as videos of the musical! Watch the videos, see more pictures, and read all about it over at Disney and More.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
CNN at Pixar Animation Studios
Above is a short video of CNN touring Pixar Animation Studios. The video doesn't have anything amazingly never-before-seen, but are there some nice segments on the animation process, the RenderFarm, and Lasseter's toy-laden office. Watch it above.
I'm glad that Pixar is getting more and more news coverage every day. They certainly deserve it. Behind-the-scenes stuff should reach the masses more often.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Annie Awards Nominations Announced
Well, the Annie Awards are here once more. The biggest animation awards' nominations have been released. Pixar's Up has 9 nominations and Disney's The Princess and the Frog has eight. It's also worth mentioning that Partly Cloudy was not nominated, and that William Reeves (a founding member at Pixar) will be receiving the honorary Ub Iwerks award.
I hope we don't have a repeat of last year when WALL-E was shut out in favor of Kung Fu Panda; even paid-off judges couldn't call the gimmick-y Monsters vs. Aliens better than the masterpiece that was Up. Here is the complete nominations list (I have bolded which ones I'm pulling for to win):
Best Animated Feature
* Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs — Sony Pictures Animation
* Coraline — Laika
* Fantastic Mr. Fox — 20th Century Fox
* The Princess and the Frog — Walt Disney Animation Studios
* The Secret of Kells — Cartoon Saloon
* Up — Pixar Animation StudiosBest Animated Television Production
* Glenn Martin, DDS — Tornante, Cuppa Coffee Studios & Rogers Communications
* Merry Madagascar — DreamWorks Animation
* Prep and Landing — ABC Family/Walt Disney Animation Studios
* The Simpsons — Gracie FilmsBest Animated Television Production for Children
* Mickey Mouse Clubhouse — Disney Television Animation
* SpongeBob SquarePants — Nickelodeon
* The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack — Cartoon Network Studios
* The Mighty B! — Nickelodeon/Polka Dot Pictures/Paper Kite Productions
* The Penguins of Madagascar — Nickelodeon and DreamWorks AnimationAnimated Effects
* Scott Cegielski “Monsters vs. Aliens” — DreamWorks Animation
* Alexander Feigin “9” — 9 L.L.C.
* Eric Froemling “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios
* Tom Kluyskens “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” — Sony Pictures Animation
* James Mansfield “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation StudiosCharacter Animation in a Television Production
* Mark Donald “B.O.B.’s Big Break” — DreamWorks Animation
* Mark Mitchell “Prep and Landing” — Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Kevan Shorey “Merry Madagascar” — DreamWorks Animation
* Tony Smeed “Prep and Landing” — Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Phillip To “Monsters vs. Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space” — DreamWorks AnimationCharacter Animation in a Feature Production
* Andreas Deja “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Eric Goldberg “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Travis Knight “Coraline” — Laika
* Daniel Nguyen “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios
* Bruce Smith “The Princess and the Frog” — Walt Disney Animation StudiosCharacter Design in a Television Production
* Bryan Arnett “The Mighty B! – Catatonic” — Nickelodeon/Polka Dot Pictures/Paper Kite Productions
* Ben Balistreri “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends” — Cartoon Network Studios
* Craig Kellman “Merry Madagascar” — DreamWorks Animation
* Bill Schwab “Prep and Landing” — Walt Disney Animation StudiosCharacter Design in a Feature Production
* Daniel Lopez Munoz “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios
* Shane Prigmore “Coraline” — Laika
* Shannon Tindle “Coraline” — LaikaDirecting in a Feature Production
* Wes Anderson “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — 20th Century Fox
* Pete Docter “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios
* Christopher Miller, Phil Lord “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” — Sony Pictures Animation
* Hayao Miyazaki “Ponyo” — Studio Ghibli
* Henry Selick “Coraline” — LaikaMusic in a Television Production
* Michael Giacchino “Prep and Landing” — Walt Disney Animation Studios
* Kevin Kiner “Star Wars: The Clone Wars “Weapons Factory” — Lucasfilm Animation Ltd.
* Guy Moon “The Fairly OddParents: “Wishology-The Big Beginning” — NickelodeonMusic in a Feature Production
* Bruno Coulais “Coraline” — Laika
* Michael Giacchino “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios
* Joe Hisaishi “Ponyo” — Studio Ghibli
* John Powell “Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs” — Blue Sky StudiosWriting in a Feature Production
* Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach – “Fantastic Mr. Fox” — 20th Century Fox
* Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, Tom McCarthy – “Up” — Pixar Animation Studios
* Timothy Hyde Harris and David Bowers – “Astro Boy” — Imagi Studios
* Christopher Miller and Phil Lord – “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” — Sony Pictures Animation
There are many other nominations at the website here. The awards are slated to take place on Saturday, February 6, 2009 at UCLA's Royce Hall in LA.
Source: The Disney Blog and The Pixar Blog
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
