Disney, etc.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

The 83rd Annual Academy Awards

The biggest night in Hollywood has just about wrapped up (at least it has for you and I--I'm sure the night has just begun for all of the big stars out there), and I have to say there were absolutely no surprises this year. The King's Speech was the big winner, with four awards for Best Actor, Screenplay, Directing, and Picture--it certainly deserved these awards. It was a phenomenal cinematic piece.

And, of course, Toy Story 3 won for Best Animated Feature (see pics of the Animated Feature Symposium from a few days ago at TPB here) and Randy Newman won for Best Original Song, "We Belong Together." Oh, and he had, by far, the best acceptance speech of the night. Although I am ecstatic he won this award, what was up with his "live performance"? The tempo was way sped up, Randy's voice was drowned out, and none of the instrumentation but the piano was live. That aspect of the awards were a bit of a let-down.

In fact, the whole ceremony felt very detached and weird; they kept trying to find a theme with their little vignettes about past Oscar shows, but nothing really clicked. Not only that, but all of the jokes were, quite frankly, just lame. And Anne Hathaway was plain annoying. The whole time . . . I approve of the winners (although I still think Toy Story 3 should have won Best Picture, and Day & Night for Animated Short), but the show itself could have been much better.

Congrats to the crew at Pixar, the guys behind The King's Speech, and all of the other winners.

Brilliant New Pooh Poster

Above you will find yet another stunning poster for the upcoming animated feature Winnie-the-Pooh. The animators did brilliant work on this poster and this one, but the newest poster is quite simply brilliant--and the best. It is very minimalistic and tells a wonderful story while also showing off lots of characters and their familiar personalities. I really hope the awesome set of posters speak to the film itself.

I think I have stated how thoroughly excited I am for this movie before, but it bears repeating... I am excited for this movie!

Friday, February 25, 2011

Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation Stills

Above and below you will find the just released, hi-res stills from Pixar's upcoming short, Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation. The short will be attached to Cars 2 (and we will be treated to yet another Toy Story short before the upcoming Muppets film), and it looks like lots of hilarious fun . . . Awesome!!

Monday, February 21, 2011

'Cars 2' Daytona 500 Spot

Above you will find a brand new, minute-long spot for Cars 2 that aired this past weekend during the Daytona 500. The ad features tons of never-before-seen footage, and does a great job balancing the action, humor, and sheer amount new characters.

I'm still skeptical about Cars 2, but this television spot makes me slightly more optimistic--not because it makes the film look better, but just more fun. And, while I expect heart over fun from Pixar, a lot of fun in a movie is never something to be frowned upon.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Some Pixar Links: a Grammy, a BAFTA, Some New Cars and Lotsa Toys

There's been a lot of Pixar news recently, and I decided I'd share it with you like the good, little Blogger I am. You'll find it all packaged, nice 'n' neat, below . . .

Toy Story 3, ever the favorite of everyone, has won two more awards: a Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack Album and a BAFTA Award for Best Animated Feature. Good job, Pixar! Now all that's left is for the Academy to give you that award for Best Picture.

New Cars 2 characters have been announced, including some voiced by John Turturro and Eddie Izzard. Those are two very funny and wonderful actors, so I am very excited that they will be joining the cast of Pixar's next film. However, the fact that the cast keeps growing on the film is making me anxious . . . is Pixar really being this gimmicky with their film and marketing campaign? I haven't had a good feeling about Cars 2 from the get-go, but let's hope that I'm wrong.

Last but not least, we have Pixar at the American International Toy Fair! Watch the embedded video above for the scoop, including Michael Caine revealing a life-size Finn McMissile, and an on-stage discussion with voice actors Caine and Emily Mortimer. Also check out this link and this one and, for kicks, this one for more of the Cars 2 toy announcements from the fair . . . and you know there's lots of 'em! Disney loves merchandising, especially when it comes to Cars.

Some Brief Thoughts on 'Gnomeo and Juliet'

This past weekend I saw Gnomeo and Juliet. It's a film from the defunct banner under Disney, Miramax. Any of you who frequent Disney, etc. would know after one look at the trailer that it's the type of film I tend to avoid and, frankly, smack talk on a regular basis--it's filled with pop culture references, motormouth sidekicks, and just about every other gimmick in the book that takes away from what's important: story. However, even with those faults, I found the movie very witty, the characters very entertaining, and the entire thing a joy to watch.

I think the reason that I liked it so much in lieu of the gimmickry is that it is a retelling of Romeo and Juliet, and therefore you aren't really looking for a story as you watch it. I know this is utterly contrary to everything else I have ever preached on the blog before, but it's true--since I know the plot of Romeo and Juliet and know exactly what will happen next, I am not looking for a story, and therefore the empty gimmicks were not a distraction, since there was nothing for them to distract from. In fact, the gimmicks were quite welcome--think of the film as more of a basic retelling of a Shakespearean tale as the backdrop for countless jokes, musical numbers, and hilarious characters. This was less of an actual movie and more of a circus, if you will--you don't watch it for the plot or emotional value, but for the sheer spectacle and great humor. Something like Shrek 3 (or 4 or 5 or whatever-the-heck number they're on now) falls flat because it's a "circus" that's trying to tell a story; while it has clever gimmicks and funny jokes, these are strewn across an attempt at a plot, which is meant to create emotional reaction in the audience. When this plot and the "circus-ness" mix inside the viewer's head, what results is a muddled mess of confusion and disappointment. The creators of Gnomeo and Juliet cleverly stepped around this problem by simply ignoring the plot aspect and replacing it with a well-known and purposefully predictable story.

So, I think that's the main reason I enjoyed Gnomeo and Juliet despite its constant gimmicks. Besides, the gimmicks were really funny. There were several characters, such as the rubber garden frog, a plastic Hispanic flamingo, and a small, angry reindeer that were very unique and funny and great to watch. Also, there were numerous Shakespeare references throughout the film that I most certainly appreciated, such as a moving truck which read "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Moving Company," a glue bottle labeled "The Taming of the Glue," and neighbor apartments with the addresses "2B" and "Not 2B". It was filled with back-to-back jokes, and I laughed out loud more times during that film than I have since Toy Story 3 . . . and that's a lot.

I am a huge Elton John fan, so I was ecstatic when I found out that the entire soundtrack was Elton John songs and the score was based on his works. The integration of the songs was great, and I especially loved it when they replaced the lyrics with garden gnome-related terms and it was sung by the characters themselves. Elton should be proud. Great stuff.

Needless to say, Gnomeo and Juliet is worth seeing. While it lacks a plot, it is funny with great characters and an Elton John soundtrack to boot. It won't be winning any Oscars or getting any raving reviews from the stuck-up critics or even a decent standing at the box office, but if you can manage to shut your brain off for a few hours and just let yourself be entertained, I don't think you'll be disappointed.

7 out of 10.

(Oh, and you'll enjoy the film much, much more if you read the play Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare before seeing it. There are many little inside jokes and nods to the play that are really cool and quite hysterical.)