Bolt
One of the trailers (which really shouldn’t be called trailers anymore, since they rarely trail the film) before Wall-E was one for a new Disney movie: Bolt. At first, I was skeptical, because first of all, John Travolta and Miley Cyrus. That doesn’t really spell to be a fantastic movie. Then, a super dog? Really? Hasn’t that already been done in some form or another?
But, as it went on, the trailer convinced me that the movie might actually be worth seeing. It’s the first trailer out of Disney-only that I have really wanted to see. Pixar films are a category all their own. Anyway, have a trailer:
Wall-E!
Johnathan and I braved late night and possible teeny-boppers to see Wall-E at the midnight release last night. Once upon a time, we would have had no problem with the midnight showing, even with work following the next day. Our schedules being what they are, though, it was a bit rough managing to stay up until the movie started.
The night was unfortunately laden with small disasters. The first was that the second the “first look” came on, it was painfully loud. We were hoping the assault on our eardrums would cease when the previews came up, but we had no luck there. It was only after Johnathan sought someone out and informed them of our dilemma that they even realized there was one. They did bring the volume down to a level that wasn’t painful, even if it was still over-loud for a movie theater.
Later on, during the middle of the film, the reel got off so that we were seeing the bottom part of the frame at the top and the top was in the middle. It was incredibly annoying and it probably took almost five minutes for someone to fix it. If it had kept up much longer, I’d have probably pitched a fit and demanded my money back - which would have been the first time I’ve ever done that at a movie theater. It was fixed before the climax of the movie, at least, and we were able to enjoy the rest of the movie in peace.
After being slapped in the face again by the trailer for Beverly Hills Chihuahua and having to see Brendan Frasier try to act again (as well as a couple of previews for some movies that look entertaining), we got to see the Pixar short! It was about a magician and a rabbit, and past that, aside from the hat that was remniscent of the Sorcerer Mickey hat, I can’t bring myself to divulge any further information about it. Pixar still has that spark and talent that I think you should see it for yourself rather than read my inadequate description of it.
Movie review continues beyond here. There will be spoilers.
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The Little Mermaid at The Tony Awards
On Sunday, June 15, the 62nd Annual Tony Awards came off at Radio City Music Hall. Various awards were doled out to the deserving few, and among those who went unrewarded was Disney’s newest baby, The Little Mermaid.
The award for best original score (music and/or lyrics) written for the theater went to Lin-Manuel Miranda, who wrote (and stars in) this year’s favorite, In the Heights.
Best lighting design went to Donald Holder for South Pacific.
Aside from a spotlight and exposure that the show will gain from having had a performance on the telecast (not that the show needed more - if nothing else, Disney is expert at advertising!), Mermaid gets absolutely nothing from the awards this year, even the pre-Tony recognitions. Then again, they did Part of Your World as their chosen piece - again. I’m pretty sure everyone who wanted to see that song has already seen it. (Sierra Boggess still looks like she has a tail growing out of her butt.)
It’s still a fan favorite and continues to do well at the box office week after week, so I doubt the folks at Disney are breaking their hearts too badly over the lack of recognition.
Will the Real Wall-E Please Stand Up?
As the fervor for the newest Disney-Pixar film increases, more and more merchandise and neat little tidbits do as well.
A small promotional website is where the trail starts. The site is called Buy n Large. It appears to be a company within the canon atmosphere of the Wall-E universe which sells both space condos and robots. These robots are cute little things with names like Sall-E, Wend-E and Gar-E. This site was clearly created for promotion of the movie and is packed with cute little tidbits of non-information dealing with this fictional company. It looks very much like any well-designed corporate website might and I think the Pixar team did a good job in the creation of this as advertising. I’m a sucker for things like this, unnecessary though they may be.
The biggest piece of promotional gobbledegook (and, frankly, the best) is the totally real and functional Wall-E robot. Disney called it the Ultimate Wall-E Robot when it was debuted at Maker Faire 2008 in early May. The Wall-E robot can sense your presence and the presence of surrounding objects which enables him not to run into things, he has sound sensors on multiple sides which can allow him to go toward the voice which speaks to him (or the crash which accidentally happens too near to him, but one can’t be too picky), and he’s a generally functional (toy) version of the robot that we will see in the movie next month. (You can bet I’ll be going on opening day if I can swing it.) I think the best way to display this really awesome robot is through video taken at Maker Faire 2008. Here - don’t hurt yourself with excitement:
The Beverly Hills Chihuahua
I had the good fortune to be able to go to the movie theater last night with the intent of seeing The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. Before the movie started, we were treated with the typical preview fare: a new epic action movie which promises to be woefully bad, if only for the inclusion of Brendan Fraser, an animated movie or two, the trailer for Wall-E and a little gem advertising The Beverly Hills Chihuahua. I kid you not. Disney has pumped out a piece of schlock which appears to be a movie for kids about a small breed of dog which is a popular fashion accessory for the rich and famous. I only wish I were kidding. Nothing can describe how truly horrifying this is except for the trailer itself.
I don’t know what Disney was thinking when they put their time and money into this, but I sincerely hope that they think it was worth it. I have a feeling that not many others will.
There isn’t much more that can be said about what is most certainly put into the way of the American movie-goer to make money rather than to entertain. I only hope that this movie precedes John Lasseter, because if he approved this horrifying piece of junk then I fear that Disney may not end up so well off as we had hoped.
Disney Trip Planning
I am a fan of Disney, that much is clear, but for as long as I can remember, I have also been a fan of the Disney theme parks. I think I could spend all of my time planning a new Disney trip. My fiance and I have begun our planning for our honeymoon, for which we are going to Walt Disney World, and as a result, I’ve uncovered a wealth of trip-planning sites, full of tips, tricks and recommendations for anyone planning to take a Disney vacation.
The first site I would tell anyone to stop at would be MouseSavers. Any of the currently available discounts will be listed at MouseSavers as well as recommendations and tips for the planning and execution of the trip. The site is a veritable treasure chest of information for trips to Disney theme parks, Disney cruises and other Disney-related discounts and tips.
Small World Vacations comes highly recommended by the folks at MouseSavers, and while that is a good start, I think they are able to sell themselves quite well for all your vacation planning needs. They are authorized Disney vacation planners, yet they do not charge additional fees for helping you out with your planning. The people at Small World will monitor your vacation plans and should a discount come available which your trip qualifies for, they will do everything they can to apply that discount for you, thereby saving you money. They also arrange for Grand Gathering events, will make reservations for you at any of the park restaurants of your choosing and are generally your do-it-all people for the vacation. It takes the work away from you and makes your planning stress-free. Did I mention that they charge no additional fees for their work? The only money they make from helping you with your trip is the commission that Disney gives them. I definitely plan to go with them once we nail down exactly when we’re taking our trip.
Another good resource that I’ve found is AllEarsNet. The site is incredible and comprehensive. It has information about every Disney park as well as information about the restaurants, resorts and other important information to know when planning a Disney vacation. Johnathan and I were able to use this site to figure out which Disney resort hotel would be the best for us on our honeymoon. It also includes information about Disney cruises for the sea-bound Disney vacationer.
Other than that, for those planning a Disney vacation, I would recommend keeping an eye open for any discounts that you might be able to get through AAA or other discount-friendly program and make sure that you’re aware of any discounts that Disney is offering for specific time periods or events.
Myself, I’m looking forward to ten days at Port Orleans French Quarter during next year’s International Food and Wine Festival at Epcot. If it weren’t for these sites, I’d probably still be trying to figure out which resort hotel that I wanted to stay at! Disney vacations can be expensive but if you’re not doing all you can to save yourself money, you’re letting yourself get ripped off. Be an educated vacationer and make sure you know what’s what about your vacation plans.
Prince of Persia - My thoughts, let me show you it.
As with any gossip column, this piece of news hardly has any weight to it. Zac Efron and Orlando Bloom are battling it out for the lead role in the Prince of Persia movie. There are other rumours that a real Persian prince is wedging himself in there, but I won’t get into that.
Prince of Persia is an action-adventure video game series, beginning in 1989, and became hugely popular when Sands of Time was released in 2003. This resulted in a trilogy following along this particular storyline, with Warrior Within and The Two Thrones released in 2004 and 2005 respectively. The plot went along the lines of an hourglass that could control time, and the prince - through circumstances out of his control - managed to control this power, therefore controlling time. The story follows the prince’s journey to 1. stop the bad guy from taking control over the sands of time, 2. stop his own death, 3. … stop the bad guy from taking control over the sands of time.
The lead character, only known as ‘the prince’, was an extremely wonderful character to play as. He was funny (very much unlike the usual steroid-infused protagonists on games nowadays), witty, realistic and sympathetic. Throughout the game, you’d be able to hear his inner monologue, and it was just hilarious to listen to (except in Warrior Within, where apparently the production designers decided that he didn’t have big enough balls). I loved the character of the prince, and yes, I’m a huge fan of the Prince of Persia series.
Disney has purchased the rights to PoP, and… well, I feel rather conflicted about this. Any gaming fan knows that the majority of movies based on games have been utter disasters (see Hitman, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within), and the probability that PoP’s going to fall into ‘a big waste of money’ is going to be very high. The addition of either Efron or Bloom as the title role just summed my feelings up into a massive DO NOT WANT.
Here we have typecasting working against Efron. Zac’s been cast in overtly bubbly, my-butt-vomits-sunshine type of movies. Sticking him into a movie where he’s supposed to fight bigass sand monsters (and presumably his father) is not going to go well. Frankly, he looks like his ass could get pummeled in about 5 minutes. Maybe his LAZEREYES will smite his enemies to death, I don’t know.
Orlando Bloom seems to be the more obvious choice, with him having a great load of fighting experience, but I have to remind you that almost all of his successful films cast him as a supporting actor. The movie where he was lead actor generated only a lukewarm response and was a box office failure. I’ve always been of the opinion that Orlando’s not a very good actor either (he can’t work a closeup, have you noticed? Watch Pirates of the Caribbean again) but his prettyboy status and physique will certainly draw the girls to the movie.
I’m not expecting much for Prince of Persia, even if it is a Jerry Bruckheimer/Disney production. I guess I’ll just stick to replaying the game and listening to the awesome voice that is Yuri Lowenthal.
The Pixar Story: To Infinity and Beyond
The adventure started when Johnathan and I were at the Cleveland International Film Festival. Last Thursday, we saw a movie around mid afternoon and out of sheer curiosity, checked the movie listings for the rest of the festival (which runs through today). Imagine our surprise when we saw a movie called The Pixar Story listed among more obscure international titles! Unfortunately, by the time we noticed it and went online to check for ticket availability, we found that it was on standby, which meant lining up an hour or more before the movie was scheduled to start, then waiting around to find out if we would be able to be seated after all the current ticket and pass holders had been seated. Thankfully, we got tickets five and six, so we were able to get in, though it meant sitting in the very front row. John Lasseter was pretty much right in our faces!
The film chronicles Pixar’s history starting with John Lasseter’s college days and early career at Walt Disney Animation. It goes through the early days of their inclusion in LucasFilm, branching into the very early days of Pixar as its own studio with Steve Jobs as the primary investor. It follows Pixar’s meager beginnings while they struggled just to pay the bills, through its contractual friendship with Disney and repeated movie successes. It continues on to tell the story of the poor politics of Walt Disney Studios and how greatly it had the potential to affect Pixar’s future as well as how it affected the morale around the somewhat untraditional smaller studio. The film wraps up with information about the new merger between Disney and Pixar and the shakeup that merger meant for Disney as well as the possibilities that it allows for Pixar in the future.
Overall, it was an excellent documentary - well-paced, including enough information to enlighten anyone but not so much as to bore the less enthusiastic fans. It included interviews with various people who worked for or with Pixar over the years, including John Lasseter, Ed Catmull, Steve Jobs, Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Bob Peterson, Brad Bird, Lee Unkrich and Joe Ranft. It also includes interviews with greats such as Roy E. Disney, Michael Eisner, Robert Iger, Ollie Johnson, George Lucas, Frank Thomas, Glen Keane and Diane Disney Miller.
After the documentary, however, we found that we were in for an unexpected (for us, at least) treat. After the credits finished and the lights came up, we were introduced to none other than Lee Unkrich. He obliged those who were able to get in to see the documentary with a fairly lengthy Q&A session. (For those who are obliging me with blank stares, Lee Unkrich has been with Pixar for over fifteen years and is the director for the the coming Toy Story sequel, Toy Story 3.) He answered questions from everything to what Steve Jobs is like (he had only good things to say about the contribution of the well-known Apple company founder) to what the future of 2D animation is at Walt Disney Studios.
Some facts that came out of the Q&A:
- John Lasseter has plans to revive the 2D animation studios at Disney, giving a new place to the art form on which the Walt Disney Studios were built.
- There will be no more Direct-to-Video sequels as was announced last year, but John Lasseter has something up his sleeve that will go directly to DVD. However, according to Lee Unkrich, this project is something “original.” He did not share any additional information about this project, just that it would not follow the way of the Direct-to-Video Sequels which, in his words, lacked in integrity.
- Brad Bird is moving on to live action films, as he has interest in making many different types of movies.
- And in truly unannounced news, Lee Unkrich revealed that for the first time in Pixar history, a woman is scheduled to direct a full-length Pixar film. The feature has not been announced to even be in production yet, so many thanks to Lee Unrkrich for the scoop!
The Pixar story was educational and interesting, but more than that, there is nothing that can beat the energy of a room full of people who love Pixar. Johnathan and I came away feeling positive about the futures of both Disney and Pixar, especially with John Lasseter at the helm of Disney Imagineering and as Chief Creative Officer for Disney Animation. The future at Disney once again looks bright, and with Pixar now at a release schedule of one movie a year, the future of Pixar looks set to prosper as well.
Disney’s House of the Future
The Monsanto House of the Future was an attraction unveiled in Disneyland in 1957. It was meant to be a representation of what a home in 1986 would look, feel and act like. The home, built almost entirely of synthetic materials, included such features as an ultrasonic dishwasher, sinks which adjust based on the height of the user, hands-free telephones, a wall-sized television, electric razors and toothbrushes, and intercoms with mini-TV screens. The house, which had plastic walls and seating, was comprised of four wings which included a kitchen, living room, two child rooms (boy and girl) with adjoining shared bathroom, dining room, family room, and master bedroom with attached bathroom. The attraction was open for ten years, closing in 1967 when the house was sawed apart and removed. Later, the area became known as “Alpine Gardens” and a souvenir stand found its home where the futuristic attraction used to live.
What is old has now become new again, however, as Disney has announced that there will be an all-new House of the Future built at Disneyland. It is expected to open in May of this year in the Innoventions pavillion. The new 5,000 square foot attraction will not be a projection of the future as its predecessor was, however. The Innoventions Dream Home will feature up-and-coming technology which we can expect to be incorporated into some homes sometime in the not-so-distant future to help simplify hectic lifestyles. The home will feature lighting and thermostats which adjust automatically when people enter a room; closets that will be able to help coordinate outfits for colors that suit the individual and keep track of which clothes are in the laundry or at the cleaners; and countertops which will be able to identify the groceries set upon them and suggest recipes based on the selection. It will feature software and hardware which aims to make life simpler for the inhabitants so that their focus can be elsewhere.
Unlike the original House of the Future, the Innoventions Dream Home will meet with the fictional family who live in the home. The Elias family (a family name given as homage to the original dreamer, Walter Elias Disney) spend time in their home, sharing the latest in mobile phones, computers, music and gaming with guests as they prepare for a trip to China. This is similar to the Carousel of Progress (which once inhabited the building in which Innoventions currently resides), wherein guests travel through time with a family, learning of the changes in life since the early 20th century. The Innoventions Dream Home takes a very different angle on this however: the Elias family will be real people, portrayed by Disneyland cast members who will interact directly with the guests who visit the home.
The new House of the Future may not be as futuristic and innovative as the original version was, but it seems poised to make a longer stay, as it could be renovated as time goes by to include new technological advances. As previously mentioned, the attraction is poised to open in May of 2008, though no official release date has yet been specified. I personally look forward to seeing these technological advances in action.
Further reading:
- Yesterland: House of the Future
- Disney Going Back to ‘House of the Future’
- Disney’s ‘House of the Future’ Will Have New Edition
Disney at the Academy Awards, part Zwei
It’s tough to touch the glory that is Alan Menken, but I feel compelled to point out this article by the AP, where Menken joked that he was going to lose upon hearing the nominations:
“I was really blind-sided, completely blind-sided. Three nominations. I said, ‘Now we’re gonna lose.’”
Menken, 58, said he expects that the three “Enchanted” entries, co-written with Stephen Schwartz, may split the vote, improving odds for the other song contenders at the ceremony: “Falling Slowly” from “Once” and “Raise It Up” from “August Rush.”
The results were an exact echo of what happened at last year’s Oscars. Dreamgirls had three nominations up, but the Al Gore song won in the end. Frankly, I wasn’t surprised. Enchanted doesn’t hearken back to Beauty and the Beast or The Little Mermaid, and the soundtrack itself was a tribute to the musical style of Disney in the 1990s, back when, y’know, princesses were all the rage before they decided to ditch all that for cows in a barn and buddy movies. Enchanted, admittedly, even being the rabid Menken fangirl that I am (and always will be), was no masterpiece.
It would’ve been nice if Menken finally won something after 1995’s Pocahontas (more than a decade already! Where has the time gone?!) but I do firmly believe the vote was split. For those who’ve been complaining that the Academy should die in a fire, I feel the great need to enlighten the masses on how voting actually works (and seriously, if you watched the Oscars, you would know). Skip the following paragraph if you don’t care.
Voting is not done by a super-sekrit government organization comprised of old men and George W. Bush. The Academy is comprised of “6000 motion picture professionals”, if Wikipedia is to be believed, which basically means people in the movie industry are the voters. They vote, and the results are compiled into a majority vote, in which the winner is declared. All you need to know from this is the movie people vote for their own movie people (which is why Crash won over Brokeback Mountain last year, since half the damn country was involved in production) So, the answer is no, you cannot wish to have the Academy die in a fire because in the event that you did, half of Hollywood would be gone. I don’t think the voting process is fair, but that’s how you go. The votes are, essentially, based on the voter’s own belief of what defines an ‘excellent movie’ than a ‘good’ one.
There has always been the stereotype of Disney films being geared solely for the kids, and to some extent, I feel that perhaps that stereotype spilled over into Menken’s songs as well. They are cheery, catchy, spectacular, romantic, everything you could find (and already found) in a Disney movie. Those songs wouldn’t sound as great for a person who thinks ‘great music’ must consist of orchestral wail, a choir, a guitar and a piano under a single spotlight.
Plus the already oft-mentioned fact there were three Menken choices on the list. Perhaps the vote would have turned out differently if “So Close” was the only one on that list… but then again, maybe not. Disney animated films (especially the Menken composed ones) has always had a history of having more than one nomination in the “Best Song” category, and despite all that, it still won.
I suppose we can only speculate at this point why Menken didn’t win this year, especially when the Academy doesn’t list out who voted what (Americans would do the usual Braveheart-battlecry of FREEDOM!!1!1 if such a thing were to be even considered). I adore his music to bits (even TLM on Broadway, which was a musical that I was determined to hate, but the POWER OF MENKEN CONVERTED ME), but from a personal standpoint, Enchanted just didn’t cut it for me, for some reason. Perhaps I shall do a review of it in the future.
