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:
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.
Ex-Jack Sparrow spills on Disneyland
It’s not surprising that the experiences from working at Disneyland are pretty dichotomous in nature - either you love it or hate it. A face character working as Jack Sparrow at Disneyland pretty much reveals what went on behind the scenes, from how he got hired to how he got terminated. It’s a very interesting read.
Disney warned us we were going to have a lot of horny women coming on to us. They were also worried about girls. I heard Disneyland had an Esmeralda from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. She was very flirtatious, and they finally pulled her because men found her too sexually arousing and were acting out.
You never knew when the casting department was going to come into the park and watch you—they came out of nowhere—or something might end up on YouTube. If a character does something a parent believes is wrong, that’s the video that ends up on YouTube. I was on YouTube after I sat in a lady’s stroller. It’s something I often did, and parents would laugh and take pictures. But management came to me and said, “It looks like you’re sitting down on the job, and we can’t have that.”
I wouldn’t say it was surprising, since Disney has always had very, very strict regulations on ‘keeping the magic alive’, which pretty much told (and trains) cast members never to break the illusion that the characters are real. Also, Disney seems to be policing Youtube, so WATCH OUT FOR THOSE LADIES WITH CAMERA PHONES.
Jake Gyllenhaal confirmed as Prince of Persia
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Jake Gyllenhaal and (relatively unknown) Gemma Arterton are set to star in the upcoming Prince of Persia movie.
Among other things, the nameless Prince now gets a name (”Dastan”), Farah is now “Tamina”, Jerry Bruckheimer talks about how he’s always discovering new stars (such as NICOLE KIDMAN and KEIRA KNIGHTLEY, DON’T YOU FORGET IT!) and everyone in Persia is white.
I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t looking forward to this movie, though. I still think Gyllanhaal’s not the best choice as the Prince, I don’t understand why they decided to change Farah’s name (what, to make it more exotic-sounding?) and… I probably shouldn’t go there with racial representation. Nevertheless, the movie looks really promising, and with Bruckheimer at the helm, I’d suspect it’ll be something like Pirates of the Caribbean, except with less water and more sand.
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.
Annie Leibovitz - Ariel
Disney’s just released a new image for the “Disney Dream Portrait Series”, and this time it features Julianne Moore as Ariel and World Champion Swimmer Michael Phelps as… some other merman.
I absolutely love it, but obviously (as always) there are problems. I love the poses, but I really think the photomanipulation blending needs some work. No, don’t airbrush erase it and hope it melts in!
Full Press Release behind the cut:
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Prince Caspian Trailer!
Linkspam time!
Yes, sorry darlings. I’m not dead, and I’M GONNA REVIEW SOMETHING SOON, DAMMIT.
Disney (Animation Studios) and Pixar have announced their upcoming movie slate for 2008-2012, the list which as follows, is:
- WALL-E. DWEE.
- Bolt. Christ, another dog movie again?
- Tinkerbell (Straight to DVD). WHATTT?! WHAAAAAT?! DIDN’T BOB IGER SHUT THIS DOWN? (Oh wait, he didn’t. Le sigh.)
- Up. Spacetiemz 4 old man dreamz come tru. You just know this is going to be heartwrenching story. I’m taking my hanky.
- Toy Story in 3D. Not interested. 3D makes me all crosseyed and dizzy.
- The Princess and the Frog. I seriously cannot contain my joy at 2D making a comeback.
- Tinkerbell: North of Neverland (Straight to DVD). Okay.
- Toy Story 2 in 3D. Still not interested. Speaking of which, I need to go dig out my TS2 DVD.
- Toy Story 3. I’m… really okay on this. I didn’t like 2 very much, I adored 1, so… we’ll see.
- Rapunzel. YEAH! YEAH YEAH YEAH GLEN KEANE ILU!
- Tinkerbell: A Midsummer Storm (Straight to DVD). … Okay.
- Newt (Pixar). It’s the same guy who directed ‘Lifted’, if you remember that hilarious short. I’m definitely looking forward to this.
- The Bear and the Bow (Pixar). It’s Pocahontas meets Brother Bear, from the synopsis of it.
- Tinkerbell: A Winter Story (Straight to DVD) (Disney). Okay, I give up. !$*&#!@$*(!#^$!*(#$^!@(*#&!*(#&!@(*#
- Cars 2 (Pixar). The synopsis didn’t give too much away, but since it’s directed by Brad Lewis, I have good faith in it. It does puzzle me that they would choose Cars of all the movies to get a sequel - in comparison to the other Pixar films, this one didn’t do as spectacularly at the box office, neither did it fare as well with the critics.
- King of the Elves (Disney). Snow White in guy form. Sounds like it.
New Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian posters and promo images. Yum, although he looks like he’s 15.
New promo images for Cars 2, Toy Story 3, Bolt and a bunch of others.
Next Prince of Persia rumour: Jake Gyllenhaal. Still DO NOT WANT.
High School Musical 4 in the works already, even before HSM 3 has begun shooting. President Rich Ross already stated the whole cast isn’t coming back in HSM4, so I think they’re going to dub it ‘the next generation’ as their subtitle or something. Too much of a good thing isn’t good, Disney! Remember the boybands mantra - when one guy leaves, everything goes to pot!
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.
