The World of Frozen

The official logo for Frozen

     Looks like Disney is slowly releasing more and more material for their next animated film, Frozen. First came the official logo with the news that Jennifer Lee was coming onto the film as co-director. Jennifer helped write Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen and is now joining Chris Buck as director. Very interesting move and I wonder why Disney decided to make that change.

     Next, Disney released the first official concept art image. Very beautiful and magical, also showcasing the two leads Anna and Kristoff. As you can see Anna has light reddish blond hair and Kristoff has blond hair. These character models are pretty close to the models I saw at the D23 convention.

     IMDB also listed some very interesting casting news. They reported that actor Josh Gad was to voice Olaf and that Johnathan Groff was rumored to play Kristoff. Josh Gad recently voiced the character Louis in Ice Age 4, so if you want to get and idea at what Olaf might sound like check that film out. Johnathan Groff is an amazing singer best known for his role as Jesse St James on the TV show Glee. However none of this casting has been confirmed, IMDB normally knows what's going on in the film business.


   

Official concept art from Frozen

So what do you think about all the Frozen casting news and photos? I personally think this film is coming along amazingly and will turn out to be one of Walt Disney Animation Studios finest films. If you haven't already, check out their latest film Wreck-It Ralph. This was my favorite animated film of the year and I can't recommend it enough! What was your favorite? Sound off in the comments below! "Goodbye! Goodbye now! Goodbye! Are they gone yet?"

News, Glorious News!

Wreck-It Ralph Logo.

     There hasn't been too much news around the world of animation recently but I have a few very interesting tidbits for you including photos from Frozen! Let's start off with Wreck-It Ralph, shall we? Opening to a fantastic 49.1 million, Ralph has continued to gain steam with a 10 day total of 93.7 million domestically! It held up well against Skyfall this weekend and here's hoping it can do the same this weekend against the final Twilight film. As Rise of the Guardians approaches quickly, Wreck-It Ralph needs to earn as much money as it can. Dreamworks Animation Studios next films looks extremely good and is set for the Thanksgiving weekend. As a holiday film with strong marketing, it will give Wreck-It Ralph a run for its' money. If you haven't seen Wreck-It Ralph yet, go see it!! It was so amazing, funny, and heartfelt and this years best animated film yet!

Lego film directors and writers Phil Lord and Chris Miller.

     Next up we have some voice casting news on Warner Bros. Lego film. With Chris Pratt, Elizabeth Banks, Will Arnett, and Morgan Freeman already signed on for the film Warner Bros. just announced that Will Farrell, Liam Neeson, Nick Offerman, and Alison Brie will also be cast in the film. Lego will center on a character named Emmet (Pratt), your typical Lego figure who is mistaken for a great warrior and joins a eclectic group of rebels on a mission to bring down an evil warlord known as President Business. Farrell will be Business while Neeson will be his right hand henchmen. Offerman will play a pirate seeking revenge on President Business while Brie will play a member of Emmet's crew. Lego is set for release on February 7, 2014.

Sony Pictures Animation Logo.

     Sony Pictures Animation has announced release dates for both Popeye and Hotel Transylvania 2. Popeye is set for release on September 26, 2014 while Hotel Transylvania 2 is set for September 25, 2014. This comes in the wake of Sony moving Cloudy 2 from a February 2014 release to September 27, 2013 release. I guess Sony Pictures Animation is attributing part of Hotel Transylvania's success to it's release date. Coming out on September 28 of this year, Sony has set all three of there upcoming releases for the same Friday of each year! I don't know how much that date really had anything to do with Hotel Transylvania becoming their number one animated film, but I guess Sony believes there is some magic in it!

Ralph's hair was very different in the final film.

     Finally, the most exciting news of the day! Recently Disney released pictures of the Destination D event celebrating 75 years of Disney Animation. Included in these photos were two pictures from the presentation about Frozen! These photos were officially released by Disney and I did not take them or leak them online. One of them is a storyboard of when Elsa accidentally reveals she has ice powers. Now remember that the character sketches in storyboards in no way suggest the final character look. Just use this Wreck-It Ralph storyboard for example. The Elsa character design I saw had long hair that was put into a braid. It was a white-blue color and went down to her waist, however that could change as well!

Director Chris Buck with a storyboard of Anna and Elsa.

     The next photo is even more exciting and shows the final character art work for the crazy snowman known as Olaf! This character was extremely funny when an animator came on stage with the puppet version shown. When Elsa runs away and builds herself a castle made of ice she also creates monstrous snowmen to keep people from coming to her castle. The very first one she made, however, was a mistake. The films director Chris Buck used an analogy of making pancakes. When you make that first pancake it's either too small or you burnt it or perhaps it splattered all over the place when you flipped it! Such is Olaf, the first snow creature Elsa created who turned out to be a goofy misfit rather than a terrifying monster.

Olaf's final character design.

     Well that's all the news for today! It will be interesting to see how Wreck-It Ralph can hold up and I wish it the best! In way of announcements, I will be posting an updated list of the 2013 animated film slate soon. Also, me and two of my friends will be starting a podcast. It won't talk exclusively on animation, but films, music, and games as well as anything else we can think of! However seeing as we will also talk about animation I figured I would post it here. If you have any suggestions of what you would like to hear us talk about, sound off in the comments below! Thank you so much for viewing and I hope you enjoyed! "Have some candy!"

Wreck-It Ralph - Review

     Wow! What an amazing film. Let me start out by saying this is a SPOILER FREE review. I won't ruin any of the film for you!! This film is so much better than I thought it was going to be and I had high expectations! This is the must see animated film of the year, I would be shocked if it doesn't win Best Animated Picture at the Oscars! The music was fantastic and fit all areas of the film perfectly. I find myself listening to Wreck-It Ralph's theme over and over again. Visually the film is absolutely gorgeous. You will not want to take your eyes off of the screen. Each world is distinctly different and even the way the 8-Bit characters move is fantastic and 8-Bit like. I would also recommend seeing it in 3-D. Normally I would tell you to save your money but this film was just so beautiful in 3-D and the effect was really amazing and added so much to the film.

     The story had me a little concerned at first jumping from world to world it was hard to really get attached to the characters. But once the film settles and progresses and there are more and more interesting things happening with our characters it just gets better and better. The ending of this film is absolutely amazing and I loved every minute of the film. Each one of the characters grow and I absolutely love that. Not only do they grow, but we can relate to them and see our selves in them and seeing them overcome trials that many people face everyday is truly inspiring. The film has such a good message!


     Speaking on the jokes, I know there was some concern. Fear not! This film is absolutely hilarious. I haven't laughed this hard in the longest time! For reference, let's talk about a gag that was in the trailer, "I bet you have to watch where you step in a game called Hero's Duty!" Hm... came off as a little childish duty humor, right? Well in the movie she keeps building on this joke! Coming up with more and more clever takes on it and it becomes really funny! Not a single joke fell flat and nothing was aimed at just kids. There are so many jokes that only adults will get! There are also jokes that only gamers will get, but fear not, this is not just a movie for gamers!! You will laugh at the jokes regardless, there are just some especially funny gags for people who play and know games.


     This movie was extremely imaginative and you can tell that so much thought and design went into these worlds and characters. Sugar Rush is absolutely beautiful and there are so many clever jokes and amazingly creative landmarks built from candy. It is incredible to think that everything in this world is made from candy in the most clever ways possible. I also want to say that Vanellope Von Schweetz is not an annoying character, nor is she what some may call an "annoying sidekick". She is everybit an important and main character as Ralph is and she is extremely relateble, adorable, and funny.

     I can't reccomend this film enough. This was seriously the best animated film of the year. It was absolutly amazing and I cannot wait to see it mulipule more times this weekend. You have to go see this film, it is that good. This film is destined to become a part of pop culture for a very long time, and you will probably be hearing jokes from this film being said for quite a while. Walt Disney Animation Studios certainly is proving that they have what it takes to be the number one animation company around, beating even Pixar. If they keep bringing films like this, Winnie the Pooh, and Tangled out then I truly believe that they could be going through another rennisance. Now a Golden Age requires all the studios to be A+, but I could see animation heading in that direction with Walt Disney Animation at the lead. "I'm gonna wreck it!"

News Update!

     Sorry for not updating very often! Lots of stuff to talk about! Let's start with Pixar, shall we? First up is Toy Story of Terror, one of the two 22-minute TV specials Pixar announced for the series! It shall premiere next October, most likely on ABC. Here is the official plot synopsis: 

     “What starts out as a fun road trip for the Toy Story gang takes an unexpected turn for the worse when the trip detours to a roadside motel. After one of the toys goes missing, the others find themselves caught up in a mysterious sequence of events that must be solved before they all suffer the same fate in this Toy Story of Terror.”

     Pixar also has a new movie scheduled for release on November 25, 2015. This would be the first year that Pixar released two films in one year. I find this very interesting and wonder if they will continue with this trend. I personally feel like it is harder for a studio to make two quality films every year. I guess we will have to see! Walt Disney Animation also has scheduled a new film for November 7, 2014. I'm really hoping that this will be John Musker and Ron Clements new film but who knows! 

     Blue Sky Studios has some very interesting news; they will be releasing a movie adaptation of Charles M. Shulz' Peanuts comic strip! Set to be released on November 25, 2015 (The same day as Pixar's new film, someone WILL change and my bets are on Pixar) it will be directed by Steve Martino (Ice Age 4) and written by Charles son, Craig Shulz. I'm super excited for this project, being a huge fan of Peanuts, and I'm really excited to see what Blue Sky can do with the property. They did an amazing job of adapting Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who and the visual style stayed true to Dr. Seuss' drawings. I feel like the same will be said for this Peanuts film.

     Sony Pictures Animation moved Cloudy 2 up from February 2014 to September 27, 2013. This is a welcome change to get the movie sooner, which is most likely due to Hotel Transylvania being such a huge, and Sony Pictures Animation's biggest, success, already making $187,300,000 at the box office. 

     Warner Bros. Animation is bringing Tom and Jerry back with a new TV show on Cartoon Network entitled The Tom and Jerry Show. I am thrilled for this project because I love Tom and Jerry and seeing them come back in a traditional way is very exciting. 

     And in closing I have some very exciting news! I will be seeing Wreck-it Ralph on Thursday, October 25! This means a spoiler free review will hopefully be posted on Friday! For any of you wondering how good this film is going to be, come back Friday to read my full review! "I'm Gonna Wreck it!"
      

Paperman

The Paperman logo

     Yes. I have seen Paperman and it is one of the most amazing shorts I have ever seen. Heck, probably the BEST short I have ever seen! Paperman is such a beautiful short and I can not wait to see entire films animated in this fashion. Not only that, but the music and the plot was amazing. Emotional, magical, and fun, this is what Disney is all about. Everything worked about it, and even though not a single word was said, I cared about these characters. I laughed, I was sad, I was happy, I was nervous, I felt everything these characters were going through, even though they never spoke! What a powerful piece of artwork, visually and emotionally.

     I have nothing but praises to say about Paperman. The entire short is about an ordinary man whose boring life is suddenly hit with a splash of color, quite literally, in the form of a girl he meets at the train station. The entire film is in black and white save for the girls red lipstick. His entire life is changed as he tries to get her attention, and through the power of magic and hope, anything can happen! This short alone would be worth the price of admission of Wreck-It Ralph, however that film as well looks absolutely amazing. After seeing all of the trailers and ten minutes of footage I cannot wait for November 2nd. If Wreck-It Ralph isn't a success it truly will be a shame for both films. Hopefully Paperman will win the Academy Award because it deserves all of the attention it can get. I know this is a short post but I just had to tell everyone just how amazing Paperman really is. Don't miss out on seeing it! Sorry for the lack of posts, I will try harder!

A Matter of Sequel

The horror, but...

        Sequels. In the world of animation, rarely is it a good idea to make a sequel to a film. Animated films aren't set up to be franchises, and while in some cases it works really well, Kung Fu Panda, Toy Story, Ice Age, for the most part it's purely a cash grab. The worst offender has to be that of the DisneyToon studios making poorly made sequels to hit films purely to make a cheap buck. The Walt Disney Animation Studios has only produced 4 sequels in all their 52 films, however the Disney corporation created the DisneyToon Studio to produce many a sequel, around a total of 35, to the Walt Disney Animation Studio's successful films. 

     Out of DreamWorks Animation's 25 films, 8 are sequels and out of Blue Sky Studios 7 films, 3 are sequels. Sequels are something that Pixar had only done once in the form of Toy Story 2, but there schedule is now becoming littered with them. The Toy Story Trilogy is amazing and I love every film, but a Toy Story 4 is absolutely unnecessary and would purely be to cash in on the billion dollar revenue the 3rd film pulled in. Similar to Ice Age 4, which was one of the worst animated films of the year, cashed in on the third film being so successful! Did it work? Yes, but a crappy film that tarnishes the franchise and the company. So what's more important, money or quality? 

     Now I understand that it is very hard for a company to survive financially so bringing in a lot of money to keep them a float isn't a bad thing, you have to do what you have to do. But was Blue Sky in such a bad situation that they had to force a fourth Ice Age out just to bring in almost a billion dollars? Or is that just 20th Century Fox telling them they have to make it because that's all the corporate heads care about? What about when a studio genuinely has a good idea for a sequel, is that appropriate? I think that is such a delicate situation, because you have to ask yourself as a film maker, "Why does this story need to be told with these characters?". Sequels tend to pose the question, "What can we make these characters do next?", and that is not putting the most important thing first, the story. 

...not as bad as this.

     In the case of DisneyToon Studios 35 sequels, it was purely for money and searching for what they could do with already established popular characters. The same thing happened with Shrek. The first movie? Great! The second one? Still great! The third one? I had to take a break halfway through I was so bored. I didn't even go see the fourth because it was ridiculous! There comes a time when you have to know when to quit. All 35 of those Disney sequels could disappear and I wouldn't particularly miss any of them. Did some of them turn out really well? Yes, they did. Were 30 disappointments worth it? No. 

     Now I know I was hatting on Ice Age 4 a little to harshly, it wasn't that bad, but it is a great example of pushing a franchise to far. DreamWorks Animation has a similar problem with sequels as they do churning out films. It's not a race! Why aren't they taking there time on these films? Two a year is plenty, three is down right unbearable. Not only does the quality of the films go down, but you feel like you are on an overload of DreamWorks and it almost becomes cluttered. This has kind of been a random jumble of thoughts on sequels but I needed to update the blog and the whole subject of sequels has been bugging me! I hope you enjoyed this post, let me know what you think below! And whoever thinks a bunch of sequels is a good idea? "You fired!!!"

Frozen

     Recently I had the amazing opportunity to attend D23's Destination D event celebrating 75 years of Disney Animation. It was the most amazing thing in the world and I have plenty to talk about. I have seen Paperman in it's entirety, and I have seen LOADS of Frozen art work, character models, story details and even heard a song from the film. Let me just say one thing, you should be extremely excited for this film. Now I'm not going to spoil everything I saw and heard there, but I will shed some light on some questions.
   
     The actually Snow Queen, Anna's sister, is NOT your typical, evil villain. Anna and her sister Elsa get along just fine, however Elsa has kept a secret her entire life, she has the power to control ice. She doesn't want people knowing this because there is a prophecy about a queen with a "heart of ice" who is going to destroy the kingdom. However when Anna messes up big time when Elsa is supposed to be becoming queen, Elsa unleashes her powers. Elsa runs away to the top of the mountain because everyone was so shocked at her powers. Elsa then curses the kingdom and puts it in everlasting snow.

Idina Mezel and Kristen Bell

   
     The song was absolutely amazing and I wish I could listen to it over and over again. The artwork is beautiful and the character designs all look fantastic. The song, entitled "Let It Go", really shows how Elsa just wants to get away from prophecies and people judging her and finally be free, so she wants to just let her old life go. Elsa is a wicked witch, she isn't a jealous sister, she is simply a girl who has feared she will be evil her entire life and now just wants to live on her own to avoid becoming the villain. This creates such a bigger dynamic than your typical villain and will make for a much more interesting plot.
   
     For those of you wanting some more traditional evil, fear not. Elsa creates snowmen monsters to guard her castle of ice atop the mountain. However these hideous beasts get out of control and are going to attack the kingdom. Worried about the design of these snowmen monsters? Fear not, they are absolutely fantastic. The entire audience gasped when the art work of the snowmen came up on stage. Huge snow beasts with spikes coming out of there bodies, all snarling with vicious growls.
   
     Overall Kristoff and Elsa have the best character design. Kristoff isn't your typical mountain man, he's blond, attractive, and muscular. Elsa has beautiful long, blue hair and is very stunning. Anna and Olaf look great as well, with Anna having red hair and freckles and Olaf being a goofy snow man with a bent carrot nose. This seems like it will have a great cast of characters, beautiful visuals, fantastic songs, and an amazing story that will be an emotional sister story.
   
     I will write another post about Paperman but for now let me just say this, best short film ever. The emotion, music, and art style are the best I have seen from any short and parallel that of full length films. Oh and uh, Big Hero 6? I wouldn't count on that coming from Walt Disney Animation Studios... "Let It Go."

New News You Wish You Knew!

Poster for the original Finding Nemo

     Time for another News Round-Up! Again, I'm sorry I haven't been posting a lot; I shall try harder! To kick things off, reports are coming in about a Finding Nemo sequel. Oh boy, looks like I will have to write a post about sequel crazy studios! For example, I just saw Ice Age: Continental Drift and it wasn't that good! Sequels dry up great movies and run them into the ground. Making a sequel to one of the best animated films around is kind of setting them up for failure. Andrew Stanton is slated to return to direct and Victoria Strouse is set to write the script based on Stanton's idea. While Stanton has tweeted not to believe everything you read, I still think this is in the works.


     Lot's of news coming from DreamWorks Animation. First off, they released a new trailer for Rise of the Guardians and it looks fantastic! There is just something about this trailer that makes me extremely excited for this film! The magic of all our favorite holiday characters is put in an action like film with beautiful, mystical worlds and lovable, funny characters! It brings the imagination of our childhood to the screen in an amazing action movie and looks like it is going to be one of DreamWorks best! If you have not seen the trailer for yourselves, check it out below.

 
     Some more news has finally been coming out about which studio DreamWorks Animation is going to be partnering up with to distribute its films next year. There deal with Paramount ends with Rise of the Guardians and it appears that Sony Pictures. Personally? I think that is a big mistake. Sony already has there own animation studio and they have partnered with Aardman Animations. They don't need to juggle another animation studio, they would just be competing with themselves! 

DreamWorks Animation Logo

     It's been reported that DreamWorks has also been talking to Fox and Warner Bros. I think that Warner Bros. is their best option because Warner Bros. hasn't been doing well with animation at all. DreamWorks would have a company that wouldn't be competing with them and Warner Bros. would finally have an animation studio. There is also the option of Paramount continuing their deal, or for DreamWorks Animation to self distribute.

Casper the Friendly Ghost logo

     In even more DreamWorks news, it appears that they will be making quite the acquisition by buying Classic Media. Classic Media owns suck properties as Casper The Friendly Ghost, Felix the Cat, Dick Tracy, Archie, and many more famous cartoon characters. I would love to see a studio like DreamWorks Animation take all these old characters and introduce them to audiences today. I think they are just the studio to bring life back to these famous icons and would handle them perfectly. They have reportedly offered $150 million for the studio and is reportedly more than anyone else has offered, scaring away competitors.


     Thought the DreamWorks news stopped there? Think again! Recently at Comic-Con, Madagascar 3 director said that the studio was working on a Penguins of Madagascar film for 2015. I find this really interesting, and while I am excited as a fan of the penguins, I am worried how it will tie into the other three films. Bill Damaschke, Chief Creative officer, also announced that Kung Fu Panda 3 was in the works. I am a huge fan of the Kung Fu Panda films and I can't wait to see where the third one takes us! 

The Me and My Shadow logo

     Also at Comic-Con we got some more information on Me and My Shadow. Alessandro Carolini will be directing the film about Stan, a shadow who longs for a more exciting life than being attached to a wallflower named Stanley Grubb. When a crime in the shadow community puts both of their lives in danger, Stan is forced to take control of Stanley, thrusting both of them into an adventure featuring a dark villain, who intends to lead a rebellion to take over the human world. Stan, the shadow, will be voice by Bill Hader while Stanley, the real flower, will be voiced by Josh Gad with Kate Hudson voicing Stanely's love interest.

A drawing of American Dream theme park

     I think the film sounds really interesting and I am excited to see more! The film will be a mix of CG and hand-drawn animation so I am especially excited to see what the film looks like! I think everything about the film is turning out great so far! Finally in DWA news, it looks like they are getting ready to build there own theme park titled American Dream! It would be indoors and located only 10 miles west of New York City, featuring the characters of DWA films.


      Everything sounds pretty cool, but I'm not too thrilled about anything. I would never travel all the way to New York to go there as right now it doesn't sound to interesting. I really do see why DreamWorks Animation needs a theme park, it seems kind of like a cash grab to me. I guess we  shall see more as development continues! 

A Spiritual enemy in Book 2: Spirits

     In other news, The Legend of Korra has been picked up for 26 more episodes! That brings us through four seasons and 52 episodes total! I am extremely happy to hear this news as I absolutely love this show. It definitely deserves all of these episodes and I can't wait for the show to return in Book 2: Spirits. Book 2, as the title suggests, will heavily involve the spirit world, even featuring villains from it. It will also show more locations besides republic city and introduce new characters to us! I can't wait to hear more about it.


      Finally, Sony Pictures Animation has signed a deal with Hotel Transylvania director Genndy Tartakovsky  to have him develop and direct his own projects at Sony Pictures Animation, including Popeye. I think it's great that he has finally found a new home where his wonderful contributions can be enjoyed at one place! I am really excited to see what he comes up with next.


     Well I think that is all of the most recent news! I hope I didn't miss anything, and if I did I will post another news post! In the meantime, look for reviews of both Brave and Ice Age: Continental Drift! A lot of exciting things are happening in the world of animation, and everything is looking fabulous! Again, I'm sorry for the lack of posts lately and I will really try to get on top of things! "Go, confront the problem. Fight! Win!"

Well Worth The Wait

With a lot of work, this film
might be okay

     I know I haven't posted in a while, life caught up to me this past week! But now that I have a little down time I can't wait to share all the great news! Quite the hub-bub has been going on in the animation world and it's very exciting! However some of it is pretty worrisome; Big Hero 6, I'm looking at you. Disney has confirmed to be adapting a Marvel comic series into an animated film. I am not excited for this project at all and I really hope that Walt Disney Animation Studios is not handling this project; I can't protest this enough! 


     The story is basically X-Men in Japan; a group of heroes who were assembled by the Japanese Government. If Disney re-worked it quite a bit, then maybe this film could turn out alright. But it just doesn't feel right; Walt Disney Animation Studios has been putting out amazing work lately from Tangled to Winnie The Pooh. This just doesn't seem to fit and I would be much more okay with this project if it were headed by DisneyToon Studios, who handle all the direct-to-video movies. 


     Luckily, although the film is confirmed to be in "early stages of development", Disney has not commented on which animation studios will be making the film. Not only does that mean this film could be canceled, but it also means that DisneyToon Studios could be the company making the film. Then I would be completely fine with this film, I just don't think it's right for the Walt Disney Animation Studios. I know there have been reports that this is there 2014 film and that Don Hall is directing, but I really don't want it to happen and I am still holding out hope. I would much rather see The King of the Elves come back into development!

Good old Popeye

     In other news, it looks like Sony Pictures Animation was happy with director Genndy Tartakovsky's work on Hotel Transylvania because he is now attached as the director of Popeye. David Ronn and Jay Scherick, the writers of The Smurfs, are also attached to write the script. One of Sony's many upcoming films, this is one of the ones I am most excited for and I hope it continues to move along quickly. 


     I think it would be extremely fun to see Popeye return to the screen for today's audience! Although it has the writers of The Smurfs, which makes me nervous, I really hope Sony Pictures Animation can do this film justice. It should be reminiscent of the old cartoons but updated for the screen. Hopefully it isn't aimed just at little kids and will be something everyone can enjoy!

Posters up around San Diego for Comic-Con

   
     Comic-Con is coming up, and hopefully we will get more news on Big Hero 6 seeing as it is based off of a comic! If not, we will be getting some panels from two other Disney animated films! Both Frankenweenie and Wreck-It Ralph will be a part of the Walt Disney Studios panel.


      Held on July 12 from 2:05-3:05, Tim Burton will be holding a Q&A for Frankenweenie while director Rich Moore and voice cast members John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman will be there to talk about Wreck-It Ralph. Marvel Studio's panel is on July 14 from 6:00-7:00, hopefully including some announcements regarding Big Hero 6! It's less then ten days away and I really hope we get some great news! 


     In smaller news, Laika has released a video titled "Making Norman". It's an extremely cool look at all the tedious work that goes into making one stop-motion character. Check it out for yourselves! 

     There hasn't been a lot of news regarding DreamWorks Animation's Rise of the Guardians lately so I thought I would take the time to post the character posters that were released a while ago. Although they are a little bit old, they are still extremely nice to look at and dissect!

The Easter Bunny

     This poster has to be my favorite out of all of them. I think the artwork is absolutely beautiful and stunning. The character design for The Easter Bunny is extremely cool, yet familiar to our childhood imaginations. The world behind him looks extremely fantastical and well thought out. I absolutely love the look of his world and hope the rest of the film is as incredible.

Jack Frost

     This one is one of my least favorites. His world looks very typical and human, much like his character. It loses it's sense of imagination and wonder that these fantasy characters are known for. It makes him... normal, and non of these characters are normal. That's why this one is really disappointing and I hope he turns out to be better than this.

The Sandman

     The Sandman's character design is very beautiful and imaginative. He looks a lot better than other interpretation's of his character and it's nice to see DreamWorks Animation making The Sandman a more recognizable fantasy being. We don't get to see much of his world but I really hope it is inspired by the rolling mountains in the background as dessert sand dunes would be beautiful to see.

Santa Clause

     This is one that I am a little worried about; Santa with tattoos. Now I appreciate that they are taking the Santa character where no one has before, but I feel like they might be going a little over the top. Hopefully that is just the trailer as his world looks to be a beautiful Christmas land that we are used to seeing him in.

The Tooth Fairy

     Another character that appears a little over the top is The Tooth Fairy. I think her world is beautiful and as far as animation she goes, she looks great; it's her character design that worries me. I think she looks too weird and like an awkward hummingbird-human mix that no one wanted to see. I feel like they could have mixed up the idea of a fairy in a much more creative way. 

Pitch

     Finally we have Pitch and why his name isn't The Boogieman, I haven't the slightest. His world looks extremely dark and adds a great contrast to the bright, fantastical worlds of the other fantasy characters. The horses look especially sinister and creative, much more so than Pitch himself. While I think Pitch's character design is great, it could have been better. They captured a more human yet scary Boogieman here than most stories do, but I think they played it a little safe. Pitch could defiantly use some of the eerie design that the horses behind him got, just to make him a bit more scary and dark. 

A beautiful still from Paperman

     At last we come full circle to Walt Disney Animation Studios. EW has an amazing look at their upcoming short, Paperman. The film looks absolutely beautiful and I cannot wait to see more of this new hand-drawn art style. The combination between hand-drawn and CG truly is seamless and looks beautiful. 

     While I would love to see more of this in upcoming hand-drawn films, I still want some classically animated hand-drawn films as I feel like they are still beautiful. Please check out the article for yourself, it gives great insight into the story and process of merging both animation techniques.

http://insidemovies.ew.com/2012/06/28/first-look-paperman/

     And that's it for today! The next post will be the Brave review, and I'm so sorry I haven't posted it already! I have been really busy lately and the blog just got pushed aside for a while. These next couple of days are still a little busy so bare with me here as I try to keep the blog updated! "Busy, busy, busy!"

Trailers Galore and Tons of Other News!

The logo for Epic

     Well we got three trailers today! We already knew that the Frankenweenie trailer was coming today, but we got a second trailer as well! The trailer for Blue Sky Studios "Epic" was released today and it look fantastic! The other one is a week or so old, but I just found it! It's a teaser for Escape From Planet Earth. Let's start with the trailer for Epic. Wow. The film looks absolutely beautiful; from the character designs to the amazingly animated world everything is stunning. Blue Sky has made such a magical world and I can't wait to see more from this film. 


     I love how the trailer was put together, with very little dialogue and only an amazing song to accompany it. With just the song playing we really got to enjoy the beautiful art work all the animators have crafted for us. The film looks to be action packed and full of suspense! The action scenes looked extremely awesome and well executed and I am already in love with the film. The humor at the end of the trailer didn't quite work, but the film is a year away, we haven't seen practically anything yet! I have extremely high hopes for this film! Check out the trailer below.

     The second trailer of the day was for Frankenweenie. This one is more or less the same as the previous trailer but shows off more of the other characters. It's really fun to see all of the characters that are based off of classic horror movie creatures. It looks like it is going to be a very fun film with lots of hilarious dark humor. The film feels as if it were an episode of "The Twilight Zone", which is great! The original short also had that sort of film and it's really fun to see it come to life in animation. All of the character models look superb, especially the Igor kid. 

     The climax of the film looks to be the best part of the film, even though we only got a glimpse of it in the trailer. The film appears to go from heartwarming tale of a boy wanting his dog back, to crazy antics of other kids bringing their animals back, and then finally ending with the boy and his dog tale again as Victor fights the town off to protect his dog. Check out the trailer for yourself and share your thoughts in the comments!

     Rainmaker Entertainment has a teaser from their first film, Escape From Planet Earth. It doesn't show off too much, but I am starting to like the character Scorch. The animation looks pretty good and this film has the potential of being funny. The character designs are okay to awful, and I wish they would have been a little more creative. Of course we have only seen one photo so I can't judge to harshly. Hopefully this film doesn't turn out to be more kiddie material that gives animation a bad name. This year and next look to be amazing for animation, so hopefully this isn't a stupid film. It's shaping up to be alright, so here's hoping! 

      

Merida from Brave

     In other news, Brave had a very strong opening weekend with $66,323,594 and has now earned $75,271,765 domestically. This surpasses the four day totals of both Wall-E and The Lorax. Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted also pulled in a good $19,712,315 this past weekend. It's great to see both films doing so well even though they were released extremely close to one another. What does this mean for Ice Age: Continental Drift? We shall see! 


     Concerning the new Lego movie that is coming out, we have found out that Superman and Batman will be in the film. Will Arnett will voice Batman and the directors are trying to get Channing Tatum to voice Superman. Chris Pratt is also attached to the film as the "main character". The film, Lego: The Piece of Resistance, will apparently be a hybrid of live-action and Lego-based animation. Dirceted by the directors of Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs, Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, the animation will also presumbly be directed by Chris McKay. 

The Lego logo

     Speaking of the animation, it is being done by Animal Logic, who are well known for their Happy Feet and The Legend of the Guardians films. I personally am a bit disappointed that the film will feature live-action as well as animation. I was really hoping that we would be immersed in a wholly animated Lego world. At least we are getting Lego characters based off of actually properties! It should be interesting to see more from this film! It doesn't come out until February 28, 2014 so who knows what will happen by then!


     Colider also has an amazing behind the scenes set visit of ParaNorman with 30 beautiful screens and a wonderful in depth look at the making of ParaNorman. 

http://collider.com/paranorman-set-visit-laika-studios/166421/

Beautiful photo from ParaNorman

     Well that's about it for right now, perhaps we will get a new trailer for Rise of the Guardians? Here's hoping because that film looks great and I would love to see more of it! So far this has been an amazing year in animation and next year is shaping up to be great as well. I really hope that ParaNorman is successful because Laika is an animation studio that needs to survive. Otherwise we wouldn't be getting very many stop-motion films! What do you think of the upcoming films? I think "It's gonna be great, it's gonna be great, it's gonna be greeeeaatt!"

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted - Review

     The review of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is finally here! Released on June 8, 2012 by DreamWorks Animation Studios, Madagascar 3 has already earned $365,486,037 worldwide at the box office. With a reported production budget of $145,000,000, the film is still on it's way to a great financial success. The film also received mixed to positive reviews, but why should we care what critics say? 
     
     Characters and Story: Let's keep this simple and spoiler free shall we? As you know from the trailers, our main cast of characters has found their way to Europe and use a circus to get back to America, all while attracting the attention of the world's best Animal Control Officer, Captain DuBois. The film actually starts out in Africa and shows how badly Alex misses New York and the fame that came with it. It was nice to finally see our cast of characters actually express sadness over there lost home; although I wish we could have seen a bit more sadness from Alex because he had to leave his parents. 


     How on earth did they get to Europe you ask? I have no idea. One moment they are in Africa, the next they pop out of the water in Monte Carlo. However, as discussed in the second film's review, that's just the kind of quirky humor Madagascar has and you just have to learn to laugh at. After a bit shaky start, the story finally picks up when our characters join the circus. Here we are introduced to many new characters that are extremely loveable. Overall, the entire film is your basic Madagascar fun with unrealistic antics that are funny if you choose to laugh. 

The new circus characters

     The biggest problem of the entire film's arc is that our characters don't really grow in this film at all. And outside of Alex, the other main characters hardly even speak that much. Although Alex is normally the center character in the series, the second film proved that equal amounts of time can be given to other characters and allow them to grow. The problem with the third film is that it does give time to other characters, just not Marty, Melman, or Gloria. The new circus animals get the bulk of the attention and it's all about how meeting Alex and the gang changes their lives. They all go through character developments, but no one else really does. 


     While seeing these new characters change was necessary and welcome, the film needed much more screen time from the original four main characters. Far too much time was spent in Monte Carlo when DuBois was chasing them. In fact, I feel like there was too much DuBois in general. While watching her avoid everything the penguins throw at her was really funny, it was unnecessary. There were so many scenes with her in it that it became a little too much. 

The ever hilarious and evil, Captain Chantel DuBois

     Not only did DuBois get too much screen time, but so did King Julien and his new love interest, Sonya the bear. While it was fun to watch them on their date, it just took too much time. If DreamWorks Animation were to have trimmed some of the scenes with DuBois and Sonya, we could have seen more time with Marty, Melman and Gloria. However these are just small wishes because in the end, everything did end up flowing well and it's not as if these characters were completely ignored. The film still managed to tell a story about discovering your talents all while managing some very crazy situations in a very humorous way.


Visuals and Soundtrack: The Madagascar films have always had an amazing soundtrack, and when the film opens it plays the title theme we all know so well. This made me very excited for the soundtrack, but in the end the film has a soundtrack that disappears in the background. Not to say that it was a bad soundtrack, it was actually great! It just wasn't featured as heavily and I wanted to hear more striking pieces from Hans Zimmer. Instead we got a great soundtrack that blended into the background perfectly. Not only that but an entire sequence used Katy Perry's "Firework" rather than orchestration. However, this scene was my favorite scene in the whole film and the song did compliment it rather nicely. 

A small glimpse of the beautiful
Cirque Du Soleil type performance

     The scene was also the most beautiful sequence in the entire film. With the help of Alex, the circus animals finally put together an amazing show after the likes of Cirque Du Soleil and boy was it fantastic. The rest of the film, while beautiful, didn't have a very striking art style. The previous films were absolutely beautiful, using African influences in the art style. However this film doesn't use any African art styles and instead goes for the typical photo realistic look. 


     Monte Carlo, although beautiful, is just Monte Carlo, Rome is just Rome, and New York is just New York. It was really disappointing to see the previous films bold and beautiful art style disappear. The Cirque Du Soleil scene changes all of that though, and offers a few minutes of visual eye candy. From neon lights and rings to the painted circus animals the entire thing was bold and beautiful. We do get to see some of it in the other circus scenes as well, which was an extremely nice addition. Also, all of the character animation for the new characters were perfect and amazing; each had their own circus look to them. I really loved every scene of the circus, performing and otherwise, that we got because it added a colorful and fun flare to the visual style.

The crazy characters we know and love are back
and better than ever

Conclusion: In the end, the film is still amazing; rivaling the second film as the best in the series. Although it had its small faults, these really are just minor complaints. The entire film was absolutely wonderful and a joy to watch. All of the humor and loveable characters are back, with plenty of new and fun additions! 


     This film does take these characters on the journey they have been waiting for since the first film. We see them all come together and help others to accomplish their goals. They realize that friendship is everything and they learn to appreciate the adventures they have had. It was really great to see the film come full circle, with plenty of nods to the first film. Although it doesn't have the most bold visual style or soundtrack, and three of our four main characters don't get as much attention as I would like, the film is still amazing and is in no way inferior to the others.  I loved almost everything about the film and was entertained every second! This film is most definitely "Crackalackin!"