To 2014, and beyond!

Andreas here, with a scoop courtesy of The Pixar Blog: a few tantalizing details have been released about two original, untitled projects on the Pixar slate, due out in 2013 and 2014.

The first, from Up co-director (and voice of Dug) Bob Peterson, will be about "a world where dinosaurs never went extinct." Pixar's already proven their aptitude for speculative fiction (i.e., WALL•E) and dinosaurs, especially when voiced by Wallace Shawn. And after seeing The Tree of Life's prehistoric interlude, who doesn't want more sensitively rendered big-screen dinosaurs?

The second, to be directed by Pixar mainstay (and unqualified genius) Pete Docter, "explores a world that everyone knows, but no one has seen: inside the human mind." I have no idea how to react to this, other than to squeal with childish glee. The Playlist adds that it's "wildly ambitious" -- and coming from the creators of The Incredibles and the Toy Story saga, that means something.

Between the abomination that was Cars 2 and the announcement of Monsters University, many of us had begun to fear that Pixar was entering a long, self-cannibalizing slump. But maybe they were just messing with us? That's what this news, coupled with the oh-my-god-it's-gorgeous teaser for Brave, seems to suggest. Ohh, Pixar, you were just lowering our expectations so that you could raise them absurdly high again, weren't you?

So, which of these Best Animated Feature nominees-to-be whets your appetite the most? The one with the dinosaurs, or the one that sounds like Inception, Pixar-style (but better)?

Stage Door: Disney's "Aladdin" (Plus "Anything Goes")

Aladdin is the latest Disney animated musical to get a stage version [hat tip]. It just opened in Seattle. Testing the waters sands for a Broadway run? We'd love to hear opinions from any Seattle TFE readers who see it. (This is the sort of reason we wish we had a huge operating budget here at TFE. Imagine the sudden coverage of such things.)

Adam Jacob as Aladdin and Courtney Reed as JasmineAdam previously played "Simba" in The Lion King and Courtney was in "In the Heights"

That's Aladdin (Adam Jacobs) and Jasmine (Courtney Reed) in rehearsal and in previous shows. The royal couple get one original song in addition to the big famous ballad "A Whole New World". After the jump Anything Goes and two Aladdin-centric videos. One, is a history of stage and screen versions of this Arabian Night's Tale and the other is a fleshy festive Fourth of July video with the cast in a Seattle park. I guess sex sells... even when it comes to Disney musicals!

Click to read more ...

Pixar's "Brave" (and Animated Earworms)

Raise your hand if you think it was more sneaky-strategic than any secret intelligence spy movie move ever was to release the trailer to Brave (2012) at the exact same moment when the world was painfully realizing that Pixar is fallible while watching Cars 2.  (Yes, yes, the people of Planet Earth ought to have caught on to this during the snoozefest that was Cars but feeling very very sleepy has a less damning quality than feeling very annoyed; people do like a two hour nap now and then.) Redirect the conversation to a happier place!

So herewith the teaser to Brave which opens next June ...alas, not this one. This one is the one where we get Cars 2, damnit. We can't really break it down like Yes, No, Maybe So since it's only a teaser. We wait until the full trailer for that. But here's the gorgeously verdant tease.

We're all YES thus far.

Plus you know how we feel about red-headed heroines. Haven't been this excited to see a head of hair animated since Tangled was first announced... or maybe even since the first peak at Pocahontas back in the 90s ... that luscious windswept black mane. Oh what a sight it was.

P.S. If you can't get enough animation talk now that you're skipping Cars 2 (you are, right?) you might consider listening in on the Animation Fascination podcast which is talking to the animators Chris Chua and Austin Madison about their work on various Pixar films. That's them in kilts below while working on Brave.

Chris Chua & Austin Madison

It's an interesting background listen. Like, I'd never stopped to think how earworm irritating it would be to hear the same line reading over and over again for days on end while you're animating a movement within a scene!

Austin: For me it was Toy Story 3 working on the Potato Head characters, Mrs. Potato Head in particular. She's -- it's George Constanza's mom (Estelle ). That 'Georgie stop playing with yourself' -- that sort of voice. I had to hear 'MY EYE! IT'S BACK IN ANDY'S ROOM!!!' for about a week straight. You can mute it when you're working on blocking but as you get into the polishing phases you really have to listen to it over and over. I was ready to jump off the nearest bridge. Horrible.  
Interviewer: Does that ever ruin the experience when you watch the full film?
Chris: All the time.
Austin: It's tricky because working on a film -- it's really hard for us get perspective at all on a film and how good it is or isn't. To us it is -- you see it almost like a photo album. When I'm seeing scenes I'm thinking about all the dailies of that scene that's been playing in front of me dozens and dozens of times. I feel like only now I'm getting to the point where I can watch Ratatouille (2007) and fully enjoy it. It takes about five good years to get any perspective on a movie.

Can you imagine?

Mr & Mrs Incredible

June Wedding (reprinted from the TFE archives)

Helen and Bob Parr were married June 27th, 1989, at the church on St. Pablo Ave. Justice of the Peace Brad Bird presided. The bride is the daughter of Mr and Mrs. Conyers Georgia. The groom is the son of Mr and Mrs Craig T Parr. The bride wore an ivory silk Valenta ball gown. She carried a bouquet of white daisies. Best man was Lucius Best.

The bride is a graduate of Metroville University with a degree in hydrocarbon polymerology. She currently serves the public as a superhero. The groom also performs heroics. They plan to continue incredible crime fighting and reside in downtown Metroville.

[excerpted from the Municiperg Tribune, June 27th, 1989]


Happy 22nd anniversary to Mr & Mrs Incredible! (If Pixar must be in the sequel business, The Incredibles are beyond the most deserving, wouldn't you agree?)

"Brave", We Need You

Behold the blurry teaser poster (courtesy of Pixar Planet) for Pixar's Brave an original story with their first female lead "Princess Merida"

I normally wouldn't post a blurry advertisement, but having just seen Cars 2, I'm going to rub this teaser all over me for soothing balm. I need this one to be great. Cars 2 stinks (more later) and the Toy Story short that proceeds it "Hawaiian Vacation" is also soul-crushing. Oh Pixar, you said farewell to these characters so beautifully last year. You had a whole world weeping under 3D glasses and then you bring the whole gang back instantly for such a disposable mediocrity? What are we going to do with you? We depend on you! Love - a concerned fan since that bootleg viewing of Tin Toy in the 1980s.