Disney and Pixar have announced the slate of new movies coming from their animation divisions, both 3D and 2D. Press release
here, but here’s a list of them.
Pixar:
[ul]
[li]Wall*E - A robot love story[/li][li]Up - An elderly man goes on a wild adventure[/li][li]Toy Story 3 - Andy grows up[/li][li]Newt - Two Newts in a lab are forced together to reproduce, but don’t actually like each other[/li][li]The Bear and the Bow - A fairy tale set in ancient Scotland[/li][li]Cars 2 - An unnecessary sequel[/li][/ul] Disney:
[ul]
[li]Bolt - A dog becomes a movie star[/li][li]Tinkerbell (four movies) - Ugh, I don’t care[/li][li]The Princess and the Frog - Set in New Orleans[/li][li]Rapunzel - A fractured fairy tale, I think, though it has changed plot a lot in the last couple of years[/li][li]King of the Elves - Based on a Philip K Dick story[/li][/ul]
I actually work with newts in a lab, and mostly… they just sit in a giant bathtub in the same spot for days at a time. Occasionally they’ll mix it up by changing who sits next to which vent, they show signs of life when you feed them, and if you poke 'em you’re likely to get chomped, but otherwise… yeah, they just sit there. I’ve got an entire facility full of more entertaining lab animals than the newts.
That was genius, and I want to steal it for everytime this movie is mentioned. Pretty please?
I’m not too interested in most of the Disney branded ones, but we’ll see when they get closer. I’m not majorly excited about any of the Pixar ones, but I’ve been proven wrong every single time that I say “that doesn’t look too interesting”. I’m looking forward to both sequels, actually.
Pixar has proven that they can make excellent movies out of virtually any premise. They could announce that their next film will be about some guy dealing with constipation and it would somehow still end up a work of cinematic genius. That said, only the sequels fail to excite me. But Toy Story 2 was great, so we’ll see.
Disney, OTOH, doesn’t get the same benefit of the doubt. Most of these (you sure the Tinkerbells aren’t direct to DVD?) *could *be good. But maybe not. We’ll see.
Up has potential, I think. It’d be better if Brad Bird were on it, as I really liked the older folk in The Incredibles, but Pete Doctor did Monsters, Inc., which was also pretty darn good.
Yes, I believe they are. But they were in the press release, so I included them. Direct-to-video sequels was supposed to be something John Lasseter put a stop to, so these are an interesting anomaly.
Going for the gals who they’re marketing their “Tink” line towards, I guess. Too old for princesses, but still like Disney. I never quite got my ex’s fascination with Tinkerbell, fairies are ok and everything, but really?
-Starting with Bolt, all of Disney and Pixar’s CGI films will be exclusively in 3D theaters- perhaps to compete with DreamWorks, who’s doing the same thing. The first two Toy Stories will also be re-released in 3D as a lead-in to the third.
-The four Tinker Bell films are Direct-To-Video. I figured as much.
-Bolt was originally called American Dog, and had Chris Sanders (Lilo and Stitch) as its director. Many fans were angered when Sanders was fired from the project- the fact that Miley Cyrus plays Bolt’s human friend probably isn’t going to make them any happier.
Oh man, Toy Story 3 is going to suuuuuuck. I was really hoping that the prospect of a 3rd one had been killed in all the kerfluffle of Pixar moving around. Dammit.
This, probably, is for the best. Because there’s no way they’d get Brad Bird on it, so it would inevitably suck more than a large sucking thing. It’d be a major letdown from the first one.
Just yesterday, I sat in on an early design meeting for a video game tie-in to Up. I got to see a whole bunch of the concept art, and read a fairly comprehensive plot summary. Obviously, I can say much about it for fear of Disney death squads, but it looks very cool.
Re Toy Story 3, Lasseter & Co were begged for years for a sequel by the Disney honchos. They always responded: no, not unless and until we have a good idea for it. Disney said: we don’t care, it’ll make a fortune! Pixar: no. Disney: grrr! Pixar: knock it off, you’re getting spittle on us.
The fact that this is now on the slate suggests that the big brains in the story department have come up with something.
(The rumor I heard:Andy grows up, and the toys are at risk of being sold, given away, and otherwise separated. They wind up being donated to a day care, which is a risky venture; new kids, potentially rough play, possibility of being stolen, and so on. Eventually, though, the toys recognize that the biggest downside of their life, the fact that kids grow up and move on, is mitigated in their new setting: as kids mature and disappear, new kids come in and take their place. That makes day care, all things considered, pretty close to heaven.That’s just the rumor, so don’t take it to the bank. I don’t know how the story would work; it doesn’t seem to have a second act. But there’s potential.)
