Friday, 30 August 2013

Why Finding Dory WILL succeed

Admist all the - dissapointing - news of Bob Peterson being removed from The Good Dinosaur, we can take solace in the rest of Pixar's future. Chiefly, Inside Out and Finding Dory. I've said previously that Inside Out looks like an absolute gem, but I'd like to focus on Andrew Stanton's (Finding Nemo, WALL-E) next film: Finding Dory.


Firstly, Andrew Stanton's Pixar record is top notch. You can't deny that he's got a knack for animation. He's been a key player in the majority of Pixar's films, whether it being the story, editing, producing or directing. John Carter aside, he's a competent director, able to balance humour, charm and honest emotion. His films are amicable and heartfelt.
Then there's the two leads. Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres made a great pairing in Nemo, showing great chemisty and providing a lot of the humour. Ellen paticularly seems thrilled to work at Pixar as exhibited on her show when she announced it. They're infectious; something crucial in animated films. Goodman and Crystal and Hanks and Allen show similar brilliance, Pixar in particular are good at chosing well matched leads.
Of course, we're still waiting on more plot details, but we know that Dory will be getting lost and that her parents will be involved. Her mum will be voiced by Diane Keaton (!!!) and her dad by Eugene Levy. The addition of her previously unseen parents is a great move, as it could create a lot of emotional impact in the film.
Lastly; we can count on the story being good. I personally don't believe that Pixar would make a sequel to a film like Nemo without a solid plot. It's different to Cars 2, Nemo was so good and so well finished that only a sensational idea could create a sequel.

Until November 2015, we'll have to wait and see.

Saturday, 17 August 2013

Hand-Drawn Animation, Stop-Motion Animation and Computer Animation

Animation, as a medium of art, has been popular ever since the release of the very first fully animated feature film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Disney pioneered the genre for the majority of the twentieth century, with classics like Pinocchio, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Fantasia coming out of the Disney Studios at Burbank. Disney had their ups and downs, then a resurgence in the late 80s and early-mid 90s. The Little Mermaid, Aladdin and The Lion King sparked renewed interest in animation.


In 1995 the whole field changed. Pixar released Toy Story, a brand new way of doing things. The animation was more realistic and the visual style was world's away from the traditional animation coming from Disney. As a result, the public went to see Toy Story in their droves, making it the highest grossing film of 1995. This led to Dreamworks expanding to computer animation with Antz and Shrek (their successes resulting in the complete closure of the Dreamworks hand-drawn department). Pixar and Dreamworks continued to succeed both critically and commercially - especially the former. Other companies saw the potential too, in 2002 Blue Sky studios released Ice Age and in 2006 Sony Animation released Open Season. Ever since, computer animation has dominated the market place, with only one traditionally animated film - from Hollywood - entering wide release.




During all of this, Stop-Motion Animation has enjoyed moderate success. Aardman had great success (particularly in the United Kingdom) with Wallace and Gromit and Chicken Run (they later teamed up with Dreamworks to create The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and Flushed Away). Tim Burton used the medium to produce James and the Giant Peach, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Corpse Bride and, more recently, Frankenweenie. Also, Laika have had success with Coraline and Paranorman. Despite the limits that the technology has compared to computer animation, it remains popular.


All this begs the question: is there one type of medium superior to the others? Certainly, studios at the minute seem to believe that computer animation will garner the most commercial success. I myself find all three to have their own individual merits. 

Traditional Animation
When I watched The Princess and the Frog in 2009, I realised how much warmer traditional animation is. It's visual style is lovely to look at and if done right it can be a real joy, although, it's success depends greatly on the skill of it's animators. Sometimes I prefer to watch a classic Disney animation rather than something like Tangled or Wreck-it Ralph. The techniques used in this form are great to look at and I hope Disney produce traditionally animated films much more often.

Computer Animation
My favourite form of animation is the most common in modern theatres. None of the big animation studios make fully hand-drawn features these days, due to the success of Pixar in the 90s and 00s. This comes with good reason. Computer animation brings meticulous detail and much more realism to animation, particularly when creating landscapes and humans. A new, emerging branch of computer animation is Photorealistic animation, shown in Rango and The Polar Express. Whilst it still needs some work, it shows that there are still things to be discovered on the technical side of the world of animation. 

Stop Motion
Probably my least favourite, only because it's the least realistic and generally the least appealing to look at. Saying that, I love Chicken Run, Wallace and Gromit and Coraline and the technology behind it is steadily improving, as exhibited in Paranorman and Frankenweenie.

Overall, all three are sturdy art forms, each popular and advanced in their own right. Whilst traditional animation has had it's day and computer animation is the form of animation right now, stop motion has been less successful commercially. This can of course be attributed to the stories behind each individual medium, but all three deserve their chance in the limelight. 

Saturday, 10 August 2013

Why we should be excited about Pixar's future - D23 Update

Pixar's future is undeniably bright. Three of the four films officially slated for release are original films (not sequels). Sure this doesn't guarantee that they will be good films, but it's encouraging nonetheless. 


Toy Story of Terror
Pixar's first television 30 minute special has a lot of promise. Firstly, Toy Story is adored globally. You can guarantee it will get a good reception from the public. Plus, the premise is interesting and it's scored by Michael Giacchino. What can go wrong?


Update: Brand new still showing Jesse in distress. We already knew that she will be a key part of the story, along with Combat Carl. The animation looks as great as ever and we'll see if the story can deliver.



The Good Dinosaur 
The concept is pretty good, not groundbreaking, but far superior to a lot of the trash you can pay to watch these days. Considering, at the time of writing, we don't know much about the plot, it's hard to predict what to expect. The few details we do know are encouraging, as are the people involved. Bob Peterson did a great job co-directing and co-writing Up (one of my favourite Pixar films), so I think he'll pull something great out of the bag. He's working with Peter Sohn too, who directed the lovely Partly Cloudy. On paper, The Good Dinosaur should be sweet.


Update: Brand new image released, showing the two main characters, Arlo (the dinosaur) and Spot (the human). I love the look of Arlo, even in this concept art he looks great. Also more announcements regarding the cast, John Lithgow will be voicing the father of Arlo's family, Frances McDormand the mother, Neil Patrick Harris and Judy Greer as the middle-siblings and Bill Hader as the oldest member of the family. Hader also features in Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs (not Pixar) and the upcoming Inside Out (PIXAR). A bonus arrived in the form of Party Central, a Monsters University short, featuring Mike and Sulley reuniting with the Oozmas.


Inside Out 
This is the one I'm looking forward to most. Firstly, Pete Docter (the genius behind Monsters Inc. and Up) is directing. He's one of the Pixar legends, crucial to the production of their string of hits, from Toy Story to Toy Story 3. Now, we have nothing but this concept art (above) to go by, but I love the premise and the idea of emotions being characters is creative and intriguing. Frankly, I think this will be the true return to form for Pixar.

 Update: Great new character art, showing the five main characters, those being, Joy (Amy Poehler - my favourite piece of casting news), Disgust (Mandy Kaling), Fear (Bill Hader - again), Sadness (Phyllis Smith) and Anger (fantastically cast Lewis Black). We now discover that the girl's name is Riley and she will be the setting of the film. We'll see many parts of her mind, including Long Term Memory, Abstract Thought, Imagination Land and Dream Production. It's only becoming more and more intriguing.


Finding Dory
Oh my god. We all remember the ecstasy when we found out that Andrew Stanton was making a sequel! With he blessings of Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres too, it should be a solid follow up to the original. Pixar's track record supports this too. Only a follow up in the Cars franchise has been below par. Both Toy Story sequels were spectacular and Monsters University was funny and emotionally satisfying. I'm extremely optimistic about this, I just hope Stanton can deliver, not that he's struggled in the past with Nemo and WALL-E.

Update: New concept art and casting announcements. The picture is intriguing and leaves us in the dark a bit, but you can tell the animation is going to be amazing already. Ty Burrel has joined the cast as Dory's Beluga Whale friend, Diane Keaton (YES) and Eugene Levy have been announced as her parents. It looks interesting, I'm glad to see her family involved. Looks like a proper sequel this.



 Untitled Dia De Los Muertos Film
Another promising concept. We know virtually nothing besides the fact that Lee Unkrich is directing. He previously directed my favourite Pixar feature, Toy Story 3, and I'm confident that he can deliver again, particularly because he subject of Dia De Los Muertos has a lot of promise. here's loads of stuff to explore, even jus a rough skim of its history leaves you mightily interested. I've got a feeling this will be different from anything we've seen before from Pixar.
Update: No new news on Lee Unkrich's second film, we'll get that at the D23 Expo in 2015. 

Monday, 5 August 2013

Why we should be excited about Pixar's future

Pixar's future is undeniably bright. Three of the four films officially slated for release are original films (not sequels). Sure this doesn't guarantee that they will be good films, but it's encouraging nonetheless. Check back after D23 for more information!


The Good Dinosaur 
The concept is pretty good, not groundbreaking, but far superior to a lot of the trash you can pay to watch these days. Considering, at the time of writing, we don't know much about the plot, it's hard to predict what to expect. The few details we do know are encouraging, as are the people involved. Bob Peterson did a great job co-directing and co-writing Up (one of my favourite Pixar films), so I think he'll pull something great out of the bag. He's working with Peter Sohn too, who directed the lovely Partly Cloudy. On paper, The Good Dinosaur should be sweet.


Inside Out 
This is the one I'm looking forward to most. Firstly, Pete Docter (the genius behind Monsters Inc. and Up) is directing. He's one of the Pixar legends, crucial to the production of their string of hits, from Toy Story to Toy Story 3. Now, we have nothing but this concept art (above) to go by, but I love the premise and the idea of emotions being characters is creative and intriguing. Frankly, I think this will be the true return to form for Pixar.


Finding Dory
Oh my god. We all remember the ecstasy when we found out that Andrew Stanton was making a sequel! With he blessings of Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres too, it should be a solid follow up to the original. Pixar's track record supports this too. Only a follow up in the Cars franchise has been below par. Both Toy Story sequels were spectacular and Monsters University was funny and emotionally satisfying. I'm extremely optimisitc about this, I just hope Stanton can deliver, not that he's struggled in the past with Nemo and WALL-E.


 Untitled Dia De Los Muertos Film
Another promising concept. We know virtually nothing besides the fact that Lee Unkrich is directing. He previously directed my favourite Pixar feature, Toy Story 3, and I'm confident that he can deliver again, particularly because he subject of Dia De Los Muertos has a lot of promise. here's loads of stuff to explore, even jus a rough skim of its history leaves you mightily interested. I've got a feeling this will be different from anything we've seen before from Pixar.