D23 Expo: Two new Pixar projects announced!

The D23 Expo is happening this weekend, and some pretty big announcements have surfaced from the Expo already.There are two new Pixar projects in the works that follow BRAVE, which is slated to be released June 2012, and the sequel to MONSTERS, INC. titled MONSTERS UNIVERSITY, which is scheduled to be released June 21st, 2013.

First, there's an untitled dinosaur movie which will explore the question, "What if that life-changing asteroid missed the Earth?"  Longtime Pixar vet, Bob Peterson, has been named director.  Peterson has most recently been a writer on FINDING NEMO and UP.  He also co-directed UP with Pete Doctor, and he even voiced the character, Dug the dog, who everyone adores.

A Pixar fan noticed these storyboards while watching some behind the scenes footage for UP.

The idea that dinosaurs never became extinct is such an interesting and exciting concept to explore, and I find it pretty ironically hilarious that this movie, which I would assume would play with the concepts of evolution of a species, is scheduled to come out during the 2013 holiday season.  I can already hear the controversy now.


The second announcement is another movie that will "explores the inside of the human mind".  Peter Doctor will helm the project and is set to be released May 2014.  Now whether the script will "explore" the mind like the magic school bus or INCEPTION is yet to be seen.  Hopefully the story will fall somewhere in between.


So, could Pixar strike gold again with these two movies?  Thoughts?

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Despicable Me

Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud

Written by Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul

Starring: Steve Carell, Russell Brand, and Jason Segal

Synopsis: Gru wants to outdo his nemsis, Vector, by becoming the best villain in the world by stealing the moon.  However, Gru's plans are foiled when he becomes a dad to three orphans.

Despicable Me- He said

Dreamworks Animation studios got its start in pop culture as the makers of Shrek, a great little movie everyone knows by now. Unfortunately, after the success of Shrek, Dreamworks stuck with the same formula of celebrity voices and adult humor undertones, with mediocre animation and stories, giving us such gems as Shark Tale, Bee Movie, and the second Madagascar movie. This all finally went away when they released Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs, and subsequently this year’s runaway hit How To Train Your Dragon. I am glad to say that while Despicable Me is not nearly as great as the other movies mentioned, it is an insanely enjoyable good time and pretty endearing to boot.




When I saw the first trailers for this movie, I was confused and rather apprehensive. The trailers made little to no sense when put together, and the marketing was all over the place. It wasn’t until the minions showed up, and my sister kept on raving about them, that I got a bit interested. The Minions are the cute, yellow things that serve our main protagonist/villain Gru. Gru, from what we see, is a mediocre villain who thinks rather highly of himself. When he goes to the Evil Bank to get a loan for his new plan that involves stealing the moon, he is rejected because he is no longer a hot new villain. That villain is Vector, a super geeky inventor that wears orange spandex and stole the Great Pyramid from Egypt. After Vector foils one of his plans, Gru tries to best him and he’s going to use three orphan girls, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, he adopted to unwittingly help. If you’ve seen any movie when the main character changes his or her way, you know how this movie will turn out for the most part.



What I found interesting about the way this movie handles its world and how believable everything is. You don’t question a geek stealing the Pyramid, yellow Minions walking around and doing nutty stuff, and the villain banks. I really enjoyed this considering that most movies need a long set up, and it felt refreshing to just jump into a world headfirst. Gru’s life is an eccentric one full of colorful characters like his mom and his assistant/mentor Dr. Nefario; they are both your typical over the top-senior citizen types, which usually seem rather annoying (I never bought into the Betty White hype), but they work rather well. I will say that the issues that the mom give Gru are interesting but felt tacked on at random times of the movie. Once we meet the little girls and their very distinct personalities, the movie starts to pick up in a positive manner. If you have seen the commercials you know that Agnes, the little girl will steal the show along the minions, and that’s not a bad thing at all. If you have seen Toy Story 3, think of Bonnie but a much younger version.



With the kids and the minions stealing the show, it does show Gru to be a slightly boring protagonist, his overly confident persona that masks a guy full of insecurity is something we’ve seen quite a bit. Vector is the worst character of the whole movie; he’s a very one-note sort of characters that did very little to nothing to add to the story. But these are all rather minor complaints about the movie. The weird thing is that there is nothing truly wrong with the movie, and its story is one that we have seen before but it is done well. As I stated before Gru and Vector being weak characters is a detriment to the overall story.



Overall, this is one of the better Dreamworks Animation movies, sure they are following the same formula that has gotten them in trouble before, but this time like in their last two movies it works just fine.

Despicable Me- she said

I don’t usually buy into Dreamworks movies. I enjoyed Shrek, but after that, their movies seemed so much more blah than Pixar movies. It wasn’t until this year’s How to Train Your Dragon by DreamWorks (I never saw Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs until recently) that I realized someone besides Pixar could make a decent animated movie. Even with that, I still wasn’t expecting much when Despicable Me was being advertised. I was indifferent towards the movie going in, but I found myself really, really enjoying it.


Despicable Me creates this amazing world where villains live next door, have their own banks, and regularly steal major landmarks like the Great Pyramid. Gru is a villain who was probably very good at his job at some point, but he has lost his edge. He is very old school having a cascade of miniature twinkie-looking things as his minions working on new and brilliant gadgets and gizmos. He has developed the best idea to get him back on top…steal the moon. Unfortunately, he can’t get the loan for his idea from the bank (the loan goes to his nemesis, Vector), so Gru adopts three girls, Margo, Edith, and Agnes, to unknowingly help him. At first, Gru is initially annoyed with having these three new personalities in his home, but then they grow on him.

Gru initially uses the girls to get inside Vector’s house. Vector is like the Mac version of the villains, while Gru is the PC. Vetor’s home is clean, slick, and shiny. Gru’s home is worn, creaky, and has history. Vector has a remote control for everything, and Gru has to create a new gadget for everything. Gru wants to prove that he’s still the best villain, so he takes it upon himself to steal the moon to outdo Vector. However, his plans get foiled when his feelings change for his new “daughters”.

As the girls begin to find a place in Gru’s heart, he is faced with a problem: does he save his career as a villain or does he take his new found role as a dad? Or is there room in this world to be both? We’ve seen this situation before, work or family, but it’s nice to see a fun take on the classic situation.

The person who steals the movie is the youngest girl, Agnes. The actress, Elsie Fisher, does brilliant voice work. She walks the line of being annoying and endearing, which is a difficult line to walk, but she pulls it off. At first, you think she’s going to be this annoying little girl who’s obsessed with unicorns, but she’s so lovable, you want to adopt her by the end. The other girls are equally as adorable. They each have their very distinct personalities and quirks. I found myself more interested in their story than Gru’s plot.

Another fun aspect is the minions. These creatures are Gru’s workers, who live (I guess) in the bowls of his home. They’re like smart four year olds that look like mini twinkies. They work hard with the tasks they’re given, but they giggle and laugh at any instance of a fart joke. The minions are there for the crude humor that draws in the younger crowd, and even though I did find them kind of cute, the jokes got old.

Overall, Dreamworks is clearly taking a turn for the better. They must have found some new writers. Despicable Me is quirky and fun and is one of the better movies of the summer. There’s a new formula that Dreamworks must be drinking because their past few movies have been heads above their earlier ones (yes even Shrek). Whatever they’re drinking, they need to stay on it, then maybe they can actually begin to compete with Pixar.

Shrek: The Final Chapter, He says

Directed by Mike Mitchell

Starring: Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas

Synopsis: Shrek is tricked into signing a pact with the smooth-talking deal maker, Rumpelstiltskin, who offers Shrek a day where everything will be as if his adventures had never happened.

If you’re a movie that actually plays up Pete Hammond and the fact that IS (hopefully) the last chapter in a series, you know that you can’t expect much. Shrek: The Final Chapter Forever After is exactly that sort of movie, but here’s the surprise, if you have your expectations lowered, this fourth Shrek movie is pretty fun. The story is a generic one that we have all seen many times, where Shrek cannot appreciate the apparent perfection that is his life with wife, kids, and goofy friends, and he wants to go back to his single days of being a scary ogre. And so begins what is Shrek’s last tale.


I will say that for the first half of the movie I kept on thinking how I would rather be watching The Fantastic Mr. Fox instead because it starts of the same way. Fiona’s parents about to sign over their kingdom to Rumpelstilskin, who specializes in making magical deals with people. As soon as the king and queen are about to sign, they get word Fiona has been rescued and don’t sign the contract. The next scene shows every day mundane routine of hanging out with the cute pooping babies, hanging out with his friends, and dealing with his fame. I’m going to cry boohoo here. It truly bothered me how whiny Shrek seemed; yes it’s annoying to take care of babies but being a good parent means powering through that. When Shrek becomes overtly irritated at his kids’ first birthday, Rumpelstilskin takes this opportunity to make a power play for the kingdom in this deal (didn’t you see this coming). Rumpel gives Shrek a day to be a manly scary ogre again for a day from his life in his past. In a sweet twist, we go to a world where Shrek never existed since the day he gave up was the day he was born, ogres are evil outlaws, Rumpel is king, and his friends do not know anything about him. As an end note, I do think its interesting how they tried to emulate How To Train Your Dragon-style flying scenes, but it does not do it justice the way the former movie did. Though just like with Dragon, this movie’s 3D use is very classy and well put together.


So like I said, this is It’s A Wonderful Life and the aforementioned Fantastic Mr. Fox put in a generic package. You can see Shrek trying to reconnect with his old friends in ridiculous ways, and it’s horribly annoying because you know he’s going to fail numerous times, then he will succeed, and he’ll have to move on to the next acquaintance.

But here is where I think that there is the genius of the film. By taking the characters back to zero, you can almost relive the magic of the original; the chemistry of donkey and Shrek is definitely the highlight of the movie. They have toned down the humor that’s filled with ridiculous pop culture references and adult inside jokes, which really helps the movie. The last half of the movie is what makes me think that this is a fitting end to the series. As Shrek is trying to connect with Fiona, you see the difficulty of this ogre trying to win her again, and without going into spoilers. the way he does win her over is one of great characters growth, and you can see how truly well he knows Fiona and cares for her. And fittingly the end credits of the movie are highlighted scenes from all the movies in the series. (Interesting that they don’t show Justin Timberlake’s character for the most part, just saying guys.)


Overall, this is a generic movie. I would say that it is way better than Shrek 3, but if I had to rank the series it’d be Shrek, Shrek 2, Shrek The Final Chapter, and Shrek 3. I find it a fitting end to series that leaves it with a decent amount of dignity. I would not recommend it unless you want your kids to be quiet for a couple of hours but definitely it would make for a great rental.

Animation Shorts- He said

The animated shorts competition is something I looked forward to given my almost ridiculous affinity for cartoons. I walked away completely amazed at the great things being done in this field, especially with the fact that there was only one CGI short. The shorts programming director came out and told us she can picked these for the competition, and I must say I like her taste.




One of my favorites were ‘Land of the Heads“, a French short by Cédric Louis and Claude Barnes. This was a stop motion in the style of Henrys Selick. What sets it apart is the hilarious and graphic violence that ensues. It tells the tale of a decapitated wife who constantly pesters her monster husband for a new head. He has to go with an annoying crow to the village and find her a head, except he starts to get fed up. The conclusion is hilarious and yet really creepy at the same time.



“The Terrible Thing of Alpha-9!” is by American director, Jake Armstrong, who takes the style of the mid-90’s Nickelodeon cartoons, that I loved, and translates them into a super gory sci-fi story of a bounty hunter out for the head of 9-eyed creature. When he arrives, things are not as they seem. The creature is an overtly friendly goofball and seemingly indestructible.



“Runaway” has to be my favorite short of the bunch. Directed by Canadian director, Cordell Barker, it is the ridiculous and funny story of a train filled with over the top characters and a conductor that completely neglects his duty. The train ride gets a bit bumpy after they hit a cow in the tracks who, while unharmed, causes the train to go off course. One ridiculous obstacle after the another finds the trains population getting smaller and smaller until the climax.



Finally, German short “The Wisdom Teeth” by director Don Herzfeldt, which shows you why it’s not a good idea to have your friend pull your stitches from your mouth.



Others in the competitions which I didn’t enjoy nearly as much were “You Cried Me” by Tom Deslongchamp, is a crudely drawn and stylistically messy short about two kids playing in the wrong graveyard, disturbing something that they shouldn’t have, and now are on the run. Finally, “Dock Ellis and the LSD No-No” is the retelling of Dock Ellis’s experience with LSD, and his attempt at playing baseball. Even though, the narration was amazing and was aided by the visuals, the problem was the animation felt a lot like a bad, second-tier Adult Swim show.



Once again, this block of cartoons was a joy to watch, and I can’t wait to see what these directors do next. It does feel great to know that computer graphics don’t necessarily have to be the source of cartoons. The different styles and ways of animating things was very inspiring, and it’s great to see it used as a different way of storytelling and not just for making kid’s movies.

Waking Sleeping Beauty- She said

As a child of the early 90s, my memories are full of Disney. I remember seeing the animated cartoons on the big screen, which were some of the first movies I saw in theaters, and being absolutely captivated by their stories. After all the movies, I always wanted the soundtrack, backpack and coloring books right away! I never wanted to leave those fairytale worlds. To many of us, Disney has always been an animation giant. However, as the documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty shows, the road toward their golden era of animation was long, arduous and bumpy.


In the late 70s, there was this dividing line within the animators at Disney. You had the classic animators who were about to retire, then there were fresh faced kids full of bright ideas. Even though they had the talent, Disney was not thought of for their animation. The released an animated movie about every four years. This led to many, many fails at the box office culminating with the flop of The Black Cauldron. Throughout this time, there was constant power struggle of egos from the head honchos: Roy Disney, Jeff Kratzenberg, Mike Eisner, and Frank Wells. Through disagreements, power shifts, failed experiments and outside forces an unbelievable chain of events happened which led us to some of the greatest and most successful animated movies ever made.

This documentary by Don Hahn is phenomenal. The archive footage and videos used give an insight to the lives and minds from the animators all the way up to Roy Disney. Also, there are A LOT of people involved during this era, and Hahn does an amazing job of keeping the names of who we’re seeing or who’s talking on the screen, which makes this movie very user friendly. It also shows some very hilarious archival caricatures of certain meetings and bosses that add to the playfulness of the animators.

I was scared that this documentary might tarnish notions I had about the Disney studios, but it just reinforced the fact that Disney at the end of the day is still just another business. Not everyone is going to agree or get along, but they still have to produce a product.

This is my favorite movie I’ve seen at the Dallas International Film Festival thus far. Now, I am a little biased because I do love Disney, but it was fascinating to see a back story from a company that had such a profound impact on my generation. If you’ve ever had any interest in Disney, go see this film. (Also, they mention this little start-up company towards the end…called Pixar. Maybe a Pixar documentary could be in the works about changing the face of animation?)