I'm getting really excited to see Up! I finally watched Wall-E a few days ago and was struck yet again by how brilliant Pixar can be. They so rarely disappoint, knowing exactly how to paint a scene to render it most affecting. I'm expecting the dog with the talking collar in the new Up trailer above to affect my laugh-hard-wet-pants centre quite a bit when the film hits theatres on May 29th.

Click on over to Yahoo Movies for links to the HD versions of the trailer.

Labels: Disney, John Lasseter, Pixar, Up, Wall-E

Film festival venues can be overwhelming and conference venues can be overwhelming, but when you combine them... well, the experience hovers somewhat above the horizon. That said, here are some tidbits:

1. Much discussion, several panels, and two full days of screenings of stereoscopic (3D) films, commercials, sports events, games and scientific visualizations on the first day of the conference. 3D is the agenda for 21st-century digital releases. I took in the two-hour screening of 3D clips and then heard fine artist and installation/performance artist Catherine Owens speak about collaborating with Bono on the 3D film of U2's concert in Buenos Aires. She spoke convincingly about "experimental" exploration and commitment to "idea" in relationship to her personal art, as well as in relationship to her directorial debut of the film U2 3D.

2. The Computer Animation Festival is programmed into seven two-hour screenings that most often repeat the commercials, trailers, and synopses of film titles submitted. For example, Rhythm and Hues showcased effects scenes of the polar bears in "The Golden Compass" and that is screened alongside the commercial from Bridgestone Tires many have seen of the squirrel running onto the highway to retrieve a nut as a car swerves to miss killing him. The festival is screening two impressive studio shorts worth mentioning here: Pixar Studios' Presto and Disney Studios' Glago's Guest. If you've seen WALL-E you've seen Presto before the feature screens.

3) A wonderful Tribute To Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas happened today with Tom Sito moderating a panel that included Frank Thomas' son, Theodore Thomas, documentary filmmaker, as well as a group of celebrity animators who had worked with the two of them in a mentor relationship. All of them delightfully shared their experiences with Frank and Ollie and were very well received. More on this later.

A closing note in case you don't want to wait: you may go online to read about all the sessions at SIGGRAPH 08 and can listen to them on DVD. All panels and discussions have been recorded are available for purchase.

I have constantly forgotten the number one rule for attending film festivals and conferences: find a place to sit, eat well and if you do this, thinking might follow! That said, I will return to report more soon, in spite of the L.A. smog my allergies are swimming in...

Labels: 3D, CGI, Disney, events, festivals, Los Angeles, Pixar, SIGGRAPH

To an origami purist, cutting or tearing paper is like an old-school Catholic eating fish on Fridays; at best, it's frowned upon, and at worst someone thinks you're going to hell. Which is why it's all the more remarkable that Brian Chan makes his origami masterpieces like the Totoro nekobus above from just one sheet of uncut paper. Once you've finished checking out his nekobus gallery, you can also marvel at his paper WALL-E posed to recreate shots from the Pixar film, or watch the video below of him folding the sad-eyed robot.



[Thanks again to the Nausicaa.net Hayao Miyazaki mailing list.]

Labels: anime, Hayao Miyazaki, Pixar, Totoro, Wall-E

- Studio Ghibli's Ponyo will screen at the 65th Venice International Film Festival (taking place at Venice Lido from August 27th to September 6th) along with Mamoru Oshii's The Sky Crawlers. Hayao Miyazaki will be in attendance and commented, "Lido is very beautiful place. I'm glad that I can walk there again." Via Ghibli Wiki

- Goro Miyazaki talks in depth about layout and the Studio Ghibli production process. Via Ghibli World

- CG images from the new Gatchaman movie with animation produced by Imagi are up at the felix ip。蟻速畫行 blog.

- WTF?! Is Keanu Reeves really going to end up playing Spike Spiegel in the upcoming live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop? Do I care? Via FirstShowing.net

- Is Pixar going to slap us with a sequel to Monsters Inc? Pete Doctor is playing coy but we think it's gonna happen. Straight to video anyone? Via MTV Movies Blog

- More high-def Harryhausen!!!! Sony is eyeing an October 7th release date for the 1958, stop-motion animation/live-action classic, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad on Blu-ray and standard DVD. Via HighDef Digest.com

Labels: anime, Cowboy Bebop, gatchaman, Hayao Miyazaki, Mamoru Oshii, Pixar, Ray Harryhausen, Sky Crawlers, Studio Ghibli

The Pixar Blog has posted 5 new images from the upcoming film, Up. If you don't work for Pixar and didn't attend the San Diego Comic Con, chances are you haven't seen these yet. Click on over to view them all in giant, decent-res glory!

Link: The Pixar Blog

Previously on fps:
Up Sneak Peek

Labels: Pixar, San Diego Comic Con, Up

Disney: Blu-ray Sale at Amazon.com!

It appears that Amazon.com is ready to blow out some Disney and Pixar Blu-ray discs! In addition to a slew of live action titles, the online retailer is offering these animated films at a discount:

- Not only was this one of the best animated films to come out in ages, but it's also one of the most incredible Blu-ray discs you'll ever pick up. With reference quality video and audio and a veritable smorgasbord of extras, the Ratatouille Blu-ray disc is a must own! And at 40% off how can you resist the chance to show off your gear and prove to your spouse that you truly did need the high-def upgrade to your living room!

- While Cars didn't bowl me over the way other Pixar films have (What's with the shitty character design, Lasseter?) it's a solid effort that's fit for the whole family. The quality of the Blu-ray disc, on the other hand, is beyond reproach. Once again Disney has crafted a near perfect sensory experience, hampered only by some hinky menu design. Want to show off your system? The Cars Blu-ray will most certainly get the job done.

- This is an incredible collection of short animated films and we should count ourselves among the fortunate that Disney was kind enough to master a Blu-ray disc that affords them the finest, most vibrant and detailed presentation to date. While the overall quality is over the top, you'll notice that the older shorts, transfered from a film source (as opposed to the digital-to-digital transfers Pixar is known for) suffer slightly from softer, less-than-perfect video and uneven audio. I'm not grousing. I'm just saying...

Find more animated films like Meet the Robinsons and Dinosaur at the Disney Blu-ray Sale page.

Labels: Blu-ray, Cars, John Lasseter, Pixar, Ratatouille

Disney isn't giving us a whole lot of insight into their upcoming film, The Princess and the Frog (directed by John Musker and Ron Clements, directors of The Little Mermaid and Aladdin) with this new trailer. But I don't care. This looks beautiful. Thank the lord for Ed Catmull, John Lasseter and the return of Disney's 2D animation division. 2009 can't come soon enough!

Watch the trailer in other formats: The Princess and the Frog

Labels: 2D, Alladin, Disney, Ed Catmull, John Lasseter, Little Mermaid, Pixar, The Princess and the Frog

Amid Amidi of Cartoon Brew and Harry McCracken of Harry-Go-Round have both commented on the San Diego Comic Con preview of footage from Up and Bolt. Take a look at this teaser for Up.

Original Video- More videos at TinyPic

Labels: CGI, Disney, features, Pixar, San Diego Comic Con

- The classic Speed Racer animated series will finally be available as a box set on October 7th from Lionsgate. There is a mysterious 6th disc included in the collection which we're hoping will contain the bonus features sorely lacking on the individual DVDs. Via tvshowsondvd.com

- BET Networks and Marvel Animation have announced the impending arrival of a Black Panther animated series. A sneak preview will be screened at the San Diego Comic Con on July 26th. Via marketwatch.com

- Sony Pictures Animation is preparing to release it's premiere stereoscopic 3-D digital effort: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Via hollywoodreporter.com

- Live-action/animation hybrid, Go Girl has been greenlit for Canadian animation channel, Teletoon. Casting will take place via a Facebook events page and YouTube submissions. Via vfxworld.com

- Directing animator, Angus Lane shares insight into the animation process behind the film, Wall-E. via ign.com

Labels: Angus Lane, Black Entertainment Television, Black Panther, DVD, Lionsgate, Marvel Comics, Pixar, San Diego Comic Con, Sony Pictures Animation, Speed Racer, Teletoon, Wall-E

fps blogger Matt Forsythe joins some of the worlds greatest illustrators and animators in contributing art to the Totoro Forest Project: an international charity effort to preserve Sayama Forest, also known as Totoro Forest.

"Over 200 top international artists from animation, illustration, and comics are donating artwork especially created for this cause. On september 6th 2008 Pixar Animation Studios will be hosting an art auction event featuring all these fantastic pieces of art. All the proceeds of this fundraiser will benefit the Totoro Forest Foundation. On top of the auction we are producing a wonderful art book of the auction pieces and we’ve also managed to secure an exhibition at the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco."

Visit Matt's blog to view his wonderful contribution to the project.

Read Enrico Casarosa's blog to learn more about how he, Dice Tsutsumi, Ronnie Del Carmen, and Yukino Pang at Pixar plan to save the forest.

Via Drawn.ca

Labels: Dice Tsutsumi, Enrico Casarosa, Matt Forsythe, Pixar, Ronnie Del Carmen, Studio Ghibli, Totoro, Totoro Forest Project, Yukino Pang

Well, what do you know? Looks like Britain loves Pixar more than Keira Knightley after all. Variety is reporting that despite the recent economic downturn, Her Majesty's loyal subjects have been shelling out for home entertainment discs in record amounts, with Ratatouille trouncing Atonement as the biggest seller to date.

“History has shown that in times of economic hardship, consumers find even more value in home entertainment when the leisure pound is stretched as it is,” commented Lavinia Carey, director general, BVA.

“As video is one of the most cost-effective forms of entertainment we would expect to see continued volume growth in our market as consumers tighten their belts in response to increasing economic uncertainty,” she added.

It seems, according to the article that the Blu-ray format has a lot to do with the recent gains in the market, citing a 506% growth, year to date.

via Variety.com

Labels: Blu-ray, DVD, Pixar, Ratatouille, United Kingdom

I hate it—I mean, really hate it—that whenever an animated feature is reviewed, writers feel compelled to mention whether or not kids would like it. It's a testament to the fact that, regardless of what the individual writers, editors or publishers feel, the public at large still can't process the idea that adults might want to watch animated features for themselves.

Past responses to this prejudice have included making films that are most definitely not for children, making films that are mainly for kids but include nod-and-wink throwaway gags for adults, and making films that kids and adults can enjoy equally. These have worked to varying degrees, but they all carry with them a fairly standard idea of what children will watch and enjoy.

WALL-E is a bit different in this regard, because it expands the idea of what kids will find entertaining. When Cast Away was released eight years ago, a big deal was made of the fact that there was no dialogue for almost half the movie (in the literal sense; Tom Hanks's character did speak, but no one answered). A similar fuss is being made over the lack of dialogue in WALL-E, but the unspoken question is, will kids be able to sit still for a 103-minute film where the main characters rarely speak?

From the reactions of the kids in the audience (especially the ones in the row right behind me) on Wednesday night, the answer is yes. And in the same way that Tom Hanks's acting was credited for making the dialogue-free parts of Cast Away so compelling, the Pixar animators must be given props for the remarkable acting in WALL-E.

With one exception, none of the many robot characters in the movie can truly speak, and the two that do (WALL-E and EVE) pretty much only say their names, each other's names, and the word "directive." That means that every robot character has to rely on rigid bodies and eyes (or eye surrogates) to communicate and express emotion. Interestingly, WALL-E himself is among the least flexible of the movie's robots; he has treads instead of feet, a pair of rigid mechanical viewfinders instead of an eye-mimicking LED display, and unbendable arms with three flat "fingers" at the end.

In sum, the movie has to be carried by characters that can't speak and are all limited compared to human bodies, and the main character is in some ways the most limited. And it works, thanks to Pixar's careful application of animation's twin traditions of pantomime and bringing inanimate objects to life. There are several references in WALL-E to A113, an in-joke that refers to CalArts's old character animation classroom. In few other films is that gag as relevant as it is in WALL-E; the movie is such an accomplished expression of the pre-digital yet universal art of conveying emotion and story purely through movement that when human characters show up and start talking, they seem clumsy and inelegant in comparison.

So, yes, kids will like WALL-E, as will adults. And we have the art of animation to thank for that.

Labels: CGI, computer animation, features, Pixar, reviews

The new Wall-E teaser trailer went up yesterday, and it's a good one. Oh, it doesn't tell us any more about the story than the previous teasers, but it does give us a little more about the title character's personality. (I still think the sad-eyes design is a bit of a cheat, but we'll see how it works out.) In fact, about a third of the QuickTime video has Wall-E interacting with Luxo, Jr. in front of the Pixar logo before there are any movie clips.

I haven't loved all of the Pixar trailers in the past, but when they get it right, it's perfect. remember the Toy Story teaser with Buzz "falling with style?" It told you everything you needed to know about the characters and set up Woody's animosity toward Buzz, didn't give away any plot points, and had you wanting to see the movie for reasons beyond the novelty of a feature-length CG film. I've never confirmed if Pixar cuts their own trailers, but I strongly suspect it; if more studios did that, I probably wouldn't spend the first fifteen minutes at the movies figuring out where to put my popcorn.

Labels: CGI, features, Pixar, Wall-E

Labels: features, Oscars, Pixar, shorts, stop-motion

Today, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 2008 Oscar nominees. For all the concern of Beowulf getting a spot, the worry was for naught. The shorts are diverse, in technique, storytelling and geography.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM

Persepolis (Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud, France)
Ratatouille (Brad Bird, US)
Surf's Up (Ash Brannon and Chris Buck, US)

BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM

Even Pigeons Go To Heaven (Samuel Tourneux and Simon Vanesse, France) entire short
I Met The Walrus (Josh Raskin, Canada) clip
Madame Tutli-Putli (Chris Lavis & Maciek Szczerbowski, Canada) clip
My Love (Alexander Petrov, Russia) clip
Peter and The Wolf (Suzie Templeton and Hugh Welchman, UK) clip

Labels: Canada, features, France, Madame Tutli-Putli, National Film Board of Canada, NFB, Oscars, Persepolis, Pixar, Russia, shorts, United Kingdom

In New York and have some free time Thursday afternoon? Head over to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) to see fully restored versions of the three Popeye Color Specials by Fleischer Studios: Popeye the Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor, Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves, and Aladdin and his Wonderful Lamp.

The screening is part of Still Moving, a film series focusing on MoMA's media collection. January's schedule pays special attention to animation. Other screenings include Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, A Bug's Life, and Studio Ghibli's My Neighbors the Yamadas.

Labels: Aardman Animations, Fleischer Studios, New York, Pixar, Studio Ghibli

The latest WALL-E trailer has been posted on MySpace.


Don't forget to visit the Buy N Large website, based on the film's fictional company.

Did I mention I love robots? I love robots.

Labels: CGI, computer animation, features, Pixar, trailers

Review by Noell Wolfgram Evans

The recent release of The Pixar Short Film Collection Vol. 1 shows the studio's utter mastery of the animated form. Watching these pieces must be what it would have been like to watch Babe Ruth in his prime—you understood what he was doing but it was difficult to comprehend how he was doing it so well. All that you could do was sit back and enjoy. And that's really all that you can, and should, do with this short film set.

Read the review

Labels: CGI, Pixar, reviews, shorts

Nostalgia is an essential component of the DVD-release landscape, and the next few months feature more than a few wistful looks back, especially to the 1980s. The entire Megazone 23 series, the first of which I described as "utterly immersed in its era," comes out in a box set in December, as do Super Dimension Century Orguss, Nobody's Boy Remi and the first season of Cat's Eye. From the Western side of things, there's the first collection of Pixar shorts, as well as the next Voltron release. Step a bit farther back than the leg-warmer era and you get the indescribably addictive badness of the late-'60s Rocket Robin Hood (only from Warner Canada, but if you're really jonesing our links point to Amazon.ca), but you also get this year's Walt Disney Treasures releases. The most pleasant surprise, however, is something you may never have seen: the DVD release of the Chinese feature Princess Iron Fan, which Noel Vera admired in his essay on Chinese animation a few years ago.

New titles:

October:
10/9 - Fate/Stay Night Vol. 6: The Holy Grail Limited Edition (DVD)
10/9 - Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (Paperback) (Book)
10/15 - 3ds Max 9.0: Accelerated (Paperback) (Book)
10/15 - After Class Lesson Box Set (Adult) (DVD)
10/15 - All About Techniques in Drawing for Animation Production (Paperback) (Book)
10/15 - Hot Juicy Teacher Box Set (Adult) (DVD)
10/15 - Slutty Princess Diaries Box Set (Adult) (DVD)
10/16 - Cat's Eye Vol. 3 (DVD)
10/16 - Cat's Eye Vol. 4 (DVD)
10/16 - Nobody's Boy Remi Vol. 3 (DVD)
10/16 - Nobody's Boy Remi Vol. 4 (DVD)
10/16 - Super Dimension Century Orguss Vol. 3 (DVD)
10/16 - Super Dimension Century Orguss Vol. 4 (DVD)
10/23 - Rocket Robin Hood Vol. 1 (DVD)
10/23 - Rocket Robin Hood Vol. 2 (DVD)
10/25 - Art of Bee Movie (Hardcover) (Book)
10/25 - Hanna-Barbera Retro Gift Set (DVD)
10/25 - LightWave 3D 8 Modeling: A Definitive Guide (Paperback) (Book)
10/30 - Bizarre Cartoons of the Past (DVD)
10/30 - Holidaze: The Christmas That Almost Didn't Happen (DVD)
10/30 - Polar Express (Blu-ray)
10/30 - TV Animation Gift Set (DVD)
10/30 - We Are the Strange (DVD)

November:
11/1 - Human Motion: Understanding, Modelling, Capture and Animation (Hardcover) (Book)
11/2 - Creating Motion Graphics with After Effects, Fourth Edition: Essential and Advanced Techniques (Paperback) (Book)
11/6 - Ah My Goddess Season 2 Vol. 4: I'm a Believer (DVD)
11/6 - Animated Family Favorites 3-Movie Collection (DVD)
11/6 - Best of Blu-ray: Happy Feet/Tim Burton's Corpse Bride/The Ant Bully/Scooby-Doo (Blu-ray)
11/6 - Bettle Bailey: The Complete Collection (DVD)
11/6 - Burn Up!/Plastic Little 2-Pack (DVD)
11/6 - Cars (Blu-ray)
11/6 - Cat's Eye Vol. 5 (DVD)
11/6 - Cat's Eye Vol. 6 (DVD)
11/6 - Di Gi Charat Nyo! Vol. 4 (DVD)
11/6 - Flag Vol. 1 (DVD)
11/6 - Flag Vol. 1 Limited Edition + artbox (DVD)
11/6 - Gantz Perfect Score Collection (DVD)
11/6 - Gundam Seed Destiny Vol. 11 (DVD)
11/6 - Guyver Vol. 7: Armor of the Gods (DVD)
11/6 - Mars Daybreak Collection (Anime Legends) (DVD)
11/6 - Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Vol. 4 (DVD)
11/6 - Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya Vol. 4 Special Limited Edition (DVD)
11/6 - Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Character Song Volume 5: Ryoko (CD)
11/6 - Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Character Song Volume 7: Emiri (CD)
11/6 - Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Character Song Volume 8: Itsuki (CD)
11/6 - Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya: Haruhi no Tsumeawase (CD)
11/6 - My-Otome Vol. 3 (DVD)
11/6 - Nobody's Boy Remi Vol. 5 (DVD)
11/6 - Nobody's Boy Remi Vol. 6 (DVD)
11/6 - Once Upon a Time: A Storybook Collection (DVD)
11/6 - Pixar Short Films Collection Vol. 1 (Blu-ray)
11/6 - Pixar Short Films Collection Vol. 1 (DVD)
11/6 - Popeye's Voyage: Quest for Pappy (DVD)
11/6 - Princess Iron Fan (DVD)
11/6 - Ratatouille (Blu-ray)
11/6 - Ratatouille (DVD)
11/6 - Super Dimension Century Orguss Vol. 5 (DVD)
11/6 - Super Dimension Century Orguss Vol. 6 (DVD)
11/6 - Tide-Line Blue Vol. 4 (DVD)
11/11 - SOS! Tokyo Metro Explorers: The Next (Blu-ray)
11/11 - SOS! Tokyo Metro Explorers: The Next (DVD)
11/11 - The Shrek Trilogy (DVD)
11/13 - Blade of the Phantom Master: Shin Angyo Onshi (DVD)
11/13 - DuckTales Vol. 3 (DVD)
11/13 - Eureka Seven Vol. 10 (DVD)
11/13 - Eureka Seven Vol. 10 Special Edition (DVD)
11/13 - Scooby-Doo Gift Set (DVD)
11/13 - Shadow Skill Complete Collection (DVD)
11/13 - Shrek the Third (HD DVD)
11/13 - Sonic X: New World Saga (DVD)
11/13 - TaleSpin Vol. 2 (DVD)
11/13 - Ugly Duckling and Me: Yard Party (DVD)
11/13 - Venus Versus Virus Vol. 1: Outbreak (DVD)
11/13 - Xenosaga Vol. 2: Voices From the Past (DVD)
11/13 - Zorro: Return to the Future (DVD)
11/16 - Robot Ghosts and Wired Dreams: Japanese Science Fiction from Origins to Anime (hardcover) (Book)
11/19 - Adobe After Effects CS3 Professional Studio Techniques (Paperback) (Book)
11/20 - Death Note Vol. 1 + manga vol. 1 (DVD)
11/20 - Fruits Basket Box Set (DVD)
11/20 - Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex 2nd Gig Box Set (DVD)
11/20 - Jing, King of Bandits: Seventh Heaven (DVD)
11/20 - Karas The Prophecy/The Revelation 2-Pack (DVD)
11/20 - My Friends Tigger and Pooh: Super Sleuth Christmas Movie (DVD)
11/20 - Princess Tutu Complete Collection (DVD)
11/20 - Red Garden Vol. 2: Breaking the Girls (DVD)
11/20 - Red Garden Vol. 2: Breaking the Girls + artbox (DVD)
11/20 - Super Mario Bros./Sonic the Hedgehog Box Set (DVD)
11/27 - Air Vol. 4 (DVD)
11/27 - Futurama the Movie: Bender's Big Score (DVD)
11/27 - Imma Youjo: The Erotic Temptress Vol. 4: The Bewitching Countess (Adult) (DVD)
11/27 - Jin-Roh (Blu-ray)
11/27 - Land Before Time: Good Times and Good Friends (DVD)
11/27 - Land Before Time: The Wisdom of Friends (DVD)
11/27 - Magical Shopping Arcade Abenobashi Perfect Collection (DVD)
11/27 - Nadia, Secret of Blue Water Perfect Collection (DVD)
11/27 - Neon Genesis Evangelion Platinum Perfect Collection (DVD)
11/27 - Paprika (Blu-ray)
11/27 - Paprika (DVD)
11/27 - Return to Never Land Pixie-Powered Edition (DVD)
11/27 - Third, The: The Girl with the Blue Eye Vol. 3 (DVD)
11/27 - Third, The: The Girl with the Blue Eye Vol. 3 Limited Edition + artbox + puzzles (DVD)
11/30 - Learning with Animation: Research Implications for Design (Hardcover) (Book)

December:
12/4 - .hack//Roots Original Soundtrack 1 (CD)
12/4 - .hack//Roots Vol. 5 (DVD)
12/4 - Air Gear Vol. 6: Kill 'Em Dead (DVD)
12/4 - Aqua Teen Hunger Force Vol. 5 (DVD)
12/4 - Basilisk Vol. 3: Parting of the Ways (DVD)
12/4 - Basilisk Vol. 4: Tokaido Road (DVD)
12/4 - Cat's Eye Season 1 Collection (DVD)
12/4 - Cat's Eye Vol. 7 (DVD)
12/4 - Cat's Eye Vol. 8 (DVD)
12/4 - Curious George lays in the Snow & Other Awesome Activities (DVD)
12/4 - Desert Punk Vol. 5: Under the Desert (DVD)
12/4 - Desert Punk Vol. 6: Death of the Desert (DVD)
12/4 - Dragon Half/Puni Pui Poemy 2-Pack (DVD)
12/4 - Flag Vol. 2 (DVD)
12/4 - Galaxy Angel AA Vol. 4 (DVD)
12/4 - Hell Girl Vol. 2 (DVD)
12/4 - Highlander: The Complete Animated Series (DVD)
12/4 - Lost Universe Collection (DVD)
12/4 - Magikano Vol. 1: A New Witch in Town (DVD)
12/4 - Midori Days: The Handheld Collection (DVD)
12/4 - Ninja Nonsense Collection Limited Edition (DVD)
12/4 - Nobody's Boy Remi Collection (DVD)
12/4 - Nobody's Boy Remi Vol. 7 (DVD)
12/4 - Nobody's Boy Remi Vol. 8 (DVD)
12/4 - Phoenix Vol. 2: Eternal Recurrance (DVD)
12/4 - Ragnarok Vol. 1 (DVD)
12/4 - Samurai 7 Vol. 7: Guardians of the Rice (DVD)
12/4 - Street Fighter Alpha 2-Pack (DVD)
12/4 - Super Dimension Century Orguss Collection (DVD)
12/4 - Super Dimension Century Orguss Vol. 7 (DVD)
12/4 - Super Dimension Century Orguss Vol. 8 (DVD)
12/4 - Tom and Jerry Tales Vol. 3 (DVD)
12/4 - Wallace & Gromit: Three Amazing Adventures (DVD)
12/4 - Welcome to the NHK Vol. 2 (DVD)
12/4 - Welcome to the NHK Vol. 2 + series box (DVD)
12/4 - Zegapain Vol. 2 (DVD)
12/11 - Air: The Movie (DVD)
12/11 - Flower and Snake: The Animation (Adult) (DVD)
12/11 - Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 5: The Cost of Living (DVD)
12/11 - Fullmetal Alchemist Vol. 6: Captured Souls (DVD)
12/11 - Kurau: Phantom Memory Vol. 5: Twin Destinies (DVD)
12/11 - Maya 2008 Character Modeling and Animation: Principles and Practice (paperback) (Book)
12/11 - Megazone 23 Complete Collection (DVD)
12/11 - My Santa Special (DVD)
12/11 - Pumpkin Scissors Vol. 2: The Enemy Within (DVD)
12/11 - Pumpkin Scissors Vol. 2: The Enemy Within + series box (DVD)
12/11 - Tenchi Muyo GXP Box Set (DVD)
12/11 - Tokyo Majin Vol. 1: Dark Arts: Dragon Stream (DVD)
12/11 - Voltron: Defender of the Universe Vol. 5 (DVD)
12/11 - Walt Disney Treasures: Chronological Donald Vol. 3 (DVD)
12/11 - Walt Disney Treasures: Disneyland: Secrets, Stories and Magic (DVD)
12/11 - Walt Disney Treasures: The Adventures of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (DVD)
12/18 - Cinderella II: Dreams Come True Special Edition (widescreen) (DVD)
12/18 - Ghost In The Shell 2nd Gig: Individual Eleven (DVD)
12/18 - Innocent Venus Vol. 3: End of the New Beginning (DVD)
12/18 - Le Chevalier D'Eon Vol. 6: Bête Noire (DVD)
12/18 - Princess Princess Collection (DVD)
12/18 - School Rumble Vol. 4 (DVD)
12/18 - Simpsons: The Movie (widescreen) (DVD)
12/18 - Sonic Underground (DVD)
12/18 - Sorcerer Hunters Perfect Collection (DVD)
12/18 - Trinity Blood Vol. 3 (DVD)
12/18 - Trinity Blood Vol. 4 (DVD)
12/18 - Underdog Ultimate Collection (DVD)
12/18 - Wallflower, The Vol. 1: My Fair Bishonen (DVD)
12/18 - Yu Yu Hakusho Eight (episodes 99-112) (DVD)
12/21 - On Animation: The Director's Perspective: Official AWN Masters (Paperback) (Book)
12/26 - From Impressionism to Anime: Japan as Fantasy and Fan Culture in the Mind of the West (hardcover) (Book)
12/26 - Veggie Tales: Larry Boy and the Fib/The Rumor Weed (DVD)
12/26 - Veggie Tales: Madame Blueberry/Esther Girl Who Would Be Queen (DVD)
12/26 - Veggie Tales: Sheerluck Holmes and the Golden Ruler/Ballad of Little (DVD)

January 2008:
1/1 - The Idea of Nature in Disney Animation (Hardcover) (Book)
1/3 - Introducing 3ds Max 2008 (paperback) (Book)
1/8 - All-New Superfriends Hour: Season One Vol. 1 (DVD)
1/8 - Naruto Vol. 19 (DVD)
1/15 - Bleach Vol. 7 (DVD)
1/15 - Hikaru no Go Vol. 12 (DVD)
1/15 - Medabots: The Complete First Season (DVD)
1/15 - Prince of Tennis Box Set 4 (DVD)
1/29 - Death Note Vol. 3 (DVD)
1/29 - Death Note Vol. 3 Deluxe Edition + figure (DVD)
1/29 - Naruto Vol. 20 (DVD)
1/29 - Ranma 1/2: Season 5 Box Set: Martial Mayhem (DVD)

February 2008:
2/1 - Stepping into the Picture: Cartoon Designer Maurice Noble (hardcover) (Book)
2/5 - Noddy Vol. 4: Taxi Service (DVD)
2/12 - Mar Vol. 5 (DVD)
2/12 - Naruto Box Set 6 (uncut) (DVD)
2/12 - Naruto Box Set 6 Special Edition (DVD)
2/12 - Pokemon Season 1 Box Set 3 (DVD)
2/25 - Fundamentals of Character Animation (paperback) (Book)

May 2008:
5/1 - The Animation Bible: A Practical Guide to the Art of Animating from Flipbooks to Flash (paperback) (Book)

September 2008:
9/23 - 3D Animation for Teens (paperback) (Book)

Date changes:

October:
10/9 - When They Cry Vol. 3 (DVD)
10/16 - Veggie Tales: Wonderful Wizard of Ha's (DVD)
10/23 - Galaxy Angel AA Vol. 3 (DVD)
10/23 - Inu Yasha Season 4 Box Set Deluxe Edition (DVD)

November:
11/1 - To Infinity and Beyond!: The Story of Pixar Animation Studios (hardcover) (Book)
11/13 - Naruto the Movie Deluxe Edition (DVD)
11/20 - Fullmetal Alchemist Box Set 2 (DVD)
11/20 - Hanna-Barbera Treasury, The (hardcover) (Book)
11/27 - Anime Studio: The eFrontier Official Guide (paperback) (Book)
11/27 - Gunslinger Girl Box Set (DVD)
11/27 - Mobile Suit Gundam IGLOO: Hidden One Year War Vol. 1 (DVD)
11/27 - Spiral Box Set (DVD)
11/30 - After Effects CS3 for Windows and Macintosh: Visual QuickPro Guide (paperback) (Book)

December:
12/4 - Character Animation with Poser 7 (paperback) (Book)
12/5 - Yoshitaka Amano: The Collected Art of Vampire Hunter D (Book)
12/25 - Mar Vol. 4 (DVD)

March 2008:
3/18 - Maya Feature Creature Creations, Second Edition (paperback) (Book)

October 2008:
10/1 - Disney's Animation Magic (paperback) (Book)

Labels: anime, Pixar, releases, upcoming releases

Back in the bad old days of VHS, a company called Good Times would routinely release cheap (as in inexpensive, and as in shoddy) knockoffs of Disney features while they were still in the cinema. Animation fans theorized that harried parents would remember the name Pocahontas from all the advertising, spot it near the grocery checkout, and snap it up, relieved that they were able to preserve their kids' pop-culture cred so easily.

I have no idea if Good Times is still in business, but their spiritual successor, the ironically named Inspired Corporation, is tackling Pixar's works with gusto. On the heels of Little Cars 2, itself a sequel to the knockoff Little Cars, comes Ratatoing, which I spotted in Hollywood@Home, a home-video trade mag (coincidentally co-founded by longtime occasional fps contributor Marc Elias). Click the graphic at left to see the ad in all its horror. I love how shameless they are compared to Good Times; check the enticing copy on the right: "Inspired by Disney's upcoming hit Ratatouille," and "Capitalize on the huge buzz stirred from Disney."

Labels: Pixar

Review by Mark Mayerson

While Pixar is one of the most advanced computer animation facilities in existence, before they bring their programming smarts and processing power to bear, they start with the art.

The Art of Ratatouille concentrates on displaying that art. The book is full of drawings, paintings and sculptures showing how the characters and sets evolved before the nuts and bolts of computer animation were applied.

Read the review

Labels: books, Pixar, reviews

Review by Terrence Briggs

Ratatouille is Pixar's best film since Toy Story.

It may lack the rapid-fire whimsy of Toy Story's dialogue, but it tells a more nuanced and imaginative story than Toy Story 2, with fewer softball cultural references. As in Iron Giant and The Incredibles, Brad Bird grounds the characters with largely believable dialogue, and goes through amazing pains to legitimize its many narrative conceits. It's drop-dead gorgeous, almost the equal of Finding Nemo, with more elaborately choreographed action.

Read the review

Labels: Disney, features, Pixar, reviews

It's rare that we run more than one contest at a time, but sometimes we're just bursting with giveaway goodness. We're giving two winners a two full passes each for next week's Platform International Animation Festival, and another two winners are getting a copy The Art of Ratatouille, which features 160 pages of art and text (text? No, really, we get it for the pictures) about the making of Pixar's latest feature. You can enter the Platform contest here and the Art of Ratatouille contest here. The contests close 1t 11:59 p.m. on June 22 and June 29, respectively.

Labels: contest, events, festivals, Pixar, Platform, Portland

Pixar has announced that their 2009 feature will be titled Up, making it the most concisely titled animated feature ever, at least until Shane Acker's 9 comes out. According to Variety, the movie will be about "a 70-year-old man who teams with a wilderness ranger to fight beasts and villains." That's just vague enough that I went straight to Up helmer Pete Docter and asked if he could provide even a little more detail at this early date. For instance, is the movie set in the past, present or future? "It's set in the present," he said, "But I'm not supposed to say much more than has already been printed—other than it's going to be really cool!" Hopefully he'll be more forthcoming before the movie's June 12, 2009 debut.

The Mouse goes to Bollywood: In an effort to crack the Indian market, Disney is teaming up with Yash Raj Films to co-produce Bollywood-style animated features, voiced by Bollywood stars. It's a step up from, say, pitching Mulan to Chinese audiences, but it'd be really cool if Disney set up an exchange program between the Indian studio and Feature Animation in the States. It's a small world, after all.

You know we're gleefully anticipating Astro Boy Essays: Osamu Tezuka, Mighty Atom, and the Manga/Anime Revolution, but gnash our teeth mightily while waiting for its September release date. Happily, we can get a taste when author Frederik L. Schodt chats with KQED's Michael Krasny next Tuesday, between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time. (If you miss it, you can download the archived podcast a bit later.) Oh, did I mention it's a call-in show? You can phone in with questions during the show at 415-863-2476 or 1-866-SF-FORUM (866-733-6786; toll free).

I had no idea there was such a thing as the Canadian Skills Competition, let alone that the thirteenth instalment happened last last week. And imagine my surprise at discovering that the "Olympic-style competitions that test the skills of young people at secondary and post-secondary levels in trade and technology areas" include animation! Specifically, there are two team events titled 3D Character Computer Animation and 2D Character Computer Animation. Congratulations to the winners, but of course I'm a little irked that animation is being considered a technology skill more than an artistic one.

I'm not a huge fan of '80s TV, and frankly the thought of another He-Man and the Masters of the Universe movie bewilders me. (The Transformers movie, less so. The smart money has long known to bet on robot smackdowns.) But it's now been confirmed that Warner will be making the Thundercats movie as a CGI feature. Okay, they've got a cool logo and all, but... why? I know, I know, there's a fan base. But... why?

Labels: anime, Canada, Disney, features, India, Osamu Tezuka, Pixar

Two of the hottest recent titles in anime come to Blu-ray... in Japan. Fortunately, Paprika and Tekkon Kinkreet are available by mail-order and viewable on North American Blu-ray players. You just kinda have to get past the lack of subtitles. Hey, there's a reason they say patience is a virtue.

Meanwhile, check out the upcoming art books, including two for Ghibli faves The Cat Returns and Nausicaä, and scope the new nine-minute teaser for Ratatouille.

New titles:

May:
5/23 - Paprika (Japanese release) (Blu-ray)

June:
6/27 - Tekkon Kinkreet (Japanese release; includes DVD edition) (Blu-ray)

July:
7/10 - Initial D Season 2 Box Set (DVD)
7/17 - Hare+Guu OVA Vol. 2 (DVD)
7/24 - Yu Yu Hakusho Sixth Sense (episodes 71-84) (DVD)

August:
8/21 - Horny Ladies and the News (Adult) (DVD)
8/28 - Project Boobs (Adult) (DVD)
8/28 - Story of Saiunkoku Vol. 1 (DVD)
8/28 - Story of Saiunkoku Vol. 1 + artbox (DVD)

September:
9/11 - Beet the Vandal Buster Vol. 3 (DVD)
9/25 - BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo Vol. 5 (DVD)
9/25 - Voltron: Defender of the Universe Vol. 4 (DVD)

October:
10/2 - Art of Naruto: Uzumaki Art Book (hardcover) (Book)
10/2 - Cat Returns Picture Book (hardcover) (Book)
10/16 - Art of Angel Sanctuary Book 2 (hardcover) (Book)
10/16 - Art of Fullmetal Alchemist Book 2 (hardcover) (Book)
10/23 - Beet the Vandal Buster Vol. 4 (DVD)
10/30 - Beat B'tX Vol. 5 (DVD)
10/31 - Megami DX Artbook Vol. 1 (paperback) (Book)

November:
11/6 - BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo Vol. 6 (DVD)
11/6 - Nausicaa Watercolor Impressions Art Book (paperback) (Book)

December:
12/4 - Beet the Vandal Buster Vol. 5 (DVD)
12/18 - BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo Vol. 7 (DVD)
12/25 - AM Driver Vol. 3 (DVD)

January:
1/29 - BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo Vol. 8 (DVD)

Date changes:

June:
6/26 - Beat B'tX Vol. 2 (DVD)

July:
7/3 - BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo Vol. 3 (DVD)
7/10 - Desert Punk Box Set (DVD)
7/10 - GTO: Great Teacher Onizuka Semester 1 (DVD)
7/31 - Beet the Vandal Buster Vol. 2 (DVD)

August:
8/7 - Beat B'tX Vol. 3 (DVD)
8/14 - BoBoBo-Bo Bo-BoBo Vol. 4 (DVD)

September:
9/18 - Beat B'tX Vol. 4 (DVD)

October:
10/2 - AM Driver Vol. 1 (DVD)

November:
11/13 - AM Driver Vol. 2 (DVD)

New movie previews:
Ratatouille (Movie)

Labels: anime, Pixar, releases, Studio Ghibli, upcoming releases

Defending the nominees for Best Animated Feature Film isn't as hard this year. All three nominees feature accomplishments that outweigh their most glaring flaws. The films share the familiar, family-friendly buoyancy typical of American animated filmmaking, but that familiarity shouldn't overshadow their unique achievements.

Read the commentary

Labels: Oscars, Pixar

We'd heard the rumblings before, but now they've made it official and told the world: Disney is getting back into the hand-drawn feature animation game, with John Musker and Ron Clements (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Treasure Planet) returning to direct The Frog Princess. On the 3D side of things, the retooled American Dog (Chris Williams has replaced Chris Sanders as director) is slated for next year, while Pixar's Lee Unkrich makes his directorial debut with Toy Story 3 in 2009.

It looks like Disney is getting its production groove back, but we won't know for sure until we see how these three first films of the Disney/Pixar era play out on the big screen. We'll see in'08.

Labels: Disney, Pixar

Blood Tea & Red String (DVD)
Thirteen years in the making, Christiane Cegavske's wordless stop-motion fever dream of a movie is at times disturbing, mesmerizing, and strangely sweet—sometimes all at the same time. —Emru Townsend

Cars (fullscreen) (DVD)
Cars (widescreen) (DVD)
The bad news is that it's Pixar's worst feature to date. The good news is that Pixar's worst is still funny and enjoyable while bearing the stamp of its director. If only every feature could be so "bad." —Emru Townsend

Labels: Pixar, releases, upcoming releases

Cars is Pixar's latest theatrical release. It's really a compendium of the animation industry's (and particularly Pixar's) greatest hits. Unfortunately, as with most compendiums, it's strong in some areas and lacking in others.

Read the entire review

Labels: Pixar, reviews

Not that Disney's Cars is in need of any additional PR, I must say the Cars website is slicker than a dragstrip coated in oil. The 360° 'Auto Spin' showroom is especially fun; be sure to take Ramone for a spin! There's also coloring book pages, printable stickers, memory games, mazes, and more. Some great detailed high res 'portraits' too.

Labels: Pixar

At an A.G. Edwards conference yesterday, Disney chairman Dick Cook gushed that the Pixar-Disney integration is "happening better than we had ever dreamed it would." Most interesting was the news that the combined studios aims to make release two animated features a year—one from each studio. Dreamworks has long had the same goal, but this strikes me as a better idea because it's not that far off from what Disney and Pixar were doing separately before. It'll still require ramping up (including the forthcoming Cars, Pixar averages a film every 18 months; in the same period Disney's feature studios averaged slightly over one film a year, but they had a larger staff than they do now), but it's not as much of a stretch. And frankly, Dreamworks movies haven't done much for me for a long time. (Though I will admit I've yet to see either Shrek—but then, I've never had any urge to.)

Cook also made the unsurprising assertion that the deluge of animated films that starts this year will lead to a shakeout. But then, how could it not? Eager to cash in on the public's supposedly insatiable appetite for CGI films, various studios have popped up and offered minor variations on the same formula: sassy, talking critters and celebrity casting. At least this time the boom-and-bust cycle will be quicker (and less tumultuous) than the last one.

Labels: Disney, Pixar

If you live across the pond and have been silently cursing because you couldn't catch the Pixar: 20 Years of Animation exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art, you can stop gnashing your teeth. The exhibit will be moving to London's Science Museum starting April 1. Looks like Kino Kid and I have an excuse to go visit our cousins.

Labels: events, exhibitions, Pixar

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the nominees for the 78th Annual Acedemy Awards this morning, including:


BEST ANIMATED SHORT FILM OF THE YEAR

Badgered
(Sharon Colman, dir.; National Film and Television School) watch clip

The Moon and the Son: An Imagined Conversation
(John Canemaker, dir.; John Canemaker and Peggy Stern)

The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello
(Anthony Lucas, 3d Films) watch the trailer

9
(Shane Acker)

One Man Band
(Andrew Jimenez and Mark Andrews, dirs.; Pixar)

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE FILM OF THE YEAR

Howl’s Moving Castle
(directed by Hayao Miyazaki)

Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride
(directed by Tim Burton and Mike Johnson)

Wallace & Gromit in the Curse of the Were-Rabbit
(directed by Nick Park and Steve Box)

Good luck to all nominees!

Labels: events, Hayao Miyazaki, Pixar, Studio Ghibli

Two stories over the Reuters newswire today shed some light on details from the Disney/Pixar deal. I find both encouraging.

The first reveals that in order for the deal to go through, the Pixar "brain trust" must agree to it and work at the combined company. That "brain trust" includes Steve Jobs, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter, whose new positions have already been spelled out, as well as Finding Nemo director Andrew Stanton, Monsters, Inc. director Pete Docter, The Incredibles director Brad Bird, director/writer Bob Peterson, story artist Brenda Chapman, editor Lee Unkrich and sound designer Gary Rydstrom.

Also, the studio's name will remain Pixar. (Not that I expected it to change, but it's nice to see that it's spelled out in the contract.)

The second answers a question I forgot to bring up earlier: control of Toy Story 3 and all Pixar sequels reverts to Pixar. Thank goodness.

Labels: Disney, Pixar

Well, that's it. Weeks of speculation and rumour come to an end, as Pixar and Disney kiss and make up in a big way.

Part of me is saddened by the whole thing. I've always liked the idea that Pixar did so well as an autonomous entity (at least, as autonomous as an animation producer can be—see Mark Mayerson's commentary on the animation industry in the latest issue), beholden to none; I don't think The Incredibles would have been made the way it was anywhere but at Pixar.

But, credit where credit is due: the movie also wouldn't have had the play it did if it weren't for Disney's distribution. The two companies are really suited to each other, which is why the 1991 Disney-Pixar deal and its later renewal were generally hailed as positive news. It was a simple equation: Pixar made great animation and told good stories; Disney had a fantastic distribution system.

With this new deal, the equation has many more variables. Pixar and Disney are no longer at arm's length, and there are some boundaries that may be getting blurrier. The question is, how will Disney and Pixar affect each other?

First off, the new org chart looks promising, with the key executive/creative players—Steve Jobs, Ed Catmull and John Lasseter—making logical, parallel transitions. Jobs is now Disney's 14th board member, and the largest individual shareholder; not quite in charge, but as close as you can get. Pixar prez Catmull is now president of both Pixar and Disney animation studios. Lasseter is chief creative officer (love that title) of the animation studios, and principal creative advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering, which seems to fit with his hands-on executive/creative role at Pixar.

And let me say right now that I'm a huge fan of Steve Jobs, who deserves the title of The Comeback Kid like no other (and provides unparalleled encouragement to any parent whose kid spends too much time in the garage with his pals). I'm glad to see him wielding such power on the Disney board. He has a proven knack for doing things unconventionally yet successfully, and for creating products that lead to iconic pop-culture status and/or inspire feverish loyalty. In terms of sensing the future and exploiting it, he's probably the closest thing to Walt Disney himself that the board has ever seen. If anyone can give Disney the kick in the pants it needs, it's him.

But the crux of any merger or acquisition is how the new company deals with having two departments that do the same thing. This situation can be handled in one of three ways: closing one department (massive layoffs, with some reassignments); merging the two (some layoffs, one much bigger department); or having two parallel departments. All of these options can lead to culture clashes and resentment between departments without some truly masterful diplomacy.

In an ideal world, we'd see some combination of the second and third options: a vast animation talent pool that gets divided up into mostly autonomous sections depending on the projects currently in production—much like the Disney and Warner studios of old. Maybe we will see that in the future, but right now they're talking about two separate studios, separated by the physical distance between Glendale and Emeryville.

What does this new arrangement mean for the studios' output? Disney had committed themselves to producing only CG films, despite its long heritage (and considerable talent base) in traditional animation. With both studios under the same corporate roof, it seems redundant to have them both producing material in the same medium, using similar techniques for similar stories—especially when Pixar seems so much better at it. But after going through the trauma of converting to a CG-only studio, where can Disney animation go from here? Again, in an ideal world, Catmull and Lasseter would axe future projects like The Wild and Rapunzel Unbraided and start buying light tables again; but like any organism, the studio can only take so many shocks to its system in succession.

There are a lot of questions that will remain unanswered for the next few years, and all we can do is hold our collective breath. I have a lot of faith in Jobs, Catmull and Lasseter, who have shown admirable skill in balancing corporate and creative needs. But there are still so many ways this could go.

Labels: Disney, Pixar

From the joint press release:

Pixar President Ed Catmull will serve as President of the new Pixar and Disney animation studios, reporting to Iger and Dick Cook, Chairman of The Walt Disney Studios. In addition, Pixar Executive Vice President John Lasseter will be Chief Creative Officer of the animation studios, as well as Principal Creative Advisor at Walt Disney Imagineering, where he will provide his expertise in the design of new attractions for Disney theme parks around the world, reporting directly to Iger. Pixar Chairman and CEO Steve Jobs will be appointed to Disney's Board of Directors as a non-independent member. With the addition of Jobs, 11 of Disney's 14 directors will be independent. Both Disney and Pixar animation units will retain their current operations and locations.

Labels: Disney, Pixar

People are stirred up in the business and entertainment world about the events currently surrounding Pixar and Walt Disney, and for good reason. Whatever happens will have an impact in business and on popular culture.

Why do I sound so cautious? Because I think someone has to be.

I'm just as anxious as anyone, but the January 22nd article's headline in the Sunday Telegraph states, falsely: Jobs to Scoop $3.5bn as Pixar Board Approves Disney Takeover. In the first paragraph of the story, the journalist contradicts the headline by saying that Pixar's board of directors "is set to meet tomorrow," meaning January 23. (In the defense of the journalist but not the newspaper, it is typical for another individual to write headlines for an article.)

The article has been cited by many others online, including BoingBoing, the most popular blog on the Net (on a lazy Sunday like this, they'll get at least 275,000 visits) . In addition to the blog entry's reductionist view of why Disney's traditional animation unit shut down, the entry's title trumpets: Disney Swaps Stock for Pixar; Jobs is Largest Disney Stockholder.

Guess what. This is a likely scenario.

But it hasn't happened yet. Future tense was invented specifically for this type of occasion.

In the meantime, in the Australian News, where it actually is tomorrow, there is a reprint of a Financial Times article that doesn't speculate and reports the story about Disney's board meeting, also taking place tomorrow. That article notes:

They said a number of options regarding Pixar were being discussed, from a full takeover of the animation studio controlled by Steve Jobs to a smaller-scale deal involving Disney taking a stake in Pixar.

The emphasis is mine. It's only a few hours. Let's wait for tomorrow.

Labels: Disney, Pixar

What? You say you're in or near New York and you haven't been to the Pixar Animation Studios retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art yet? Stop reading this blog and hie thee hence right now—Mike Caputo stopped by, and he presents compelling reasons for you to go too.

Labels: events, exhibitions, Pixar

While Dallas, Texas isn't exactly a hotbed of animation (although I'm told that DNA Studios started out in the bedroom of a house about four or five blocks from my home), it does have one significant claim to fame: Fred "Tex" Avery came from here. He graduated in 1928 from North Dallas High School and, according to a PBS special from years back, the catch phrase "what's up, doc?" was a slang greeting the NDHS students had for the teachers there and Tex recycled it when they needed a smartass reply for Bugs Bunny to use. So it was appropriate for the Deep Ellum Film Festival (now in its seventh year) to hold the first annual Tex Avery Animation Award at the NDHS auditorium today. The first receipent was Brad Bird and the award was presented by Nancy Avery Arkley, Tex's daughter, and he was introduced by William Joyce (children's author and illustrator and creator of Rolie-Polie Olie, George Shrinks, and the art director for Robots).

The ceremony started with the showing of a Bugs Bunny short (Tortoise Beats Hare) and a Droopy and Wolf short. Then Nancy Avery Arkley came out and talked for a bit about her dad. Then they showed a short clip of a documentary about Avery where he was asked if he made his cartoons for children to which he replied, "I never thought of children. If I could make the other guys in the studio laugh, then I went with the idea or joke." Then William Joyce came out to introduce Bird and talk about Avery's influence. He started by saying that as a kid he used to watch cartoons and all cartoons were pretty much the same to kids, but he rememebered once watching Red Hot Riding Hood while his mom was in the room with him. As the story progressed his mom said, "I don't like this cartoon. I don't think it's good for you." "And you know what?" grinned Joyce. "She was right. It wasn't good for me. And I loved it." He talked about how Avery's vision was one that was more absurd than the rest of the cartoons he watched. "He had wolves chasing human girls, interspecies attraction. He warped a lot of kids with things like that." He pointed out that he feels animation is the purest form of cinema. "Where else do you start with a blank frame and create the whole world from scratch, and then do that over and over again at 24 frames per second?" He then went on to talk about how Bird is a fitting recepient of Avery's award by giving the short review of The Incredibles that his son gave him after he'd seen it: "You know, Dad, how a lot of movies have a scene where you think they're going to do a cool thing, and then they don't?" "Yeah." "Well, in this movie, they always do the cool thing."

After a short montage of clips from various Brad Bird films (ending with the kid on the tricycle in The Incredibles saying "That was wicked!" Brad Bird came out and Nancy Avery Arkley handed him the award (which looks like an Oscar statue, but is Avery's Wolf character). Then he and local film critic Gary Cogill sat down for a 45 minute chat. I cribbed a few notes on the back of a sheet of paper I had so these are just some random "best of" comments and are not necessarily word for word quotes.

Bird started by commenting that just getting the cool Wolf statue was almost as good as getting the award itself. Then he talked about how earlier they had been looking at the school yearbook for Avery's senior year where he did all the artwork. "Even then you could see he was a trouble-maker." He said he really liked Avery's quote in the documentary where he said he didn't make the cartoons for kids. Bird said his work is partially targeted at kids, "but you do much better work if you assume that the kids who are watching your stuff are smart." Then Cogill had hm go through his own career history. He went to Cal Arts and got to work with some of the Nine Old Men. Unfortunately he arrived at Disney's nadir where, as he put it, "Disney's motto at the time was 'Let's not do anything to embarass ourselves.' If something was funny in a film, they said 'let's tone it down.' If it was exciting, they said 'let's tone it down.' They smoothed the storyline down to where it was flatlined, and that meant it was dead." He pointed out that one of the few great pieces from that time was the bull fight scene in The Fox and the Hound. Everything else had been "flatlined" but they ran out of time to redo that scene, so the animators poured their hearts and talent into it. He pointed out that animation was good in the 1960s because all the folks in the industry had come from the studios. Even the limited TV animation was being done by folks who had been trained in the bug studios. But as those folks started dying and retiring, you started getting animators whose only experience was TV animation "and then you started getting horrible stuff on Saturday morning." He left Disney to do independent work and it was a "Sophie's choice" for him. "Do I stay where I can do technically beautiful animation that is boring and has no heart or do I go into the world of limited animation where it doesn't look polished but I can make something fresh?" He ultimately ended up working for the first 7 or 8 years on The Simpsons. Joyce had quoted him earlier by telling the story where someone asked him exactly what he did on The Simpsons? Bird replied, "My primary job is to remind the writers that this is a story with characters and plot, not just gag lines." After that he went over to Warner Brothers and did The Iron Giant. He arrived at a bad time. They were just finishing Quest for Camelot and had poured millions into it. Iron Giant was one of the projects in development at Warners when he came in and he liked it and wanted to do something different from the orginal treatment. He pitched it to them as "What if a gun had a soul, and didn't want to be a gun anymore?" Iron Giant was already greenlighted and underway when Camelot crashed and burned and the suits decided to close the animation division. But it was cheaper to let them finish than to kill the project midway through. "It was like being on the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. Sure you were part of the steerage, but all the rich people had left and you had the run of the ship now as long as you didn't mind the fact that the deck was tilting. One of the floors was the administration and every week another executive would be fired until there was no one left. So you started seeing people bringing their dogs into work, you could run around naked if you wanted to, and there was no one to tell you to behave." He said the final 20 minutes of the film were his favorite because they were a challenge to hit so many different tones and moods and make it all work. He also got them to put the original Warner Brothers logo back on the film instead of the newer one with Bugs on it. And the irony was that he'd learned today that Tex Avery was the artist who designed the classic Warners logo.

He talked about how Pixar had brought him in "to shake things up." "To their credit they were making hit after hit and they were worried that they were going to get into a rut. 'If we ever start talking like we have the magic formula, we're dead,' they told me, and so they wanted me to help them branch out and do something different," He talked about how animation was more than just talking animals and magic and the idea of "why do it animated if you can do it live action?" He answered it by saying that the artist still brings his vision and viewpoint to the work. "Why does a Hirshfield characature of a person look more like that person really is than a real photograph? You can't show me a live action image or scene of someone getting aroused that is more effective than Avery's Wolf having his eyeballs pop out." He also got into a riff about "studio notes" and how dumb they were elsewhere, but how good they were at Pixar. When he was working on Iron Giant he got a note from a studio executive suggesting that Kent be an alien. They also wanted make it a contemporary setting and have rap music in it. "Whenever I hear a studio executive saying 'I want to make this movie exciting' I think of them having a subtitle below them that says 'I want to make this movie lame.'"

He then got to the Q&A and I got to ask him about animators from outside the US that he admired and was influenced by. (Okay, I was angling to see how much anime he was familar with...) He did mention Miyazaki of course, and Bill Plympton and Nick Park, but his favorite was John Hubley and pointed out that the "Maypo" commercial in Iron Giant was a tribute to Hubley's work. "He did commercials to pay the bills, but even there he was great." He was asked about Richard Linklater and Waking Life. He doesn't like that sort of animation. "When you're animating a character, you are in control of making that character come to life and act, but when you're rotoscoping or even doing motion capture, then someone else is creating the action, not you. So it's not real animation." Finally someone asked him why his films had a "retro future" feel to them? "When I was growing up they were promising us a great future where we all had jet packs to fly around with, and we're still waiting. So in the meantime, I'm making movies about that future."

Labels: events, Pixar

I was shocked to learn yesterday of the passing of Pixar story man/storyboard artist/voice artist Joe Ranft. While we've lost a number of contributors to animation in the last year, many died after long, productive lives. Ranft's, unfortunately, was short and productive: he was taken from us at a mere 45, victim of a car crash.

I've never met Joe Ranft, but I certainly wanted to. After reading an article about him in Salon and watching his storyboard pitch for a Heimlich scene in A Bug's Life, I started paying attention to Ranft's past work in animation and looking for his credit in the later Pixar films. I was sure he would be one of the Pixar talents who would eventually bubble up to become a director. Unfortunately, that moment I've been anticipating will never come to pass.

If you're a fan of Pixar films—and if you're reading this blog, that's a pretty safe bet—head over to Cartoon Brew, where Amid Amidi and Jerry Beck have collected a number of heartfelt reminiscences of Ranft's life and work.

Labels: Pixar