Pixar Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Now that Pixar's Up has officially landed on DVD and Blu-ray, artist Paul Conrad has posted a bunch of the concept art from the film that he worked on, like the above image (which I pieced together) that includes the original digital photo that inspired "Paradise Falls" alongside the faux magazine article that Ellie first thumb-tacks in their living room. Some interesting tidbits we learn from Conrad's blog:

• According to one image, Paradise Falls was at one point called Angel Falls.
• Initially, 185 Wilderness Explorer Merit Badges were created for Russell, though they only used 47 in the film (see all 185 over at Conrad's site).
• The bird's name was originally Gary, and then later changed to Kevin.
• Additionally, several soda cap badges were also created eventually leading to the single Grape Soda cap that young Ellie pins on young Carl (see all the soda cap designs over at Conrad's site).

There's also tons more over on the site, including concept sketches for the airlines tickets, collectibles in Carl's living room, sketches for the map of South America, a jet stream image that Russell was to show Carl in the film, and a story about the mailbox hand prints. Check out a couple more below and the rest over at Conrad's site.

Kudos to Cinematical reader Kashif Pasta for sending this our way. On the latest episode of the Creative Screenwriting Magazine Podcast (which I didn't know existed, but now do and will totally listen more often), Up and Monster's, Inc director Pete Docter revealed the original pitch for Monsters, Inc. -- which was very different from what eventually hit the screen, and kinda reminded me of Where the Wild Things Are in a sorta-ish way. On this blog, Kashif separated the segment of the podcast where Docter reveals the original pitch (which came at about 22 minutes in), and it went something like this:

"Well, my idea was that what it was about was about a 30 year old man who is like an accountant or something, he hates his job, and one day he gets a book with some drawings in it that he did when he was a kid from his mom, and he doesn't think anything of it and he puts it on the shelf and that night, monsters show up. And nobody else can see them. He thinks he's starting to go crazy, they follow him to his job, and on his dates, and all this- and it turns out these monsters are fears that he never dealt with as a kid. And each one of them represents a different kind of fear. As he conquers those fears, the guys who he slowly becomes kind of friends with- they disappear as he conquers those fears. It's this bittersweet kinda ending where they go away, and so not much of that stayed

[...]

it sounds better as a pitch than it did at the time- anyway. "

Sounds like a pretty cool punch-in-the-gut kinda movie to me; something with real intense emotion. I like Docter in that way. I feel he likes to create these beautiful child-like movies with some pretty intense adult emotions behind them. It's part of what makes that Pixar crew so great and unique and powerful. You can listen to the audio from the Docter podcast over here.

As 2009 begins to come to a close and critics and pundits consider the movies that will ultimately make their Top Tens and Best Of lists, Up seems like a shoe-in for all of them. Effortlessly charming, deeply affecting and genuinely rousing, Pete Docter's follow-up to Monsters, Inc. is nothing short of spectacular. I'm especially reminded of this now that the film has arrived on Blu-ray, in no less than an epic four-disc set. But even as one of the best films of the year, is its home video iteration one of the best Blu-rays as well? Looking at the material contained (if also spread out) in this collection, I'm not so sure, even if everything on it nevertheless manages to make Up look like a masterpiece all over again.

Disc One features the film itself, two short features, and a modest but potent slate of extras. In terms of presentation, Up looks simply gorgeous, offering remarkable clarity and vividness no matter what's up on the screen, while the audio is muscular without being overwhelming. Meanwhile, the two shorts – "Partly Cloudy," which was attached to theatrical prints of Up, and the interstitial "Dug's Special Mission" – offer further adventures for viewers to check out once they've cried their eyes out watching the movie itself.

Additionally, the two featurettes, "The Many Endings of Muntz" and "Adventure is Out There," showcase specific aspects of the creative process that will probably be of most interest or importance to viewers: the first examines the way the filmmakers came up with the "villain"'s comeuppance, and what other options were available; and the second follows the creators as they journey to South America to visit the real-life tepui mountains that gave them inspiration when conceiving the film's picturesque vistas.

On November 10, 2009, Walt Disney Home Entertainment is releasing a 4-disc Blu-ray set for Monsters, Inc., Pete Docter's feature directorial debut. Much like Finding Nemo set the stage for what Andrew Stanton eventually did on Wall-E, the 2001 Pixar film offers a glimpse of what was yet to come from Docter – who went on to direct this summer's Up, also out next week – but it also reiterates some of the themes that run throughout all of the studio's best work, including the concept of an alternate perspective on a place or idea that seems obvious, and the idea of families that are both familiar and unconventional. But how effectively does it examine and explore those things, particularly in light of what the studio has done since?

Suffice it to say that the Blu-ray set offers not only the best presentation of the film imaginable, but a bounty of extra content that expands the film's universe in new and interesting ways. As for the movie itself?

Two decades after their work on The Little Mermaid ushered in a renaissance for hand-drawn animation, directors Ron Clements and John Musker are at the forefront of a new movement to resuscitate the art form yet again. The Princess and the Frog is Disney's first non-computer animated feature film since 2003's Home on the Range, and in addition to competing artistically with Pixar's stellar roster of releases through their shared parent company, the film may ultimately serve as a test among studio executives all over Hollywood who want to see if audiences really want to watch movies where pencils and ink reclaim the place now occupied by ones and zeroes.

Given this enormous pressure, Musker and Clements seem remarkably calm, and most importantly, pragmatic about the film's potential success. Cinematical recently sat down with a small group of journalists to discuss the future of Disney's hand-drawn animation department, vis-à-vis the directors' latest film. Following a day at Disneyland and a tour of the studio's Animation Research Library, Cinematical posed questions to the filmmakers as they enter the final days before the film's release. (While the interview was conducted as a group, questions asked specifically by Cinematical questions are indicated in the transcript below.)

This is the second opportunity for you two to bring traditional animation in at Disney. Can you talk about what's different for you on this one, particularly in terms of technology allowing you to raise the bar?

Having put the final touches on a brilliant cast, John Carter of Mars is getting underway at Disney. Edgar Rice Burroughs' epic series has seen a lot of stops and starts over the years, and it's still unbelievable that it's actually happening. But at this point, it's still shrouded in pre-production mystery, but Ain't It Cool News wheeled a little information out of Willem Dafoe about his role as Tars Tarkas, a great Martian warrior and eventual ally of Carter. (Do AICN's Capone a favor and read the whole interview when you're done here. It's excellent.)

Dafoe revealed to Capone that he doesn't know much more than you or I might, but his enthusiasm for Tarkas and for Andrew Stanton is contagious. "I've seen a lot of the designs and things, and I've just started to do prep work now. I'm doing a play in New York, so I'm kind of preoccupied by that, but I'm starting doing scans and things like that, but it's going to be a real full-on ... Well, I'm nine feet tall with four arms, but, just from the scheduling, I'm going to do the stuff ... They'll use my face, but they'll enhance it in a way --both after and before-- in a way that I may not be recognizable. But, I'm good with that. It's particularly cool, because he's a creature, but he's got this huge range of character. And, he does cool things in the movies." As John Carter will be coming on the heels of all James Cameron, Robert Zemeckis, and Disney's Davy Jones' "game changing" technology, the possibilities of what this could look like are pretty enticing.

Pop below the jump for more

Maybe it's not your cup of tea, but I'm continually impressed with the original content College Humor puts out each month. Okay, not all of it is comedic gold, but there's definitely enough of the good stuff to wonder who, exactly, is behind all these hilarious shorts ... because I think they should be writing some big-screen comedy so that we don't have to deal with more mall cops and bad Eddie Murphy fat suit humor.

My buddy Aaron sent over their latest video this morning, and it recreates the Pixar opening (ya know, Luxo Jr. hops over to the letter 'I' in Pixar and stomps on it), but instead -- and in the spirit of Halloween -- they go the horrific angle and imagine a scenario in which the other letters freak out and accuse Luxo Jr. of murdering their buddy. From there they go to a funeral for the letter 'I', Luxo Jr. goes to prison and, well, just watch it for yourself after the jump.

I know College Humor have or had a TV show, though I never got around to watching it. Is it good? Is it worth watching?

I think it's safe to say that Toy Story holds a special place in the heart of most, if not all, modern film geeks. First and foremost it was a great film that, regardless of the technology behind it, tapped into everyone's inner child by wondering what the secret life of toys would be like. But not only did it usher in a new age of computer generated imagery that would prove, for the most part, the downfall in popularity of hand-drawn animation, it also introduced the world at large to a little studio called Pixar, a word that didn't make much sense back when Toy Story was released in 1995, but is now synonymous with the being the gold standard in animated filmmaking.

Now that Toy Story 1 and 2 are currently enjoying a reborn run at the American box-office (this time re-tooled for 3D exhibition), Pixar and Walt Disney have unveiled the trailer for Toy Story 3 (watch it after the jump), their long awaited trip back to the toy box. The newest in the franchise will be the first made specifically for 3D, and judging by the trailer embedded below, it looks like the film's sensibilities have matured along with the technology powering the animation. Andy, the owner of all the toys, is all grown up now and ready to head off to college. His box of toys, a box so many of us have grown to love, has gone neglected for too long and now his mother is ready to put the dust-collecting bits of nostalgia out to pasture.

Apparently the gaming community is all gung ho this week after details emerged regarding the upcoming video game Epic Mickey, which originally was designed as a Wii exclusive, but may branch out to other systems. The reason folks are all excited over a Disney game involving Mickey Mouse is because it carries what I think is one of the coolest concepts to ever come out of the Mouse House.

Essentially, the game's plot revolves around a whole bunch of "forgotten" Disney characters who, for one reason or another, were pushed aside when the more popular characters like Mickey, Goofy and Donald took over the Disney landscape. Now, rallied together by Disney's first ever cartoon hero, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit (also the game's main villain), all of these pissed off, jaded Disney characters set out to destroy the Disney universe by unleashing the Phantom Blot, which uses black ink and melting colors to distort the world we've all come to know and love. Obviously it's then up to Mickey Mouse to be the hero and fix this giant mess before the wonderful world of Disney is erased forever.

Pretty cool, right? Even cooler is the news that Warren Spector and Junction Point Studios have been "working hard on our own and (get ready for the cool factor to go way up) in collaboration with folks from Disney Feature Animation and Pixar," according to an interview from awhile back. So, yeah, while we'll probably see some cool animated cut scenes designed (in part) by Pixar and Disney Animation, I wonder whether the game's popularity could then spawn a feature film. Why not? Or perhaps they're already working on one as we speak ...

Check out some stills from the game below and tell me this wouldn't make for a very cool animated movie.

As a cinephile and animation fan long before I became a professional critic, I have a couple of very specific memories associated with Toy Story and Toy Story 2: With the first film, I remember being unimpressed with its ad campaign and even its technological novelty – that is, until I actually saw the thing, and totally loved it. And with the second, I recall sitting in a theatre the opening weekend of its release, sobbing my eyes out to "Jessie's Song" as hundreds of pre-teens and their parents impatiently awaited the next set piece.

Unfortunately, I think few people who are already fans of the franchise will find much new or different to remember now that they're in 3D. Meanwhile, newcomers to the most important computer-animated series in movie history will also probably not find anything more profound than the stories themselves, since they were already multi-dimensional long before anyone made their experience technical in addition to already being an emotional one.