'Disney Infinity' in Progress… (Part 2)

I'm almost done with the starter pack, actually, though that's nothing considering all the toys and play sets out there. Currently, I plan on getting at least one play set before winter break ends. I'm thinking either Toy Story or Cars; the space fan in me wants the former, the race fan in me wants the latter.

Anyways, I've finished The Incredibles play set and like Monsters University, it delivers on wide variety fun. One disappointing aspect, however, was the size of Metroville. I expected something a little bigger, since Monsters University's titular setting was divided into various sections, and you could even visit rival university Fear Tech! In Metroville, there are a few bridges to other parts of the city and whatnot. Nothing really spectacular, but visually it's pulled off well.

Music-wise, it immediately plunged me back to the autumn of 2004, when the film roared into theaters. Michael Giacchino's score always stuck with me, and when I got The Incredibles video game for Christmas, I had constantly played the scenes from the film. However, I remember not particularly enjoying that game despite some great ideas in it; this game made up for it. Anyways, you tear through Metroville's streets fighting endless Omnidroids (based on the different versions we saw in the film during the sequence where Mr. Incredible discovers everything via that giant computer!) and taking down three criminals before you get to Syndrome.

A lot of it is pretty easy, much like the Monsters University play set, it could use a little more challenge. Thankfully, the metal-banging, missile-blowing thrills make up for it. The different power-ups and weapons you get? Awesome. Driving the Incredibile that's only in the opening sequence of the first film? Satisfying. You also get a copter of all things! The missions themselves involve thwarting the schemes of a bunch of criminals, one of which uses machines that turn people into monstrous giants while another one uses a sleep inducing plant to put Metroville's civilians to sleep. The only downside to defeating each? You have to do a monotonous "escort the [insert whatever here]" mission to the wagon carrying them to the supers' headquarters. Those missions were not to my liking, but the rest were good fun.

And… I will also admit… I kinda thought, "Man, an Incredibles sequel would be soooooo cool!"

If you've been here long enough, you'll know that I don't ask for sequels. When one is announced, I simply say "well, we'll see what happens" (Finding Dory, for instance) and spare the negativity. An Incredibles sequel would be lovely, but I think it should only happen if Brad Bird wants it to happen. As in "really wants". Bird, to me, seems kind of "Yeah one day, maybe" on it. Either that, or he's essentially telling fans, "It's not happening."

Anyways…

Pirates of the Caribbean, to me, is much more challenging than the other two play sets. I haven't finished it yet, but some of the missions feel a bit longer and a little more difficult this time around. Also, you're encouraged to really explore in some missions. Your range of weapons is super cool, plus the setting is the least toy-ish of the three. Lush jungles, swamp, lagoons and towns make for this play set's backdrop, and the music definitely adds to the atmosphere.

You know what else rocks about this play set? Being at the helm of a ship, of course! Fire at enemies, sail the seas, discover different areas, you could not ask for more!

This particular world is massive too, given its oceanic setting. You can sail to small little islands or pretty big shores, there's so much to explore. Racking up tons of coins never felt so satisfying either, for some reason. If there's one slight downside, it's the speed of the dinghy. You go slow, which is important for certain missions, but what if you want to row around like a madman? I have very little complaints about this play set, though some missions do tend to fall to the easy side. The side-challenges are expectedly fun and make for in-between mission enjoyment.

So after finishing up with the fort mission on Pirates, I headed over the Toy Box. Now, I had added a lot to my Toy Box world that I showed in the last review, but to my horror… There was a limit! I decided to create a new world instead, but first, I took on the Toy Box challenges.

Considering my history with building games like Zoo Tycoon and Sim City, I jumped right into building a new toy box rather than doing the tutorials or adventures. Thankfully, the adventures give you some ins and outs that are useful to know, but some of the challenges are great and you keep coming back if you didn't win a gold medal the first time.

Anyways, here's my new Toy Box world so far. This time it comes with a commentary; didn't feel the need to record one for the last video…

The Party is Coming

Party Central, a Monsters University short film, was set to be attached to what was going to be this year's Pixar event, The Good Dinosaur. That film was delayed to the autumn of next year, so it left us asking… What will happen to the short film?

I had suggested that it could be attached to either Muppets Most Wanted or Disney Animation's Big Hero 6, the former being the likely option since a Toy Story Toon was attached to The Muppets in 2011 plus Disney Animation makes their own shorts now, so we'll probably get something super cool (pun intended) before Big Hero 6.

Party Central is in fact playing before Muppets Most Wanted. Now we've got our first look, courtesy of Disney Insider!

First off, plot details…

When the Oozma Kappa fraternity brothers throw their first party and no one shows up, Mike and Sulley return to Monsters University with a plan to make sure it’s the most epic party the school has ever seen. It is directed by Kelsey Mann, the story supervisor from Monsters University, and features the following voice talent: Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Peter Sohn, Julia Sweeney, Charlie Day, Nathan Fillion, Dave Foley, Sean Hayes, Bobby Moynihan, and Joel Murray.

Entertainment Weekly also got this intriguing tidbit of information...

Fortunately, they have some extra inter-dimensional doors handy, which they put to creative use (we won’t spoil how here) to get the party rocking.

Inter-dimensional doors, you say? Now that ought to be interesting! Maybe it means… Other monster universes! Speculating too much, perhaps! Human world doors? Well, humans aren't deemed toxic until after the events of Monsters, Inc., and that's roughly 15 years later. The Oozmas would've graduated by then, so that rules out the human world doors… Unless there's something else in play here. Secrets, secrets...

Judging by Nathan Fillion and Bobby Moynihan being listed, we'll be seeing Roar Omega Roar rivals Johnny Worthington and Chet Alexander as well. I guess the Oozmas, since no one comes to their party, are still unpopular despite their performances in the Scare Games and the fact that they are scare students after the events of the film. Will the RORs try to crash the party and get some kind of funny comeuppance? Or are they nicer to the Oozmas?

So much to speculate! Well, Muppets Most Wanted is not too far away so we won't have to wait too long. We may not be getting a Pixar animated feature this year, but I think this short will somewhat fill the void along with the announced Toy Story Toons and Cars Toons entries (at D23), and - if all went according to plan - the next Toy Story television special.

Are you looking forward to the short? Sound off below!

… And I Helped!

The Mouse House took in $4.73 billion at the international box office this past year…

$3 billion of that came from overseas grosses alone, and this is the fourth consecutive year where the studio had made over $2 billion around the globe.

Five of their films grossed over $200 million at the domestic box office, as opposed to just two last year: The Avengers and Brave.

Iron Man 3 was obviously going to be huge given the massive success of The Avengers before it, and the fact that Tony Stark is the Avenger who draws in the most crowds. 3D made things even better for this Marvel Cinematic Universe installment, $409 million stateside and over $1.5 billion worldwide is not too shabby!

Thor: The Dark World was also big because of this, but to a much lesser extent. Its marketing didn't really do all that good of a job making it look like it was worth seeing, but it's Thor, he's an Avenger and it pretty much kicked off the holiday season if Gravity didn't one month earlier. The sequel topped the original both stateside and globally. It's currently sitting at $629 million, you can't beat that!

Yes, the Marvel acquisition was an extremely smart business decision on Disney's part, wasn't it?

Oz the Great and Powerful seemed to benefit from the success of Alice in Wonderland and the rebooted fairy tale/classic children's stories fad. With a family-friendly PG rating and visual sparkle, Oz opened well and grossed a good amount here and overseas. While not a major success, it did break even. A near-$500 million total is still great!

Monsters University's success was a no-brainer: It's Pixar, it's a prequel to one of their beloved films, it was a summer release, its college setting got the teen audiences in easily. Its legs weren't the most spectacular, but it took in a massive $745 million worldwide making it Pixar's third biggest film behind Toy Story 3 and Finding Nemo, and further proving that feature animation will be now and forever. Suits look at those numbers and they want more!

But something else happened to help Disney reach the new box office height this year… A lot, I might add…

It happened to be the Walt Disney Animation Studios film that was released just in time for the holidays…

That's right. Frozen.

Domestically, it's on track to actually beat The Lion King's initial release gross of $312 million, and it just topped Monsters University. It's back at #1, actually. Worldwide, it's currently sitting at $539 million and it will beat the God of Thunder in no time, and will probably dethrone the college-bound Mike and Sulley. Imagine that: Walt Disney Animation Studios' newest film outgrossing the Pixar entry domestically and worldwide (yes, Tangled beat Cars 2 in North America and internationally, but Cars 2 was poorly received), and on top of that, the big budget tentpole and the Marvel blockbuster.

You know what this means…

Disney is finally going to start treating Walt Disney Animation Studios with even more respect, now that Frozen has made quite a hefty amount of money in just two months. Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph were not "once in a lifetime" hits, the studio is roaring again now that people are catching onto the fact that they are currently making good quality films. (Of course, I want these same people who flocked to see Frozen to go rent Meet The Robinsons, Bolt, The Princess and the Frog and Winnie the Pooh.) Now, next up is a Marvel animated film. The pieces have all fallen into place, Disney is most likely going to give the San Fransokyo-set action-packed epic a really big marketing push that'll ensure a blockbuster-sized gross.

In turn, it should help their future films. The once-dormant studio is now more than a valuable asset to the company, as they now make big hits for them and will end up contributing to the big amounts of moolah the company makes in a calendar year. It ain't gonna be just Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm bringing in the massive amounts of dough. Quite a contrast from the fate I feared the studio would suffer. Earlier in the year, I irrationally worried that the bigwigs would possibly slowly phase the studio out and just get the big money from their acquisitions and live action franchises. Silly me…

What a way to start 2014, huh? Knowing that Walt Disney Animation Studios is really ready to go full steam ahead. All we need now is for each new film to be consistently and wholly satisfying.

'Disney Infinity' in Progress… (Part 1)

Well folks, I got it… Yep, Disney Infinity.

Instead of doing a sort of complete review or "overall thoughts" thing, I thought I'd review it as I get through it. So far, I have completed the Monsters University adventure. I did quite a few of The Incredibles levels, and just began working on Pirates of the Caribbean. Suffice to say, I'm well enough into it.

Before I get started, I got this for PlayStation 3 and of course the starter pack comes with Mr. Incredible, Sulley and Jack Sparrow. I haven't bought any other characters or play sets yet, though I plan to very soon. Right now, I'm thinking of getting Mike Wazowski, Wreck-It Ralph and Lightning McQueen.

So what do I think of it?

I love it.

When Disney Infinity was announced, I saw a lot of potential in it because it was going to bring multiple Disney characters and their worlds together. Crossovers are always fun and all, but this is actually a great opportunity for Disney to popularize some characters from their more "obscure" (or "lesser", as they would apparently think) films and shows. So far, they seem to be doing that little by little. For example, in a promo image, The Lone Ranger's Tonto is riding the goofy elephant Tantor from Tarzan. While Tarzan was a popular hit for Disney back in the day, for some reason they treat it like the rest of the post-Lion King Renaissance films. Unfair, but Disney could boost that film through this game.

In fact, Tarzan should be a play set soon given the jungle setting and tree-surfing action. It made for a solid movie-based video game back when the film came out (I had the PlayStation version), and a decade before this game was released, Disney gave us the underrated Disney Extreme Skate Adventure. Sure it was pretty much a family-friendly Tony Hawk's Pro Skater with Disney characters, but Tarzan was one of the three films they chose for settings. The other two were the Toy Story films and The Lion King. Imagine that, Disney actually giving something like Tarzan something of a popularity boost…

But enough babble about Tarzan and the way Disney treats their not-Lion King films, the point is, Disney Infinity could help popularize some of the Disney films that Disney tends to push aside. I would certainly love to see worlds or toy box items based on Treasure Planet or Atlantis, or maybe even 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. Infinite possibilities, they say…

To start off, what I like about Disney Infinity is how open-ended it is. For the remainder of the review, I'll be focusing on the Monsters University adventure since I beat it. Next review will focus on The Incredibles…

Monsters University's adventure of course lets the player go around the campus itself, and you can also climb buildings and whatnot, getting a good look at everything. Like any good sandbox-style game, there's missions you have to take and there are also side challenges, and they're pretty damn fun! The story here is enjoyable too, basically you have to help Monsters University beat Fear Tech. Fear Tech is mentioned a few times in the film itself, though the rivalry between the two universities is ultimately minor: Sulley steals their freakish pig mascot, we see MU take them on in a football game and young Mike sees a Fear Tech graduate tell Frightening Frank McCay (the monster who Mike watched scare when he was little) monster that Fear Tech is better.

Anyways, you actually get to go to Fear Tech in this game and I must say, the designers did quite well with bringing it to life. It makes me want to see it in Pixar form, so I'm hoping the studio makes a Monsters University special or short film where we actually visit this competing campus. Will Party Central, whenever that comes out, take us there? Maybe. At Fear Tech, you have outsmart their students with pranks, get the message across that MU rules and for a grand finale… Steal Archie the Scare Pig!

In the mean time, you got to get the frat houses up, compete in a paintball tournament with Fear Tech students, undo the messes they brought to MU and many other things. It keeps you busy, and the story is surprisingly a little short. I'm hoping they expand it in some ways, because the setting alone is good-sized. Maybe we'll get more levels set in the Monster World outside of the university, maybe even Monsters, Inc. itself! One can dream, right?

The missions bring a lot of variety to the table, as they should. They test your abilities, too, from sneaking to climbing to bike riding. I admit it was pretty cool to run around roaring at things, and it's neat how you can ride across campus. (Surprised there's no skateboard for someone like Mike. That's a no-brainer, methinks!) If there's one complaint I have, it's that the missions are at times a bit too easy. I understand this is a family-friendly game, but I think it could've been a little more challenging. Some missions are just that, particularly some of the Fear Tech ones where you have to avoid the tough guy security guards. Non-mission activities such as challenges consist of timed puzzles and whatnot, making for some extra fun. You can also have a field day pranking your rivals with various objects that end up knocking the opponents across campus or something. Not to mention the ongoing search for Toy Box pieces and whatnot!

The graphics? They are impressive, and I think by making everything into toys, they were able to pull off a decidedly simplistic and cartoonish look. It's nice to look at, and of course, it's bursting with color and great art direction. The music at times can be repetitive, but what they have is a treat to the ears. Monsters University's backdrop recalls the jazzy tone of the first film's opening credits, rather than the bombastic score that Randy Newman did for the prequel. When you hit frat row, you get some rock while you get 80s synths when you visit Fear Tech (after all, Monsters University takes place in the mid-to-late 80s), other times… It's silent. This happens in Toy Box Mode too, the music just goes away for a while. But you know what? I kind of like that, a little breather and some silence, ya know?

Overall, while the Monsters University adventure was mostly a breeze in terms of the difficulty, it was undeniably fun. It was great to explore the campus, frat row and Fear Tech. The story was cool enough, and I'm hoping Pixar does some kind of special or something about MU vs. Fear Tech. I think that would be pretty cool.

As for Toy Box Mode, I'm already a huge fan.

I grew up playing games like Sim City, Rollercoaster Tycoon and Zoo Tycoon, so this is my kind of thing. Yes, I began building a world, though it is in its very early stages. I need to wait until I get even more toys and whatnot, but here it is so far… (If you are interested…)


What are your thoughts on Disney Infinity? Sound off below!

Best Animated Short - 1931/1932

Happy New Year, everypony! Hope it's a good one.

Let's kick off 2014 with my 81st - and final - review...at least until the Oscar nominations are announced on January 16, and there's a new set of five films to review*. After that I'll be doing my darndest to attend one of the showings of the nominated shorts and reviewing those. But for now, this marks the end of the reviews that have dominated my life for a whole 22 months.

*My predictions have somewhat changed since I posted about the shortlist almost two months ago. I talked to Steve Segal, the professor of my History of Animation course a year ago. He had attended one of the screenings and had only raves about The Missing Scarf, which certainly looked interested but the design seemed a bit too new for the old-fashioned Academy. However, he described the film as being surprisingly deep, and as we saw from A Morning Stroll two years ago, new fangled technology has never stopped a film from being nominated. So perhaps we will see The Missing Scarf. I've added it to the predictions, replacing Hollow Land. Of course, almost everybody over at Gold Derby is predicting a nomination for Room on the Broom. It may be populist enough to grab a nomination. Eh oh well.

Read more »

Big Changes

Another director has been added to Walt Disney Animation Studios' Big Hero 6, and a new producer has taken over…

Chris Williams, who was one of the directors of Bolt and a long-time story man who worked in the story department on several other Disney animated films (such as Mulan, The Emperor's New Groove and Brother Bear), is now co-piloting the ship with director Don Hall. Roy Conli has been named producer, replacing long-time effects producer Kristina Reed. Reed also produced the wonderful Paperman, in fact she was the poor soul who got kicked out of the Oscar ceremony for throwing paper airplanes! Those killjoys…

Why was she replaced? We'll probably never know. (Cue the Lasseter micromanagement comments…) Conli seems like the kind of guy for this project, though, since I see it as a risky experiment much like Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet, the latter of which he produced. Still, it's sad to see Reed go. Maybe she'll handle producing duties on another Walt Disney Animation Studios project. Hopefully.

This is from the newly-launched Big Hero 6 Tumblr...

But the bigger question is, why all of this at the last minute? Well, if you remember way back in November 2012, it was announced that Wreck-It Ralph scribe Jennifer Lee was going to direct Frozen alongside Chris Buck. With that film's success (it's on track to top $300 million at the domestic box office), maybe Disney feels that adding another director to the project this late in the game will bolster it.

Williams hadn't directed a finished film at Walt Disney Animation Studios since Bolt, which was released five years ago. Back in 2010, he was going to be the one to bring the once ill-fated King of the Elves to the screen, but the project was apparently rife with story problems so he backed out. The elves got shelved again, they are still waiting to be re-evaluated.

Maybe the studio just wants to give him some directorial work right now, since Elves didn't really go over too well. Or maybe there are some last-minute issues with this picture - it happens a lot with animated features and most films in general - with the story and whatnot, and maybe that's the reason why Reed got the boot.

Either way, I'm still excited for the film. Do you think the changes were necessary? Or do you think they came too late in the game? Sound off below!

Twenty Fourteen

And so in a matter of hours, a new year comes… Another batch of assorted animated entertainments will be making the waves from the cold January to the equally cold December. Our big studios, minus three, are ready to roll their work to the cinemas.

Disney Animation will take us to the action-packed streets of San Fransokyo in their first Marvel film, Big Hero 6. DreamWorks will take us back in time with two classic characters that were seen on the small screens in the late 1950s with Mr. Peabody & Sherman, revisit Berk for more fiery action with How To Train Your Dragon 2 and then introduce us to the alien Boov of distant planet Smekland in Home. Blue Sky will head on over to the Amazon with their fun feathered friends for Rio 2.

Pixar, Illumination and Sony Pictures Animation don't have any trips to take us on in 2014. Pixar pushed their prehistoric epic The Good Dinosaur back to late 2015, Sony Animation shuffled Genndy Tartakovsky's cool-sounding take on Popeye to the "to be determined" section of their slate, Illumination moved the Minions to summer 2015.

It's a shame in some ways, but given many circumstances, it's easy for me to swallow. Again, I'm used to waiting for Pixar films and I know that the "one a year" thing may be detrimental to the development of their productions. I'd rather them take their time than rush out a film, so we don't get a not-so-great film and hear more doomsday naysayers crying. Minions does not really intrigue me, so I could care less that it's been moved. (I'm more interested in Illumination's upcoming original film that they have slated for 2016!) Sony has two films I am not interested in coming in 2015; The Smurfs 3 and Hotel Transylvania 2.

Thankfully, others will be there to fill the void.

Reel FX, makers of Free Birds, are going to do a complete 180 from their goofy turkey movie and give us the potentially awesome The Book of Life. A fantasy-adventure about a young man who must face his fears while traveling through three fantasy worlds that's told through a plethora of songs, it's said to be unlike any computer animated film we've seen over the years. Warner Bros. finally makes a return to feature animation after years of duds, bad decisions and one-trick ponies, thanks to the hilarious-looking The Lego Movie, which offers a lot of promise thanks to its fun trailers, the fact that Phil Lord and Chris Miller are directing and the fact that it's… Well… Lego! Then LAIKA also comes to save the day with another stop-motion masterpiece in the making, The BoxTrolls, which will plunge us into a Victorian setting and take us to a world beneath ours, a world full of quirky little trolls.

We also have the North American releases of Hayao Miyazaki's swan song The Wind Rises and the French traditionally-animated charmer Ernest & Celestine arriving soon. Hopefully these two films are modestly successful, and help motivate studios to invest in unique smaller-scale animation and animation from all around the world.

No Pixar? No Sony? No Illumination? No problem. We have others to make up for that, and they'll return in 2015. Other than these mainstream releases, there's The Nut Job, which looks derivative as hell. Planes: Fire & Rescue, I can do without. Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return? Eh.

That's only the theatrical front… Hopefully a majority of the films have good writing and character work, and are at least unique. Of course, this passing year is teaching a lesson. Diversity wins, and you need to give audiences something new if you want to get ahead. Copying Pixar or Disney or the family-friendly formula can only get you so far, so hopefully a good amount of people take note!

Television animation should more or less be the same; Cartoon Network will probably continue investing in weird, surreal shows while Nickelodeon will continue to try following in their footsteps. Disney seems to be on-and-off with television animation, but they'll keep their successful entries going whilst trying to launch new ones. Maybe we'll see more Wander Over Yanders next year, and see them do well. Adult Swim will give us the usual that they've been giving us for nearly a decade, Fox will continue with Seth McFarlane derivatives and "throw 'em against the wall and see if they stick" experiments. Netflix and other venues will expand television animation, as DreamWorks' TV unit already jumped in with their Turbo F.A.S.T. and tons of other content that'll soon arrive.

Pixar will still be around throughout the year. Even though they don't have a feature film for the big screen coming, they'll have a short film out in Party Central, a Monsters University-based film that oddly doesn't have a release date for some reason. Another Toy Story television special is definitely coming, it was announced back in 2012 that a second special would show up sometime around springtime 2014. An Easter special, perhaps? Or will we wait till late 2014 and end up getting a Christmas special? In addition to these productions, we'll see more Toy Story Toons and Cars Toons.

But of course, what was going on this year - with more independent animation slowly rising and things like Kickstarter helping projects get off the ground - should make this year even better. Glen Keane's Motorola project should be out, too. We'll see a lot of unique things make the waves as well, alongside the big stuff.

I think this year will be a pretty good one. What do you think? Does what 2014 have in store excite you? Or are you disappointed? Sound off below!

Best of 2013

It’s hard to believe that tonight we will bid farewell to 2013 and usher in a brand new year with the drop of a ball (or peach).  Like last year, I thought it would be fun to look back on YOUR favorites from the year…

Minute to Win It Holiday Party {Free Printables} 

Teacher Appreciation Round Up

Holiday  Monogrammed Canvas

Master Bedroom {Before & After}

Disney Cruise Tips & Tricks

Honey Does: DIY Flat Screen TV Cabinet

Southern Porch Screened {Before & After}

Honey Does: Garage {Before & After}

Dining Room {Before & After}

 

Dressing Southern Tots

In addition to the year’s top ten, a few posts of yore have been favorites for a couple of years now…

Monogrammed Canvas

The Road to Disney

Darling Easter Desserts

Messages from Mickey 

Guest Room {Before & After}

While sites like Pinterest and Bloglovin are climbing in the ranks, I don’t know where I’d be without the support and generosity of fellow bloggers that have been kind enough to feature me, promote me and just be my friend!  Many, many thanks go out to some of my top referrers, including…

 Savvy Southern Style

My Sweet Savannah

Kelly's Korner

House of Turquoise

Uptown Acorn

Southern Soul Mates

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

It's Overflowing

Mom Endeavors 

A Stroll Thru Life

It was a great year for giveaways in 2013!!  I love giving them as much as y’all love receiving them!!  Thanks for partnering with me this year…

Tamera at Scrappin Plus (fabulous wood monograms)

Tricia @ HKL Designs (darling personalized items)

Ron at The Uptown Acorn

Grits Bits (Georgia gourmet & gifts)

Harlequin Books

Initial Perfection (more monograms!)

And last, but certainly not least, thank YOU for coming to my little slice of the world wide web every day.  Your emails and comments brighten my day.  Every day!  Dixie Delights has been quite an adventure and I sincerely look forward to the fantastic things to come in 2014!

Happy New Year’s Eve, y’all!

xoxo

See the best of 2012 here!

See the best of 2011 here!

Find me at: My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Savvy Southern Style, DIY by Design, Tatertots and Jello, A Stroll Through Life, French Country Cottage, No Minimalist Here, The36th Avenue, It's Overflowing, Shine on Fridays, DIY Show Off, House of Hepworth, 52 Mantels, I Heart Nap Time, The Frugal Girls,Six Sisters Stuff, One Project Closer, Jennifer Rizzo, Le Chateau des Fleurs, Common Ground, Liz Marie Blog, Not Just a Housewife, Miss Mustard Seed, Elizabeth and Co, Rain on a Tin Roof, Coastal Charm, Uncommon Designs, Mop It Up Monday, The Tablescaper, A Lived In Home, The Scoop at Cedar Hill Ranch,Remodelaholic, Evolution of Style

Skating on Thin Ice

Hey folks, I hope you all had a fine Christmas Eve, Christmas Day or a fine day whatever holiday you happen to celebrate! Anyways… Back to blogging!

Distributor Phase 4 Films, in their attempts to cash-in on the recent Disney animated blockbuster Frozen (which happened to cross $200 million at the domestic box office), are essentially showing how foreign animation often gets treated here in the United States and how companies succeed at making money off of something else that isn't theirs…

This year's victim is a Canadian animated feature film called The Legend of Sarila, an Inuit tale that was released in its home country back in March. The picture was actually submitted for Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature, though it's most likely not going to get a nod. While it's nice that the film got a US release, it's also annoying that it had to be sold like this. This "Disney Mockbuster" cheap buck cash-in scam has been a major thing since Disney animated films became available on home video.

With its snowy setting, Phase 4 Films did what all those other companies did. They saw Frozen and pretty much said, "Hey, let's put 'Frozen' in the title and fool all the grannies who pick this up for their grandkids for Christmas, thinking it's the Disney movie!" They called it… Frozen Land… And even went as far as making the cover's color scheme blue, pink and purple!

This particular distributor has done this kind of thing before, too. Last year, they took a 2011 Indian film called Super K and sold it here as Kiara the Brave, apparently the supposed Merida copycat is not even in the film that much. But hey, make the box art look like the recent Disney or Pixar smash that's playing in theaters and you're all set! Redbox picks up your piece of shovelware and unsuspecting parents get it for their kids. I actually saw some of these things (yes, DVDs in cases!) on the shelves at Target!

While these guys are no Video Brinquedo, they are literally poking a hawk's nest. Disney is after them now, and for a good reason. Not only did they put the word "frozen" in the title, but the logo bears a strong resemblance to the Disney one. Yeah, of course they need a whooping!

Anyways, I have no idea if The Legend of Sarila is bad or not. But the thing is, here's a film that was meant to be its own thing in its home country, and then some idiot company in the US sells it as a Frozen knock-off. I mean, that's kind of sad, don't you think? Even if the film is horrible, it's still kind of crappy that this had to happen. You make a film, then it gets used to fool people into thinking it's another film… You're essentially getting your moolah for your film through fraud, from someone else! But hey, the company is most likely okay with this! Any publicity is good publicity! *wince*

A lot of foreign animation gets the shaft here, unfortunately. Will we see films like O Apostol, Rio 2096: A Story of Love and Fury, The Fake and the like here in the United States in theaters or stores next year? (And no, I'm not talking about one-day screenings at one theater in LA for Oscar qualification!) Probably not, yet a said-to-be-mediocre animated film from another country is cherry-picked and given a release here, sold as a rip-off of one of the big animated films no less!

We need a foreign animated feature that'll get a big release here and change the game for international feature animation. Some felt that Argentina's Metegol (a.k.a. Foosball) could've been the one, but no dice. We play the waiting game… One everyone's been playing for decades…

On that note, have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all! See you in a few days!

Freezing The King - A Rant

Yes, Frozen may actually freeze The Lion King… At the box office, that is…

Box Office Mojo's Ray Subers, in his write-up of this weekend's box office results, suggests that the new Walt Disney Animation Studios event could possibly make more than $300 million at the domestic box office.

You heard that right. $300 million…

This excites me and frustrates me at the same time.

Frozen may have a shot at being the first Disney Animation film to gross $300 million in North America, and it could also possibly be their highest-grossing of all time. The Lion King's "initial release" domestic take was a then-monolith $312 million. The 2002 IMAX re-release added another $15 million, the 2011 3D re-release added a shocking $94 million. Its total lifetime gross is $422 million, and there's no way Frozen will beat that. Of course, we don't expect it to. I don't count re-release totals when it comes to this. (i.e. The Rescuers was the biggest Disney animated film on initial release back in 1977, but of all-time counting re-issues? Nope.)

This weekend, the icy film lightly slipped a great 15% from its previous weekend. The film has grossed $192 million in nearly a month. The Christmas week will greatly add to it, and it'll have excellent legs afterwards. It's got the animation and family film world all to itself until The Lego Movie opens in February, because… Let's be honest here, The Nut Job ain't touching this film with a 39 1/2-foot pole.

The great thing about this is, it not only shows that Walt Disney Animation Studios is a worthy competitor at the box office (a few years ago, they weren't), but also a roost-ruler. Pixar currently sits on top alongside Illumination (though I have a feeling that outside of Despicable Me and Dr. Seuss, they'll be making good-sized hits at best), and occasionally DreamWorks. Very few animated films have topped $250 million at the domestic box office since 2010. Monsters University and Despicable Me 2 have raced past that mark, now it looks like Frozen will do the same. Yes, Disney is sitting up there with the giants… Finally…

But why am I also somewhat peeved about this? I should be all-out happy with this film's success, right? Right?

Well, I am happy - first and foremost - for the film itself and Walt Disney Animation Studios. They've deserved a $200M+ domestic hit since Bolt. But that's just it…

If you've seen my review of Frozen, you'll know that I am not gushing over the film. I didn't think it was a "great" movie, but a "very good" movie instead. I had problems with it, and at times I felt that it was very inconsistent and even a little undercooked. Considering the hell this project went through for nearly two decades, I guess we can all say that we should be happy that the film is decent at the least. This could've been a major league disaster, so I am thankful for it being good.

I can accept the fact that something like this went through a lot to get to the big screen, but I'm just not too keen on all the hyperbole. "Best Disney animated film since Lion King!" Stop that already, please take the time to watch films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Tarzan, Lilo & Stitch, Bolt, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled, Winnie the Pooh and Wreck-It Ralph. If you did and still consider this the best since Lion King, fine. At least you have seen the films, but I get the feeling that a lot of people haven't, or only saw them once when they were ten and rejected them.

If Frozen hits $300 million domestically, it'll have scored a 4.5x multiplier, which is a notch higher than Frog and Tangled's multipliers. I bet you if both of those films opened with $66 million like this film did, they would've grossed around the same amount in the end. Problem is, Frog opened with $24 million, Tangled opened with $48 million. This film would've opened with around the latter's amount if the marketing department didn't wise up and give us that wonderful "First Time in Forever" trailer, heavily plug the soundtrack and make the film look good to people over the age of twelve.

Frozen's got the legs that Bolt, Frog and Tangled had. It's only outgrossing them by a wide margin because of the opening weekend gross, plus some added hyperbole. When you put it out there that it's supposedly the "best" since Lion King, obviously people will flock to see it.

Now I'm not angry that Frozen is outgrossing what I believe are superior films (such as Bolt, Frog, Tangled and Ralph), I'm just cautious because Disney suits may react to this success the wrong way. Executives tend to do this kind of thing. I can hear it now, actually.

"They like modern princess movies! They like Broadway-style musicals! Make more!"

Okay fine, you can make more. I am anticipating Giants, which is essentially the third "modernized fairy tale musical", the first two being Tangled and this of course. I'd be down with one every three years, it's not a bad template. Tangled's story is very different from Frozen's. If there are any similarities, then they are very small. Snow White and Cinderella aren't the same, but they happen to have princess leads, handsome princes, cute animals and are based on fairy tales. Storywise, they are very different.

But if Disney executives push Disney Animation to just stick to fairy tales, I won't be pleased. Fairy tales may be what Disney is best known for, but other classics like Peter Pan, Lady and the Tramp, One Hundred and One Dalmatians and heck, freakin' Lion King, prove that Disney is more than just fairy tales. They are also more than just snarky comedy-drama Broadway musicals.

Why am I concerned though?

Well, Disney Animation's next two films are not fairy tales nor are they musicals in a "classic Disney" sense. Big Hero 6 is about as anti-Renaissance-era Disney as you can get, ditto Zootopia. I'm glad they are, because I'm not keen on Disney sticking to a formula. Walt hated formulas, he wanted to be diverse. I believe Disney Animation should be that way, all of the time. Try something different, but still revisit what you tried before every once in a while because it is a top menu on the item.

But here's a big concern of mine…

What if Disney were to view Bolt, The Princess and the Frog, Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph as the sort of Oliver & Company and Great Mouse Detectives of the last 5 years? Or "lesser" films that were successful but not huge (i.e. Hunchback, Hercules, etc.)?

When Disney was finally smashing the box office left and right with popular hits like The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and so on, those two 1980s films - one was a profitable and critically well-liked film, the other was a modest success that got mixed reviews - fell to the wayside. The Great Mouse Detective is never promoted with a lot of fanfare whenever it comes around, ditto Oliver & Company.

The Great Mouse Detective may not be a sweeping musical event like Beauty and the Beast, and I do consider Beast to be a better film than Mouse Detective, but that doesn't mean the Sherlock Holmesian rodent romp should be treated like a red-headed stepchild. Yes, I believe Disney treats it like that to an extent, at least it's listed in the classics canon. The Great Mouse Detective in my book is a brisk, fun, breezy, simple adventure story with some very likable characters, a highly enjoyable villain and some incredibly entertaining sequences. A film more people should at least watch. It was also the first film directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, who would give us some of Disney's most beloved films after that. However, it's not really promoted like other Disney films, its DVD and Blu-ray releases lack the attention and care given to the disc releases of something like Beast (now I'm not asking for a packed mega 2-disc set, though that would be nice), and it's just really kind of… Obscure. It isn't dated, it's not a product of its time. It's a Victorian-set sleuth story, that's kind of timeless if you ask me.

I'm not saying Disney should shove Basil of Baker Street, David Q. Dawson, Olivia Flaversham, Professor Ratigan and the rest of the cast down your throat, but come on! A little push, maybe some more prominence in merchandise and theme parks? Maybe that could attract… You know… Potential fans? Yes it's on Netflix, but that isn't enough if you ask me. It's more than just an "obscure Disney film that happens to be on Netflix." (Over a decade ago, something like Disney's House of Mouse was a good way to keep many characters in the minds of fans, casual viewers and whatnot.)

As for Oliver & Company, well… That's kind of tricky. Again, I don't think Disney should shun any of their animated classics, but Oliver & Company is a near-embarassment because it was really just amped up to be hip in 1988, to make a safe, quick buck. That it did. It was the highest grossing animated film on initial release at the time, and it just functioned as a way to keep Disney Animation trucking and to also show Don Bluth that he wasn't going to be the only one ruling the roost. That being said, it should not be forgotten. It's a footnote, and Disney should treat it as that. Not as an obscure "Ehhh we're scraping the bottom of the barrel so we have to put it out on Blu-ray" film.

Then there's the post-Lion King Renaissance-era films. Films like The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules seem to only be discovered by nostalgic 90s folks today, Mulan and Tarzan are in good standing since they were sizable hits back in the day, ditto something like Robin Hood - which was always doing fine in video sales in the 1980s and 1990s - or Pocahontas, though they could get a little more push from the Mouse. Maybe more prominence in merch and parks, that always helps. Maybe some of these films, like Mouse Detective, aren't animated Citizen Kanes. Maybe they may not be iconic, but that doesn't mean they should be neglected or seen as "lesser". You can make films like these, well, popular enough.

After Disney got the box office and critical power they had been waiting for in the early 1990s, they effectively shoved The Great Mouse Detective and Oliver & Company out of sight. The latter, I can see why. Again, it was dated and just thrown together to make an easy buck. But why did the former have to get shut out? It wasn't dated or cobbled together, it was a genuinely enjoyable flick. Oh what? It didn't make a blockbuster total at the box office? Whatever. They should've used its modest success to its advantage, treat it like a little Sword in the Stone or Robin Hood. Something of the sort, a little profitable film that continues to do well and garner fans.

See, this is why I'm a bit worried about Disney possibly shutting out some of the last string of films. Bolt was a modest hit, as it did double its budget worldwide and sold well on DVD/Blu-ray. It got great reviews, too! Kind of like Great Mouse Detective, and Disney ignores that film even though it got good reviews and it has a sizable fan base.

Meet The Robinsons will probably get the shaft, big time. Wasn't a box office hit, got okay reviews at best, and is seemingly already forgotten. It's seen as a sort of slightly salvaged mess, one Lasseter could not save, etc. (I beg to differ, but…)

The Princess and the Frog and Tangled are safe, being familiar princess films and merchandising monsters.

Winnie the Pooh might not have been seen by many, but the character is now and forever. It's pretty much safe.

Wreck-It Ralph, box office-wise, is above the Oliver & Company spot. It wasn't a modest success, it was a success. Doubled its budget, sold well on home video, merchandise sold well. Out of the other films, that one is the least likely to be pushed aside. But the video game angle could hurt it, as some inside the company may view it as dated… Like Oliver & Company. Unlike that movie though, it was well-received, it took home a few awards as well! It's kind of in the middle.

But back to Frozen, now that I got the "forgetting thing" out of the way.

Another big concern of mine is this…

How will Disney approach future animated features now that a familiar tale has become their biggest hit since The Lion King?

Disney's marketing department has shown that they can't always market a film correctly, which is true of pretty much every other big studio. For instance, this year Warner Bros. totally botched the marketing for Pacific Rim, making something unique look like just another dull summer blockbuster or "Transformers with giant monsters". Fox couldn't make DreamWorks' Turbo look like anything but a silly kiddie film with its been-there done-that trailers and ads. Last summer, Paramount sold DreamWorks' Rise of the Guardians as an action-packed film, something quasi-cool for action-loving teens, and the movie blew up in their faces. In the process they left out the whimsy and imaginative tone that would've attracted other demographics.

… and so on… Disney has had a history of bad marketing outside of animated films: John Carter, The Lone Ranger, Prince of Persia, The Sorcerer's Apprentice…

But… Bolt and Frog's marketing (done by the previous team, not the current one that was established in 2009 after Rich Ross took over) was inexcusably poor, Tangled's was too cynical. Yes, it gave the film its good-sized opening weekend gross, but it did alienate adults and fans in the process. Ralph's marketing also shut out adults, with its emphasis on "Hero's Doody" jokes and less emphasis on the story. Frozen's campaign smartly emphasized the story, music and characters (albeit at the last minute) which in turn got more adults to show up. Sorry Scott Mendelson of Forbes, but I feel that your defense of the kid-centric marketing is way off.

Had Ralph or Tangled's campaigns did what Frozen did in the end, they would've performed similarly to this new picture.

Now that the studio has a huge hit under its belt, the marketing needs to keep things going. Good marketing sells a movie, no matter how good or bad the movie is. Disney Animation, of all things, just needs to be sold properly to audiences. Big Hero 6 needs to be an event, Zootopia needs to be an event, Giants, Moana, all the future projects. All of them. They need to be events! They need to look appealing to moviegoers. The studio is firing on all cylinders and are delivering top notch stories with great characters, lovely animation and a diverse batch of settings, themes and narratives.

Let's hope that Disney emphasizes the future films' qualities in the trailers, ads and marketing materials instead of just slacking off, instead opting to be cliche and pelt the audiences with jokes, jokes and more jokes - like trailers for every other big-release animated movie out there. Big Hero 6 isn't a big musical fairy tale like Frozen, but so what? The Incredibles was an animated superhero film and that was big, Marvel movies are in, superheroes are in. Period. Strike the iron while it's hot! Big Hero 6 could very well nestle itself in the top five highest grossing Disney animated features league. Zootopia is a talking animals film, but that doesn't matter, make it look awesome to the general public! Show how cool the animals-only world of the film will be! Don't market it like Ice Age 12 or whatever, it's more than that!

The goal is to show audiences that Disney Animation isn't just about fairy tales, once upon a time stories, musicals and cutesy talking animal romps. Disney Animation can tackle anything, they can do a space opera, a mystery thriller, an epic fantasy, a small-scale drama… Anything! Audiences may think Disney can or "should only" do fairy tales, no. They can do more, Pixar wins because of this. Diversity rules in the end, and Disney can get other audiences to go see their animated films by tackling new genres. In turn, their audience will grow and grow. They can sit right alongside Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm. No wait, they already do!

I'm not saying Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Giants, Moana and the rest should all be $300 million+ blockbusters… That's unreasonable to expect. Pixar couldn't do it, The Incredibles didn't come close to Finding Nemo's huge $339 million gross. (The press went all "What went wrong?", especially when Cars' opening weekend was a little below The Incredibles' opening weekend.) But I all want them to do very good, so they keep the studio going and also get the public to accept new kinds of stories from Disney, so no one goes "But Disney should only do fairy tales! That's what they do best!"

This kind of thing was attempted last decade, but corporate meddling and mismanagement ran that plan into the ground. Dinosaur was killed by the decision to make the dinosaurs talk in hip slang. Emperor's New Groove cost too much because it evolved out of another movie that was already costly enough, it looked bad from the previews and the actually good movie had to rely on word of mouth to make its money… And it still bombed. Atlantis was not allowed to be the cool epic action film it could've been, ditto Treasure Planet plus the marketing made it look like "Disney Extreme Sports… In Spaaaaaaaaace!" Brother Bear and Home on the Range were aimed at kids first, which alienated everyone else. It's quite telling that the derivative, cynical, Shrek-chasing Chicken Little did better than all these films. It's also quite telling that a good film like Lilo & Stitch outgrossed these films.

I see this new era as a revival of that failed plan, but this time, there's no David Stainton or executives having too much control over the product. If Wreck-It Ralph was made in 2002 during the Eisner-Stainton era, it would've tanked, because its screenplay would've been dumbed down, its better ideas would've hit the cutting room floor and the marketing would've made it look terrible. Nope, Wreck-It Ralph was a hit because the screenplay played to adults and kids - it didn't pander to them, bad ideas hit the cutting room floor and the marketing made it look good enough.

Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Moana, Dean Wellins' "Space Race" film, King of the Elves and several others are risky and different like Dinosaur, The Emperor's New Groove, Atlantis, Treasure Planet and Sweating Bullets (yes, Bullets became Home on the Range, but that early incarnation of Disney's failed Western had lots of potential). The difference is, these films are going to be allowed to be good movies… And what they want to be. That's all thanks to the awful, horrible devils that are John Lasseter and Ed Catmull, plus the great writers and animators who bring these stories to life.

Now also…

Attendance and grosses are two different things…

The Lion King's initial $312 million domestic total translates to roughly 74 million tickets today. If Frozen finishes up with $300 million, it'll have sold less than 40 million tickets. Still a big amount of tickets, but…

Grosses don't mean everything. People still saw films like Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph. People have discovered the likes of Bolt and Frog on video, television or other ways. Frozen may make a lot, but Disney better not reserve a throne for that film whilst telling the canine, the frogs and the video game wrecker to take a hike. They already did that to the hunchback, the super-strong hero and several others.

So hopefully the success of Frozen doesn't continue Disney's rather unfair trend of picking and choosing, and hopefully it doesn't drive Disney to go about selling their future animated films the wrong way. They should use the success of Frozen and the films before it to their advantage. Even though Bolt and Frog didn't outgross Chicken Little, they still outgrossed films like Treasure Planet, Brother Bear and Home on the Range. Chicken Little was lucky, because in 2005, if you were CGI and had a DreamWorks-y attitude, you were a hit. Today? Not so much.

Since Bolt and Frog outgrossed the non-fad films from the studio during the 2000-2005 period (minus you know who, of course), they could be used to demonstrate a growing momentum. It's kind of similar to how Disney used the grosses of Oliver, Mermaid and Beast to prove that Disney Animation was getting bigger and bigger. Bolt and Frog could be them saying: "Look. We're slowly winning back the audiences we lost." Now add in the success of Tangled and Ralph, they'll show: "Look! We got even bigger with those two!" Then Frozen can be their capper, their Aladdin/Lion King smash: "We're back in action now!"

This in turn could really hype up the next string of films, it could drive the marketing department to want to keep the gravy train going. The Renaissance fell after The Lion King because we started getting films like Pocahontas; films that were messes, byproducts of misguided intentions clashing and executive meddling. The declining quality of films got good amounts of people to stay away, not marketing. The marketing still gave it their all when readying films like Hunchback, Hercules, Mulan and Tarzan to at least help the films make their money back. Guess what? The films did good at the box office! Hunchback, Hercules, Mulan and Tarzan were by all means "hit films" back in the day. Lion King was that rare, once-in-a-lifetime freak success that also hit the summit of the momentum mountain. Did they really think that Pocahontas would repeat that? Or Aladdin's then-enormous $217 million gross? It doesn't work that way. The ignorant higher ups scoffed at the post-Lion King films just because they didn't make Aladdin or Lion King numbers despite being very profitable and selling like mad on home video afterwards. Boo-frickity-hoo…

The quality is consistent with these new films, thanks to the studio's current environment. No formulas, no repeating, no annoyances in the films that drive audiences away. No focus groups telling them what to do, no executives taking their cool ideas and watering them down for toddlers. The current Disney brass better know this, and they better take advantage. A new Renaissance is upon the studio, one that could last a very, very long time.

Time to go big or go home.

In fact… That should be Big Hero 6's tagline. "This Fall… Go BIG or go home!"

'Goofy and Wilbur' (1939).

Today two sequences of production drawings from one of my favorite Disney shorts,  'Goofy and Wilbur' (production 2218), released on March 17, 1939. Directed by Dick Heumer, the amazing animation was in the hands of Art Babbitt, Izzy Klein, Ed love, Berny Wolf, John Meador and  Wolfgang Reitherman. In the short, Goofy goes out fishing and takes his small grasshopper Wilbur with him. Wilbur is smart and helps Goofy catch all the fish he needs, but not without bringing himself in great peril.

The first sequence is when Goofy arrives at the fishing spot in his little boat and has takes Wilbur out of his can. While Wilbur stretches, Goofy goes 'ya feeling okay? That's the L'il palsy-walsy. Are ya all set?' Wilbur sucks up his chest and spits to show he's ready to rumble. This scene was animated by Wolfgang Reitherman (shown on the original animator drafts as 'Woolie'). I'll do a seperate post for the second sequence (you can check it here).

For reference purposes, I've posted the actual frames from the short below, that show you how it plays out in the final animation: