Animated Films

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann

Call it the summer of viral marketing. The big studios have been using the Interweb to promote their big summer films, and now that the live-action flick Iron Man pulled about $100 million in its first weekend, that's been seen as a sign that "Internet viral marketing" works.

Disney/Pixar has jumped on the viral bandwagon to promote their upcoming film WALL-E in a big, bad way but are going about it a little more differently than the other studios.

While everyone else is releasing trailers and clips at a furious rate (Sturdy at JoBlo.com recently complained that, thanks to constant viral marketing, "I felt like I'd already seen (Iron Man) a month before it was released."), Pixar's viral campaign doesn't use actual clips from the movie. Instead they're showing vignettes of WALL-E (the character, not the movie) interacting with common household items, like magnets, vacuum cleaners and hula-hoops.

Now the folks at Movieweb have scored a clip of WALL-E meeting up with a pair of wireless headphones. Like the previous clips, it shows the bumbling robot interacting with the 'phones in unusual ways. Definitely some laugh-out-loud moments, but there's a real been-there-done-that feel starting to creep into these clips

Yes, they're still funny, but Andrew Stanton and the Emeryville gang need to change things up for the next one, should they make another clip. There's a sense that the "WALL-E versus ____" scenario is wearing out its welcome.

You can check out the latest WALL-E clip by clicking here. The Disney/Pixar film opens June 27th.

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann

First off, it was WALL-E versus a vacuum cleaner in a Superbowl spot. Then the robot star of the upcoming Disney/Pixar movie battled a magnet. Now Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo) directs the little guy as he takes on a Hula Hoop.

The fine folks at /film scored a clip of the titular robot getting to know the classic plastic hoop, and the clip's another winner from a company that hasn't made any serious mistakes yet. Pixar decided to take on the task of promoting WALL-E after they felt that Disney Marketing dropped the ball with last year's Ratatouille, and they're doing a great job of getting the word out about this movie. Some good online buzz is building for this film, and Disney Consumer Products is salivating for a cash bonanza when WALL-E associated merchandise hits store shelves.

The "WALL-E vs a ____" marketing concept could get seriously annoying in lesser hands, but Stanton is smart enough to keep the laughs coming without boredom setting in. This is an inspired ad campaign for a movie that, from most reports, appears to be another home run for Pixar.

You can check out the clip by clicking here. WALL-E comes to theatres on June 27th.

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann

Take one classic Steven Spielberg blockbuster (1993's Jurassic Park), shrink it down to 30 seconds and re-enact it with bunnies. Yep, Jennifer Shiman and her distinctive Flash animated rodents are back, and they're spoofing one of the greatest popcorn flicks of all time.

Gotta love the little details and side-gags in these parodies, from the bunny falling over when it witnesses the brontosaurus, to the "Projected Income Sources" slide showing behind the Jeff Goldblum character. My analysis?

'Raptors' and 'T-Rex' fit well together, as do 'Jason' and 'Strippers' but all three together? Nah, that would never work.

You can check out Jennifer's latest bunny opus by clicking here.

Next up for Thirty Second Bunnies Theatre? The Judd Apatow comedy Superbad, followed by the classic mob movie Goodfellas and the vampire invasion flick 30 Days of Night.

Fun Fact: Thirty Seconds Bunnies Theatre is up for a Webby award, which honours the best in we-based animation. You can check out the other nominees over here. And yes, I'll be doing a follow-up story on this.

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann

The best comedy comes from focusing on the simplest things. In this case, it involves WALL-E, the titular robot from the upcoming Disney/Pixar movie, as he interacts with a magnet.

Without any dialogue, the little robot expresses wonder as he sees the magnet for the first time, terror when it chases him around the room, frustration (he can't get rid of the darned thing!), and relief (Whew! It's gone). Needless to say, there's a little twist at the end that had me laughing out loud. The sequence is so simple, and yet so brilliant. It's state of the art animation with a Buster Keaton/Charlie Chaplin soul.

If the rest of WALL-E lives up to the promise generated by this so-far flawless marketing campaign, then this Andrew Stanton film will surely end up on many critics' year end "best of" lists. It's hard to predict how the flick will do at the box office (so many wonderful films end up tanking with audiences), but WALL-E has generated fearsome online buzz, and Disney Consumer Products is already salivating for some serious merchandising profits after the flick opens.

You can check out the WALL-E clip on JoBlo or on YouTube.

WALL-E comes to mondoplexes on June 27th.

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann

I won't be updating my site for the next 10 days, as I am heading off to Victor Wooten's Bass/Nature Camp in the back woods of Tennessee (road trip!).

What's Bass/Nature camp? It's just a chance to play music and learn from some of the premiere players on the planet, including Victor himself (Béla Fleck and the Flecktones), Steve Bailey (Dizzy Gillespie), and studio legend Chuck Rainey (Aretha Franklin, Steeley Dan, and countless others). I'll also be learning about the wild blue (or green) yonder, and making fire. Should be fun times.

For some idea of what I'm talking about, check out my review of Wooten's novel The Music Lesson, which is now available through Berkley Books, a division of Penguin. Oh, and Wooten's new disc from Heads Up Records, Palmystery, is in stores now. Check it out.

I'll be back on April 22nd to talk more about animated films. Hope to see you then.

Cheers,

Dominic

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann

A plot twist in the upcoming live action comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall has led to Disney reviving the Muppets.

Variety reports that the Mouse House has asked the film's writer/leading actor Jason Segel and director Nick Stoller to develop a new Muppets movie.

In Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was produced by comedy mogul Judd (Knocked Up) Apatow, Segel plays a TV composer who is working on a Dracula musical featuring puppets. The Muppet group made the custom creations for the movie, and Segel was so emboldened by the experience that he pitched a Muppets movie concept to Disney executive Kristin Burr during a general meeting. Burr liked what she heard, and she and Segel inked a deal on the spot.

Segel then enlisted Stoller to co-write the script and direct the film. It's unclear how the duo plans to revive the Muppets franchise, but there is no shortage of interest in Jim Henson's cloth creations. The Muppet Show Seasons One and Two DVD's have been hot sellers for Disney Home Video, with Season 3 coming to DVD shelves on May 20th.

Segel and Stoller also have the live action flick The Five Year Engagement in the works for Universal. The comedy is about a man (Segel) who keeps on putting off his wedding.

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann

Pity poor Robert Rodriguez and Quentin Tarantino.

After 16 profitable years of repackaging B-movie trash as auteur irony, a fickle audience suddenly ignored their latest homage to cars, guns and gorgeous dames with inexplicable interest in Tarantino's film collection called Grindhouse. The two-movies-within-a-movie sucked wind at the box office and left The Weinstein Company with a big, fat bill that's not about to be paid anytime soon.

But our boys aren't down for the count, yet. Robert Rodriguez has at least two Sin City sequels to unleash on adoring audiences, that don't care about the fact that Jessica Alba plays a stripper who never ever takes off her clothes. And the QT has Inglorious Bastards on his plate, as well as a zillion other projects that he would love to take on as soon . . . ooh, look! Shiny!

Not only that, Jennifer Shiman's Thirty Seconds Bunnies Theatre has now immortalized Rodriguez and Tarantino's failed experiment in B-movie ripoff – I mean, homage.

To properly give this flick the respect it's due, Shiman doubled the running time so that each film would get 30 seconds each. That allowed the bunnies to show every gunshot, kick, exotic dance and tire tread to the head in loving detail. Pure bliss.

To check out Grindhouse as performed by bunnies, click over here. Look for bunnies versions of Spielberg's dinosaurs-run-amuck movie Jurassic Park, followed by 1980's teen comedy Sixteen Candles, last year's teen comedy SuperBad, classic mob flick Goodfellas, and vampires-run-amuck movie 30 Days of Night.

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann

My winning streak has extended for another year.

Way back in August of 2007, I proclaimed that Disney/Pixar's Ratatouille would capture the Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film and, lo and behold, I was right. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences decided that Brad Bird and the rest of the Pixar gang had cranked out the best animated film of 2007.

Even though many animation professionals wanted to see Marjane Satrapi's Persepolis win the Oscar for its more interesting storyline, surreal animation and real-world origins, not enough Academy voters had actually seen the fraggin' thing to make it count.

Sony's other animated offering, Surf's Up, was a cute little film but (a) it lacked Ratatouille's stellar reviews and (b) it bombed at the box office.

Those were the only films that actually got nominated. Despite Coming Soon's Edward Douglas praising The Simpsons Movie as Ratatouille's biggest competition, the Twentieth Century Fox flick never made it to the finals.

However, AMPAS didn't tacitly acknowledge the fact that Ratatouille had received the best reviews of any film released last year (including the Best Picture, No Country for Old Men) by giving it the Best Original Screenplay Award. That honour went to Diablo Cody and her script for Juno.

As Oscar ceremony host Jon Stewart put it, "Diablo Cody used to be an exotic dancer, but now she's a screenwriter. Congratulations for taking the pay cut."

So who's up for the 2009 Oscar for Best Animated Feature Film? Stay tuned and meet your contestants in upcoming articles.

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann

Ratatouille added another statue to its trophy case by winning the British Academy of Film and Television Awards' trophy for Best Animated Feature Film.

Blighty's answer to the Oscars gave the Brad Bird flick the win over DreamWorks Animation's Shrek the Third, and Twentieth Century Fox's The Simpsons Movie. Despite neither of the other two movies being in contention for this year's Oscar, this win gives Disney/Pixar another reason to believe that they will add another award to their respectable haul come February 14th.

Ratatouille is up against Sony Pictures Animation's Surf's Up and Sony Picture Classics' Persepolis for the AMPAS award.

In the Animated Short category, Jo Allen & Luis Cook's The Pearce Sisters won over Osbert Parker, Fiona Pitkin, and Ian Gouldstone's Head Over Heels and The Crumblegiant by Pearse Moore and John McCloskey. The Pearce Sisters is by stop-motion giants Aardman Animation, best known for the Wallace and Gromit series.

You can check out all the BAFTA winners by clicking here.

Posted by Dominic von Riedemann

According to both Box Office Mojo and Coming Soon, Disney/Pixar has quietly changed the release date for their 2009 film, the Pete Docter wilderness comedy Up.

Instead of the flick's original date of June 12, 2009, Up will debut in theatres on May 29th. That's the weekend after the American Memorial Day holiday weekend which kicks off the summer blockbuster season. That's also one of the prime release dates in the summer schedule, one that was particularly good to DreamWorks Animation's Shrek the Third this past year. That movie went on to make $320 million in North American theatres.

Details about Up are still pretty sketchy, with the only concrete information being that Pete Docter (Monsters Inc.) and Bob Peterson (Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo) are directing and writing the script, with Docter getting top billing in both regards. No lead voice actors have been cast, there's no official website, no posters, and no sign of any kind of coherent synopsis.

The only hint as to what the film is about came from a Time interview, where Docter said that Up was a "'coming-of-old-age story' about a seventy-something guy who lives in a house that 'looks like your grandparents' house smelled.' The old man befriends a clueless young Wilderness Ranger and gets into lots of altercations."

According to Pixar, "Our hero travels the globe, fights beasts and villains and eats dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon."

Click here for more rampant speculation about Up.