Tagged: Walt Disney

REVIEW: The Muppets

When The Muppets opened in November, I wrote the following on my blog and it holds up now that the film is out this week on home video from Walt Disney.

There has been a tremendous amount of talk in our world about reboots, successful or not, and I just got back from experiencing the year’s single best relaunch of a tired property. Deb, Kate, her guy Mike, and I saw The Muppets and pretty much smiled all the way through, guffawing with pleasantly regularity and wiping away a tear every now and then.

Ladies and gentlemen, please pay attention, because this is how it’s done.

It starts with understanding the property, what has worked in the past and what has not. More than that, though, it is loving the property and all it is about. No one at Disney had the first clue what to do with the property since buying the characters from Jim Henson’s heirs. Yes, Henson wanted the House of Mouse to take care of his people after he was gone, and they’ve held on to them without really having anyone loving them. (more…)

Your First Look at the new Lone Ranger and Tonto

  • News
  • March 8, 2012

tlr_mg_1561_r4_online1-300x210-2537654The production of Walt Disney’s take on The Lone Ranger began about a week ago and now we have our first glimpse of the famous masked man and his Native American sidekick. In case you forgot, the Ranger is played by Armie Hammer (J. Edgar) and the guy under the war paint is Johnny Depp, whose casting as Tonto two years backs helped make this movie a reality.

This is a clear departure from the more traditional blue fabric outfit the Ranger has been depicted in since the radio series began in the 1930s. The Ranger’s outfit has gone largely unchanged in comics, serials, television and tons of merchandise so this will help set it apart from what has come before.

Despite production nearly being derailed because of the inflated budget, it was retooled and finally green lit some months back. The official synopsis reads: Native American spirit warrior Tonto (Johnny Depp) recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid (Armie Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice-taking the audience on a runaway train of epic surprises and humorous friction as the two unlikely heroes must learn to work together and fight against greed and corruption.

The movie is being directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, the team that worked magic with Depp in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. Meantime, Depp will next be seen as Barnabas Collins in Tim Burton’s Dark Shadows, coming in May. He has been attached to numerous projects, playing one pop culture icon after another and most recently has been attached to a big screen adaptation of Kolchak the Night Stalker, based on Jeff rice’s novel and the ABC series featuring Darren McGavin.

The Muppets Send Up The Hunger Games

The Muppets Send Up The Hunger Games

  • News
  • March 6, 2012

Exemplifying brilliant timing, Walt Disney has released a new parody trailer, this time skewering the eagerly awaited The Hunger Games, opening March 23. Meantime, it reminds us how funny the Muppets can be, just in time for their recent film, The Muppets, to come out on home video on March 20.

The Muppets will be available in a variety of formats including The Wocka Wocka Value Pack, containing the movie on Blu-ray high-definition, DVD and Digital Copy (3 discs) plus a download card for the film’s soundtrack from Walt Disney Records.

Happy 100th Birthday, Mary Blair! Enjoy Your Google Doodle!

  • News
  • October 21, 2011

100 years ago today, Mary Blair, an artist whose unique style was immortalized in classic Walt Disney films of the 1940s and 50s and theme parks, was born in McAlester, Oklahoma.

She was best known for the artwork she contributed to animations including Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan and Cinderella, and the look for It’s A Small World at the 1964 New York World’s Fair and later appeared in all Disney theme parks. Several of her illustrated children’s books from the 1950s remain in print, such as [[[I Can Fly]]].

To celebrate her birthday and influential art style, Google has given her a Google Doodle, which we show you here. If you want to know more about her, her nieces have put together a web site, or you can try and find the book [[[The Art and Flair of Mary Blair]]].

Now if only I can get the music from It’s A Small World out of my head…

Hat tip: Google doodle celebrates influential Walt Disney artist Mary Blair.

Win a private Jungle Cruise tour skippered by John Lasseter

Win a private Jungle Cruise tour skippered by John Lasseter

  • News
  • August 23, 2011

From late 1977 through spring 1978, John Lasseter, before becoming chief creative officer at Walt Disney and Pixar Animation Studios and principal creative advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering, worked at Disneyland, and was a skipper on the Jungle Cruise attraction. Recently, a search for a photo of John skippering the Jungle Cruise came up empty. Surely there must be a photo of Skipper John somewhere? To find one, Pixar has created a contest: the first person to submit a verifiable photo of John as the skipper of the Jungle Cruise from 1977 will win a trip for 4 to the grand opening of Cars Land at Disney California Adventure in summer 2012, and a ride on the Jungle Cruise skippered by none other than John himself!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XpW7bxjCn60[/youtube]

For details on how to submit, visit Johnofthejungle.com or the official Disney•Pixar Facebook page

Official D23 Announcements Focus Mainly on Pixar

  • News
  • August 21, 2011

121543352_ae_6447_5d35477db6385687b17058f1f58245b5-300x201-4377421For those of you who missed out on Disney’s fan fest, D23, the studio provided us with a recap which we will run intact below. But we know what you really care about is what was said and shown about next year’s The Avengers. Well, there were some clips, another blindingly fast set of clips. According to a report over at Newsrama these included “a conversation between Tony Stark and Loki — with Tony Stark notably appearing behind a bar. Stark details the Avengers lineup — ‘a couple of master assassins, a demigod, and a living legend that actually lives up a legend’ — and Loki retorts back, ‘I have an army.’ ‘We have a Hulk,’ Stark replies.

“The montage sequence also included a monologue from Fury, detailing the purpose behind the Avengers — that they were organized to take on the threats that S.H.I.E.L.D. can’t.”

121543352_ae_6354a_5c434f0cb1f223cf95e6cbd59835890f-300x215-3394201Bleeding Cool added, “In the clip, Loki is shown trapped in a cage on the helicarrier. It’s a cage built to hold The Hulk, and he’s told that if he’s too much trouble, they’ll just drop it out of the botttom of the helicarrier, 30,000 feet to the ground below. Maria Hill and Steve Rogers watch from the bridge on a monitor while Tony Stark and Nick Fury step up to Loki and have a little threatening banter with him.”

“At the start of Feige’s presentation,” Newsarama continued, “a reel was shown of the five previous Marvel Studios films — Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk (no Edward Norton footage was shown), Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America: The First Avenger. The clips focused on the interconnectivity of the movies, scenes like Tony Stark appearing at the end of Incredible Hulk and Johann Schmidt discovering the Tesseract at the beginning of Cap. That vignette ending with the tagline ‘assembly begins next summer’.”

Here’s the formal release: (more…)

Mickey Rooney Talks The Fox and the Hound

  • News
  • August 13, 2011

In the mid-1920’s, an up-and-coming young animator had a brief encounter with an up-and-coming child star.  Although they only met in passing, Mickey Rooney remembers Walt Disney as “a very charming man.”  More than 50 years later, in 1981, Rooney would find himself starring in one of Walt Disney Studio’s most beloved animated films, The Fox and the Hound.  Rooney voiced the character of Tod, an orphaned fox cub who forms an unlikely friendship with Copper, a coonhound voiced by Kurt Russell.   The film also stars Pearl Bailey, Pat Buttram and Jack Albertson.  The Fox and the Hound and its sequel The Fox and the Hound 2 will be released in a 30th Anniversary 2-Movie Collection on August 9, 2011.

Although he is quick to deny it, Mickey Rooney is the definition of a Hollywood legend.  With a career that spans nine decades, he has defied the odds in an industry that often typecasts performers.  He got his start crashing his parents’ vaudeville act while still a toddler and, just a few years later, he became a silent film sensation; starring in the popular “Mickey McGuire” shorts.  In the 1930’s Rooney made a successful transition to sound films, headlining in the long-running “Andy Hardy” series and teaming with his friend Judy Garland in such classic musicals as Strike Up the Band and Girl Crazy.  Rooney was awarded a special Juvenile Oscar at the 1939 Academy Awards ceremony and the next year was nominated in the competitive Best Actor category for Babes in Arms, the first of four Oscar nominations.   He also won an honorary Academy Award in 1983 in recognition of 50 years of memorable film performances.  Having also won an Emmy and two Golden Globes by that time, many actors would be content to rest on such precious laurels but Mickey Rooney, now 90, continues to work on stage, screen and television and recently wrapped a cameo role in the highly anticipated Walt Disney Pictures Holiday 2011 release, The Muppets. (more…)

2010 home entertainment preview: not what you will be watching but how

2010 home entertainment preview: not what you will be watching but how

The future for home video in 2010 is taking shape
and as 2009 winds down, ComicMix, like everyone else, is looking ahead. The VHS
tape is gone, replaced by DVD and that too is now quickly getting replaced by
the Blu-ray. The Digital Entertainment Group says Blu-ray Disc set-top player
sales grew 112 percent over the same period last year. Blu-ray devices are at
the top of many consumers’ holiday wish lists this year are projected to be in
15 million U.S. homes by the end of this year.

With players now as cheap as $150, the penetration rate is
skyrocketing and the studios are cognizant of this. They also know that people
are reluctant to pay more for Blu-ray discs to replace their standard DVDs so
these new discs are coming in fancier packages and with lots of extras.

One of the key differences between standard DVD and Blu-ray
is that the BD Live function allows studios to continue offering fresh content
even after the disc goes on sale. McG, for example, did a live screening of Terminator Salvation with questions from viewers. As more filmmakers figure out
how to gain maximum mileage from this direct communications, it will keep the
Blu-ray more vital.

Over the past year, Walt Disney has been collecting their
films in two and three packs. Like most studios these days, you get the DVD and
a digital copy presuming you wish to download the film to watch on your device
of choice. Disney then added the Blu-ray, DVD, and digital disc to form the
mega set, so there’s just one version to sell to one and all – of course,
up-priced so the profits are fatter.

(more…)

Review: ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Platinum Edition

Review: ‘Sleeping Beauty’ Platinum Edition

Walt Disney Studios’ [[[Sleeping Beauty]]] holds up as a spectacular work of animation and it looks even better now that the studio has cleaned it up. The classic fairy tale has stood the test of time quite nicely and the Platinum Edition 50th Anniversary 2-disc set, released today, is a worthwhile addition to your home video library. It’s a great artifafct, and the end of an era of amazing animated fare from Disney Studios.  Every anuimated feature that has followed, through today, somehow pales in comparison to this effort.

The first disc of course is the film itself.  Disney’s technicians have painstakingly cleaned the animation so the colors are brighter, allowing us to appreciate the work of animator Eyvind Earle. The story holds up with relatable characters from the adorable Aurora to the three fairies who sacrifice their magic ways to shield the child for 16 years. The humor remains character-based and the story builds nicely to the climax between the Prince and the vile witch Maleficent. The animation remains a sumptuous feast for the eyes especially with the brighter, sharper colors allowing us to enjoy the fine design.  The transformation of Maleficent from witch to dragon remains a very powerful sequence and can still startle the younger viewers.

It was certainly the last of its kind.  The sumptuous design and color, the rendering of the characters and their actions, were painstakingly researched and executed. The movie took years and millions to make, causing Walt Disney concern over the viability of future of animation in the same style. Some of this and other interesting facts can be found on the second disc.  “Picture Perfect: The Making of Sleeping Beauty” is lively because of the archival materials that remain plus the recollections of those like Ollie Johnston, last of the Nine Old Men, and Don Bluth who actually worked on the film.

We see several pieces of footage of actors in costume who performed for a gaggle of animators, which helped the humans move with subtle and broad emotions.  On the other hand, we are treated to deleted songs and sequences via storyboards and remaining recordings.  As a result, you have a better idea of how the film took shape, from the initial concepts in 1951 through its 1958 release.

There is also a nifty interactive Original Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through Attraction With Walt Disney Imagineering.

For the youngest of fans, there is a reading tutorial and “[[[Briar Rose’s Enchanted Dance Game]]]”.

There are additional features on the Blu-ray release, not screened by ComicMix, but it does come complete with a standard DVD version of the film.  It’s a first and a nice way to add to your library without buying new hardware quite yet.

As usual, Disney will keep this in circulation only for a limited time until it is retired and goes into the rotation, not to be seen again for a while.  Grab this while you can.

Happy Anniversary, Mickey’s voice!

Happy Anniversary, Mickey’s voice!

Seventy-eight years ago today, Mickey Mosue uttered his first words, "Hot Dog!", in the short The Karnival Kid. Although it was Mickey’s ninth short, it was the first in which he actually spoke.

Mickey’s voice, of course, was that of his creator, Walt Disney.

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