Photographic Animation

Nearly three years ago, an animation legend weighed in on the state of mainstream American feature animation. The legend in question was Gene Deitch, known for his work with the UPA in the 1950s, the Tom & Jerry cartoons that he was tasked to make in Czechoslovakia after MGM jettisoned their animation studio, and his …

Better To Not Know

Summer 2013... Much like what I do now, I was clawing in the dirt for animation news and the word on the street. Walt Disney Animation Studios seemed to be on some kind of cusp, this was months before the release of Frozen. The Burbank studio only had two legitimate box office hits under their …

Dark Cars: The ‘Cars 3’ Teaser and Its Unexpected Reception

I'm seeing it all over social media... "Wow, Cars took a dark turn..." "Lightning McQueen died?" It's no joke, though. The Cars 3 teaser is unlike many of Pixar's previous teasers, and in terms of the lighting and the aesthetic, the film looks unlike any previous Pixar film. Gone are the vibrant colors of the …

A Whole Other Ocean: A Full Review of ‘Finding Dory’

Arriving thirteen years after its magnificent, underwater predecessor, Finding Dory proved to be a worthy sequel and a very good film in its own right. Finding Dory's main strengths are in its development of Dory. I remember the cries and concerns when it was announced that the Finding Nemo sequel would focus heavily on the …

‘Trolls’, Release Dates, Box Office, and Such

Trolls, the new DreamWorks film, opened quite well against the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe's newest epic installment Doctor Strange. It seemed like the apocalypse, in a way. Doctor Strange is a PG-13 Marvel Studios movie, and it's true that a lot of families actually go to see these movies, regardless of the ratings they get. …

Disregarding the Clickbait: Real Talk on a ‘Monsters, Inc.’ Sequel

Monsters, Inc. turned fifteen today... Monsters, Inc. was actually the very film that got me into Pixar. I was ten, already a huge Disney fan, but for some reason didn't quite connect with the works of the hopping lamp just yet. I didn't pop in my Toy Story and Toy Story 2 VHS tapes as …

‘Borrowed Time’ and Frustration…

Borrowed Time has been shown at various film festivals since October of last year. It was directed by Andrew Coats and Lou Hamou-Lhadj, two Pixarians who made the short through one of the company's special programs that allowed them to use their pipeline. Five years in the making, Coats, Lhadj and a team that included …

The Paul McCartney What-Could’ve-Beens…

Any great, prolific musician comes with a history of what-could've-beens, alternate albums, songs that haven't seen the light of day, and so on... I talked extensively about The Beach Boys' unreleased albums and alternate versions of finished albums. There's so much you can say about The Beatles' unreleased material, but I think Paul McCartney's solo …

‘Mulan’ and the Wasted Potential of Disney’s Remakes

A few days back, Disney announced the release date for one of their many live-action remakes in development: Mulan. It is currently set to open on November 2, 2018. If Mulan is to be a near-exact remake of the 1998 Disney animated film, then I will have problems. Yet again. It'll also show, I think, …

Sea of Hype(rbole)

Moana is a little over a month away. It's Walt Disney Animation Studios' 56th feature, and we're all hyped! Some of us have been on board the raft since June of 2013, when information on the film was leaked. Long before the Mouse House themselves officially announced it. Some, including myself, were there the minute …