Dynergy; or, Death of a Mouse?

Forgive a bad pun, but... The Walt Disney Company is one hell of a family. Note, The Walt Disney Company is. Not necessarily "Disney"... Is Disney dead? Well, that is certainly a loaded question if there ever was one. To even begin to unpack such a question, first of all... It all depends on what …

Streamation

I have wondered all throughout the spring and summer of this disastrous year if the most recent animated features were all going to go to streaming, and possibly relegate animated features to the small screen only in the foreseeable future. Sometimes the Chicken Little in my head goes off in scenarios like these, because animation …

Elves, Trolls and Rules

So far, 2020 had been quiet feature animation-wise, before the uncertain times we have been plunged into. In a climate where a new animated feature seems to open every month, this seems rather unusual. January was without a feature, only showings of films released the previous month, like Disney Animation's Frozen II and Blue Sky's Spies …

Pixar, Or Just Four Guys?

Some early reviews of Onward, which got out mere weeks before its theatrical bow, haven't been so glowing. Some writers have expressed disappointment over the fact that it wasn't up to "Pixar standards". Even the blurb on the almighty Rotten Tomatoes, predictably, reads "It may suffer in comparison to Pixar's classics". Naturally, I wanted to …

The Life of the Animated Short

Last year seemed like just another year in family-friendly animated tentpole movies. A year with a near-alarming amount of sequels, even from the big houses... You had a single Pixar movie and a single Walt Disney Animation Studios film last year, and both were sequels, entries in popular, massively successful franchises. Other stalwarts, like DreamWorks, …

The End of Two Pixar Eras?

It has been roughly five months since Toy Story 4 was released in theaters. The 21st Pixar film and the latest sequel to their first ever film, which came out 24 years ago, proved to be a critical and commercial smash, though between the success lie some divisiveness over the film's narrative choices and whatnot. This …

I Love Both INCREDIBLES 2 and SPIDER-VERSE

Awards season is over. For the first time in years, an animation giant other than The Walt Disney Company took home a majority of the awards, including the coveted Oscar. Yes, Sony Pictures Animation's Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse was the grand champion of 2018's animated feature crop, in a year with some pretty fierce competition. Big …

Onward, Pixar!

Perhaps I'm breaking my post-graduation tradition here. Back in July of last year, I had ceased writing for my old animation news blog Kyle's Animated World, but I did say that I would still be talking about the happenings in the animation industry in some way or another. A lot of animation news and newly-announced …

Looking at Lee Unkrich’s Films

Today, January 18th, the animation community got a shock when veteran Pixar director Lee Unkrich announced that he left the acclaimed, Emeryville-based studio after a 25-year tenure there... Unkrich, who is 51 years old, was an integral part of the features since the beginning, having served as an editor on the original Toy Story, and quickly …

When Computer Animation Stopped Being Exciting For Me

Days have passed. A lot of the recent, unfortunate news concerning Pixar has somewhat blown over, though many fans - such as myself - are still in some state of mental disarray. A rumor concerning John Lasseter's actual exit from The Walt Disney Company as a whole - leaving the top chairs vacant at Pixar, …