Thinking about movies, part 1: Disney/Pixar's Monsters University

I've been mum for a bit, mainly because I wanted to give myself enough time to think about certain Disney films - ones that have been recently been released, some waiting to be released, and others that recently got canned. In this first installment, I take a look at Monsters University, which has seen some healthy Box Office numbers. That should definitely be the tipping point for a Monsters expansion in Hollywoodland at Disney California Adventure. I really hope that Monsters Inc. Laugh Floor doesn't make it's way to Disneyland's Tomorrowland, though...

There are spoilers in this article about the film. If you haven't watched it, then - well, you're missing out! And if you don't want anything spoiled, turn back now.

Before I get into this, I just wanted to say something about the Frozen trailer that was shown before the film. Yes, I was bummed that we didn't get to see Elsa or Anna (and it's admittedly frustrating that both France and Japan got more meaty trailers than we did), but perhaps Disney knows what it's doing here. They're trying to connect with an audience they fear of alienating - mainly little boys and adults that think they're too good for classic Disney stories with princesses I guess. The trailer got everyone of all ages laughing at all the appropriate moments, and we had a pretty packed theater. So perhaps marketing made the better choice here for the American audiences going to see Monsters University. On the opposite side of the spectrum, everyone was dead silent while the trailer for Planes played, and all other trailers were sparse in response to complete silence.

This...

...is more entertaining than this.

But anyhow, it's time to look at Monsters University. Critics seemed to tear this film a new one, so I was slightly anxious. But I liked the advertising, and Monsters Inc. is a fantastic film that still gets me to tear up, so there was no way I was going to miss it.

Perhaps it's because I'm a young adult, but I greatly enjoyed it. The film advertised a fun college flick with characters that we already love plus some new ones, and that's what we got - for the most part. I think I know why some people aren't as thrilled about this flick as I am. In the original film, the audience was mostly rooting for Sulley, who was completely gooey-eyed over this adorable little girl while Mike was constantly freaking out. In this film, however, the audience is rooting for Mike, a bright-eyed kid with big dreams and drive while Sulley is mostly behaving like a jerk. That last part probably left a sour taste in some critics' mouths.

However, this film takes place during the characters' college years. Meaning - immature kids coming into adulthood. How many stupid things did you do in college? How many kids like Sulley did you run into? I felt like it was an honest representation of reality. Yes, Sulley was being a spoiled brat that seemed to think way too highly of himself, but the truth is (and it is shown in the film) is that people that behave that way in reality feel very small on the inside. And I think that showing that Sulley used to be a very different guy makes it that much sweeter that little Boo got Sulley so wrapped around her little finger.

I read from one critic that this film had no heart - I completely disagree. Again, maybe it's my age talking, but Mike's entire journey in that film felt very much like the one I've been through. Having all the drive and passion from an early age but still having someone tell you that you'll never be good enough for that profession or that thing - I think many of us can relate to that. Mike has to come to terms with the fact that he will never achieve his dreams that have essentially driven his whole life - how many of us have been there? What dreams have we held onto that we've had to part with? How many do we still hold on to? This film wasn't so much about Mike and Sulley hating each other before they became best friends - it was more about Mike's personal inner journey, that painful moment in adulthood when you realize that it's just not going to happen for you, and it's time to get real. That was what drove the story and made things really interesting. We all knew that Mike wouldn't become a top scarer, but we weren't sure how he would come to that realization or how he would handle it. This isn't something you generally see in movies, and I applaud Pixar for being so bold and not per-say doing the typical "feel-good" thing. It was much more real.

This scene was absolutely beautiful, and for so many reasons.

While we had to experience that extreme emotional turmoil with Mike, and his dreams had to be altered, there was still a happy ending, and both characters admittedly needed each other to make one whole of a super-monster. I think the film has a very nice message at the end - that it truly doesn't matter what anyone else thinks your potential is. People may reject you and there will be times where you may feel like a failure, but working hard, staying passionate about what you do and being open to tweaking your future plans can still lead you to a very happy and fulfilling life. As part of a generation that is in the middle of The Great Recession (and I don't care who tells you otherwise, I'm a regular working-class girl with a college degree and I'm in the thick of reality) that kind of message is really important to hear right now.

Also, this little guy seems to be a popular search on Google, and the boyfriend sends him to me every now and again to cheer me up:

Baby Mike!!! This image with John Krasinski was the best way to start this film.

For my next installment, I'll be talking about The Lone Ranger, and then after that, a few more details about Frozen! Don't forget to subscribe so that you won't miss them!

'Limited Time Magic' brings back boy band Dapper Dans

'Limited Time Magic' brings back boy band Dapper Dans

Disneyland announces plans for Halloween Time 2013

Disney's announced its plans for Halloween Time this year, along with the dates for the specially-ticketed parties. I upgraded to a Premium AP, but with things like this, I wonder if it was worth it. Christmas time will be the true test, especially since that's going to be around my 10 year anniversary.

Disneyland announces plans for Halloween Time 2013

Show your red, white and blue at the Disneyland Resort

Wanna know what patriotic things you can partake in at Disneyland this year? Here's the down-low :)

Show your red, white and blue at the Disneyland Resort

Disney finally releases a teaser and gallery for Frozen!

We've all been anxiously awaiting a teaser trailer for this film and some official imagery. Those unofficial posters from several months ago just weren't going to satiate us. However, those unofficial posters were pretty close to the end result.

But let's take a look at the teaser first.

I, personally, was hoping to get an actual introduction to the Snow Queen herself, but sure, the sidekicks seem cute.

I'll be honest here - I wasn't all that impressed with Olaf the talking snowman when I first heard about him. I generally love the 2D concept art that Disney creates for CG films, but I just wasn't feeling it. But after seeing this teaser trailer, I must admit, I think he'll be a very special Disney character that people are going to love.

What does somewhat bother me about this teaser is that Disney has turned a reindeer into a dog. Was that really necessary? Truthfully, I don't know what kind of personalities and behaviors reindeer have, but I'm sure they have something interesting about them past being a significant part of Christmas marketing. If Disney wanted a dog, they should have just included a dog. I don't know. I'm really hoping that this canine behavior makes sense within the context of the film.

*EDIT* As it turns out, reindeer and dogs have a lot in common, and the behavior the reindeer is showing in the teaser is very natural. I think I was a little concerned after seeing Tangled (which I love, btw, and Maximus is a wonderful character, though the animators did have him perform some dog-like behaviors that are not natural, which I know for a fact, as I've grown up with horses my entire life) - but what the animators did here was quite appropriate.


All in all, the teaser is cute, and brings back memories of on of those wonderfully classic Disney scenes: Bambi on ice.

But now, let's take a look at the new photos added to the official Frozen gallery online.

The image that interests me most is the one of Anna looking up and seeing her sister, Elsa. The use of light and dark looks great, and, honestly, their relationship in the story is what I'm really interested in seeing.

I also find it funny that the image of Elsa is nearly the same pose as what we saw in that unofficial poster. It's kind of frustrating that the only official image of her thus far is one where she looks so tiny. I was hoping to see a standalone image of her. While the contrast of light and dark and her high position looking down at her sister suggests power, I'm still craving to see more of her in full glory. Here's hoping we'll see a few more images in the coming months.

I can promise you that at the D23 Expo this year, I will be going to whatever Frozen panel I can get to. Disney was very generous when it was just before Princess and the Frog was coming out - they showed us a full musical number and tons of art for the film, with a healthy dosage of spoilers. I'll be covering the whole expo for Examiner.com, and including some other stuff here as well (don't worry, I'll provide links!) - will be there for the full three days and I can't wait!

Anyhow, stay cool everyone! And go check out Monsters University, which comes out tomorrow!

Trouble at the Studios with 'Frozen'

I'm sure you've all heard, but Disney laid off a bunch of the hand-drawn animators a while back, and once again shut down the hand-drawn animation department. Obviously very sad, but something that Disney has done quite a few times in the past, and those animators had seen the writing on the wall since a short period before Tangled was released. Looking at past Disney history, I'm fairly confident they'll eventually re-open and close the department again in the future. CG is cheaper, easier and the company makes the excuse that CG films make more money, therefore ink and paint is a waste of the company's time. Truthfully, it's not so much the medium in which an animated film is created, but the social climate, advertising and content is what really sells or doesn't sell something. Maybe one day the suits will care enough to figure that out.

But perhaps the original way the company made feature animated films really was the better way to do things. Surprise surprise, Frozen, that upcoming CG animated feature to open in November, is apparently having some significant trouble right now. Apparently all of the people in the animation studio were asked to literally stop all the other work that they were doing to come and help fix this significantly troubled film.

Final artwork for Olaf, a sentient snowman that Elsa, the Snow Queen, created as her first attempt at making an evil snowman for her army. Olaf turned out more goofy and friendly than evil.

Is it really any wonder that they're having a tough time? The Snow Queen project has been in development at Disney for decades. It's the on-again, off-again fling Disney animation has been having. It was in development years ago, but when Disney felt that The Princess and the Frog underperformed with audiences because it was a princess film, they shelved it once more. But even then, they were having issues...issues with the Snow Queen's character, the plot, etc.

They have some strong people working on this project. They have the tools to succeed, although I think they should have given themselves more time and, well, focus. The feature film animation department used to work on only one project at a time. They didn't set severe deadlines on themselves, though admittedly that had plenty of drawbacks. Watch Waking Sleeping Beauty and you'll get the full story there.

Disney may be a powerful company, but their image will always be rather vulnerable because the public expects so much from them. Frozen could be a true powerhouse of a film, but it must have all the bells and whistles. Dreamworks continues to churn out films that make bank at the box office, but (at least in my opinion) they are nowhere near as good as most Disney films.

Advertising, Disney. Please, for the sake of your company, don't screw up the advertising!

Speaking of which, we still don't have a trailer for Frozen, and the film opens in about 6 months! I wonder if the negative feedback on the looks for Anna and Elsa (from those fake movie posters - I had a feeling they weren't genuine) have anything to do with that? Yes, the posters were fake, but the models were fairly accurate. Truthfully, the similarity in looks between Rapunzel and Anna were a bit disconcerting, not to mention the fact that she looked cross-eyed in the image. And then the Snow Queen, the character that admittedly everyone was honestly the most excited for, ended up looking like a fairy out of a Tinkerbell movie.

Last year at Destination D, there was a panel all about Frozen (that's where the image of the sentient snowman came from). And a little before that event, a video was composed as promotional material for the film - yet, interestingly enough, it was never shown at the D23 event. However, the video was leaked a week ago, and the internet was in a slight frenzy. The video has been pulled for the most part, but I still stumbled across it accidental today while doing a little research for this article. Some stills have been shared online, so I'll share some of them here now (and of course, if Disney wishes for me to take them down, I will do so). If you don't want anything spoiled (though I doubt you would have clicked to read this article then), get out of here now!

Here's a first look at one of the castles in the film. I am guessing that this is the castle that both Anna and Elsa grew up in, as they are sisters. Who knows if this part of the story is still the same, but from what was told at Destination D last year, a major coronation ceremony was taking place when Elsa's powers reveal themselves in a rather unfortunate way. This is even more tragic for her, as there is a prophecy that pretty much calls her out for ruining her kingdom in snow and frost. The girl flees, creates her own castle of ice and an army of evil snowmen, and hides inside from the rest of the world. Presumably Anna misses her sister and wants to make things right, so she goes on the dangerous quest of finding her sister with a "ragtag team."

Once can guess that this is Elsa in her icy palace. I really love this artwork with the stylization and the contrast between cold and warm, something emulated in the designs between Elsa and Anna.

Anna and Kristoff mountain climbing. This could be a set-up for a pretty interesting action sequence.

Another piece of concept art of Elsa. I'm fairly confident that this will not be how her hair looks in the final film (from everything I've heard, it sounds certain that she will have a long fishtail braid), but the dress is fairly close and if anything this just looks quite beautiful. Something that I have heard is that the snowflake motif is like the signature to Elsa's work.

This looks to be Elsa's ice castle. I feel a little bit of Maleficent's Forbidden Mountain Fortress in this, but not per say as ominous. Elsa is probably more misunderstood than evil - I like that.

More of Elsa's handiwork. What a spectacular image! I really hope we see this in the finished version of the film.

Note the color of Anna's hair. She's now more of a strawberry blonde while Elsa keeps the platinum locks, emphasizing warm vs cool colors. Her long cape is also shredded, yet she appears more free.

I'm sure many of you remember those fake movie posters. In the one featuring Anna, I noticed at least one significant white strand in her braid. While the image overall looked like unrefined CG, I don't think that was just a highlight - I'm wondering if the strand has any significance, as Elsa has white blonde hair that looks exactly like that. Anna and Elsa are sisters - is it just because they are related, or could this mean that Anna has some winter magic in her as well?

Disney created a few moments of unfinished CG animation for this video. Here are Kristoff and Anna running from something, only to come to the edge of a cliff.

Here is Anna, covering herself from Elsa's icy attack.

Elsa forming her snowflake trademark.

Actually seeing something makes me more excited about this film. Disney may be holding off any sort of promotion because they are hard at work fixing the film, but I really wish they would officially release something - anything. This leaked video might have been a mistake, but if anything I think it has helped the film. They need to start generating some buzz!

I figure that there will be a major Frozen panel at the D23 Expo this year, which I will of course be attending and covering. They had a big one for The Princess and the Frog, so why not this feature film? And it will be August, so whether they like it or not, they'll have to have something to show by then, as winter will be a hop skip and a jump away.

So, what do you think? How do you feel about Disney not sharing this promo video last year? Do you think that Disney will get Frozen's loose ends tied together nicely by the time the film opens in November? Are you excited for the film? How do you feel about the 2D vs 3D animation debacle? Talk about it here!

P.S. - Many thanks to The Rotoscopers for all their information and insight on this upcoming Disney release!

Why a bunch of E-Tickets were closed on a Saturday, and why Space Mountain has yet to re-open at Disneyland

I don't like posting rumors without some sort of reliable source.

When I saw on MiceChat that several major attractions at Disneyland Resort were randomly closed on a Saturday morning, I wasn't quite sure what to do. I went to Disneyland and saw for myself that some attractions were inexplicably closed (though by that time a few were luckily back to welcoming guests). As a journalist, one becomes intrigued and eager to write - but without an official source, without any official statement, how can you just sit down and write about this story? Okay, sure, a lot of major networks do this sort of thing all the time nowadays, but little 'ol me? I try to hold myself to a higher standard.

So I waited.

MiceAge eventually procured more information, and based off of that article I was able to write. Luckily, nearly all of the attractions are back up and running, but sadly, Space Mountain is still out of commission. To find out why, go here. Let's just hope this doesn't suddenly turn into a 2-3 year absence.