Dominic von Riedemann's Blog
Posted by Dominic von Riedemann
While animation fans are still singing hosannas to the fact that John Lasseter has returned Disney's storied cel animation unit back from the dead with The Princess and the Frog, what's next for the Mouse House?
According to Princess and the Frog producer Peter Del Vecho (via /Film), Disney's cel animators will go straight on to a long-awaited Winnie the Pooh movie.
"(The Disney Animation crew) is making a feature for (Winnie the Pooh)," Del Vecho told /Film. "After that, the next full-length feature is Snow Queen. Ron (Clements) and John (Musker) have another project which they've asked me to produce, and we'll go into development on that next spring."
The long-simmering lawsuit between the Mouse House and copyright owners Steven Slesinger Inc. has apparently been resolved to the satisfaction of both parties, which means that Disney will continue to produce Winnie the Pooh merchandise while paying Slesinger royalties for the name (Slesinger bought the rights from creator A.A. Milne in 1930). Although there hasn't been any art released for the movie, /Film's correspondent noticed some vintage Milt Kahl artwork of the "bear of little brain" posted for inspirational purposes.
The Snow Queen is adapted from one of Hans Christian Andersen's earliest and best works. It follows young Gerda as she tries to save her best friend Kai from the clutches of the titular witch, who has ensorcelled him in her icy palace.
It's likely that Disney will expunge the numerous Bible quotes, themes and prayers that Andersen had placed in his initial story.
As always, stay tuned for further developments.
Posted by Dominic von Riedemann
Every year (okay, starting last year), I compile a list of the best and worst animated films and DVDs that crossed my path.
Last year, I had fun discussing which movies blew my mind, and which movies made me blow chunks. Of course, more than a few of you disagreed with my selections (I still get hate mail over Barbie and the Diamond Castle!) but that's half the fun.
This year will feature no less controversy and snarkiness, although I will say that 2009 was a banner year for animation. With few exceptions, the major studios really kicked things up several notches and the indies unleashed some pleasant surprises.
Just to whet your appetite, I'll list my Top 5 animated films of 2009, in alphabetical order:
- Coraline
- Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs
- The Princess and the Frog
- Up
So stay tuned and get ready to disagree!
Cheers,
Dominic
Posted by Dominic von Riedemann
Here's another exclusive for all you Suite 101 readers: Animation Boy™ recently sat down with actor Anika Noni Rose, who voices Tiana in Disney's upcoming animated film The Princess and the Frog.
In this exclusive interview, Rose chatted about what it was like voicing the role of the first black princess in Disney's first cel animated film of the 21st Century, her input into the character, and her feelings about the controversy surrounding the film.
Look for this interview coming to Suite 101 in the next few days, plus a review of The Princess and the Frog when it opens on December 11th.
Posted by Dominic von Riedemann
Good news for those of you who have been patiently waiting for a Samurai Jack feature film: creator/director Genndy Tartatovsky (Star Wars Clone Wars), along with Frederator Animation Studios, has hooked up with writer/director/producer J.J. Abrams (Lost, Alias) to get your favourite sci-fi samurai onto the big screen.
"J.J. Abrams, a huge Samurai Jack fan, had agreed to be my co-producer on the picture (a 2D/stereoscopic 3D production) through his company Bad Robot Productions at Paramount Pictures," Frederator head Fred Seibert said in a message on his site. "We knew that with JJ and his producing partner Bryan Burk we’d be in more than good hands and improve our chances tremendously of actually seeing the movie on the big screens."
Abrams is, of course, riding high on the success of his Star Trek reboot, which means his producing muscle will be strong indeed. Unusually, the Samurai Jack movie will likely be distributed by Paramount; Frederator also has a development deal in place with Sony. It's not known as yet what animated films those studios will be developing together.
There's also no further word on when Samurai Jack will come to the big screen, or whether Phil LaMarr (whose death by John Travolta in Pulp Fiction was the cause of some consternation) will return to voice the title character. Unfortunately, Mako Iwamatsu, won't be returning to voice Aku, since he died in 2006.
As always, stay tuned for further details as they develop.
Fun Fact: J.J. Abrams was an uncredited writer for the 2006 Avatar: The Last Airbender episode 'The Drill.' Mako voiced the role of the deceptively plump Uncle Iroh on the show.
Posted by Dominic von Riedemann
Talk about your roller-coaster rides: as soon as Robert Zemeckis raised fanboy hopes by announcing that he was working on a script for a Who Framed Roger Rabbit sequel – with original writers Jeffrey Price and Peter Seaman, no less – he dashed them by talking about using motion-capture technique for the non-cartoon roles.
"All the other characters that (the cartoon characters) would sort of have fun with would be magnificent in performance capture technology," he told MTV News on Tuesday.
Magnificent? Hardly: all the mo-cap characters in his films, from The Polar Express through to the upcoming A Christmas Carol, look waxy, unappealing and have dead eyes.
The idea is understandable, especially if Zemeckis wants to bring back Bob Hoskins as Eddie Valiant yet keep the sequel in the original Roger Rabbit's 1947 time period. But rendering his human actors as inexpressive mo-cap mannequins will look horrendous, especially when compared to the hyper-expressive Roger and Jessica Rabbit, plus those other old-school toons. As good-looking as his films are, Zemeckis simply hasn't cracked the code of how to convey emotional nuance through motion-capture, and his movies suffer for it.
It's also a disservice to the excellent actors who appear in them. Watching the behind-the-scenes footage in The Polar Express DVD, I was struck by Tom Hanks' incredible work in the film (he played 5 roles) and how much of his performance was lost in the transition to mo-cap animation.
Granted, Zemeckis' technique has improved since then, but Beowulf and A Christmas Carol (as per Disney's request, the movie review will go up tomorrow) suffer from the same problem: his mo-cap style is simply not up to the task of rendering human characters in an appealing, expressive way.
Bringing back Roger Rabbit is a wonderful idea, but keep the human actors human, please.
