The Animation Empire

Tim Burton's CalArts short (1978) - King and Octopus

2012-02-01T09:44:00.000-08:00

Legendary Director - Tim Burton's CalArts short film, which he made at California Institue of the Art (CalArts) , founded by Walt Disney. 1979, Tim Burton was hired by Disney studio on the strength of his CalArts short - Stalk of the Celery Monster.

This short is called "King and Octopus." I would love to see this as a full film!

Enjoy!

Tim Burton's CalArts short 1979 - Stalk of the Celery Monster

2012-01-27T09:41:00.000-08:00

Legendary Director Tim Burton's CalArts short film, which he made at California Institue of the Art (CalArts) , founded by Walt Disney. 1979, Tim Burton was hired by Disney studio on the strength of his CalArts short -Stalk of the Celery Monster-

Enjoy!

The Complete History and Videos of Walt Disney's Animated Shorts: Part 1 (1922-1924)

2012-01-25T22:43:00.000-08:00

Update: I'm slowly adding more videos and images. Today I added images and more info about the Little Red Riding Hood Laugh-O-Gram short. That includes images from Disney's second (and last) use of Red Riding Hood, 1934's The Big Bad Wolf. This blog post was originally written back in 2008.

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We're going to show a video and info (whatever we can find) for every single Walt Disney animated short. We'll take it one year at a time (or three years at a time in this case; we also might take it six months at a time if Disney was busy that year). Have patience with us. It will take awhile. Post a comment if you find more/better videos or info. Enjoy!

The History and Videos of Walt Disney's Animated Shorts

Part 1: 1922-1924

1922

1) Laugh-o-grams: Newman Laugh-o-grams - 1922 - Dir. by Walt Disney

This montage includes one of his Newman Laugh-o-grams, "Kansas City Clean Up" (it's near the end):

Named after the fact that they were released in the Newman Theater. Walt Disney was working at a design firm that did a few flyers for a local movie theater. That led to Disney doing some stills and really short animations for the theater, lampooning local politics and news. Titles included "Cleaning Up!!?", "Kansas City Girls are Rolling Their Own Now", "Take a Ride Over Kansas City Streets" and "Kansas City's Spring Cleanup." Disney based his subject matter, and won over the Kansas City audience, on problems and corruption within the local government.

That led to his first series, the Laugh-o-gram shorts. Walt's first series was about what he loved... fairy tales.

2) Laugh-o-grams 1: Little Red Riding Hood - July 29, 1922 - Dir. by Walt Disney

Color process: Black and white
Running time: 6 minutes 12 seconds
Country: United States
Preceded by Kansas City’s Spring Cleanup
Followed by The Four Musicians of Bremen

This is a contemporary setting for Disney's first take on Little Red Riding Hood (his second stab at this tale was in the 1934 sequel to The Three Little Pigs--see Note #1 below).

In this Laugh-O-Gram, Little Red Riding Hood is on her way to deliver some doughnuts when Disney's first villain (ever) attacks her (we'll call him the Wolf, but he's a man). Her cat fetches a man in a helicopter who rescues her.

Animation by Walt and Rudolph Ising.

Based on the story by the Brothers Grimm.

Original poster:

NOTES:
(1) His second attempt at this story was in the Silly Symphony, The Big Bad Wolf in 1934 (that played off the popularity of The Three Little Pigs). Basically Walt needed a sequel to his biggest hit since Steamboat Willie. So he brought Red back!
In The Big Bad Wolf, Red accompanies Fiddler Pig and Piper Pig through a forest to deliver food to her sick grandmother. The three meet "Goldilocks the Fairy Queen", who turns out to be the Big Bad Wolf in disguise. She escapes, but the wolf reaches her grandmother's house before her. When Little Red Riding Hood and the pigs reach the house, the wolf tries to eat them, but fortunately she finds refuge in a closet long enough for the other pigs to fetch their brother Practical Pig who rescues her. Here is Red from The Big Bad Wolf:

Red Riding Hood celebrating with her Grandma and The Three Pigs:

In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Red made a cameo around the end of the film with other toons.
In the episode "Big Bad Wolf Daddy" from House of Mouse (TV cartoon), when the wolf is introduced to perform, Red quickly demands her check in fear. Here she is from House of Mouse:

(2) The plane antics are revisited in Mickey Mouse's first cartoon, Plane Crazy, in 1928.
(3) Walt had a heavy hand in producing this film (although he animated it with Rudolph Ising). The look compared to the Laugh-O-Gram slides and political cartoons is very similar, with sparse backgrounds and clean lines.
(4) What's interesting, is that this is a linear story. Cartoons at the time mostly just featured gags with some situations tying them together. But this was the most complicated story in a cartoon at that time.

NOTABLE GAGS: (1) In the scene with the cat shooting holes through the doughnuts, what makes it surreal is the old bearded man in the corner of the room that is leaning through in a picture frame. (2) Red's car is powered by a dog that is being drawn forward with sausages dangled on a stick behind the car. (3) She has a flat tire and blows up one of the donuts to fix it, which, based on the cat dying, is probably better than eating it.

VIOLENCE: (1) A mother is making donuts by throwing pastry into the air, while her cat shoots a hole through the pastry, and then landing the whole mess in a frying pan. (2) The cat eats one of the donuts, then dies (maybe by lead poisoning for shooting the doughnuts), and his nine lives fly out of him as a counter in the bottom right of the screen keeps track. (3) Some people who have watched it think the Wolf is raping Red. But it was probably not intended to be that extreme.

3) Laugh-o-grams 2: The Four Musicians of Bremen - August 1922 - Dir. by Walt Disney

All these laugh-o-grams are set in present times, the 1920s. The idea was that they were looney modern updates of classic fairy tales. Animation by Walt and Rudy Ising.

This short is based off The Bremen Town Musicians by the Brothers Grim. Read more about it here.

NOTES: (1) Walt never revisited this classic fairy tale. I don't know why not. It would have made a perfect Silly Symphony, since music is already the theme (and it's obviously too short of a story for a longer film). (2) They used painted backgrounds in this short, as Walt was trying to save money by creating lush backgrounds that he could reuse. It works fine here, as many of the scenes take place over a generic landscape. (3) The cat is very much like the cat in Little Red Riding Hood, and he is the star of this short. The cat also seems to become Julius, the main animated character from the Alice Comedies that Walt started one year later (scroll below to see those).

VIOLENCE: (1) The cat swims up after the fish, but runs into a swordfish that has removed it’s sword and is sharpening it. Right before the cat and the stray fish arrive, the swordfish tests out his new sword by cutting a fish in half ruthlessly. (2) The criminals attack the animals with swords and cannonballs.

4) Laugh-o-grams 3: Jack and the Beanstalk - September 1922 - Dir. by Walt Disney

No video.

Based on a story collected by the Brothers Grimm, "Jack and the Beanstalk."

Animation by Walt Disney, Rudolph Ising, Hugh Harman, Carman "Max" Maxwell, Lorey Tague, and Otto Walliman.

The only image we have is the poster, which I don't usually post because the art style doesn't reflect the actual film:

NOTES: (1) Disney later revisited this story twice with Mickey Mouse. The second version was in the 1933 Mickey short, Giant Land. (Mickey battled a giant again in The Brave Little Tailor in 1938.) Disney's third take on this tale was with Mickey and the Beanstalk, which was part of the film, Fun and Fancy Free from 1947. So basically, Walt visited this tale once a decade for three decades in a row (1922, 1933, and 1947). (2) Although it didn't originate from Disney, the Disney Channel showed this Japanese anime version of Jack and the Beanstalk in the 80s (and the kids voice is the same voice as in Super Book). (3) Walt's first laugh-o-gram with a full animation crew.

(4) When Walt created Little Red Riding Hood, he was still doing it in his spare time in his father’s garage. That film was for training for himself, but would later be released. The Four Musicians of Bremen was the first short intended for release. Based on those two films, Walt secured a contract to produce four more films (which is why his crew grew), after his boss at the Kansas City Slide Company (later Kansas City Film Ad Company) passed on the fairy tales. The four films included "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Goldie Locks and the Three Bears", "Puss In Boots" and "Cinderella."

Also, here's a 1933 telling of Jack and the Beanstalk from Ub Iwerks. Ub was the top animator at Walt's studio, but he was convinced to leave Disney and start his own studio. He featured Flip the Frog and these ComiColor cartoons. Take a look. This was arguably as good or better than Walt's 1933 cartoons:

5) Laugh-o-grams 4: Goldie Locks and the Three Bears - October 1922 - Dir. by Walt Disney

No video.

Based on a story collected by the Brothers Grimm, "Goldie Locks and the Three Bears."

Animation by Walt Disney, Rudolph Ising, Hugh Harman, Carman "Max" Maxwell, Lorey Tague, and Otto Walliman.

NOTES: (1) Disney revisted the Goldilocks story with the 1924 Alice Comedy, Alice and the Three Bears. This is the only other time that Disney has revisited this story. (2) In 1936, a version of the Three Bears was proposed as a Disney Silly Symphony with Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and other stock Disney characters in the familiar roles, but the film was never made. I think it should have been a Silly Sympohny instead.

6) Laugh-o-grams 5: Puss in Boots - November 1922 - Dir. by Walt Disney

In a split from the original story, the titled cat helps the young boy win the heart of the Princess by enlisting him in a bullfight.

Based on a story by Charles Perrault, "Puss in Boots."

Animation by Walt Disney, Rudolph Ising, Hugh Harman, Carman "Max" Maxwell, Lorey Tague, and Otto Walliman.

NOTES: (1) Most of these shorts featured a black cat that greatly resembled Felix the cat. Walt Disney would make this into a regular character, Julius, in his next series, the Alice Comedies. (2) Disney revisited this story once with the 1935 Silly Symphony, Robber Kitten. That short was a very scaled down version of the Puss in Boots story. (3) Disney has slacked on this character and allowed DreamWorks to claim it through the Shrek storyline (the first Disney character that DreamWorks managed to spoof and then claim for their own because people don't think of Boots as a Disney character). This will become abundantly clear when DreamWorks releases their Puss N Boots movie. (4) Probably the earliest Disney inside joke; when the boy and the cat are standing outside of a movie theater, one of the posters features "Cinderella," a Laugh-o-Gram then still in production. Pixar is the most notorious for doing this.

(5) The four main characters in this film, a boy, a girl, the cat and a dog are in the new title card for Laugh-O-Gram Films, so this short must have been one that was produced early on. (6) The King is played by the old man in the picture frame from Little Red Riding Hood. (7) The production value is also much higher here. The backgrounds are very detailed, with the crowd renderings in the bullfight scene deserving particular notice. (8) Walt revisits the bullfight theme in 1925 with Alice the Toreador and again in 1929 with the Silly Symphony, The Terrible Toreador.

NOTABLE GAGS: (1) The movie theatre is another great sight gag, with one poster showing an ad for “Rudolph Vaselino,” an obvious play off of Rudolph Valentino. (2) The other poster shows an ad for “Cinderella” by Laugh-O-Grams Films. Neat little product placement. (3) The sign advertises "$5 Boots now $4.99." (4) The cat is a classic cartoon character in that he can do surrealistic things in a realistic world, like remove his tail and make a question mark as he does after the king throws them out. (This gag was already done by Felix the Cat. So obviously Walt was inspired and copying some gags.)

7) Laugh-o-grams 6: Cinderella - December 1922 - Dir. by Walt Disney

The traditional story with Cinderella as a 1920's flapper.

Animation by Walt Disney, Ub Iwerks, Rudolph Ising, Hugh Harman, Carman "Max" Maxwell, Lorey Tague, and Otto Walliman.

Based on a story by Charles Perrault in 1697, "Cinderella." The Brothers Grimm also told this tale, but they didn't include the Fairy Godmother.

NOTES: (1) Walt Disney only revisited this story one other time, in the 1950 feature-length film, Cinderella. (2) This was the first animation that also included Walt's friend, Ub Iwerks (friends since 1919, working together at the Pesman Art Studio in Kansas City; then they started their ill-fated partnership together, a commercial art business; Ub was the first animator to move to LA with Walt in 1923). (3) Features the same characters from Puss N Boots. I have a feeling that if this series was a success, then these characters would have been the main ones. (4) Disney puts animals into the story once again. The reason is because you need animals or something magical in a cartoon. Otherwise, why not do it in live action instead? (5) This is the last laugh-o-gram fairy tale.

VIOLENCE: (1) Prince shoots the bear in the bottom. (2) The dog hops on a bike to deliver the invitations like a paper boy. He hits a rock and tumbles down a hill, emerging from a cloud of dust with a bandaged head and a crutch. (3) A bystander comes by and says via word balloon “Are you hurt?” The dog simply looks at him, then bashes the man over the head with his crutch.

8) Tommy Tucker's Tooth - December 6, 1922 - Dir. by Walt Disney

An excerpt from the short:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJcp9L-R6iw

Camera: Walt Pfeiffer

NOTES: (1) This was the first of two shorts that Walt Disney made for a local dentist to pay his bills ($500). You'll notice that he was light on shorts in 1923. He was scraping by that year. People have said that he pretty much lived out of the Laugh-o-gram studio, above a restaurant. He mostly ate out of cans, and he ate at the restaurant out of charity from the restaurant and in change for drawing portraits for the owner. This was perhaps the darkest year of Disney's life, but he kept at it. (2) This short was his first released short to combine live-action and animation, which naturally led him to his first series, the Alice Comedies. (Which later led to masterpieces like Mary Poppins. So it can be argued that if he hadn't taken on this job, he might have never experimented with combinations of live-action and animation.) (3) Back in the early 20's, teachers showed this film on proper dental care to grade students (so it was decently popular). (4) The name Tommy Tucker originated from this nursery rhyme.

Other 1922-1923 shorts.

Disney also made a few 300 foot shorts from 1922-1923 called "Laffets" that combined live action and animation. They included "Golf in Slow Motion," "Descha's Tryst with the Moon," "Aesthetic Camping," "Reuben's Big Day," "Rescued," "A Star Pitcher," "The Woodland Potter," and "A Pirate for a Day."

1923

1) Alice Comedies 1: Alice's Wonderland - 1923 - Dir. by Walt Disney

The Fleischer brothers had already achieved some moderate success with their "Out of the Inkwell" series in which a cartoon character would jump into and interact with the real world. Disney envisioned a series where a live actor would be put into a cartoon world.

The full short:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H58meqbp5Ps

This home video montage includes excerpts of Alice's Wonderland:

Animators: Ub Iwerks, Rudolph Ising

Technical Direction: Hugh Harman, Carmen Maxwell

Live Actors: Virginia Davis (Alice), Margaret Davis (Alice's mother ... Virginia Davis' mother in real life), Walt Disney (animator), Ub Iwerks (animator), Hugh Harman (animator), Rudolph Ising (animator)

Of course Disney revisited Alice famously with his 1951 feature-length adaption, which Tim Burton recently made a sequel to. Here's the Unbirthday song (which will annoy you if you're around the Teacup ride for an extended period at Disneyland):

Walt meets Julius:

NOTES: (1) Alice (Virginia Davis) interacts directly with Walt Disney. You also see the birth of the Julius cat character, who stars in the Alice Comedies series alongside Alice. (2) Also, at the Laugh-o-gram studios, Disney reportedly had a friend that was a mouse. This started him thinking about mice in the Alice Comedies and planted the first seeds for Mickey Mouse. (3) This is a good chance to take a look at Walt (without mustache) and his first animators. (4) It's interesting, because Walt had built a good group of animators here, and it was years before he got up to having a group as trained as this one, even though he was head-long in his successful Alice Comedies. Life is ironic like that. (5) Walt Disney scraped together his change (and the money made from Tommy Tucker's Tooth) to finish this short, a mix between live-action and animation and to buy a train ticket to California. Armed with this short (and his Laugh-o-grams), Disney got a distribution deal with Winkler productions, the company that distributed the Felix shorts and most of the other major shorts at the time. So this is basically an unaired pilot.

(6) Because Alice actually enters the world, which is the premise of the Alice Comedies, we are calling this the first episode of the Alice Comedies. (7) One of the cartoon scenes features a group of animated mice. Some interpreters have seen precursors of the character that was to become Mickey Mouse in this scene. (8) Some of the interaction between the live action and animation was so tricky that Alice's movements were at times composed of animated still photos, a process that was continued at times throughout the series. (9) With the concept of Walt hosting this short, you can't help but foresee his hosting the package films of the 40's and the Disneyland TV Show (and Wonderful World of Disney) from 1954 until his death in 1966. (10) The film's sudden ending before the actress wakes up (Alice jumps off the cliff when being chased by lions) is believed to be because Walt ran out of time and money, but it still works. (11) Using this film, Walt and Roy were able to secure the contract for Alice's Comedies and start their new company, the Disney Brothers Studio. (12) It wasn't originally shown in theaters, but it is believed to have been released as "Alice In Slumberland" on Sept. 29, 1926. Makes sense. The show was popular enough then. Might as well release this short in the series. (13) Virginia Davis was only four years old. Wow, she was good.

NOTABLE GAGS: (1) Note the rubbery train. That was an uncommon style, and the style would get used more by Walt and Ub later on, and it would make Walt famous. (2) A rabbit and Alice jump into a rabbit hole. I can't resist. This is too perfect. This of course is a gag and reference to the book, which Walt later made into a feature-length film (1951). Here's the Rabbit scene from the film:

2) Martha - 1923 - Dir. by Walt Disney

This was a Sing-a-Long reel released in 1923 for the song "Martha: Just a Plain Old Fashioned Name."

1924

1) Alice Comedies 2: Alice's Day at the Sea - March 1, 1924 - Dir. by Walt Disney

Part 1, Dutch titles:

Part 2, Dutch titles:

Animation: Walt Disney

Live Action Camera: Roy Disney

Live Action Actors: Virginia Davis, Walt Disney, and Peggy, the Dog

Here Walt plays Reggie. It starts with a bit about a dog in bed. Looks like some early inspiration for Pluto!!! The dog wakes up Alice and gets the car ready. (Wow, it looks like Burton's Frankenweanie and Pee Wee's Big Adventure were greatly inspired by this.) The animation here is mostly silliness just to help the story along, until her underwater dream sequence. That's where the live-action girl goes into the 2D animated world. It really reminds me of the clam story in the full-length Disney Alice in Wonderland movie, made in 1951. Here's the clam scene from the film:

The catfish looks like Felix the Cat! LOL. Observe:

Oh, and a sealion. Classic:

The original poster:

NOTES: (1) You'll notice that it took Walt Disney until March to get this distribution deal off the ground. Disney then insisted to have Virginia Davis move on down to California to continue her role as Alice in the Alice Comedies. (2) I'm calling Alice's Wonderland Alice Comedies 1, even though it officially isn't (it was later released as Alice in Slumberland). The reason, though, is that these aren't numbered by anyone otherwise, so I'm not bucking any known system. I'd rather have the 1923 pilot accounted for than to have it slip by in obscurity. (3) Walt signed a contract with Winkler calling for twelve more films (this was the first), whose option could be dropped after the first six if they proved unsatisfactory. (4) Disney moved into a small space at 4651 Kingswell Avenue. (Later that year, they would move into more spacious studios next door at 4649 Kingswell.) (5) For the first few shorts, Walt did all of the animation, and his brother Roy did all of the live-camera work. (6) Walt also recruited child actors from neighborhood children to provide Alice with others to play against in the live-action scenes.

2) Alice Comedies 3: Alice's Spooky Adventure - April 1, 1924 - Dir. by Walt Disney

Alice enters an abandoned house to retrieve a lost baseball and is knocked out. She dreams she is visiting a town called "Spookville" where she is chased by ghosts.

Animation: Walt Disney, Rollin "Ham" Hamilton

Live Action Camera: Roy Disney

Live Action Actors: Virginia Davis, Leon Holmes, & "Spec" O'Donnell

The show continued with the live-action, present-time premise. Her imagination gets the best of her, and she's whisked away into her cartoon imaginary world. Later on, she would already start in that world at the beginning of the shorts, and the shorts would rely more on the cartoon hijinks.

This short seems to have inspired two of Walt's later and more famous shorts, the first Silly Symphony, Skeleton Dance (1929):

... And Mickey's Haunted House, which came right right after (also in 1929; it borrowed animation from the Skeleton Dance and proved more popular):

Back to the Alice animation...

NOTES: (1) Finally a ghost runs up to Alice and asks her to “Take it off!” The ghost is referring to the sheet, but this is a little riskee the way it is said. (2) Under the sheet, is the cat, Julius, who is the continual refinement of the cat character found in the laugh-o-grams and since the first Alice's Wonderland short. (3) This is the first animation where Rollin "Ham" Hamilton joins Walt in animation. You'd think Ham would be loyal since he'd been around so long. But, nope, it's believed that Ham took off with most of Disney's animators when Mintz power-played Walt and stole Oswald. Ham seemed to have mostly worked for Lantz post Disney, working on the Bosko series and others. His IMDB. (4) Alice comes across a black cartoon cat in this short. He was missing in the next short (Wild West Show), as Disney never intended for him to be a regular character, but Margaret Winkler asked Disney to bring him back.

NOTABLE GAGS: (1) The cat removes his tail to use as a bat, and then passes it off to Alice to use.

3) Alice Comedies 4: Alice's Wild West Show - May 1, 1924 - Dir. by Walt Disney

Alice and her friends put on a Wild West Show for the neighborhood kids where she regales the audience with her tales of cowboys and Indians.

Edited down. Titles are in English. Includes music (added later). Most of the animation is edited out. Some at 1:24. Wow, Alice gets that bully in the end!

Animation: Walt Disney, Rollin "Ham" Hamilton

Live Action Actors: Virginia Davis, Tommy Hicks

Here are some images from the cartoon parts...

Alice in the cartoon...

NOTES: (1) Alice faces the Indians down inside a cave, where we can’t see the action. This was a common trick in Walt’s cartoons, as he used it in nearly all the Laugh-O-Grams. (2) When Wild Bill Hiccup escapes, Alice and our friend the dog from the Laugh-O-Gram days chase him down. So it's notable that Walt is using the laugh-o-gram characters. (3) Virginia Davis' acting gets up a notch in this short. She is much more animated, especially in her face.

NOTABLE GAGS: (1) The safe reads “Mfg. by the Unsafe Safe Co.” (2) The short ends with Alice chasing him away and turning to the camera to grin, as we see her two front teeth missing.

4) Alice Comedies 5: Alice's Fishy Story - June 1, 1924 - Dir. by Walt Disney

Alice steals away from piano practice to go fishing and tells her friends a tale about fishing at the North Pole.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Animation: Walt Disney, Rollin "Ham" Hamilton

Live Action Actors: Virginia Davis, Leon Holmes, Tommy Hicks, Walt Disney, Peggy the Dog

Here's Julius:

NOTES: (1) The animated portion of the short opens with Julius the cat, who has not yet been named as such, but we know that is what he will soon be called. (2) Walt drew the cat character in "Alice's Spooky Adventure," and the cat didn't appear in Wild West Show. Margaret Winkler (the distributor) asked Walt to bring the cat back for this short. (3) As the year went on, more artists were added to the staff. One of the more important additions was a girl who was hired to ink and paint cels, Lillian Bounds, who was eventually to become Mrs. Walt Disney. (4) One gag has Julius luring fish to the top of the ice with tobacco and then clubbing them when they come up. It was reused by Goofy in the 1935 short, "On Ice." Observe:

NOTABLE GAGS: (1) Alice manages to trick her mother by training the dog to play piano while she sneaks out the window. (2) Alice and Julius feed the Eskimos like seals.

5) Alice Comedies 6: Alice and the Dog Catcher - July 1, 1924 - Dir. by Walt Disney

Alice presides over a secret club which proposes to rid the town of dog catchers and free the dogs!

Part 1, Dutch titles:

Part 2, Dutch titles:

Animation: Walt Disney, Rollin "Ham" Hamilton

Live Action Camera: Harry Forbes

Live Action Actors: Virginia Davis, Leon Holmes, Tommy Hicks, Joe Allen, Peggy the Dog

Wow the dogcatcher is huge:

VIOLENCE: (1) It's kind of funny that Alice frees the dogs by blowing up the pound with TNT (it rains dogs). (2) Tubby nearly drives the stolen dogcatcher car into a guy on the street. (3) The kids laugh at the dogcatcher in the car going over a cliff at the end.

RACISM NOTES: Although it wasn't intended to be racist at the time... (1) Alice leads a meeting of the Klik Klak Klub, an unfortunate name in light of the later associations for KKK. (2) All the kids are wearing bags over their heads, reminiscent of hoods. (3) The one African-American kid is included almost as a servant of the other kids. (4) The black member wears a bag with blackface on it (supposed to be a joke).

6) Alice Comedies 7: Alice the Peacemaker - August 1, 1924 - Dir. by Walt Disney

No video.

Alice tries to break up a fight between two newsboys by telling them a story of a feuding cat and mouse.

Characters: Alice, Ike the Mouse, Mike the Cat

Animation: Rollin "Ham" Hamilton, Ub Iwerks

Live Action Camera: Harry Forbes

Live Action Actors: Virginia Davis, Leon Holmes, "Spec" O'Donnell

NOTES: (1) The cat's name is Mike here, but he is later known as Julius. (2) This is Ub Iwerks' first Alice Comedy (other than Alice's Wonderland), and it shows. The animation is much more fluid and enjoyable, with smarter gags. (3) Also due to Ub's influence, this mouse looks a lot like what Mickey Mouse will look. (4) For the first time, because Ub is there, the quality of the animation is back up to the level of the Laugh-o-gram shorts. Walt knew it too, because he was using animation less and less. This short relies heavily on the animation.

NOTABLE GAGS: (1) The cat and mouse hang a sheet in front of a horse’s rear, paint their pictures on it, and watch as the dog attacks the sheet, gets kicked by the horse and goes sailing through the air. (2) The cat’s tail is used as a paintbrush. (3) Then the horse giggles after kicking the dog. =^)

7) Alice Comedies 8: Alice Gets in Dutch - November 1, 1924 - Dir. by Walt Disney

Alice misbehaves in school and is forced to sit in the corner. She falls asleep and dreams, but schoolwork intrudes even into her dreams.

Director: Walt Disney

Animation: Ub Iwerks, Rollin "Ham" Hamilton

Live Action Camera: Harry Forbes

Live Action Actors: Virginia Davis, "Spec" O'Donnell, David F. Hollander, Marjorie Sewell, Mrs. Hunt (?), Peggy the Dog

The cat is prominently featured in the title card:

NOTES: (1) It's interesting that the cartoon animals are the dog, cat, and donkey. These are three of the four Musicians of Bremen characters from the Laugh-o-gram in 1922. (2) The technique of combining live action and drawings is suffering in this short; at some scenes Alice is rendered so light, she's almost invisible.

NOTABLE GAGS: (1) The not-yet-named Julius fires a pepper cannon that makes the teacher and the books sneeze. (2) The teacher grows horns at one point.(3) The teacher sneezes her hair off, and the books sneeze all their pages off, ending their threat. (4) Julius sneezes his face off. (5) They sneeze a hole into the ground, which the animals jump into to get away from the teacher.

VIOLENCE: (1) The teacher and books pull out cannons and start firing them at Alice and her animal friends. (2) The teacher chases down Alice with a sword and pokes her.

8) Alice Comedies 9: Alice Hunting in Africa - November 15, 1924 - Dir. by Walt Disney

No video.

Alice and Julius hunt wild game in Africa with differing results.

Animation: Walt Disney; touched up by Ub Iwerks, "Ham" Hamilton, and Thurston Harper

Live Action Camera: Roy Disney

Live Action Actors: Virginia Davis

NOTES: (1) Even though it was the third Alice short made, it was not released until this time (November) because of Margaret Winkler's dissatisfaction with it (she's the distributor). For this official release, parts of the animation were redone by Ub Iwerks, "Ham" Hamilton, and Thurston Harper. (2) The animation still wasn't very good, and so the live action footage was reused later in 1925's "Alice in the Jungle." (In other words, they remade it with new animation so that it was a better, finished piece.) (3) Alice becomes animation, in places where the live action Alice would not show up.

VIOLENCE: (1) Alice is chasing a bear with a shotgun. (2) The elephant launches a cannonball from it's trunk that knocks a hole in a sleeping hippo. (3) Julius shoots the spots off a cheetah.

9) Alice Comedies 10: Alice and the Three Bears - December 1, 1924 - Dir. by Walt Disney

In a twist on the traditional story, Alice comes across three bears operating a still, and she and Julius have to fight their way free.

Director: Walt Disney

Animation: Ub Iwerks, Rollin "Ham" Hamilton

Live Action Actors: Virginia Davis

This is Walt's second and last take on the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears (his first was the 1922 Laugh-o-gram fairy tale). Walt was thinking of doing a Mickey Mouse short on this tale, but it never happened.

NOTES: (1) The bears start in a still, making beer. (2) This is the first short to completely take place in the animation world. They don't even bother setting up the cartoon dream sequence.

NOTABLE GAGS: (1) To get more hops for the beer, the baby bear chases a frog and nets the word "Hop" as the frog hops away. (2) Julius summons his nine lives to attack the bears. (3) Julius gives his ninth life beer/moonshine, which gives it the strength to beat the bears.

10) Alice Comedies 11: Alice the Piper - December 15, 1924 - Dir. by Walt Disney

No video.

A take on the story of "The Pied Piper on Hamelin" as Alice and Julius are hired to rid the town of rats.

Animation: Ub Iwerks, Rollin "Ham" Hamilton, Thurston Harper

Live Action Actors: Virginia Davis

Disney later revisited the Pied Piper story in the Silly Symphony, "The Pied Piper," in 1933. In that version, the rats are led off to a rat utopia (and not drowned in the river) and the children are led off into a special child utopia dimension in the mountain side that is closed off (and a child throws away his crutches as he enters; kind of like heaven for kids).

NOTES: (1) You'll notice that the cameraman isn't credited anymore because the only live action is Alice now. (2) Recent showings on The Disney Channel (1998) omit the final scene showing Alice and Julius vacuuming up the King after finding out their reward was less than they expected. This is probably not a deliberate cut, but the result of Disney having to use the only print available to them.

NOTABLE GAGS: (1) The king posts a reward sign, offering $5.00 (five dollars) to anyone who can rid the kingdom of the rats. The mischievous rats, meanwhile, change the sign to read $5,000 reward. This is a clever setup to how the Pied Piper (Alice and Julius) get stiffed. The king gives them $5.00 and not the $5,000 they expected. (2) Since the music isn't working, they use a vacuum cleaner.

Click here for Part 2 of this series, 1925-1927.

- TAE

Tim Burton's first Short after CalArts - Vincent

2012-01-24T09:38:00.000-08:00

Tim Burton studied at CalArts 1976 - 1979 and was hired by Walt Disney studios. Vincent is the first short film, Tim Burton made after he graduated CalArts (California Institute of the art), founded by Walt Disney.

Enjoy!

Disney Pixar Panel: Famous Grads of CalArts

2011-12-02T07:36:00.000-08:00

Director John Musker points out some of his fellow famous animation classmates at CalArts: John Lasseter and Brad Bird. No Tim Burton in this photo.

Enjoy!

Pi Receipt

2011-10-21T11:15:00.000-07:00

It was the perfect amount, and someone took advantage of that...

The sad thing here is they left an 11% tip.

Hopefully the joke helped a little.

Enjoy!

In honor of Steve Jobs

2011-10-18T10:29:00.000-07:00

I'm not sure if this is messed up or incredibly clever, but either way... enjoy!

- TAE

Battle of the Snow Whites: Julia Roberts VS Charlize Theron

2011-10-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

Julia Roberts vs. Charlize Theron: Showdown With The Casts Of The Snow White Projects

Author: Eric Eisenberg

One of the biggest battles of 2012 will be between Universal Studios and Relativity Media... both film companies have their own takes on the Snow White fairy tale coming out during the 12 month stretch. We’ve already seen the studios butt heads over release dates – Relativity pushing Tarsem Singh’s Untitled Snow White project up to March 16th while Universal has Rupert Sanders’ Snow White and the Huntsman dated for June 1st – but what if the characters themselves went head to head?

Early this morning the first images from Singh’s version of the Grimm fairy tale came online and when looking at the Snow White and the Huntsman images from Comic Con, I got to thinking: how would Kristen Stewart’s princess do against Lily Collins’? Could Armie Hammer kick Chris Hemsworth’s ass? What would be the result of a battle between Charlize Theron and Julia Roberts? Below you will find my complete breakdown.

Battle of the Snow Whites: Kristen Stewart vs. Lily CollinsLooking at these two images, I know exactly what you’re thinking: “Eric, one of these young ladies is wielding a sword and shield while the other is sitting pretty in a fluffy blue dress. This is a no brainer.” To that I say not so fast. Stewart may have the equipment (the sword is actually below the picture), but Collins has the numbers. Stewart looks all sad and alone in that photo because she has no friends, meanwhile the bright and shiny, happy-looking princess is surrounded by seven dwarfs that are clearly a little off kilter. Hell, Mickey from Seinfeld has a battle helmet on and one of the dudes in the back clearly murdered and decided to wear a ferocious beast. Plus, that big fluffy dress would be pretty damn hard to stab.

WINNER: LILY COLLINS

Battle of the Dashing Hero: Chris Hemsworth vs. Armie Hammer
Now things are getting a little interesting. These are both strapping young men wielding hardcore weapons that could easily kill a man. But let’s do a little bit of body language analysis, shall we? First let’s take a gander at Hemsworth. His hair is straggly and looks like it hasn’t been washed in weeks, he has a beard (which is a +1 in any fight), his eyes suggest that he’s not too happy with the way you’re looking at him, and the axe is slung over his shoulder like it’s no big deal. Now let’s move over to Hammer. Yes, his sword is thrust forward, but he seems to be leaning back a bit taking a defensive stance. His coat is nice and shiny and I polar bears would be envious of how white that shirt is. If these characters were to actually fight, Hemsworth would probably be okay with getting stabbed a few times provided it got him close enough to chop off Hammer’s head. But let’s be real, this was over the second I noticed the beard.

WINNER: CHRIS HEMSWORTH

Battle of the Evil Queen: Charlize Theron vs. Julia RobertsThis is a much different kind of battle than the last two. Neither of these characters are inclined to do any physical labor themselves, so they definitely aren’t going to be picking up arms against each other. No, this is a battle of malevolence; a war that is won by the queen that simply wants it more. Ignoring the dagger in Theron’s hands (that’s clearly for show, come on), the high-collar and black dress looks so damn evil that Osama bin Laden would have thought it was a bit too much. Then there’s Roberts relaxing deep in her chair and wearing a dress so big that even if she were to try and stand she probably wouldn’t be able to find the floor. She looks so damn relaxed that you could Photoshop a remote control into her right hand and nobody would blink an eye. The choice is simple: one of these ladies simply wanted it more.

WINNER: CHARLIZE THERON

BONUS ROUND - Battle of the Other Guys: Sam Claflin vs. Nathan Lane

Seriously? Come on. It’s in the eyes.

WINNER: SAM CLAFLIN

FINAL ANALYSIS: By a final score of 3-1, the winner of this contest is Snow White and the Huntsman, but the war is from over. To learn more about both films be sure to check out each one’s individual pages in our Blend Film Database HERE and HERE. With that I’ll throw it to you:

Which do you think will be the better Snow White movie?

Snow White and the Huntsman - 71%
Tarsem Singh's Snow White Project - 29%

From:
http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Julia-Roberts-Charlize-Theron-Showdown-With-Casts-Snow-White-Projects-27201.html
=================

This is funny, because I was just thinking how much better the Tarsem Singh project (Untitled Snow White) was going to be than the Rupert Sanders one (Snow White and the Huntsman).

Sure the Sanders one has more names... Charlize Theron (Hancock, Italian Job, Monster), Kristen Stewart (Twilight), Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Star Trek, and the upcoming Avengers and Red Dawn)... all of which have headlined hit films (that's three A-List actors in the top roles). Plus add to it the dwarfs are CGI'd pro full-size actors with names like Ian McShane (Blackbeard in Pirates 4), Nick Frost (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz), Ray Winstone (Beowulf), and Bob Hoskins (Who Framed Roger Rabbit).

Why didn't they team up Bob Hoskins to battle Nathan Lane instead? That would have seemed more fair. =^)

Anyway, compare those names to a great cast where your only A-List star name is Julia Roberts (Valentine's Day, Ocean's Eleven, Erin Brokovich, Runaway Bride, Notting Hill, My Best Friend's Wedding, Hook, Pretty Woman). And then the other names are Nathan Lane (Timon in Lion King), Sean Bean (006 in Goldeneye, Lord of the Rings, National Treasure, Troy, Percy Jackson), Lily Collins as Snow White (Blind Side, Abduction).

There's no comparison in star power between the films, and yes, the grittier photos from the Sanders' Huntsman would make all their characters win in a fight. However, there are a few elements to consider that actors aren't going to give you.

First is the director. Tarsem's big film debut was one of the most beautiful and visually compelling films of all time... 2000's The Cell... which was also a big flop, a huge stumbling block for Jennifer Lopez's career, and it certainly didn't help Vince Vaughn get to his hit comedies any faster. Simply put, the story and concept weren't appealing to the mass audience.

However, Tarsem's not a writer, and he's been hard at work banking on good writers. His next/third film will prove that... The Immortals (coming November 2011), which is probably the freshest big budget film to star no A-List actors in a long time (just Mickey Rourke, John Hurt, and Stephen Dorff in supporting roles).

And that film will show that Tarsem's been looking for good writing. That's where his Untitled Snow White has the edge.

Plus this is Rupert's first film. Not his first film he's directed. His first film period. He hasn't made a name for himself directing music videos, commercials, or anything else. Nothing. He's a noob... albeit a noob with a gritty film and an impressive quiver full of star power.

Now listen to the stories. Here's Rupert's Hunstman:

"In a twist to the fairy tale, the Huntsman ordered to take Snow White into the woods to be killed winds up becoming her protector and mentor in a quest to vanquish the Evil Queen."

Sounds cool. Right? They seemed to have turned it into a Medieval film (feels like a Braveheart-style revenge quest). They named the dwarves after Roman caesars (Ian McShane is the leader/Doc... Caesar).

It's obviously a love triangle where Snow White (Kristen Stewart) ends up picking the Huntsman (Chris Hemsworth) over Prince Charmant (Sam Claflin). Especially since the love triangle thing worked so well for her in Twilight. This time she's going to go for the underdog (instead of the bigger/popular hero like she did in Twilight; sorry Jacob). You can always tell because they tend to cast the A-List actor in the role where the guy gets the girl (why pay money to disappoint fans?).

So you've got this love triangle, gritty medieval time where, surprise, Snow White gets the Huntsman instead. However, Charlize Theron does have us excited.

Now compare that to this...

"A dark twist on the classic fairy tale, in which Snow White and the seven dwarfs look to reclaim their destroyed kingdom."

And I can't help but be more excited by the film that seems closer to Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland than the one that seems closer to Gladiator.

Snow is a "delicate  princess trying to overthrow her wicked stepmother with the aid of seven dwarfs, who bedevil the kingdom as woodland bandits." They take her in an train her in different skills to fight. Tarsem says of Collins, who may look delicate, "Surprisingly, from the first day she came in, she's very physical."

Lily reminds me of Aubrey Hepburn.

In this version of Snow White, which will stay truer to the original Brothers Grimm fairy tale, Julia Roberts plays the Evil Queen, Sean Bean her husband, the King, and Armie Hammer as the prince. Collins goes on to explain: "She's a naive innocent young girl who turns into a woman and really finds herself".

In comparison to the dainty Snow White we all know, this won't be the same. "She's very much that fairy tale princess we’ve all read about in books. She's been modernized in a way that she becomes a fighter in the end." Relativity will be bringing Tarsem's Snow White to theaters March 16th, 2012.

And look at the majesty of this...

"I wanted a person who is just schizophrenic. She's a person who would just do all the evil she needs to do to stay in power," Tarsem says. Time to be introduced to the new Evil Queen, the talented Julia Roberts in Tarsem Singh & Relativity's Snow White movie, based on The Brothers Grimm tale, yet is still untitled. Entrainment Weekly has unveiled a big first look, with photos of Roberts in her elaborate, sparkly dresses, designed by Eiko Ishioka (Bram Stoker's Dracula), as well as a few of pics of Lily Collins as Snow White, and her seven dwarfs. Plus a shot of Armie Hammer. Suffice it to say, I have no excitement for this at all.

"She's the cat that ate the canary," Tarsem tells EW of the Evil Queen in his story. "I decided for the evil queen, this is going to be a person who sees her [good] self — but there's a mirror personality." I've added a few of the better photos below, but you can see the entire gallery here or read the full EW piece on Tarsem's Snow White, which needs a damn title already considering it's supposed to be out in March. So take a look!

The interviews are from:
http://www.firstshowing.net/2011/first-look-julia-roberts-as-queen-more-from-tarsems-snow-white/

=======================

And most people don't know this, but both pictures typically win when they release similar films in the same year (that's why they do it). Or at least one film does better than it otherwise would. Examples... Braveheart and Rob Roy, Armageddon and The Core, Twister and Dante's Peak, and the success of Alvin and the Chipmunks and Scooby Doo gave us Garfield, Yogi Bear, and Smurfs.

But the question is... with all of these fantastic live-action remakes to Snow White (including Julia Roberts), where's Disney?

The same place they were with Hook (also starring Julia Roberts)... behind the game.

So Julia Roberts seems to be doing live-action remakes to Disney films that aren't being produced by Disney (Hook and now Snow White)! Disney better get on the ball!

Disney won with Glen Close's Cruella in 101 Dalmatians and Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland (which made over a billion dollars), but they dropped the ball with Hook and now Snow White. Get on the ball, Disney!

What other Disney animated films will be made into live-action, big-budget films?
- Pinnochio
- Aladdin
- Beauty and the Beast
- The Little Mermaid
- Winnie the Pooh
- Peter Pan (again; two attempts were made so far)
- Cinderella (Drew Barrymore's wasn't "big")
- Sleeping Beauty
- Rapunzel/Tangled
- Dumbo
- The Rescuers
- Princess and the Frog
- Pocahontas
- Atlantis
- Mulan
- Lilo & Stitch
- Jungle Book (again, but "bigger")
- Fantasia (with Mickey instead of Jay Baruchel)
- Brother Bear
- Jack and the Beanstalk (non-Disney in the works)
- Bambi
- Black Cauldron
- Lady & the Tramp
- Hercules
- Aristocats
- Sword in the Stone
- Fox and the Hound
- Treasure Planet
- Great Mouse Detective
- Lion King
- Robin Hood (with animals)
- Oliver and Company
- Emperor's New Groove
- Hunchback of Notre Dame

Enjoy!

- TAE

Phil Hartman as Michael Eisner - Come to Disney World (SNL)

2011-10-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

NBC/SNL released this older clip of Phil Hartman.

Michael Eisner tries to explain that families will have a better time in northern Florida.

It's only one joke, but it's good to see Phil again. This aired on SNL on 10/2/93. Phil was nominated for an Emmy for his work on SNL during that same season (93-94). (Being nominated for an Emmy for acting on SNL is quite an honor, and it has only happened for 18 folks.)

Enjoy!

TV Teaches Girls To Fight

2011-10-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

Beyond Catfights: TV That's Good for Girls

Do you remember when you were a kid, about 9 or 10, and your best friend was everything to you? You'd stay up late during sleepovers, play silly games, and concoct crazy stories about your future? And then one day, you grew up, and you threw a glass of champagne in her face for calling your sequined cocktail dress ugly. Wait ... what?

If we believe the stories that so many TV shows tell us about female friendship, this scenario would seem wholly realistic. From America's Next Top Model and Bad Girls Club to The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, girls are portrayed as competitive, backstabbing rivals who overreact to every perceived slight.

And it's not just reality shows that reinforce the stereotype that women can't get along. Scripted teen favorites like Gossip Girl and 90210 regularly pit so-called friends against each other. Most of us grown-ups can see through the hype of TV shows that amp up the drama -- shows that egg on the competition, poking the camera into the melee, just hoping for the perfect catfight. But what kind of message is this girl-fight mentality sending to young women who are still trying to figure out their place in the world?

[Editor's note: Even Disney Channel shows like Hannah Montanna, Suite Life, Wizards of Waverly Place, and the latest batch... all have the theme of deception and rivalry among girls, siblings, and friends.]

It's an unsettling message, that's for sure, one that undermines the support that real female friendships can provide.

And while networks pump up the drama to attract viewers, there are lots of shows that don't wallow in the negative. You can counteract iffy messages by reminding kids and teens what friends can achieve together. Also, point out when shows go for cheap entertainment with tired stereotypes. And finally, choose entertainment that sends a better message to your kids. Here are our favorite weapons against girl hate.

SciGirls, 7+ (PBS) -- This science-oriented educational show highlights girls working together to construct or develop experiments to learn about the world around them. Girls encourage and have fun together while modeling enthusiasm for science.

iCarly, 8+ (Nickelodeon) -- This hugely popular tween sitcom might not be the most realistic, but Carly and Sam are good friends, even though their relationship isn't always perfect. Though they do sometimes compete with each other, they also stand up for each other, and some touching moments highlight how valuable female friendships can be.

Picker Sisters, 10+ (Lifetime) -- These interior designers travel the country looking for odd junk that they can transform into boutique-friendly best-sellers while demonstrating how well two women can work together. Their enthusiasm for each other and their work is infectious and positive.

Born to Dance, 12+ (BET) -- Yes, it's a dance competition, but the contestants are supportive of each other, and host Laurieann Gibson is as encouraging of the losers as the winners. A great example of how women can seek excellence for themselves without demeaning others.

Tia & Tamera, 13+ (Style) -- Real-life sisters go through ups and downs as they navigate different stages of their lives, but in the end they're always there for each other.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, 13+ (DVD) -- This is an oldie but goodie that never fell victim to silly stereotypes about female friendships. Buffy and Willow are best friends through thick and thin, and even Buffy's female rivals don't fight her over a man -- but rather over the survival of the world.

2 Broke Girls, 14+ (CBS) -- The latest girl-buddy show (aimed at adults, but OK for mature teens) trades a few barbs between the female leads, but ultimately this odd couple shows that being different doesn't mean being rivals.

Parks and Recreation, 14+ (NBC) -- Amy Poehler and Rashida Jones are hilarious and realistic as friends/co-workers who encounter all sorts of wacky scenarios. Their friendship shows that they can stand by each other, even if they sometimes disagree. That's what real friendship is, right?

From:
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/new/beyond-catfights-tv-thats-good-girls?utm_source=newsletter09.22.11

ANT Farm, 8+ (Disney Channel) -- [Editor's Note: I'm adding this one to the list.] This team of genius friends do a great job of breaking racial boundaries and being kind to each other.

Enjoy!

Movie Review - Robin Hood (with Russell Crowe)

2011-10-06T09:35:00.000-07:00

By Alex Popp

The untold story behind the legend.

Following King Richard's death in France, archer Robin Longstride (played by Russell Crowe), along with Will Scarlett, Alan-a-Dale and Little John, returns to England in "Robin Hood", directed by Ridley Scott.

They encounter the dying Robert of Locksley, whose party was ambushed by treacherous Godfrey, who hopes to facilitate a French invasion of England. Robin promises the dying knight he will return his sword to his father Walter in Nottingham. Here Walter encourages him to impersonate the dead man to prevent his land being confiscated by the crown, and he finds himself with Marian, a ready-made wife. Hoping to stir baronial opposition to weak King John and allow an easy French take-over, Godfrey worms his way into the king's service as Earl Marshal of England and brutally invades towns under the pretext of collecting Royal taxes.

This premise may sound intriguing, but I saw it with my dad, who is an expert on the Medieval ages, and we both noticed different flaws and errors. With this sort of semi-historical movie, you have to be willing to suspend reality in the distortions of history. For example, while "Braveheart" was a fantastic film in all respects, the liberties taken with historical accuracy are legion. This film takes liberties as well (it must since Robin Hood is considered fiction), but it lacks the quality and luster of its predecessors.

First, I have to say that Russell Crowe, who is a major draw in historical epics, is clearly too old for the lead character. As the premise suggests, the movie is supposed to be a prequel to the average Robin Hood story, meaning that in this story, Robin Hood would be 25 at eldest. Russell Crowe is going on 50 and no one could imagine him being a young man. Cate Blanchett is much the same as Marion, though not as bad.

As for the performances themselves, this was, by far, not Crowe's best. Blanchett is lovely and handles her strong character well, but as a women who is willing to wear armor and fight in battle, it is far too trite for Crowe to have to rescue her at the end. I groaned when she had to recite the line "Walter, this one's for you". I think the writers could have done far better. Von Sydow is a joy to watch as his performance is the best in the film. Friar Tuck is obviously intended to be comedy relief, but this falls flat. Robin's battle companions seem present only to give tie-ins to the common Robin Hood tales. They remain on the fringes of the film, are uninteresting, and it is difficult to care much about them. I wouldn't fault the actors in this film; they seemed to have done the best of what was given to them, but the problem was the screenplay.

The action sequences are typical Ridley Scott, but after so many of his films, the quick-action, close-up shots are growing tiresome. It has reached the point were the quick-cut photography now makes it too hard to determine exactly what is happening on the battlefield.

Another thing my dad noticed were the weapons which were clearly all leftovers from another Ridley Scott film: "Kingdom of Heaven", one of my dad's favorite movies. The shields are so poorly repainted that you can see large areas of chipping around the edges. And one of the things I noticed was that there were war scars on every warrior's face. Really?

By far, biggest disappointment with the movie was the appearance of the invading French soldiers in wooden "LSTs" (landing ship transports). In the year 1199 troop transports were seldom more than commandeered trade ships. No Navy in the history of the world ever built such a thing out of lumber. Do you know how when you go to a movie in the theater, you kind of forget that you're there and feel in the movie? When you notice this obvious anachronism, you're back in the theater, and you can no longer buy in to the story. What were the writers thinking??

Overall, it is apparent that this was something the moviemakers saw as something they could just slap together with Russell Crowe, and really weren't trying.

Rated PG-13 for intense war sequences and some sexual content.

Two stars (out of four) for "Robin Hood," one of the worst fims of 2010.

Written by Alex Popp for the Animation Empire blog.

===================

From the Emperor...

Hmmm. I think this review shows details as negatives... details that you might not care about. Overall, it's a fun and interesting tale that I recommend, but "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves" is more fun and interesting than this version. So if you're looking for a more gritty and less silly film than that classic, then this is it.

Of course, if you want to get even sillier than "Prince of Thieves," then there's always the classicer "Robin Hood: Men in Tights".

And you have to check out the classicest Disney animated version (you know, with the foxes and animals; which is also the only Disney animated film where the animals are anthropomorphized in a world without humans).

- The Emperor

Music Review - Chris Young: The Man I Want To Be

2011-10-03T09:19:00.000-07:00

By Alex Popp

The second studio album from American Country Singer Chris Young.

CONTENTS/DESCRIPTION:

The first track, "That Makes Me", tells us that this guy is natural in terms of country. It asserts "I don't swear in front of no woman," even though the song uses h---. Oh no, what if a woman is listening to the song? Although, he does claim "I answer yes, sir to my old man." Okay, that's good. But still, the very next line is "I drink my liquor with a side of nothin'." These things don't make a very good him. However...

Whatever he does, he hears "Voices." These include his father encouraging him to work hard and his mother telling him to give money to church and say a prayer every night. Even when he disagrees with these wishes, he always respects them ("Sometimes I try to ignore 'em/But I thank God for 'em/'Cause they made me who I am").

On "The Dashboard," before a brother goes off to war, he tells Chris to take care of his Ford. He says that it will be his if he doesn't return. But when he does, he gives it to him anyway. The song's okay, but has a suggestive line in the chorus: "It's seen a lot of tan legs, got a kick-a-- radio."

In "Gettin' You Home" the singer says that he doesn't care about an evening dance because the only thing on his mind is going home with her afterwards for a night of sex. This song would be better if he was talking to his wife.

Sexual immorality also creates a problem on "It Takes a Man," which is about an unexpected pregnancy that was his fault.

He comes across "The Shoebox" that he packed with memories that he cherishes. For the first time since he died, he opens the pocketknife that was given to him from his grandfather. This is a really good song. In fact, my dad said it was one that he'd have bought the whole CD for.

In the 80s song, "Rose in Paradise," (here a duet with Willie Nelson) a banker leaves town hiring a man to tend to his girlfriend. When he comes back, they were both gone, apparently married, and the banker grows old without her.

"Twenty-One Candles" is about two parents trying to calm their over-confident eighteen-year-old who is on the verge of moving out.

"God, I want to be Your man and I want to be her man." Regretting selfish love that not only doomed a romance but made him a wretch as he says, he turns to God
for a second chance and prays that He'd change him into "The Man I Want To Be."-a great song!

The album concludes with a special rendition of the 60s classic "Rainy Night In Georgia."

RESPONSE/RATING:

Chris Young seems to be of everyday country music; mostly upbeat, but bushwhacked by some unfortunate alcohol and sex abuse and occasional mild profanities. I bought the CD for the title track. That song means a lot to me because I heard it after I gave my life to God praying that he'd change me into "The Man I Want To Be." This song definitely makes up for the previous miscues. "Voices," "The Shoebox," and "Rainy Night in Georgia" also make good additions to this album. I recommend this album for the most part. Just skip 4 and 5.

72/100

Written by Alex Popp for the Animation Empire blog.

Music Review - Jesse McCartney: Beautiful Soul

2011-09-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

By Alex Popp

The debut album from "J-Mac"

CONTENTS/DESCRIPTION

With a fast-paced beat (he was on a caffeine buzz when he wrote it), "She's No You" was written for a girlfriend who had a tendency of being jealous of supermodels on TV and other girls on music videos. Jesse lets her know that she's more than beautiful to him and no "picture on a magazine" could steal away his love for her.

The title track has similar meaning. "I don't want another pretty face/I don't want just anyone to hold/I don't want my love to go to waste/I want you and your beautiful soul." It's, like, the best song ever written!

"Get Your Shine On": A Michael Jackson style party song that invites everyone to show what moves they've got.

After a break-up, rather than responding with anger, McCartney tells her "Take Your Sweet Time", assuring her "I will never stand in your way/Wherever your heart may lead you, I will love you the same." He speaks with such a soft heart that I wouldn't be surprised if the girl didn't hesitate to come back to him.

"Without U" is probably the worst song on the CD. It simply says "I don't want to be without u/dream without u/walk without u/talk without u". It goes on. There's also a mildly suggestive line at the beginning: "I like when you whisper softly/Things only I should hear that lead me on." But then there's...

"Why Don't You Kiss Her?"-A beautiful song. With slow, quiet guitar music, McCartney lies in bed, thinking of his best friend. He can't help but think about when the time is to express his feelings toward her, "Cause she'll never know/if you never show/the way you feel inside".

In "That Was Then" he assures someone that he has changed and promises to work harder at his relationship if he could be given a second chance.

He offers a girl to "Come To Me" after she had her heart badly broken by her last boyfriend.

"What's Your Name?": The only other song I don't care for on the album. He sees a girl with all her friends here and there, dying to ask her those three words, because he's convinced that "I'm the one you need."

In "Because You Live," something tragic happens and he is "Staring out at the rain with a heavy heart". But just the thought of her being alive is enough to heal him.

"Why Is Love So Hard To Find?": The third "question title" on the CD. Love is vital to everyone and "we can't go on without it", right? But he's seen that there's tension in his house that's gone on for too long. How can we possibly go on when love is that hard to find? This song has related to me, lately.

We all make mistakes sometimes. But he assures a loved one that all "The Stupid Things" he does have no reflection on her.

RESPONSE/RATING

With lyrics that are easy to understand and a remarkable voice, Jesse McCartney has a lot of songs for both guys and girls. Of course, back in his days, about 95% of his fans were female and he was the talk of the town; Justin Bieber has taken that place (yet another reason why he stinks). I'm not afraid to say I'm a fan and I love this album. "Beautiful Soul" and "Why Don't You Kiss Her?" are the top two highlights of it.

91/100

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Cars Land is coming to Disney's California Adventure - watch the video!

2011-09-27T09:29:00.000-07:00

Walt Disney Imagineer, Kathy Mangum, gives you a peek at the vehicle testing for Radiator Springs Racers. This thrilling new attraction is set to open in 2012 with the debut of Cars Land at Disney California Adventure Park.

Enjoy!

Moms don't need "Mars Needs Moms" - TheAnimationEmpire Movie Review

2011-09-23T09:30:00.000-07:00

After the good success of Polar Express, the okay results of Monster House, and the bust of Beowulf, for some reason Disney bought/invested in Robert Zemeckis' Image Movers.

Disney thought the company could line up Polar Express-like hits for their studio. Really?

Well after a successful take on "A Christmas Carol" where Jim Carrey filled the need that Tom Hanks provided in Polar Express, Disney kept at it. And Image Movers' next project did not fare so well. Zemeckis directed Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol himself, but he did not direct...

Mars Needs Moms

We always ask the simple question, "Who is this for?"

Watch the trailer and ask yourself that.

It's a great film. It's jaw dropping at moments and a nice sentimental story (which in theory would appeal to mothers). But aliens kidnapping moms? In a movie starring immature guys? With a visual style of a John Carpenter sci-fi horror flick? Really?

So it doesn't appeal to moms, obviously. You could get that just from the title ("Cowboys Versus Aliens" strikes again).

So who does Mars Needs Moms appeal to then? How about to the immature boys who can identify with the humor of the primary characters? Well, let's see, would teenage and 20 something guys prefer to watch this animation or Hangover Part 2?

No, they're definitely not the audience. Not unless Austin Powers is in this movie (which he's not).

So who's the audience? Girls? Why would girls be interested in a film that looks like a sci-fi horror flick?

What about older men? Well, it's their visual style, but I don't think they really want this family message, humor, and theme.

Then who was it for?

Well enough random people to make about x dollars. However, this hyper-realistic style of 3D animation that Image Movers is pushing forward is really just waiting for a failure (like Final Fantasy was) to put itself out of business. These films are way too expensive, and that puts more pressure on for each to be a hit or else they don't make profit.

Mars Needs Moms cost $ to make. If it cost $ to the theaters and another $20 million in Marketing, then this is a huge loss.

And, as predicted, it did put the Image Movers studio out of business. Zemeckis green lit the film but didn't direct it, and it's the one that sank the studio.

However, Robert Zemeckis is striking back! He struck a deal with X to fund his next grossly expensive animation, Yellow Submarine, based on the Beatles animated short.

But will The Beatles appeal more to adults than children (and then only a niche of adults)?

Will it be able to survive? The only clear hits Zemeckis had (Polar Express and A Christmas Carol) were family/kids films based on the concept of hiring a capable and successful actor to headline the film and make it his own (much like Carrey also did for "A Series of Unfortunate Events").

And Yellow Submarine doesn't fit that mold (instead the focus is on getting actors to recreate the voices and mannerisms of the Beatles). So perhaps Disney wisely pulled the plug?

Anyway, let's talk more about Mars Needs Moms...

It's a great film! =^)

We highly recommend it. It's a little scary (also makes you wonder why moms would want their kids to watch that), it's good fun, adventurous, and it has a nice emotional message about the importance of family and listening to parents. And the acting is almost as great as the visuals.

However, it took me a looooong time of hearing Joan Cusack's voice before I stopped getting pulled out of the movie and visualizing Joan Cusack. (Maybe it's because she was more "in character" in Toy Story 2 and 3 and less herself as she is in "Mars Needs Moms".)

I'm not sure why Mars Needs Moms was made or how they convinced Disney to green light it, but it was. So go enjoy it on DVD!

- TAE

What's Next for Pixar? (Pixar and Disney animation schedule for 2012 and beyond)

2011-09-18T08:31:00.000-07:00

At Disney’s annual D23 expo in Anaheim, Pixar officially announced two new films coming to theaters in November 2013 and May 2014, plus a few new looks at the rest of Disney’s animated slate.

The first is an untitled movie about dinosaurs set on an alternate version of Earth, in a reality where an asteroid did not wipe out the prehistoric creatures. Presumably, it involves how dinos and humans co-exist in a modern world, but no further details were given. Bob Peterson, who co-directed Pixar’s Up, is directing the feature. Here is the tongue-in-cheek logo from the expo from PixarTimes (via /Film):

The other is even more vague. It’s an animated, untitled family film directed by the other Up co-director, Pete Docter, set in the human mind. The story will take audiences inside the head where we’ll find out “how we forget, why certain songs get stuck in our heads.” The Playlist has learned that Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) is writing the script about “the formation of ideas.”

At the same expo, Disney touted its June 2012 release, Brave, the story of an unruly princess and accomplished archer named Merida (voiced by “Boardwalk Empire” star Kelly Macdonald) who defies a sacred custom and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom... The teaser trailer was gorgeous and reactions to the introductory footage shown at D23 were of genuine excitement, so watch that:

Brenda Chapman wrote this. She also wrote for Lion King, Chicken Run, and Cars, and she directed Prince of Egypt. Apparently Pixar replaced her on Brave, its first female director back in 2010, and she (Brenda Chapman) left the Pixar studio (this has happened before with Jan Pinkava on Ratatouille and Chris Wedge on Bolt). However, IMDB says Brenda is a co-director, so we're remaining hopeful: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1217209/

Additionally, Disney rolled out a first look at Pixar’s Monsters University, the June 2013 prequel to Monsters Inc. directed by Dan Scanlon (writer on Cars) that details how Mike (Billy Crystal) and Sulley (John Goodman) met in college and became rivals… then friends. Nothing new to see, unfortunately, other than a slightly slimmer Sulley and greener Mike.

Finally, Disney provided an in-depth look at Wreck-It Ralph, their other non-Pixar, animated feature set for November 2012. John C. Reilly voices the title character, an 8-bit video game villain in the vein of old-school games Rampage and Donkey Kong. But Ralph wants to be good and goes on a quest through other arcade games to reinvent himself. The movie will feature familiar characters from arcade favorites like Pac-Man and Q*bert, plus voicework from Jane Lynch and Sarah Silverman.

As for other Pixar favorites, no word on the oft-rumored Toy Story 4. Though Woody and Buzz Lightyear will be back in theaters this November in a short film titled “Small Fry” accompanying Disney’s throwback family movie The Muppets. The characters were also in the short “Hawaiian Vacation” before this summer’s lackluster Cars 2.

From:
http://www.newsinfilm.com/2011/08/24/pixar-officially-announces-two-new-movies/
===================================

NOTE FROM EDITOR: Cars 2 only made about $180 million stateside -- the second lowest Pixar performance ever -- but it made it up in international sales and totaled $521 million worldwide, so it actually performed better than Cars 1, Wall-E, and the older Pixar films. Not too shabby. Plus they opened up the Cars toy line to a lot of cool-looking sportscars and international cars... so it was hardly a bust.

Especially when you compare that to this year's Winnie the Pooh. Now that was a bust!

Really Lasseter? Just because it worked in 1977 with Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh doesn't mean it's going to work again in 2011 with some computer effects thrown in.

Anyway, here is the lineup for Disney and Pixar animated films...

1. Arrietty (Studio Ghibli) - February 17, 2012
Sure you probably don't go see these Ghibli films (Disney has a deal to bring them stateside from Japan and put American voice actors over them, but they really don't do that well). However, Disney wants you to see them and they're released into theaters by Disney, so I'll list them. This one is based on The Borrowers (tiny people who steal our things). Voices include Amy Poehler, Carol Burnett, and Will Arnett.

2. Brave (Pixar) - June 22, 2012
Brave (previously titled The Bear and the Bow) was written by Brenda Chapman and Irene Mecchi and directed Chapman and Mark Andrews. It's an original Scottish fairy tale about how young Princess Merida rebels, gets the Lords mad at her, and she turns to an eccentric old Witch (Julie Walters) for help. Merida then must discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it’s too late. Sounds like fun! Voices include Emma Thompson, Craig Ferguson, Robbie Coltrane, and John Ratzenberger (wouldn't be Pixar without him).

3. Frankenweenie (Burton) - October 5, 2012
Frankenweenie is an upcoming 3D black and white stop motion film and remake of the 1984 short film of the same name. Tim Burton directed that live-action short film (a Frankenstein dog) and this remake as well. Story: A young boy who makes monster movies tries to bring his dog Sparky back to life after he has been hit by a car. This is Burton's third trip back to Disney (where he started from), and we thoroughly enjoyed Nightmare Before Christmas and Alice in Wonderland. Voices include Winona Ryder, Catherine O'Hara, Martin Landau, and Martin Short.

4. Wreck-It Ralph (Disney) - November 2, 2012
Wreck-It Ralph is directed by Emmy-winner Rich Moore, a former animation director of The Simpsons and Futurama. Its working titles were Joe Jump and Reboot Ralph. The film will feature the voices of John C. Reilly, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch and Sarah Silverman. The film tells the story of Wreck-It Ralph (Reilly), an arcade game bad guy, who is determined to prove he can be a good guy. The 8-bit video game character struggles with the complex question: ‘isn't there more to life than the role I've been assigned?’ In his quest for the answer, we journey with our hero through three visually distinct video game worlds.

5. From up on Poppy Hill (Studio Ghibli) - Probably early 2013
A girl struggles to keep the old history of a building while people are destroying old buildings and rebuilding to prepare for the Olympics.

6. Monsters University (Pixar) - June 21, 2013
Monsters, Inc. 2 is going to be a prequel which focuses on Sulley and Mike's studies at the University of Fear, where they start off as rivals but soon become best friends. It's directed by Dan Scanlon (who directed Mater and the Ghostlight). Voices include John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, Dave Foley, and Julia Sweeney.

7. Untitled Stop-Motion Film (Henry Selick) - October 4, 2013
They aren't telling us what it's about, but basically Disney made a deal for Henry to make his own stop-motion movies for Disney without Tim Burton (since Tim split and directs his own animations now). Henry previously directed Nightmare Before Christmas, James and the Giant Peach, Monkeybone, Life Aquatic (the animated sequences), and Coraline. I find it interesting that Disney's investing here, because DreamWorks just pulled out with Aardman after Wallace & Gromit didn't sell so well (but it did win the Academy Award for animated feature).

8. Untitled Movie About Dinosaurs (Pixar) - November 27, 2013
All we know is that it takes place where dinosaurs and humans live together in modern times. Should be interesting. Bob Peterson, who co-directed Pixar’s Up, is directing the feature.

9. King of the Elves (Disney) - Holiday 2013 Based on a fantasy story by Philip K. Dick (Blade Runner, Total Recall, and Minority Report), it is being directed by Chris Williams, director of Bolt. Likely either this one or the Dinosaur Pixar film will slide to 2014.

10. Untitled Movie That Takes You Inside the Mind (Pixar) - May 30, 2014
It’s directed by the Academy Award winning primary Up and Monsters Inc. director, Pete Docter (see image above), and it is set in the human mind. The story will take audiences inside the head where we’ll find out “how we forget, why certain songs get stuck in our heads.” Michael Arndt (Little Miss Sunshine, Toy Story 3) is writing the script about “the formation of ideas.”

There you go! Previous films that have been removed from the Disney animation slate include:

1. Newt

It was the story of a newt from a lab who, um, had to mate with the female and populate the world. Wow, talk about a difficult story to navigate. Maybe the lack of a clear or compelling story is why Lasseter pulled the plug.

2. Snow Queen

The Snow Queen has been put on hold, though even tabled projects can make triumphant returns, like the years-in-development Beauty and the Beast for example. In other words, Lasseter is probably having trouble seeing a compelling story come out of this idea. So hopefully they'll sit on it for awhile and dig a great story out of it.

3. Jack and the Beanstalk

Similar to the Snow Queen, this project has taken off either. I think Lasseter and Catmull were a little disappointed with Tangled and Princess and the Frog. Well, I think the problem is that they aren't experienced making those films. Heck it took Walt Disney's personal team to do them right. And in the late 80s / early 90s Disney luckily had the right combination of people to make them. However, that combination quickly dwindled away (two died and Eisner foolishly fired two), and Lion King was the last one made with all the key players on the team (and after that it became a disjointed team). So, yeah, Lasseter and Catmull aren't just going to walk into Disney and figure out the fairy tale formula. It doesn't work that way. Tangled and Frog didn't do poorly because the market "run a course" (as Catmull says here). It was because you didn't make them to be as magical as Little Mermaid and the other films were. Look at Tangled... the songs weren't creative or all that fun (still good though), there wasn't any Genie-like character (Rafiki, Timon, Pumbaa, Lumiere, Fairy Godmother, Cinderella's mice, Dopey, Sebastian... take your pick). It was a great movie, but the filmmakers don't know the fairy tale formula.

In fact, the directors of Little Mermaid and Aladdin (who also directed Hercules, Treasure Planet, and Princess and the Frog) also don't know the formula... they know their part in the formula. But they relied on other people (Ashman, Roy Disney Jr, Katzenberg, and a few others) to fill the rest of the team in order to make the magic. Lasseter does this today with his style of animated film, but fairy tales are completely different. You have to build the dream team to understand them... just like Disney did and just like Katzenberg did in the late 80s (Katzenberg is the one who brought the broadway people in and pushed the conversations forward). He's now performing his magic tricks at DreamWorks (he's the Lasseter of DreamWorks).

So, anyway, Lasseter and Catmull are a little frustrated and deflated by fairy tales, so they put Jack and the Snow Queen on the back burner while they try other genres.

4. Yellow Submarine

Disney humorously purchased Image Movers from Robert Zemeckis (which Zemeckis built for Polar Express, Monster House, and Beowulf). They then used it for some gain to make Christmas Carol and lost a ton on Mars Needs Moms. That's when they pulled the plug on future projects, including Yellow Submarine, which was a remake of the Beatles animation (a much longer and robust version). The problem with Image Movers was that it just cost way too much to make the more realistic style of animation. It just isn't practical, and it only takes one miss to sink the whole boat (thus they got shut down).

That said, Zemeckis is directing Yellow Submarine himself, so he took Image Movers to Universal to continue production. Apparently Cary Elwes has a good Harrison impression. Can't wait to see it! Interestingly, Zemeckis directed Polar Express, Beowulf, and A Christmas Carol himself, but he passed on Mars Needs Moms. Should have been a sign!

Enjoy!

- TAE

Movie Review - Megamind

2011-09-16T09:08:00.000-07:00

By Alex Popp

Will Ferrell voices a wannabe super-villain in "Megamind."

After Megamind kills his good-guy nemesis, Metro Man (voiced by Brad Pitt), he becomes bored since there is no one left to fight. He creates a new foe, Titan (voiced by Jonah Hill), who, instead of using his powers for good, sets out to destroy the world, positioning Megamind to save the day for the first time in his life.

One problem with the movie is that all of the funniest scenes and lines were shown in trailers; the ones you see 70 million times and then when you see the movie, you're like "Yeah, yeah, let's get to the stuff we haven't seen, please", but then there's no better humor. But there are still some other laughs. But the thing I liked the most about "Megamind" was the redeeming qualities. We all have learned that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but those words take new and unexpected meaning in this film. Some of the superhero abilities and specifications may seem like they were taken from "The Incredibles," but it still has some excitement leading to satisfaction at the end.

Rated PG for sequences of animated sci-fi action.

"Megamind" may not be mega-ingenius, but it is good enough for two and a half stars (out of 4).

Written by Alex Popp for the Animation Empire blog.

========================

Emperor's take...

I enjoyed it more than Despicable Me, which seemed to be a sappy display of minions and adoption emotions (although Despicable Me was marketed better to mommies and kids as a result).

Megamind had a fresh story with a slight twist or two in it, and the comedic cast nailed it. Though I agree that most of the funny is in the trailer, it's still enjoyable throughout.

You also actually get to like the villain/hero and feel sorry for him and understand him, so the turn is completed successfully. In contrast, the Despicable Me character doesn't seem to change much at all, other than starting to like kids more and wanting to be nicer.

Interestingly, the scriptwriters originally wrote this wanting to cast Will Ferrell in it as a live-action comedy. It went around forever, and it became more of a portfolio piece to get them more gigs. It was finally picked up by DreamWorks Animation, much to their surprise. Ben Stiller picked it up and talked to DreamWorks. Of course, the writers were then happy to see Will Ferrell cast as the main character (as they intended, but they were thinking live action).

- The Emperor

John Lasseter - A Day in a Life - Full Length Documentary

2011-09-14T09:47:00.000-07:00

So this takes 25 minutes to watch, but you'll learn a lot about Pixar and Lasseter if you do! You get to tour his house and watch Lasseter work on Cars 2!

Enjoy!

Movie Review - Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon

2011-09-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

By Alex Popp

Earth goes dark.

The Transformers series goes wild in its third installment, "Dark of the Moon."

In the last days of Cybertron, the home planet of the Transformers, a single spacecraft known as the Ark crash-landed on the moon. When Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong discovered it on the day of our nation's first moon-landing, its secret was kept hidden for 40 years. When the Autobots learn of it, they race against the Decepticons to reach the ship and discover its secrets, ultimately leading the robots' final battle.

Director Michael Bay has totally outdone himself. Forget the first two movies; get an eyeful of this! With one of the best movie openings, out-of-the-ordinary robot fight scenes, and the most stunning 3D effects EVER, "Transformers 3" is stupendous on many levels. Fans of the Transformers will find this a major improvement after "Revenge of the Fallen." And unlike the first two, the premise is fairly interesting and well thought of in terms of the first moon landing and finding things that are kept secret, much like some movies about Area 51 and stuff like that. There are even parts that are laugh-out-loud funny and it would seem that the main character got himself a better girl. She is not as much of a you-know-what as Michaela, and they both agree to wait to say "I love you." She seems far more sincere about relationships than Sam's ex; all Michaela could think of was "No matter what happens, I'm glad I got in the car with you."

But enough about the other stuff and to the battle scenes that completely make the movie. With spectacular visual effects, and incredible sound mixing and editing, none of the action ever fails to deliver. By the way, if you do plan to see the movie (which I'm sure you will), do not skip the 3D, lest you utterly miss out. "Transformers 3" ends the way it should have and when the words "Directed by Michael Bay" suddenly appear on the screen, you just want to shout out 30 times "It was so good!" (Here's to you, Matthew) The movie takes normal robot fights to extraordinary measures and though it isn't the best movie I've ever seen, it's definitely the most thrilling.

Rated PG-13 for language and some innuendo that is unnecessary, but never slows the story down as it only takes place in the first hour of the film's two and a half hour running time. From then on, there's no time for anymore of it because of the intense, prolonged sequences of sci-fi action violence, destruction and mayhem.

Four stars for the beyond epic and without the slightest hint of unsatisfying, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." Oh, and did I mention the 3D should not be neglected?

Written by Alex Popp for the Animation Empire blog.

=====================

From the Emperor...

I agree. While I can't say it's better than the first, I definitely think this was better than the second, and the reason is because Spielberg fired Meagan Fox.

That's right, after Fox called director Michael Bay Hitler in a magazine interview, Bay was willing to write it off and commented on his blog that she was immature but was still planning to hire her back.

However, Spielberg had none of that, with Hitler being a touchy subject for Spielberg (he made many movies that reflect that). So Spielberg told Bay that Fox wasn't coming back.

And that actually made Transformers 3 better. While I think I like Fox a little better in the films, the new love interest story made this third movie much more interesting than the second one.

- The Emperor

Will A.D. (zombie animated film) be another flop in a sea of adult animated films?

2011-09-10T09:12:00.000-07:00

We've been discussing whether or not animated films that are not aimed at mothers, children, girls, or families will have monetary success in the film market.

Rango and Guardians made a little (when all was said and done), but it could have just been two ups in a sea of downs (and they didn't make nearly as much as Despicable Me, DreamWorks, Disney, and Pixar films, which are all clearly marketed to the family).

9 probably made nothing... http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2009/9NINE.php

It made $46 million, cost $30 million to make, cost about $15 million to the theaters, cost about $5 million to marketing (-$4 million at this point), made $9 million in DVD sales, cost $3 million to the stores and about another $2 million to marketing... and you're left with dead even. No profit.

And that's actually good. Final Fantasy and Beowulf lost a ton.

So it will be interesting to see what AD does. Which brings us to the trailer (warning: a little bit of bloody)...

Not much is known about whether it will even make it to theaters (can't even find it on IMDB):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.D._(film)

It looks like the director might have the experience to fight it through to completion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ben_Hibon

What do you think? Does it have a fighting chance? What if it died and came back to life? Would it have a chance then?

Enjoy!

- TAE

Legend of the Guardians: Owls of GaHoole - TheAnimationEmpire Movie Review

2011-09-08T09:56:00.000-07:00

I'm going to compare it to Rango a little. Yeah, bare with me.

Legend of the Guardians did much worse in the box office than Rango or others that struggled. I think it's obvious. Rango at least was comedic, fun for kids, had all sorts of jokes for older people in there, and starred Johnny Depp for the parents. But who was Legend of the Guardians for? It was too violent for little kids and not overly cute or funny (at least not to the satisfaction of what mothers want for their kids). It definitely wasn't for mothers (very violent), and what father really wants to see a cartoon war movie about owls?

I want to know who said, "I've got an idea, let's remake Braveheart, but let's do it with owls instead. You know, for kids!"

I'm not sure who the audience was. It was basically an animated Braveheart. It was made by the director of Dawn of the Dead, 300, and Watchmen. It was great, and I enjoyed it, but I'm not sure why they thought it would sell and why they thought they should give it to the guy who made sweet movies about heroes who die violently.

It cost $80 million, made $56 million in the US, and made $84 million outside the US (the international market also loves epic films with lots of action). Plus we trust Zack Snyder (300 and Watchmen), so that helped a little (and he's now slated to direct a Superman: Man of Steel for Christopher Nolan, which is where Zack belongs). The film didn't do as well on DVD sales (it did okay), but taking into account what the theaters make, and it made less profit than Rango. Another advantage it had, though, is that they made it for $80 million, which is pretty good based on how great that film looks (not sure why they made it for $55 million less than Rango when it seems to look better).

So please keep Zack away from kids movies and give him great movies like "Man of Steel" --- can't wait to see that!

Enjoy!

- TAE

Movie Review - Cars 2

2011-09-06T09:30:00.000-07:00

By Alex Popp

In "Cars 2", Lightning McQueen gets invited to compete in the first annual World Grand Prix, and brings Mater along. Racing against the world's fastest cars, McQueen has potential to win the three-routed competition. But during the trip, two secret agents mistake Mater for another spy. Together, the three of them travel the world to find the secret behind Allinol, the required fuel for the World Grand Prix.

Marking Pixar's 12th film, "Cars 2" wasn't made because of how well the first one did in the theaters; it was because of all the merchandise. But even so, the movie is quite a fun thrill ride. Although they could have added more with the racing scenes, the spy action zips along, and the writers clearly payed attention to a lot of detail. Like most Pixar movies, it also has its funny and profound elements. Yes, it has less of an emotional pull than the more fresh and sincere original "Cars," and therefore is not as good. But it will still give you your money's worth with its rush of excitement and is a great choice to view in 3-D.

It's rated G, but gets far too intense for very young movie-goers.

Three stars (out of four) for the pared but unique "Cars 2."

Written by Alex Popp for the Animation Empire blog.

Rango to Lone Ranger - TheAnimationEmpire Movie Review

2011-09-05T20:10:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: Added info about how Rango was the highest grossing film for about a month and how that impacts the business of it. Originally posted 8/28/11.

===========================================

Some animations seem to focus too much on the adult audience and not enough on the youth audience. And I see that in Rango; I can't help but wonder who it was for.

Who was Rango for? How is Rango interesting to a 9-year old girl? How is Rango interesting to a 12-year old boy, a father, or a mother? Mothers often pay to go to movies because they want their kids to see the movie. What mother sees Rango and wants her kids to see it? Some, yes, but not as many as the mothers who went to see Toy Story 3, Up, or Finding Nemo.

Did you know that Rango was based on an old TV show flop from Tim Conway that lasted one season and was also about a bumbling Old West cowboy who accidentally became sheriff?

Does that seem like a good inspiration for a childrens film?

The point is that films like Rango aren't making as much money as they could and often lose money. The kids can still watch movies like this on DVD (and some films, like TMNT, were made cheap and then probably did much better on DVD than in the box office, thus making a decent profit). Mothers are more willing to pay for DVDs that they don't want to watch... because they don't have to watch them. They just put them on and get a free babysitter for their boys (because Rango seems more aimed at boys than girls).

But of course the mother's preference (for movies aimed at boys) is that it's on TV. Take 3-2-1 Penguins for example. It's a Christian cartoon aimed mostly at boys (from the makers of Veggie Tales). It didn't do well on DVD (mother's didn't enjoy watching it too much, or at least not as much as Veggie Tales), but after the studio (Big Idea) re-purposed it for TV, 3-2-1 Penguins did VERY well. Why? Because the mothers weren't entertained by it, but the boys were. So moms didn't want to invest the time and money, but they were more than willing to sit their sons in front of it and go get some work done.

Now Rango, 9, and Legend of the Guardians were perfect examples of films that didn't do so well (when compared to successes that DreamWorks, Pixar, Ice Age, and Despicable Me are getting), but only in the sense that they lost money or didn't make much to make the effort worth it to the studios (or to get a sequel). In other words, the movies were good even if they didn't make a lot of money. It's more of a marketing problem. (My only point is that they didn't make as much money as they could have; I did enjoy them.)

Fortunately I think Rango is making more money on DVD (again, mothers don't want to go watch it, but as a gift to their boys to watch without them, it seems like a better idea). Also, Rango did better than it would have done, because they hired Johnny Depp to voice it (that made more mommies and daddies interested in it).

Rango cost $135 million to make, and it made $123 million in the states, but it also made $120 million outside the US (the international market loves Johnny Depp after he made Pirates). Add its DVD sales and subtract the costs of theaters (which are never factored in, but could be as much as one third the box office take), and you have a film that made a little and did "okay."

Did you know that Rango was the highest grossing film for about a month in 2011? Now, does that really matter? I say that's irrelevant. They spend x dollars to make something and need y dollars to make profit. If x is too big and y is too small, then it doesn't matter if it sells better than its competitors (because they spent more money on it than its competitors). It's a business just like anything else... like making toothpaste. Doesn't matter if you've got the best selling toothpaste for a month. If you spent more to make it than you're getting back then it's still not a profitable business.

We probably won't see a Rango sequel.

The director of Rango was Gore Verbinski (Pirates 1-3, The Ring, Mouse Hunt). He has wisely decided to forgo more animations and chose to instead go back toward his biggest success (epic adventures like the Pirates movies), and he's trying to do for Old West what he did for Pirates (redefine and reset the genre). (Spielberg, Ron Howard, and the Iron Man director, John Favreau, just attempted to redefine old west with "Cowboys and Aliens" and failed.)

What's Gore Verbinski's next movie?

The Lone Ranger!

(Interestingly, Rango was based on an old TV show flop from Tim Conway that lasted one season and was also about a bumbling Old West cowboy who accidentally became sheriff. I find it interesting that Gore went from Pirates to 2 cowboy movies that are VERY different from each other!)

For Lone Ranger, Gore was also attempting to team back up with his dream team from Pirates 1-3... Jerry Bruckheimer, Disney Pictures, the Elliott/Rossio writing team (who also wrote Pirates and Zorro), and Johnny Depp (who would play Tonto). Armie Hammer (Social Network) is on for playing Lone Ranger. (George Clooney was once in talks.)

However, this past week, Disney announced that The Lone Ranger was on hiatus, simply because the budget is getting big and "Cowboys and Aliens" lost a ton of money.

But I say to Disney... go for it! After all, yes Cowboys and Aliens lost money, but it wasn't very fun (cool but not fun), the romance and story weren't really thought through, and it really wasn't all that well marketed. Who wanted to see it? Sure, women like Daniel Craig, but not enough to see a movie like that. It's target audience was older dudes, the characters were all stoic and serious, the romance wasn't there (Olivia is an alien, keeps dying, isn't relatable to women, and gets naked once... not exactly what women want), the title alone makes most women snort (I've heard a lot of women snorting at it), the weapon on the arm bit gets old after awhile (which is why they change that in the story near the end), and not enough older dudes were interested in it (and the moms weren't interested in taking their sons).

So "Cowboys and Aliens" failure had nothing to do with the old west. They just thought the concept would sell and they stuck too close to the comic and to the screenplay that they got. It could happen to anyone, and this time it happened to three of the best filmmakers of all time (Spielberg, Howard, and Favreau), all of which have flopped like this before (and probably won't be their last; Howard's got the most flops, Favreau didn't do well when he directed Zathura and Spielberg practically lost DreamWorks films when he flopped with Michael Bay on The Island).

In contrast, Wild Wild West did well (despite bad reviews), Mask of Zorro did well, and the Elliott/Rossio writing team (who wrote Zorro and Pirates 1-4) found the right chord with Pirates by including supernatural elements. They sought to do the same thing here on Lone Ranger (with a screenplay massage by Justin Haythe). So Lone Ranger has all the right signs (the right writers, producer, director, actor, and the supernatural element and epic romance that was missing from Cowboys & Aliens). (For example, the love interest from Cowboys & Aliens, Olivia Wilde, was also the love interest in Tron Legacy, which had a much richer romance, and that film did much better.)

So what's Disney waiting for? This is likely to do amazingly well despite Cowboys & Aliens' performance.

Of course, rumor has it that the "hiatus" announcement is merely a political move by Disney to get Bruckheimer and team to lower their budget. Normally, I would say, "Are you kidding? This is Jerry Bruckheimer we're talking about!" But Bruckheimer did deliver lackluster results with Sorcerer's Apprentice, Prince of Persia, G-Force, Deja Vu, Glory Road, King Arthur, and Bad Company (good movies with budgets too high and that weren't assembled in marketable ways). So I think both Bruckheimer and Disney should compromise a little (since this is the first attempt at a Lone Ranger film, they shouldn't assume it will do $200 million+ ... then they can increase the budget with sequels once they prove that it's a hit).

Jerry and Gore should cut a few financial corners, and they should get this ball rolling!

Meanwhile, Johnny Depp has something good going here. Not only is he Jack Sparrow (Pirates 5 broke 1 billion even though it sold a little low in the United States, so they're making a sixth one), he's tied into almost every recent Tim Burton hit (Sleepy Hallow, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Sweeney Todd, Alice in Wonderland, and the upcoming Dark Shadows), he's now also on Gore Verbinski's short list (Pirates 1-3, Rango, and the upcoming Lone Ranger), and he seems to have been finding some blockbuster dramatic projects in between Pirates and Burton films (Chocolat, Finding Neverland, Public Enemies, and The Tourist). Plus Johnny has a 21 Jump Street movie coming up. Keep the hits coming for Johnny Depp!

Enjoy!

- TAE

New Snow White Ride! - John Lassetter does it again.

2011-09-04T09:10:00.000-07:00

D23 Expo attendees got even more detail around the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train where guests will take a journey through the diamond mine of the Seven Dwarfs in a new ride system designed by Walt Disney Imagineering. The ride system allows each mine car to swing back and forth individually as the train twists and turns along the track.

Enjoy!

New Star Tours ride at Disneyland! (videos)

2011-09-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

While we can't confirm where your Star Tours flight may take you, here's a sneak peek at a new video that will appear in the queue area of the "re-imagined" Star Tours attraction in Disneyland park and Disney's Hollywood Studios next year. The video produced by Star Tours is a new "commercial" that shows one of their exciting getaway travel packages. May the Force be with you- always!

Ride in the cabin of a Starspeeder 1000 on Star Tours 3D now at Disney's Hollywood Studios at Walt Disney World

Here's C3P0 and pod racing (don't cry):

At Disney's Hollywood Studios in Orlando on May 20, 2011, the grand opening dedication ceremony for Star Tours 2 was held on a stage in front of the Sorcerer Hat featuring George Lucas, Bob Iger, Anthony Daniels, Ashley Eckstein, James Arnold Taylor, and plenty of characters...

Hahaha. Jedi running through Disneyland while being blasted is too funny!

A full look at the queue and new 3D ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios. It's the new Star Wars themed Star Tours: The Adventures Continue...

Enjoy!

Brave Trailer - Disney and Pixar make a different princess movie

2011-09-02T09:44:00.000-07:00

This is Pixar's first princess fairy tale, which is typically Disney fare, but this one is original and isn't the average Disney princess. So we're up to see what they do with it.

We're also glad to see Brenda Chapman billed as a codirector (she wrote Brave, she directed Prince of Egypt, and she was a writer on Cars, Chicken Run, Lion King, and Beauty & the Beast; she's actually the first/only female director of a theatrical animation, so we're glad to see her sophomore effort come through). Basically, she put this film together and pitched it, and then she reportedly left the picture in 2010 and was replaced by Mark Andrews, the director of the One Man Band short. (Her reason for leaving was likely disagreements with Lasseter, since that's what replaced Jan Pinkava (of Gerry's Game fame) with Brad Bird on Ratatouille and what replaced Chris Sanders (of Lilo & Stitch) with Howard and Williams on Bolt.) So we're hoping that they brought Brenda Chapman back to finish Brave with Mark Andrews.

So far, the trailer looks interesting, as is the tale behind it...

===================

Brave features Merida, an aspiring archer and impulsive daughter of royalty. Merida makes an irresponsible decision that inadvertently unleashes danger and forces her to launch into action to set events right.

Since ancient times, stories of epic battles and mystical legends have been passed through the generations across the rugged and mysterious Highlands of Scotland. In Brave, a new tale joins the lore when the courageous Merida (voice of Kelly Macdonald) confronts tradition, destiny and the fiercest of beasts.

Merida is a skilled archer and impetuous daughter of King Fergus (voice of Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (voice of Emma Thompson). Determined to carve her own path in life, Merida defies an age-old custom sacred to the uproarious lords of the land: massive Lord MacGuffin (voice of Kevin McKidd), surly Lord Macintosh (voice of Craig Ferguson) and cantankerous Lord Dingwall (voice of Robbie Coltrane). Merida's actions inadvertently unleash chaos and fury in the kingdom, and when she turns to an eccentric old Wise Woman (voice of Julie Walters) for help, she is granted an ill-fated wish. The ensuing peril forces Merida to discover the meaning of true bravery in order to undo a beastly curse before it's too late.

Directed by Mark Andrews (The Incredibles, Ratatouille, John Carter of Mars) and Brenda Chapman (The Lion King, Prince of Egypt), and produced by Katherine Sarafian (Lifted, The Incredibles), Brave is a grand adventure full of heart, memorable characters and the signature Pixar humor enjoyed by audiences of all ages.

Brave will be out in cinemas in 2012, and will be presented in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theatres.

Enjoy!

Ghostbusters 3 - Will it be a bust? A Ghost Bust?

2011-08-30T09:30:00.000-07:00

Check out this story here:

Sony Pictures’ Ghostbusters 3 has been in developmental limbo for years, held up in large part by the studio’s inability to get leading man Bill Murray to commit, or for that matter even read a script. Today, franchise co-star Dan Aykroyd said the film will shoot next year, even if Murray’s not in. “That is our hope. We have an excellent script,” he said on radio’s The Dennis Miller Show. ”What we have to remember is that Ghostbusters is bigger than any one component, although Billy was absolutely the lead and contributed to it in a massive way, as was the director and Harold (Ramis), myself and Sigourney (Weaver). The concept is much larger than any individual role and the promise of Ghostbusters 3 is that we get to hand the equipment and the franchise down to new blood.” Somebody better tell the execs at Sony, where it’s still no Murray, [no] movie. And for that matter, Murray.

And then username "Everyone" had a nice comment here:

===========================================

Ghostbusters WILL MAKE MONEY NO MATTER WHAT. Since, it’s one of those popular movies that each generation loves. For example Tron was a box office failure but the sequel made bank even though it was only an ok film.

Ghostbusters 2 wasn’t all that bad. It just lacked the epic, edginess and horror elements of part 1. But, it’s not exactly a Uwe Boll film or some cheesy movie of the week on the syfi network. Part two was a quality film that just had a few flaws. I saw it in theaters and thought is was an ok movie. It’s only major flaw is that the made part 2 more of a tongue and cheek family flick which part one WAS NOT.

I think part of the reason was because the cartoons were on TV at the time. I remember the Real Ghostbusters cartoon and other cartoon when I was a kid.

Ghostbusters is bigger then Bill Murray. But, they can bring in any number of A-List comedians who are just as funny or even funnier. I love Bill Murray but if he’s not even going to contribute by reading the script and/or making contributions then he’s not being a team player so forget him!! He’s not exactly A list anymore so NO FRANCHISE SHOULD HAVE TO BOW DOWN TO HIM.

Note to the people making this movie:
WE DON’T NEED ANOTHER BLUES BROTHERS 2000
1. Make sure the story is taken seriously, not campy. The original had comic relief, but it wasn’t a three stooges UNREALISTIC movie.
2. Make sure the horror elements that scared the hell out of me when I was little are in it.
3. Make sure the mythology of whichever horror ghost is on the epic level of part one and not part two.

Again, this movie will be a hit with or without Bill Murray. It’s like Tron and other franchises that are loved by generations.

From:
http://www.deadline.com/2011/08/aykroyd-sees-ghostbusters-3-shooting-in-2012-but-somebody-better-tell-the-studio/

===========================================

AND NOW, THIS IS WHAT WE SAY HERE AT THEANIMATIONEMPIRE:

I agree with Everyone…

Everyone is always right…

Everyone always agrees with Everyone…

Okay, how’s that? Punny enough?

Anway… pay attention to Everyone, people who are making the movie but who aren’t reading this!

And while we’re at it…

4. Don’t try to replace Murray. You can try creating a new, fun character, but don’t bother trying to replace Murray. It won’t happen. You’ll have to try to find characters that are good but different.

5. Keep some humor in the film. It is a little scary that Aykroyd and Ramis didn’t help write it (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1289401/fullcredits), but at least they’re both exec producing and Reitman is directing again and exec producing. But see Everyone’s points #1-3, because you made Ghostbusters 2 too campy. So keep the balance you had in Ghostbusters 1.

6. Wait, are you making this one a team of girl ghostbusters??? (Faris, Dushku, Milano): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1289401/fullcredits#cast
Wow. You couldn’t get the rights to Charlie’s Angels? I gotta hand it to you; your ladies wouldn’t try to recreate Murray’s humor. But still, Faris’ humor is pure slapstick and your other ladies are cool, but they aren’t comedians. Good luck with that; it seems far riskier than mixing it up with guys and gals. So… please don’t do this? Please?
Fortunately, on August 25th, Aykroyd said they were looking to cast three guys and a gal:
http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=81518

7. Keep the directing style similar to Ghostbusters 1. Reitman, you must’ve been watching a lot of Spielberg films before you made Ghostbusters, because you nailed it with the right camera angles, reveals, and suspense factor in your timing and pacing. So go watch some more Spielberg films before you begin shooting. Looking at your most recent projects helps calm that nerve a little:
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0718645/#Director

8. I recommend that you keep working on Bill Murray. He was the star of the first film (as Dan said). Ramis and Aykroyd were just straight-man characters that played off of Murray (so Murray was the only character who was intentionally funny). Bill fell away with Dan and Ramis during Groundhog Day (I think that’s the bigger reason why he’s not interested). So try talking to Bill and his new group of friends (Wes Anderson), and see if you can get Bill to sign on and cut some sort of compromise (and maybe his high standards will help make the film better). Previously Bill said he’d do it if he gets to die and be done with it. So it sounds like he’s close.

NOTE TO EVERYONE: Tron 1 didn’t really do that well. It made a little momentum as a cult classic, and then Tron Legacy was released with a blockbuster formula (Tron 1 was missing the love story, emotion, and the pacing felt more like a drama), and it featured Jeff Bridges in a role that made his character twice as interesting. So if we were going to take Tron Legacy as an example, then that’s more of a reason to get Bill Murray on and to redefine his character in a huge way that makes him the center of the story. For example, turn Murray into a ghost, zombie, werewolf, or the main villain/source of evil (or he gets cloned and his clone is the evil one who he has to combat). That would be the lesson to learn from Tron Legacy (along with the love story, emotions, and superior pacing, all of which were used effectively in Ghostbusters 1, unlike Tron 1). And, honestly, if you turn Bill into a villain and have him killed, then you probably satisfy his request to die and could get him to sign on (see #8 above). After all, he died in a hilarious (and slightly similar) way in Zombieland, so he’d probably like the concept.

Aykroyd also says...

"I like this guy Matthew Gray Gubler from the 'Criminal Minds' show, but there's going to be a casting. We're going to see everyone that wants to do it. We're going to need... three guys and a young woman."

Special thanks to Everyone and to the filmmakers who won’t read this!

- TAE

Disney is looking for your 1977 John Lasseter Jungle Cruise photos!

2011-08-29T09:12:00.000-07:00

Join the hunt @ http://JohnoftheJungle.com

Do you have a photo of John Lasseter from his 1977 stint as a Jungle Cruise skipper at Disneyland?

Enter your photo for a chance to win a private Jungle Cruise with John Lasseter and attend the Grand Opening of Cars Land at Disney's California Adventure!

John Carter Trailer -- Disney takes on Avatar and Star Wars!

2011-08-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

Andrew Stanton follows up Finding Nemo and Wall-E with an Avatar/Star Wars like film, based on the book series that helped inspire such films.

It looks like they made the red princess not too red (or else they might make her feel too inhuman). It looks very interesting the way it's set up. So far, Andrew Stanton has only directed hits. Here's the story...

============

John Carter of Mars is inexplicably transported to the mysterious and exotic planet Mars, and becomes embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions and discovers that the survival of the planet and its people rests in his hands.

John Carter is a sweeping action-adventure set on the mysterious and exotic planet of Barsoom (Mars). John Carter is based on a classic novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs, whose highly imaginative adventures served as inspiration for many filmmakers, both past and present. The film tells the story of war-weary, former military captain John Carter (Taylor Kitsch), who is inexplicably transported to Mars where he becomes reluctantly embroiled in a conflict of epic proportions amongst the inhabitants of the planet, including Tars Tarkas (Willem Dafoe) and the captivating Princess Dejah Thoris (Lynn Collins). In a world on the brink of collapse, Carter rediscovers his humanity when he realizes that the survival of Barsoom and its people rests in his hands.

John Carter of Mars will be out in cinemas in March 2012.

Enjoy!

Movie Review - The Last Airbender

2011-08-24T09:09:00.000-07:00

Updated with more review info at the bottom (explains how M Night ended up with their Airbender actor, Noah Ringer and how Noah has improved his acting in Cowboys and Aliens). Originally posted on 2/23/11.
===================================

by Alex Popp

Four Nations. One Destiny.

The world is divided into four kingdoms, each represented by the element they harness, and peace has lasted throughout the realms of Water, Air, Earth, and Fire under the supervision of the Avatar in "The Last Airbender," directed by M. Night Shyamalan, the director of "The Sixth Sense." When young Avatar Aang disappears, the Fire Nation launches an attack to eradicate all members of the Air Nomads to prevent interference in their future plans for world domination. 100 years pass and current Fire Lord Ozai continues to conquer and imprison anyone with elemental "bending" abilities in the Earth and Water Kingdoms, while siblings Katara and Sokka from a Southern Water Tribe find a mysterious boy trapped beneath the ice outside their village. Upon rescuing him, he reveals himself to be Aang, Avatar and last of the Air Nomads. Swearing to protect the Avatar, Katara and Sokka journey with him to the Northern Water Kingdom in his quest to master "Waterbending" and eventually fulfill his destiny of once again restoring peace to the world. But as they inch nearer to their goal, the group must evade Prince Zuko (played by Dev Patel from the Best Picture winning "Slumdog Millionaire"), the exiled son of Lord Ozai, Commander Zhao, the Fire Nation's military leader, and the tyrannical onslaught of the evil Fire Lord himself.

The film was originally going to be titled, "Avatar: The Last Airbender," because that was the name of the TV series on which it's based. However, the word "Avatar" was dropped to avoid confusion with James Cameron's "Avatar." And this is most certainly not to be confused with the brilliant majesty of "Avatar."

I never watched any episodes from the cartoon, but others who had were disappointed. And I hated the movie enough without seeing the series. The whole premise is based on Buddhist theology, but that wasn't the main thing that brought down the quality. Some may not think about the effects at all, but if you really compare them with the background, you can tell that it's all fake. On top of that, the script is so juvenile, blending well with the terrible acting. To me, the movie was just flat out boring. I probably would have liked it more if Jesse McCartney had gotten the role of Zuko which he was originally given.

Some consider M. Night Shyamalan to be the master of twist endings, but the only twist in the ending of this film is that it tells you there's going to be a sequel. Great.

Don't ask me how M. Night Shyamalan made a movie as good as "The Sixth Sense" and then turned around and made this.

Rated PG for sequences of fantasy action.

One and a half stars (out of four) for "The Last Airbender," proof that not every movie from 2010 was good.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.
==============

And now here's a review from The Emperor...

I think this review might be a bit too harsh. The Avatar actor (playing Aang) is obviously inexperienced, and so his acting is a little wooden. The northern tribe water nation princess is also a little wooden, but her charm, character, and story arc make all that easily forgiven and forgotten.

The overall story of this film is exciting and interesting, and there is more than enough drama and special effects to hold your interest, especially at the end. So I think if anything, the faults lie (1) in the Avatar boy's acting (and selecting him in the first place) and (2) that (like all M. Night films) it takes some time to get it going. M. Night certainly bombards you with activity and effects at the beginning, but you don't enjoy the characters until later in the film.

The actor, Noah Ringer, was cast as Aang because he's a martial artist (first-degree black belt rank with the American Taekwondo Association). He painted the arrow on his bald head and submitted his tape of him doing all the martial arts. His friends had even already nicknamed him Airbender (based on the fact that he looked and acted like the cartoon character).

However, M Night and crew overestimated their abilities to train a new young actor and to direct a new young actor (two major skillsets, and they depend on the actor's ability to learn). M Night has picked great child actors in the past (Sixth Sense, Unbreakable, Signs), but he picked them based on acting, not on martial arts and how much they look like the character (big difference).

Despite Noah's poor acting as Aang (and despite Night's poor directing his actors to... well... act), Noah was able to train some more and follow it up with a much better performance in Cowboys and Aliens (he was in two films, and both were intended to be hits). So he's off to a good start in his career (despite the acting hickup in Airbender and the poor performance of Cowboys).

I think M. Night needs to be produced well in order to make a hit film, and he got that oversight and attention with his first four commercial films at Touchstone/Disney (Sixth Since, Unbreakable, Signs, and The Village). Then he left Disney, and his films stopped being as big commercial successes (Lady in the Water from WB, The Happening from Fox, The Devil, and The Last Airbender from Paramount).

That said, Airbender was still a success. While it lost 19 million in the US (cost $150 million and made $131 million) it was a success still because it made $187 million overseas, which typically happens when a movie is cool and packed with effects and action, but is weak on story and characters.

Prince Zuko has a great arc that is only just beginning to form in this film (and the actory nailed the character incredibly well; he starts out as the #1 villain and then slowly moves his way down the villainous charts and into your hearts). Katara (Avatar's friend) is a good actress, though not perfect (I think it might be the directing a little though, because sometimes she nails it).

And I loved the story of Sokka (Katara's brother) and the northern princess, which was only beginning to unfold at the end of the film when it tragically stopped. So the problem partially lies with the source material as well. It's a good story, but he probably needed to rip apart the source material even more to make it more interesting earlier in the film. It's definitely a slow burner.

Overall, they'll probably make another sequel (since it made $319 million, worldwide), but either M. Night will do it if he thinks he can step up the game a notch (especially in the story and characters) or they'll give it to a new director. Either way, they need to teach that Avatar kid how to act. (Based on his performance in Cowboys and Aliens, he has definitely improved; too bad the film tanked.)

Currently M. Night is following it up with "One Thousand A.D." with Jaden Smith. Jaden is fresh off of Karate Kid, so this is a good idea (especially with Will Smith producing).

I give it three stars out of five, or 2 1/2 stars out of 4.

- The Emperor

The Avengers Teaser Trailer (first Disney Marvel film)

2011-08-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Why you should stay till the end of Captain America: The First Avenger
Booya!

Can't wait to see Avengers!

See the whole thing here:

That was the Avengers trailer after Captain America ends. Also the last few minutes of Captain America.

And quite possibly the best fan-made trailer of The Avengers (seems better than the actual teaser):

So all this is to pay homage to the first Disney produced Marvel film. This is what Disney bought for a mere $4 billion... a whole lot.

Enjoy!

Miggie Mouse Presents THE VAULT (with SteamBoot Billy)

2011-08-20T11:37:00.000-07:00

Check out our new Disney parody! It parodies Disney's animal violence (Steamboat Willie had a lot), and it parodies how Eisner fired Roy Disney (and Roy fought back). Leave a comment and... Enjoy!

Oh the sarcasm abounds as we look tongue in cheek at the Disney corporation.

Animation and Music by Joseph Morabito:

http://youtube.com/BowlingBallOut

Produced and Written by Ed 'word' Price

VOICES
Brock Baker (McGoiter) - Steamboot Billy
Vernon Dew - Miggie Mouse
Robbie Daymond - Narrator and Vommit Duck
Dave Stuchkus - Parrot

Specifically, this addresses:

- Disney animations used to contain a LOT of animal abuse as a source of humor. This includes their flaship animation (the first hit that Walt had), Steamboat Willie (which was actually a spoof of Steamboat Bill Jr, a popular Buster Keaton movie that was released 2 months before Walt worked on the animation). Steamboat Willie (like many of Walt's shorts) contained a whole LOT of animal abuse!

- Roy Disney Jr. (Walt's nephew) was fired from the Disney board by Michael Eisner (Eisner fired several people who challenged his ways)

- Roy then launched a huge "Save Disney" campaign to the shareholders, which resulted in (1) Eisner getting transitioned out (he was sort of fired, but he made money off of it), (2) Bob Iger getting hired as the new CEO (he's done an amazing job), (3) Disney acquiring Pixar, and of course, (4) Roy getting rehired onto the Disney Board. Who says the good guys can't sometimes win?

This is our fourth animation with Joseph. Joseph also collaborated with the Empire on the following shorts:

- The Dating Game
- Ducks Playing Duck Hunt
- Farmville Parody

Why Action Animated Films Don't Do Well

2011-08-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

UPDATED: Originally posted 3/12/09.
We added more information at the bottom (to explain why animated Pixar films and some animated buddy comedies do so well), and don't forget to read the post that we link to on the bottom. Some people want more "proof", but it's all there. Just keep reading. Thanks!
======================================

Most people don't realize what a strong position women have in specific purchasing decisions.

With animated films, filmmakers often set out to make an animated film for a specific audience, not realizing that the audience they need to appeal to is mothers and women. The reason is that boys aren't making the decisions to see the films. The moms are making the decision, and if the mom doesn't want to see the film or she also has a daughter who doesn't want to see the film, then she'll tell her son to go watch cartoons and to wait for DVD to see the film. (This is supported with data that shows how popular action cartoons are on TV but not in the theaters.)

For example, Final Fantasy, Beowulf, Sinbad, Treasure Planet, Quest for Camelot, The Iron Giant, Osmosis Jones, Ant Bully, The Road to El Dorado, Meet the Robinsons, and Star Wars: Clone Wars were all animated action films that failed to find success. What all those films had in common is that they didn't appeal to women.

Atlantis did okay (still lost money, but not a flop). It had good Disney marketing muscle, and it also pushed the love angle and characters well. It did well enough for them to make a direct-to-video sequel. The 3D-animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles did okay and actually made money, but it did even worse than Atlantis (it was made with a low budget purposefully so that it could still turn a profit).

And then Emperor's New Groove is another example. It's not an action animation, but it still lost money and wasn't a hit for Disney (it did about as well as Atlantis). It's an example of a straight comedy. Why would moms want to see an animated comedy that doesn't interest them with emotion (like the Pixar films) or romance (like Aladdin, Little Mermaid, and others)? The answer is that they don't. Other 3D films to suffer from this were Antz (did well, but it was not a hit), Jimmy Neutron (also did well and nominated for best animated film, but it was not a hit), Doogal, Barnyard, and Cats Don't Dance (same director as Emperor's New Groove). And Wallace and Grommit was cute and won the Academy Award for animated film, but it was strange and not as well targeted toward women as Chicken Run was (Chicken Run was basically a romance, starring Mel Gibson... boom).

However, Pixar has the idea right. They can do any topic they want, including toys, monsters, bugs, super heroes, rats, cars, and robots. These topics don't sound like they'd appeal to women, but Pixar makes sure the heart of the stories do.

All those movies are about things that appeal to boys... but all the stories are written for mommies. Have you seen Up? Every woman was fighting tears within the first 10 minutes (when the wife dies). The wife also dies at the beginning of Finding Nemo. Those were two of Pixar's top 3 films (boom).

Incredibles is a movie about family, about trust (adultery, suspicion) between a husband and wife, and about love between each member of the family (husband and wife, siblings, father daughter, father son, mother daughter, and mother son)... it's all in there. It sounds like an emotional drama if you were to only look at the relationships covered. They even deal with Violet's fear/crushes with boys. Wow.

The Incredibles was a movie for women... However, it also had action and humor, and it was about super heroes. So it was a movie for men and boys as well.

That's the genious of Pixar.

Other films have also achieved similar success with the buddy comedies and relationship comedies (Shrek, Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda, Despicable Me, and Ice Age). Same thing. The topic appeals to kids (animals in Madagascar), the humor to men (Ben Stiller and Chris Rock), and the relationships to mommies. Shrek was basically Beauty and the Beast in reverse (the message to women was that the inside matters more than the outside), Despicable Me was about a single father adopting children (did you miss that? it's super sappy) and a bunch of cute minions to sell to children, and Ice Age was about returning a lost child (incredibly emotional to mothers). All those films were made with mommies in mind.

The studios try to reach all the audiences, but the most important audience members are the kids and moms.

Is this pandering to moms? No. No more than pandering to kids or men. It's all marketing and business. Studios and shareholders want to make money, and if these films didn't make as much money, thousands would be out of jobs. It's a business, like buying milk at a grocery store.

I'm not going to condemn someone for selling their product in a way that makes the most money. Are you?

Read more here:
http://theanimationempire.blogspot.com/2008/04/question-why-do-some-animated-movies.html

- TAE

Donner the Retired Reindeer (TRAILER)

2011-08-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

Jon Canham animated and composed the music for this wonderful trailer (and soon to be animated short) that follows the Easter Bunny's diabolical schemes to stop Christmas. Only the chosen one can save Christmas... Donner the Retired Reindeer!!!

Check out Jon's other animations, including his "Frank N Steve" series over on his channel, MiddleDistanceProduc:

http://youtube.com/middledistanceproduc

Did you see that we spilled "reigndeer" wrong? =^)

Anyway, here is some info...

SOFTWARE: Anime Studio
WRITER & DIRECTOR: Ed 'word' Price
ANIMATOR & MUSICIAN: Jon Canham
DONNER: Dave Stuchkus

=============

Please check out our other wonderful-ish animations...
Pirates of the Caribbean Parody: http://youtube.com/watch?v=jHPDINRTDy0

Fruits VS Bugs - Agent Pineapple Steals: http://youtube.com/watch?v=j40Fn0rzlAs

Thanksgiving Cartoon - Gurkel's Revenge: http://youtube.com/watch?v=5ArXuSTuQYQ

Farmville Parody: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Voel8Uj59XE

Dr. Octagonapus (53K+ views): http://youtube.com/watch?v=qW2H2fGOlhw

Ducks Playing Duck Hunt (80K+ views): http://youtube.com/watch?v=Zkcj-A1lLEk

Thanks for watching!

- TAE

Zelda Parody 2 - Save the Princess (animation)

2011-07-10T09:02:00.000-07:00

Here is the Trailer:

The Legend continues! Join our favorite moron, Link, as he sets out on a quest to cut grass and kill every creature he can find for item-collection purposes. Oh, and he's also going to...

SAVE THE PRINCESS!!!

Zelda Parody 2 will feature VenetianPrincess as the voice of Princess Zelda. You can expect to see Zelda Parody 2 approximately in "When we're done," 2011.

Please subscribe to our animator's channel:

http://youtube.com/HowardCarterOfficial

VOICES:
Robbie Daymond - Link
Mike Elmore - Narrator & Goron 1
Robert Holmes - Goron 2
Dave Stuchkus - Gohma
Jesse Springer - Ganon
Venetian Princess (Jodie Rivera) - Princess Zelda

Here is Venetian Princess' popular channel:
http://youtube.com/VenetianPrincess

This video you're watching is the sequel of our first Legend of Zelda parody:

ZELDA PARODY 1: Link's a Moron
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5uhpL0WZeM

JOIN THE EMPIRE: Subscribble to our chibble!

Thanks!

- TAE

Johnny Depp Pirates Parody - Pirates of the Caribbean (collab with GagaManMusic)

2011-07-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

Keira Knightley tells Johnny Depp her movie ideas backstage while filming Pirates of the Caribbean.

TheHill88 (Caitlin Hill) lends her voice as Keira Knightley in this behind the scenes look at Pirates of the Caribbean. Caitlin's channel:

http://youtube.com/thehill88

Unfortunately, Keira didn't make it into the fourth pirates movie. So this would probably make more sense with Penelope Cruz. Regardless, it's a Keira piece and inspired by Lisa Nova's old videos. In fact, Caitlin's voice clips were recorded back in 2007, and this is her doing an impression of Lisa Nova doing an impression of Keira Knightley. =^)

Be sure to check out the animator's channel (animated in Flash):

http://youtube.com/GagaManMusic

And Johnny Depp's voice is provided by Louis from OverUnderWear (check out their Walken video):

http://youtube.com/OverUnderWear

The music is by Kevin Macleod and used under Creative Commons Licensing.

Intro logo animation by...
http://youtube.com/HowardCarterOfficial

Check out the end of this video for lots of options of our other animations. Thanks!

- TAE

Gurkel's Revenge (Thanksgiving Cartoon)

2011-07-06T08:52:00.000-07:00

Hello! This is the longer version with two extra scenes that we had planned for awhile. After Gurkel and Lucy leave Bobby's house, there's a new scene with them in the car leading up to a long new scene, which is the main battle sequence.

So with the battle sequence I think this is far more enjoyable and complete. What do you think? Here is the shorter version that we did earlier:

Animation is by Patrick from:

http://youtube.com/CartoonKing3

Music is used by permission and composed by Kevin Macleod from:

http://incompetech.com/

CREDITS:

Animation by Patrick Jenkins (CartoonKing3)
Written & Directed by Ed 'word' Price
Animation Supervision by Willem Serne
Music by Kevin Macleod

VOICES:

John Kubin - Gurkel, Bobby (murderer 1), Jeff (murderer 2)
Diedre - Globble (turkey boy), Lucy (love interest), Officer
Ty Miller - Turkel (turkey dad), Bartender
Amber Conner - Cindy (Bobby's wife)

Thanks for watching! Enjoy!

- TAE

Super 8 - TheAnimationEmpire Movie Review

2011-07-04T09:55:00.000-07:00

Super 8 is E.T. meets Jurassic Park, with a smaller version of the Cloverfield monster thrown into the mix. Oh, by the way, SPOILER ALERT!!!

I'd be tempted to say that Super 8 also has some Sixth Sense thrown in there, but the truth is that Sixth Sense borrowed heavily from E.T. and Jurassic Park in the first place, so it's better to just point to the earlier Spielberg films.

It's appropriate that this feels like a Spielberg film, because it is a Spielberg film... Steve Spielberg produced it. It seems like JJ Abrams finally met his hero, Steven Spielberg, and they had a converation that went something like this...

JJ Abrams: "I want to remake E.T., and I want you to produce it."

Or maybe... "I'm planning to make a film that rips off your films so badly that if you don't produce it, everyone will hate me."

Or in real life, maybe... "I'm a huge fan of your films, and you inspired my latest film. Would you check it out and produce it if you're interested?"

And then of course the reason why JJ went with a smaller (but still big) Cloverfield monster is also evident... JJ produced Cloverfield.

However, I wouldn't say that this film is a combination of Cloverfield and E.T. No, it's much closer to Jurassic Park and E.T. The camerawork is far slower, steady, and sweeping. We focus more on the characters. And the action unravels like a Spielberg film than the frantic and violent nature of Cloverfield.

Next, the acting: The acting is superb. The biggest stars were the leads... the boy (Joe Lamb) and the girl (Alice Dainard). Joe Lamb was played by Joel Courtney. This is Joel's first film, and it was a success; after this he was signed to two films (Healer and as Tom Sawyer in the upcoming "Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn).

Alice Dainard was played by Elle Fanning. Does her name sound familiar? She was in I Am Sam, Daddy Day Care, Because of Winn-Dixie, Babel, Deja Vu, and Astro Boy. Her upcoming films include the Burton animated film, Frankenweinie.

Of course the last name should be familiar because she's the younger sister of Dakota Fanning (who is also connected by Steven Spielberg, who directed Dakota's biggest breakout role... War of the Worlds).

Super 8 is masterfully made, and it's a lot of fun for film lovers (who identify with the young film makers in this movie). I wish it would have done better in the box office ($153 million world wide), but thankfully it only cost $50 million to make. So it wasn't the success that Sixth Sense, E.T., or Jurassic Park were, so JJ will probably stick to Star Trek films and producing Mission Impossible and Cloverfield flicks. In other words, he probably won't try another Spielbergian film like this again.

So why didn't the film make more money? Perhaps it got lost in a summer of big movies (true, but I think it could have overcome that). I think the main reason is marketability. Super 8? What's that? A type of camera? You're basing your film around a type of camera... that happened to film a creature escaping from a train wreck? Hmmm. It's not quite as straight forward as E.T., War of the Worlds, Jurassic Park, and Sixth Sense (where the names are exactly what you get; Super 8 wasn't really about the camera).

But regardless of its marketing problems, the directing, camera work, pacing, story, acting, and effects were amazing. If you haven't seen it yet, you should.

- TAE

Movie Review - The King's Speech

2011-06-27T09:40:00.000-07:00

When God couldn't save the King, the Queen turned to someone who could.

The Oscar-winning "The King's Speech" tells the story of King George VI (played by Colin Firth), the father of Queen Elizabeth II. After his brother abdicates, George ('Bertie') reluctantly assumes the throne. Plagued by a dreaded stammer and considered unfit to be king, Bertie engages the help of an unorthodox speech therapist, played by Geoffrey Rush. Through a set of unexpected techniques, and as a result of an unlikely friendship, Bertie is able to find his voice and boldly lead the country through war.

First of all, I was very surprised at how well Colin Firth was able to stammer the way he did. Although, that seemed to be the real thing that made his performance difficult, even though he won Best Actor. The rest of the acting was very good, too, and this movie was very emotional in terms of King George not having a choice to be king, although in such a biopic as this, I wish we would have seen more of his childhood, like in a flashback or something. But still a very interesting and pragmatic film.

Rated R for two scenes with repetitive uses of the f- and s-words, but my dad and I remarked at the end that it was almost necessary! So, otherwise, it should be suitable for most teens, depending on how badly offended your parents are by such coarse language.

Three stars (out of 4) for "The King's Speech."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - The Day the Earth Stood Still

2011-06-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

By Alex Popp

Jennifer Connelly plays Dr. Helen Benson, who is summoned to a military facility with several other scientists when an alien spacecraft of sorts arrives in New York City in the remake of the 1951 sci-fi film, "The Day the Earth Stood Still."

Aboard is a human-like alien and a giant robot of immense size and power. The alien identifies himself as Klaatu and says he has come to save the Earth. The US military and political authorities see him as a threat, however, and decide to use so-called intensive interrogation techniques on him, but Dr. Benson decides to facilitate his escape. When she learns exactly what he means when he says he is there to save the Earth, she tries to convince him to change his intentions.

I haven't seen the original, but I still had a lot of problems with the movie. For the most part, it was the premise/message about how "man is causing global warming." The main point is repeated over and over again. It was so preachy.

The real thing was that it was pretty clean with hardly any profanity and graphic violence, and no sex. But this is the kind of movie that you would barely notice any of that, because it's already bad enough without it. Put that in with corny script and mediocre effects and you have one of the worst films of 2008.

Rated a light PG-13 for some mildly intense sci-fi violence.

One and a half stars (out of 4) for "The Day the Earth Stood Still," which make the earth stand still in boredom.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Thor - TheAnimationEmpire Movie Review

2011-06-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

Thor was very good. I ended up seeing it twice in the theater (once in 3D and once without).

I kind of find it funny how, on the poster above, they have to write Thor twice just to show you that you're looking at the actual Thor character. They don't think people would know that.

I have to admit that Thor felt like two movies that were threaded together (one in Asgard and one on Earth). It also seemed that it would be hard to really make a villain that could give Thor a real fight (he's basically Superman: awesome, invincible, and he flies). In addition, I wasn't sure what kind of special effects they'd give us when his weapon is a big hammer.

Plus they had the additional challenge of making a Norse god relevant and interesting to us. And then they added another challenge by placing a relatively new actor into the title role (Chris Hemsworth, who was James Kirk's dad in the Star Trek reboot). And they added one more challenge to the plate by giving the movie to the director, Kenneth Branagh. It kind of fit... he's a Shakespearean director (and other period pieces), but he hadn't had a ton of success as a director yet and it had been many years since his last directorial effort.

Despite all the challenges and potential potholes, Thor was an amazing movie.

They made it more successful than X-Men: First Class (another attempt at establishing new-ish Marvel heroes in the same summer).

Here are the reasons why I think it was such a good movie:

1. Chris Hemsworth nailed Thor. You can't always get established actors. Sometimes the best actors aren't known yet, but they're so good that the movie makes them known. This is one of those roles. Chris morphed into Thor and nailed the cocky yet fun-loving attitude. This is on the same level as Hugh Jackman making Wolverine, Chris Evans making Human Torch in Fantastic Four (which he has leveraged to become Captain America as well), and Ryan Reynolds as DeadPool in X-Men: Wolverine (which led to Green Lantern and a coming DeadPool movie).

2. It's funny and clever. All the characters provide the right mix of humor, and the references to mythical elements are also clever, like an effets-driven update to the Rainbow Bridge and to all the characters and power items. I also appreciate the Hawkeye reference. I wasn't too excited about the actor (he doesn't seem impressive enough), but my friend assured me that he's great (and id a great job in The Hurt Locker).

3. The romance story works well. Due to #1 above and #5 below, Thor and Portman have great chemistry together. And the romance is brought to life even more, due to the humor and cleverness from #2 above.

4. The mythical world is brought to life with effects and superb directing. I really felt drawn into the world. The whole Ice Giants thing was a little silly to me, but they dealt with the mythology and the comic books in a realistic way, and thus, I still felt like it could be real. Which is kind of the point... even when something obviously isn't real, they want to present it as if it was real and get you involved in that world. They did it. The effects were amazing and highly... effective. Specifically, the battle sequences, monsters, giants, ice world, rainbow bridge... even the size differences of some of the characters... it all brought to life the idea of this world where talismans and other powers make warriors into gods.

5. The cast supports it well. Natalie Portman as a super hero love interest is a great catch. Her friends support well (Norah without her playlist). Anthony Hopkins is the ideal Odin. Renee Russo supports well (in a few shots). Our SHIELD agent friend does a great job (as usual), and even Loki is spot on. Thor's warrior friends are fun (though underused). We even get to see an enjoyable glimpse of Hawkeye (though he hasn't yet proven why he should be an Avenger).

And that's pretty much it. Congrats to everyone involved. They brought us the right mix of romance, humor, story, and effects. So far, it's the most succesful summer super hero film, beating out Green Lantern, X-Men First Class, and Priest (Captain America is TBD). The film has made (to date) $176 million in the US, with $435 million worldwide. That's a good haul for a new hero flick.

The Foreign box office take was particularly high ($259 million) and is comparable to Iron Man ($266 million) and higher than X-Men 3 ($225 M) and X-Men 2 ($192 M).

Overall with $435 M worldwide, Thor beat X-Men 2 ($408 M), X-Men Origins: Wolverine ($373 M), X-Men 1 ($296 M), Fantastic Four ($331 M), Incredible Hulk ($263 M), X-Men First Class ($286 M), and Ghost Rider ($229 M).

Thor's one of those Superman-like heroes who's basically invincible. So they need to find ways to make him vulnerable and real. In this film, they kind of cheated by taking away his powers (which is the usual way Superman is attacked... Kriptonite steals his powers). It's kind of an annoying cheat, really. Once Thor finally earned his hammer back, then it was pretty much game over for Loki and the Defender.

So hopefully they'll think of better ways to make him vulnerable than to cheat like that. "Either all or nothing" is not an entertaining way for him to fight villains. And if he's going to be in a sequel and in the Avengers movie, then they need him to fight villains who are at least as powerful as he is with his powers (maybe even a little more powerful than him).

The Hulk could work in Avengers (the Hulk could beat Thor), but I'm not sure what they want to do with Hulk (make him good, bad, or both).

Oh and in Disney news, Avengers will be the first Disney produced Marvel movie! Iron Man 3, Thor 2, Captain America 2, and

Enjoy!

- The Emperor

Movie Review - Soul Surfer

2011-06-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

By Alex Popp

The next "Blind Side"?

Based on the amazing true story, AnnaSophia Robb plays Bethany Hamilton, a teenage girl who is a natural on the surfboard in "Soul Surfer". Placing high in several competitions, she seems to have a whole career ahead of her. But it's all unpleasantly interrupted when she is attacked by a shark and loses her left arm. After weeks in the hospital, she doesn't give up on surfing and is determined to get back on the board, refusing to get a prosthetic arm.

With stunning camera work, entertaining surf competition scenes, and an all-star cast including Oscar-Winning Helen Hunt, Dennis Quaid, Carrie Underwood, and Craig T. Nelson, "Soul Surfer" is bound to be the best film of 2011.

AnnaSophia Robb has been acting since the age of 11, starring in other good movies such as "Because of Winn-Dixie", "Bridge to Terabithia", and "Race to Witch Mountain". And she is clearly growing as an actress; this is undoubtedly her best performance yet. Other fantastic performances included Dennis Quaid as Bethany's father, Chris Brochu as her brother, Timmy, and Lorraine Nicholson as her best friend. Carrie Underwood didn't appear in very many scenes, so it's difficult to say how she did. But who knows, singing may not be her only gift.

There have been arguments on whether or not this is a Christian movie. I would have to say yes. Bethany had to trust in the Lord to give her the strength and courage to return to the sea. She does whatever it takes to overcome the odds, as she says, "I don't need easy. I just need possible." And the verse Jeremiah 29:11 is quoted: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope." This verse was for a time removed during editing. But when Carrie Underwood reportedly asked the filmmakers to "tell the story" fairly and accurately by preserving both the verse and its reference, they listened. Also, Dennis Quaid reads a Bible. There's something we don't see every day. In fact, deemed too conspicuous and "prop-like," the words "Holy Bible" were also digitally removed from the cover of Bethany's dad's Bible (most Bibles these days don't have much on the front). But after Tom Hamilton e-mailed a photo of his own Bible—emblazoned with big text similar to that on the Gideon's Bible used in the scene—the words were reinstated. Hamilton told The Hollywood Reporter, "I could see the words bright and clear. I looked at my wife and whispered, 'Thank you, God, they put it back.'"

"Soul Surfer" tells the story accurately and is an epic and touching film that surpasses "The Blind Side". In fact, it may change the way you look at sports movies.

Rated PG for a very disturbing and heart-pounding sequence involving the shark attack. The shot where the shark merely pops out of the ocean scared the Darwin out of me. Although the attack itself is relatively quick, there is a lot of blood in the water. "Soul Surfer" is way out of range for kids 10 and under.

Four stars (out of 4) for the exhilerating and mind-blowing, "Soul Surfer," a true soul lifter of a movie.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Bolt

2011-06-19T12:33:00.000-07:00

By Alex Popp

If you think that "Bolt" is just a dog movie, think again.

Bolt, voiced by John Travolta, is the canine star of a hit TV series, living his whole life on its set, believing that he has superpowers due to the way that the crew edits the show. When he is accidentally shipped from Hollywood to New York City, he goes on cross-country trip with a cat and his biggest (and smallest) fan, a hamster named Rhino, to find his way back to his teenage owner (voiced by Miley Cyrus).

When I saw the trailers and promos for this film, I thought of the movie "Underdog." I thought, "Looks pretty resistable." But is, in fact, irresistable with loads of laughs, stunning animation, and delightful characters (notably Rhino). I saw it with my brother and sisters, and we all enjoyed it. And of course, my brother and I were whispering to each through the opening scenes, "Cats are evil."

I also did see some spiritual content: the message of how you need to look around for evidence before you assume something is true.

Rated PG for some peril and action, but should be perfectly fine for most young moviegoers.

Four stars (out of 4) for "Bolt." It's awesome. No, it's beyond awesome. It's BE-awesome! Hahaha!

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Tangled

2011-06-17T12:32:00.000-07:00

by Alex Popp

It takes two to tangle.

(I made that one up)

I'm sure we all know the story of Rapunzel, but you don't need to to enjoy the outrageously hilarious "Tangled," Disney Animation's 50th film (not including Pixar films and other non-canon titles) and the most expensive animated movie of all.

After receiving the healing powers from a magical flower, the baby Princess Rapunzel is kidnapped from the palace in the middle of the night by Mother Gothel. Mother Gothel knows that the flower's magical powers are now growing within the golden hair of Rapunzel, and to stay young, she must lock Rapunzel in her hidden tower. Rapunzel (voiced by Mandy Moore from "A Walk to Remember") is now a teenager and her hair has grown to a length of 70-feet. The beautiful Rapunzel has been in the tower her entire life, and she is curious of the outside world. One day, the bandit Flynn Ryder, voiced by Zachary Levi, scales the tower and is taken captive by Rapunzel. Rapunzel strikes a deal with the charming thief to act as her guide to travel to the place where the floating lights come from that she has seen every year on her birthday.

It may sound like just another Disney princess movie, but it really goes beyond that with its constant knee-slapping humor in an excellent original screenplay and dazzling animation similar to that of "Bolt." Most of the songs are catchy and fun, including the comical "I've Got a Dream" and the Oscar-nominated "I See the Light." And the characters are so likeable that I don't see how anyone could not enjoy the movie.

Rated PG for some violence that may be too much for very young kids (someone gets stabbed with a knife off-screen).

The only thing with "Tangled" is at the beginning and end when Flynn narrates. He talks like the viewers know nothing ("The queen became sick. And that's usually when people start looking for a cure.") It's not very much like him and just feels a bit out of place. Still, "Tangled" deserves three and a half stars (out of 4), and is in some rivalry with "Toy Story 3" and "Despicable Me" for the best animated film of 2010.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

==================

Emperor here. I agree with Alex except for "Despicable Me." I wanted Despicable Me to be good, but it was shallow and just pandered to the kids with the minions. That's good (they know their audience), but it's no The Incredibles, and it shouldn't be compared to Tangled or Toy Story 3 (in my opinion).

Enjoy!

Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides - TheAnimationEmpire Movie Review

2011-06-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

Unfortunately, I think Pirates4 was the worst of the series (I'll get right to it).

I suspect American agrees with me. Here's how the Pirates films faired stateside:

5/20/11 - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - BV
$201,057,000 (US)

5/25/07 - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - BV
$309,420,425 (US)

7/7/06 - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - BV
$423,315,812 (US)

7/9/03 - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - BV
$305,413,918 (US)

As you can see from above, Americans didn't like Pirates 4, they liked 1 and 3 about the same, and they liked Dead Man's Chest the best. I agree that Pirates 2 was good (although Black Pearl is my favorite). Pirates 2 introduced us to Davey Jones, it gave us a sword fight on a giant wheel, it furthered the sweeping romantic story, and it gave us a giant Kraken. It did its job well. (Whereas the third one was weird because it involved Hell being a desert, and it involved Jack Sparrow seeing several versions of himself, a weirdness that he seemed to have shaken off before the fourth movie.)

What was good about Pirates 4:

- Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow was as great as always.
- Geoffrey Rush's Captain Barbossa was a welcome returning character.
- The Mermaid stuff was excellent.

What was lacking:

1. The sweeping love story is gone. As much as I was excited to see Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley exit the series, I now see how they were necessary. They were not replaced well (a half-hearted attempt was made at making Penelope Cruz into a Jack Sparrow love interest and another attempt was made to build a romance between a priest and a mermaid that eerily ended in death). Without the epic romance, the story, energy, sense of purpose, and overall pacing of the movie was lacking.

2. The humor was gone. Jack was about as funny as usual, maybe a little less so. Mostly because he didn't really have any new material (he's done it all in the last three films). Also, in the first three films he wasn't relied on as the humor (he just complemented other key elements of humor). For example, the two bumbling pirates who were good for a laugh were gone. For some reason they were replaced with the annoying character from Snatch and someone said "we're good on the humor department" and gave up. Or something like that. =^)

Similarly, the cleverness was absent. I saw the skeleton in bed reference to the ride, but other than that, I don't really remember being impressed by clever writing as I did in the other three films. I'm counting this toward the humor aspect. The lack of humor also made the film start out slow (it took a long time before it became interesting).

3. The villains were weak. I love the blackbeard historical figure (I always wanted them to use him), and Ian McShane did a good job with it, but other than a briefly smoking beard (which is historically accurate and not taken in a cool and fantastical direction), which they seemed to forget about and stop doing, and other than him being able to control the ropes on ships and then bottle them up (a nice magical power that they never really explain or tie into anything useful), he just doesn't stack up. He's not the conniving evil British leaders we've grown to love, he's not an immortal who turns into a skeleton in the moon's light (Black Pearl), and he's not an immortal who controls the sea, controls the Kraken, and has a squid for a face (Davey Jones; hard to beat that).

And Penelope Cruz is barely better than Keira Knightley (and she comes without the romantic epic story to tie it all together). Plus the mysterious Spanish army is cool and seems to have their act together better than all the captains we actually see in the film. So their mystery is interesting, but their characters aren't all that cool or interesting, except for the fact that they keep coming back and having success and we're not quite sure why they're so good at it. The lack of interesting and cool villains also made the beginning move too slowly (it was awhile before we met Blackbeard, and he wasn't enough to spice it up very quickly).

4. The action and effects weren't quite there either. Sure, the mermaids were interesting (and a few minor water tricks), but there were no sword battles on giant wheels, no giant squids, no giant anything, no battles in storms (only one brief pirate ship battle in a mutiny), and no characters with special effects dripping off their faces.

In an age now where the blockbuster movies have to have effects that blow you away, this film was lacking. (Although people outside the US didn't seem to mind too much.) That might sound shallow, but simply said, we want to watch movies that are cool, and this one was missing that element. So the lack of action also made this movie move a little slower than the others.

===============================

Despite its shortcomings, the movie accomplished what it set out to do (thanks to folks outside the US)... make money.

Here are the movies with the World Wide stats included:

5/20/11 - Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides - BV
$201,057,000 (US) - $831,744,000 (WW)

5/25/07 - Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End - BV
$309,420,425 (US) - $960,996,492 (WW)

7/7/06 - Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - BV
$423,315,812 (US) - $1,060,615,812 (WW)

7/9/03 - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl - BV
$305,413,918 (US) - $658,311,224 (WW)

Looking at those stats above, non-Americans came to see it just as much as Pirates 2 and 3. It did much better than Pirates 1 overseas (which is normal that it takes the first film before the overseas market warms up to it more).

So will they make another Pirates movie? I think they should. They pretty much tied down the story of Pirates 4 without much room to continue it (my guess is because Johnny Depp wants out), but that can be a great reason to continue it. Without being tied to lackluster story of Pirates 4, they can try again and try to build out those elements that were lacking from this film: a sweeping romance, humor and cleverness, amazing villains, and better action sequences and effects.

Enjoy!

- The Emperor

X-Men: First Class - TheAnimationEmpire Movie Review

2011-06-13T12:13:00.000-07:00

Overall, it was a great story and a great movie. But that's not enough nowadays, is it?

Basically, this movie was X-Men without Wolverine, and they now know how badly they need Wolverine or an interesting character like him (Gambit or Deadpool would work) to hold a film like this. They try hard to make this film interesting with Professor X and Magneto, but the problem is that we don't really see anything new here.

As one reviewer mentioned, this film seems to cater to fans and give them what they want... by filling in the blanks from the other films. Essentially this combines the earlier "X-Men Origins: Magneto" attempts. A younger, bold Magneto and Professor X aren't the same draw as Wolverine.

Truthfully, I think a Wolverine-less X-Men movie is possible, but they would need a lot more action, interesting characters, and special effects than this to pull it off.

Overall, the movie is very enjoyable. It does have some great effects. However, despite the story and characters, it's looking to rank last in super hero films this year to three new attempts: Thor, Captain America, and Green Lantern. It's also going to rank last of the 5 X-Men movies.

In order to compete at this level, as a blockbuster film, the movie has to do more visually and has to include more over-the-top and bankable characters (like Wolverine). The story and characters are excellent, but this isn't Dead Poets Society or Good Will Hunting, this is a blockbuster superhero Marvel movie.

As far as effects go, everything we saw here was already done in X-Men 2 and/or 3. There's nothing new here in action or effects. In effects, it probably ranks close to the first X-Men film, which means it doesn't meet current expectations. It's basically an X-Men movie without newer effects and without Wolverine.

And that doesn't seem to be what the fans want.

So I think the movie did quite well because of the story and characters (despite the lack of enough action, effects, and crazy characters). Which means there's hope.

Overall, it would be a shame to see this reboot go, especially since they're continuing the present-day timeline with Wolverine (in The Wolverine) and Deadpool. These X-Men characters are great, and the story is also good.

So I definitely think they should try again and make a sequel to this. However, they are going to need more impressive action and effects (time to let Bryan Singer go to Battlestar Galactica and get writers on the team who know how to sell out to action sequences and fit it into the story better). And they're going to need to add an interesting character into the mix. Since Wolverine is already out of this timeline, they can still bring in the Cyclops and Jean Grey love story (they wasted Angel and Iceman, but maybe they can bring them back in as well). And then they also need a wildcard character, so I suggest Longshot, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Multiple Man, or Colossus, and then they also have to make them as interesting as the comics do (Nightcrawler and Colossus weren't interesting in the films so far).

As far as Disney goes, I think Marvel is going to keep the X-Men license with Fox until this X-Men series franchise dies out. As far as I can tell, they can still get one to three more films out of this New Class reboot (if they do it right), another two Wolverine movies, and then three Deadpool movies (again, if they do it right). Plus they could easily give great characters like Gambit and Nightcrawler their own films, but first they need to make them great in an X-Men movie (hasn't happened yet).

Then I think the franchise will slide over to Disney once this X-Men timeline/existence has worked through the possible films (currently Fox is making The Wolverine and Deadpool). Then hopefully they can reboot it under the Disney brand and stick closer to the comics (if you don't know, Bryan Singer butchered the timelines on all the characters in the comics and even butchered personalities of the characters to get them to fit in the stories, so a faithful reboot would actually be far more successful than this run was; so far the most faithful one to the timelines and characters was Wolverine, and I assume they will keep The Wolverine and Deadpool faithful).

And if/when the X-Men franchise slides over to Disney production (Disney owns Marvel now, so it's only a matter of time), then with the reboot they can fit the characters into the Avengers world (which might be a different world, by that time) and feature film crossovers.

Enjoy!

- The Emperor

BO Clout: Fast Five puts Vin Diesel up to six $100 million US films

2011-06-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

Vin Diesel stats:
$100M+ (World Wide) - 8
$100M+ (US) - 6
$200M+ (WW) - 5
$500M+ (WW) - 1

Box Office (BO) Clout is a star's ability to deliver $100M+ films. This determines the star's momentum and achievements. You can argue that art is more important than money in films, and you can argue that there's a lot more involved in a film's success than the stars (direction, story elements, etc.), and you'd be right. But BO Clout at least tracks the star's momentum in the area where studios care ($) and their overall ability to land the right roles.

Here are all the Vin Diesel films:

On the way:
- Hannibal the Conquerer (2011)
- Riddick Sequel
- xXx Sequel
- The Machine
- The Wheelman

4/29/11 - Fast Five - Univ.
$203,879,000 (US) - $576,754,829 (WW)

4/03/09 - Fast & Furious - Univ.
$155,064,265 (US) - $363,064,265 (WW)

8/29/08 - Babylon A.D. - Fox
$22,532,572 (US) - $70,216,497 (WW)

3/17/06 - Find Me Guilty - YFG
$1,173,643 (US) - $1,788,077 (WW)

3/4/05 - The Pacifier - BV (Disney)
$113,086,868 (US) - $198,006,880 (WW)

6/11/04 - The Chronicles of Riddick - Univ.
$57,761,012 (US) - $107,212,751 (WW)

4/4/03 - A Man Apart - NL
$26,736,098 (US) - $44,114,828 (WW)

10/11/02 - Knockaround Guys - NL
$11,715,637 (US) - $12,419,700 (WW)

8/9/02 - xXx - SonR
$142,109,382 (US) - $267,200,000 (WW)

6/22/01 - The Fast and the Furious - Univ.
$144,533,925 (US) - $206,512,310 (WW)

2/18/00 - Pitch Black - USA
$39,240,659 (US) - $53,182,088 (WW)

2/18/00 - Boiler Room - NL
$16,970,581 (US) - $28,773,637 (WW)

8/3/99 - The Iron Giant (Voice) - WB
$23,159,305 (US) - $31,333,917 (WW)

7/24/98 - Saving Private Ryan - DW
$216,540,909 (US) - $481,635,085 (WW)

==================

EDitorial:

Vin Diesel is riding Fast and Furious (he has for the last two FF films). It's helped bring him back from the realm of the forgotten.

What originally happened was that he became successful quickly with Private Ryan, Pitch Black, F&F, and xXx. Then he decided he could line up a Riddick film, go do his own thing, try dramatic acting, be a blockbuster star, and didn't need the F&F and xXx sequels. So he wasn't in F&F2, xXx2 (although Sammy Jackson came back), and Vin only cameo'd in F&F3.

But by that time he only managed to pull a line drive out of the Pacifier and that's it. His hits were dry. So the F&F franchise needed him (and Walker) back, and they both needed hits. So they went at F&F4 hard, brought the actors back, upped the effects and action, and it paid off as the top F&F. So they decided to step it up even more for F&F5. They added The Rock, brought Tyrese Gibson back (from F&F2), added Ludacris, and kept it as fast and furious as possible. They found the right combination, and Fast Five made $200M (US) and $500M (WW), which turned it into a gold franchise, starting this year.

My point of saying that, is that because it is now a gold franchise, they should keep at it.

Vin seems to have his act together now. He realizes he needs the hits and the sequels in order to make bank and push his career. He's proven that by coming back and doing two F&F films, and helping the franchise to new levels. He's also going to try to do the same (make hit franchises) with Riddick (first attempt was Pitch Black and then Chronicles of Riddick; I hope they try harder this time), with xXx (Ice Cube couldn't pull it off), and with some new material that could work: Wheelman (self explanatory), Hannibal (getting historical), and The Machine (robot time).

So I wish Vin Diesel the best with his revamped Box Office strategy. He's definitely headed in the right direction. However, he needs to keep his head on his shoulders and shouldn't abandon franchises if they can help him make money and push his career (like I said, Paul Walker didn't abandon F&F2 and Samuel L. Jackson didn't abandon xXx2). So just remember, Vin, you're just a man, you can't make hits out of thin air, and you should stay loyal to your fans if you expect them to stay loyal to you. If they want a xXx2, then that's what you give them. You make it bigger and better and give them what they want, even if you'd rather move on.

Which comes to my second point of advice (other than not making the same mistakes he made when he abandoned xXx and F&F): F&F is now a global franchise. The people want a sixth one, and they want it to be just as big. So I'd get on board for a sixt F&F, get as many of the actors in as you can, add one or two more names if you lose any (maybe a woman, like Angelina Jolie, Meagan Fox or insert an action chick name here), push the locations (maybe visit another country), and push the effects (design some sweet sequences and see how you can fit them into the story, which is pretty much Matrix Reloaded if you think about it).

Enjoy!

- The Emperor

Tangled - TheAnimationEmpire movie review

2011-04-06T08:40:00.000-07:00

UPDATE: We added a few links to our Princess and the Frog review, we explain #4 a little more (we received an interesting comment on this post that you should check out), and we added point #10 about how great of a roller coaster the film is, which starts out positive. =^)

Originally posted 12/5/10.
===========================

I think this review will be a work in progress because of the magnitude of what the film represents (as far as Disney's latest attempt at a fairy tale)...

So we saw Tangled, and it brings up a multitude of emotions. Here are our basic thoughts...

1. It's a step in the right direction from A Princess and a Frog. Honestly, I had to fast-forward about 40% of Princess and a Frog for my 5 and unders (demons? and voo-doo? really?). (Plus the P&F characters were interesting, but they were all thrown together randomly as they wandered around, and it was really a frog movie - about 80% of it was them as frogs, and if you're going to do a frog movie, you should do it in 3D and really get us in the world of frogs better.) Read our Princess and the Frog review here. So Tangled is a step in the right direction. I think Tarzan was Disney's last great fairy tale (although Princess and a Frog was "good") and the last one to be so successful. Tangled isn't as good as Tarzan, but it probably fairs better than Hercules, Hunchback, and Pocahontas for me, which means Disney finally got back to making fairy tales the right way again.

2. It's doing well in the box office. More on that later, but the film is probably doing better than any Disney animated film since Tarzan (which isn't saying a ton, but still, it's something).

3. There's only one good number in it. By "number" I mean the combination of music, how memorable it is, and then the fun of what's happening during the song. And that's the tavern song (The Snugly Duckling song about dreams). Compare that to Little Mermaid (3 songs), Beauty and the Beast (4 songs), Aladdin (4 songs), and Lion King (4 songs). You do have to give them points for "Mother Knows Best" in Tangled, but it was hardly as memorable or likable as the Snugly Duckling song or the greats of those other Disney films (such as the Beauty and the Beast tavern song about Gaston or even Scar's song in Lion King; "Mother Knows Best" felt a little too like "let's do this classic song idea bit" rather than anything innovative).

4. Why is this an animation? You've got to ask yourself this. Why isn't this a live-action film? Every animation needs to answer this question. My wife said, "Because kids like those films better." Well that's not a reason to spend 3 times the money on it (and many more years) in order to animate it. But basically that's a rhetorical question that you need to ask during animation development. And I got the hint that they never asked it. That's the premise behind every Pixar film. They say, "What can we do with 3D animation that's hard or impossible in real life? Toys. Bugs. Monsters. Talking fish. Super heroes. Robots. Rats. Talking cars." Take a look at Cinderella (talking mice, Fairy Godmother, Lucifer, and various animals), Little Mermaid (mermaid, sebastian, flounder, Skuttle, etc.), Aladdin (Genie, Abu, Iago, carpet ride, magic lamp), Lion King (everything), Beauty and the Beast (Beast and when working on the film, they/Ashman asked that question, and that's how they came up with the enchanted household items/servants), Hunchback (castle top scenes and the gargoyles that come alive), and Tarzan (talking apes and elephant and some tree surfing effects). And then you have Tangled (magic and long hair effects, and a chameleon and horse with personalities). So in that sense, Tangled doesn't really have much of a reason to be an animation. This was also a problem in Pocahontas (talking tree, and a raccoon, a pug dog, and a hummingbird with personalities). For example, let's compare Timon, Lumiere, Dopey (who didn't talk), Genie, Flounder, Pascal from Tangled, and Mushu from Milan. Who is the most memorable as a character? The ones who talked. I'm not saying talking animals is the answer (Genie, Lumiere, Dopey, and Mushu weren't animals, and Dopey didn't talk), but they all were stronger characters who could express themselves (mostly through voice). Tangled didn't sell us its comedy sidekicks as well as past Disney films did (Tangled had great characters, but they won't be compared to those I listed above).

5. What actually happens? I can't help but leave the film thinking... yes, they filled the time with an interesting ongoing chase and interesting characters. But what actually happened? She was in a tower, left, fell in love, and went back. Hmmm. I really didn't seem to enjoy or get immersed in any one place or any one experience (except briefly in the Snugly Duckling tavern). It was just one ongoing sequence of chasing and backstabbery. That kept me interested, but it doesn't make me want to watch it again or tell my friends.

6. Great characters, but maybe they weren't used as well as they could have been. Despite my misgivings of the film, I loved the characters in Tangled. Rapunzel was darling and charming (even Mandy Moore's light lisp gave her personality), Lady Gothel was a wonderfully wicked villain who used the power of her scheming mind, Flynn was a fantastic hero, Pascal the Chameleon was hilarious and fun, and Maximus the horse was also a fantastic and fun character that made a nice twist. However, I couldn't help but want to see Flynn more before he met Rapunzel, Maximus before he met Flynn, what Lady Gothel does for fun and when she's away from Rapunzel, and even what the almost nonexistent King and Queen do and what they're like. The only character that I felt acquainted with enough was Rapunzel herself. Everybody else made me want to see them more outside this sequence of chases and backstabbery. It seems that if the main purpose of changing the title of the film from "Rapunzel" to "Tangled" was to focus on Flynn and their relationship more, then, well, they kind of failed (except for the title change, of course), because this movie only told Rapunzel's story well enough. Which leads to...

7. Why change the name? Why call Rapunzel Tangled? It was clearly about Rapunzel. I felt like I barely knew Flynn, and it just made me want to see more of his past. Essentially they didn't show us a ton of Jasmine before she met Aladdin. But they showed us a few scenes to get us to like her and understand that she wants to run away. We didn't even get that with Flynn. All we got was the scene where he stole the crown. Sure, it was cool, but it wasn't enough. It certainly wasn't a reason to rename the fairy tale! So why did they? Answer: Because the lack of success from Princess and the Frog scared them. So they figured if you name the film after the princess then the film doesn't do well. WHAAAAT??? That's hogwash. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Cinderella. Sleeping Beauty. Little Mermaid. Pocahontas. Mulan. It's especially laughable because they purposefully butchered the Princess and the Frog name to begin with. It's The Frog Prince. That's the fairy tale. So just don't go out of your way to change the name and the underlying story (and don't make a frog movie that heavily features demons). That's what they should have learned from Princess and a Frog. Anyway...

8. Narrations aren't all that fun. Unfortunately, the movie begins with the narration. Sure, it works okay, but with cuts to the past like that, they could have lengthened out the King and Queen's scene a little for us to get to know them (you know, have them talk and stuff). And it would have been good to get to know Lady Gothel a bit as well. (But I did think it was clever how Flynn said he was d*********** at the beginning and how that played out later in the story.) In other words, the movie should begin with character and personality and emotion, not a narration.

9. Tangled looks fantastic. This could be my first compliment that isn't back-handed. =^) - No negatives here. They nailed the 3D style of Disney's 2D animated fairy tale humans better than anyone (Shrek, Tinker Bell movies, Pixar, anyone). Hair is notoriously hard in 3D animation, and they pretty much flaunt it through most of the film. So much so that I eventually forgot that I was even looking at 3D hair and was immersed in the film. And I couldn't help but look at things like the singing rats in the tavern and all the people in the kingdom and think, "Wow, they really just made and animated whatever they wanted, even if it was only briefly on the screen." I mean, Pixar made a whole movie about rats, and then Tangled makes a few great ones and just throws them away on a few quick jokes. It's impressive. Okay, so here's a backhanded compliment: I loved the lighting and environments, but the lighting didn't impress me the way seeing the light on the fish above water at the pier in Finding Nemo did. (But no other lighting has impressed me like that did, to be fair.)

10. It's a fun thrill ride. It's a roller coaster and an awesome ride. So I have another positive point to give it. I have to admit it, I have never seen a thriller made for children before (you could probably argue that The Incredibles had thriller elements, but even that was more of an action-adventure, which is a feat in itself). And I never would have believed that it would work to make a thriller for children and families. But Tangled did it. They pulled it off better than I could ever imagine. This movie is one long thrill ride, and it's fun and exciting. Sure, they try to slow it down at parts with some songs, humor, and romance, but the movie never slows down. Previously I argued that the thrill/chase element is the main weakness of the film, and in many ways it is, because we lose the songs, pacing, and oportunities to dig deeper in the characters (as well as opportunities to make more use of the animated art form). Ah, there's the backhand. :) - However, if you take the movie as it is, then you'll find the best thriller made for children and families that could ever exist. Double backhand -- Therein lies a problem and another reason why it probably didn't do as well as it could have. Parents aren't scrambling to get their children to watch thrillers. Personally, I don't mind for my children, but yeah, I admit that thriller isn't my genre of choice for children.

Here's how I'd rank it with the other Disney Fairy Tales for me (1989 and later)...

1. Aladdin
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Lion King
4. Tarzan
5. Little Mermaid
6. Mulan
7. Tangled
8. Pocohontas
9. Hercules
10. Princess and the Frog
11. Hunchback of Notre Dame
12. Brother Bear

Besting Pocahontas is still a phenomenal feat, but Pocahontas also suffered from a poor answer to "why is this an animation?" Their answer was similar to Tangled... a magical tree and animals that play around. Using animation to give animals personality works, but it doesn't bring characters to life the way the talking mice in Cinderella do, Flounder and Sebastian, Mushu in Mulan, Lumiere and Cogsworth, Chip and Mrs. Potts, Iago and the Genie, Timon and Pumbaa, and others.

And because I'm a Disney nut, here is the list with Disney's older fairy tales. It's hard to decide what a fairy tale is, but I'm basically adding in Snow White, Pinocchio, Cinderella, Peter Pan, Sleeping Beauty, Sword in the Stone, and Black Cauldron. Let me know if you think other films qualify as fairy tales.

So here's the list of my favorite Disney fairy tales (all time):

1. Aladdin
2. Beauty and the Beast
3. Cinderella
4. Snow White and the Seven Dwarves
5. Lion King
6. Tarzan
7. Little Mermaid
8. Peter Pan
9. Pinocchio
10. Mulan
11. Tangled
12. Sleeping Beauty
13. Pocohontas
14. Sword in the Stone
15. Black Cauldron
16. Hercules
17. Princess and the Frog
18. Hunchback of Notre Dame
19. Brother Bear

I know, comparing some of these films is like comparing apples to oranges, especially classics without as strong romantic angles, like Pinocchio and Peter Pan. Plus, if you were going to eliminate the ones that were written as "novels" more recently, you'd eliminate Tarzan, Peter Pan (play), Pinocchio, Sword in the Stone, Hunchback of Notre Dame, and Black Cauldron. And then, on those grounds, you'd have to eliminate Lion King because it's basically an original tale based on Hamlet, Pocahontas because it's a true story, and Princess and the Frog because it was inspired by the 2002 novel The Frog Princess. So it gets a little fuzzy. =^)

Read our Princess and the Frog review here.

I hope you watch Tangled if you haven't, and then tell us what you think of it! (And how our review stacks up.)

- The Emperor

Movie Review - Hotel for Dogs

2011-03-02T09:04:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Who let the dogs in?

Emma Roberts (the niece of Julia Roberts) and Disney Channel star Jake T. Austin play two orphans who learn what imagination can do in "Hotel for Dogs."

Animals are strictly forbidden at Andi and her little brother Bruce's foster home. But for Friday, the adorable dog they secretly care for, they're ready to risk everything. They finally find Friday an ideal shelter, a huge abandoned hotel that Bruce transforms thanks to his engineering genius. In what has become an incredible paradise for dogs, Friday is soon joined by all kinds of furry friends, so many in fact that their barks alert the neighbors...and the local pound, who can't understand the disappearance of all the stray dogs. Andi and Bruce will have to call on all their friends and all their imagination to stop the hotel's secret from being discovered.

"Hotel for Dogs" was actually slightly above my expectations. It gets more and more predictable as it goes along, but at the end I smiled, thinking, "This is the way we should be treating man's best friend." I am a dog-lover.

Rated PG for some crude humor and mild language.

Two and a half stars (out of four) for "Hotel for Dogs."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Dear John

2011-02-27T09:02:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

What would you do with a letter that changed everything?

Well, whatever you'd do, I would send it to change everything in the minds of those who disliked the movie "Dear John," based on the book by Nicholas Sparks, the author of "The Last Song" and "The Notebook." This was also the film that knocked "Avatar" off the number one spot in the Box Office after it stayed there for seven consecutive weeks.

Channing Tatum from "Step Up" plays a soldier in the U.S. Military who gets sent home for a while before he performs his last year fighting in the war. At home in South Carolina, he meets a college student, played by Amanda Seyfried, and in just two weeks they fall in love. The girl lives next door to a young boy named Alan, who is based on Nicholas Sparks' autistic son. The soldier's father also has Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism. When the girl visits his house, his father is excited when she gets interested in what he likes doing the most: studying coins. After two weeks, though, the soldier has to go back to Germany to fight for one more year before he can go home permanantly. But on September 11, 2001, terrorists attack on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon, forcing him to stay in the war even longer. In the meantime, he and the girl are desperatly trying to keep each other in touch by letters.

For a film without much potential, my mom and I were impressed. "Dear John" is one of the best films I've seen in a while. It's even better than "The Last Song" and is deserving of more praise than it has received. Through three quarters of the movie, my mom and I cried like babies. I might even say this was the best love story since "Titanic." The real thing that struck me the most was the way they protrayed the soldier's father who had Asperger's Syndrome, as I do myself. And I think this movie gives people who have others in their family who are afflicted with Asperger's an idea of how to deal with them. If you do, by any chance, then this is the movie for you. Or if you're looking for a movie with a great love story, then I also recommend this one.

Rated PG-13 for sensuality and some war violence.

Four stars (out of four) for the appealing and poignant tear-jerker, "Dear John," definitely one of 2010's best.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Bedtime Stories

2011-02-25T09:07:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

What if you told a bedtime story and the next day it came to life?

Only a valid question in the world of the clever family film "Bedtime Stories."

Adam Sandler stars as Skeeter Bronson, an ignored worker at a country famous hotel who learns that sometimes the happiest of endings aren't always what we'd expect. He has to babysit for his niece and nephew for a few days, telling them bedtime stories each night. He isn't much in the habit of doing this until the stories he tells them start becoming his daytime realities. Now he finds himself looking for his own "happy ending," hoping that maybe now he can be noticed.

This a very cute and family-friendly movie with a lot of good humor, sometimes you even explode with laughter. But it's also very optimistic with a mildly inspiring message. Although mainly aimed toward children, it's a film that kids, adults, and even teenagers can enjoy.

Rated PG for some mild language and some mild suggestive humor (the only Adam Sandler movie to recieve this rating).

Three stars for the thouroughly enjoyable, "Bedtime Stories," and, yeah, it's a good story to watch right before bedtime, just in my opinion.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Princess and the Frog - The Animation Empire movie review

2011-02-21T09:24:00.000-08:00

First, let's start with my (proven) theory that the mom owns the family movie ticket. Accoding to this theory, the moms and daughters control the movie tickets, not the boys. When a boy wants to watch a He-Man movie or animated Batman movie (or Star Wars: Clone Wars, TMNT, Atlantis, Titan AE, Sinbad, Iron Giant, Treasure Planet, El Dorado, etc.) then the mom says "Wait for DVD" or "Go watch TV." Why? Because the mom would have to go too, and the mom (and sisters) don't want to watch a violent movie for boys. Appealing to the girls is much more effective than boys. (That's also why TV cartoons is a huge market for boys--they're free for mom.)

And that brings us to Princess and the Frog, a film marketed toward girls.

So Disney was upset that Princess and the Frog did not perform well. Why? First, I think it did better than it should have, BECAUSE it was aimed at girls. I'm also surprised at how well black ladies like it. It only did $270 million worldwide, but it only cost $105 million to make (cuz it was done in 2D). And the foreign release was really solid (like 60% of the sales).

I mean, I know girls love this movie. Know how? First, over 50 girls in the US got salmonella poisoning when kissing frogs after seeing this movie. Bad parents! Bad! Second, guess who's tweeting/twittering about how much they love the movie? Black girls: http://twitter.com/#search?q=%23princessandthefrog

So if the reason why it didn't do so hot isn't about the girls, then what's the reason? The movie. The movie? Yes, the movie.

Here are the four reasons why the movie didn't do well:

(1) Let's freak kids out by featuring voodoo and demons. Oh, great idea, geniuses! Sure Walt played with it with Fantasia, but that movie cost him a ton of money. He tried to play with the dark side again with Sleeping Beauty... also lost him money. Disney tried again in the 80s with Black Cauldron. Big flop. They were 0 for 3. Demons don't belong in Disney films. They didn't get that memo.

(2) Let's make the princess a frog for most of the movie. Oh, yeah, that makes sense! Why would girls want to see a princess, when they can enjoy a movie about what girls actually love... frogs. +2 genius points. Seriously, this was a frog movie. If they're going to make a frog movie, do it in 3D like Pixar does and really sell the world of the frog (and base it around a heart-wrenching story like Pixar does).

(3) Why would we want to tell the original fun and delightful fairy tale (that ironically centers more around the prince, which would have given the movie that boy-factor they were missing), when instead we could make the movie based on a teen romance novel (that was received with mixed reviews) that was based on the fairy tale? And then we'll market it like there's some sort of twist (that she turns into a frog too), even though the twist is half as creative as the Shrek twist, which is now considered normal. Yeah, great idea. It just made me want to go see the Shelley Duvall version with Robin Williams. And the original title was "The Frog Prince." Why not keep it? And in the original fairy tale, the princess was a princess. Why not make a movie about a princess instead of one about a frog?

(4) So... about these characters... The alligator, lightening bug, voodoo lady, and others (not even going to think about a squished bug turning into a star; let's kill your favorite character; it's okay... he's a star now). Cute characters. However, these aren't Disney quality. The characters and songs are fine, but I don't really care about them. Why? Because this is the story of frogs going on a road trip and running into other random characters. These characters don't really resonate. They don't connect well. Sure, Up pulled it off (disconnected characters united by a road trip story), but Disney shouldn't take those chances. It's hard to care about characters that don't seem driven or connected.

So there you go. Disney, don't worry about the girl/boy audience. Worry about (1) your villains, (2) your heroes, (3) your story, and (4) your supporting characters. That's why your movie didn't do so well. Don't blame the girls that they didn't shell out the money or the boys that they didn't show up. It was the movie, not the audience.

I would give the film four out of five stars, because it was great despite all the issues.

That said, I had to fast-foward through about 40% of the movie when watching it with my four and three-year old daughters. They don't need demons haunting their nightmares. Next time, Disney, try making a princess movie that isn't all about demons and frogs. =^)

(I didn't have to fast-forward through any of Tangled, so that's good. Read our Tangled review here.)

- TAE

Movie Review - Dragonball Evolution

2011-02-19T09:54:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

In "Dragonball Evolution," the story begins with Goku, who seeks out upon his adoptive grandfather Grandpa Gohan's dying request to find the great Master Roshi and gather all seven Dragon Balls. Of which he has one, in order to prevent the evil Lord Piccolo from succeeding in his desire to use the Dragon Balls to take over the world. And Goku's quest is to obtain the mystical Dragonballs before Piccolo does.

I used to think that there was no such thing as a stupid movie...

...but was I wrong!

This was definitely not one that got my attention, but it was on HBO when I was in Ohio so I thought I'd give it a try.

It was even lower than my expectations. I think we can agree that the plot has been used too many times. On top of that, poor script, bad effects and makeup, and it feels like longer than its brief hour and a half running time. Movies may disappoint, but this one will just bore you to tears, particularly because of the line that is used over and over again (even more than Spider-Man's "With great power comes great responsibility"): "Always believe in who you are." Oh boy.

Rated PG for sequences of martial arts action and some language.

One star (out of four) for "Dragonball Evolution." Avoid it at all costs.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Knowing

2011-02-14T09:39:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Knowing is everything...

Nicholas Cage plays a scientist whose son finds a mysterious paper found in a time capsule in the sci-fi chiller, "Knowing," directed by Alex Proyas, the director of "I, Robot."

The scientist finds that the long list of random numbers on the paper predicted all the major disasters from the past 50 years, 9/11, the eruption of Mount St. Helens, Hurricane Katrina, etc. The numbers also predict three more disastrous events that haven't occured yet, and he sets out to stop them from happening. He is only puzzled by one question: What happens when the numbers run out?

This is a superbly crafted flick with excellent special effects and one of the most interesting premises ever. It became one of my dad's favorite movies of all time. However, there are parts of the book of Ezekiel that are taken out of context to help support the premise of the movie. If you're easily offended by that kind of thing, then maybe you should choose another movie. It is only a story, though, and [the film] brings you more than enough thrills to keep you watching.

Rated PG-13 for intense disaster sequences and some disturbing and even shocking images.

Three stars (out of four) for the original and intriguing thriller, "Knowing."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Hannah Montana: The Movie

2011-02-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

She's had the best of both worlds... now, she'll have to choose just one.

In Hannah Montana: The Movie, Miley Cyrus stars as Miley Stewart, who's dad decides that it's time for her to take a break from her pop star fame. So he takes her on a trip to her hometown of Crowley Corners, Tennessee to get some perspective on what matters in life the most. There she meets a boy (played by Lucas Till) whom she went to school with in first grade. He shows her that life's a climb, leading her to write the smash hit, "The Climb."

The majority of voters on imdb gave the movie a 1/10. But it must be acknowledged that this is a movie aimed toward young kids ages 7-10. I saw this movie with my sister yesterday and she laughed her head off. She loved it. Of course I didn't love it as much, but I applauded at the surprising appearance by the country music favorites, Taylor Swift and Rascal Flatts. No, it's not an epic, Oscar-winning film, and it's no surprise it didn't win any awards for acting, but it was a little funny and there was some redeeming value between Miley and her dad, and they both have to make some tough decisions, even though [they decide] against what they want most. Not bad for a plotless DCOM.

Rated G, suitable for any juvenile audiences.

Two and a half stars (out of four) for the predictable but perky, "Hannah Montana: The Movie."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Race to Witch Mountain

2011-02-10T09:28:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

The race is on in the sci-fi remake "Race to Witch Mountain."
Dwayne Johnson plays a Las Vegas taxi driver who finds two strangers who appear to be normal teenagers, played by Alexander Ludwig and AnnaSophia Robb from "Because of Winn-Dixie" and "Bridge to Terabithia." But they turn out to be, not witches, but humanoid aliens who came to earth to find a cure for their dying planet. Now he's transporting them from one place to another while the government and other extraterrestrials are after them.

In the case of life on other planets, "Race to Witch Mountain" is very realistic, unlike just aliens in a war against humans, like "War of the Worlds," or just more aliens leaving crop circles. In this one, you wonder, "Of course, why couldn't other life, if there is any out there, look just as we do?" Although the acting is [not impressive], there are a few exhilarating action and chase scenes making this not "just another alien movie."

Rated PG for loads of intense action violence, making it unsuitable for young movie-goers.

Three stars (out of four) for "Race to Witch Mountain." Don't race away from it too quickly.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Tron Legacy

2011-02-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

The game has changed in "Tron Legacy," released almost three decades after the original "Tron," and one of the most expensive films ever made.

Sam Flynn, the tech-savvy 27-year-old son of Kevin Flynn, played by Jeff Bridges, looks into his father's disappearance and finds himself pulled into the same world of fierce programs and gladiatorial games where his father has been living for 20 years. Along with Kevin's loyal confidant, father and son embark on a life-and-death journey across a visually-stunning cyber universe that has become far more advanced and exceedingly dangerous.

You don't need to see the original to understand and enjoy this extremely interesting flick. The effects are elaborate, dazzling to the eye, and blend well into the sound effects and original score composed by Daft Punk. The action scenes are thrilling and jaw-dropping, including one particular motorcycle chase scene that almost blows your mind. Aside from the visuals though, it is a good story that even gets fairly emotional in terms of Sam and his dad having to catch up on everything they've missed since Flynn was lost in the game.

The only thing with "Tron Legacy" is that there is a scene where Flynn says he was in a stressful situation of having his "Zen thing" ruined. Although I did see another interesting spiritual theme comparable to God's creation and how man destroyed it. But I'm going to let you see it and figure out what I'm talking about.

I didn't see the film in 3D, but from the appearance of things, it looks like I missed out.

Rated PG for some mild language and intense sequences of sci-fi violence that get far too scary for kids under the age of 10.

Three and a half stars (out of four) for the thorough and exhilarating, "Tron Legacy."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Monsters VS Aliens

2011-02-02T07:05:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Oooze gonna save us?

Susan Murphy, voiced by Reese Witherspoon, is interrupted on her wedding day, getting hit by an enormous meteor from space in the animated comedy, "Monsters Vs. Aliens."

She mysteriously grows to nearly 50 feet high and is instantly captured by the government and labeled a "monster" named Ginormica. She gets locked in a secret compound filled with other monsters, including a a blue blob named B.O.B., voiced by Seth Rogen, a missing link, voiced by Will Arnett, and Dr. Cockroach, Ph.D., a man who made himself indestrucatable by turning himself into a cockroach.

Susan is told that there would be no communication with the outside world and no getting out. But shortly later, an alien robot lands, and the monsters are released to go fight the treacherous aliens. Probably a pretty close battle.

This was one that wasn't at all appealing once I saw the trailers, but it was better than I thought. It's definitely not one that you'd watch for the plot; nothing really new. But there is a lot of good humor that will make even the most sophisticated people laugh. Make it a rental, though.

Rated PG for sequences of sci-fi action, some crude humor and mild language.

Two and a half stars (out of four) for the feeble but funny, "Monsters Vs. Aliens."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.
=======================================

So I think I disagree with the lower rating on this one.

Essentially this is DreamWorks attempt at making monsters, much how Pixar did with Monsters Inc.

I have to agree that my expectations weren't high from the trailer, but they were raised as I saw the movie do well in the box office.

After watching it, I was pleasantly surpsrised that they focused on the female character and her emotions, which is the way to go for a film like this. Moms would be turned away by the boy-focused themes of monsters, aliens, and a whole lotta action. And that's why I think the film did so well... the main character was a woman dealing with strong emotions.

And then I also thought the film was very enjoyable in humor, action, and story. So I'd give the film four stars out of four. One hesitation is that you'll want to watch this with smaller children. I'm not entirely sure why they put raunchy comedians (and some of their humor) in children films like this, but it seems to help them attract the parents.

- The Emperor

Movie Review - Up

2011-01-22T09:57:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Carl Fredrickson has dreamed of adventure throughout his life and now his adventure is finally taking off in Disney/Pixar's "Up," directed by Pete Doctor, who previously directed the insanely clever "Monsters, Inc."

Tying thousands of balloons to his house, Carl sets out into the air, on his way to an unknown land in South America. But Russel, the 8-year-old wilderness explorer is in the wrong place at the wrong time--- he's on Carl's front porch.

There seems to be a number of people that disagree with me on this one, probably just because it's a Pixar movie and they have better stuff. We have seen this especially in "Toy Story 2," "Monsters, Inc,," "Finding Nemo," "Cars," and "Wall-E." But quite frankly, this was Pixar's worst. The screenplay is so lousily written. Through nearly the entire movie, they just try too hard to be funny, although, like most Pixar movies, there are parts that are improbable not to laugh at. But even the animation looked slightly cheap, which is surprising considering how the animation in the "Toy Story" series improved in "Toy Story 3."

The first ten minutes of the movie is Carl in his younger years when he meets his future wife, and they plan their juvenile adventure to this South American land. Later, they get married and we see their fifty-something years as husband and wife until the girl dies. Then it gets back to the main part of the story and we find that Carl is still intending to fulfill those plans.

Overall, I don't think Pixar was even trying with this one.

Rated PG for some scenes of violence.

Two stars (out of four) for "Up," which also, by the way, has one of the most ridiculous titles of all (though it doesn't beat "The Neverending Story II").

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.
======================

I guess I'm one of those people who disagrees. They definitely made some of the animation a little more stylized, especially on Carl (so they intended the look that feels a little cheap). And yes, I agree that I would have preferred the greater detail of humans found in Incredibles (still a little stylized) and Toy Story 2.

And the beginning 10-minute sequence was ingenious. Most people don't know that the #1 audience you should go for in these movies is the mother (and second is the daughter). If you can win the mom, then she's far more likely to take the family. And I don't think I saw a mom with a dry eye in the theater during the climax of that 10-minute sequence at the beginning. Then they spend the rest of the film coming full circle back to the original source of the emotion. It was impressive and one of the most emotional Pixar movies yet (with the other being Finding Nemo, another road film).

So, yes, the plot was very straight-forward, and the characters were tossed together as they ran into each other (without any real connection), but they fed off of all that emotionally, and it worked, making Up the #2 most successful Pixar movie, behind Finding Nemo (at the time; now Up is #3 and Toy Story 3 is #1). (In contrast, The Princess and the Frog also featured a lot of great characters who randomly ran into each other, but it didn't work because they were never connected emotionally like the characters in Up were.) Plus Up won the Academy Award for best animated film of the year, which was also because of the emotional power in the film.

So while I started out as huge critic of Up (I really don't like road-trip films where characters are tossed together), I quickly became a huge fan of the humor, excitement, joy, and emotion found in Up.

Four out of four stars from me (obviously). Highly recommended. I took my four-year old daughter, and she was scared of the dogs a little, but other than that it's great for little ones.

- The Emperor

Movie Review - My Sister's Keeper

2011-01-19T09:36:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Abigail Breslin, from "The Ultimate Gift" (and Sunshine) plays a girl who was genetically designed to save her sister from dying from leukemia in "My Sister's Keeper."

The girl is now 11 and her sister needs a kidney transplant but she refuses to donate her kidney to her. She seeks a successful lawyer trying to hire him to earn medical emancipation. She tells the lawyer the story of her family after the discovery that her older sister has had leukemia; how she was conceived by in vitro fertilization to become a donor; and the medical procedures she has been submitted since she was five years old to donate to her sister. But the girl's mother is still determined to force her to help hers sister.

If you're aiming for a good and moving flick with not-in-vain optimism, then do not be fooled by other reviews that say this is the one you're looking for. This is a crass and deeply depressing movie. We thought that this movie would mean a lot to us, because my sister, who is 21 right now, was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of five and she made a remarkable recovery. My mom and I both hated it though and my mom remarked afterwards, "I did not need to go back there."

I didn't really see much point in the movie at all. It was just wrong. For the start, I can see that the girl and her sister loved each other greatly. But the girl clearly did not love her sister enough. In my opinion, if she did love her that much, she should have done whatever it took to keep her alive.

(SPOILER WARNING!) But the real thing with this movie is that it just ends with the girl's sister dying. The family grieves it, but the girl says at the very end that she knows she'll see her again, so they are clearly believers in Heaven, but it's apparent that they aren't Christians. It just makes the movie the more sad.

Rated PG-13 for language, disturbing images, and references to teen suicide, sex, and drinking.

One and a half stars (out of four) for "My Sister's Keeper," which no brother or sister will want to keep.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Shorts

2011-01-16T09:24:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Not so TALL tales from the director of "Spy Kids."

In "Shorts," a young boy's discovery of a colorful, wish-granting rock causes chaos in the suburban town of Black Falls when jealous kids and scheming adults alike set out to get their hands on it.

Take my word for it. Choose a different movie! Despite its name, this ubnoxious film feels like longer than its "short" hour and a half running time. It limps through the movie in a random order and none of the characters even make sense in what their doing. The acting is nothing like what someone would literally be doing and the whole plot is pointless and unoriginal with rubbish effects. I want to know what the moviemakers were thinking.

Rated PG for mild action.

One star (out of four) for the senselessly stupid "Shorts," literally the worst movie I've ever seen.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

=====================

Hahaha. Yeah, it's pretty bad, but it was still fun, slightly clever in the way they presented it out of order, and my kids couldn't stop talking about the booger monster. So I'd give it 3 stars out of 5.

- The Emperor

Movie Review - Angels and Demons

2011-01-13T11:31:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Tell the world the truth.

Tom Hanks reprises his role and symbolist, Robert Langdon, in the impressive follow-up to "The Da Vinci Code,"Angels and Demons."

When a murder of a physicist, Leonardo Vetra, finds a symbolist, Robert Langdon, and Mr. Vetra's daughter, Vittoria, on an adventure for a secret brotherhood, The Illuminati. Clues lead them all around the Vatican, including the four alters of science, Earth, Air, Fire and Water. An Assassin, working for the Illuminati, has captured four cardinals, and murders each, painfully. Robert and Vittoria also are searching for a new very destructive weapon that could kill millions.

This was a real turn-around after the disappointment and anti-catholicism of "The Da Vinci Code." It far less offensive to Christ religions and is far more watchable. I was shocked that it has the same director, Ron Howard. What the heck happened?

Anyhow, the action gives you fair suspense and the guy who made an intriguing performance was Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi-Wan Kenobi in the late Star Wars trilogy. The ending is a bit of a twist, but the film already satisfies you up until that point.

Rated PG-13 for sequences of violence and some pretty gross and slightly shocking images.

Three stars (out of four) for "Angels and Demons."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

2011-01-10T09:54:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

When the light go off, the battle is on.

In "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," Ben Stiller reprises his role as Larry Daley, who has started his new organization "Daley Devices." The former security guard for the Museum of Natural History travels to the Smithsonian Museum, where several exhibits of the museum he used to love working for have been shipped to. There he encounters the Pharaoh, Kahmunra who teams up with other famous evil figures to take over the Smithsonian. With some help from Amelia Earhart, well played by Amy Adams, he rockets from one museum to the next to stop the Pharaoh, where there are other appearances by Ivan the Terrible, Al Capone, Napolean Bonaparte, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, and hilariously, Oscar the Grouch and Darth Vader.

If you enjoyed the first "Night at the Museum," as I did, you will most certainly like this one. A lot of fun action and battle scenes and plenty of good laughs make this a very enjoyable film.

The basic message in the movie is that the key to happiness is doing the things you love with people you love. At first I didn't think this was true, but you guys showed me something after events like broomball and the movie night back in February. Happiness is worldly. The key to joy is excepting Jesus as your Lord and Savior. Thanks buds.

The movie is rated PG, but should be suitable for most young kids, with only mild violence.

Three and a half stars for the enjoyable, funny, and completely satisfying, "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

2011-01-07T09:33:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

The sub-zero heroes are back, on an incredible adventure... for the ages in "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs."

After the events of "Ice Age: The Meltdown", life begins to change for Manny and his friends: Scrat is still on the hunt to hold onto his beloved acorn, while finding a possible romance in a female sabre-toothed squirrel named Scratte. Manny and Ellie, having since become an item, are expecting a baby, which leaves Manny anxious to ensure that everything is perfect for when his baby arrives. Diego is fed up with being treated like a house-cat and ponders the notion that he is becoming too laid-back. Sid begins to wish for a family of his own, and so steals some dinosaur eggs which leads to Sid ending up in a strange underground world where his herd must rescue him, while dodging dinosaurs and facing danger left and right, and meeting up with a one-eyed weasel known as Buck who hunts dinosaurs intently.

If you enjoyed the first two "Ice Age" movies, as I did, this one will make you explode with laughter. The humor has gotten even better in this third installment, which doesn't usually happen. I hear "Shrek the Third" is a counterexample. There isn't much more I can say, but see it for the humor.

Rated PG for peril and some mild crude humor.

Three and a half stars for the hysterical animated romp, "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

==============

I thought it was good, but I think it was still the worst of the three. I think adding the dinosaur story and threat just wasn't as interesting as the character-driven themes of the first two films.

- The Emperor

Movie Review - Star Trek

2011-01-04T11:26:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

The future begins in "Star Trek," the alternate reality/prequel to the classic TV series, directed by J.J. Abrams.

On the day of James Kirk's birth, his father dies on his ship in a last stand against a mysterious alien vessel. He was looking for Ambassador Spock, who is a child on Vulcan at that time, disdained by his neighbors for his half-human nature. Twenty years later, Kirk has grown into a young troublemaker inspired by Capt. Christopher Pike to fulfill his potential in Starfleet even as he annoys his instructors like young Lt. Spock. Suddenly, there is an emergency at Vulcan and the newly commissioned USS Enterprise is crewed with promising cadets like Nyota Uhura, Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov and even Kirk himself thanks to Leonard McCoy's medical trickery. Together, this crew will have an adventure in the final frontier where the old legend is altered forever even as the new version of it is just beginning.

At first, it just looked like Hollywood was running out of ideas, but I am looking forward to the sequel. You don't need to be a huge fan of the series to enjoy this prequel. This was one of the most highly acclaimed films of 2009, and one of the best of that year. Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto, who do the lead characters, play the parts so well, it was funny. Simon Pegg, who will be voicing Reepicheep in "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," also made a neat performance. I was surprised that it wasn't nominated for any award for acting. The visual effects are great and the makeup is very well done; I would almost say the pointy ears for Spock put "The Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Lord of the Rings" to shame. The movie isn't really about the battle scenes, although there is one in particular when a planet is being drilled into. This scene is very thrilling. But the real thing about "Star Trek" is the whole premise about what happened prior to the famous stories from the seventies. Although, if you haven't seen any episodes from the television series, you may be a tad confused.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and some unnecessary sexual content.

Three and a half stars (out of four) for the slick and well-written "Star Trek."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

YouTube Tips 15: What's in a Title?

2011-01-02T09:46:00.000-08:00

It took us awhile to nail down any sort of system with the title, and it's a good system, but it also shows some vagueness within the system (which is why it is so accurate; YouTube is a chaotic place when it comes to which titles seem important).

So it started in a conversation on this video from GagaManMusic...

Saw this one again and made me think. To slowly increase the views, put "Flinstones Parody:" at the beginning of this title. =^)

Great job!

- TheAnimationEmpire

Then Andrei changed his title to "Flinstone parody" and left this comment to respond:

that's a good idea. Thanks :)

Thanks! Yeah, it worked for your Cow and Chicken (and I do stuff like that, such as our Zelda Parody). So you might want to add the "Barney's..." bit back as a subtitle like "FLINSTONES PARODY: Barney's..." or Flinstones parody - Barney's..." or something like that (I forgot what you had after "Barney's"

- TAE

I see what you mean - it was barney's invention

Ah yes. =^)

Cool. I think the idea is that the title (Flinstone Parody) makes people interested in that aspect. For example, our Zelda Parody. Then the subtitle might mention another name for a good keyword in searches like you have now. Or another example is our Zelda Parody: Link's a Moron. So "Link" is also a keyword in searches, and then "Link's a Moron" is interesting or controversial. Interesting to some, and then offensive to others, so they might click to watch it.

Oh, and then I see you also made the "P" in "parody" uppercase. This is also a good move. I did limited research, but I've seen VERY similar videos, and title casing (where the first letter of the word) seems to get better clicks than sentence casing (no caps on the first letters of the word). I'm still trying to decide with all caps. I think All Caps is good to lead with (or to put focus on a word later in a title) if the lead word or words aren't long.

Continuing title topic and using all caps... For example, "ZELDA PARODY: Link's a Moron" is probably good. Overall, I can't prove that this helps any with views (it might help a little, but not a huge amount), but it certainly does seem to catch the viewers attention more on the capitalized words, especially if not all the words are in caps. If all the words are in caps, then it doesn't seem to help any at all.

So here are our FOUR RULES TO TITLES:

1. Begin with the easiest sell to brand it.
EXAMPLE: Flinstones Parody
EXAMPLE: Kiera and Johnny! (this was a short series from LisaNova)

2. Use title case instead of sentence case.

3. Use caps to grab attention on specific words (either at the front or in the title somewhere).

4. Don't use all caps through the whole title, unless the all caps makes the title interesting, because it also makes the title slightly harder to read.

5. Use all lowercase when you have multiple words that are intriguing somehow.

6. Make sure your title is interesting or controversial. (Or includes a reference to something popular, which then becomes interesting or controversial.)

What is "interesting" or "controversial" is VERY subjective. In other words, you can argue about it all day and not make any progress. However, here are examples to paint the picture.

Movie Review - Iron Man 2

2011-01-01T09:28:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Yes, I finally saw it.

Six months after the events of the first Iron Man, Tony Stark's life has become more tense than ever. Now that his secret has been revealed, everyone wants in on the Iron Man technology, whether for profit or power. But for the Russian, Ivan Vanko, it's revenge. Tony suits up with his new sidekick, played by Don Cheadle, to face his most challenging battle. But he has another problem on his mind: the shrapnel in his chest is causing him blood toxicity.

Nothing could beat the first "Iron Man," but this is a pretty good sequel. The first was definitely more original, but there were plenty of entertaining battle scenes, which I'm sure was what most fans went to see it for, but there was also pretty good acting that was the top of the critics' minds, believe it or not. After trying so hard to find a time to see this in the theater, I won't waste a minute to see Iron Man 3.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence, and some language (the worst of which is bleeped out).

Three stars (out of four) for the uncomplicated but not disappointing "Iron Man 2."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Fruits VS Bugs - Agent Pineapple Steals (3D animation)

2010-12-29T11:24:00.000-08:00

Here's a new bit from the world of Fruits VS Bugs. Agent Paul Pineapple and Agent Carl Coconut teach you about stealing. =^)

Special thanks to our logo animator, James from HowardCarterOfficial.
Go sub him here:
http://youtube.com/HowardCarterOFFICIAL

If you're new to Fruits VS Bugs, you can catch up:

Fruits VS Bugs Episode 1: http://youtube.com/watch?v=QfbGzAuOTlM

Fruits VS Bugs Episode 2: http://youtube.com/watch?v=fsfR7C-ql5k

Agents Always Win: http://youtube.com/watch?v=ZKJI4iUszt0

Extra Fruity: http://youtube.com/watch?v=K2Ko5-IgUWA

CREDITS:
Writer/Director/Animator - Ed 'word' Price
Animators - Chris Chin, Aric Norine, Scott Warren
Intro Animation - James from HowardCarterOfficial:
http://youtube.com/HowardCarterOFFICIAL

VOICES:
Agent Paul Pineapple - Ken Boynton
Agent Carl Coconut - Wes Mitchell
Agent Brett Banana - Mike Madeoy

Software: 3DS Max and Photoshop

Movie Review - How to Train Your Dragon

2010-12-26T09:08:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

In "How to Train your Dragon," a teenager from an island in viking times is dying to be a dragon killer like the other island residents. But he shoots down an attacking dragon known as the Night Fury that everyone hardly knows anything about. But as he sets out to kill the dragon he shot and impress his father, he gets a change in heart, but is still forced to be trained to kill dragons. In his spare time he tames the black dragon and learns to ride it.

This animated film really doesn't deserve the ratings its been getting on the internet. Although there are parts that are cute and funny, it's still a bit hard to enjoy as it's painfully predictable. Although there isn't anything particularly wrong with it, the plot is basically where "The Little Mermaid" meets "Ratatouille" in the viking world.

Rated PG for sequences of intense action that may scare young kids.

Two stars (out of four) for "How to Train your Dragon."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

===================

I have to watch the film in order to counter this review. But from what I've heard, a lot of people like it (and it did very well in theaters, having "legs" where it kept going where other films would lose steam). I think the reason is because it's simply fun and enjoyable, although I should see for myself.

This film is also notable because the director Chris Sanders, is a Disney animation veteran in the 90s, and he wrote and directed Lilo & Stitch (playing the voice of Stitch). He followed it up with American Dog (renamed to Bolt), but Lassetter cut up the movie so much (Lassetter called it too quirky for its own good) that Chris bolted from Disney.

Chris Sanders then went to DreamWorks, and this was his first film (I think he actually started working on a caveman film, Crood, but he switched over to this one as soon as they got the rights to the book and were probably looking internally for the right director. The other film, Crood, will probably be out next year. I think Chris just pressed pause on that one and is finishing it up now.

In a year of Shrek 4, Toy Story 3, How to Train Your Dragon, Megamind, Despicable Me, Legend of the Guardians (Owls), and Tangled, I think it's anyone's game for the Academy Award. The Academy doesn't really like sequels, and I see Megamind as too much of a sellout and not endearing enough (and it didn't fair nearly as well as the similar but better Despicable Me), which means it's down to How to Train Your Dragon, Despicable Me, Legend of the Guardians, and Tangled. Guardians has the fact that Happy Feet (from the same studio) won the award previously, but it wasn't nearly as successful as Happy Feet. Likewise, Tangled was a step in the right direction for Disney, but the lack of character development (other than Rapunzel) and the lack of Disney magic and spectacular songs/numbers, means it might not win. So my money is on either How to Train Your Dragon or Despicable Me. I can't decide right now. We'll see.

- The Emperor

Movie Review - The Polar Express

2010-12-23T11:36:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Don't miss the holiday film of the season, "The Polar Express," directed by Robert Zemeckis.

Tom Hanks voices five characters in this brilliantly animated movie, based on the book by Chris Van Allsburg. I always loved trains when I was a little kid and I got the book when I was 6. You can bet I was really excited to see the movie in theaters.

An pre-teenager who is losing belief in Santa Claus gets a ticket to ride on the magical steam train, The Polar Express. The boy steps on to the train on its way to the North Pole and meets up with several other non-believers. On the way, the boy goes through a lot of intense action, riding up and down roller coaster-like mountains, sliding over the ice cap and getting off the top of the train before it hits a low-clearance tunnel.

I saw it when I was 10 and I am still very impressed with this piece of art. They stuck very well with the book (beside the things they added in to make it a movie). The animation is incredible, even better than the animation of other movies like the Pixar films. The sound is so well designed and the action is so supenseful, it is impossible not to enjoy the movie, even if you aren't still a believer in fantasy. Though the movie isn't in theaters anymore, the 3D effects are almost overwhelming, too. I loved the movie so much, I saw it two more times in theaters.

Rated G, but probably should be PG for sequences of intense action.

Four stars (out of four) for the dazzling Holiday flick, "The Polar Express."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

================================

Whenever I read "Don't miss the holiday film of the season" I can't help but think "the 2004 holiday season," because just "season" isn't accurate enough for me. It sounds recent. =^)

- The Emperor

Weakly EDitorial: Cartoons about real people

2010-12-20T14:48:00.000-08:00

12/20/10 Update: Added ProStars and The Beatles, and we updated some images. Originally posted 7/18/10.
=====================

I was talking to my uncle about all those cartoons that have been about actual celebrities. It made us wonder who voiced themselves and who didn't. That brings us to the latest Weakly EDitorial.

A lot of the celebs voiced their cartoon selves. Here are a few...

3 Stooges: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Three_Stooges

Gary Coleman Show: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gary_Coleman_Show

New Kids on the Block (they started voicing themselves and later stopped): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124956/fullcredits#cast

MC Hammer: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0179572/

Chuck Norris: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0165166/fullcredits#cast

Mr. T (lasted 3 years, which is quite impressive): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mister_T_(TV_series

And the ones who didn't voice themselves...

ProStars (Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, and Bo Jackson fought evil for about a month and a half):
target=_blankhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ProStars

The Beatles (lasted two years from 1965-1967; the producer and director of this series also did the very-different Yellow Submarine animated Beatles film):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_(TV_series

Jackson 5ive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jackson_5ive_(TV_series)

Hulk Hogan's Rock N Wrestling (Hulk was played by Raymond's brother): http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0203265/

Harlem Globetrotters: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_Globetrotters_(TV_series)#Production_credits

Super Globetrotters (they brought it back for more): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Super_Globetrotters#Super_Globetrotters

Jackie Chan Adventures (Jackie did the live action bits, but not the voice; lasted 5 years, which is probably the most successful): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jackie_Chan_Adventures_characters

And honorary mentions go to Bill Cosby's Fat Albert and Little Bill, characters loosely based on himself and his stand-up comedy.

Maybe we'll add more to this later. Leave a comment if you can think of any more. Thanks!

Enjoy!

- TAE

Movie Review - The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

2010-12-20T09:53:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Return to magic. Return to hope. Return to Narnia.

Your wait has ended. Based on the novel by C.S. Lewis finally comes "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader," the third installment of the Chronicles of Narnia, which are now being directed by Michael Apted, who previously directed "The World is not Enough" and "Amazing Grace."

Lucy and Edmund return to Narnia with their snobby cousin Eustace (brilliantly played by Will Poulter) and climb aboard the Dawn Treader where they are reunited with King Caspian to find seven lost Narnian lords. They sail quickly over the Eastern Ocean toward the end of the world. Along the way, they are given the task of breaking the spell of the green mist and the Dark Island, the island where dreams come true.

If you loved the first two movies, as I did, this one will blow you away, particularly if you see it in 3D.

This is without a doubt the funniest of the three, and like the first two, the special effects are so well done. In addition, it has majestic 3D aspects, that seem to give your more than your money's worth, and the art direction of the ship are deserving of an Oscar nomination. There aren't as many fight scenes as its predecessor, "Prince Caspian," but still with some very entertaining action sequences, especially the battle with the Sea Serpent.

It is a bit different from the book, but it's difficult to mind, though my family are fans the novels. There is a new subplot involving the Narnian lords' swords, but no movie is ever the exact same as the book. You must understand, I am very visual and I love great cinematic experiences. Normally, I would say that a movie is better than its book, though most seem to diagree. With the Narnia series, I don't bother comparing. The books and the movies are both great in different ways and I love them both.

So are there still the Biblical messages that were in the book? Even more. Lucy, Edmund and Eustace all learn morals about self-worth, loyalty and living by faith and not by sight. None of these were in the book. The final scene when Aslan appears is even tear-jerking and you really feel for the characters. In my opinion, the movie stirs more emotion than the novel. I was glad that my dad wasn't too disappointed; The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is his favorite book of the series. He was pleasantly surprised that they did include the most important line in the series: Aslan's words, "In your world, I have another name." If the movie was a bit more like the book, I bet even C.S. Lewis would have loved it.

Rated PG for sequences of fantasy violence and some fairly scary images, but didn't scare my ten-year-old sister too much.

Four stars (out of four) for the entertaining and deeply touching "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." It makes the first two movies look like "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

================

I'm confused by that last sentence. I thought Return of the King was the best of the LOTR films. =^)

- TAE

Movie Review - The Nativity Story

2010-12-18T09:49:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Here's a Christmas movie that we should review!

Her child would change the world.

"The Nativity Story" is the lousy version of the story of Mary and Joseph's journey to Bethlehem to give birth to Jesus Christ, directed by Catherine Hardwicke.

Why do I call it lousy? Some may find this just a reminder of what Jesus did for us, but there is a lot of inaccuracy that draws your mind away from the story. For example, the Bible says that a multitude of the Heavenly Hosts filled the sky, praising God. How does a multitude translate as one? I also wish they had put it in Hebrew and the other languages that were used at the time and location of this historical event, like "The Passion of the Christ."

I'll leave the inaccuracy for a minute to another thing that offended me. You may think I'm dumb for cringing at this, but Jesus was shown naked. Sure he was only a baby, but still he's our Savior and I find it disrespectful.

But the thing that disappointed me the most about the movie was that there was trouble getting to Bethlehem because Joseph and Mary didn't want to marry each other. Does anyone remember this incident in the Bible? Didn't think so. God's Word says specifically that they were, in fact, engaged.

They really could have done a great deal better if they had stayed with the Bible.

Rated PG for some brief scenes of violence.

Two stars out of four for "The Nativity Story."

Review by Alex Popp.

Phineas and Ferb interview Jack Black and Andy Samberg

2010-12-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

From Wikipedia...

Take Two with Phineas and Ferb is an upcoming spin-off to Phineas and Ferb, premiering December 3, 2010.

Episode list:

December 3, 2010 - Phineas and Ferb interview Jack Black.

December 10, 2010 - Phineas and Ferb interview Andy Samberg.

Known guests:

Seth Rogen
Tony Hawk
Taylor Swift
Regis Philbin
Neil Patrick Harris
Emma Roberts
Randy Jackson
Cedric the Entertainer

Enjoy!

New Disney Junior block of kids shows

2010-12-03T09:56:00.000-08:00

Disney Channels Worldwide prexy Carolina Lightcap mapped out the rollout of young kids brand Disney Junior, which replaces the "Playhouse Disney" block on Disney Channel in early 2011, and takes over SoapNet's channel in 2012.

In the hopes of broadening the channel's aud slightly, Lightcap said Disney Junior would target kids 2-7, as opposed to 2-5. Lightcap said playing down the preschool age range makes it easier for 6- and 7-year-olds, many of whom still aren't ready for older fare, to tune in.

Among programs to join Disney Junior: "Jake and the Neverland Pirates," which uses Captain Hook in 2011; and then "Doc McStuffins" and "Little Princess" in 2012. Disney Junior will give "Minnie Mouse" her own show, in which she runs a hotel with Daisy Duck.

"It's 'Laverne and Shirley' meets 'Fawlty Towers,'" Marsh quipped.

From:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118026910

========

To recap, Disney Jr. is both a block to replace Playhouse Disney (adds older shows for 5-7 year olds and competes more with Dora and other Nick toons), and it is also a dedicated cable channel that will replace Disney's SoapNet. I'd rather see Disney focus on family fair anyway (SoapNet was more of an offspring of ABC than Disney).

Here's the Disney Jr. teaser page:

http://disney.go.com/junior/pre/index.html

Enjoy!

Disney XD to unleash Marvel cartoons

2010-12-01T09:56:00.000-08:00

(This Incredibles/Captain America image is just a fan image.)

Disney XD ordered the live-action comedy "Wasabi Warriors," about a ragtag group of kids at the worst martial arts studio in the country. Starring Jason Earles ("Hannah Montana") and Leo Howard, show comes from exec producers Jim O'Doherty ("Grounded for Life") and Marc Warren. Among other series in the works for Disney XD is the stylish, futuristic toon "Motorcity."

And Marsh touted Disney XD as one of the biggest beneficiaries of Disney's Marvel acquisition. "Ultimate Spider-Man" joins the tween boy cabler in spring 2012, when the channel will also launch a Marvel-branded programming block.

From:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118026910

Enjoy!

New Tron cartoon on Disney XD

2010-11-29T09:50:00.000-08:00

Disney XD orders 'Tron: Legacy' toon

Tron Legacy:

Disney is spinning its upcoming "Tron: Legacy" feature into an animated TV series.
Boy-centric cabler Disney XD has given a series order to "Tron: Uprising," which is set for a summer 2012 bow.

Charlie Bean ("Samurai Jack") will exec produce and direct, while "Tron: Legacy" writers Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz will serve as consulting producers. "Tron: Legacy" co-producer Justin Springer is also on board.

"Tron: Uprising's" voice cast includes Elijah Wood, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Mandy Moore, Paul Reubens, Nate Corddry and Lance Henriksen. Bruce Boxleitner will reprise his role as Tron.

Disney XD had already picked up a 10-part "Tron" microseries, which airs next fall.

Disney TV Animation is behind the show. Disney Channels Worldwide entertainment prexy Gary Marsh called the new show "a culmination of an extraordinary collaboration between Disney Television Animation and our feature film studio."

"Tron: Uprising" will focus on Beck (voiced by Wood), who leads a revolution inside the Grid's computer world.

From:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1118026910

Enjoy!

Tangled: "Mother Gothel" - Movie Clip

2010-11-20T11:25:00.000-08:00

Mother Gothel looks like she'll be a fun villain with a small spin on the Evil Queen from Snow White. But it's hard to beat the evil Fairy Godmother from Shrek 2. Tangled definitely has a lot of comparisons going against it right from the start. Hopefully it will shine through.

- TAE

Tangled: "Reluctant Alliance" - Movie Clip

2010-11-18T11:28:00.000-08:00

So Flynn, Rapunzel, the horse, Maximus, and the chameleon, Pascal, form a reluctant alliance.

Looks like fun!

Tangled: "Snuggly Duckling" - Movie Clip

2010-11-16T11:23:00.000-08:00

The Snuggly Duckling feels a lot like the "Bad Apple" bar in Shrek 2, but not as cool. It's got to be hard to make a fairy tale and not get comparisons to Shrek.

I can't wait for Tangled! It looks so good!

- TAE

Movie Review - The Blind Side

2010-11-14T11:35:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Based on the extraordinary true story of Leigh Anne and Sean Tuohy, who take in a homeless teenage African-American in "The Blind Side."

The teenager has no idea who his father is, and his mother is a crack head. Michael has had little formal education and few skills to help him learn. Leigh Anne, played by Sandra Bullock, soon takes charge, however, as is her nature, ensuring that the young man has every opportunity to succeed. When he expresses an interest in football, she goes all out to help him, including giving the coach a few ideas on how best to use Michael's skills. They not only provide him with a loving home, but they hire a tutor to help him improve his grades to the point where he would qualify for an NCAA Division I athletic scholarship. Michael Oher was the first-round pick of the Baltimore Ravens in the 2009 NFL draft.

At first, this looked like just another sports movie, but it was far more than that. In fact, the sports are focused on little enough that you can't exactly class this as a sports movie. Rather it's a movie about family and unconditional love, just as touching and sigh-worthy as "The Last Song."

I was not surprised at all that Sandra Bullock won the Academy Award for Best Actress this year. She made a phenomenal performance. When my dad and I saw this in the theater, we both agreed that she deserved to win Best Actress. He and I also agreed that it was one of the best films of 2009. I think the only one he liked better from that year was "Knowing." I was mostly glad that I picked to see a movie that he enjoyed; it rarely ever happens.

Rated PG-13 for some racial issues and a crude reference to the male anatomy that was necessary, but it could have been rephrased.

Three and a half stars (out of four) for "The Blind Side," and the only way you couldn't like it is if you were blind.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

"Winnie the Pooh" Official Trailer - is it enough?

2010-11-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

Send Winnie the Pooh back to his roots. I get it. But in 2D? His TV show is in 3D. Is this enough? Sure it worked 40 years ago, but is this really enough by today's standards? I think 2D animated films in general can work if the story is right, but the last times where I saw that work were Mulan and Tarzan, over a decade ago (with "Lilo & Stitch" and "Princess and the Frog" to smaller extents). It's a big risk, and I just don't think this is enough. Sure they are throwing in some 3D effects (like the honey and the pot), but is that enough to get today's audience into the theater?

My recommendation (after this does okay but not great in the box office) would be to try again, but do it all in 3D and try to capture the look and feel of how the characters would look in a semi-realistic version of their world. Rather than make them rubbery like the TV show, give them real lighting and texture, with real fur, colors, and lighting/shadows (in realistic environments). And then throw in effects like the transformation from plush to real characters and you could really begin to take it some places visually (and not just relying on the great story, although that is also essential). I think that's the only way to make a hit Winnie the Pooh animated film.

A similar alternative is to go toward "Alvin and the Chipmunks" by shooting the woods and Christopher Robin in live action but to do all the animals in CG (also done successfully with Scooby Doo and now with Smurfs, but Garfield should be a lesson on how not to do it).

Personally, I would prefer the first option, which would be the more Pixar-like approach to it.

Feel free to drop thoughts if you have them.

- The Emperor

Movie Review - Avatar

2010-11-09T11:30:00.000-08:00

by Alex Popp

Enter the World.

Sam Worthington plays a former marine in the incredible flick "Avatar," directed by James Cameron, who previously directed "Titanic." And it took over "Titanic"'s place as the most popular motion picture of all time.

A lame man, "a member of the Jarhead clan," goes on an expedition to the sacred planet of Pandora in a program designed to help him get his legs back. He steps into the body that resembles that of an inhabitant of the planet, with blue skin and standing eleven feet high. As he explores the new world, he gets acquainted with Neytiri, a member of the Na'vi, and he eventually learns to call the planet home.

It was no wonder everyone was talking about it. This film is 60% dazzling CGI, unlike anything I have ever seen on screen before. The moviemakers spent 15 years and $280 million putting this movie together, not just the visuals, but also the art direction, sound, and the beautiful score composed by James Horner. I also don't think anyone liked the plot more than me. Everyone's been saying that the plot is nothing new. We've seen it in "Dances with Wolves," "Pocahontas," etc., but, although I don't think many others would agree, I considered the plot this time to be used in a different way. Of course someone might transfer to a different part of the world, but another world altogether? That's scary stuff to me. And I saw a lot of spiritual content, including the Na'vis philosphy that every member of the Na'vi are born twice, and the second time they're part of the people. Does that sound familiar?

This was one I wanted to give four stars to, however it does have an environmental theme. In fact, Ey'wa, the deity of the Na'vi people, is meant to be a mixed-up pronounciation of Yahweh. But although some might say that this movie is just flat out against Christianity, some of the spirituality that doesn't involve their goddess was interesting to me.

Rated PG-13 for intense battle sequences, sensuality, and unneccesary language.

Three and a half stars (out of four) for the stunning cinematic experience, "Avatar."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel

2010-11-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

by Alex Popp

The chipmunks, voiced by Justin Long, Matthew Gray Gubler, and Jesse McCartney, are back in "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel."

When Alvin, Simon, and Theodore go back to school, they are given the task of saving their school's music program that is in jeopardy when Ian, the boys' evil ex-manager, introduces "The Chipettes," a gain of female chipmunks who Alvin, Simon and Theodore fall for. Now the battle of the bands is on.

I have a short review here, but I encourage you to choose a different movie. Like in the first "Alvin," the chipmunks are cute with their sped-up voices, but the plot is just a bit dumb and flat.

Rated PG for some mildly suggestive humor.

Two stars (out of four) for "Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Extraordinary Measures

2010-11-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

by Alex Popp

Don't hope for a miracle. Make one.

"Extraordinary Measures" tells the true story of John Crowley, portrayed by Brendan Fraser, who went against all odds to find a cure for Pompe Disease that his children had. John contacts Dr. Robert Stonehill, played by Harrison Ford from the "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones" sagas, on an enzyme treatment. He has little money to pursue his research and a thorny personality that drives away colleagues and funders. John and his wife Aileen, played by Keri Russell from "Bedtime Stories," raise money to get Stonehill going, and then John takes on the task full time, working with venture capitalists and then a rival team of researchers.

The trailers and tagline made it look like a moving flick, but to tell you the truth, I turned off the TV dry-eyed. It was a lot more foul than it needed to be, and I almost would have made it PG-13 rather than PG. It was more interesting than moving. (SPOILER WARNING!) These were actual events about how two men together found a cure for a deadly disease.

Rated PG for the fairly mature theme, plenty of language, a crude reference to the male anatomy, and a mild sex moment.

Two and a half stars (out of four) for "Extraordinary Measures," which goes to the average measure of movie quality.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Alice in Wonderland (2010)

2010-10-31T11:14:00.000-07:00

by Alex Popp

Fantastic fun for the whole family.

Not really.

In "Alice in Wonderland," directed by Tim Burton, now 19-year-old Alice is welcomed back to the fantastical land that she went through 13 years earlier. There she meets up with the Mad Hatter, played by Johnny Depp, and encounters random creatures and objects including a floating, ghostly cat and a smoking caterpillar. Alice realizes that she is there to conquer the horrific Jabberwocky and restore the rightful queen to her throne.

How this film made over $1 billion, I will never know. Maybe everyone just wanted to see another performance by Johnny Depp. He isn't a bad actor at all, but his role as the Mad Hatter doesn't come close to the charming wittiness of Jack Sparrow.

I felt like I was on speed or something watching this movie. I guess it's supposed to be kind of a sequel to the hand-drawn version from the fifties and I actually remember being seven and liking it. But this one was just plain weird. The effects are pleasant to the eye, though nothing like "Avatar." I'll tell you when we saw trailers for it, my brother said it looked to him like a children's horror flick.

Rated PG for intense violence and perilous situations, far out of anything that young kids could view. But it was also PG for something that no other movie has been before: a smoking caterpillar. Yes, it literally says that in the MPAA rating! I guess they had to tell you some way that it isn't a human smoking.

Two stars (out of four) for the weird and vaguely unsatisfying, "Alice in Wonderland."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

==================

Emperor's thoughts... I think there was a little more to it. I really enjoyed Anne Hathaway as the White Queen. Johnny Depp's performance was great, but it did seem similar to his Willie Wonka.

And the movie had a fun story with good action and effects. I could tell, though, that Burton was having a lot of fun with creepy things like having Alice jump onto floating decapitated heads.

Overall, I have to agree that it was a tad too creepy for Disney. Was it strange and seem like a bad trip? Sure, a little, but then again, so do the books. Disney originally painted the weirdness with a fun and light perspective. But Burton views the weirdness with a haunting and violent perspective.

- The Emperor

Movie Review - To Save a Life

2010-10-28T11:07:00.000-07:00

by Alex Popp

Some people are just dying to be heard.

The most popular kid in High School feels like he's got the whole world at his feet until a childhood friend commits suicide in "To Save a Life."

The teenager had everything. He had a beautiful girlfriend, he was the champion in basketball and beer pong, and everyone loved him, but now after the death of his friend, he is forced to ask himself "Could I have saved him?" As he sets out to find out how he can stop others from doing the same, he gets acquainted with a local church and begins to have a change of heart, and it all leads to very surprising results.

This is definitely the kind of movie that should not have famous actors, and most of them are unknown except for Sean Michael Afable from "Akeelah and the Bee."

I was there when the whole youth group saw it back in February. The great thing was that I hardly knew anything about the movie until I saw it, and I was completely blown away. In fact, it's part of the reason I went to Reaching: Seattle. This film is so influential; it gets you waking up to the fact that there are some people who are literally dying to be heard.

By the way, if you search this title on the Internet Movie Database, you'll see all the data under "Fun Stuff," such as trivia, goofs, movie connections and quotes, which are, believe it or not, all posted by me.

Rated PG-13 for mature themes involving suicide, drugs, sex, partying and other bad teen habits, but should be seen by all teenagers. The rating is necessary, though it never gets anywhere near as bad as R-rated comedies. Focus on the Family even made a remark in their review that suicide, alcohol, sex, teen pregnancy, divorce, drugs, cutting, and hypocrisy aren't usually things they would list under positive elements. In this extraordinary flick, all this sin is dealt with in a Christian way.

Four stars (out of four) for the extraordinary and influential "To Save a Life," bound to be the best of 2010. I doubt even "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" is going to beat it.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - The Last Song

2010-10-25T11:30:00.000-07:00

by Alex Popp

Do you ever really forget your first heartbreak?

Miley Cyrus plays a seventeen-year-old girl who is sent to a Southern beach town for the summer to stay with her father, whom she hasn't really forgiven for divorcing her mom in "The Last Song" from Nicholas Sparks, the author of "The Notebook."

There she meets a handsome young man and they fall in love with each other. And being in a good mood, she is helped to reconnect with her father.

First of all, this movie is incredibly touching. I have never cried in the theater before since "Eight Below" from four years ago. I will say for the record, you can't exactly class this as a chick flick.

Also, you may be hearing rumors going around that Miley Cyrus can't act. That is incorrect. She made an excellent performance. As a matter of fact, her whole personality in the film reminded me of my sister. And that's what I like to see, as you may have guessed. I'm sorry to break it to you, Matthew, but Miley Cyrus can act. I mean it, she made like third or fourth best performance I've seen by an actress in a lead role (I haven't seen any Meryl Streep movies). And there were other great performances by Greg Kinnear as the girl's dad and particularly Bobby Coleman as her younger brother. If anyone in the movie is deserving of an Oscar nominee, it's him. I probably wouldn't have enjoyed the movie half as much if it didn't have the girl's brother. He was played brilliantly.

I am a guy and I liked this film a lot. However, the thing that made me not love it was that there was a lot of kissing going on between the girl and her boyfriend when they had just started dating. I remember my mom leaning over to me in the theater and she whispered "I probably won't like this movie." But later it just turns around and she agreed.

Rated PG for this sensuality, mild language and some violence. I'd say it's okay for audiences over the age of 10. What surprised me was that they aimed the movie toward teenagers, male and female. Usually doing that, they would brought the negative content to more extreme measures, but not in this case.

Three and a half stars for the incredibly moving tear jerker, "The Last Song." It's one of the best films of the year.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

THOR 2011

2010-10-22T12:46:00.000-07:00

Can't wait to see Thor!

Disney owns Thor now! =^)

Movie Review - Hubble 3D

2010-10-19T09:07:00.000-07:00

by Alex Popp

The Imax sparkles in the new documentary, "Hubble 3D."

This astounding 45-minute film, narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio, tells the true story the effort of seven astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis to repair the Hubble Space Telescope and to take pictures of the outside universe. Meanwhile, we see examples of other galaxies and stars billions of miles from earth.

And of course, the narrator asked, "How could all this have possibly gotten here?" We Christians have the answer: it's just more evidence that there must be a Creator. The 3D effects are neat, but never overwhelming.

Three and a half stars for the dazzling Imax movie, "Hubble 3D," playing now at the Pacific Science Center.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Prince of Persia: Sands of Time

2010-10-16T11:34:00.000-07:00

by Alex Popp

Defy the future.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays a rogue prince who has a problem to settle with his uncle in the mystical lands of Persia in "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time," based on the very popular video game.

He and a mysterious princess race against dark forces to safeguard an ancient dagger capable of releasing the Sands of Time -- a gift from the gods that can reverse time and allow its possessor to rule the world. The two of them embark on a perilous quest to stop an evil mastermind's plot for ultimate power with the mystical weapon.

This was one I did not expect my mom to love. There is a ton of action including parquor and a storyline partially based on belief in multiple gods. If you're easily offended by that kind of thing, than maybe you should pick a different movie. But I kinda liked "Prince of Persia." The action scenes are fun and the sub plot of the prince and the princess was original, although the main plot may remind you of "The Lion King." The art direction, visual effects and costume design are neat though, making up for any unoriginality.

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action and violence throughout.

Three stars (out of four) for "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

====================

Click here to see why it wasn't as big of a hit as it should have been:

http://theanimationempire.blogspot.com/2010/10/why-prince-of-persia-wasnt-as-big-of.html

Why Prince of Persia wasn't as big of a hit as it could have been

2010-10-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

The Prince of Persia film had a lot going for it...

Jerry Bruckheimer produced it. Jerry has produced 18 films to gross over 100 million dollars in the US, including Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, and The Rock.

Mike Newell directed it. Mike directed Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which brought in $290 million in the US.

The actress, Gemma Arteron, was amazing as the Princess. She is one to watch out for. She was also Io in Clash of the Titans (2010), and she was in RocknRolla.

Prince of Persia only brought in $90 million in the US, even though it cost $200 million to make it. Fortunately, it also made $244 million outside the US, so whatever it had, it was good enough for foreigners.

Essentially, Prince of Persia had the Orlando Bloom character from Pirates, but it was lacking the Jack Sparrow character. And that explains why it was piopular in places that cared more about the action and effects than the characters.

However, one redeeming character was brought to life by Alfred Molina, in what I think was his second-best performance. His best was in The Man Who Knew to Little with Bill Murray.

I give the film three out of four stars.

The Emperor

Tangled Trailer 2, Despicable Me 2, Gnomeo & Juliet: Beyond The Trailer

2010-10-10T12:40:00.000-07:00

Great insight into the success of Despicable Me!

Enjoy!

Movie Review - Letters to God

2010-10-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

by Alex Popp

Hope is contagious...

A young boy fighting cancer writes letters to God, touching lives in his neighborhood and community and inspiring hope among everyone he comes in contact with in "Letters to God," from the church that brought you "Fireproof."

An unsuspecting substitute postman, with a troubled life of his own, becomes entangled in the boy's journey and his family by reading the letters. They inspire him to seek a better life for himself and his own son he's lost through his alcohol addiction.

I would say that this film is about as good as "Fireproof" and is more suitable for younger audiences. The parts with the kids are cute, even touching at times. Like most low-budget movies, there are parts that are badly played with mostly unknown actors, except for Maree Cheatham from "Total Recall." But this touching little film will without a doubt move Christian families.

Rated PG, despite the Family Approved seal that it got, for references to cancer and alcohol, but it should be suitable for kids over the age of 6.

Three stars (out of four) for "Letters to God."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Movie Review - Toy Story 3

2010-10-04T11:25:00.000-07:00

by Alex Popp

In "Toy Story 3," the toys are mistakenly delivered to a day-care center instead of the attic right before Andy leaves for college, and it's up to Woody to convince the other toys that they weren't abandoned and to return home.

I was expecting a bit more from this film. It isn't as the tagline says "The Breakout Comedy of the Summer." There were only a few parts that were really funny. And I think Pixar wasn't trying very hard to put together a middle-of-the-movie plot. I kinda saw the villain in the movie, Lot-so Huggin' Bear, as the same character as The Prosvector in "Toy Story 2," which I would have to say is the best of the three. But the first fifteen minutes and the last half-hour of the movie are very poignant and it seems that the adults were more moved than the kids. It is vaguely worth it.

Rated G, but it might get a bit too scary for very young movie goers.

Three (out of four) stars for "Toy Story 3."

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

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To see The Emperor's review of Toy Story 3 (why Toy Story 2 was better), click here:

http://theanimationempire.blogspot.com/2010/07/toy-story-3-review-toy-story-2-was.html

Enjoy!

Tangled Movie Trailer 2 Official (HD)

2010-10-02T12:39:00.000-07:00

Check out this new trailer for Tangled. It keeps looking better and better!

Enjoy!

Movie Review - Despicable Me

2010-10-01T10:03:00.000-07:00

by Alex Popp

Superbad. Superdad.

Steve Carell voices a criminal mastermind in the ridiculous animated comedy "Despicable Me." Just the sound of the title made me giggle.

The wanna be supervillain isn't good enough for his boss, so he and his stupid minions put together an outrageous plot to steal the moon. In order to get a weapon known as the Shrink Ray from his arch nemesis, he adopts three adorable girls to sell him cookies while he takes what he needs. But he finds out he's put a lot more work on his hands with the three girls at his place.

I haven't laughed so hard since "Horton Hears a Who!," and it wasn't much of a surprise because it had the same co-financer, Blue Sky Studios. The minions are impossible not to laugh at, and at the same time I had to nod my head at the last fifteen minutes of the movie. It meant a lot to me and my family, because I have an adopted sister.

Rated PG for rude bodily-functioning humor, but should be suitable for kids over the age of 4.

Three and a half stars (out of four) for "Despicable Me," which isn't very despciable.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

Farmville Parody - Farm Time VS TreasureTrooper.com

2010-09-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

Farmville Parody - What's your favorite part?

Here's the link in the video - GO TRY IT OUT:

http://www.treasuretrooper.com/empire

Animation by BowlingBallOut.

Written by Randy at Treasure Trooper. Music by Kevin Macleod. Produced by Ed 'word' Price.

This is our fourth animation with BowlingBallOut...

(1) Dating Game

(2) Ducks Playing Duck Hunt

(3) Farmville Parody (this one)

Movie Review - Inception

2010-09-25T12:52:00.000-07:00

by Alex Popp

Your mind is the scene of the crime in "Inception," directed by Christopher Nolan, who previously directed the mega-hit, "The Dark Knight."

In a world where technology exists to enter the human mind through dream invasion, a highly skilled thief, played by Leonardo DiCaprio from "Titanic," is given a final chance at redemption which involves executing his toughest job till date, Inception.

I saw the film with my dad and brother, and from what I've read on the Internet Movie Database, it turns out that my dad was the only one who didn't like it. Through the first half of the movie, you may be wondering why things are happening, but the second half explains it all, so pay attention to speech. The visual effects and sound are excellent and you can't help but enjoy from all the points about dreams that it makes. It's, in my opinion, the greatest flick of the summer.

Rated PG-13 for sequences of intense violence through about three quarters of the movie.

Four stars out of four for the original and intriguing film, "Inception," which will without a doubt become a classic.

Review by Alex Popp for The Animation Empire blog.

TANGLED new release date - January 6, 2011

2010-09-22T16:10:00.000-07:00

Meet our new star, Flynn Rider...he may be a touch self involved.

Walt Disney Pictures presents TANGLED, one of the most hilarious, hair-raising tales ever told. When the kingdom's most wanted—and most charming—bandit Flynn Rider (voice of ZACHARY LEVI) hides out in a mysterious tower, he's taken hostage by Rapunzel (voice of MANDY MOORE), a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with 70 feet of magical, golden hair. Flynn's curious captor, who's looking for her ticket out of the tower where she's been locked away for years, strikes a deal with the handsome thief and the unlikely duo sets off on an action-packed escapade, complete with a super-cop horse, an over-protective chameleon and a gruff gang of pub thugs. In select theatres in Disney Digital 3D™, TANGLED is a story of adventure, heart, humour and hair—lots of hair.

TANGLED only at the movies January 6, 2011