Walt Disney Animated Films and Pixar Box Office and Video Grosses

Right, so I own a video of most of these films. Anyway, there's no good list on the Internetzes that gives you the worldwide box office grosses (who cares about just domestic? Money is $), the costses, and the DVD/Vid/Rentage grosses of all the Disney animated films and all the Pixar films on one page. So enjoy! Sources include The Numbers, Box Office Mojo, Wikipedia, IMDB, and various interviews.

Gray are Pixar films. The first number is the world-wide box office gross, in millions. It includes every release (if it's been re-released). For example, Pinocchio, Fantasia, Bambi, Alice in Wonderland, and Sleeping Beauty all lost money in the theaters. But Walt re-released most of those films every 7 years or so, and they made up their costs. (They didn't think they could re-release Alice until the psycho 70s hit, and it became a hit.) Nothing is adjusted for inflation. I might update this in the future because you can't calculate inflation when the gross includes multiple releases. So that's something I can clarify in the future (room to grow).

The second number, the one in (parenthesis), is the cost of the film. After that is the DVD gross (if I could find one). But that also includes all video (VHS, Blue Ray, etc) and video rentals. 

§         1937 – Snow White & the 7 Dwarves        $416M  (1.5M)

§         1940 – Pinocchio                                               $   84M  (2.3M)

§         1940 – Fantasia                                                  $   83M  (2.3M)

§         1941 – The Reluctant Dragon                       $    -        (-)

§         1941 – Dumbo                                                    $  1.6M (950K)   DVD - 61M

§         1942 – Bambi                                                      $268 M (1.7M)

§         1942 – Saludos Amigos                                   $    -        (-)

§         1944 – The Three Caballeros                        $    -        (-)

§         1946 – Make Mine Music                               $    -        (-)

§         1947 – Fun & Fancy Free                                $    -        (-)

§         1948 – Melody Time                                        $    -        (-)

§         1949 – Adv of Ichabod & Mr. Toad             $    -        (-)          

§         1950 – Cinderella                                              $  85 M ($ 3M)   DVD - 64M

§         1951 – Alice in Wonderland                         $  -         ($ 3M)

§         1953 – Peter Pan                                               $  87 M ($ 4M)   DVD - 93M

§         1955 – Lady and the Tramp                           $  94 M ($ 4M)   DVD-121M

§         1959 – Sleeping Beauty                                  $  52 M ($ 6M)

§         1961 – 101 Dalmatians                                    $216 M (-)

§         1963 – Sword in the Stone                            $  22 M (-)

§         1967 – Jungle Book                                          $206 M ($ 4M)   DVD - 73M

§         1970 – Aristocats                                              $  35 M (-)

§         1973 – Robin Hood                                           $    -        (-)           DVD - 38M

§         1977 – Many Adv. of Winnie the Pooh    $    -        (-)           DVD - 16M

§         1977 – The Rescuers                                        $  71 M (-)

§         1981 – The Fox and the Hound                    $  63 M (-)            DVD - 39M

§         1985 – The Black Cauldron                            $  21 M ($25M)

§         1986 – The Great Mouse Detective           $  39 M ($14M) 

§         1988 – Who Framed Roger Rabbit             $351 M ($70M)

§         1988 – Oliver & Company                              $  74 M (-)

§         1989 – The Little Mermaid                            $222 M ($28M) DVD-109M

§         1990 – The Rescuers Down Under             $  47 M (-)

§         1991 – Beauty and the Beast                       $451 M ($20M)

§         1992 – Aladdin                                                   $504 M ($28M)

§         1994 – Lion King                                                $953 M ($79M) DVD - 1.5B

§         1995 – Pocahontas                                           $347 M ($55M)

§         1995 – Toy Story                                                $362 M ($30M)

§         1996 – Hunchback of Notre Dame             $326 M (100M)

§         1997 – Hercules                                                 $252 M ($70M)

§         1998 – Mulan                                                      $304 M ($90M)

§         1998 – A Bug’s Life                                            $363 M ($45M)

§         1999 – Tarzan                                                      $448 M (145M)

§         1999 – Toy Story 2                                             $511 M ($90M)

§         2000 – Fantasia 2000                                        $  61 M ($80M)

§         2000 – Dinosaur                                                 $356 M (128M)

§         2000 – Emperor’s New Groove                   $169 M (100M)

§         2001 – Atlantis                                                   $186 M ($90M)

§         2001 – Monsters, Inc.                                      $560 M (115M)

§         2002 – Lilo & Stitch                                           $273 M ($80M)

§         2002 – Treasure Planet                                   $110 M (140M)  DVD - 64M

§         2003 – Finding Nemo                                      $906 M ($94M)  DVD-300M

§         2003 – Brother Bear                                         $250 M (-)

§         2004 – Home on the Range                           $104 M (110M)

§         2004 – The Incredibles                                   $632 M ($92M)

§         2005 – Chicken Little                                       $314 M ($60M)  DVD-142M

§         2006 – Cars                                                          $462 M ($70M)  DVD-252M

§         2007 – Meet the Robinsons                         $171 M (-)            DVD - 79M

§         2007 – Ratatouille                                            $627 M (150M)  DVD-190M

§         2008 – Wall-E                                                     $533 M (180M)  DVD-144M

§         2008 – Bolt                                                          $314 M (150M)  DVD - 85M

§         2009 – Up                                                             $732 M (175M)  DVD-186M

§         2009 – Princess & the Frog                           $267 M (105M)  DVD - 76M

§         2010 – Toy Story 3                                            $1.06 B (200M)  DVD-187M

§         2010 – Tangled                                                  $591 M (260M)  DVD-106M

§         2011 – Cars 2                                                       $560 M (200M)  DVD - 82M

§         2011 – Winnie the Pooh                                $  36 M ($30M)  DVD - 12M

§         2012 – Brave                                                       $555 M (185M)  DVD-110M

§         2012 – Wreck It Ralph                                     $473 M (165M)  DVD - 52M

§         2013 – Monsters University                         $737 M (-)

§         2013 – Planes                                                     $180 M ($50M)

§         2013 – Frozen

§         2014 – Planes 2: Fire & Rescue

§         2014 – Big Hero 6

§         2015 – Inside Out

§         2015 – The Good Dinosaur

§         2016 – Finding Dory

§         2016 – Zootopia

§         2017 – Dia De Los Muertos?

§         2017 – Giants? (Jack & the Beanstalk)

§         2018 – Moana? (Tiki Room)

§         2019 – Teenage Space Race?

§         Also from Pixar: Toy Story 4, Incredibles 2

§         Also from Disney: King of Elves, Mickey Mouse 

One reason why I did this is so that you can see what this films were making in the 70s and 80s and then starting with the Disney Renaissance with The Little Mermaid, when the films started taking off again.

Also, when John Lasseter took over as the Chief Creative Officer of Disney animated films in 2006-ish, you can see how awesome the Pixar movies were doing in the box office and how the Disney films were struggling to get up there. As you can see, Meet the Robinsons, Bolt, and Princess & the Frog weren't getting it done (compared to Monsters Inc, Finding Nemo, Incredibles, Cars, Ratatouille, Wall-E, Up, and Toy Story 3). It wasn't until Tangled when he had a Disney hit that made more than $500 million like the Pixar movies were (except Cars, which more than made it up in DVD and Merchandise). So he's got two "sequels" to Tangled in the works... Frozen (he brought back the director of Tarzan) and Giants (a Jack in the Beanstalk tale from the director of Tangled).

But you can see that Lasseter's still in experimental mode (even after Tangled), with Winnie the Pooh (they tried to recreate the 70s shorts; it's fun and great, but a not the right idea for a film), Wreck-It Ralph (Up but with videogames; amazing film, but it lost the mommy market with the Halo stuff), a Planes series (low budget Cars spin-off with a good profit so far), Big Hero 6 (Disney CEO Iger insisted they do an animated film with the Marvel brand, so they found a Japanese hero team that know one knew about), Zootopia (a quirky Madagascar?), Moana (giving Clements and Musker another chance, so they're taking the Tiki Room idea, combining it with the animation style of the Paper Man short, and stirring in a girl character ala Spirited Away... but Lasseter better give them some major talent to help, because Clements and Musker pulled off Aladdin and Littler Mermaid, but they also directed Great Mouse Detective, Hercules, Treasure Planet, and Princess & the Frog... so they need some help to dig out of a three-film funk), and Teenage Space Race (this didn't work so well with Final Fantasy, Titan AE (that put Don Bluth out of business), Atlantis, Treasure Planet, TMNT, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Rise of the Guardians, Epic, or unfortunately even Wreck-It Ralph, so they better have a mission to win over the mommy market more than those films did, or it's going to be another "sorry son, let's wait for DVD" kind of film).

King of the Elves and a return for Mickey Mouse are on hold for now. I'm not voting for King of the Elves (it's a short story that doesn't seem it would lend itself well to a feature film), but a Mickey film might be interesting (although their Winnie the Pooh attempt fell flat). Meanwhile Pixar's still on a role, and I expect good things from Disney's Fairy Tale series that Tangled started (the series formula includes Tangled, Frozen, and Giants... this formula is similar to what Little Mermaid started... Aladdin, Beauty & the Beast, Lion King, Pocahontas, Hunchback, Hercules, Mulan, and Tarzan).

Leave a comment if you have more info on box office takes, film costs, and video grosses, and please include a link to the source! Thanks!

- The Emperor

A113 - CalArts alumni's joke in Pixar films

A 113 is an inside joke present as an Easter egg in animated films created by alumni of CalArts, referring to the animation classroom number at the CalArts that was used by Pixar directors including John Lasseter, Brad Bird, Pete Docter, Andrew stanton.

I wonder if Tim Burton has ever put it in one of his movies?

Enjoy!

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

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/
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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 - Cars 2

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.

Brave Trailer - Disney and Pixar make a different princess movie

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...

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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!

Movie Review - Up

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.
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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 - Toy Story 3

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!

Toy Story 3 Review: Toy Story 2 was better

WARNING: Spoilers

I think my opinion differs from my friend Sibry (and others), but nonetheless I think Toy Story 2 was better.



Sure, the animation was up a notch, they spanned more sets, upped the effects, and cut to humans more. And the Spanish Buzz Lightyear gag was so funny that you get dissappointed when normal Tim Allen takes back over... something I think they recognized, so they put the gag at the end where Buzz danced to the Spanish music.

And sure, the movie's going to make more money. Actually, it's currently the #2 Pixar movie and will easily become the #1 Pixar movie and #2 animated film of all time, and it might even give Shrek 2 a run for it's money as the #1 animated film of all time.

But really, was Toy Story 3 better?

I say no. Perhaps it was better than the first one, and it definitely deserves the box office it's getting, and it's entertaining and hilarious, but I don't think it's better than the second Toy Story movie. This one:



First, I liked the Toy Story 2 villains better. I liked the Wayne Knight human villain, Al (even Toy Story 1 had Sid as a villain), and the villain just doesn't seem as difficult to beat when it's another toy (which I think Toy Story 3 recognized, so they made the villain into a gang of toys). Even Toy Story 1 has Sid as the villain (and no real toy villains).

So the villains in Toy Story 2 were Kelsey Grammer's Stinky Pete, Wayne Knight's Al, and Emperor Zurg was sort of a comical villain that really brought Buzz's character to life (not as funny as Spanish Buzz, but it tied in better to Buzz's character).

So when Lotso shows up in Toy Story 3, I can't help but feel that it's obvious he's the villain and he's doing exactly what Stinky Pete did (stabbing the other toys in the back to create his toy utopia). Stinky Pete was slightly more interesting because he wasn't a stuffed animal, and he had more of a turn because you thought he was stuck in plastic wrapping.

The "demise" was even similar for both Lotso and Pete. Pete got what he deserved by being picked up by the artistic girl in the airport, and Lotso got what he deserved when the trucker attached him to the grill. It's sort of a sentence to an eternity of torture (verses the more common deaths that Disney and DreamWorks villains get).

So that's all the first reason.

The second reason is how personal and direct the theme was to the key characters. In the sense of how they related to Andy, the third movie actually did that better than the first two. However, in the sense to how the story related to Woody, the primary character and Buzz, the secondary character, Toy Story 3 did that the least. And the best one was Toy Story 2.

In Toy Story 2, Woody explored this whole new world of how he was from a puppet-based TV show called Woody's Roundup. It was personal, it was fun, and the new characters were instantly tied in to him (verses the new Toy Story 3 characters; the most interesting one was Michael Keaton's Ken, because he was connected to Barbie). Likewise, Buzz's littler interactions in Toy Story 2 with Zurg were also much more personal and interesting.

So there you have it. Those are the two reasons why I liked Toy Story 2 better.

Was Toy Story 3 a great movie? Yes. Go watch it if you haven't. And if you haven't watched it, I kind of just spoiled it for you (but I warned you first). So sorry about that.

Is Toy Story 3 worth watching in 3D? No. I see no signs that the makers tried to optimize it for 3D. Maybe a tiny bit of thought, especially on things like the title letters, but nothing super impressive.

Overall, it was a worthy successor a great film.

- The Emperor