Mission 2 Mars

No, I'm not referring to this Disney dud from 2000.  Last week, Disney announced a release date for Mars Needs Moms, based on the children's book by Berkeley Breathed, creator of the classic 80s comic strip Bloom County.  The movie will open on March 11, 2011, occupying the slot successfully used this year by Alice in Wonderland.  To be honest, I had completely lost track of this project.  I remember reading a long time ago that Disney was developing it, which delighted me given that I'm a huge fan of Breathed.  The movie will be another film produced by Robert Zemeckis using his 3-D motion capture technique (The Polar Express and Disney's A Christmas Carol) and will star Seth Green and Joan Cusack.  I'm hoping that instead of creating "dead eye" replicas of the actors involved, the motion capture technology will be used to bring Breathed's distinct illustrations to life intact.

Ironically, Disney also announced last week that it was shutting down Zemeckis' motion capture studio facility, effective January 2011.  The new ImageMovers Digital studio was originally supposed to be the start of a long and fruitful partnership with the Academy Award-winning director that put Disney on the cutting edge of mo-cap special effects.  But given the high costs and disappointing returns associated with A Christmas Carol, Disney has apparently decided to cut its losses.  I assume that waiting to close the facility next January will give Zemeckis time to complete both Mars Needs Moms and Yellow Submarine.

Meanwhile, Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland opened to a record breaking $116 million last weekend which, I'm sad to point out, already surpasses the lifetime box office of The Princess and the Frog.  By the end of this weekend, it will likely cross the $200 million mark, and could potentially be on its way to becoming one of Disney's all-time highest grossing live-action films (not taking into account the inflated ticket prices for 3-D and IMAX shows).

Also last weekend, Pixar's Up took home two Oscars, one for Best Animated Feature and another for Best Original Score.  The second Oscar was a nice little surprise and a much deserved recognition for composer Michael Giacchino.  Giacchino is a Disney regular, having also composed the music for The Incredibles, Ratatouille, and tv's Lost.  He will next perform scoring duties for Disney on John Carter of Mars, currently in production.

Finally, if you haven't seen this yet, do yourself a favor.  It just about blew my socks off.

Disney's Animation Gold Rush

Disney/Pixar's Up has become only the second animated film in history to be nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.  The first was Beauty and the Beast in 1991.  Although the nomination was widely predicted after the Academy decided to expand the number of Best Picture nominees to ten, it is still a remarkable achievement since animated films have been largely relegated to the Best Animated Feature category since its creation in 2001.  Overall, Up garnered an impressive five nominations, including Best Animated Feature, Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, and Best Sound Editing. 

In addition, The Princess and the Frog was nominated for three Oscars, including Best Animated Feature and two nominations for Best Song ("Almost There" and "Down in New Orleans").  The nominations are a nice validation for Disney's return to traditional hand-drawn animation given the film's mediocre box office.

Perhaps the only disappointment for Disney Animation is that the charming Partly Cloudy was not nominated for Best Animated Short.  But overall, it's a pretty good day for John Lasseter and his crew.

2009 is Up, Up and Away.

Happy New Year and welcome to 2010.  Before 2009 becomes a distant memory, I wanted to share my thoughts on my favorite movies from the last year before such thoughts lose all relevancy.  I won't do a proper Top 10 list because I don't think I've seen enough of the year's movies (nor did I truly love enough of the movies I did see) to make such a list.

Without question, I can tell you that my two favorite movies of 2009 were "Up" and "Up In the Air."  Beyond the titular similarities, the two films are thematically linked as well, as both are fundamentally concerned with the critical importance of authentic relationships to a life worth living.  Carl Fredricksen, the focus of Pixar's "Up," re-discovers that adventure isn't found in exotic locations or fanciful quests, but in sharing life, even the simplest, most mundane aspects of life, with someone else.  After grieving the loss of his beloved wife Ellie, Carl finds that someone in Russell, a little boy in desperate need of a father figure (he also finds a stray talking dog who wants nothing more than a loving master to take care of him).  As Russell wistfully says about his memories of his absentee dad, "It's the boring stuff I miss the most."  The story is whimsical, the image of a house flying under a bundle of colorful balloons is instantly iconic, but the characters and emotions are true and powerful.  Nothing I've seen this year is as beautiful and heart-breaking as the short, wordless montage at the beginning of the film that perfectly captures Carl and Ellie's life together.

In "Up in the Air," Ryan Bingham (played by George Clooney) has built his life around isolation but through a series of circumstances -- a one-night stand that becomes something more, a new coworker, a family wedding, and the lamentations of the people he has to fire for a living -- he gradually, poignantly, comprehends all that he has missed as a result of that isolation.  It is a simple film, but what it reveals about human nature is real and honest.  Relationships give meaning to life's successes and provide comfort during life's sorrows. 

Other movies that I really enjoyed this year:

"The Princess and the Frog" -- I discussed this film a few days ago, but it really is a gem.  It is a sweet, nearly note-perfect return to form for Disney animation.  I really think the animation is among the most beautiful that the studio has ever produced.  Randy Newman's songs wonderfully incorporate the rich heritage of Louisiana music -- jazz, gospel, zydeco, etc.  In fact, I am still slightly in awe of the extreme attention to detail employed to evoke the 1920s New Orleans setting.  I am still hopeful that positive word-of-mouth will sustain the film into a bona fide success.

"Star Trek" -- The more you think about the plot, the less it makes sense, but the movie is so much fun and the characters are re-created so well that it doesn't really matter.  I'm looking forward to more of these.

"The Hangover" -- It had been a few years since a movie made me laugh so hard that tears came to my eyes.  This one did.

I haven't seen "Avatar," which is a blindspot I hope to remedy soon.  And I will be posting my thoughts on my favorite films of the decade in the near future.