This. I want this.

Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie has a new trailer out and it’s much much better than the first one.

This made me giggle…

New trailer for Rise Of The Guardians (still not loving the title) promises big animated fun! I’m definitely seeing this one!

Thanks to Comingsoon.net for the embed! (also they have more info on the movie that I’m too lazy to type, so go there for more!)

Brave (and La Luna)

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Confession time: I had little faith in this movie. The trailers did not inspire me, and the joke-y fake commercials (for kilts and records and stuff) that Pixar released outright annoyed me. I didn’t know what to make of any of it. It felt like the movie wanted to be something big and dramatic but then you had jokes that fell flat (the old dude lifting up his kilt just made me cringe) and smelled of bad Dreamworks fluff. And then there’s the film’s somewhat possibly troubled production: the first director, Brenda Chapman got replaced by Mark Andrews during production, which did not inspire confidance (though, to be fair, that could be for any number of reasons unrelated to the quality of the work Chapman was doing). And yet, it should be noted that both are credited as directors of the final product, so it’s not like Chapman was erased from the movie entirely.

But yeah, I walked in with doubts. And then something happened…

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Those damn PIXAR shorts, I tell you. Once again, after the last trailer played itself out and the usher closed the theater doors, the screen lit up with the PIXAR logo and we were treated to La Luna, honestly one of the loveliest shorts the studio has ever produced. Gorgeously shot, animated and paced, it is simply, only, completely breathtaking. I mean look at that image up there! If nothing else, La Luna is worth the price of admission. But that’s not fair because, as it turns out,  BRAVE is really good…

So the Short film ended and I was so in awe, so happy with what I’d just seen, I decided to let go of all preconceptions I had about BRAVE and to just enjoy what ever PIXAR had in store for me.

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BRAVE is a film, first and foremost, about a mother (Elinor) and a daughter (Merida). The mother has expectations and the daughter is not in the least bit interested in meeting them. That isn’t to say that Merida is mean-spirited or anything, she just has different aspirations. Obviously the focus of the movie is on her, but Elinor is a huge part of the proceedings and very central to the movie. In any case, the big reason why this movie worked for me is that I liked, respected and rooted for both characters equally. How great is that? The mother is not evil, the daughter is not a brat. Their agendas just happen to clash at this point in their lives. Mistakes (really really grave mistakes) are made, lessons are learned, and in the end… well, let’s not give away the end…

There is no bad guy in this movie, only bad decisions, only inner turmoil. It’s an interesting choice and it feels refreshing. In fact I’d be tempted to tell you this movie is a family drama if it wasn’t so funny. But it’s funny. There are a dozen side characters that get their moments, most prominently the king (husband and father of the two protagonists) and the three princes. Because, oh, yeah, the daughter in question is a princess. This is a princess fairytale, get with it. 

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A lot has been said about the fact that this is the first PIXAR film centered on a (or two, in my humble opinion) female character. PIXAR have always been great with female characters, to be fair, even if they have so far been relegated to secondary parts. Helen Parr/Elastigirl (The Incredibles) and Colette (Ratatouille) come to mind as very strong and well written female roles (better written, in fact, than many female leading roles of the same period, be they animation OR live-action). That being said, there is no denying that BRAVE is a movie where the fairer gender just shines. Merida and Elinor are fantastically portrayed, deep and complex characters that love eachother deeply but have reached a point where communication has simply seazed to function. They’re at an impass and the movie really resonates when that turmoil between them finally reaches boiling point. Given that the two characters are voiced by amazing actresses (Kelly MacDonald and Emma Thompson), any scene they have together resonates. I’m glad my nieces will see this, I’m glad they have these women to look up to.

This movie is also absolutely gorgeous to look at. that’s an easy statement to make about a PIXAR film but here they have yet again completely outdone themselves. I could smell the fresh forest air and the morning dew. I could feel the sun on my face. I wholly believed in this world, and I thought it was beautiful.

Some of the ads for the movie want you to believe that it’s epic and it’s not. They want you to believe that it’s full of action and it isn’t. There is seriously barely any. It’s a very personal, gorgeously shot, fairytale/drama about a princess who is at odds with her Queen’s expectations of her. And it’s funny, not always ha-ha funny, but if anything, always charming-funny. I could have done without the old dude lifting his kilt and saying feast your eyes, but in context it plays better than in the trailer…

The film’s structure is very loose, and this is where the movie sometimes leaves a little to be desired. It doesn’t feel as tight as other PIXAR efforts, like there could have been another pass or two done to the script. Still, as I write this, I wonder what I would cut and I can’t think of anything. There is a big plot point half way through the movie the forces a sort of division, give the movie an episodic feel. Thing A happens, then thing B, thing C, all the way to Z. And, pfffff, you know what? There’s nothing wrong with that. It’s just not a movie that flies by you à la The Incredibles or Up!, whewre everything is so tight and every story beat just punches you in the face with it’s effectiveness. No, BRAVE takes it’s sweet time and invites you to do the same. You’re rewarded if you accept the pace.

At the end of the day I don’t think this will be remembered as an all around classic like Toy Story or Up!, movies that feel timeless upon the very first viewing, with incredible resonnance, but it’s a very strong, if loose, effort by the greatest movie studio operating today. 

And hey, the three princes are very funny.

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Four  fourth year students at Utrecht School of the Arts in the Netherlands calling themselves The Dutch animation teamTom HankinsGijs van KootenGuido Puijk, and Roy Nieterau, did this super fun and crazy animation short called Mac `N` Cheese. 

Check out director Wes Ball’s little animation short that could. It’s a neat bit of sci-fi with a great motorcycle chase scene.

Go over to twitchfilm for more on this.

Check out Philippe Gamer’s crazy-ass short film THE CHASE in it’s entirety! Is the dialogue good? No, not really, but if you like car chases this is pretty great, and there’s a nice reveal at the end explaining why the dialogue’s been all shades of shitty. 

It’s cool seriously, give it a shot. Oh, and by all means watch it full screen with the HD on.

(Thanks to twitchfilm for the link!)

Philippe Game’s animation short “Stop pain”.

It’s hard to disagree…

The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore

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Right now, if you go HERE, you can watch a very lovely animated short directed by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg. It’ll cost you $2.99 for a glorious HD version, and even less for the regular version. It is a whimsical love letter to the wonders of books and will surely turn fifteen minutes of your life into dreamy goodness. 

Dreamy goodness is worth three bucks, don’t you think?

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Here’s a trailer for it, just to give you a taste.

Aardman Animation does magic with DC superheros.

My day was made by this.

(Thanks to TWITCH for the link!) 

Anime director Mamoru Hosuda, along with writer Satoko Okudera and character designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, gave us the great The Girl Who Lept Through Time as well as the absolutely stunning Summer Wars. Two fantastic movies. I’m bringing this up because here we have the first trailer for their new collaboration, The Wolf Children Rain And Snow. Check it out up there, it looks great!

Read more about it over at aintitcool.

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Holy fucknuts! This is a trailer for an animated short film called “The chase”. It is directed by a guy goes by the name of Philippe Game, and it looks pretty insane…

Paranorman trailer is absolutely mind-blowing…