Uncovered: New Pixar Short Revealed

Well how about that? Information on Pixar's next mini-picture...

It's titled Lou.

The news was broken by Pixar animation supervisor Dave Mullins, who is directing the short. The glimpse comes from his Instagram...

I'm so excited to announce that I'm directing Pixar's next short film "Lou"! #insidepixar #himom

A video posted by Dave Mullins (@dave.mullins) on Sep 28, 2016 at 1:43pm PDT

Interesting... It appears to be about someone disappearing into their toy chest. The title is quite clever, and fits into Pixar's short-and-sweet title league.

Of course, we can all assume that we'll see this in theaters next summer, before Cars 3. Of course, like many Pixar shorts, it'll probably make its debut at a festival or somewhere else before the general release. (i.e. Lava debuting around a year before Inside Out was released.) Either way, it already looks and sounds pretty cool!

Now I wonder if Pixar will get a short attached to Coco. The first time they did a double header, last year, they delivered. Inside Out had a short, so did Good Dinosaur. Walt Disney Animation Studios oddly didn't give us a short with Zootopia, but will with Moana. (Inner Workings) Wonder if they repeat that in 2018, because I'd like to see shorts before both 2018 releases.

I also wonder what kind of tech will be used here. Will it experiment like Sanjay's Super Team did? Or will it be another exercise in near-photorealism?

What say you?

Frogs and Pigeons: Blue Sky and Fox Animation Announce 'Frogkisser', New-ish Info on 'Pigeon: Impossible'

A new Blue Sky project has been revealed... And I found out some things about another one...

Let's start with the new one.

It's called Frogkisser. It's based on an upcoming book by Garth Nix, a different take on the Frog Prince fairy tale. It is set to be, according to The Hollywood Reporter, a hybrid of live-action and animation. A first for the studio, but it will also be a co-production with Fox Animation, who have announced several projects before but haven't gotten around to doing them yet, such as Nimona, Welcome to the Jungle, and a few others. Apparently Anubis will also be a Blue Sky/Fox Animation co-production.

This frog prince story involves a woman named Anya, who has the "unfortunate ability to break curses with a magic-assisted kiss". She flees after her stepmother's new husband takes over her kingdom, joining forces with a talking dog and a boy thief trapped in the body of a newt.

As reported earlier in the month, this is part of Fox Animation's new plan. A long-time animation executive named Nate Hopper (previously from Sony Animation, and used to be part of Fox's live-action side in the 90s/early 00s) was named the spearheading force of a live-action/CG hybrid plan... So that makes me wonder what's going to happen to the previous Fox Animation projects.

If they plan to make every film a hybrid, it would differentiate them from Blue Sky... But apparently Blue Sky is involved in this frog picture, and apparently Fox Animation will have a hand in making Anubis. We'll get there in a second!

Either way, it sounds like an interesting take on the story, but it'll kind of hurt if this takes off because... Well, we all know... The Princess and the Frog, Disney Animation's great return to traditional animation, didn't quite make a mark at the box office. All of that aside, it sounds like it could be decent.

Now... The one that sort of fell off my radar: Pigeon: Impossible...

I was aware of this project's existence for a while, and I know it's also a 2009 short film. I also know that Box Office Mojo had it listed as a Fox-distributed, 1/18/2019 animated release. (The same day as the Playmobil movie.) That being said, I didn't see anything else on the movie in question. Looked all around, didn't see any report of a Pigeon: Impossible movie.

Now I came across this... A 20th Century Fox consumer products statement that a friend of mine found, it states that the film is indeed a Blue Sky production and will open in 2019. Also note that the thing mentions both this and Ferdinand, but not Anubis.

Anubis is a conundrum.

The earliest reports on that feature - based on the Bruce Zick novel The Anubis Tapestry: Between Twilights - date from April 2008, some reports said that it was just a Fox Animation production, no Blue Sky, others said it was going to be a Blue Sky film. The picture got a release date back in 2013, it was once thought to be ready for this past summer! Later in the year, Fox pushed it to March 2018, and it has remained there ever since.

Blue Sky's website doesn't have a page for upcoming films, so I couldn't find any information there. IMDb has nothing, and anyone can edit that site, ditto Wikipedia. But reports over the years have indicated that Blue Sky is/was involved, but what about Fox Animation? At this rate I doubt it hits in 2018, especially on the same day as Sony/Animal Logic's Peter Rabbit.


Other than that, the short Pigeon: Impossible is a cute, fun little send-up of Mission: Impossible and spy movies. Not sure how they'll stretch that out to 90 minutes or so, but if done right, it could be a very clever comedy. That's in Blue Sky's wheelhouse, as the first Ice Age and the first Rio exceed at what they set out to do. If Pigeon: Impossible is similar, it should be a fun cartoony comedy.

Also, what will it mean for Left Tern? That's a Blue Sky picture that was first announced in 2012, described as "Home Alone with birds". Still a go? Even with Pigeon: Impossible moving forward?

So, this appears to be the studio's slate...

12/22/2017 - Ferdinand
03/23/2018 - Anubis (likely moving)
01/18/2019 - Pigeon: Impossible
TBA - Left Tern
TBA - Mutts
TBA - Alienology

What say you? 

Hoppin': Sony Announces 'Peter Rabbit' Cast

For the longest time, I couldn't quite get a clear answer on this picture.

Peter Rabbit, an adaptation of the century-old classic book by Beatrix Potter, is a live-action/CG hybrid that I thought was going to be a Sony Animation film. Some places said that was so, others didn't say anything. It appears that the picture, directed by Will Gluck of Easy A fame, is going to be a collaboration between Animal Logic (The Lego Movie, Happy Feet, fx for several blockbusters), Olive Bridge, and Sony Pictures.

It also now has a bit of a cast... And a pretty impressive one at that. James Corden will voice the titular rabbit, Rose Byrne will portray a live-action character named Bea, an all-new character based on Potter. Daisy Ridley and Elizabeth Debicki are set to provide voices. It's currently set to open on March 23, 2018, though Deadline and Variety say April 2018. Easter occurs on the 1st of that year, but Peter Rabbit isn't an Easter story so a slight push back in the US would not surprise me. Actually, Peter Rabbit's release date is the same day Blue Sky plans to open Anubis, but with their Ferdinand being pushed to Christmas 2017, I'm kind of doubting that Anubis will open in the first quarter of 2018.

Anyways, production's going to fire up soon. I can only imagine how they'll pull this one off. This appears to be the very first theatrical full-length feature based on the book, as previous adaptations were either TV shows or TV movies. Walt Disney had actually thought about adapting the books into an animated feature back in 1938, and asked Potter if he could adapt them, to which she said no. Apparently she did so because she didn't think her own illustrations would work on the big screen! Other accounts say it was a problem with marketing.

Either way, it seems like it'll be going the Paddington route rather than being an all-animated Sony Animation production. It sounds like it could be decent, because under Sony Animation, I would've had no idea where they would take it. Perhaps when it's released, they'll bill it as a Sony Animation film like they did with Goosebumps last year.

What say you?

Box Office Report: 'Storks' Flies Low, 'Kubo' Lingers, 'Wild Life' Dead

Results are in, Warner Animation Group's second didn't quite soar.

However, Storks is far from doomed. The movie only cost around $70 million to make, as it was done by Sony ImageWorks in Vancouver. WAG's projects aren't animated in-house, hence their name: Warner Animation Group. The Lego Movie was a co-production between Animal Logic (also out of town) and a few other houses, while the upcoming Smallfoot will mostly be done at Sergio Pablos' Madrid studio. Smart strategy, but...

Why did Storks not open much higher than $20 million? Warner didn't seem to put much effort into marketing this one, methinks, putting all the love into Suicide Squad. Understandable in a way, if they were so disappointed with how Batman v Superman did ($872 million, in this day and age, is a disappointment... Because of an astronomical high budget and marketing costs... Let that sink in...), they were absolutely banking on the villain team-up to save them from an overall lousy year. Storks was much lower budget, so they probably figured a ho-hum campaign would be enough for it.

Anyways, $140 million is double the film's budget, should make that worldwide and should be all set. I'm confident it won't flop. It doesn't have much family competition up until Trolls hits, so it should do the usual multiplier for an animated family film. Word of mouth seems good, so we'll see how high it flies from here on out. As long as it's profitable, no worries, but c'mon WB. You coulda put more oomph into the non-Lego movie. Heck, you've felt The Lego Batman Movie's presence (which is opening in February, no less) more than Storks'. I know, I know, not every animated film is meant to pull those huge numbers out of a hat, regardless of their quality. At least WB was smart in not making this some $100 million-costing goliath. They'll win in the end.

Kubo and the Two Strings hangs in the top 10, losing 500+ screens, dropping 56%, and landing at $45 million domestically. Worldwide, it has collected $58 million, still quite below the other LAIKAs, but a few countries just got the picture, and quite a few more markets are left. Can it at least crack $100 million worldwide? We shall see.

The Secret Life of Pets still has some staying power, landing ahead of later films like Sausage Party and The Wild Life. Fell 45%, is now at $364 million domestically and $820 million worldwide. Hit-makers, Illumination's folk are. Watch Sing really soar this holiday season.

Sausage Party fell 52%, as it slowly crawls to the big one oh oh. $96 million here, $122 million everywhere. The Wild Life lost over 1,400 screens and dropped a massive 85%... Its third weekend. Curtains. No matter, the Belgian picture is at $29 million worldwide, it has doubled its tiny budget. Distributor Lionsgate will probably dump Rock Dog like this as well, come late February.

What say you?

Better Blue: Teaser for 'Smurfs: The Lost Village' Debuts

Well, we now have a real look at Sony Animation's upcoming Smurfs: The Lost Village...

Before we start, I didn't bother with the US trailer, which apparently uses an unfitting song during the final half... Watch the international one instead:


Well, it's nothing special, and I could do without some of the gags here, but... Visually it looks pretty darn good, just like the teaser poster from yesterday and the other images. I've said it before, but I really like the look that Sony Animation is going for with this feature. Not only does it eschew the hyper-real CG of the live-action hybrids, it aligns more with The Peanuts Movie and the scrapped Genndy Tartakovsky iteration of their still-in-the-works Popeye film. I like the environment it's set in, and the animation has that painterly, more 2D-esque quality to it.

A teaser's a teaser so I won't say too much about the forced humor and such. I'll wait for the official trailer before I can say anything, but how do I feel about it right now? The way I've felt since the day they announced the project. I hope it's what Sony and director Kelly Asbury are making it out to be: A fun adventure that takes cues from the original comics by Peyo, and not the Hanna-Barbera TV show adaptation.

What do you think of the teaser? Are you looking forward to this film? Sound off below!

Monster Misfire: Paramount Declares 'Monster Trucks' A Massive Flop?

The Paramount Animation group is still having a rough time taking off...

Their second feature, a weird high-octane boy-and-his-pet story called Monster Trucks, was supposed to come out two years ago. Conceived some time around the group's founding in 2012, the Chris Wedge-directed live-action/vfx flick was mostly filmed in spring of 2014, back when the picture was aiming for a Memorial Day weekend release in 2015. Now, we weren't aware of what went on behind-the-scenes because Paramount Animation made it clear from the get-go that they were going to be secretive. Highly secretive. Like, J. J. Abrams-level secretive.

This movie was pushed back... And pushed back... And pushed back... How and why? Opening in January, the answer seemed to come in the form of an anonymous person who worked on the movie years back. Apparently the initial design of the creature that the main character befriends terrified the living daylights out of a test audience of kids, which resulted in delays and reshoots, and a complete redesign of the monster. (The person in question said it looked like Judge Doom, a squid, and a [he used an ableist slur here] E.T. combined.)

A recent anonymous comment that the trades mentioned indicates a possible other reason why it was delayed... Apparently it began life as a tentpole-like picture for a "broad" audience, before being watered down into a more kid-friendly affair. So does this mean Monster Trucks was almost a PG-13 Transformers-esque blockbuster-to-be? The trailer definitely gives off a Nickelodeon Movies kind of vibe, and apparently they were attached for quite some time too.

Anyways... Paramount, if we are to believe the trades' speculation, has already made up their mind. They are preparing to take a massive $115 million+ writedown because of this feature. Now Paramount said "the expected performance of an unreleased film", sources said they were referring to the truck movie. Monster Trucks or not, that's quite something... The studio declaring a movie to be a bomb many months before its release, like out loud. Usually the lack of confidence is subtly shown, via bad marketing or a dodgy release date. Nope, Paramount is upfront announcing "Yeah, this thing's gonna crash."

Monster Trucks cost $125 million to make, a ridiculously high budget for something that's quite risky. Why the shift from tentpole to family-friendly picture? Was the alleged scary monster design deliberate because at the time they weren't aiming for an audience that would include little kids?

It seems like Paramount, or should we say the V of Doom themselves - Viacom, is having a hard time getting a feature animation slate going. The Paramount Animation group, which to my understanding is more a "outside studios make the movies, we distribute" sort-of thing (think Warner Animation Group), was launched in 2012. This was done because DreamWorks was leaving the mountain after the fall 2012 release of Rise of the Guardians (which Paramount's marketing department seriously botched), so Paramount/Viacom needed something new, and fast. Happy with how the offbeat Rango did back in early 2011, in mid-2012, Paramount Animation was announced.

Right from the get-go, there were issues. They appointed the notorious David Stainton, one of the very men who poisoned Walt Disney Feature Animation during the latter Eisner years, to the top brass and then he left shortly afterwards. Then they announced a slate, and various projects here and there. They started getting top talent like Pixar's Teddy Newton and WDAS' Lino DiSalvo... The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge out of Water, debuted in February 2015 to good critical reception and impressive box office results. All was fine, right?

But they were quiet on Monster Trucks, and soon we heard that they were picking up things like... Sherlock Gnomes. Then they were going to give the acclaimed The Little Prince a US release in March of this year, even though - as far back as mid-2014, *mid-2014* - they implied that they were going to be the ones to give that feature a US release. They stalled and stalled on it, only to pull it at the very last minute. Netflix scooped it up and did it much more favors than Paramount ever did, but what a loss.

What exactly is their plan? Monster Trucks is now officially deemed a flop, and after that it's Sherlock Gnomes in early 2018. A third SpongeBob is set for early 2019, alongside a cryptic original called Amusement Park, which has a cast. Apparently that one is going to be all-animated, and not a live-action/vfx thing. With Viacom CEO Thomas Dooley on his way out in a matter of days, maybe things will change, maybe not.

But hopefully Paramount, one day, gets something going with animation. After the success of Rango and the worldwide take off of The Adventures of Tintin, naive me anticipated their future, hoping that they would be the ones. The offbeat guys who would be delivering the animated features to the mainstream that no one else was. Instead, we're stuck with a group that's being screwed over, and doesn't have a sturdy slate.

What say you?

Blue Reboot: Poster for Sony's All-Animated 'Smurfs' Surfaces

With its teaser arriving tomorrow, just in time for the release of Warner Animation Group's Storks (ironically, the animation for that was done by Sony ImageWorks, hence the SPA-esque aesthetic), a poster for Smurfs: The Lost Village has arrived.

For anyone not in the know, here's what Smurfs: The Lost Village isn't... An installment in the live-action/hybrid film series that Sony Animation jumpstarted five years ago. Smurfs: The Lost Village is in no way connected or related to those movies, it is a full-on reboot and one that promises to be closer to the original comics by Peyo, not the more familiar 1980s Hanna-Barbera TV series adaptation. All animated this time, no live-action, no venturing into the real world...

Opening next spring, the poster gives off a good idea of how this film is going to look. We already got some images beforehand, as they seemed to line up more with The Peanuts Movie than a more photoreal Pixar film like The Good Dinosaur. That being said... So much blue in this forest setting, it almost looks like Avatar, that is all kinds of bizarre because...

If you've lived under a rock for years, Avatar was and has been jokingly called "Dances with Smurfs"...

All that aside, it is a pretty image even though the poster doesn't let us see all of it. It works fine for what it is, and I'm looking forward to the teaser tomorrow. Hopefully we're in for something that honors the comic, and is overall more than just a pleasing diversion.

What do you think of Smurfs: The Lost Village?

Not Ready to Thaw Out: Kristen Bell Talks 'Frozen 2', Says Recording Hasn't Started

The sequel that is expected to be huge is mostly being kept in the dark right now, and for a good reason...

Collider ran an interview with the voice of Anna, Kristen Bell, back in May. Bell had stated that she was probably going to record her lines soon...

Now, keep in mind, this was back before Disney had officially confirmed to the world that Wreck-It Ralph Deux was a thing. To some of us, that interview seemed to indicate that Frozen 2 would indeed be Walt Disney Animation Studios' fall 2018 release. Well, the dust has settled... Gigantic, previously thought to be the studio's spring 2018 feature, landed in the fall slot with Ralphy taking its place. Currently, Disney Animation has two undetermined features on their slate: The former set for fall 2019, the latter for fall 2020.

Bell gave us an update on the film, saying that recording actually hasn't started yet...

"We haven’t, actually. I thought we were about to start recording, but I was mistaken. So, we haven’t begun yet. They’re putting the finishing touches on the script. We record, as those characters, often. At the change of season at the parks, whether it’s for Disneyland, Epcot, or when Japan opens, we will record new voices for our characters, but we actually haven’t started recording for the second Frozen. But what we have been working on is an Olaf Christmas special that we’re doing for next year (airing on ABC). We’ve recorded that already, which has been a lot of fun to work on."

Frozen fever's still in full swing. The lines for the Epcot attraction were ridiculous, and I'm sure this TV special will get tons of views come Christmas 2017. (The first Disney animated film to get one since Lilo & Stitch, which got a TV special in 2006 that followed the spin-off show.) Frozen 2 should fare fine in 2019, though I suspect it won't repeat the sleeper-hit success of the original. It'll be just like the sequels to things like Spider-Man, The Avengers, the original Star Wars... Huge in their own right, but not the juggernauts the fresh-and-new originals were. You can't just repeat those things, and if you do, you must've done something really right.

I'm just glad they're taking their time on it. Frozen will be 6 years old in 2019, and the sequel was announced in March 2015. If they just started it then, it still would've had a long time to stew unlike the first film. The first film, dirty story Disney probably won't tell you, was literally fast-tracked two years before its release date... And it was an unfreezing of a project that had been on-and-off for years, the finished film lines up with director Chris Buck's short-lived 2008 iteration/pitch that got shelved in 2009... So this one was banged out, and I'm in the minority, buuuut... I think the movie has quite a few issues and is overall the weakest of the current Disney Animation batch. I suppose, had it had more time, it could've been much better.

So, since they had a lot more time to figure this one out and are already working off of established characters, I'm confident this could be a genuinely good film and an improvement over its predecessor. (I know, I'm poking a hawk's nest right now.)

What say you?

Easing, and Expanding: Weekend Box Office Report

Unlike last weekend, our currently playing animated films didn't really drop...

The Wild Life only dipped 20%, the film now sits at $6 million. A much better fall than the Lionsgate-distributed Norm of the North from earlier this year, though it's probably not going to get anywhere near that film's final title. From what I saw of it at work, it seemed like it was clicks better than Norm and didn't seem as noisy and forced, but the dub voice acting? My ears...

Anyways, perhaps it could've been something bigger - for an animated feature made in continental Europe - if it had been distributed by someone else (Lionsgate is routinely bad at this, watch Rock Dog come and go in February) or given a better dub script. If the EU wants to really break into mainstream animation and compete with the heavies like Anna, Elsa, Woody, Buzz, Gru, the Minions, et al... It's going to take more than just something like Robinson Crusoe/Wild Life and someone like Lionsgate. Another story for another day...

Kubo and the Two Strings, which is on the brink of leaving my theater, lightly dipped 24%. That same weekend, ParaNorman dipped 26%, Boxtrolls saw its massive loss of screens, consequently falling 65%. Kubo and the Two Strings may not make much more than $50 million in the end, but the legs here - the same goes for Coraline and ParaNorman - speak volumes. Word of mouth was super-strong here! It's only at $10 million overseas, a bummer... But it won't matter, LAIKA has many things to fall back on.

Sausage Party is still in the 7-digits territory, falling 47% and getting up to $95 million. $119 million worldwide. C'mon now, start greenlighting similarly low-budget R-rated animated films already!

Worldwide, Ice Age: Collision Course passed $400 million, but that's second-the-last on the chart. Only the first Ice Age, back in 2002 without 3D, IMAX 3D, and the bigger market, grossed less. Again, I wonder if Blue Sky (and/or Fox) packs it in with this one, or uses that gross to justify one more. What's going on with Rio? Surprised a three hasn't been slated.

Finding Dory opened in Italy, with a fine $5 million. With that, it should make at least $15 million over there. Germany's the last big market, they get the fish on the 29th... C'mon fellas in those countries, get it to a billion! It now sits at $961 million worldwide...

Next weekend should spruce things up a bit... I wonder if a certain website is saying "There's an animation glut right now!"

Ogre the Horizon: 'Shrek 5' Script Is Finished, Says Eddie Murphy

Of course, many know that the green ogre is on his way back to theaters in a few years...

As we've heard for a little while, DreamWorks' plan is to release Shrek 5 some time in 2019 alongside an original film of theirs called Shadows, the re-heat of the ill-fated Me and My Shadow. Eddie Murphy was interviewed by CinemaBlend recently, and he said that the script for the fifth installment is already done.

"They took a nice long break [after 2010's Shrek Forever After]. The next Shrek... I think Jeffrey [Katzenberg, producer] told me 2019? 2019 or 2020, it will be ready. But they've got a good script, they wrote a nice, good script."

That is a nice boulder.

2019 it shall be. When Universal inks the date, I have no idea. They're probably looking at the playing field. All of the Shrek films were mostly mid-to-late May releases, so in May 2019 they'll have to look out for the currently-untitled Avengers film that's sure to be humongous, alongside other competitors like Warner Bros.' Minecraft movie.

Shrek 5 was as inevitable as the turning of the earth. Shrek Forever After may have gotten the lowest attendance here in the states, but it was the biggest one overseas. Perhaps the wait will work in DreamWorks' favor, because 90s/early 00s nostalgia is currently a force to be reckoned with. The original Shrek turned 15 this year, so yeah, the "move out of the way kids, I've been XX years for this!" crowd will probably rush out to see Shrek's fifth adventure. Worldwide, I expect it to do very well. Shrek 5 was also well in place before the Comcast acquisition, it was a particularly smart business move in a time where DreamWorks was getting hit with costly flops left and right.

Like I've said before, I'm not fazed. It'll pocket the studio some cash, they can use that to fund cool originals. That's all neat and such. Really, I think the first Shrek is the only good one, but that has its faults. The sequels are either middling or bland. I think you can make an exceptional Shrek movie out of different parts of the series: The heart of the first film, the loose feel of the second film, and the adventure of the fourth film. Keep it witty, instead of relying on humor that only middle-schoolers find funny. I also wish it will be an actually good satire, because one of the weaker elements of the first Shrek - to me - was its attempts at lampooning Disney. It mostly doesn't work as a Disney send-up because a lot of that film was Katzenberg low-key venting his frustrations about working for the Mouse and Mr. Eisner. Consequently, it seems more bitter than funny.

Also, make me want to root for these characters again... Because if there's one thing that's always been good about these films, it's the characters. Though I get the sense that it'll go the safe route and halfheartedly poke at what's hot now... Like Frozen! A film that, ironically, felt kind of Shrek-like! I don't know, maybe I am asking for too much, but I think you can still do something with a property like Shrek. Will it be fresh again in 3 years? Or as dry as ever?

What say you?

Growing Pains: DreamWorks To Lay Off 200+ Members

A norm in the land of animation and most of Hollywood in general, a wave of layoffs is hitting DreamWorks...

DreamWorks Animation is set to lose over 200 employees following Comcast's acquisition of them. This will mostly effect, per Universal Chairman Jeff Shell, corporate overhead, and folk within the distribution, marketing, and consumer products divisions. So the creative teams and animators are safe... For now, nothing is definite. Who knows what will happen next, but this was inevitable.

Universal still hasn't announced what DreamWorks pictures they have on hand, there's still lots to figure out first, the "settling in" part is still going. Deadline reports that sources are saying that Universal brass doesn't see Fox releasing any DreamWorks features after the mid-2017 release Captain Underpants, the narrative we've been hearing for quite some time. The Croods 2, a little while back, officially got picked up by the globe and currently is set for release some time in 2018. (The previous date was during winter 2017.)

The plot thickens...

Closer to Land: Action-Packed Full Trailer for 'Moana' Debuts

Well, no more fretting, for the full trailer for Walt Disney Animation Studios' 56th is finally here!

Moana's trailer is all about action, thrills, the scale of the picture... It looks so massive, even if it's not set in a fully thought out city or a series of video game worlds.


Wow...

This one's really going to amaze. If there's one thing animation can really excel at - when done right - it's pulse-pounding action. Few shots in this particular trailer gave me the chills! That's rare. The whole trailer is just a showcase of the spectacle, and it's less about Lin-Manuel Miranda's music or even the comic relief - even though there's a good-sized dose of it here. In terms of editing it is above most recent American trailers for animated movies, not anything amaze but it does do its job. I particularly like how much they showed of Moana and Maui's interactions, and give a tiny glimpse of how the water works. (If you have not seen the older Japanese teaser, that is.)

The visuals... Color-wise, it's top notch in the world of Disney Animation's CG. The water alone is stunning, and the staging looks out of this world. I got some real Pirates of the Caribbean vibes in some shots, another shot actually reminded me of The Incredibles. Maui taking on what appears to be the Lava Witch? Dear lord, if that's not a Ron and John-ism I don't know what is! Giant Ursula, snake Jafar, the Hydra...

Yes, it looks epic.

What say you?

Inner Struggle: See Footage from 'Inner Workings'

Walt Disney Animation Studios' Inner Workings, the short that will be attached to this fall's Moana, is making the rounds at the Toronto International Film Festival.

In speaking with Toronto's CP24, director Leo Matsuda and producer Sean Lurietalked about the story, and they showed... Some footage!

The CG side of the film is some of Walt Disney Animation Studios' oddest work to date, and that's great! The use of 2D and other styles for the heart and brain is quite exciting too, making it unlike the more recent Disney Animation shorts. Rest easy, it's not another love story. It looks like it'll be very clever, funny, and gorgeous to look at.

I just hope that shorts like these pave the way for Disney Animation films that experiment with bold styles again. Remember how, in the 90s/00s, we got stylized things like Hercules and Atlantis sitting cheek-and-jowl with things like The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Tarzan? Walt's career had all kinds of visual styles: The European storybook-influenced look of Snow White and Pinocchio, the more abstract works like Fantasia, Dumbo and The Three Caballeros, the Mary Blair aesthetic that dominated most of the 50s films, the scratchy Xerox look of the 60s, Bambi's stunning naturalism, and Sleeping Beauty's one-of-a-kind art direction. I'd like to see WDAS' CG do that, really push some boundaries with character designs and art direction.

Either way, it's good to have a first look at this thing in motion.

What say you?