The Bear Necessities

Now that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has debuted and has destroyed all box office records, we can get back to more straight forward Disney fare.

Zootopia is opening up in less than three months and it seems odd to have a new Disney animated film opening in March, but oh well.

Of course, there is also Disney’s that is coming out this year helmed by Jon Favreau. The LA Times has an interesting article on how Favreau approached Mowgli’s animal companions:

“We never want to make the animals express emotions in ways that their species doesn’t,” Favreau said at the time, explaining why his CG panther doesn’t ever furrow his brow. “How do you make it real? You hold a mirror up to nature. We have the breathing, the fur, the way the muscles move over the skin. The real challenge is to take all of this technical stuff and make it into an emotional experience.”

The article goes on to point out that Mowgli interacts with animals that are very realistic besides the fact they have human voices. I’ll admit that just watching Mowgli interact with a supposedly a real-life King Louie as opposed to a cartoon version does make each scene more intense.

The more I see of this film, the more I am looking forward to it.

Check out the latest trailer in case you missed it.

Judy Hopps Is On the Case! New Zootopia Trailer

To start off the New Year, Walt Disney Animation Studios released another trailer for their upcoming film, Zootopia.

You know those trailers that give away most of the movie? Well I feel this one kinda does that. In addition, the plot appears to be pretty straight forward. I am guessing/hoping there will be some twists that haven’t been revealed.

I do love Judy Hopps from what I have seen so far. What are your thoughts? Check out the trailer below.

The Good Dinosaur Crosses 100M

Pixar’s latest may not be tearing up the box office like Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but it did cross the important 100 million dollar threshold at the box office to be considered a “hit.” 

Disney woke up to a nice gift this Christmas morning as its animated family film The Good Dinosaur became the studio’s sixth film this year to cross the $100M mark. The not-so-little critters now step into the same club as Cinderella, The Avengers: Age Of Ultron, Inside Out, Ant-Man and, of course, Star Wars: The Force Awakens (which has the distinction of reaching the $100M mark faster than any film in history). The latest Star Wars crossed that plateau in Friday matinees after making history with the biggest preview night ever (logged by Disney as $57M).

However, this accomplishment probably won’t stop some from saying this film is Pixar’s first true “disappointment.”

Is Star Wars: The Force Awakens for Kids?

A number of my friends have asked me this. Some have kids as young as four eager to see the new film. However, the pg-13 rating for The Force Awakens has rightly given some parents pause and wonder if their kids should see the film. 

Many younger children, say 8 and younger, have seen the previous films. In fact, my own daughter who is 8, saw all six films at home, which includes the Revenge of the Sith, which was rated pg-13. 

So, considering the content of Sith and that she handled it ok, we decided to take my daughter to see the latest Star Wars epic yesterday. 

Sorry to say, it didn’t go well. 

She almost immediately thought the film was scary. It started when blood was smeared onto Finn’s Stormtrooper helmet in the beginning of the film. Essentially, we ended up leaving about 30 minutes in. It probably didn’t help that the trailers prior to the film were intense as well. Sure, we saw previews for Zootopia, and another animated film, but we also saw the trailers for the next X-Men, the Fifth Wave, and others. These trailers were definitely marketed to an older audience. 

It hit me leaving the theater that the experience for kids watching Star Wars at home, surrounded by their parents and in a familiar setting, is vastly different than the theater which is dark, loud, and the images are much larger and intense. 

Granted, every kid is different, but that was my experience. Hope it helps some make a decision. 

First Impressions of Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is finally in theaters!

I literally rushed to see it on Thursday evening. I had a commitment prior to my screening which was running long so I had to first run home, change, then quickly head on over to the theater. Just to be safe, I had bought two tickets just in case the first theater was too crowded. I am glad I did!

I ended up seeing the movie around 11:00, but the theater was only a quarter full so it ended up working out.

It is a fantastic film!

There is more sincere filmmaking in this film in the first 15 minutes, then there are in the entirety of the sequels. It feels like the universe you are watching actually exists and is not some giant CGI creation. You see what it takes to survive in some parts of the Star Wars universe. It is not easy!

This film has none of “lets make the kids happy” characters and jokes that were brazenly inserted into the sequels and arguably into Return of the Jedi (Yes, I am referring to the Ewoks).

Instead of trying to capture everything that is going on in the Star Wars universe thirty years later, the creators made the wise decision to only show us a sliver of what is going on. Unlike the prequels where we learn about trade disputes, peek into galactic Senate meetings, this film only gives us a small glance into what is happening. That is probably a good thing.

Probably the only gripe I have after one screening is there is no strong musical theme from the film. Yes, there is the opening Star Wars theme we typically hear, but there is no “Imperial March” from The Empire Strikes Back or even Duel of the Fates (think Darth Maul) from The Phantom Menace. I am seeing the movie again today, so perhaps that impression will change. Again, this is a very minor, minor criticism, if you can call it that.

Regardless, if you plan to see the film, see it ASAP! There are major, MAJOR potential spoilers and the longer you wait, the longer you will mistakenly find out what happens.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is an amazing film. It is as good if not better than A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.

SEE IT

 

 

Geek-Gasm: New International Star Wars Trailer

You’d think by now seeing new footage of the soon to be released, Star Wars: The Force Awakens would be kinda getting old right? WRONG!

In fact, this latest trailer has some beautiful shots of X-wings in space, and other new images to salivate over.

Check it out if you haven’t yet.

 

 

 

 

 

The (Not So) Good Dinosaur?

Some in the media are sounding the alarm bells already: Pixar may have its first disappointing movie in theaters with The Good Dinosaur.

According to the box office number crunchers, The Good Dinosaur isn’t living up to Pixar’s lofty expectations:

Walt Disney’s The Good Dinosaur dropped a troubling 60% in its second weekend for a $15.51 million haul. That’s way below the post-Thanksgiving drops for Toy Story 2 (-51%), Tangled (-55%), and Frozen (-53%). Heck, that’s a post-Thanksgiving drop that is noticeably worse than DreamWorks Animation's DWA +0.00% The Penguins of Madagascar last year (-57%) and miles lower than the 43% drop for DWA’s Rise of the Guardians. Last year’s DreamWorks Animation release ended up with just $83m domestic off a $35m Wed-Sun debut. If it continues to follow suit, The Good Dinosaur will have a mere $130m domestic total.

Not so sure the film can be written off so quickly? I mean perhaps the film wasn’t advertised as much as other Disney*Pixar greats? After all, Disney is preoccupied  with promoting the much anticipated Star Wars film that opens up in less than two weeks(!), right? But still, this is Pixar which is known for having a string of great films. Also , the weekend after Thanksgiving typically sees most films take a hit from theater goers.

I think a better indication of how The Good Dinosaur will hold up over time will be this coming weekend.

 

 

The Good Dinosaur Earns A Good Box Office Haul

So after the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, The Good Dinosaur managed to earn a decent amount from the box office from its initial few days of release:

The Good Dinosaur came as an excellent appetizer for Disney before its main course Star Wars:The Force Awakens arrives on Dec. 18. Similar to its Thanksgiving 2010 entry Tangled which posted solid 3-day ($48.8M) and 5-day ($68.7M), The Good Dinosaur is expected to keep a big footprint through Christmas and New Year’s, maintaining a hold just north of 2,500 playdates with a multi-generational turnout, despite the arrival of the J.J. Abrams film. The second Pixar title of this year skewed mostly female at 56% per PostTrak, with 13-17 year olds making up 27% of the crowd with 51% under 25. While dinosaurs are typically a boy thing, girls seem to be warming and recommending the Pixar title too, in near equal proportion. In addition, matinee crowds didn’t taper into the evening, with auditoriums remaining full. Beamed Disney distribution chief David Hollis over the film’s A CinemaScore, “Credit is due to Pixar and their consistency for putting movies out in the marketplace. They have a 20-year streak for delivering movies in the A CinemaScore range and from a consistency standpoint, that’s above and beyond any comparison brand wise.”

However, some analysts have suggested the amount earned by this film isn’t that great compared to Pixar’s standards:

But this projected $38 million Fri-Sun figure is the third lowest such debut in Pixar history, ahead of only Toy Story ($29m back in 1995) and A Bug’s Life ($33m back in 1998). Heck, even its $55m five-day figure would put it above only the Fri-Sun three-day openings of Ratatouille ($47m) and the aforementioned Toy Story and A Bug’s Life debuts. So in the realms of Pixar debuts, it’s pretty gosh darn low on the list, basically the lowest when inflation is taken into account.

I’m not sure if any of that really matters. I am curious how the film will play out over the next few weeks? I felt the film could be intense for really younger viewers and could have used more laughs, but the film is certainly worth checking out in the theater. It seems from the CinemaScore rating above, most disagree with me.

The Intense Dinosaur

   
It has been over 24 hours since I saw The Good Dinosaur, and I don’t quite know what to make of it. 

I checked out the film yesterday during a matinee. The theater during my 1:20 show was mostly empty but those in attendance was made up of mostly families with young kids. 

The film was worthy of seeing in theaters for sure.  The landscape visuals are simply outstanding and hard to believe they are CGI. I’m still not a fan of the character designs, but I suppose that is an subjective opinion. 

The movie has its heartfelt moments, and I am thankful that Disney and Pixar are above the annoying slapstick comedy that fills so many other animated films. As some other reviews of this film have mentioned, there are plot points that do seem borrowed from other Disney films. **Minor spoiler, Arlo has his Mufasa moment, and there were other plot points that reminded me of Brother Bear. 

Most Disney and Pixar films I typically want to see at least twice in the theater. Honestly, I don’t think I will rush back again for this film. Why? 

It wasn’t fun to watch.

 I think back on the film and I don’t remember laughing all that much. I guess Disney and Pixar films can have more serious themes, but there needs to be balance. Brother Bear was able to do this well, balancing between scenes filled with joy and others that yes, were quite sad. I don’t think The Good Dinosaur has that same balance, in fact it’s kinda intense, especially for young kids IMHO. Watch the pterodactyl eat the fluffy cute animal, see the T-Rex talk about chewing off her own tail. 

Clearly Pixar struggled with this film and they tried to rework the story. It is much better than most other animated films, it just doesn’t quite live up to Toy Story, Up, and other classic Pixar films. 

Curious to know what you thought?

Hare-ilously Funny: New Zootopia Trailer

NOW…this was an awesome surprise and damn funny.

Even from just this short clip I am already loving the interaction between Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps.

If you haven’t seen this new trailer for Zootopia, check it out. Our two key characters visit the local DMV and it gave me the best laugh I’ve had all day.