The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn trailer and poster

Aww Spielberg, I love your films, I really do. First I posted the trailer to War Horse, and now this.  The computer animated, The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn.  Watch the trailer and read my thoughts below...

It looks like such a fun movie! A lot of wonder and imagination too. I love the look of the film, the animation is stunning! I don't usually go to the theater for animated films (minus Toy Story 3), but I may have to make an exception for this.  What about you all?  Good, bad, ugly?

Batman: Year One animated movie trailer

If you're a fan of Batman, you're going to love this trailer.  It is for the upcoming DC Animated Universe DVD; Batman: Year One.  The same graphic novel by Frank Miller that redefined the character to the one we know today.  If it isn't for Frank Miller, there is no Christopher Nolan's interpretation of the character.  Enjoy the trailer and let us know what you think.

Marketing genius: CG film "Rio" gets its own version of Angry Birds

If you don't already know, Angry Birds is one of the best, if not THEE best selling app on Apple's App Store.  Made for the iPhone, it has sold millions of copies, is rumored to be adapted into a feature film, and now is cross marketing with Fox studios.

Print marketing is almost dead, major corporations are pulling print ads left and right.  Even TV is losing advertisers.  The Super Bowl lost a regular in Pepsi last year because they felt the internet was the way to market their product.  So Fox is getting creative in marketing their new CG animated film, Rio.  In March, you will be able to download a Rio themed version of the game, Angry Birds.  Pretty smart right?  I think it's marketing genius, and if it's a hit, could be the marketing of the future.  Check out the trailer to Rio, here. 

I know I bitch a lot about how Hollywood wont take chances with creative ideas, and how they reboot or sequel anything mildly successful; but this is a fun, creative way to bring their film to a broader audience.  So am I being hypocritical, should studios stop worrying about a "build-in" audience?  Or do you agree, it's a cute and clever way to market the film?  Let us know. 

"Tangled" Review

It's been a while and I may be rusty, and I know I'm about 2 weeks late on this film, but let's get started. I am a male, and didn't really grow up knowing this fairy tale. I knew Tangled was originally titled "Rapunzel" though. Disney attributed the failure of The Princess & The Frog to one thing; little boys didn't want to see it. I enjoyed the that film, but could see where little boys had no desire to watch it. So Disney quickly changed it's title and marketing scheme; showcase the male character! And so the adventure began.


What I liked about the movie:
The Animation
Pixar gets a lot of credit for their films, as well they should. Dreamworks has always been in second place with their films. Disney's in-house animation doesn't get the credit it deserves though. They now have three successful films in a row (Chicken Little & Bolt).

This is probably the last time I'm going to list this on my "likes" list. The quality of the animation SHOULD be spectacular. The animators have no boundaries to make these films look amazing. Tangled does not let us down. From the different settings to all the various characters and of course, Rapunzel's insanely long hair. There are a few fight sequences that stand out in my mind that showcase the animation. There is one involving Rapunzel and the other involves the male lead character, Flynn Ryder, awesome!

The Voice Acting
This is going to be a tough pill to swallow folks; but Mandy Moore did a great job as Rapunzel. There I said, don't make me say it again. So you know why that was tough... I can't STAND Mandy Moore's acting. This is sort of a nice fit for her though. She started as a singer and this movie showcases that "talent".

Zachary Levi from "Chuck" is a great lead. His character, Flynn Ryder, is funny, and this is due to Levi's delivery. The character has to be witty, charming and sarcastic, Levi conveyed all of those things. Ron Perlman, Jeffrey Tambor and Brad Garrett round out the supporting cast who are great.

The Story/Heart
This is pretty cheesy to talk about, considering I'm almost 30 years old, but hey, it's true. Disney has always done well in this department. Their stories can be summarized into one sentence and this movie is no different; its about an innocent girl eager to learn more about the world. There is one scene in particular that has no dialogue that had my wife and I reaching for tissues. You'll know it when you see it, as most of the people in our theater were teared up (it was a packed house by the way).


What I didn't like about the movie:
The Settings
One thing Pixar does so well is create a larger than life experience in their films. Whether its Nemo in the ocean or Woody and Buzz in a daycare, they create these amazing worlds for the characters. Tangled didn't offer up the same. Most of the movie takes place in the tower where Rapunzel is being held captive. When our characters do venture out into the world, it's not very far. There's the woods, a bar and the tiny village. It didn't have the scope of other Disney films like Aladdin for example. With Aladdin, you felt how big Agrabah was, the marketplace, the palace, etc.



There really wasn't too much else I didn't like. I wish there was just a bit more humor to appeal to adults, but overall I was very entertained the entire time. The cast was great, the story was solid and the execution was there. The songs were very fitting on the story and that's always nice, unlike some B movies out there. I would recommend this movie to young and old, but keep in mind it's very G Rated. My wife and I watched in 2D and believe me, it was just fine that way. Save your money and avoid the 3D version, I just don't see it adding much to the experience. Other than that, be a kid for 2 hours, go see Tangled, and you wont regret it.

"Yogi Bear" First Look

I would have never posted about this, but Matt did once and I feel as though I should update now. This is the first look at the Yogi Bear 3D animation film. I don't really care for it, but its visually appealing. Dan Aykroyd is Yogi and Justin "I'm an actor" Timberlake is Boo Boo.

"Despicable Me" Review

I thought Pixar had no competition whatsoever in the animated genre. I was wrong. Toy Story 3 was amazing, and will remain one of the best animated films of all time, but damn Despicable Me was good! I want to tell you what I liked and didn't like about the movie.

What I liked about the movie:
The Actors/Characters
I don't want to list every actor and what character they played, but this is an amazing cast. Steve Carell plays Gru, a local villain past his prime as far as great heists are concerned. He tries to out-villain the competition. His competition is an up-and-coming villain named Vector, voiced by Jason Segel. Gru adopts three girls to help in his plan, but ends up adoring the girls to death and changing his ways.

Then there's the minions! So cute and funny, but they did remind me of the pigeons in Finding Nemo. Still fantastic! The minions are the Worker Bees to Gru and are hilarious. They don't talk, at least not in a language the audience is supposed to understand. But the way they fight each other, and argue with one another is really great. The animators found a million ways to make the same back creators look different.

The Story

Truly original in every sense of the word. My wife and I walked out trying to find a movie with a story even close to this, and we couldn't think of any. A villain past his prime, adopts three little girls to help him with his heist, falls in love with them, and changes his ways? Come on! Priceless. The minions helping Gru every step of the way is so original.

The Visuals
This is something that we've almost come to expect perfection from in these kind of movies. But let me tell you, not many computer generated animated films look as good as this one does. Despicable is gorgeous to look at. There are rich environments full of color. Environments such as the carnival Gru takes the girls to is so detailed it's going to take multiple viewings to catch it all. Great job!


What I didn't like:
The Orphan's Story
I really liked the three orphan girls in the movie. I just wish the movie would have better developed their story. Why are they orphans? If it was mentioned, I missed it. Are they going to get revenge on the evil women running the orphanage? The relationship building between Gru and the girls is satisfactory, but should have been developed a bit more. Maybe a scene or two more of Gru getting closer to the girls would have been in order rather than a montage involving pancakes and the girls.

The Real Villain

Vector is such a weak antagonist. There is some really creative stuff surrounding the character, like all the booby-traps protecting his house; classic! But Vector himself is not that great of a character. And his "weapons" are stupid: a "piranha gun," "squid gun," come on. Hopefully they'll come up with something better in the future.


The movie is not at Pixar's level, but is still great! Such an original story, you can't predict what's going to happen because it hasn't been done before. I would totally recommend the movie to anyone, young and old. Thumbs up to the news of a sequel, I'm more than OK with that!

"Toy Story 3" Review

If you're a Toy Story fan at all, if you're a MOVIE fan at all, skip this review and go see Toy Story 3 immediately. Yes, it's good, it's really really good. I have a lot of "likes" on this one, so I want to get started already.

What I liked about the movie:
Story
Here's a little known fact about Toy Story 3, the story took 2 and a half years to perfect. And perfect is the correct word to use. I never talk plot in my reviews, I'm not going to start now. But I will say the trailer gives you a general idea as to what happens to the toys. But overall, the story is terrific. There is a solid beginning, middle and end. The end of this movie is very fitting to arguably one of the best trilogies in history, animated or not. I Tweeted after I left the theater, that the world would be a better place if Pixar wrote every movie in Hollywood. Online petition anyone?



The Characters

We all know them, we all love them, and they're all back. Woody, Buzz, Jesse, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head, Rex, and more, are all in top form in this one. The voice acting is superb, as it has been throughout the trilogy. All the big names are back, i.e. Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack. New comer Michael Keaton is awesome as the annoying, yet hilarious, Ken. Ned Betty plays one of the new major characters, Lotso the bear, also perfectly cast. Not everyone gets their fair share of screen time, but I felt that I got enough of all the major characters after an 11 year break from the previous Toy Story film. Great Job in this department.

The Animation
The animation just keeps getting better and better from Pixar. In our second installment of "You know what's a good movie?" we showcased the first Toy Story. And in that article I talked about how Pixar's techniques have improved with every movie they've released. TS3 is no exception. There are so many details that it's impossible to appreciate them all with just one viewing. I can't wait to see the movie again just to catch more that I may have missed the first time.

The Action
The action in TS3 is phenomenal. There are new things we've never seen in the previous 2 films. There's a planned escape scene that has so much to it, only Pixar could have kept track and executed it as well as they did. No spoiler here, but the last half hour of the movie involves a lot of action that was awesome. Again, it's only because the animators have gotten so good at what they do, that the action is this good.

The Themes

There haven't been too many movies that will tug at your emotional strings like this one will. In fact, I'll say this is the best movie of the year so far. There are several themes expressed throughout the movie. A child's coming of age. There is a fantastic scene in the movie where Andy is saying bye to his old room before he heads off to college. It's just Andy comforting his mom before he leaves, but it stays true to anyone who has experienced that situation. The emotion projected through the characters is nothing short of amazing.


MINOR SPOILER ALERT, not really giving anything away though:
Friendship is the other theme. Woody and Buzz' friendship. The friendship between Andy and Woody. The most talked about/ most Tweeted about/ most written about scene, will definitely have you in tears. I'm a man close to 30 years old. I haven't cried since the day of my wedding more than two years ago, and was crying like a high school girl on the night of a breakup. I can't express this enough, it comes down to Pixar's mastering of the art form. Without their amazing animators, none of the emotion would have came out of that particular scene where there is literally no dialogue, just emotion channeled through the characters.
END SPOILER ALERT.

The Ending
Some trilogies leave you disappointed, and this movie did not do that. Everything is wrapped up very nicely. Every problem resolved and we, as the audience leave the theater very satisfied with the toy's fates. There is a great scene with Andy and Woody that will stay with me for a long time. Amazing.


What I didn't like about the movie:
Rehash
I bet when you started reading this review, you didn't expect any negative feedback did you? Well 2 things, same category of negative. The first, too many plot points were similar in one way or another to Toy Story 2. I was reading this online before the movie came out and just sort of ignored it. But it's very obvious. By no means did it take away from experience though. In fact, I think they improved on all the material I felt they rehashed. Second was the latin Buzz, shown in multiple versions of the trailer. It worked, trust me, it's funny. But again, rehash. I can't really explain in detail about the Buzz scene without giving something away, so let me know what you think after you see the movie.

In conclusion, the movie is spectacular. I can't really do the movie justice with my review. The movie is so good on so many levels, to write about it in a blog format is not fair. Pixar is the best in the world at what they do, period. They knew to deliver this caliber a movie, it was going to take a long time. Like I said earlier, over 2 years writing and story boarding the movie. And it paid off. Unlike the rubbish that DreamWorks is banging out with their Shrek sequels, TS3 progressed the story and the characters.

One thing is for sure, I am going to miss these little computer generated toys a lot more than I thought I would before seeing the movie. To Disney, Pixar, the cast and crew... thank you for one of the BEST trilogies in movie history.

Thundercats... no movie, animated series instead

/film got a press release from Warner Brothers Animation about a new Thundercats animated series to be released on Cartoon Network. Thundercats has had a strange last few years. One rumor was a live-action movie; then the CGI version we posted about July of last year; now this. I guess a theatrical release will have to wait. But what I do know is this; if the show does well, it will only speed up talks for a theatrical movie later. So we'll see. Here's a picture /film posted for the show:

Quickie: Rio movie trailer and poster

From the people who brought us just 1 decent Ice Age movie, and 2 (soon to be 3) crappy ones, comes Rio. The trailer looks great and it has some great voice talent like George Lopez and Anne Hathaway. It has a similar design to that of Disney Pixar's Up. Especially the forest scene. Any who, check it out for yourself and let us know what you think.

You know what's a good movie? (Part 3)

To recap, Tonedog and I thought it would be a cool idea to try a six degrees of separation type game. We'll talk about a good movie, then find a common actor, director, plot, etc., and then move on to the next movie.

In the last installment of "YKWaGM?" Tonedog talked about Toy Story.
Today, I'm going to tie that in with a few common themes with The Incredibles, number one obviously being animation, and number two, Pixar.

Disney distributed Pixar's The Incredibles in 2004, roughly 10 years after Pixar's smash hit Toy Story. This film is easily one of my favorite animated features of all time, and includes an all-star cast including Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee, Sarah Vowell and Brad Bird.


The concept for the movie originated with Brad Bird, a former director and executive consultant on my favorite television series The Simpsons. Bird had also previously directed the excellent animated classic The Iron Giant. Work on The Incredibles started out as a traditionally-animated feature for Warner Bros.' animation studio, but after the studio shut down, Bird took the idea with him and went to Pixar.

Pixar had a lot of work on their hands making the feature. It was planned to be a whole 15 minutes longer than any of their previous films, and had a lot of difficult animation that needed to be perfected, such as long hair, skin and clothing on human characters.

One of the main reasons I appreciate the film so much is because of it's adult tone. While primarily a kids movie, the film had a lot of grown-up issues in it, such as the government ban of superheros, insurance company practices and family and marital problems. There's even [spoiler alert] a character that dies in the end!
The humor in the movie is also just plain genius, and reminiscent of the sarcastic tone found in The Simpsons.

Like that, Pixar once again revolutionized the animated film industry as we knew it, just as they had done a decade before with Toy Story. It's also the first Pixar film to feature an entirely human cast of characters.

The movie eventually opened up to $70,467,623 its opening weekend, averaging about $9,000 per screen, the highest opening weekend for Pixar at the time, and held its # 1 spot the second week. It went on to become the 5th highest grossing film of 2004, and the 3rd highest for Pixar after Finding Nemo and Up.
It is ranked in over 25 professional film critic's Top 10 lists for 2004.
It was nominated for 4 Academy Awards and won 2 of them, including Best Animated Feature, the 2nd of Pixar's 4.

Till today, I'd have to rank The Incredibles as my favorite animated movie of all time, tied with Disney's most recent hit, and Academy Award nominee for best picture, Up. I hope a sequel will soon be in the works, as they have a lot of different ways to continue this story line.

I hope you can all agree with me when I say that Pixar's The Incredibles is most definitely one of the greatest films of the 2000s.

Check back for our next installment of You Know What's a Good Movie? to see what movie Tonedog will tie-in with this new classic.

You know what's a good movie? (Part 2)

Just to review, FattMatt and I decided to try a six degrees of seperation on ya'll. We'll start with one movie, find a common actor, director, etc., and then move on to the next film.

So, in the first installment of "You know what's a good movie?" we covered Forrest Gump starring Tom Hanks. The next installment also stars Tom Hanks, but in a different kind of way... computer animation. Toy Story.

It was 1995 and things were about to change in Hollywood. We were introduced to Pixar, and in a BIG way. That unknown company would help pave the way for computer animation in a way no one could ever have expected. It's 2010 today, and Pixar has released 10 films, ALL home runs.

Growing up, I loved action figures, I mean I was obsessed. My brother Shmoo and I collected EVERYTHING. And being the imaginative little boys we were, we would act out our own action scenes. We make noises for guns, sound effects for explosions, you name it, we did it. We felt the toys coming to life. And THAT is what Pixar achieved, they made the toys feel real.


Tom Hanks was the voice of Woody, an older toy and leader of the bunch. Tim Allen voiced Buzz, a new age, hi-tech toy who has become a favorite to the toys' owner, Andy. There are a lot of our childhood favorites in the film as well: Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, Etch A Sketch, and many more.

With lots of dazzling color and a cast of talented voices, the movie was a huge success. Looking back at the film, Pixar has improved everything they do. Their animation techniques are better, the worlds and scenery are bigger and better, and it all started from Toy Story.

As I mentioned earlier, the movie would change Hollywood forever. After the movie was released, a ton of computer animated films hit the theaters. Some good, some awful, all because of Pixar. A Toy Story sequel was made, and still remains the only Pixar sequel to date. Last year, Toy Story 1 and 2 were released in 3D for a limited time.

Look out this summer, Toy Story 3 is coming. And now, Andy's going off to college, what's going to happen to all the toys? We'll have to wait and see.

Check out the Toy Story 3 Trailer below and look for our next installment of You know what's a good movie?:

Seriously? Tyler Perry wins the box office?

I'm not gonna list why I don't like Tyler Perry movies, I'm just going to tell you I don't! Maybe another day, another post I'll share why I don't like them. Whether I like them or not, they make money, a lot of it. The weekend box office went to Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself. We didn't report anything about it, because we don't care. It came in at 24.03 million.

The CGI animated picture, 9, took in about 10 million for the weekend, 15.3 million since its Wednesday release. The movie is produced by Tim Burton and stars the voice talent of John C. Reilly, Elijah Wood, Christopher Plummer and Jennifer Connelly as dolls who have to save humanity.

The two other new releases are Sorority Row, opening at 5.3 million. Let me give you the skinny on this: a sorority of hot girls mixed in with an axe murderer. The other new release is Whiteout, opening with 5.1 million.

Last weeks winner was The Final Destination, which fell to fifth place with 5.5 million. Here's the rest of the list:

1. "Tyler Perry's I Can Do Bad All By Myself," $24.03 million.

2. "9," $10.9 million.

3. "Inglourious Basterds," $6.5 million.

4. "All About Steve," $5.8 million.

5. "The Final Destination," $5.5 million.

6. "Sorority Row," $5.3 million.

7. "Whiteout," $5.1 million.

8. "District 9," $3.6 million.

9. "Julie & Julia," $3.3 million.

10. "Gamer," $3.15 million.

The Princess and the Frog featurette

/slashfilm got a hold of a great featurette about the upcoming Disney pic, The Princess and the Frog. The animation looks amazing (pay attention to the man getting up from the ground). The colors are so vibrant, it would be easy to mistake this for a CGI animation pic. Also, the character of Dr. Facilier played by Keith David (ATL, Barber Shop) is going to be good... real good! Disney has these great villains that are so unforgettable, Dr. Facilier will be one of those. Enjoy the clip and keep it here for more Disney animation news.

Quickie: Toy Story 1 & 2 poster

Just thought this was a fun littler poster to promote the re-release of Toy Story & Toy Story 2 in 3D. The cool part is, you get to see both movies, back to back at the theater for the cost of one ticket, not bad!















Picture courtesy of cinemablend.com.

Marvel Anime: Iron Man and Wolverine coming to DVD

This post is strictly for the superhero genre fans. Marvel has been releasing direct-to-video animation for a few years now. The latest installment will be an anime version of the classic character's Wolverine and Iron Man. Check out the two trailers and see what you think. I'm a big fan of the genre and think it has potential. Last year's Batman: Gotham Knight had several depictions of the Dark Knight and one of them was anime. It was different considering how many reincarnations there are in the states. Enjoy!

'Marvel Anime' Iron Man Teaser Trailer @ Yahoo! Video

'Marvel Anime' Wolverine Teaser Trailer @ Yahoo! Video

ThunderCats concept art

Remember ThunderCats!?!? Man the 80's gave us some really great TV shows; for us prepubescent boys anyway. "Transformers", "Voltron" (as we reported last week), and now "ThunderCats" will all be adapted for the big screen. ThunderCats will be a cgi, animated movie brought to you by Warner Brothers. Movieline.com has revealed the never-before-seen pictures. The first being the main character, Lion-O. Enjoy!

The Lorax, a Dr. Seuss classic coming to theaters

Variety reported yesterday that Universal Pictures purchased the rights to a Dr. Seuss classic, "The Lorax". The book was originally published in 1971 and it tells the story of a little creature who is environmentally friendly. Sounds like a good idea with all this talk of Global Warming. It will be done in much the same style as Horton Hears a Who, 3D animation.

This news is fine with me, as long as we don't get another The Cat in the Hat. My god, that movie was awful, even children should be offended at how dumb that movie is. How the Grinch Stole Christmas though, now that's another story. I loved Jim Carrey in that.

Either way, Dr. Seuss classics are coming to life as the years go by. Good thing? Or should they stay a creative part of a child's imagination? You be the judge.

Quickie: Toy Story 1 and 2 3D teaser trailer

Maybe you knew this, maybe you didn't, but Toy Story and Toy Story 2 are both being re-released in 3D. This will come just before the released of the highly anticipated sequel, Toy Story 3. Here's the trailer to tease you all until the release date.

'Toy Story 1 and 2' 3D Teaser Trailer @ Yahoo! Video

G-Force tops Harry Potter at this week's box office

Wow... Matt and I made a conscious decision not to post information unless it was something we're passionate about, I'm sorry we're going against that right now. G-Force, the Disney 3D animation picture has taken this week's box office from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. The movie opened to 32+ million dollars. Harry Potter followed suit with 30 million dollars. The other movies opening this week were The Ugly Truth which took in a respectable 27 million dollars, and Orphan, taking in 12.8 million dollars.

Yes G-Force made a lot of money, but that was to be expected with the hype, and it being a family friendly pic. The surprise of the week was The Ugly Truth starring Katherine Heigl and Gerard Butler. Their chemistry was obviously playing well to audiences because Rotten Tomatoes gave the picture a horrible 15% approval rating from critics. But the crowds have spoken and Heigl and Butler are the new Queen and King of the Rom-Com genre. Here are the rest of the top ten:

1. "G-Force," $32.2 million.

2. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," $30 million.

3. "The Ugly Truth," $27 million.

4. "Orphan," $12.8 million.

5. "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," $8.2 million.

6. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen," $8 million.

7. "The Hangover," $6.5 million.

8. "The Proposal," $6.4 million.

9. "Public Enemies," $4.2 million.

10. "Bruno," $2.7 million.

New Planet 51 trailer!

Planet 51 looks like an interesting take on aliens and humans. What if WE, the humans, were the unwanted visitors? Ever thought of it that way? Well Planet 51 attempts to do just that. When I saw the teaser trailer a few months ago, I instantly fell in love. Here now is the full trailer, brought to you by Yahoo Videos. Enjoy!

Planet 51. Chuck Baker Trailer. @ Yahoo! Video