Tim Burton will not direct Maleficent, a Harry Potter director might though

Tim Burton was set to direct a live-action spin off of Disney's Sleeping Beauty titled, Maleficent.  That was announced back in January of 2010.  Here we are a year and a half later and it appears that Burton is dropping out, stated The Hollywood Reporter.

The movie would have been told through the evil witch's perspective.  Angelina Jolie has long been rumored to star in the film.

Not to fear, it appears as though a very capable director may replace Burton.  How about David Yates for ya?  THR says the man who directed four of eight Harry Potter films may take over the reigns.  I am a huge fan of the Harry Potter films, more specifically the three Yates films that have been released.  He also directed the next and final film, set to be released in July of this year.

This doesn't mean Burton will be leaving Disney, as if they'd let him leave after a billion dollar success that was Alice in Wonderland.  No, he's already started working on a stop-motion adaptation of Frankenweenie, due out next year.  That's all for now, I'll post any updates as they come up.

"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.

Teaser Trailer for Pixar's "Cars 2!"

Pixar's Cars 2 teaser trailer, due out June 24, 2011.

Need I say more?

"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.

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.

David Mamet's Anne Frank movie on hold

The Wrap is reporting that the Anne Frank movie we told you about is in turnaround. Apparently David Mamet's script was so Pro-Isreal, so dark, that when it got to Disney, they reject it and put the movie on hold.

I'm have a little bit of mixed feelings about this. If it is true and the script was very Pro-Isreal, that's not right, because that should become apparent through Anne Franks's diary entries. I also think it SHOULD be dark, it SHOULD be intense. That was a very dark time in the world's history, no one should make light of it. I don't think Disney was the proper venue for this type of movie anyway. They like the cookie-cutter family films, not dark dramas as intense as The Diary of Anne Frank. So we'll have to wait until Disney sells off the rights and another studio makes the film.

Disney Buys Marvel for $4 Billion

The title says it all I think. The Disney Company has just purchased Marvel for the tune of $4 billion. Ok so we could give you numbers and figures, and stock prices jumps and dives... forget all that nonsense. What does this purchase mean to the fans?! If you work for Marvel OR Disney, we know and understand your concerns are elsewhere. But what happens to the movies? The licensing? Who gets to make what movie? Ok, let's break it down studio by studio.

Disney: Gets control of thousands of characters, within the comics, merchandising and most future films.

Fox: Retains control of the X-Men universe including X-Men: First Class, X-Men Origins: Magneto, X-Men Origins: Deadpool and a possible X-Men Origins: Gambit. Fox also holds the rights to the Fantastic Four (which we just blogged about today), as well as the Silver Surfer solo project.

Sony: Retains control of Spider-Man 4, 5, 6. They've already began one phase or another of all three movies.

Paramount: Will still distribute Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America, The Avengers... BUT! BUT! Disney will carry on producing the movies... i.e. Writing, filming, editing.

All studios who are not Disney: When your current agreements are up... Disney's taking control back of the properties, deal with it.


Whoa... that was information overload. But that is the current news as of now. We'll update you as things come up. What do you think about this merger of sorts?

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.

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

King Kong prequel coming soon

Variety is reporting that Spirit Pictures has picked up the rights to the book: "Kong: King of Skull Island". Both a prequel and a sequel to "King Kong". A tv writer, Andy Briggs, is writing the script. I don't think the studio will get Peter Jackson to direct, his price tag is way too high for a smaller studio. It would be nice if the studio shelled out enough money for decent special effects, as seen in 2005's King Kong.

Buuut, the studio is going in another direction; it has opted for motion capture technology like The Polar Express used, as well as the upcoming Disney's: A Christmas Carol. The 2005 movie had a "budget [that] climbed from an initial US$150 million to a record-breaking $207 million", states Wikipedia. HOLY WOW. That's a lot of money. We'll see that happens as time goes on. I was thinking to myself the other day that a King Kong sequel is overdue, even if I wasn't a fan of the Peter Jackson film.

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.

Quickie: Pirates of the Caribbean 4 starts shooting next spring

We at AtD are fans of the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but even bigger fans of Johnny Depp. Pirates of the Caribbean 4 is reported to start filming next spring reports comingsoon.net. Disney's head of production, Oren Aviv, had this to say:

We're going to shoot 'Pirates 4' in April or May of next year. We are going to release it hopefully in 2011 is the plan... hopefully be the first of another trilogy.

Sounds like we've got 4, 5 and 6 ahead of us!? Stay tuned for more!

Quickie: "Prince of Persia" posters!

The official posters of "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time" have been released by Empire, and they look great.

I remember Tony being excited for this movie ever since the first pictures were released of Jake Gyllenhaal in costume. I myself rushed out and got my hands on a copy of the best-selling PS2 game to play before the movie comes out.

The film is being directed by Mike Newell ("Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"), so there should be a decent amount of story. It's being produced by action movie producer guru Jerry Bruckheimer, so I'm guessing that this movie will most likely feature cool looking acrobatic moves over the story. The movie, after all, is based on the Ubisoft video game series, which itself is based on a classic side-scrolling game. I hope these posters will prove me a bit wrong...

The movie will co-star Sir Ben Kingsley Alfred Molina, and Gemma Arterton as the Princess.

Let's hope the film's look and feel match the artsy feeling of these posters.
Awesome work from Disney here.

Matt: "Up" Review

Gather 'round, kiddies!
It’s time for Uncle Matt’s better-late-than-never review of Disney/Pixar’s “Up.”

The movie starts off introducing us to Carl- the old man you see in the trailers- as he sits in the theater as a little boy and watches the latest news on his idol, the explorer Charles Muntz as he takes off to “Paradise Falls,” a beautiful wilderness in Argentina, and vows to return only with the mythical bird he claims to have discovered, the “snipe.”

Even in these early few minutes of the film, Pixar has already done a wonderful job capturing the look and feel of a 1940s-ish America in the video of Muntz, from the voiceover narration, to the streamlined blimp the adventurer pilots with his team of trusted mutts.

Early on in the film, we are shown a magical montage of Carl and his childhood friend and future wife, Ellie. We witness their life together, from their marriage, to their jobs together (Carl sells balloons to children at the zoo Ellie works in), to evening picnics under a tree, to Ellie finding out she can’t have children, and finally to Ellie’s death and Carl’s loneliness.
This entire sequence is done just beautifully and entirely dialogue-free with music gently flowing throughout to perfectly compliment both light and dark moments. It’s arguably the greatest sequence of the film.

The rest of the film is pure nonstop comedy till the end.
Russell, a cute, chubby boy, is introduced trying to help Carl in his old age in some way so that he may receive his “Assisting the Elderly” badge and be promoted to the rank of Senior Scout with his Wilderness Explorers group. He ends up “assisting” Carl as they both try to physically move Carl’s house to Paradise Falls to fulfill a lifelong promise Carl had many to Ellie when they were both children (hence the balloons and flying house).
They, of course, only face newer and bigger challenges the further they advance along their journey, which include a giant bird, talking dogs, and some shady (and dangerous!) characters.

Russell is voiced delightfully by newcomer Jordan Nagai, and Carl’s vocal work is performed “to the T” by none other than Ed Asner. Muntz is voiced by the perfectly evil Christopher Plummer.
The movie visually looks great. All the animation is nicely fluid and the textures are kept fairly light, similar to “WALL-E.”

Nothing in the film is too scary to take younger children. It has it’s sad, darker moments here and there but the majority of the film is definitely side-splittingly hilarious.
The story twists and turns you into some unexpected places, never disappointingly, and shares a very important life lesson in the end.

I saw the film in 3D, which is a real treat. Theaters are still holding 3D showings, so go catch it while you still can! The $2 dollar difference in price is worth it.
I also watched it in 2D and it’s still just as fantastic.
Definitely don’t miss out on watching “Up” in theaters, especially if you don’t have a mammoth-sized screen at home, because the visuals are deserving of a screen as large as the adventure in the film!

Go see this gem.
I highly recommend it.

-Matt

P.S.
Movie buffs should keep an eye (or ear, rather) out for John Ratzenberger, who voices a character in every major Pixar film. See (or hear) if you can recognize him in this one!