Skylander’s success had to be followed with something, and what better to do so than a world that already has thousands of characters loved by everyone. Today Disney announced Infinity which will release this June. The game will be feature sandbox style game play and looks to have level creation in the works as well. Characters will enter the game through a “portal” like device that the figure will connect to. The characters seem to be mainly out of Pixar productions thus far and seem to include: Jack Skellington, Woody, Buzz, Sully, Mike Wizowsky, Mr. Incredible, members of the Cars cast, and even Captain Jack Sparrow and more.

The Characters of Infinity

If this hits anything like Skylander’s I already see madness ensuing. Limited edition figures available only at Disney Stores, or at Disney Land during certain seasons, level creation tools and pieces through on line promos, and millions of children raiding Gamestops and Toys ‘R Us alike. Who said that Skylander’s wasn’t on to something?

Trailer below

When you watch a Tim Burton film, you know what you’re getting.   His body of work has a level of eeriness unmatched by any other director, and Danny Elfman’s ubiquitous scores help set that mood.

Frankenweenie is no exception.  Based on his 1984 short of the same name (starring Barret Oliver, Bastian from The Neverending Story), the new version elaborates on the original tale, and the animation enables the story to unfold with more visual impact.

Victor is young intelligent boy who makes movies, casting his beloved dog Sparky in the lead role.  His parents worry that Sparky is his only friend, but once you meet the cast of crazy characters that attend Victor’s school, his isolation begins to make more sense.

Elsa van Helsing is very reminiscent of Lydia from Beetlejuice, and when she spoke, I wasn’t surprised to hear Winona Ryder’s voice.  There are other homages, as well, both from Burton’s earlier films and monster classics.  Classmates resemble Igor and Frankenstein’s monster.  The science teacher bears a remarkable resemblance to Vincent Price.  And, in quite a departure from the original short, classic monster homages appear towards the end, including Godzilla, the Mummy, and what I can only imagine must be Gremlin-like creatures.  There’s also a scene with a toilet that, for a brief moment, brought to mind Gennaro from Jurassic Park.

If you saw the original (included in the combo set), then the main plot won’t come as a surprise.  However, Sparky’s fate was far more emotional in the new version, given that Burton provided more time for us to get to know Victor and Sparky.  Burton was kind enough to handle the scene rather delicately, implying rather than showing directly what had just happened.

The original was a very simple story about a boy and his dog, but the remake expounds upon that, making a statement about science and tolerance for new ideas.

The clip below shows a classroom lesson from the science teacher:

I liked this film.  I almost cried once or twice, but that happens whenever I watch a movie with a dog in it.  (There are some movies I’m absolutely not allowed to ever watch again.  Old Yeller, I’m talking to you.)  As I already indicated, Burton has a brand, and if you like his style, then you’ll probably like this, too.  It’s a very sweet story with monsters and incredible animation.

And, you’ll discover that Sparky is quite an appropriate name for this special dog.

The Frankenweenie Blu-ray Combo pack is now available on Amazon.

Since it was announced that Disney acquired Lucasfilm, one of the biggest questions everyone had was about the long rumoured live action television series developed by George Lucas and Rick McCallum. With Disney’s ownership of ABC, it was always a fairly reasonable guess that they would, at the very least, look at the live action show and see if they wanted to throw a hat in that ring.

According to Entertainment Weekly, that’s finally going to happen.

“We’d love to do something with Lucasfilm, we’re not sure what yet,” Lee exclusively told EW. “We haven’t even sat down with them. We’re going to look at [the live-action series], we’re going to look at all of them, and see what’s right. We weren’t able to discuss this with them until [the acquisition] closed and it just closed. It’s definitely going to be part of the conversation.”

It’s promising news, to be sure. If the episodes written are as good as I imagine they would be (since they’re, you know, Star Wars), I imagine the only thing that could possibly continue to hold it up would be cost.

But the article goes further and uses anonymous sources to shed more light on the series. Entertainment Weekly is much more reputable about reporting on issues in both the worlds of Star Wars and entertainment.

Sources say the live-action series centers on the story of rival families struggling over the control of the seedy underside of the Star Wars universe and the people who live within the subterranean level and air shafts of the metropolis planet Coruscant (the Empire’s urban-sprawl-covered home planet). A bounty hunter may be the main character. Set between the original Star Wars film trilogy and the prequels, the time period allows for all sorts of potential appearances from classic figures from the Star Wars universe.

The description is sufficiently vague and jives with other reports I’ve read that lend it credibility. Meaning the show still sounds awesome.

The EW article goes on to posit that Star Wars 1313 built on the universe that was going to be seen on the show, and that it shared production art and concept design. So, if Star Wars 1313 does well, it might be an added incentive for ABC to jump on the show.

But, as with anything, only time will tell.

Be sure to listen to the Full of Sith podcast…

Welcome to another edition of The History Geek. This one teams History Geeks and Disney Geeks up together into one mega-geek. Any fan of Disney theme parks knows that the Disney company has an affection for the history of the United States. From the original ““>Great Moments With Mr. Lincoln” at Disneyland to the entirety of Liberty Square at Disney World, including “The Hall of Presidents,” Disney loves American history.

Despite this love, it would come to a surprise to many that Disney was going to create an entire theme park based on the American experience in the early 1990s.

Deep in the heart of Civil War territory, just a few miles from the site of the Battle of Manassas, was to be the site of the 1200 acre park that would take visitors through the American experience. Concepts were drawn, rides and ideas were developed, and the park would lead visitors through many eras of American history. Imagineers felt it would be a perfect complement to the American History experience in Virginia and the Washington, D.C. area. And since it took place in the heart of all that history, I can’t blame them for thinking so.

Disney enthusiasts would have arrived in a Civil War era town, much the same way Main Street greets visitors at more traditional Disney parks. After that, you’d be able to move about through the different eras of American history. Rides based on the Lewis and Clark Expedition and the Native American experience would whisk guests around.

You’d be able to tour a Civil War Fort (much like the Fort on Tom Sawyer’s Island at Disneyland) and then move into the future through the park. There was an Ellis Island attraction planned, the age of industry was there, and even the life of soldiers through the World War would be represented.

There would also be a section devoted to old time state fairs and beyond.

You might even recognize some of the proposed layout and feel in the sketches like this:

As they were cannibalized eventually into Disney’s California Adventure.

Michael Eisner remarked about the park:

“Disney’s America won’t be a 25-minute experience like the American Adventure. The story we’re going to tell at the park will take eight hours to deliver. It’s going to be made up of fifteen or twenty different components. Each one will deal with a different aspect of the American experience. Disney’s America has the potential to redefine The Walt Disney Company more than anything we’ve done. Our goal, when you finish an eight-hour day there, is that you’ll have experienced an intelligent, entertaining, challenging view of America.”

Why did this park devoted to America’s history never happen? A lot of reasons, but principally: wealthy landowners (like the Mariotts and the Duponts, etc.) who lived near the site found the idea of a Disney park in their backyard abhorrent. It would cause too much traffic and sprawl in their area and it was unwelcome. They’d have rather left the land unspoiled than allow a company like Disney building such a monstrosity. Soon, preservation societies were getting involved, working hard to keep the project from happening.

Add to that the fact that the park would only be able to be open 8 months of the year due to weather, and Disney would have to foot the bill for major road and infrastructure improvements, the cost of the lobbying and political fight was too much.

On September 28, 1994, after more than a year of fighting to create Disney’s America, Michael Eisner pulled the plug on the entire project.

To the residents concerned about the blight and sprawl Disney would cause, this actually turned out to be a bad thing. Where Disney would have created a single park with respect to the area and managed traffic and development in a way that only they can, the resulting development became a mess. Dot-com millionaires bought up the land and built giant McMansions over the area in no discernible patterns. It’s probable that more people live there now than Disney would have attracted on a typical day.

For Disney, the project was revived briefly in the late 1990s when the Knott family was planning on selling the Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park, but they opted to not sell to Disney for fear they might alter the feeling of the park.

As stated before, Disney ended up taking quite a few of the ideas and implementing them in their California Adventure expansion of the Disneyland property in Anaheim.

It’s interesting to think on what could have been with the Disney’s America. It seems like a place I would have liked to visit, just once at least.

And be sure to check out more installments of The History Geek here!

[Picture Sources: Disneyland And More Blog]

Babes in Toyland is a movie that has a fantastic pedigree. It was the first live-action musical from Walt Disney. It starred Annette Funicello, Tommy Sands, Tommy Kirk, Ray Bolger, Ed Wynn, and Henry Calvin, among other Disney staples of the 50s and 60s. It was written by Ward Kimball who worked in Disney’s animation department working on countless shorts and Disney features.

It should have been an incredible film, but instead it’s just kind of not. Disney wouldn’t perfect the live-action musical formula for a few more years with Mary Poppins, so I’m grateful to this film for being that laboratory.

I loved this film as a kid, and that’s where all of its charm lies. I put it on for my kids and my daughter absolutely loved it and wanted to watch it again. My son, on the other hand, literally decided he’d rather clean his room than watch another minute of Babes in Toyland. I was excited to see how it held up to my nostalgia and I’m sad to say my nostalgia was greater than the movie. It was long, plodding, and the plot isn’t something you can really care about. It follows Mary Quite Contrary (Annette) and her marriage woes. She’s in love with Tom Piper (Tommy Sands) and wants to marry him, but the greedy Barnaby (Ray Bolger) hatches a plan to get rid of Tom and marry her himself. That’s pretty much it. The movie doesn’t even get half interesting until they find themselves inexplicably in Toyland, and Ed Wynn and Tommy Kirk (as the Toymaker and his assistant, respectively) liven up the film considerably.

In fact, I think the best thing about this film is the toy soldier fight and special effects extravaganza that caps off the film. For 1961, the effects are absolutely incredible and on Blu-ray, it just pops.

In fact, the thing I loved most about this rewatch was the color. The look of that old three-strip technicolor on Blu-ray is intoxicating to me. It doesn’t look real and looks like something out of a storybook. But it doesn’t just work here, the Blu-rays of all the films of that era have that same magical quality (especially The African Queen.)

The music, in its moments, can be rather catchy. The visuals are larger than life, and the colors are dazzling. But the story is just too kiddy. I think that might be what Disney hit upon in later years is that you don’t have to pander to children, you need to make a movie for the whole family. It’s something he did with his cartoons and I guess he just had to learn that lesson with movies, too.

You can get it on Amazon for less than $20. It’s far less offensive of a Christmas movie than some of the drivel being made today, it’s pure nostalgic fantasy. And if you have young kids, this movie is perfect.

During an interview with ABC Radio (which is owned by Disney), Star Wars: Episode VII producer Kathleen Kennedy said that an announcement would be forthcoming next month, though she offered no details about what, though I’d assume it would be something like the director, which seems like the next logical step in the production.

Here’s the quote, which I’m probably reading more into than I should:

What else can she tell us about the new Star Wars project? She teases, “I have no immediate update, but hopefully in January I’ll have something that I can say.”

Star Wars: Episode VII is set for release in 2015.

Finding Nemo is a movie that never clicked for me upon its initial release. It was the second time I skipped a Pixar release during its initial run in theatres. (The first was Monsters Inc., which seemed like it would be boring to me.) Finding Nemo went on to be the highest grossing film of that year, and it still never saw a penny from me.

Years passed, I picked it up for my kids on DVD, and they loved it. They must have watched it a hundred times. But I still never saw it in its entirety. I’d only catches pieces here and there and not think too much about it.

I was sent the Blu-ray for review and I have to say: I’m an idiot for having missed this film. I love Andrew Stanton’s work and I have no idea why this would have been any different. It’s charming, heartwarming, extremely funny, and classic Pixar.

Why didn’t you guys tell me it was so good?

Perhaps it resonates more with me now that I’m a father? I was still a brand new father when it came out originally and it seemed like it would just be “another kids movie” when it came out, but I am still awed by how wrong I was. And so much credit has to go to Albert Brooks. That guy just has a funny voice and his timing is perfect. Even when he’s being serious he’s spot on.

As for the Blu-ray, like any film as high quality as Pixar makes, the Blu-ray elements look absolutely astounding. This film takes place mostly underwater and the volume and feel of that is never lost through the entire narrative.

Aside from the incredible film quality, the Blu-ray boasts a boatload of special features that would be of interest to any fan of film or student of story or animation.

You can (and should) pick up the Blu-ray in a 5-disc set for less than $25 on Amazon.

Here’s a peek at some of those great special features they featured on the Blu-ray, like this piece about original opening of the film:

And here’s a piece about flashbacks:

And here’s another one about Albert Brooks and never saying lines the same way twice:

Two recent Disney/Pixar Blu-ray releases have come out and I couldn’t have been more satisfied by their acquisition.

First was Pixar’s Brave.

The more I watch this film, the harder it is for me to imagine that anyone ever had a problem with it. They took a classic Disney style-story, put a classic Pixar spin on it. So what if it doesn’t reach the dizzying heights of Wall-E or the stylistic flourishes of The Incredibles? It’s a fantastic film in its own right and seeing it again on Blu-ray makes one realize how important its going to be in the pantheon of Disney Princess films.

The look of this film is stunning, no less so on Blu-ray. The sets and the backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous. But the only thing that works better than the visuals is the story. The story is something that is really worth studying. The wraparound story and fable fitting into the story the way they do is incredibly elegant. And every moment with the three brothers is solid gold.

My only complaint about the film still are a few of the contemporary gags in the witches hut, but it makes enough sense to let it slide.

Other than that, I think Merida is a fantastic addition to the world of Disney Princesses. My daughter certainly agrees and looks up to her quite a bit. In fact, I think the most clever thing this does is take the entire genre of Disney Princesses and the tropes that they’ve been playing up for almost a hundred years (wow, think of that) and sets its sights toward a new, modern era.

Let’s hope we get more like this.

Next on the list is the second Pixar shorts collection.

This is a set that I think needs to be in every animation lover’s collection. The shorts contained in this set, both those I’d seen already and those I hadn’t yet seen were utterly brilliant.

There are so many favorites in this set, it’s hard to pick just one. Presto is certainly a highlight, about the magicians rabbit and his desire to get a carrot. It’s got a classic sense of animated humour and is so disgustingly well paced that it keeps you laughing the entirety of its running time.

Also included is a cartoon I hadn’t previously seen starring Remy from Ratatouille. It was a history of rats and it echoed all the old informational Disney films of past (like Donald in Mathmagic Land) and put a very cool new spin on it, mixing 2D and 3D animation styles. It was informative, funny, and just fantastic all around.

The Up and Toy Story shorts stand up as well as the films they came from, and there are many more films, including student films by some of the Pixar regulars.

This is a disc that will provide lots of enjoyment for a lay-person or a kid, but for an animation nerd it will provide endless amounts of entertainment and information with the bonus features and commentaries. There is no downside to getting this disc and I highly recommend it for any serious fan of animation, Disney, or Pixar.

Pixar has built a very detailed school site to promote Monsters University. I work in education and look at school websites pretty much every day and I think this fake site actually works better than most I see. There are links to the different departments showing programs as well as links to sports and Greek Life. They even have a campus map. I’m sure you could click around for hours on this site and find all kinds of fun information. 

I’m terribly excited for this film and I’m glad to see their embracing some of the 8-bit, 80s roots with the marketing campaign. This is totally the sort of commercial you’d see for an arcade in the 80s. It’s even better than the commercials for Noah’s Arcade in Wayne’s World.

Wreck-it Ralph hits theatres in less than a month.