Progress City, U.S.A.

Well, I didn’t intend for this week to become the animation apocalypse, but something seems to really be poking the hornets’ nest in Burbank and Emeryville. Snow Queen is back on the shelf, newt is dead, Rapunzel has been ridiculously rebranded as Tangled, and King of the Elves is either in turnaround or abandoned depending on who you talk to.

Then there are the more insidious whispers. Whispers that the Walt Disney Animation Studios will be severely downsized, going to a model similar to the one that has occasionally been pushed on Imagineering – that of a small, centralized core of managers and key creatives still working at Disney, with the production work farmed out to contractors. When Michael Eisner arrived at Disney in 1984, Jeff Katzenberg and Frank Wells originally wanted to go to this television model; if TV animation could be completed so cheaply in Korea or China, why couldn’t this be used for expensive theatrical animation too? Thankfully, Roy Disney and others were able to appeal to Eisner’s desire for prestige and keep animation at the Disney Studios, but who knows what the future holds.

But wait, there’s more – lots of rumbles of internecine squabbling at Pixar, possible troubles with Cars 2, the studio’s noticeable new reliance on sequels, and then today I hear the following words for the first time:

Toy Story 4.

Whenever I’m at some Disney event handing out my silly little business cards to people in Imagineering or Animation, I often tell them, “Feel free to read and yell at me when I get it wrong.” I don’t expect them to be ringing me up and giving me the top-secret scoop on their new projects; I’m hoping, instead, that they’ll set me straight when I’ve really messed up. Because despite what some might think, I do not relish disseminating bad news. I’ve had no happier day in reporting on animation than when Disney and Pixar released their very ambitious production slate in 2008. And while I’ve been talking about these recent rumors and events, no one hopes more than I that I’m completely wrong.

Just keep your eyes open and your ears to the ground, in the off chance that I’m unfortunately not wrong about this. Hopefully the suits are just in panic mode right now, and things will level off like they usually do. We’ve been on the cusp of disaster before only to be pulled out of the fire, so this could just the cycle of executive indecision at work. I’ll bet that if Rapunzel is a hit, the suits will be shoving each other out of the way to see who can take the most credit for it.

Well, the bodies sure are stacking up.

First, King of the Elves gets whacked. The computer-animated fantasy based on a short story by Philip K. Dick would have been released in 2012.

Then, in all the marketing-driven panic following Princess and the Frog’s lukewarm box office, Disney shelves the long-anticipated and traditionally animated The Snow Queen. Who’s up next on the hit list?

It looks like it’s newt.

Actually, I’ve been worried about this one for a long time. I’d heard a few things hinting at this, but nothing definitive enough that I’d be comfortable writing about it. Then, today in a comment thread on the Animation Guild Blog, Disney vet Floyd Norman stated that the film is dead.

newt was first announced in April of 2008 as part of Disney and Pixar’s ambitious new animation slate. It was to be directed by long-time sound engineer and guru Gary Rydstrom, from a script by Rydstrom and Leslie Caveny. Michael Giacchino was slated to write the score.

According to the press at the time, the film would have followed Newt and Brooke, the last remaining male and female blue-footed newts on the planet. Forced together by science to save their species, the only problem was that they can’t stand each other. According to the press release, “Newt and Brooke embark on a perilous, unpredictable adventure and discover that finding a mate never goes as planned, even when you only have one choice. Love, it turns out, is not a science.”

So, that’s out. But hey, at least we get Winnie-the-Pooh and Cars 2. Who wants to bet that newt’s summer 2012 release spot goes to another Pixar rehash, Monsters, Inc. 2?

UPDATE: I’ve had a couple of people tell me that King of the Elves has not actually been completely abandoned, but that it’s still in turnaround for retooling. I know this had been the fact at one point, but other informed sources have said that it’s no longer actively being worked on. If anyone can clarify this, drop me a line. In stranger news, I’ve had two sources independently hint to me that Cars 2 is actually having production problems, and I’ve seen that rumor posted anonymously today on the Animation Guild’s blog. Whispering campaign or fact, I don’t know, but it’s something to keep an eye out for.

To celebrate the DVD release of UP, Pixar recently released a short animatic film on their Facebook page. The short, George & A.J., was written and directed by Josh Cooley; despite its story-sketch approach it’s quite hilarious. In fact, it winds up being a funnier short than the more polished Dug’s Special Mission from the DVD. While I wouldn’t pass up extra Dug for anything in the world, I am disappointed that this great little short didn’t make it on the DVD or Blu-Ray release. In any case, you can see it now for free online!

For some time, we here at Progress City have wanted to review new releases of note from Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar. What better way to start, then, than the home video release of this year’s Pixar success, UP? The simple tale of a boy and his dog… and an old man… and a flying house… and a giant rare bird named Kevin… was released to stores last Tuesday. True to Disney’s recent pattern, it has been released in multiple formats: a bare-bones, single-disc DVD; a deluxe DVD with bonus features and a digital copy of the film on a second disc; and a four-disc package that includes the film and its extras on two Blu-Ray discs, a bonus DVD of the film for those yet to upgrade, and a disc containing a downloadable digital version of the film.

It’s nearly unthinkable that any reader of this blog will have yet to see this film, making any further review practically superfluous. Needless to say, it’s another in a long line of Pixar triumphs, and perhaps their most challenging yet. UP manages to thread a number of needles very successfully, making fools of the pundits who doubted Pixar’s ability to translate its esoteric premise into a successful family film.

There were many – mainly in the field of marketing – who questioned the premise of Pixar’s tenth feature, saying that there was no way people would turn out to watch a film about a senior citizen on what amounted to a suicide mission to reclaim lost love and dreams deferred. It wouldn’t sell toys, they said, and thus it would doubtless be a failure. But once again creativity trumped the deep insight of the business sector, and UP became Pixar’s second-highest grossing film to date. The film is emotionally wrenching yet still hilarious, containing that perfect level of pathos that made the animated films of Disney’s golden age so resonant. Pixar’s continuing unwillingness to pander to its audience made this family-friendly Fitzcarraldo a hit with audiences and critics.

The film, much like last year’s WALL-E, is most effective in its nearly-flawless first act. After an introduction to the young Carl Fredricksen and his future wife Ellie, we watch their life unfold through a masterfully-crafted yet wordless montage that conveys the successes and sorrows of their long life together. At its end, we’re left with the widower Fredricksen (Ed Asner) as a gruff and lonely 78-year-old who resembles the rumpled and crotchety Spencer Tracy of Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner? Left alone in the home he and Ellie made together, and faced with the threat of eviction so that a mall can be built on his property (a conceit reminiscent of Capra’s You Can’t Take It With You, with visuals that strongly evoke the classic Disney short The Little House), the former balloon salesman concocts an improbable scheme to finally realize his and Ellie’s dream of seeking adventure in distant South America.

Carl’s plans are complicated, naturally, by a stowaway – young Russell, who proves relentless in his quest to earn his Wilderness Explorer merit badge for assisting the elderly. The filmmakers and actor Jordan Nagai earn a great deal of praise for making Russell a thoroughly believable character and in no way treacly or annoying. If Russell doesn’t remind you of a kid you’ve known (or were), then you haven’t met many.

Things grow increasingly perilous for our heroes upon their arrival in the isolated and tropical Paradise Falls; there are rare and endangered birds, talking dogs, and UP’s own version of Colonel Kurtz – Carl’s childhood idol, Charles Muntz (Christopher Plummer). Some of this material works better than the rest, especially the friendly speaking canine Dug (co-director Bob Peterson). Dug is perhaps my favorite character in any of the Pixar films, and he deserves special mention here. The ever-cheerful and good-natured dog is both hilarious and incredibly evocative for any viewer who has known a loyal, smart, yet scatterbrained pup. His animation is nuanced and amazingly insightful; any dog-lover will recognize his behaviors and moods at once. The character’s design, too, is pleasingly caricatured and just cartoony enough; this sets Dug above the other dog characters whose designs hew closer to realism and, I feel, are rather unsightly.

The film is not perfect, though; again, like WALL-E, most of its problems come in the third act when the story seems to get away from itself, ramp up the action, and get a little sloppy. When I saw UP in theaters, I came away convinced that the film didn’t need a villain. I still find this to be the case. Carl’s real enemy is his inability to reconcile with the past, and his imprisonment by the ephemera that has come to define him. These are problems with which I deeply sympathize and identify, but they’re things that Carl must himself overcome. It seems too easy to have him learn his lesson by comparing himself to Muntz, especially when Muntz descends so quickly into a rather clichéd and over-blown villain. Obviously Muntz’s path isn’t one to follow, but do we believe that Carl would have ever gone that far?

Despite the muddled third act – although who can quibble with an aged Spencer Tracy and Kirk Douglas wailing on each other while hanging from a zeppelin? – UP sticks the landing by satisfactorily wrapping up each character’s quest. It’s emotional, hopeful, and ever so completely Pixar.

The DVD

As mentioned, UP has been released in three different editions for DVD and Blu-Ray. We shall examine these in turn, but first I have a general note about the releases. Pixar was long noted for the extremely high quality of their DVD releases, both in sound and image quality and amount of supplemental material. Their first DVD release, 1998’s a bug’s life, was seminal, as was its follow-up, the Ultimate Toy Box. At the time, DVDs were mostly the realm of film buffs and early-adopters. As prices dropped, a family market was created and the contents of new releases began to shift from targeting animation fans to targeting toddlers. Disney releases were hit the hardest; for a while, even box-office disappointments like Atlantis and The Emperor’s New Groove had received the deluxe treatment on their two-disc special editions (and thank heavens for it!). By 2002, though, the comparatively successful Lilo & Stitch was released with a rather barren single-disc offering and the age of collector-grade Disney releases was over.

Pixar releases, mercifully, stuck to a higher standard. In recent years, though, even they have dropped off with single-disc releases for Cars and Ratatouille. Extensive bonus features have been reserved for Blu-Ray only, but even those “deluxe” editions have slipped somewhat since the days of Pixar’s self-styled “sooper genius” editions. UP continues this trend with Pixar’s sparsest slate of extras yet, although what is on the Blu-Ray release is definitely worth a look.

Video & Audio

One area in which Pixar has never fallen short is that of picture quality. Their early releases were the first home video titles to benefit from direct digital transfers of the original elements. UP is no different, with spectacular transfers on both the DVD and Blu-Ray. Both are presented in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio; the DVD transfer is in anamorphic widescreen. Without the need for the tinted 3-D glasses used in theaters, the vibrant color palette of the film can be truly appreciated. It really pops on the screen, and even the lower-resolution DVD release features an exceptional level of color and detail.

The film sounds great, too; the Blu-Ray features a DTS-HD 5.1 track, as well as a Dolby 5.1 soundtrack in English, French and Spanish. The DVD offers Dolby 5.1 English and Dolby Surround 2.0 options, as well as something fairly unique and special – a descriptive audio track for the visually impaired.

Bonus Features & Various Editions

The three-tiered release strategy is thankfully easy to decipher, as each more expensive edition builds upon the contents of the lesser versions. So, let’s start at the bottom.

Standard, Single-Disc DVD

The bare-bones DVD release only contains two bonus features – the theatrical short Partly Cloudy and the DVD-exclusive short Dug’s Special Mission.

Partly Cloudy – This short, which played in theaters in front of UP, is the charming tale of a besieged stork who is assigned to deliver some of nature’s less cuddly creatures. Delivered without dialogue, the short is a tribute to Pixar’s ability to create intense emotions and sympathetic characters through pantomime and the pure art of animation. (5:46)

Dug’s Special Mission – The new short serves as something of a prequel to Dug’s initial appearance in UP. As such, it’s less of a contained narrative and more of a series of scenes from the dog’s perspective. There are some quality gags, of course, and a surprisingly bittersweet tone and ending, but since I find anything featuring this character to be absolutely golden this was a can’t-miss for me. More Dug, please. (4:42)

Deluxe DVD + Digital Copy

Taking the two shorts from the previous version and combining them with a few extras, this edition features a separate disc with a digital copy of the film for your home PC or mobile device. The added bonuses include:

Adventure Is Out There – If you’ve never appreciated the efforts that Pixar visual and story artists go to in the creation of their films, you will after this documentary featurette. To understand the world of their story, the Pixar artists trekked to the tepui plateaus of Venezuela. There, they scaled 2000-foot sandstone cliffs to explore these mile-high islands in the sky. Their adventures revealed an amazing world; the tepui contain bizarre and otherworldly terrain as well as an isolated and self-contained ecosystem. The climate is unpredictable, as well; having reached the top of Kukenán tepui via helicopter – their guides estimated that less than 100 people had ever visited the site – a storm descended that stranded several artists in a downpour. I’ll leave the terrible secret of their shelter for you to discover – an animator’s life ain’t easy. A great featurette. (22:16)

Alternate Scene: The Many Endings of Muntz – The closest this set gets to deleted scenes, this featurette discusses the various ways that the directors considered to get rid of their antagonist at the end of the film. It’s interesting to hear the filmmakers discuss the purpose of the villain in their films, but I think that some of the other concepts they explored for Muntz’s demise were more interesting thematically than the version they eventually chose. (4:55)

Audio Commentary – Director Pete Docter and Co-Director Bob Peterson provide the feature-length commentary track. I’ve only listened to excerpts so far, but the filmmakers pepper the track with lots of details about the film’s creative process and the various concepts that were created and discarded along the way. It illustrates how difficult the creative process can be, and how many iterations these films go through on their way to the screen.

Blu-Ray Edition + DVD + Digital Copy

The most complete version of Up is this release, which combines two Blu-Ray discs (the film, and a disc of extras) with the deluxe edition DVD and a fourth disc with a digital copy of the film. The MSRP on this set is a very unfriendly $45.99 – especially shocking since all of its features should have been included on the lesser editions – but since the set can be found at an enormous discount at most online retailers it’s still the one to get. The features added in this edition include:

Blu-Ray Disc One

Cine-Explore – The audio commentary is the same as that on the DVD release, but on the Blu-Ray it’s accompanied by picture-in-picture visual elements that help illustrate the points that the filmmakers are discussing. It’s a good way to combine development art, story sketches, and behind-the-scenes footage with the film itself.

Blu-Ray Disc Two

Geriatric Hero – This featurette discusses the development of Carl Fredrickson, and the considerations involved in animating a senior citizen. (6:23)

Canine Companions – More Dug! This time, we see the work that animators did in studying both the appearance and behavior of dogs in order to create the canine inhabitants of Paradise Falls. (8:27)

Russell: Wilderness Explorer – In which is depicted the creation of Russell and how the animators worked with voice actor Jordan Nagai to develop the character. (9:02)

Our Giant, Flightless Friend Kevin – Since everyone else gets a featurette, why not Kevin? This discusses the inspiration behind and creation of the giant feathered fellow. (5:06)

Homemakers of Pixar – Much thought was given to the creation of Carl and Ellie’s home, and that’s discussed in this featurette. Designers and filmmakers incorporated many elements of their own grandparents’ houses, some of which are pointed out here. (4:35)

Balloons and Flight – From Carl’s balloons to Muntz’s dirigible The Spirit of Adventure, the element of flight is critical to the film. Filmmakers talk about the inspiration behind and execution of these elements. (6:26)

Composing for Characters – The various leitmotifs of the film’s score are discussed, as is their use throughout the film. (7:40)

Alternate Scene: Married Life – Discussion of and deleted elements from the montage of Carl and Ellie’s life. All great stuff to see. (9:12)

Up Promo Montage – Various interstitials created for different outlets to help promote the film. (5:51)

Worldwide Trailers – Includes two trailers for the film: Theatrical Trailer #2 (1:51) and Theatrical Trailer #3 (2:32). What about #1? The world may never know.

There’s also, as always, an interactive game for the kiddies – Russell’s Global Guardian Badge Game. But Progress City has a strict embargo against the interactive games. We shall say no more.

In Summary…

It’s a great movie. Although the extras are sub-par for a Pixar release, it’s still a great movie. Get the Blu-Ray combo pack, even if you don’t have a Blu-Ray player, and even though the typical Blu-Ray packaging irritates me as always. Just make sure you look around and find it somewhere that you can buy it at a price close to the plain vanilla DVD edition.

Ten films in, and Pixar is still knocking them out of the park. I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Click To Buy: Single DVD, Deluxe DVD, Blu-Ray

It’s been some time since we’ve discussed the upcoming Disney animation slate in any detail, and even longer since I updated the site’s list of animated projects. We’ve mentioned some of the schedule shifts that have occurred in the year and a half since Disney announced their ambitious development plans; most notably, Cars 2 was bumped up to a 2011 opening, pushing Gary Rydstrom’s newt back to 2012. But as the months pass, the crews at Disney and Pixar continue to develop new material. We’ve had one official announcement, 2011’s traditionally animated Winnie-the-Pooh, but there are several other new projects waiting in the wings.

First, though, a look at some of the projects that have been announced already. Disney will soon debut Princess and the Frog, its first traditionally animated feature since 2004. Hopes are high that this December release will revive Walt Disney Animation Studios, and pave the way for many 2D features to come. Early indicators are good; the screening of the film’s first act at the D23 Expo went over like gangbusters, and I was pleasantly surprised by the strength of the parts we were shown. I still have some qualms about some of the character design and animation (again, too loosey-goosey for my tastes), but the general aesthetic of the film looks great and the story seems to be extremely tight and lean. The music’s good, too.

Rapunzel is looking lovely too…

Work on Rapunzel continues for 2010; as that long-in-the-making film moves from story to production, the scuttlebutt coming out of Burbank has become increasingly optimistic. After the story problems that plagued the film for so long, one hopes that things really start to click. The development art that has been released looks top notch.

The first new film to add to our list is the aforementioned Winnie-the-Pooh. Directors Steve Anderson and Don Hall originally brought this project to John Lasseter as an idea for a direct-to-video feature. Lasseter, who apparently has an affinity for the Disney Pooh featurettes from the 1960s and 70s, liked the idea so much he greenlit it for a theatrical release. This came as something of a surprise to observers, who are used to Disney targeting this character directly at the preschool crowd. Lasseter seemed aware of this during his presentation at the D23 Expo, asking the audience to “trust him” that the film won’t be just for little kids, and that we “won’t believe how funny this thing is.” Indeed. Just kiddin’, I love ya Johnny boy.

I’ve always assumed that I was alone in my incredible and all-consuming disdain for the Pooh character and his cohorts. I’ve never liked Pooh, even as a kid. Maybe it’s because each inhabitant of the Hundred Acre Wood seems straight out of a different chapter of the DSM-IV. Anyway, it was amusing to hear both the muted reaction to the Pooh news at D23 and then to watch the documentary the boys and hear Richard and Robert Sherman talk about how they couldn’t stand the stories either. Don’t get me wrong – Winnie-the-Pooh will most likely be highly enjoyable in the end. I just can’t get myself excited about it right now.

What does excite me is the approach they’re taking to the film, which is hand-drawn and will incorporate watercolored backgrounds like the original films. They’re also mining the original Pooh books for five stories that will be strung together around a central narrative. Disney Legend Burny Mattinson, who worked on the original animated featurettes, returned to Disney to guide the story department in the picture’s development. Winnie-the-Pooh will hit theaters in the spring of 2011, filling a gap in Walt Disney Animation Studios’ production slate.

Another previously announced film in development is 2012’s King of the Elves; based on the Philip K. Dick short story, it’s rumored to be computer-animated. The Animation Guild blog mentioned recently that the story is currently being retooled, bringing some changes and the departure of at least one director. Aaron Blaise and Robert Walker were originally announced to direct, and it seems that Blaise has left the film for reasons unknown.

From here, we enter the realm of speculation. There have been a number of projects in and out of development at Disney over the last decade, and these are starting to pop up again as contenders for the next wave of releases. The first of these is The Snow Queen, which was mentioned by Disney producer Don Hahn as in development as recently as the D23 Expo. Hahn showed a slide of concept art from the film during one of his panel discussions, and offhandedly mentioned the project as something they’re working on.

This is an awful, awful picture I took of the concept art from The Snow Queen at D23. If you could see it, it would show a castle embedded in an icy mountain lit by aurorae. The striking piece was created by artist Paul Felix; if you have a better picture from this presentation, would you send it along?

The Snow Queen was in development at Disney from roughly 2000-2003, when it was scuttled because Disney management wanted to get out of the fairy tale game and into the “hip and edgy” business. The project was originally intended for directors Paul and Gaetan Brizzi for when they were finished with Don Quixote, but when that animated adaptation was canceled in early 2001 the Brizzis departed the studio. The Snow Queen was then handed off to Dick Zondag and Dave Goetz to direct, but the project eventually went into turnaround in the middle of 2002. During this break, animator Glen Keane left the project in order to direct his own film (which, eventually, turned out to be Rapunzel).

Character design for The Snow Queen by Harald Siepermann. This design is from the earlier attempt at producing this story.

The film spiraled into development hell as management decided to retool it as a computer-animated feature, and around 2003 it simply faded away. In early 2006 it was announced that composer Alan Menken and lyricist Glen Slater were developing a stage musical based on The Snow Queen for Tokyo Disneyland; it was canceled abruptly at the end of that year, possibly when the film version went back into development. Cut to around 2007, when John Lasseter had arrived at Disney Feature Animation and was reassessing the development slate. Around that time, work began anew on The Snow Queen. Current rumors online suggest either Mike Gabriel or Dean Wellins are involved to direct. Menken has confirmed in the European press that he’s writing the songs for the film.

If Lasseter’s arrival at Disney brought new life to some projects, it meant the end of others. So it was for Joe Jump, a computer-animated film that was junked in 2008 after about four years of development. The film, a story of a videogame character from the early 1980s who tries to make his way in the modern high-tech gaming world, got some positive buzz when it was going through the story process around 2006. Story artist Sam Levine was leading the project, with designer Joe Moshier helping create the film’s look. In an interview, character designer Jim McPherson spoke about his work on the film:

“…I was appointed to join the Visual Development Team at Walt Disney Feature Animation to work with the director Sam Levine and character designer Joe Moshier on a film called Joe Jump. All the characters were developed in collaboration of drawing and modeling done in ZBrush 2. We translated a more graphic character style into 3D, slightly leaning towards “Toot, Whistle, Plunk and Boom” or UPA cartoons, but with a heavy influence of Milt Kahl and Tom Oreb’s work. Unfortunately, the movie was cancelled after 4 years in development. I hope to eventually get permission to show some of the characters. There were cyborg lizards, heavily armored heroes and amazon women designed in a new style.”

Joe Jump was canceled in order to focus resources on projects that were further along in the development pipeline, but now the blog of the Animation Guild reports that the pixelated hero lives again. Further information is unavailable, but look for the CGI Joe Jump and the (hopefully) hand-drawn The Snow Queen to shuffle into those 2013 and 2014 release slots at some point.

What comes after that? Your guess is as good as mine. Online sources have speculated for several years that Disney has been working on an adaptation of the ancient Hindu epic Ramayana, although I can’t find any compelling source for this. What does lend some credibility to that rumor, aside from Disney’s increased efforts in India over recent years, is their under-the-radar interest in the purchase of a publisher of graphic novels centered on Hindu mythology. No one seems to have noticed this in the shadow of the Marvel deal, but it could indicate that the rumors of Ramayana are not all fanboy speculation. Allow me to say, Disney folk, if you are thinking about this… I really hope you make it work somehow because it could be absolutely killer.

There are certainly other abandoned projects from the early part of this decade that deserve a second chance with the new management; Barry Cook’s My Peoples, Ron Clements and John Musker’s Fraidy Cat, or – please, please, please – the Brizzis’ Don Quixote. Hopefully there’s a lot of room at WDAS for new productions; that will keep a lot of animators employed and make me very, very happy.