Upcoming Disney Films (Part 2)

[tealin]

All righty folks, they've FINALLY got the article giving full running commentary of the Disney side of last week's Disney/Pixar press conference thingy up on Ain't It Cool. Having just seen the video of the presentation this morning, I can assure you that if you read it, the only thing you're missing are the slides projected behind the speakers.

SPOILER WARNING: The first 15 minutes of Bolt are described in pretty exact detail and some of the plot points and characters of other movies are exposed as well, so if you're a purist and you don't want to know a thing about them before they come out, don't read the article. The Bolt stuff is pretty easy to scroll through, at least. If this is okay with you, then ...

CLICK HERE

Comments

[aspectabund.livejournal.com]

Oh-ho. Innnnteresting. I'm looking forward most to Rapunzel still, though. I'd like to know more about the Bear and the Bow, personally, and King of the Elves sounds... kind of lame. I hope it isn't. I think I'm just biased against elves or something. Also, I kind of got a stereotypical-black-people-stuff vibe from the Princess and the Frog thing, which sort of made it less appealing to me. I dunno, maybe I'm just dumb. :| Either way, I'm looking forward to seein' some good ol' traditional stuff. I'm starting animation school m'self come September, and I'm looking forward to seeing some more traditional doors open by the time I'm out... in four years. *sigh*

Are you working on any of these films? I know that your sister's working on clean-up for Princess and the Frog, which is pretty awesome. :)

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Uhhh... no. A reader of my sister's blog will be working on the production end of P&F cleanup, but my sister is doing concept art for Rapunzel.

I kinda like the concept behind King of the Elves, as fairy folkore is close to my heart (the REAL stuff, not the tinkly nonsense), and though I wished they'd drawn some ideas from actual folklore (I could have given lent them books!), once I found out it was a Philip K. Dick story I didn't mind so much. It still seems to keep that slightly spooky otherworldly feeling you get from fairly lore.

I don't have much experience with 'stereotypical black people stuff' so I can't comment on that ... my impression is that it's full of stereotypical New Orleans stuff. 'Here, have a taste of my New Orleans stereotype ... I hope to see you at my New Orleans stereotype party, where we will have a real live New Orleans stereotype band!' But then I got a bit of that from the beginning of Mulan, too ... dunno if it's actually a weak attempt to give a sense of place or what.

[aspectabund.livejournal.com]

Whoop. This is what happens when you follow too many blogs. XD Sorry for the confusion there.

Anyway, yeah, basically the whole stereotypical New Orleans thing. I mean, it seems like they figured that "We have a black princess now!!!1!1! She needs to be in New Orleans, where there will be voodoo and someone whose name starts with "Mama" and gumbo and crocodiles and jazz music!" That's what I meant.

Although, after a bit of thought, I think they're just trying to ensure it's all cultural and stuff like a lot of the other princess films. Mulan, like you mentioned, as well as Pocahontas, and Aladdin and stuff. And it is an interesting setting to pick for a princess film, certainly. I like the twist they put on the frog princess tale - I was wondering how the original version could possibly be made into a movie; princess finds frog, kisses it, turns into prince, they live happily ever after. 8D

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I believe in the original version the frog had to sleep in her room and stuff too. 8| Or else I'm just remembering an odd version of it.... it seemed kind of like a Beauty and the Beast type story.

[aspectabund.livejournal.com]

Ack! I hit submit instead of edit! Anyway, I wanted to add that a lot of blogs I've seen lately have all been "OMG, in Disney Internship doing [smthg]," hence my confusion. 'Pologies for the double post. :)

[(Anonymous)]

This seems really interesting... however, doesn't that Princess and the Frog film strike you as eerily reminiscent of that Discworld book, Witches Abroad, with the voodoo Cinderella story that's set in the parody of New Orleans, and the Duc who's the frog and the lady who claims she sees visions in gumbo and stuff? I don't know, that's what it reminded me of... other elements of the story sound familiar, too. Hmmmm.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Haha, when I visited a couple years ago I got the exact same impression. It's not actually THAT similar, but unfortunately it's a bit too late to scrap it and just make Witches Abroad. :) They're kind of drawing on the same traditions and whatnot ... I mean, Genua is really obviously based on New Orleans and I think Mr Pratchett wrote the book after visiting there (and then going to Disney World, and the contrast between the real and the manufactured).

[meganphntmgrl.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, you're right. Though I always thought that Witches Abroad is awesome if you read it immediately before or after a marathon of Shrek movies. That is, it's awesome anyway, but... yeah. You know what I mean.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just wish they'd make that instead of a marathon of Shrek movies ... or make Into the Woods ... you know, something ACTUALLY CLEVER??

[meganphntmgrl.livejournal.com]

OMG, Into the Woods would be brilliant. I've heard that there was going to be an animated version of that in the mid-90s and plans fell through. Same with the animated Cats, in which they'd all look like actual cats and not pre-furdom furries.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

I hadn't heard of the Into the Woods movie, but I've seen a pile of concept designs from Cats which didn;t always jive with the descriptions in the songs but were all AWESOME* ... I think it's perfect for a sort of Fantasia treatment, forgetting what weak pretense of plot is has and just being a series of vignettes in different styles. I think Amblin was going to do it which means Dreamworks might still have the rights, but even if they decide to act on it (doubtful) perhaps they should not be allowed to...

[noodledaddy.livejournal.com]

Nice to see they noted the voice of Rhino in a positive way. That will be my favorite part of the movie. Well, the part I'm anticipating the most.

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

DOOOOOOOOOODE. ;)

[dried-frog-pill.livejournal.com]

Bolt sounds adorable, but then I'm a sucker for movies with dogs in them XD And I'm interested to see the Princess and the Frog, if only because the reviewer compared it (favorably? unfavorably?) to All Dogs Go To Heaven (which, again, sucker for that movie too. Childhood!) and because it'd be nice to see some traditional animation again. It feels like it might beat the "oh hai this is New Orleans!" stereotype to death, but I like the twist that goes with the kiss :3

I want to know more about the Bear and the Bow and the King of the Elves, too. So basically YAY COOL MOVIES ARE COMING and keep up the updating/letting us all know :D :D ♥

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Um, not having seen All Dogs Go to Heaven for a really long time, the only things it has in common are the musical alligator (Louis isn't nearly as bizarre as that one), New Orleans, and talking animals.

I'll keep you up to date as best I can, but I can only talk about things that have been officially announced.

[floramir.livejournal.com]

Bolt sounds cool. But it also sounds a lot like 'The Incredibles' action plus the '101 Dalmatians 2' story plus those pigeons from Animaniacs (I know they aren't the same, but that's the first thing I thought of). Also, why is the girl named Penny? They had Penny in 'The Rescuers' and Jenny in 'Oliver and Company', and now Penny again? Still, the opening sounds cool, and I like the painted background idea. I'm really looking forward to seeing what that looks like.

Have I got this right? In the 'Princess and the Frog' she finally kisses him, then she turns into a frog, and they both have to figure out how to get out of it? Okay.....

And I'm kind of sad that Tinkerbell will be lame. I really liked that cool 'fairies in the park' preview that was on 'The Little Mermaid' DVD (even if it was 3D). One thing I still don't quite understand is will they talk, or not? Because I've seen those little fairy clips on their the fairy website, and they are silent. Don't know how much those clips have to do with the movies, but...

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Yeah, everyone thinks of the pigeons from Animaniacs. :) They're only in one scene though. The first 10 minutes (which is what is described in that article) is the Incredibles-y bit because it's the Bolt TV show ... the rest is just really cute and funny.

I would guess Penny, consciously or not, was named after the Penny in Inspector Gadget, who also had a dog of some sort and fought villains. That is entirely a guess. I really don't know. Maybe because it sounds cute and perky?

Another similarly uninformed guess is that the clips you've seen of the fairies have been silent because they haven't cast the voices yet. I don't see a silent movie flying [oh the wit!] with the kiddies.

Yup, that is P&F ... it makes a little more sense in the context of the whole story.

[floramir.livejournal.com]

LOL About P&F, I just cringe at the idea of trying to work up to two climaxes (that may not be, since I really know nothing about the pacing of the film, it's just what it sounds like): first, kiss the frog, then, figure out how to turn themselves both back into humans. Stories that do that always seem a little disjointed. But hey, I'll probably like it anyway. ^_^

I got so excited reading the first scene of Bolt (and a little mad at myself for not seeing ahead of time what it was leading up to ^_~). Now I'm mad at myself for reading it (I am such a sucker) because I would have really liked to have seen it without knowing what was going to happen! I'm glad you say it's cute. I'm reassured in my conviction that I want to see it now! ^_^

[twirlynoodle.livejournal.com]

Well, I've known for months what was going to happen, and I still found it exciting when I watched it, so there is hope.

[meganphntmgrl.livejournal.com]

So do we have any idea what "The Bear and the Bow" is? The typeface is enough to make me think it's some kind of medieval adventure swashbuckler, which I am totally a nerd for.

Also, Disney doing Phillip K. Dick? Wow. Then again, they've done Victor Hugo... though we all know how that turned out.*

____
*I loved Hunchback as a movie, but the adaptation... yeeeeah.

[floramir.livejournal.com]

When I read the description for "The Bear and the Bow" I got this weird mental image of someone dropping Reese Witherspoon in the middle of medieval Scotland, and Billy Connolly asking, "So... what are yoooou doin' 'ere?"