DISNEY / PIXAR
BOLT
I’m a Pixar whore. I bow down to the perfection that is TOY STORY 2. If you ask me, THE INCREDIBLES should of won Best Picture in 2005 and I quote FINDING NEMO more than your average human (“Bubbles, bubbles!). So when I walked into Hall H for this panel I was just planning on getting through the BOLT presentation and patiently wait for UP. What I didn’t expect was how f*cking awesome BOLT looks. Directors, Chris Williams and Byron Howard didn’t disappoint with their presentation either. Twenty minutes of footage was shown using finished project, story boards, and black and white scenes.
The movie follows Bolt, white German Shepard who stars in his own TV show. On the air, Bolt has super powers and has to fight off evil corporations and their menacing cats. The only problem is Bolt was born and raised on set so he doesn’t know any other way of life (not unlike Buzz Lightyear). He really thinks he is a super hero and he really thinks all cats are a threat to humanity. The first clip was from Bolt’s TV show and is by far the best of the bunch. Bolt shoots lasers from his eyes, dangles a car off a bridge with his teeth, runs faster than the helicopters chasing him, and utilizes his super-bark which destroys miles of terrain and the army of bad guys surrounding them. You can’t help but wish the whole movie was set in his TV show. In the second clip, Bolt is hanging out in his trailer being tormented by a couple of local cats that know he thinks the show is real. Funny shit. The third and final clip has Bolt and his biggest fan, a hamster named Rhino, breaking their cat friend, Mitten, out of an animal control building and coming to grips with the fact that he has no super powers.
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Bolt thinks Styrofoam is his kryptonite.
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There is new animation technology being used in the film that gives the images a soft brush stroke look. The makers are awaiting a patten.
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The voice cast includes John Travolta, Miley Cyrus, Susie Essman (Jeff’s wife from ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm’), ‘Inside the Actors Studio’ host, James Lipton, and Randy “The Macho Man” Savage.
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I really can’t stress how cool this movie looks. Expect a huge hit for Disney. Big surprise.
UP
Determined not to be shown up, Pixar sent director, Pete Docter to the Con with a couple clips of his own. UP is Pixar’s tenth feature but the first film released in Disney Digital 3-D. The plot goes a little like this: Carl Fredricksen spent his entire life dreaming of exploring the globe and experiencing life to its fullest. But at age 78, life seems to have passed him by, until a twist of fate (and a persistent 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell) gives him a new lease on life. “Up” takes audiences on a thrilling journey where the unlikely pair encounter wild terrain, unexpected villains and jungle creatures.
The first clip takes us to the moment Carl is to be escorted from his home to the old age center. As the men wait for him on the sidewalk, Carl releases approximately 10,000 balloons from within his fireplace and the house is pulled from it’s foundation and starts floating away. Carl uses curtains as sails to get on course and sits down for a nap as he floats hundreds of feet in the air. The clip ends when there is a knock at the door. Clip two has Carl and Russel walking through the jungle while strapped to the house so it won’t fly away. Russel complains the whole time and ends up leaving his harness. Carl starts to float away as the clip ends.
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Docter talked of and showed some footage of the mountains in Venezuela they used as inspiration for the film’s setting. The location includes some of the oldest rock on Earth and has areas never that have never been walked on by humans before.
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Russel came off as a pretty funny character. His pestering of Carl is due to the fact that he needs one more badge for assisting the elderly to be promoted to Senior Wilderness Explorer.
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Carl is voiced by Ed Asner. Christopher Plummer and John Ratzenberger also lend their throat.
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One character from UP appeared in RATATOUILLE and someone from a future Pixar film will appear in UP.
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When asked about what kind of degree you need to work for Pixar, Docter said you don’t need any. Just a good movie.
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When asked, Docter admitted to being heavily influenced by Hayao Miyazaki’s film, HOWL’S MOVING CASTLE when it came to the look and feel of UP.
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When asked about a sequel to MONSTERS INC, Docter said they approach sequels on story alone. If there’s a great story to be told they’ll consider another film. They don’t just want to cash in on the name alone. Which is probably why I think TOY STORY 2 is the greatest animated film ever made.
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