Pixar Animation Studios - 25 years of magic moments

By Jason Wright (Entertainment Expert)

THE sound and image of a hopping lamp is certainly the best way to describe Pixar in a nutshell.  The release of Cars 2 this year marks the 25th anniversary of the studio’s production in film.

     Pixar’s traits go back to 1979 when Ed Catmull, a New York university graduate, teamed up with George Lucas, known for masterminding the Star Wars saga.  Together, they set up a Computer Graphics division within Lucasfilm to trial and test out early CGI animation functions.  The release of Disney’s Tron in 1982, which relied mainly on CGI effects, convinced Catmull that it was time to move into the foray of animated film.

     Four years later, Pixar was born.  Spearheaded by Catmull, John Lasseter and Apple guru Steve Jobs, the first few years saw a production of animated shorts.  The first being Luxo Jr which featured the lamp mascots whilst backstage, it was case of solving the necessary issues and problems required before beginning to consider producing a feature animated production.

     In 1991, the company piloted their early creations in a feature film to several investors.  Walt Disney Pictures liked this idea a lot, believing that it would revive their animation crown which had begun to wane in the late eighties.  A $26million investment was made to distribute three animated films and in 1995, Toy Story was the first film to be produced in complete CGI, opening to huge box offices figures worldwide.

     Many box office successes continued with A Bug’s Life (1999), Toy Story 2 (2000), Monsters. Inc (2002), Finding Nemo (2003), The Incredibles (2004) and Cars (2006) whilst at the same time, the studio continued to churn out quirky and witty short cartoons to accompany the theatrical releases.  The partnership brought a new lease of life to Disney’s animation features.

     However, behind the scenes, events were of a more crumbling nature.  A disagreement over the release of Toy Story 2 and contractual arguments soon broke out between the two parties which eventually led to the announcement of a split Pixar and Disney in 2004.

     Less than two years later however, when Pixar was preparing to sign a lucrative distribution contract with 20^th Century Fox, Disney vetoed the deal when it came up with a final offer that Pixar just couldn’t refuse…company takeover.  It became a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney for an estimated $7.4 billion.  Steve Jobs became a non-executive producer, as he went to return to his first love of Apple whilst still continuing to work for Pixar and John Lasseter was appointed as president of Disney’s Animation Studios.

     This new deal brought more box office hits in Ratatouille (2007), WALL-E (2008), Up (2009) and ten years after the first sequel, the Toy Story trilogy was completed with Toy Story 3 last year which subsequently grossed nearly $200 million worldwide.

     The success of the movies in the box office have also earned critical acclaim in the form of award, for example a Pixar film has won the award for Best Animated Feature at the Oscars six times in the last eight years, better than a standard 1:3 ratio.

     Love it or hate it, you just can’t ignore Pixar’s films and they will be around for a very long time to come.  Congratulations on Pixar’s deserving 25 years of success and here’s to the next 25 years!

Golden Globe glory for Firth

GLORY: Colin Firth was the big winner at the Golden Globes

COLIN FIRTH celebrated Golden Globe glory at Sunday night’s award ceremony, picking up Best Actor for his role in ‘The King’s Speech.’

In Los Angeles, Firth was the best hope for British glory across the Atlantic and he duly delivered.  He looked shocked at the announcement and praised his fellow cast members that helped him achieve such a prestigious success.  At the ceremony, he said; “I own a very great debt to the supernaturally talent fellow cast members.”  However, for a film that has achieved great acclaim back home and also earnt itself 14 nominations this morning for the BAFTA film awards, Firth’s actor gong was the only award it picked out of seven; bound to be a severe disappointment.

The night belonged to ‘The Social Network.’  Having got six nominations on the shortlist, the film – which narrates the story of how Mark Zuckerberg set-up Facebook at University walked away with four awards, including the most prized asset at the Golden Globes of Best Film.  The other Brit to win a Globe was Christian Bale, scooping the award of Best Supporting Actor for his role in boxing movie ‘The Fighter.’  “Fantastic, we are being spoilt rotten over at that table, thank you so much,” Bale said when he picked up his award.  ‘The Fighter’ won two awards, with Melissa Leo taking the award for Best Supporting Actress.  

The ceremony was hosted by comedian Ricky Gervais for the second successive year, and as ever, he did spark some controversy with some of his introductions to those people who were giving out awards.  There was a lifetime achievement award for the highly respected Robert de Niro, Natalie Portman scooped the Best Actress Globe for her role Black Swan and the stunning Toy Story 3 claimed success in the Best Animated Film category.  There were also two awards in the TV section for the hit US musical drama, Glee. 

Despite not doing as well as expected, ‘The King’s Speech’ should do better at the BAFTA’s and the night well and truly belonged to Colin Firth.  Attention in the cinema world now starts to drift towards the Oscars next month. 

Toy Story 3 Review

This review was written by my fantastic brother, Jason Wright.  Enjoy!


BY JASON WRIGHT

There are some film trilogies and series that always grasp to people’s attention, no matter what the outcome of the movie is.  Film trilogies like Star Wars, Harry Potter and Twilight have racked in millions of audience takings worldwide.  One of the most principle big takings of the movie market in recent years has been the rise in the success of animation films.

Throughout much of the last decade, the most dominant of them all is DreamWorks’ Shrek series, which came to a conclusion this summer.  Despite its last two offerings in both this year and back in 2007 not getting much of the praise that the first two films did in the early part of the decade, it still has brought in a lot of cinema takings.

But despite DreamWorks’ surge in focusing more on animated productions, the kings of the animation world are still Pixar.  It’s partnership with Disney has been strong since Day 1 of their relationship way back in the start of the nineties, to the extent that Disney now owns the company.  For what is now its 11th film in the studios’ illustrious partnership, they’ve gone back to right where it all began.  It may be ten years (eleven in US, as Toy Story 2 was released in Christmas ’99 there so much of the rest of the world had to wait until the start of 2000 to see it) since the toy box was last opened up.  However, it was always the ambition of Disney and Pixar to produce a third Toy Story film.

This is been by far Pixar’s biggest challenge to date.  Costing a dozen more than the budget of the first two films put together, mostly down to recent technology times, has seen them produce most of the work in cinema-only 3D and they were determined not to follow suit in bringing out a third film in a franchise, that so often gets scathing reviews from critics like so many others have done in the past.  Did they pull it off and how!

Andy, the owner of the toys such as Woody, Buzz Lightyear, Jessie and Rex, is now all grown up.  Now seventeen years old, he is just days away from leaving for college and the toys are left with an uncertain future.  It seems like that they will be stored in the attic of the house but a series of unfortunate events results in them being donated to Sunnyside, a day-care nursery for young children.

After Woody flees, wanting to go back home as Andy had planned to take him to college, the rest of the toys decision to stay at Sunnyside turns out to be a very big mistake.  By day, they are innocently abused and mistreated by out-of-control toddlers and by night, they are forced to sleep in cages, as if it was a toy prison.

As Woody returns, the toys plan to return home a la ‘The Great Escape’.  It’s a plot that leaves the audience on the edge of their seats, not knowing what’s going to happen next.  The comical moment of the film comes here when Buzz, having been switched back to his deluded, space ranger character is wrongly re-setted by the toys, into a mode where he can only speak Spanish.

Without question, like many other animation films, most of the movie’s success comes from its voice talent.  Tom Hanks and Tim Allen once again provide great voice portrayals of Woody and Buzz respectively and again have strong back-up from the likes of Joan Cusack (Jessie), Wallace Shawn (Rex), Don Rickles (Mr. Potato Head) and John Ratzenberger (Hamm), the latter having lended his voice to every single Pixar movie to date.  The most significant of the new characters voices come from ex-James Bond actor Timothy Dalton, voicing a hedgehog named Mr. Pricklepants and Michael Keaton, who voices Ken, popular for being the girlfriend of Barbie.

But it’s not just the actors who give the film’s success; it’s also the way the characters appear on screen.  The film’s main villain, Lotso, a big, plush bear doll that may seem nice but inside is pure evil.  He is responsible for how the way Sunnyside is run as a toy prison.  In terms of the film’s existing characters, some have stayed the same whilst others have changed. Examples include Mrs. Potato Head; wife of Mr. Potato Head has more of a lead role in the film, compared to being a supporting character in Toy Story 2 and also has just one eye throughout much of this movie; however her role in this film can at times be a bit irritating.

Other changes within the characters involve Barbie also getting more of a lead role in this film whilst Slinky Dog has been somewhat downgraded to a supporting role with less dialogue and activity.  Jessie the Cowgirl’s personality has also transformed in this film with her over-the-top excitement that she was known most for in the second film being reduced massively and become more a ‘down-to-earth’ character who is also extremely helpful to others, where as in TS2, she would only intend to think about herself.  It is also clear throughout much of TS3 that she has fallen in love with Buzz Lightyear, though Buzz doesn’t seem to notice this until he is accidentally switched into Spanish mode.

It had been tipped to be a success in the box office but nobody predicted this outcome.  It has destroyed the competition on its opening weekend’s across the world, taking in $110 million on is first weekend in the US and £21 million respectively in the UK, putting it on course to be a contender for the most grossed film of the year and it could see itself in line as a leading figure for a spate of nominations at next year’s Oscars.

All in all, it’s a great way to end the trilogy and many fans, including myself, is that no further Toy Story films will be made. I believe that is a fair decision, as a fourth film would be nice, but that may just be going a little bit too far.  The world has fallen in love with Toy Story again and will still be remembered by many for generations to come.