First, from the outset...
John Lasseter is amazing, awesome and Bob Iger was brilliant to buy Pixar IMO... The price was a bargain. I guess this tells you pretty much where this post is going? Well, the panel from Disney happened yesterday and it was a good one. There was lots of info, many clips, particularly "Bolt" since it's closer to release and an interesting discussion with the nerds, uhm... I mean fans. Yeah, fans...
Disney had a panel at Comic-Con on Friday that focused on "Race To Witch Mountain" that was quickly overshadowed by the last three minutes of the panel when they showed the test footage for "Tron 2"...
Saturday's panel was to focus on Walt Disney Animation Studios "Bolt" and Pixar Animation Studios "Up" in that order.
First up was Bolt...
Those of you that have had any doubts about Lasseter and worried that this film is going to tank can rest easy... it won't. I'll assure you of that. Many people in the audience had no idea what to expect and once it was over they were genuinely looking forward to this film come November.
You could clearly tell from the discussion with the directors that having Lasseter there has given the whole department a great, positive boost for the better. The atmosphere and direction are much sharper and clearer. With his focus, he's been able to drive the animators and story people to work harder at creating something better. Something we expect from Disney that previous management lost somewhere along the way...
Not everything they showed was finished but a good portion of it was. There was twenty minutes of footage from Bolt and it started off with scenes from the show that he stars on. Really impressive action here. There is a depth to these clips that has been clearly missing from recent Disney flicks. The scenes they showed of Bolt out in the real world having to confront the reality of who he is and what he needs to become are great and I believe this film will connect with audiences in a way Disney animation hasn't for a long time. It really does appear that good. There were some technical stuff as well, like the fact that they've got the software where it's able to actually generate brushstrokes like hand drawn painting(more on this in a future article, btw). This is supported by the comments going around after the first couple images from the film were released where people were saying that it looked like pre-production art. It wasn't.
This film has a ton of humor in it as well. And we're not talking the stupid, cheap kind... there's a very clever story here. And the clear scene stealer of this pic will be Rhino the Hamster. He's cute and adorable, but he's hilarious and charming as well... and it turns out he's the unrealized conscience in Bolt's ear. Trust me, you'll just have to wait till November to see.
Thankfully, Walt Disney Animation is back. I can't wait till next year when we should, hopefully get a look at "The Princess and the Frog"... and if we're lucky, maybe a wee bit of "Rapunzel". Maybe.
The Mouse is on the right track after a long drought, guys...
But what about the Lamp?
Pixar's presentation of "Up" was next.
Director Pete Docter was a very nice man. He seems to fit the Pixar mold of talented, smart and approachable...
Most of the scenes that were presented in this panel were unfinished since the film is almost a year away. This might explain why some of the people didn't really come away with a better impression of the film. I believe it'll become clearer when the trailer starts to come out around... I don't know, November? But from what was shown, this film demonstrates how Pixar refuses to be boxed in and categorized. Not playing it safe has become the standard up in Emeryville as we've seen with films like "Ratatouille" and "Wall-E". "Up" is clearly in that direction. While it has a lot of emotional range in the clips that were shown, it definitely feels different... in a good way, though. It has a slight bittersweet quality to the scenes which involve an older gentleman named, Carl. Carl owns a house in this area that is supposed to be redeveloped and he's the lone holdout. He won't sell. There was a scene that showed some people that were coming to take him to a retirement home. He asks them to wait, goes inside and thousands of balloons sprout out of the chimney sending his house rising into the air and headed...
It's actually travelling to South America to go on adventures he promised his wife many years ago, but never actually fulfilled. There's a touching scene with him looking at a photo that is sad and sweet all at once. It almost feels like Pixar's trying to make a character piece that feels like an independent film. Carl is accompanied on his travels by a boy scout that has all gotten all his metals , save one... he hasn't helped the elderly. There were some very funny and sweet clips here, but the story isn't demonstrated much since so much of the work still has to be done. I believe that is why when the footage was over a good deal of the audience got up and left. Those of you that have never been to Comicon shouldn't take too much from this... it happens here quite a bit as there are a ton of panels and once people have gotten what they came for they tend to move on to what else they were planning. That's ComicCon 101.
All in all, a very good panel discussion and some great stuff from Disney that builds my confidence in it's future. If you don't believe me, you only have four more months to wait and then you can judge for yourself.
Now if you'll excuse me, I have another panel to attend...
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