The Making of Monsters Inc

The Making of Monsters, Inc

 

Cast

Sully is voiced by John Goodman. John was chosen by Pete Docter, the director, because he thought that John was the embodiment of Sulley, a warm and loveable monster.

Mike is voiced by Billy Crystal. Billy jumped at the chance to voice Mike because he had been offered the role of voicing Buzz Lightyear in the Toy Story film, but foolishly turned the role down. Billy regretted this decision as soon as he saw Toy Story and from then on he knew he would accept any role Pixar was offering. Billy has gone on to say that Mike is his most favourite character he’s ever played.

 

When Billy was brought in to voice Mike he wanted to do a lot of improvising, put his own spin on the character but he couldn’t do that because John had already voiced his lines so they asked John back to see if they could voice their lines together and because Johns such a lovely guy he agreed. Personally, I think this should be done more because in the cases where actors have worked together, you always get more witty dialogue, like Timon and Pumbaa.

 

 

Boo is voiced by Mary Gibbs. Mary’s father worked at Pixar, he was a storyboard artist for Monsters, Inc and one day they were looking for a child who could come in and the animators could draw and have some voice work done. Marys father, Rob, suggested his 2 year old daughter Mary. She came in with pig tails and the animators drew her to get an idea of what the child could look like and sound like. In most cases the actor or actress coming in to be referenced wouldn’t be picked up but this time it stuck. Mary was very comfortable seeing as this was her dads work and work colleagues. To get the voice recordings of Mary they followed her around the sound studio and recorded just any sounds she made. To get her to chat they showed her different puppets.

Later when they were making” Inside Out” Pixar used Mary’s voice for the scenes when Riley’s really young.

 

Randall is voiced by Steve Buscemi.

 

Waternoose is voiced by James Coburn.

 

Celia is voiced by Jennifer Tilly.

 

Roz is voiced by Bob Peterson, yes the female Roz is voiced by the male Bob Peterson who is a Pixar employee.

 

Yeti is voiced by John Ratzenberger. John has voiced a character in every single Pixar film ever released because he is Pixar’s good luck charm. He’s voiced Hamm in the Toy Story films, Underminer in The Incredibles, John in Wall-E and so on.

 

Fungus, Randal’s sidekick, is voiced by Frank Oz. Frank is a very successful voice actors having voiced many favourite characters. He has voiced Yoda in the Star Wars movies, Miss Piggy from The Muppets and Cookie Monster from Sesame Street.

 

Needleman and Smitty, the two teenage monsters who are fan boys of Sulley are voiced by Daniel Gerson.

 

George Sanderson, the monster that gets shaved is voiced by Samuel Lord Black.

 

Film Development

Pete Docter came up with idea for the films because of the thought when you’re a child that there is a monster living in your closet. From there the idea grew into the film it is today.

 

When they were designing Mike and Sulley, Mike didn’t originally have arms and Sulley was shorter, had tentacles, and was more of a brown and mauve colour and his fur is long and straight. They decided very early that the tentacles weren’t a good idea because they noticed that audiences eyes were drawn to the tentacles too much and it was too distracting. It was also considered putting glasses on Sulley however Pixar artists know that audiences look at the eyes to better understand the character and if a barrier is there like glasses then audiences aren’t going to connect with him.

When it was decided that Sulley would be hairy, the team at Pixar needed to do a lot of research and try out lots of different tests to see if it was possible to make a realistic looking hairy monster. The team at Pixar made something called “The Hairball model” which is exactly what it sounds like. On computers they created a ball of hair and then they put it through different tests, like shaking it up and down. They wanted to see how the hair in the CGI programme would react. Then they made the hair wet to see how that would change the look and feel of the hair. They did this again and again using different kinds of hair, for example it might be dirty hair, long or short, made of different textures and so on. This process straightened out a lot of kinks, excuse my hairlarious pun.

Taking all the knowledge from the Hairball Model they applied their findings to creating Sulley. He went through similar tests but also more advanced tests, for example what would happen to the hair when Sulley is holding something, like Boo for example, or what would happen when he’s running or getting covered in snow. One of the tests was to create an assault course for Sulley in the computer where he comes into contact with different objects and saw how his body and his fur would react. There is a video of you tube called “Monsters, Inc. – CGI making of (2001)” and it showcases the creation of Sulley and his hair.

 

Creating the scene where Sulley is covered in snow was the hardest and lots of the people in special effects were pushing back saying this is impossible, however they didn’t give up and the scene is in the film exactly how they imagined it, if not better. So now if there’s ever a scene that seems impossible to do it’s referred to as “Yeti’s Cave”.

It wasn’t just Sulley that they needed to animate, it was hundreds of monsters. All of the creatures are individual and they’re made to look like they’re made out of different materials and have different textures. For example Sulley is really fluffy, Randal is scaly, Waternoose is made out of a hard bone material and they needed to translate this. A lot of background monsters were created when they used the Hair Ball simulation.

 

The events of 9/11 took place 60 days before the film was going to be released. Everyone at Pixar were thinking about the ones effected, of course, but they were also thinking about whether anyone would actually go and see their film, or any film in the aftermath of something like 9/11. Pixar understood the need for sensitivity and so because of 9/11 they changed one of the scenes in there film. Originally after Boo had been spotted at Harry Hausens and Mike and Sulley are on the run and Mike says “That couldn’t have gone any worse” the Sushi building behind them was going to blow up with a mushroom cloud, but they thought this might be too insensitive so instead the sushi restaurant is covered with a giant force field.

 

Easter Eggs

Normally with Pixar films whenever a new film is released like Monsters Inc, they will put Easter Eggs relating to their next film in the movie. The next movie after Monsters Inc is Finding Nemo. Did you spot anything fishy? Well if you look at the paintings on the wall behind the sushi cutting octopus chef you’ll see a painting of a clown fish. Coincidence? I think not.

In Boo’s room there are lots of Easter eggs. Another Finding Nemo related one is that Boo hands Sulley a Nemo cuddly toy along with a Jessie doll. There is also a Luxo ball on the floor.

 

When Mike and Sulley go to work they walk past a cafe called “Hidden City Cafe”. This is a reference to a real life cafe that could be found in California near Pixar’s headquarters and it was frequented several times by Pixar executives like Pete Docter. In fact Pete has said that the first idea for the name of the film was going to be “Hidden City”.

 

When Randall gets his comeuppance and is sent into the human world, he lands in a trailer, this is the same trailer we see in A Bugs Life. Next to this trailer is the Pizza Planet truck which has appeared in almost all of the Pixar films.

 

Release, Reception and Awards

One of the trailers to promote the release of this film saw Mike and Sulley playing charades. Sulley is trying to act out Harry Potter and Mike just has no idea. It’s a funny trailer.

 

As I’ve already mentioned, Monsters, Inc came out not long after 9/11 and although they had their fears that the timing was bad this didn’t stop people from coming to see the film and not only that but enjoying the film.

IMDB gives the film an 8.0 out of 10. What do you think of the film? Let me know in the comments bellow. Personally, this is one of my least favourite Pixar films. I just don’t like the concept or identify with monsters. However I think I’m in the minority and I’m okay with that.

 

The film won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for “If I Didn’t Have You” which was written by Randy Newman, the same genius behind “You’ve Got a Friend in Me” from Toy Story.

The film has also won a BAFTA for Best Feature Film.

 

That covers everything about the Making of Monsters, Inc, come back on Monday 25th May for another blog.

The Making of Coco

The Making of Coco

Cast

Anthony Gonzales plays Miguel Rivera, but that wasn’t always going to be the case. Coco is Pixar’s longest running film that was in the production stages. Pixar had been working on Coco since 2011 and in the beginning they brought in actors who they wanted to voice the roles. The voice actor for Miguel was chosen but he went through puberty while waiting to voice the character and so he was replaced by Anthony. However Pixar allowed the original voice actor Emilio Fuentes to voice a small line in the film.

Thanks to the actor changing we now have a singing Miguel. Originally he was only going to be play the guitar, but when they realised Anthony Gonzalez could sing, they made Miguel a singer. It was his beautiful singing voice that sealed the deal and got him the role.

Miguel’s last name is Rivera as a tribute to Jonas Rivera who worked on Pixar’s successful films Up and Inside Out.

Gael Garcia Bernal plays Héctor, in both the English and the Spanish version.

Benjamin Bratt plays Ernesto de la Cruz. This isn’t Benjamin’s first job voice acting, he has voiced Manny the camera man in Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 1 and 2 and Eduardo and El Macho in Despicable 2. He also played Eric Matthews in Miss Congeniality.

Alanna Ubach plays Mamá Imelda. Alanna is best known for playing Serena in Legally Blonde, she’s won of Elle Wood’s best friends. She is actually reprising that role for Legally Blonde 3 which is coming soon.

Renee Victor plays Abuelita. Pueblito Guzmán is the woman Abuelita is based off. Pueblito was brought into the studio and asked to make different kinds of faces while photo and videos were taken. The animators examined the pictures and video in minute detail, seeing how a smile would change her face to how it could turn into a frown. It was harder to make Pueblito angry because she was having such a good time at Pixar but she managed it in the end.   

Jamie Camil plays Papá and Sofia Espinosa plays Mamá

Alfonso Arau plays Papá Julio.

Herbert Siguenza plays Tio Oscar and Tio Felipe.

Gabriel Iglesias plays the clerk.  

Lombardo Boyar plays Plaza Mariachi and Gustavo.

Ana Ofelia Murguia plays Mamá Coco.

Natalia Cordova-Buckley plays Frida Kahlo.

Selene Luna plays Tia Rosita.

Edward James Olmos plays Chicharrón, the old man who is forgotten by his family and takes the journey onward after death. Edward accepted the role of Chicharrón without truly knowing the story. He recorded his lines two years before the film aired and watched it just so he knew what to talk about during press release interviews and he was shocked at how beautiful and touching the film was. He became immensely proud to be part of the film

Development

Lee Unkrich was coming to the end of working on Toy Story 3 and he started thinking about what would come next. Lee was very interested in Dia de los Muertos, the festival in Mexico where relatives who had passed away, could come back to earth to see their family. The important sense of family in the film is what pushed him to make this film rather than other ideas he had.  

Sound has come a long way in animation, there was a time when sound wasn’t possible and that was less than 100 years ago. Now with Coco, Pixar have taken sound to another level, what was once seen as impossible has now been accomplished by Pixar. When any character plays the guitar, the exact notes and chords that they play are the exact notes and chords that you hear in the film. It’s incredible! The animators filmed people playing guitars in real life so closely and slowed it down to study it and use it for the basis of their animation.

The film was originally going to be called “Dia de los Muertos”, obviously naming it after the Mexican holiday. All was fine until Pixar tried to trademark the phrase so they could create merchandise with the phrase on. People weren’t happy, specifically the Mexican American community. Disney and Pixar realised there mistake and changed the name of the film to “Coco”.

Research

Groups of animators and filmmakers working on Coco visited Mexico to learn as much about the place as they could. They went and studied the people, the architecture, the food, their traditions and the atmosphere. One place on their travels that really stood out to them was the Mexican City of Guanajuato which ended up being the animators main reference point when designing and building the land of the dead. They liked how the place was full of warm colours like yellow, orange and red and how the buildings were stacked up on top of one another over the hillsides.

Music

Michael Giacchino was brought back to Pixar to work on the music for the film. Michael has done the music for Up, Ratatouille, Inside Out, The Incredibles and much more so it’s clear to say he knows how to work with Pixar. However, for Coco, being that the film is set in Mexico the filmmakers wanted to make sure that they were showing off the music of Mexico so they brought in Mexican musicians Germaine Frances and Camilo Lara. Camilo was there practicially from the beginning introducing Pixar to the world of Mexican music, including Mariachi bands and Ranchera music.

The music was recorded in Mexico city with more than 50 musicians, a lot of which used native Mexican instruments.

Songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson Lopez, the married duo behind the wonders of Frozen are also behind Coco’s most favourable song “Remember Me”.

Promotion and Reception

To promote the release of “Coco”, Southwest Airlines transformed there Boeing 737-700 Airplane into an advert for Coco with the Coco title and two guitar crossing over. It is also covered with decorative yellow and red shapes.

Coco gained positive reviews worldwide, but the best reviews came from Mexico, where the film is set. Prior to Coco being released in 2017 The Avengers, which was released in 2012 held the number 1 spot for top-grossing film in Mexico, until Coco surpassed it. In Mexico Coco made over 827 million pesos, which is $43 million.

The film did so well it won two Academy Awards, one for Best Animated film and the second for Best Original song. It also won a Golden Globe for Best Animated Film.

Over in Brazil, the name of the film had to be changed due to the fact that “Coco” it could have been mistaken for the Portuguese word “Cocô” which means poop. Instead the film is titled “Viva”.

Easter Eggs

It isn’t just dead people who live in the land of the dead, it’s dead technology which is why you’ll see an old Macintosh computer and walkie talkie radios.

For the 19th film in a row, John Ratzenberger returns to voice a Pixar character, because he is Pixar’s good luck charm. In Coco the character John voices is Juan Ortodoncia, a ghost who says only one word “Gracias”.

On the front of the door to the office in The Land of the Dead it says A113, which is a reference to a room at the California Institute of the Arts where many animators have worked including Tim Burton, Pete Docter and Brad Bird.  

The Pizza Planet Truck can be seen at the beginning of the film when Miguel looks out the window and the truck drives past.

Woody, Buzz and Mike Wazowski piñatas can be seen as Miguel is walking around the streets.

In the film Frida correctly identifies Dante as a Xolo dog which is very apt because Frieda was person in real life who stopped the Xolo dog from going extinct. The breed of dog was in decline due to it not being popular, but when Frieda and her husband started including the dog in the subject of their paintings it helped boost the popularity of the pup and saved the breed.

I really hope you enjoyed learning about the making of Coco, come back on Friday 2nd November for a blog where I sort Pixar characters into Hogwarts houses.

What to Expect from Pixar’s Onward

What to Expect from Pixar’s Onward

Onward is Pixar’s next upcoming film and I am so excited to watch it when it comes out in March 2020, mainly because it’s an original! I’ve got to be honest, I’m getting pretty tired of all these remakes Disney is coming out with, I mean, did you hear they’re going to remake “Home Alone”. Eurgh!

Back to Onward, the teaser trailer dropped a while ago for this film and I can’t stop watching it! The films about magical creatures like unicorns, gnomes, centaurs, mermaids and more all co-existing but something seems to have gone wrong, like something always goes wrong in good movies. In “Onwards” case it’s that there world has stopped being magical, sure there are these magical creatures but they have evolved to be slovenly, rubbish eating, miserable looking creatures, who seem to be addicted to technology. In the opening scene we see the tradition and more ideal look of mythical creatures, mermaids are swimming and leaping through the water, we see a lone winged unicorn flying over a naturally lush landscape. Fast-forward to present day in the film and things have changed.

The focus of the film are two elf brothers Ian and Barley. Ian Lightfoot, his full name, seems to be a normal down-to-earth, slightly stuck in a rut, kind of a character. We see him taking out the rubbish, walking home from what I imagine is school and not doing much. Barley on the other hand brings a bit of excitement to the trailer, I think he’s going to be the driving force behind the film, quite literally because he’s going to be driving the van but also because he seems to be the one believing that they are going to make something magical happen.

The plot description for the film is that Ian and Barley are going to set out on a “grand and glorious quest”, or how Ian describes it: “a really fast and strange errand”, to try and bring magic back to the world so that they can spend one day with their dad who passed away when they boys were too young to remember him. I just know that this film is going to be a tear jerker.

So why is the film called “Onward”? Well I have a couple of ideas. Maybe it is referring to the boys Dad. We often describe someone who has departed this life as having gone “onward”. Or maybe as the boys try and bring back magic to their world they will realise that things can’t go back to how they used to be, maybe things need to move onward, learn from the past and improve the future. We’ve only been treated to one teaser trailer so I’m sure that we’ll learn more of what “Onward” could mean closer to release which I repeat is March 2020.

Overall I think this film is going to be visually stunning and there’s going to be lots to look out for. Just in the trailer you can see a troll working under a sign that says “Under Bridge” – this is a reference to the “3 Billy Goats Gruff” story where a troll lives under a bridge and demands payment before the goats can pass. In “Onward” the Troll has a sign that says you must pay cash or answer a riddle. The newspaper that’s thrown is called the “Daily Scroll” and the number plate on Barleys van in “Guinevere”, the wife of King Arthur. I’m definitely going to have to watch the film a few times before I catch them all.

What makes me even more excited to watch this film is that the voice of Ian is Tom Holland (Spiderman), Barley is Chris Pratt (Star Lord from Guardian of the Galaxy), Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) will be voicing an unnamed character and if they keep with tradition, John Ratzenberger will voice a character. Tom and Chris’s voices are going to blend so well, they seem like the perfect choices for the film.

To sum up, I am really excited to see this film, let me know your thoughts in the comments bellow.  

The Making of A Bug’s Life

The Making of A Bugs Life

Plot

Released in the UK on 5th Feb 1999, A Bugs Life. Flik, an ant with big dreams just can’t seem to get any of his inventions right, but now he’s got to get something right because his colony is being threatened by grasshoppers. Can Flik pull of the best invention of all time? Find out in A Bugs Life.

Directors: John Lassiter and Andrew Stanton, both John and Andrew have a go at voice acting in this film. They cameo as the bugs who say “Frank don’t go towards the light” and “I can’t help it – it’s so beautiful!”

Writers: John Lassiter, Andrew Stanton and Joe Ranft

Cast

Flik was voiced by Dave Foley.

Hopper was voiced by Kevin Spacey. John Lassiter originally wanted Robert De Niro for the job but he turned the part down as did several other actors until it was offered to Kevin Spacey.

Princess Atta was voiced by Julia Louis Dreyfus. During the bloopers at the end of the film there is a scene where Princess Atta is laughing during filming with Hopper, Hopper gets so frustrated that he leaves. This was done as a nod to Princess Atta’s voice actress Julia who has been known to do this when filming the show Seinfeld.   

Atta was named after a genus of leaf cutter ant of the same name.

Dot was voiced by Hayden Panettiere. You may know Hayden as the cheerleader from Heroes.

Reportedly Ashley Tisdale from High School Musical and The Suite Life of Zac and Cody auditioned for the role.

The character of Dot was created because Andrew Stanton had just gained a daughter and so he wanted a daughter in the film.

The Queen was voiced by Phyllis Diller.

Molt was voiced by Richard Kind. Molt was created as comic relief, however he does foreshadow the ultimate demise of Hopper when he says “The bird eats the grasshopper”.

In the scene where Molt gets scared and sheds his skin from being scared of the ants, the skin that we see is the model that Pixar animators created for Molt, just before any colour was added.

Slim was voiced by David Hyde Pierce.  

Heimlich was voiced by Joe Ranft, one of the writers of the film.

Francis was voiced by Denis Leary.

Manny was voiced by Jonathan Harris.  

Gypsy Moth was voiced by Madeline Kahn. This would be Madeline’s last voice role as she sadly died a year after this movie was released of ovarian cancer.

Rosie was voiced by Bonnie Hunt.

Tuck and Roll were voiced by Michael McShane. If you want to know which bug is which, Tuck is the one with 2 eyebrows.

Andrew Stanton believes that these two characters were inspired subconsciously of a drawing he did when he was at school of two bugs fighting.  

P.T Flea was voiced by John Ratzenberger. P.T Flea is named after P. T Barnum who created the travelling circus in the 1840’s.

Dim was voiced by Brad Garret. Dim is a beetle that is in the shape of a rhinoceros. No beetle existed that looked like this but in 2016 a beetle was found that was similar and because of the fictional beetle being invented before finding the real beetle, this has now been called the “Dim” effect. 

Development

In the summer of 1994, Toy Story was in post production and they needed to think what there next feature would be. Andrew Stanton, Joe Ranft, Pete Docter and John Lassiter had a very informal meeting where they discussed ideas for upcoming features. From this meeting A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters Inc and Wall-E were born.

A film about bugs was decided to be the next film because they knew that there technology could stretch to making realistic looking bugs. If you look at the human characters in Toy Story, they still looked a little morphed and plastic looking which is why The Incredibles was there 6th film.

Although all Pixar films are originals, A Bug’s life was inspired by the Aesop’s fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper”. It was a popular tale, even Disney had considered making a feature out of it entitled “Army Ants” back in 1988, it was going to focus on a peace keeping ant living in a world of military ants. For reasons unknown the project was never pursued by Disney, but when Jeffrey Katzenberg, the then chairman of Disney moved to work at DreamWorks, he decided to continue focusing on Army Ants because he knew that John Lassiter was working on a bug film. This meant that a month before A Bugs Life was released, “Antz” was released. Luckily A Bugs Life dominated the box office and made more than double what Antz made.

When coming up with possible title ideas they did consider calling it “Bug Story” but they felt like they would be expected to name all of their other films “…Story” and they didn’t want to be that predictable or restricted.

Release

The teaser trailer for this film was made out of animation clips made perfectly for the trailer and therefore it doesn’t appear in the film. This would go on to be a Pixar trademark.

Released just before the film was the Studio’s first pre-film short titled “Geri’s Game” which won an Academy Award.

Easter Eggs

You can spot the Pizza Planet Truck right next to the caravan where the firefly is attracted towards the light. This caravan is also the location of where Randall transports to when going into the human world in Monsters Inc.

The names of the boxes in the bug city are named after some of the Pixar’s workers, for example  “Darla” is a nod to Darla K Anderson, the inspiration for Darla in Finding Nemo.   

A113 is written on the side of the box as Flik enters Bug City. You can also see a poster advertising the theatres production of The Lion King.

When the scouts are painting Francis, they paint hidden Mickey’s on him.

There is a Wilhelm scream that can be heard, just as Hopper is about to be eaten by the real bird.

The train is called “Casey Junior” after the train on Dumbo. Also the Casey Jr Cookie Box says that it has been around since 1957, this is John Lassiter’s birth year.

In every single Pixar film, John Ratzenberger voices a character because Pixar feel as though as he is there lucky charm. In this film he is P.T Flea and it has been reported that this character is John’s favourite because he likes characters who get angry easily, he feels they are more fun to play.

Bits and Bobs

This film is dedicated to Roddy McDowall who died of lung cancer. Roddy who voiced Mr. Soil who is the trained worker who guides the other ants around the fallen leaf.  

Toy Story 4: Everything You Need to Know

Toy Story 4: Everything You Need to Know

Trailers and sneak peeks have been released for Toy Story 4, and unlike most other film trailers, Toy Story 4 has been quite revealing, gone are the moments where you have to analyse every scene in slow motion a hundred times over to find every hidden secret, like you had to with the End Game trailer.

From the trailer, we know this:

The majority of the gang will be returning, including Woody, Buzz, Jessie, Bullseye, Rex, Ham, Slinky Dog, the 3 aliens and Mr and Mrs Potato Head. I was most concerned about Mr. Potato Head possibly not returning because his voice actor, the amazing Don Rickles passed away in 2017 and he hadn’t recorded any dialogue for the character. Within the opening scene of the trailer we can quite clearly see him, it just might be the case that he is going to be voiced by someone new. Due to his passing, I would be disappointed if the film wasn’t dedicated to him or if he didn’t at least get a mention during the credits.

Also returning from Bonnie’s original toys are Mr. Pricklepants, Trixie, Dolly and Buttercup.

The first new character we’re going to meet is called Forky, who has already sparked controversy because he is actually a spork (a spoon and a fork). Mr. Pricklepants even makes this exact point. Forky is create by Bonnie at school as a way to fill the void because she hasn’t yet made any friends. Woody explains to the gang how important Forky is to Bonnie and that would be the end of the film if it wasn’t for the fact that Forky doesn’t want to be a toy!

Forky, because he was made mostly out of a spork feels that he should be used for the consumption of soup and salad and then thrown away. Is this Pixar’s nod toward our unhealthy consumption of plastic? They are the film company who produced Wall-E, a film all about the destruction of Earth because of humans wasteful choices.

What does Forky do? He runs away, and what does Woody do? He runs after him. It’s pretty much the same storyline as Toy Story 1 and 2, but I’m not mad because those films were what made me fall in love with the franchise.

Forky and Woody find themselves in historic downtown of Grand Basin where Woody seems to recognise an old friend in an antique shop’s window, Bo Peep. While looking for Bo Peep, Woody meets some new toys, the first is Gabby Gabby, who looks like an old fashioned hard plastic doll, and some ventriloquist man dolls. They are all quite sinister looking and seem to want to make trouble for Woody and Forky, but they are rescued by Bo Peep! This is just another example of how film companies are finally giving female characters the chance to show what they’re made of.

Bo Peep introduces Forky and Woody to the fair, which is where Bonnie and her family end up being as well as Buzz and the rest of the toys who are worried about Woody and Forky. Buzz does the only thing a best friend should do and goes after Woody and Forky, but ends up becoming taken by one of the game stall owners and tied up to become a prize for a fair game. This is where Buzz meets Ducky and Bunny, two teddies full of attitude as seen from one of the teaser trailers.

We also see a clip of another new character, Duke Caboom, who is going to be voiced by Keanu Reeves. His character is a motorcyclist daredevil. Keanu has said that his character is going to have to face his fear of failure in order to help Woody and Bo Peep.

The last new character is seen in the trailer but don’t be surprised if you didn’t spot her because she is the smallest toy in the franchise, she is the ally of Bo Peep and her name is Giggle McDimples. You can see her on the shoulder of Woody when he’s at the top of a building with Bo Peep.  

Overall this film looks amazing, it seems like there are going to be lots of adventures, new characters to meet and I’m sure this film is going to be packed full of nostalgia. I’m going to be sure to take tissues.  

Easter Eggs

There are several possible Easter Eggs to expect from this film. The first being Totoro. Totoro was seen in Bonnie’s bedroom in Toy Story 3, he was one of Bonnies toys. Totoro is one of the more well known characters from Studio Ghibli, an anime company.

Almost every Pixar film has a Pizza Planet truck and a Luxo ball so keep your eyes peeled.

From the trailer I believe you can see Rubble from Paw Patrol in the right hand corner of the screen when Bo Peep is showing Woody what looks like an underground toy party.  

All Pixar films have a character voiced by John Ratzenberger, who in Toy Story 4, like all the other Toy Story films is Hamm.

That is everything to expect from Toy Story 4, let me know in the comments below if I’ve missed anything out and if you’re excited to see the film. �

Incredibles 2 Review

Incredibles 2 Review

 

A spoiler free review of Bao and The Incredibles 2.

 

Bao

Before we can dive into the film we must first discuss Bao, the short that featured before the film. I had seen the advert for the cartoon and I was intrigued but when I saw it in the cinema, it was nothing like what I was expecting and I loved that. Without giving anything away I will say that it focuses on a Chinese family which is something I enjoyed. I like film and TV that portray different people’s lives.

Just as a warning, and without spoiling anything, bear in mind that this cartoon if very symbolic, everything is not what it seems. This made it intriguing but also a little confusing. I was left at the end thinking, “Umm, okay? what?” Hopefully you understand it better than I do.

Overall I loved this cartoon, it was adorable and heart-warming but it was also really sad and a little bit shocking.

The Incredibles 2

I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t really a fan of the original film the first time I watched it, which meant that I didn’t re-watch the film until a couple of weeks ago to prepare me for watching this film. I ended up liking it a lot more the second time around. I didn’t have this problem watching Incredibles 2 though because I love it, a lot. When watching the film I was never bored or thinking “When’s it going to end?” The film is on the longer side, but it’s so action packed that you don’t really realise.

 

One of the problems I had with the first film is that it focused too much on Mr Incredible. In Incredibles 2 however they make sure all the family members have a good amount of screen time. You get to see more of Violet and her boyfriend troubles, Mrs. Incredible is off fighting crime, Mr. Incredible is keeping the family together, Jack Jack is trying out all of his powers and Dash, well Dash is the exception. In the original film he had more of a character arc with his struggles about not using his powers in public, but in this film he does math.

 

Now although there is an equal amount of time for each character I think we can all agree that Jack Jack is the unexpected star of the film. He is such a scene stealer. I loved seeing all of his powers, especially when he turns to goo as I know that this was something they wanted to do in the first film, but they didn’t have the time or the money. Jack Jack also helps to push the story forward and helps give some comic relief for what I would call one of the more tense Pixar films. Jack Jack was one of the highlights of the film for me.

I couldn’t talk about characters and not mention Edna Mode, who was without a doubt the most iconic character of the first film. There was a concern that because the audience loved her so much that they would try and over use her, but I think the Pixar team did a good job in not overusing her. She is still the same old feisty and empowering Edna and I loved her.

In the first film Pixar had a really tough time animating hair and now in this film, they have brushed out all of the problems and you can tell they have nailed the problem right on the head. But in all seriousness, you can tell that they have really stepped up their animation game with the super powers, explosions, characters facial expressions and all the unseen details.

The first film started with interviews, which was exactly how this film started and this was something I appreciated. Sequels can often lose the feel that is created during the first film, but having the opening be interviews brings back nostalgia for the first film.

 

One of the things that surprised me was just how violent the film was. Although I don’t believe that there was any blood there was a ridiculous amount of fighting, threats and even death. I know that Pixar doesn’t shy away from sensitive subjects but it was quite a violent film. However, as well as being violent, the film is also quite comical, there are some really laugh out loud moments from a lot of the characters. It’s definitely got a good balance.

 

One of the things that can’t be overlooked in this film is that it ignored gender stereotypes. It is normally assumed that the mother will stay at home with the children while the father goes out to work for his family. In this film it’s the other way around. The Incredibles showed that woman could be kick ass, but in Incredibles 2 it showed that woman could be more kick ass than men. It’s not what you always see and I appreciate that.

Being the big Pixar fan I am, I am aware of the Easter eggs in the films so I was constantly on the lookout for the Luxo ball or the pizza planet truck but I couldn’t spot either. Let me know in the comments below if you spotted either of these Easter eggs. I did however spot the A113 sign right at the end of the film and a hidden Mickey symbol in the credits.

The other Easter egg that was easy to spot, or I should say hear, was John Ratzenberger. He has voiced a character in every single Pixar film to date and he voiced the same character he did in the first film, the Underminer.

 

 

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Spoilers

Disney has been getting really good at creating unexpected villains, like Hans in Frozen, however from the moment that Winston and his sister Evelyn came on screen, I knew that one of them would be the villain. It was just that little predictable. Maybe if they made it Frozone or Mr. Dicker it would have been a lot more shocking. However I have to say that making the villain a woman was another way they eliminated gender stereotypes.

 

In this film they introduced a whole new bunch a superheroes and I really enjoyed this, especially Void, mainly because she is the superhero, out of the bunch, that has the most screen time but also because she is voiced by Sophia Bush who I love from One Tree Hill which was a TV programme from my teenage years. They all have such cool superpowers and I loved to see them in use. If they did an Incredibles 3 or a show on the Disney channel, I would love to see more of them.

 

Screensaver was a creepy villain and he was most certainly powerful, but, I don’t entirely understand her, Evelyn’s, ultimate plan. I mean, her parents were murdered by villains and now she is okay with murdering a whole bunch of civilians by crashing a boat into the land. There is no logic. If she really wanted revenge, wouldn’t you target it at the villains, not at the people who are trying to help. I think Syndrome, from the first film, was a better villain.

Leaving the cinema after seeing this film, I was really happy, it was such a good film. I would 100% recommend anyone going to see it. I am also not against the idea of an Incredibles 3 film. It would be interesting to see Violet, Dash and Jack Jack grown up, some with partners, some with kids and see how they deal with having superhero children. The idea of goodies and baddies will always be interesting and there are so many possibilities. I’m sure someone could think of a worthwhile storyline.

Pixar Easter Eggs

 

Pixar Easter Eggs Volume 1

Common Occurrences

 

Hello and welcome to my Pixar Easter Egg blog, this is the first volume of three that will be coming to you this week. In this blog post I am going to be focusing on A113, the Luxo Ball, the Pizza Planet Truck and John Ratzenberger. Let’s start with…

 

A113

A113 is the number of a classroom at the California Institute of the Arts. The classroom itself is used to teach character animation. Past pupils who attended the college include Tim Burton, John Lasseter, Glen Keane, Brad Bird and Andrew Stanton. The reason why this is important to Pixar is because within every Pixar film accept Monsters Inc and Monsters University, there is this number and I am going to show you where you find them so when you watch the films you will be able to find it.

In all three Toy Story films you can spot A113 on Ms. Davis’ minivans license plate.

In Toy Story 2 when the Toys are in the airport there is an announcement for “Lasset Air Flight A113”. This is also a reference to the director of the film John Lasseter.

In A Bugs Life it can be found on the side of a box in the bug city.

 

In Finding Nemo A113 is the model code on the camera the scuba diver uses which stuns Marlin.

In the Incredibles the code is a little trickier to find. Mr. Incredible is held on level A1 in cell 13.

In Cars A113 can be found on Mater’s license, Dexter Hoover’s licence and on the railway train that almost crashes into Lightning McQueen.

In Ratatouille, the rat Git has a tag and on that tag the label reads A113. Also in Ratatouille A113 is on a train behind the loved up couple on the TV that Linguini is watching.

In Wall-E A113 is the code for AUTO’s “directive”.

In UP A113 is on the sign outside the court room.

In Brave you need to test your knowledge of Roman numerals as A113 is written as ACX111 above the exit of the witches shop.

In Inside Out A113 is written in graffiti on the streets of San Francisco, it is also the number of Riley’s classroom.

In The Good Dinosaur A113 is formed in the wooden fence that keeps the Kluckers in.

In Finding Dory the tags of Fluke and Rudder are A1 and 13. A113 can also be found on the license plate of the truck which transports all of the quarantined fish.

In Coco the number of the office door of the “Bureau of Family grievances” in the land of the Dead’s Grand Central Station.

 

Luxo Ball

Another common occurrence in the Pixar films is the Luxo ball which made its first appearance in Luxo Jr which was the first short film for Pixar. It debuted in 1986 at SIGGRAPH at a conference in Dallas. Since that first appearance the Luxo ball has appeared in many Pixar films, even in some of the Pixar shorts.

 

Pizza Planet Truck and Toy Aeroplane

Similarly with the Luxo ball, the pizza planet truck and the toy aeroplane appears regularly throughout the films and they both made their debut in Toy Story.

John Ratzenberger

John Ratzenberger is Pixar’s good luck charm which is why he has voiced a character in every single Pixar film.

In Toy Story, Toy Story 2 and Toy Story 3 he voices Hamm

In A Bugs Life he voices P.T. Flea. This character is reportedly his favourite of all that he has voiced.

In Monsters Inc and Monsters University he voices the Yeti.

In Finding Nemo he voices the Moonfish.

In The Incredibles he voices the Underminer.

In Cars, Cars 2 and Cars 3 he voices the Mack.

In Ratatouille he voices Mustafa.

In Wall-E he voices John.

In Up he voices construction worker Tom.

In Brave he voices Gordon.

In Inside Out he voices Fritz.

In The Good Dinosaur he voices Earl.

In Finding Dory he voices Bill.

In Coco he voices Juan Ortodonica.

 

I really hoped you learned seeing all of the common occurrences in the Pixar films. Next time you watch a Pixar film you can see if you can spot them.

Come back on Wednesday  25th for another Pixar Easter eggs blog.