By 2011, the fortunes of Disney and Pixar were reversing; while the former had finally scored a critical and commercial success with Tangled, the latter was navigating the second phase of its career after moving past its original stories with the final installment of the Toy Story trilogy. Disney released one movie that year -- … Continue reading (Reviews) DisneyFest: Cars 2, Winnie the Pooh, Brave
Category: Movies
(Reviews) DisneyFest: The Princess and the Frog, Toy Story 3, Tangled
Disney Animation delivered a genuine surprise near Christmas of 2009 with The Princess and The Frog, a return to traditional animation that celebrated the culture of New Orleans in an adaptation of The Frog Prince. In the summer of 2010, Lee Unkrich completed Pixar's first trilogy to near-universal praise with Toy Story 3, closing the … Continue reading (Reviews) DisneyFest: The Princess and the Frog, Toy Story 3, Tangled
(Reviews) DisneyFest: WALL-E, Bolt, Up
In 2008 and 2009, both Walt Disney and Pixar Animation were entering a new era. Disney Animation was under the control of Pixar executives Edwin Catmull and John Lassater, who set about trying to turn around the studio. They rehired a lot of the "new guard" who had left the studio years earlier, changed the … Continue reading (Reviews) DisneyFest: WALL-E, Bolt, Up
(Reviews) DisneyFest: Cars, Meet The Robinsons, Ratatouille
It's strange to think that we're now in the recent history of Disney and Pixar. Cars was the last production on Pixar's original contract; negotiations were tense, but ultimately resulted in Disney buying the studio and merging it with its own. In 2007, Disney was beginning to come out of its nadir with Meet The … Continue reading (Reviews) DisneyFest: Cars, Meet The Robinsons, Ratatouille
(Movies) DisneyFest: Home On The Range, The Incredibles, Chicken Little
2004 - 2006 was a really rough time for Disney. With the diminishing returns on their traditionally-animated movie, they decided to move into computer animation full-time while being walloped by Pixar, DreamWorks and critics for mining their rich history to make a series of terrible direct-to-video sequels. While they were bringing their CG animation studio … Continue reading (Movies) DisneyFest: Home On The Range, The Incredibles, Chicken Little
(Movies) DisneyFest: Treasure Planet, Finding Nemo, Brother Bear
In the 2000s, Disney animation seemed to be flailing. Their flagship movies weren't connecting with audiences nearly as well as Pixar's projects and they were farming out sequels to a lot of their most popular franchises at this point. DisneyToons would release Return to NeverLand, The Jungle Book 2 and Piglet's Big Movie around this … Continue reading (Movies) DisneyFest: Treasure Planet, Finding Nemo, Brother Bear
(Movies) Hold On To Each Other or The Krampus Will Pick Us Off One By One
Christmas-themed horror movies have a really poor track record; except for Gremlins, I can't think of anything that could even remotely be considered good. Well, until now at least. I've already gotten into a few debates about this particular film with other folks, so please understand your mileage may vary. But for me, last year's … Continue reading (Movies) Hold On To Each Other or The Krampus Will Pick Us Off One By One
(Reviews) DisneyFest: Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Monsters Inc., Lilo & Stitch
After the surprise success of The Emperor's New Groove, Disney took a sharp turn towards science-fiction adventure with...mixed success. Meanwhile, Pixar really stepped into it's own with ambitious and confident storytelling, pushing the limits of what CGI animation could do in every new film. This aesthetic is one they never really got away from, which … Continue reading (Reviews) DisneyFest: Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Monsters Inc., Lilo & Stitch
(Reviews) DisneyFest: Fantasia 2000, Dinosaur, The Emperor’s New Groove
Between classes, my day job and the crushing despair of the election, I haven't had a lot of energy to write. I've been wanting to step back into the writing projects that have kept me anchored when the rest of my life is flying apart, and that starts with this blog. There is an awful … Continue reading (Reviews) DisneyFest: Fantasia 2000, Dinosaur, The Emperor’s New Groove
(Reviews) A Pixar-Disney Sandwich
At this point in the Disney animated canon, Walt Disney Studios is coming to the end of their Renaissance while a young upstart CGI studio named Pixar is on the rise. The House of Mouse put a lot of their effort into adapting a really tricky Edgar Rice Burroughs pulp-adventure, while the boys in Emeryville … Continue reading (Reviews) A Pixar-Disney Sandwich
From the Desk of Jakebe T. Rabbit 