Next Year's Animation Oscar Race: Dory vs. Judy and Nick

Next year's Academy Awards may be more than seven months away, but there's one category where the race is well underway:  best animated movie.

This picture shows the two front-runners, Finding Dory and Zootopia. One takes a look at a fish's search for her family, while the other takes an unusual look at judging a book..or an animal...by its cover.

This reminds me of 2013 when Brave took on Wreck-It Ralph for the big prize. Brave won because it had two things:  a new type of Disney princess and Pixar's reputation. Wreck-It Ralph could have won because it's about a big lug who doesn't want to be the bad guy in a video game even if he's the most important part.

Several other films may wind up in the running including The Secret Lives of Pets, Moana and Kubo and the Two Strings. Still, it seems these Disney movies will wind up as the front-runners, and not just because they're smash hits.

Finding Dory is the long-awaited sequel to Finding Nemo. This time, the blue tang fish who has a memory problem suddenly remembers she has a mom and dad, and has to find them. Marlin, who's still a bit shell-shocked from the last movie, tries to stop her, but there's no stopping her or Nemo. They head to the Marine Life Center thousands of miles away to find them, if they are there. It has a very impressive supporting cast including an octopus who's a master of disguise, a nearsighted whale and another whale who's having problems with his sonar. For most of the picture, it seems like the original, with Marlin and Nemo trying to find Dory because they're worried about her being alone. It still  has some extra touches that makes it very special. One of them is showing baby Dory learning some very important lessons from her parents that helped her deal with her short-term memory problem. There are a couple of others, but we'll get to that later.

Zootopia would have the edge over Finding Dory mainly because of its unique lesson on prejudice. When we meet Judy Hopps, she's a young girl who dreams of being a police officer for Zootopia. Thing is, in a world where predators and prey live together in harmony, certain animals can only do certain jobs. Sloths are with the DMV, gazelles are pop stars, and bunnies are farmers, Judy won't hear of that, though, She becomes a meter maid, but is also determined to find out what's behind the disappearance of several animals. She crosses paths with a sly fox named Nick Wilde, who eventually helps her out. The interesting thing about him is that society has decided he can't be trusted, and he decides to agree because he can't prove otherwise. Judy gives him a reason to show he can be trusted even with the slyness. What's also interesting is that while she tries to make the city a better place by solving the disappearances, she inadvertently makes things worse. While fear does play a role in the main crime, especially who's really responsible, Judy finds a way to get justice and change things for the better. Some slyness from Nick especially helps out. There's also a sly comment about Disney's most popular animated feature in the past ten years.

Still, I can't help but think Finding Dory will wind up winning Best Animated Feature because of its Pixar edge. There are two other reasons, though. There's a scene in the third act where Dory is reunited with her fellow blue tang fish. She's told about her parents' efforts to find her, then something bad happens that we see through her eyes. That's a scene that would make anyone shed a tear. It's followed by another scene that is guaranteed to make people cry. Oh, and there's a post-credit scene that tops similar scenes from Frozen and Brave. That could be enough to get an Oscar next February.

So, when the Oscars roll around, it turns out Pixar's reputation will once again edge out a story about someone who wants to defy stereotypes.  Then again, maybe pets or a guy with two strings may surprise us.

Review: Pixar Shows A Typical Girl Inside Out

It's been three years since Pixar scored a big hit with Brave, then allowed Walt Disney Animation take the lead with Wreck-it Ralph and Frozen.

Now, the innovative studio has returned in a big way with a journey into the most complicated destination of all...an eleven year old girl.

While it may be a bit much for Variety to say the movie is Pixar's best idea yet, it's a unique look at how a girl named Riley deals with a big move from Minnesota to San Francisco, from trying to find new friends at school to hoping to join a junior hockey league.
Her journey is seen through five specific emotions:  Joy (Amy Poehler), Anger (Lewis Black), Sadness (Phyllis Smith), Disgust (Mindy Kaling) and Fear (Bill Hader). Joy is the positive and pushy one, thinking that it's important to keep Riley happy all the time. She is upset when Sadness touches some of the memories, making them  unhappy. Anger, of course, has a temper that makes Riley act out when she learns her old friend in Minnesota don't exactly miss her.

When an accident sends Joy and Sadness into the inner mind, that means trouble, when Anger, Disgust and Fear are unable to help Riley deal with the big move. It leads to a decision that may cause even bigger problems.

What's great about the "inner mind" of Riley is that parts of her self are shown as islands, devoted to her love for family, hockey, and being goofy. Once she gives up those parts of her self, they collapse and fall into "memory dump", where they are forgotten.
Joy and Sadness also gets some help from Riley's former imaginary friend named Bing Bong, who tries to get them on the "Train of Thought" back to headquarters. One of the more unusual scenes is where they enter a section devoted to abstract thought. Seeing Joy, Sadness and Bing Bong turn into Picasso figures is really strange. There's also a bit involving two guards that guard the subconscious, and have a tough time figuring whose hat is whose.

The movie is also smart enough to see what's inside the heads of mom and dad, voiced respectively by Diane Lane and Kyle MacLachlan. The figures that represent their emotions look quite familiar.

Poehler has the toughest job in the movie because she has to portray Joy as always positive, but also add some doubt when Joy realizes it's not possible to keep Riley happy all the time.

The movie should do well, although it may not earn as much as Jurassic World in its second week. At least one article is predicting Inside Out will win next year's Best Animated Film at the Academy Awards. That could come to pass because it's so unique, but let's hear from the Minions from Despicable Me, Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang, and a Good Dinosaur before we make a final decision.

By the way, I also saw Mad Max:  Fury Road because I was in no mood to see the one dinosaur that shouldn't be in Jurassic World: Claire the cold corporate girl who learns maternal feelings and throws away her heels thanks to Star Lord. If Bryce Dallas  Howard was in any other role in that movie, like maybe someone interested in sending raptors to war and soon figuring out it wouldn't work, it would have been a lot better.
As far as I'm concerned, there's one person tougher than the Indominus Rex..and that's her:

Also, for those upset that Furiosa was talking back at Max, just remember he hasn't recovered from his last two movies. It takes him a while to show Furiosa where the "green place" she seeks really exists.

Brave Has More Nerve Than You Think

When a new Pixar movie is released, it's declared another instant classic.
This time, people are wondering if the innovative company has finally run out of magic.
Right now, Brave has a Rotten Tomatoes grade of 73, although the public grade is much higher. It's certain to overcome Madagascar 3 easily. Yet some movie critics, pro and amateur (like me) think that Brave will mark the decline of the Pixar dynasty. Some say it actually started with Cars 2 (Mater as an international spy? really?).

Well, I disagree. Maybe brave isn't like Wall-E or the Toy Story movies, but it's a solid movie on its own.

We know the basic story: a headstrong Scottish princess named Merida is in no mood to be betrothed to any of the sons from the other clans. She wants her freedom, and to perfect her archery. Her mom, Queen Elinor, wants Merida to follow tradion, as she had to. This leads to a big fight where Merida runs away. She locates a witch who grants a spell where Merida can change her fate. However, it also changes a few other things, causing chaos in the kingdom. She has to work fast to undo the spell to avoid disaster.

The following will include spoilers, so here's some warning space....








The spell, which involves eating a small cake, turns Elinor into a bear, and how she deals with it almost overshadows Merida's story. She's upset of course, but Merida helps her mom out. After all, it's Merida's thoughtlessness that caused this problem (or maybe it was Elinor, who tosses Merids's bow into the fire, which really sets off the chain of events). It's also great how Elinor gets used to being a bear, and has the chance to really get to know her daughter. It's no accident how, at one point, she leaves her crown hehind.

Being a bear, though, is a big problem. The kingdom has hated bears ever since King Fergis lost his leg to a very nasty bear named Mordu. That's why Elinor Bear is a marked animal. However, the movie adds a little twist: the spell had been granted before to someone who wanted the strength of ten men to conquer the entire kingdom. We'll give you one guess what happened to him.
Yep, he turned into Mordu, who's nastier than the average bear....and is still alive.

In the typical Pixar movie, Merida would be expected to wind up as the heroine who conquers all. Well, she does figure out what she has to do to break the spell, but someone else winds up as the real heroine because she harnessed her true self to save the day. It's in the final battle, and you will really enjoy how this turns out.
(Edit to add: in a way, this movie also makes history by being the second time someone is injured in a Pixar movie, and, if you want to get technical, wandering into PG area in two scenes. We're talking nude body parts)

The importance of family ties, how tradition can evolve, personal responsibility...that would make a good Pixar movie, as it does with Brave, After all, what was Finding Nemo but a road picture about a frightened dad looking for his missing son? Brave is a road picture but of a different highway.

I also notice that some think Brave is a knockoff of How To Train Your Dragon, which I think is fairly unlikely. Dragon was based on a series of books, and I don't think Pixar has spies at Dreamworks. Also, Pixar cancelled a movie because it was too similar to Dreamworks' Rio. Still, I would love to picture a meeting of the casts of Brave and Dragon, where Hiccup and Fergis discuss living life to the fullest on one foot, while Merida and Astrid compare battle techniques.

Brave should do well in the long run, but it's going to have a tough time cominating the movie screens. It has to deal with Abe Lincoln the Vampire Hunter, Spider-Man and Batman. Not only that, it has to head off rumours of its decline if the next two offerings are a 3-D release of Finding Nemo and Monsters University. Some may even claim Pixar will be jealous because it didn't come up with Wreck-It Ralph and Frankenweenie.
Well, Pixar will have something new in 2014, and it only makes sense the other studios would catch up to Pixar. They've already embraced the need for sequels (Ice Age and Despicable Me, for example). Hotel Transylvania is a variation of Monsters Inc. because the monsters (with one exeception) hate humans. That's animated movies today.

So, Brave is worth your cash. Check it out now because Spider-Man tries to take you into its web, which it will.

Oh, and the Pixar short, "La Luna", is also cute. It involves a young boy joined by his dad and grandad as they do some unusual maintenance. Let's just say it's a different explanation of how a full moon turns into a new moon, and the young boy figures out a better way of moon maintenance.

Welcome to the El Capitan Circus

Sometimes 3-D isn't enough to get people to come to the theater. You need some razzle-dazzle, and the El Capitan in Hollywood had that during the first weekend of the new Pixar movie, Up.

Here's a gal on stilts, tossing some rings around.
We also have a juggler...



and a real big man...



One thing about the El Capitan...if you can't get to Disneyland, a piece of that theme park is definitely easy to reach. This theater doesn't just show the coming attractions, 3-D or normal, but they have an organist, and a pre-movie dance routine. After seeing the latest one, I'll never complain about the admission price again.

Now, the admission for Pixar's next Academy Award winner, although Coraline may put up a good fight because it's 3-D stop-action animation (a first!), is 16 bucks. However, it's slightly higher than the AMC googolplex at the Citywalk, and that was selling out in record time. In Sacramento, it's 13 bucks, but it's also selling out in record time. I had to get the 9:40 showing because it was filling up the place very quickly. I don't even go to midnight showings except for Serenity and There Will Be Blood.

Make no mistake, though, Up! is incredible in 3-D. You easily get lost into this special world, whether it's seeing Carl's house float in the sky, or incredible chase scenes. The story, meanwhile, is practically 435-D! You may know the basics: a retired balloon salesman decides to move his house to his dream vacation destination, a place called Paradise Falls. He gets an unlikely companion in Russell, an eager scout who assists Carl for the adventure, and a merit badge he wants to get. I saw the first 45 minutes at Wondercon, but the second half takes that basic story to interesting, and maybe dark, directions. Let's just say it involves someone Carl and Russell meet, and how this man is so obsessed in one thing, he forgets the other things he's done. His identity is actually revealed early in the film.

Whether you see this in 2-D or 3-D, you will remember this movie. Pixar is doing what MGM used to do, and that's selling movies through a reputation for quality so strong, asking who's in the movie is nearly secondary. With Toy Story, having the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen was the selling point. Now, you just need the characters they play, and you have the audience hooked.

Still, having some jugglers to get people in the theaters works, too.

Wondercon report on my website

I have just submitted five stories to Whedonopolis, including a one-on-one talk with Ed Brubaker, and press conferences with Adam Baldwin, Summer Glau, Josh Freidman and Shirley Manson. Those stories, and pictures, are on my website. It's still under construction. I still have to add two more stories, but that should be done by Wednesday

This year's edition was much better for one reason: they used the Esplanade ballroom again as its Hall H. Putting the big events in the basement was a terrible idea, and using the Esplanade should be a given every year. I still say that one day, they will have to use the entire convention area for the event. It will get that big.

My only disappointment, as I had said before, was the guys at Watchmen who didn't want press to see the midnight screening. Hey, I just wanted to see how it would look. I still haven't read the whole thing. In any case, I will wait patiently for Dr. Manhattan, Silk Spectre, the Comedian and the rest to play on my local Imax theater. Thing is, I had heard it may not happen until the summer. Well, there's still the Imax at the CityWalk. Maybe I can go there.

That is in my future because I got tickets to the two events I wanted to see at the Paley Festival in April. I got tickets to Dollhouse, which I hope will still happen, on April 15th, and the Pushing Daisies screening on the 19th. So far,none of the panels have sold out except Swingtown, which closes the festival. However, the Pushing Daisies screening was sold out only because it's only slightly more expensive that going to the El Capitan and see 3-D Jonas Brothers. Or maybe, just maybe, people would be willing to pay 15 bucks to see something they are afraid will never air on TV. Bryan Fuller will be there to introduce the episodes, but maybe we can hope some cast members may drop by, then have a piece of pie to remember it by. Of course, this is bound to change very quickly, but at least I was this lucky.

Anyway, the website should have all the stories that I am blogging elsewhere. I am happy to get the Wondercon section updated after two years.