'Paperman' Review/ Disney's future

A cute insight into the future...

It's amazing to see in the past decade just how one company can change from being something that was ending up to be forgotten, to rise up and make amazing content again. Of course the company that I am of course talking about is Disney. A company which well let's be honest, boomed in the 90's era creating diverse and entertaining hand-drawn animation, and then faltered in their own demise in the early/ mid 2000's due to Pixar's separation and success and lack of creativity when it came down to other projects such as the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' sequels and others which fell down the pipe. However despite this, looking at Disney today, specifically the Walt Disney Animation studio, I can honestly say that Disney are once again making great content for all ages which for me brings up a bold statement.. are we once again witnessing a Disney 'New Wave' when it comes to their animated content?

So obviously one of the main topics of this specific post will be about Disney Animation of today and the near future and maybe perhaps some other titles that have caught my attention that Disney are producing, but before we delve into that in great depth, I think it's important that we firstly talk about the animated short 'Paperman' which funnily enough can be argued that this piece of work which is masterfully done by the way, IS the catalyst of all the great works we have seen in the past recent years and future projects which I'm sure will be as entertaining and as magical as the great Disney works of the 90's. The reasoning behind saying 'Paperman' is the catalyst behind all these sweet looking animations we have seen by Disney lately, is simply due to it's detail and design. If you look closely and hard at this short and compare the design with the likes of 'Tangled' or 'Frozen', there is a definite comparison between them all when it comes to specifically the character design and how it is essentially a hand drawn piece. Don't get me wrong, I won't hesitate in saying that at least 30-40% of the pieces are made of C.G.I, but at the core of it all with some of the locations and especially the characters (more noticeable around the eyes I would say) are hand-drawn which for me makes me smile. Typically as a film-goer, whenever a new animation is coming out whether it's done by Pixar or Dreamworks, it's usually the norm of today to go about producing animations fully from the computer, Yes, on the odd occasion we do get once in a while a feature that is fully drawn such as what Studio Ghibli did do very well from the early 2000's up to now, but the fact still remains that the norm for most animators would be to implement the usage of C.G.I. Not that I have any real negativity towards the whole idea of C.G.I and how film-makers use it, sometimes the integration of it can be very appealing and can make any film be worth watching, but it is a technology that has divided a lot of cinema-goers and critics. For me, I'm sought of on the fence about it all. More than anything, I would like to see a consistent trend of works which do rely on the artists hands rather than turn to a computer, yet at the same time I wouldn't mind if the C.G.I added another artistic demention to these western works. A good example of where this has worked in Japanese animation is of course Ghibli when they were creating 'Ponyo' and although the majority of the film is hand-drawn which was a big statement to make back in 2010, it did use only a little bit of C.G.I when it came down to the under-water segments but did look natural along side the drawn animation. However, more than anything, whenever someone or some film company has decided to release a drawn piece of work, I'm always interested in watching it. Another reason for me liking the drawn animation over the computer is due to the fact that I was brought up in the 90's which brought about Disney's greatest moment in the animations they produced. It's fair to say as well that I was always someone that watched cartoons/animation a lot when I was little. For instance non-stop I would always watch things like 'Pokemon' or the 'Batman Animated Series' and just get engrossed in it all really.

Enough of me raving on about C.G.I Vs. Drawn pieces of work and mentioning the reasons why I favour hand-drawn, Let's talk more about 'Paperman'. So like I said previous, it is primarally all drawn which is again a statement of intent and look into the future of Disney animation of what they would eventually do. I like the fact that it's all set in black and white as well since it does contrast really well with the cute love story that we have at our viewing pleasure. At the end of it the short, I did very much like the story of the guy and girl bumping into each other, splitting a part for while, and then at the end seeing each other again as though they were meant to meet.

Although I was pleased with how it was all paced, I wished this was an actual 90 minute feature which would of been a great watched in my opinion but I guess maybe it doesn't appeal to Disney's main target audience, which is of course young kids. I also liked the fact that there wasn't any dialogue whatsoever apart from a little chuckle from the girl character. Like with the monochrome outlook, the sound also contributed to the 'look' of the short since they didn't add much character sound; the fact that they only added in ambient sounds such as like cars noises from the road or paper waving about in the office that the guy was working really did add to the verisimilitude of the short. Overall with 'Paperman' even though it is a short and it really shouldn't be taken seriously, it is an important piece of work which can be argued in saying that it did set up films such as 'Tangled' and 'Frozen' in terms of the drawn detail. I would put it up their with 'Destino' as one of my favourite animated shorts which I would watch on occasion.

Disney's Magical 3

Now at the start of this blog, I did say not only will I be sought of doing a review of 'Paperman', but also I would be talking about Disney's recent successes and also where Disney as a whole will be in terms of the content that they will be bringing out. So the sensible thing I think to talk about are the films that have been released in recent years ('Tangled', 'Wreck It Ralph', and 'Frozen') and basically just give you my feelings on each of them and why they are so engaging and fun to watch. So the first of the 3 films that came out way back in 2010 which I'll talk about first will be indeed 'Tangled'. This was probably the origin of where Disney's recent successes started with applying what they did with 'Paperman', and fused it with a 90 minute feature in 'Tangled' which not only brings crisp character design, but the emphasis on all the other aspects such as 'light' (which is a common theme in this film), dialogue and familiarity really blossom through in this. I remember the first time watching the trailer for 'Tangled' and I was thinking to my-self that this film could really be a hit or miss for Disney in that they could really improve and go back to the way they used to entertain everyone around the world, or they could of easily fell down the rabbit whole and never come back up. Gladly when I finally got around to watching it, those worries of it being a miss quickly faded away. For me at least in terms of how it's layed out with the characters and the setting, 'Tangled very much gave me this 'Shrek' vibe. The reasoning behind this is simply because 'Shrek' as a whole is a film that does take joy in mocking old fashioned fairy tales and pretty much get's away with it which is why the 'Shrek' series is so appreciated. With 'Tangled' I kind of have the same vibe in the sense that the characters in how they approach the story are very modern. For example there's an instance when Flynn Rider first interacts with Rapunzel and how he starts off by saying 'I know not who you are, nor how I came to find you, but may I just say..' and then finishes off with this flirtatious yet ambitious way of saying 'hi'. it's the clever use of dialogue that really appeals to a lot of different age groups which 'Shrek' did also. The other aspect I liked about 'Tangled' was the music and the right choices of songs to play at the right time. At moments I thought I was watching a musical or something along the lines anyway. I think credit must go to Mandy Moore (who played Rapunzel) for the music performances in this film. I think it was a smart move by Disney to get someone to play this up-beat character who can also sing really well. Speaking of characters, in my opinion, I think it's properly the first time from Disney that we had seen a likeable funny male figure in Flynn. He is basically the 'Shrek' of this film in that he brings the majority of comedy to the whole film and plays off with other characters in this film especially with  the horse Maximus as they really come across as the 'Shrek and Donkey' partnership in this film. Overall 'Tangled' really did bring back that classic Disney way of expressing their magic. The songs, characters and design do have this air of familiarity about them which is certainly not a bad thing, in fact it's refreshing to see a formula if you might say that, that so many of us were used to back in the 90's.

The next film that came up next from Walt Disney Animation which was certainly an awkward film to produce at the time was indeed 'Wreck-it Ralph'. The reason why it was awkward to make a film like this is because at the central core of it all, there is a lot of video game references and nods. I think it's fair to say that in the realm of today, video games alongside film, is an industry that is steadily becoming mainstream; generating money for an art that once began in the early 90's as a gimmick. It was also hard in terms of the characters that 'Wreck-it Ralph' were allowed to use at the time since many other popular video game figures like Mario from 'Super Mario Bros.' have a very strict copyright deal which Nintendo ultimately decide whether to endorse a character in any projects and obviously didn't make it into the film. That being said, the references and characters from varied games do make their mark in this film which does essentially give you a lot of nostalgia and is a lot of fun to watch which I'm sure in return, offers a lot of entertainment value for the core audience. I hope in the sequal which I know for a fact they'll be doing, I think it's a must for the filmakers to add to their video-game characters such as Mario maybe even the likes of Ezio Auditore (Assassins Creed) or Master-chief!? (Halo). Who knows, but it's exciting to see what they'll come up with next, not only in the characters department, but also in terms of the narrative as well. I really think that they might let Ralph and his crew journey through online gaming or something which I think they might turn to. I don't really see another route that they could take other than the one I just mentioned about journeying through different games through the internet or something. It could easily be like a westernised version of Summer Wars? (which would be cool). Even though I don't think Wreck-it Ralph did as good as 'Tangled' in terms of the Box office, it doesn't necessarily mean it's a bad animation from Disney. I think even though it was a bit ballsy for them to make a film referencing video-games of the past, overall it did work for them. the implementation of different video-game character that a lot of audiences know, was spot on.

No one could of predicted the successes..

The last and final film that we'll be talking about briefly is of course Disney's last year record breaker, 'Frozen'. To start, I think it's fair to say that know one was expecting this to come from this film. I even remember myself watching the first theatrical trailer for this and stupidly thinking that it wasn't going to be a success and it will evidently flop. How wrong I was to think that. It's weird to see the box office figures as I'm typing this, that an animation made in this day and age, become the 5th highest grossing film ever and the highest grossing animation of all time tipping of the long lost brother that is 'Lion King'. Reflecting about 'Frozen' now, it's not surprising that it did achieve those accolades since it's a perfect example of a Disney tale.
'Frozen' follows this old fashioned formula very well with having one of the main protagonists trying to resolve their own inner-demons whilst trying to resolve the actions that they have miserably made. The music is also part of this Disney story-telling, and I can confidently say that in terms of the songs they place near enough in the start of the film, 'Frozen' has one of the best musical soundtracks ever in animation. At times when the characters were singing, it genuinely felt like I was watching a musical from the stage. I know that the songs and music of this production covers nearly half of the film but it's something to enjoy and engross in. The standard that the actors and actresses perform is above and beyond and again, not really expected in a animation made in this day and age. The attention to detail that they went to with the animation is the cherry on top of cake. I really like how the animators went to "town" with the amount of detail. The one thing I take my hat off for is the amount of dedication they transposed when dealing with the effects and physics of the weather arrangements of the film. I like how they actually went to Norway and analysed the snow movements in a variety of different circumstances when it was either thick or light snow patches or whatever. There really isn't much to talk about 'Frozen', I'm sure the people who are reading this have seen it already and admire it for what it stands for and what it try's to portray by staying true to the Disney way of telling a magical story.

Infinity and Beyond...

Can 'Big Hero 6' come out on top as the best Super-hero and animated film of this year?

So this will be the last and final part of this mega blog post (yeah I know's it's WAYY long, but kudos to you if you have read everything so far!), and I will be talking about the Disney projects that look most appealing to me. So the first thing to talk about which I honestly think will contend against the likes of 'Frozen' and will become an instant hit and will be remembered for sure, is 'Big Hero 6'. Since that Disney pretty much own the world now grabbing Marvel and Lucas-Arts for their own, we all knew that at one point in time, Disney would eventually produce an animation of their own which is super-hero inspired.
I'm glad that they are going with something that isn't known to a lot of people as well considering the fact that, if they did choose to do an animation on something that has already been done like X-men or The Avengers etc, I don't think that would of gone down to well. It's also good to point out that another Marvel film, 'Guardians Of The Galaxy' which let's be honest, know one apart from the hard-core comic fans, really knew before hand what this film was all about. Funnily enough, 'Guardians..' has become a great hit so far this year and has been placed in many people minds as a top film of this year, which I think the creators of the upcoming 'Big Hero 6' can really take in and show that they can do the same thing. For me personally, I can't wait to see how this film play's out. Yes first and foremost, it should be reminded that it's main core audience is for kids. However, if it does get a great reception from viewers and critics a-like, and set's out to break some film records, then there's no arguing that this will be a film for everyone. I think judging from the trailers that I have seen of 'Big Hero 6', I think it will live up to the hype. I think overall, the amount of screen time with each character will balance out very well, especially since this is a super-hero film and it's not hard to say that most super-hero films do suffer some consistency and can lead off into a tangent when it comes to characters appearing on screen. The character of 'Baymax' which looks to be this lovable giant marshmallow man/ Iron giant, will I think be a character that Disney will hold close to their other highly adored characters. Without a doubt, this will be a contender for best animation at the Oscars, but will it bat-off the 'Lego Movie'? who knows. But, what is for sure, is that 'Big Hero 6' will be something that you will go back to occasionally since it does seem to have all the super-hero aspects right with a tinge of Disney story-telling.

Now the next film which is set to be released after 'Big Hero 6' in 2016 is 'Zootopia'. Just a heads up, most of what I am going to mention from now is purely based on research and my thoughts so unfortunately there won't be enough detail I am afraid. Still, it can't hurt to just mention them and give you my thoughts. So, 'Zootopia' is a comedic adventure following Nick Wilde, a fast-talking Fox who's trying to make the most of his life and aim for higher heights which is soon turned up-side down as he is wrongly framed for a crime he didn't commit. Zootopia's top cop, the self-righteous rabbit Lt. Judy Hopps, is hot on his tail, but when both become targets of a conspiracy, they're forced to team up and discover even natural enemies can become best friends. From the variety of pictures that I have seen of the concept of 'Zootopia', I actually think it differs from a lot of other animal anthropomorphic animations we tend to see.

What I mean by this is that, when it comes to some of the animations we have seen over the years, often or not it's mainly about animals striving for something that they desperately and of course 'Man' being the obstacle in the way. We can of course relate all this towards films such as 'Bambi' (1942), 'Over the Hedge' (2006) and even some Ghibli films like 'Princess Mononoke' (1998) or 'The Cat Returns' (2002). However, looking at the some of the concept art and the way everything is set out in each individual frame, it does look as though these animals are the rulers of their own film world which is not really seen in any animation at all. Obviously as time goes by we'll get enough info on the film and see some trailers for it i'm sure, but 'Zootopia' looks certainly interesting with how they are going down this anthropomorphic route again and again, we'll see if it pay's off for them.

The next and final animation that we'll be talking about before we talk about another project which isn't animated at all, is a project called 'Moana'. Set in the Ancient world of Oceania 2000 years ago, 'Moana' reflects on the life of a 14 year old navigator (Moana) in search of a fabled island. Being that 'Moana' was just revealed on October 20th of this year, again there really ins't much to divulge in here. However looking at the photo across to the right, for me at least,

The art reminds me a lot of the 'Legend of Zelda' games.. what do you think?

I can of have this weird nostalgia for the 'Legend of Zelda' games in terms of how everything looks with the kind of turqiouse colour of the sea and vaguely the land as well. I kind think as well that it'll be on the same level as 'Mulan' (1998) in the sense that it focuses on a strong independent woman trying to prove herself and roughly becomes some-what authentic in terms of the setting. The film is going to be directed by the same people who did 'Aladdin' (1992) which I think is a perfect film for John Musker Ron Clements due to the fact that they can express a lot of colour and wild animation into this like they sought of did with 'Aladdin'.

Lastly then, even though it's not an animation, I really to express my opinions on an upcoming Disney film called 'Tomorrowland' which does have a little bit history behind it and could be quite interesting to watch when it comes out. So the only plot details that I know of so far is that 'Tomorrowland' introduces us the characters of Frank (George Clooney) and Casey (Britt Robertson) who both travel to a place through space and time only known as Tomorrowland where incidental, their actions directly affect the world and themselves. I think the occurrence of 'Tomorrowland' is sought of a spooky and mysterious due to the fact that it was previously a working title to be done and released all the way back in the early 50's. It just begs the question of what other projects Walt Disney came up with and whether or not they are someone hidden in some sought of secret vault full of film and entertainment ideas. However digressing from that, looking at the trailer and seeing how it looks to be playing out, I kind of got a Wizard of Oz story arc/theme around it. Obviously I'm sure everyone knows the story of Wizard of Oz of how the character Dorothy is swept away by a tornado and ends up in the land of Oz. 'Tomorrowland' kind of shares the story themes as the Wizard of Oz in the sense that in the trailer at least, we see the girl Casey pick up this badge/pendant thing which 'teleports' her to Tomorrowland; a place like 'Oz' which is mysterious but has this essence of magic about it.

Right, so there we have it then. I hope you enjoyed reading this Disney Blog, I know I had fun typing up films and projects which are interesting to read about once a while. If you have read the whole thing and have made it to this part, what I would like is to hear from you and share your thoughts about anything that I have talked about whether it's about any of 'Disney Magical 3' or perhaps 'Tomorrowland', please don't hesitate if you have an opinion. Last note, I know I have films that I want to review in the future, but also what would be helpful is to see what you guys would like me to review whether it's a film you hate that much you have to leave the room, or a film a you love so much that you would watch it over and over again. I think that would really help me get better at reviewing film and games. 

Thank you for your time,

Alex Rabbitte