For those who say that Disney is going to be hurt by the soft economy, well that’s probably true. But they’re experts at riding slow times out and will definitely come through this better than others in the industry. For example, Disney is bringing back… Read More »Walt Disney World Vacation Deal – Pay for four nights, get seven
Are you a Disney Princess in your heart? If so you might want to check out Princess Skye’s Princess Portal. Skye draws inspiration from Disney’s many Princesses including The Princess Diaries. She recently discussed how to write your own Princess Code and attended a play… Read More »Princess Style with Skye
Disney/Pixar has released the second trailer for the May 29 2009 movie “Up”. It’s available at Apple.com’s trailer site and here. It’s so hard to tell much about how good the movie will be from trailers like this. But you can tell that the rich… Read More »Pixar releases second trailer for “Up”
Yes friends, the Wednesday the 21st of January 2009 will finally bring an end to our long national nightmare. It’s not what you’re thinking though. That happens on the 20th, the 21st will bring the return of the hit popular ABC drama LOST in its… Read More »Long National Nightmare to Finally End on January 21st
Check out this 1977 commercial for the Mickey Mouse Magic Kingdom set from the Weebles. That monorail action is cool. I did have the Haunted Mansion set, but I’m wondering why this didn’t show up under my Christmas tree that year. Santa was sleeping on… Read More »Disney Character Weebles Wobble flashback
Over at the Disney and More blog Alain Littaye has been examining the amazing talent of Imagineer Hani El Masri. Today’s piece is a look at ‘Mickey’s Toonville’ the original cartoon inspired land designed for Tokyo Disneyland. Alas, when the original Disneyland opened its more… Read More »The ToonTown that Never Was
No less than 4 people have forward this NY Times article on the new ‘family lifestyle’ look for The Disney Brand. The most expensive piece of clothing sold by the Walt Disney Company six years ago was a $75 sweatshirt embossed with a mug shot… Read More »Disney Branding Hits The New York Times
A few years ago John Lasseter swept into the Walt Disney Studios on the waves of the Pixar / Disney merger. Like Obama, Lasseter had a mandate. His mandate was to reform the culture of Walt Disney Feature Animation. Make it more like the successful culture up in Pixar, while still retaining that which is essential to Disney. Near the top of Lasseter’s list, end the direct to video sequels (aka cheapquels).
So why in the world has Disney released yet one more Direct to Video movie? And how could it involve one of Walt Disney’s more beloved and classic characters – Tinker Bell. How could you let that happen Uncle John?
Well, he let it happen because, hey turns out the idea was pretty good. It needed some tweaking, a real reworking, really. They had to upgrade from the ‘TV afternoon quality’ animation the movie started with, rework the story, rework it again, and again, and then suffer while all the merchandise that was created for the original release date hit the streets with no movie to tie-in too.
So the question is, was it worth it?
My answer is yes. “Tinker Bell” turns out to be a good movie. Yeah, they didn’t get Tinker Bell’s look or personality right. Yes, it’s computer animation, not hand drawn. But if you think of it as a re-launch, or an update to keep the character relevant, then they did a good job. In fact, if you can get over the fact that Tinker Bell speaks, you can easily overcome all the other changes that Pixie Hollow brings.
Some of those changes are good things. The story has heart, great characters, and a good message. You certainly can’t ask for more when you’re looking for good home entertainment from Disney. I guess that’s the reason the DVD is number one on the Amazon sales chart right now.
Now we hear that not only is the second Tinker Bell film well under way, a third film is being scripted. There’s a fourth and fifth film in the series if those two do well too. All this is part of the Walt Disney Company’s plan to make the Disney Fairies brand as big a money maker as the Disney Princess brand. I wish them luck.
The full press release with details on the DVD, Blu-Ray and Special Features is below the cut. So click on through.
Read More »Tinker Bell Makes A Movie, Signs Deal for Four More