With Walt Disney Animation Studio’s Oscar-nominated comedy adventure “Big Hero 6” finally experiencing a widner international box office distribution, the hit movie has been able to cross the $500 million mark at the global box office this past weekend. This puts it in some elite… Read More »Big Hero 6 becomes Disney’s fourth movie of 2014 to surpass $500 Million at Box Office
Take your drawing skills to infinity and beyond with this new tutorial teaching you how to draw the perfect Buzz Lightyear from Pixar’s Toy Story movies and animated shorts. Character artist Heather Worley from the Animation Academy at Disney’s Hollywood Studios is our more than… Read More »Learn to Draw Buzz Lightyear from Pixar’s “Toy Story”
From Disney Style comes a trio of Pixar “Up” inspired crafts to throw your own Disney movie night.
Grape Soda Pin is an iconic moment from Pixar’s Up and the perfect accessory for your “Up” themed movie night. .
Up Adventure Map Luminaries, perfect to display your globe-trotting spiritRead More »Up Crafts for Disney Movie Night
Alright Frozen fans, get ready to return to the land of Arendelle. Accompanying the live action adaptation of Cinderella on March 13th, is a brand new Frozen animated short. Today Disney has released a couple of screen shots from Frozen Fever, the upcoming short. Frozen Fever takes place after… Read More »First Images from Frozen Fever – Disney’s New Animated Short
The Annie Awards, which honor excellence in animation in film, video, and television, were held last night, and Disney won many of its categories in TV, but got snubbed when it came to the movies.
Big Hero 6 was nominated for Best Animated Feature, and Outstanding Achievement Directing in an Animated Feature Production, but lost in both categories to Dreamwork’s How to Train Your Dragon 2. Last year, Disney won both categories on the strength of the blockbuster film, Disney’s Frozen. Big Hero 6 did walk away with one award, for Animated Effects in an Animated Production. Baymax would be proud.
Disney did much better with television, winning eight trophies overall. Five of them went to the Disney Channel’s “Disney Mickey Mouse” show, which had the second-most wins of any title.
The Walt Disney Family Museum also won the evening’s Special Achievement Award, which recognizes the unique and significant impact the winner has had on the art and industry of animation.
Here are all the Annie Awards that Disney won on January 31, 2015:Read More »Disney Wins Several Awards at the 42nd Annual Annie Awards
Unless a few hundred thousand of you out there are deliberately waiting until today to go see Lucasfilm’s “Strange Magic” in theaters, the first movie of Disney’s 2015 slate will go down as a flop. Despite opening in more than 3,000 theaters, it’s expected to… Read More »Strange Magic headed to less than magical opening weekend
“Strange Magic” is a new children’s animated musical. The movie is filled with fairies and elves, bright colors and magic along with dozens of familiar songs. Another familiarity is the face that brought you Strange Magic, George Lucas. A face not exactly associated with musicals or fairies, though still the man behind the film.
The lack of association however is justified. Lucas stated that for Strange Magic he was hoping to return to a past film of his, American Graffiti. Despite his intention, Strange Magic is still not a film you would expect Lucas to have created, nor would you want him to attempt again.
Strange Magic relies heavily on the strange and little on the magic. The film itself is gorgeous, with detailed and elaborate animation that gives a surreal life like quality to the environments and the characters. Each location in the film has specific designs that make it uniquely their own within the film and for the genre in general. If only the rest of the film had received the same loving attention.
The film is a musical intended for children, so the expectations for the plot began low, and stayed low throughout the course of the film. There are lovely moments tied to the main plot of the film, such as minor character arcs or morals the film wishes to tell. Overall however, the plot is generic for a children’s movie and would have been decently pleasant.
Had it not been for all of the music.Read More »Lucasfilm’s Strange Magic Review – Heavy on the Strange, Light on the Magic
Leave it to a travel magazine to leave one dreaming about destinations other that a Disney theme park. This Conde Nast Traveler slide show features 8 real-world locations that inspired Disney movies. Here are a few of my favorites from the list: Mont Saint-Michel on… Read More »8 Examples of how Disney animators were inspired by real world locations