All Things:Animated

KUNG FU PANDA 2 Review

Kung Fu Panda 2 stands as a shining example of DreamWorks finally getting the sequel formula right. Building off of the success of the original 2008 hit, Panda 2 delivers more laughs, larger scale, finer animation, and arguably more heart. Jack Black returns as the incompetently powerful Po the panda to battle the next stage in warfare that threatens to make hand-to-hand combat extinct. Joined by the Furious Five, the group wages war amidst the beautiful landscape of China in thrilling sequences of 3D combat that highlight the evolution of the fighting in the first film. With newcomer Jennifer Yuh at the helm, backed by the returning talents of writers Jonathan Aibel and Glenn Berger along with the full voice cast, Kung Fu Panda 2 is the latest animated film to blur the lines between the admiration from adults and kids alike, and brings bang for your buck in 3D
 
I may actually try to see this in a theater too(unlike the first one). Gary Oldman/Danny McBride as the baddies. Good stuff.
 
Illumination Entertainment Acquires Film Rights to Uglydoll Franchise

Chris Meledandri and his Illumination Entertainment banner have acquired the film rights for the cult plush doll line Uglydoll. The label responsible for films like Despicable Me and Hop will team up with Universal Pictures in bringing the line to the big screen. When discussing the acquisition with Deadline, Meledandri said of the Uglydoll franchise (created by the husband and wife team of David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim):

?I remember the immediate appeal and connection that the characters had for me. They are simple in design, expressive in personality, and once I got to know David and Sun-Min, I learned there was a mythology and a world behind this,? he said. ?The personality and level of wit reminded me of the illustrated work I saw from Matt Groening before he did The Simpsons.?
 
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First Look at David Cronenberg’s COSMOPOLIS and Gris Grimley’s PINOCCHIO

The Pinocchio puppet comes from Gris Grimly and Mark Gustafson?s adaptation of Grimly?s gritty but faithful graphic novel adaptation of Carlo Colodi?s famous story. We previously reported that Guillermo del Toro will be producing with the Jim Henson Company to turn the book into a 3D stop-motion animated feature. The production is also working from a script by composer/screenwriter Nick Cave (The Proposition). This puppet isn?t being used in the film, but it?s a model to show potential distributors. Hit the jump to check out both images
 
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EMMYS: ‘Family Guy’ Pleads For Emmy Love – Deadline.com

For years, Family Guy producers had been asking for, sometimes even demanding, Academy votes in the show's Emmy mailers. They've now switched to begging. Following Stewie's turn as President Obama under the Vote For Change! slogan in the 2009 mailer and Peter Griffin's cover boy stint last year as the girl from Precious with the motto Vote For Us Or You're Racist, it's Stewie in the spotlight again. But gone is the cockiness, as the sad-looking prodigy is staring at the spider web-filled Family Guy trophy case.

Now in its ninth season, Family Guy has yet to win a best series Emmy. It was nominated four times for best animated series and once, in 2009, for best comedy series. That year, Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane famously pulled the show from the animation field to go against its live-action brethren in the top comedy series category. It worked, as Family Guy in 2009 became the first animated series in 48 years to nab a best comedy series nomination. The previous series to accomplish that was none other than The Flintstones, the Hanna-Barbera classic that MacFarlane is rebooting for a 2013 launch.

After landing the landmark best comedy series nomination in 2009, Family Guy stirred controversy with the second phase of its Emmy campaign, which included staff writer Patrick Meighan breaking protocol by sending an email to TV Academy members begging them to vote for his show and the show producing six videos attacking its fellow best comedy series nominees. After coming up short last year with no best series nomination, the Family Guy team is trying a more subtle approach this year ... sort of. While going for the sympathy vote on the cover, the show is back to its trademark over-the-top self-deprecating sense of entitlement inside: "We paid for a Golden Globe and didn't get it, so we're owed an award."

Oh Hell anyone who denies Family Guy/Seth McFarlane'S influence on the TVlandscape is fooling themselves, sure, the Simpsons paved the way...but that way has been BLOWN UP by Family Guy and all that have followed. A minor ANIMATED show that Fox tossed all over the place, not unlike FUTURAMA...good tv finds an audience.
 
I will grudgingly admit the recent Yogi Bear did not look completely without merit

Warner Bros. Hires Writers for YOGI BEAR Sequel

Last December, Yogi Bear opened to just $16.7 million, a disappointing total for a family film during the holiday season. However, the CGI/live-action hybrid showed surprising legs, ending up with $100 million domestic and $200 million worldwide. According to Variety, Warner Bros. is encouraged enough to move forward on development for the sequel. The studio hired writing team Joshua Sternin and Jeffrey Ventimilia to script the project. Sternin and Ventimilia are two of the three screenwriters credited on the screenplay of the first movie (sorry, Brad Copeland) ? the duo recently wrote for the more critic-friendly Rio and are currently working on Peabody and Sherman for DreamWorks Animation.

Dan Aykroyd and Justin Timberlake voiced Yogi and Boo-Boo, respectively. Anna Faris, Tom Cavanaugh, Andrew Daly, and T.J. Miller starred in the live-action roles ? the report does not specify if there are any plans to bring them back for Yogi Bear 2.
 
[nomedia="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIarm5FEQXI&feature=player_embedded"]YouTube - ‪The Little Mermaid the Ride in HD - Full Ride Through Disney California Adventure‬‏[/nomedia]
 
An American Tail: The lost art of hand drawn animation?

I haven't seen it in years & its been on the dish lately. I have forgotten how good it is
 
HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2 Plot Details.

The sequel to How to Train Your Dragon has over three years to plan for its June 20, 2014 release. To match the heartwarming excellence of the original, DreamWorks Animation is going to enter into production right about? now. Writer/director Dean DeBlois spoke a the dedication of USC?s new Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Center for Animation recently, and informed the audience that several drafts of the script have been completed and the filmmakers have just begun the storyboarding process.

Jay Baruchel, Craig Ferguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, T.J. Miller, Kristen Wiig, and Gerard Butler are all set to reprise their roles from the first movie. Hit the jump for more on How to Train Your Dragon 2, including plot details and its place in a planned trilogy.



Heat Vision provides the synopsis:


?The story will move beyond the small, North Sea island that was the setting of the original film as it traces the further adventures of Hiccup as he grows toward becoming the leader of his Viking clan.?



DeBlois elaborated on his plans for the series as a whole:


?There are certain characters and situations that come into play in the second film that will becomes much more crucial to the story by the third. Other threads from the first will begin to pay themselves off in the second. It?s my way of guaranteeing that it is not another adventure that we throw the same five or six characters into, that it feels like part of a larger story.?



This sentiment echoes DeBlois? comments from February:


?We are treating How To Train Your Dragon as the first act in a much larger story. As we head into this one, the world expands. Everything is much bigger with still the heartfelt qualities that made the first one resonate so much with audiences. There are no longer restrictions to this tiny island in the North Sea. They have the entire Northern hemisphere within their grasp? The only way of tracing the story is to draw on elements that were in the first movie and set up elements for a third movie, so it doesn?t feel like a random adventure with the same five or six characters. This truly is a second chapter in a larger story.?

Haven't seen the first one yet...but I want to.
 
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