There is no doubt that Toy Story 3 is not only one of the best animated films of 2010, it’s one of the best films of the year. Period. Should there never be another adventure of Woody, Buzz and the rest of the gang, the filmmakers certainly went out on a high note. Toy Story 3 has it all: adventure, laughs, suspense and surprisingly, a lot of grown up emotions that come to the surface in what was definitely sold as a childrens film. The film’s climactic third act was gripping and near heartbreaking, while its epilogue was poignant and beautiful, bringing as many adults to tears as the kids. If you haven’t seen this blockbuster film, here’s a brief synopsis: Andy, the beloved owner of the toys in the first two Toy Story films,
Read More »Remember how everyone cheered when John Lasseter took over Disney and announced he was canceling most of the studio’s awful direct-to-video projects? Film lovers (and parents) everywhere understood Lasseter’s zeal for doing away with crap sequels to The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast — but not all home-market releases are created equal, and the rise of the Tinker Bell franchise is a case in point. As we’ve discussed here in the past, it’s fashionable to hate Disney, and there are some good reasons for that — but if you’re going to build a spinoff franchise, the Tinker Bell movies offer a case study in the right way to do it. Tink is a recognizable character, but she wasn’t the basis of the classic film she starred in, and that frees up the studio
Read More »Starstruck is the latest Disney Channel movie crafted as a vehicle for one of their television stars, in this case Sterling Knight, one of the cast members from the hit series, Sonny with a Chance. It would be easy to write it off as just another way for the network to get huge ratings, but this Starstruck is actually a lot better than most of the movies the Disney Channel churns out. Danielle Campbell, a relatively unknown teen actress whose biggest credit is the un-tween friendly Prison Break, stars as Jessica, a Michigan teenager on a family vacation to visit her grandmother in Los Angeles. Her older sister, Sara (Maggie Castle) is obsessed with pop star Christopher Wilde (Knight) and thinks she’ll be able to track him down while in California (only in a Disney
Read More »Don’t feel like shelling out to fill your kids’ Easter baskets with toys and candy this year? Never fear! Disney’s giving away a whole bunch of stuff to celebrate the holiday, and if you’re our lucky winner, all you’ll have to do is accept delivery of this mound of April bounty from your sweating, angry mailman. Here’s what you (and, uh, your kids) stand to win: Winners will receive a Disney-themed Easter Basket that values over $200, including Blu-ray & DVD Combo Packs for the exciting new releases of Ponyo, The Princess and the Frog, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 Special Editions; a special Princess Tiana & Prince Naveen Wedding Doll Playset that is only available in Disney Stores, an adorable Ponyo plush toy, and assorted holiday chocolates and Easter eggs. Sounds pretty great,
Read More »Even if you aren’t the kind of person who tends to get caught up in hype, you have to admit that last year’s Princess and the Frog made for a pretty killer story. The studio that invented longform animation, then abandoned it for CGI, returning to its classic roots…led by the guy who directed Toy Story and helped start sounding traditional animation’s death knell in the first place? What could be more perfect? Well, in Disney’s eyes, the movie’s eventual $264 million worldwide gross could have been a little bigger — and as far as most critics were concerned, The Princess and the Frog was a solid, albeit disappointingly slight, effort that didn’t quite live up to its advance billing. (Not that anything could have, but whatever.) For a studio that spends an inordinate amount
Read More »It may have taken Disney more than 50 years to give Peter Pan’s spunky sidekick her own feature, but now that they’ve kicked off the Tinker Bell film franchise, they’re through fooling around: Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure arrives only a year after 2008′s Tinker Bell, and comes complete with the kind of top-shelf voice cast (including a cameo from Anjelica Huston) and big-budget extras (including a score performed by an 82-piece symphony) that used to be synonymous with Disney. Direct-to-video animated films get a bum rap, and that’s due in large part to the crap that Disney released in the ’90s; between Tinker Bell and its sequel, however, the studio seems to be making a real effort to turn all that around. The official synopsis of the film is as follows: The tale
Read More »Sonny with a Chance: Sonny’s Big Break (2009, Disney) purchase from Amazon: DVD Disney’s Sonny with a Chance is cut from the same cloth as the mouse house’s other tween sitcoms: bright, pretty young ingénue thrown into a crazy situation and surrounded by an ensemble of wacky supporting characters. In this case, the female star is Demi Lovato; the budding young music star that also has appeared in the Disney hit films, Rock Camp and Princess Protection Program. Lovato plays Sonny; she’s a Midwestern teenager brought to Los Angeles to become the newest star on “So Random,” a sketch show that resembles the old Nickelodeon series, All That. With her wide-eyed optimism and Midwestern gosh oh golly, Mickey and Judy “let’s put on a show” enthusiasm, Sonny is a fish out of water and immediately
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