10.) Maurice

Belle’s father is the catalyst who gets the story moving, he’s a great character with some superb voice work from Rex Everhart.

9.) The Wardrobe

This was just a fun character, and as a kid I wanted a Wardrobe like this! It’s strange that something that holds your clothes could have so much personality!

8.) The Triplets

I am not sure what it was exactly, but these gals were pretty funny and perhaps a little too sexy for a film aimed at children!

7.) The Featherduster

Much like the Wardrobe this was a fun character and it was just done so well. The animation was great as well as the voice work from Kimmy Robertson.

6.) Phillipe

The horse that belongs to Maurie and Belle, he’s a bit of a coward but full of personality, I loved him.

5.) Mrs. Potts and Chip Potts

The mother and son team that are so delightful and fun to watch. With the animation and just great voice work from Angela Lansbury and Bradley Pierce they were two if my favourites.

4.) Lumière

I absolutely loved this guy, his unique look and character was such a delight. Jerry Orbach did such a wonderful job voicing the character and really bringing him to life.

3.) Cogsworth

Cogsworth was comic relief, more so than anyone else I think. He was a fun character and perhaps the most interesting with the animation. He always got laughs out of the audience and just remains a great Disney creation.

2.) The Beast/Gaston

This is a tie, because both characters are fantastic. The Beast as the man that Belle falls in love with for who he is and Gaston the main villain and his narcissistic ways. Robby Benson did a great job of voicing the Beast and certainly making him a sympathetic character. Richard White in turn made us all want to see Gaston get his back because let’s face it, he was a bastard!

1.) Belle

Of course the Princess makes it to number 1, I think she is one of Disney’s best Princesses and a really well developed character as well. She grows and changes throughout the film and by the end she isn’t one who is weak. I loved her as a kid and I still love her today.

Of course, little is known about the project, except that Lindelof will be considering 1952 for potential franchise implications and multi-platform aspirations (comics, TV, video games, etc.).

With Tron 3 being written, as well as Tron: Uprising for Disney XD, sounds like we’re ins tore for another huge science-fiction fable.

These directors on their wishlist? Tim Burton, Sam Raimi, Shawn Levy, Chris Weitz or Alfonso Cuaron.

Seems far-fetched, yet Weitz or Levy makes a little sense. The only reason Burton would do it if Depp woos him into it. Thoughts?

“Working with the Disney artists on Star Wars Weekends merchandise is so exciting,” exclaimed Deanne. “There is so much passion around the [Star Wars] films and the artists love the characters and stories. You can see their passion as they infuse some of Disney’s most popular characters into their favorite Star Wars scenes for these original works of art.”

Cowboy Ninja Viking is by AJ Lieberman and art by Riley Rossmo, which is a publication of Image Comics. So what is it actually about? You know despite having such a cool title.

“Cowboy Ninja Viking follows a unique sort of covert agent called a triplet. A Triplet is three-counter-intelligence-operatives-in-one, as each triplet is afflicted with multiple personality disorder. And the triplet of the title, Cowboy Ninja Viking, is the one called upon to rein in the other triplets when they become out of control assassins.” Lieberman told CBR last year.

Source: /Film

The Film:

It’s amazing how certain stories, or in this case, certain fairy tales never get old. The first recorded publication of the fairy tale – Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) – was in 1740 by a Parisian author, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve, who instilled many common traditions of the story, with a savage beast character, who was literally just that, instead of a metaphorical use. But it was about 15 years later, when the real archetype of the story was famously retold, a version by author with an equally long name and French background, Jeanne Marie Le Prince de Beaumont.

But in the world of film, there’s no better telling of the story than the Gary Trousdale/Kirk Wise-directed animated Disney film and the first animated film to recieve an Oscar nomination for Best Picture in 1991 (the second was also a Disney film, in Pixar’s Up). Sorry, Jean Cocteau.

The film came at the zenith of the new Golden Age of Disney animated films, and probably the last great age in cell animation. After a sluggish 1980s, Disney resurrected their animation department with The Little Mermaid in 1989, only to be followed by one stellar picture after another (Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, and of course, the subject of this review) and while each are equally as enduring, there’s a quality in Beauty and the Beast that makes it easy to see what the Academy of Motion Pictures thought when they awarded the film a Best Picture nomination. It’s one of the few animated films that transends the medium into a rare stratosphere that even few live-action films achieve, making it a sure handed masterpiece.

While the theme is easy to see: Belle must see beyond physical appearance to find her true love and the Beast must learn from his selfish ways in order to find love too, but the film plays out much like a Universal Pictures horror film of the 1930s, mixed with rousing set pieces, and elements reminiscent of RKO’s King Kong. The Beast is scary, loud, abrasive. Belle is intelligent, ageless in her design, loving. The villagers are ignorant, grabbing pitch forks and torches. It’s an incredible animated action-epic, mixed with a timeless love story. It’s perfection. Yet despite all of these elements, themes, set pieces, the single scene that scored the film its Oscar nomination for Best Picture (it lost to Silence of the Lambs) is the dance scene towards the end of the second act, with Belle finally accepting the Beast. The sweeping camera leads us into the stunning, grand ball room is a sight rarely seen in animation; a combination of the best cell animation, music, and early CG for one great sequence.

There’s nothing ill to say about the film. As The Joker said in Batman (1989): “As though we were made for each other… Beauty and the Beast. Of course, if anyone else calls you beast, I’ll rip out their lungs.” I don’t think many would argue that Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is the finest adaptation of the classic story and one of their best they have ever produced. And that’s saying something.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: Like the film, Disney’s first ever HD version of Beauty and the Beast is perfection. The video is detailed, bold, colorful, three-dimensional to a wowing factor for a nearly 20 year old film. The DTS track is just as bold and powerful, with swelling music in all channels, constant activity, deep bass, and clear dialogue. It’s a whole new way to see this film.

Disney has given this release three discs: Disc 1 has the Blu-ray presentation with minimal extras; Disc 2 is the DVD copy of the film; and Disc 3 is all of the extras.

Special Extended and Original Theatrical Editions: The difference is six minutes, which include a once deleted song “Human Again”, with a nice moment of Belle reading Beast Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. The sequence is nice, but it slightly throws off the pacing of the film, since it comes a few minutes before the Ball Room sequence. Still, it’s great to have the option on which version to choose.

Storyreel Picture-in-Picture Experience: A third version of the film is presented much like a split-screen feature of the final version of the film next to the work print, giving fans of animation a unique look at the process this classic went through.

Commentary: The two co-directors and producer Don Hahn speed through the Special Edition of the film, chatting about its origin, its production, themes, characters, and everything else under the sun for the film in a great track.

Beyond Beauty: Here’s the definitive making-of Disney has ever created for a film. Running 157-minutes in HD, this is an extensive and all-inspiring historical look at not only making the film, but also a look at Disney animation from the late 1980s to their zenith in the early to mid-90s. Also, a pop-up icon occasionally comes up, allowing for further interactivity for this. Just wow.

Composing a Classic: Arguably the best, unsaid component of the film is the music and it gets a nice 30-minute appreciation in HD for composer Alan Menken and his work on the film.

Deleted Scenes: In HD, we’re treated to an new opening sequence, an extended scene in the library of Beast’s, and more with interviews and reasons of why they were never finished.

Classic DVD Bonus Features from the prior DVD editions are nicely included for purists and collector’s sake. Making-of’s, music videos, games, trailers are all included. Also, we get a Sing-Along Track on the Special Edition of the film for fans of the music to sing along too; a slew of Trailers; some fun, interactive games Disney is known for on their releases; Broadway Beginnings which is a quick look at the stage version of the film; another Music Video from Jordan Sparks, and BD-Live stuff that finishes out this amazing set.

Conclusion: A must own Blu-ray for fans, collectors, and families.

The Film: Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

The Film:

One of the notorious failure from Disney, The Black Cauldron has spent enough time in the corner, as over the last 25 years, a small fan base has spoke up to support the flick. After all of these years later, it’s easy to see why the film didn’t catch the audience like prior Disney films did, but it’s also apparent that it isn’t a bad film by any means. Sadly, we really only judge a film based on its box office ($25 million budget and only grossed $21 million), and that’s how The Black Cauldron will always be judged, especially since it killed off the old Disney team and gave birth to a new head (Jeffrey Katzenberg) at Walt Disney, that would pick back up the gold standard a few years later in The Little Mermaid.

Thematically and at times, stylistically, The Black Cauldron comes off a bit adult. The dark nature of the script and the brooding sense of evil permeating from The Horned King, is a far cry from wishing upon a falling star for Disney, even with this film feeling like a mythical sequel to The Sword and the Stone. Plus, it’s just weird. We get UK voice actors, a future-seeing pig, little fat fairies, and a I-don’t-know-what-the-heck-it-is in Gurgi, a seemingly dog with a head cold. Coming from the typical formula of princesses, this is geared towards boys who are too young for the then Excaliburand anything Ralph Bakshi did. But despite this, the film is a marvel of animation. Whatever the directors failed to connect too, the animation is just as good as we’d expect from Disney.

Time has been somewhat kinder to The Black Cauldron than audiences were in 1985. While some of the humor falls a little flat and the mix of darker images and typical Disney cuteness doesn’t blend well, The Black Cauldron succeeds where something like Ralph Bakshi’s Lord of the Rings didn’t. It’s creepy, mythical, and unique, all wrapped up in 75 minutes. This certainly won’t appeal to the usual Disney crowd, and that’s a reason it’s like a bastard child to the studio, but if a film was ever in need of a hug, it’s The Black Cauldron.

The DVD:

Audio/Video: Despite my tirade of why this wasn’t on Blu-ray, Disney celebrates the 25th Anniversary with a new video presentation that just is remarkable, even for SD. The print is devoid of damage or dirt, colors are bold and blacks are pretty deep. Just look at some of the castle sequences with the green light and mist. Fans should be ecstatic, begging the question – sorry, I have too – why wasn’t this on Blu? The audio in DD 5.1 is pretty good too, with rear speaker activity and some bass, making for an engrossing audio experience.

Disney ports over the Gold Edition DVD extras, but adds a few new ones.

Deleted Scene: This is one of the new extras, and it’s really good. More like a deleted sequence, we’re treated to some rough animation tests, stills, storyboards, that all together create “The Fairfolk” sequence that mixes humor and character development. It’s inclusion to the film might have slowed down the pacing, but it’s great to see in its entirety now.

The other new extra is a game, The Witches’ Challenge and along with The Quest for the Black Cauldron offer families some added value to the disc and the movie for their kids. The games aren’t bad, both are trivia type of games.

A wonderful short, Trick or Treat, is included, and it’s one of my favorite Halloween-themed shorts. Finishing up the extras are some Trailers before the main menu, Disney’s FastPlay option, and a Stills Gallery.

Conclusion: A woefully misplaced film, but time has been kind…as have Disney with this great new DVD edition. Too bad there wasn’t more making-of or commentary.

The Film: Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

The DVD: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

TheDigitalBits

More on this exciting news when information comes available.

Sadly, one of my personal favorite films from last year was The Princess and the Frog, yet that was a bit of a box office failure. Too bad, because its wonderful blend of old school charm and animation was superb. Tangled was renamed after its original title failed to excite many at Disney, which was called Rapunzel. We shall see in November how this will all play out, as Disney is looking for a non-Pixar hit.

Their Toy Story 3, by the way, was a billion dollar success.

Source: AOL

So how do you win this DVD? Simple. All you have to do is answer this question and post it in the comment section below! The question to answer is: What Pixar film best exemplifies the values and ideas Walt used in the Disney films he produced? Come up with an answer, post it below in the comment section and Killer Film will pick the best answer! o keep it short and sweet or long and thorough is up to you! Be sure to leave your email as you sign in to comment so if we choose your answer we can email you the DVD! Best of luck!

John August is writing the screenplay and it looks to be a stop-motion animated film in 3D (naturally) with Burton as a producer. No word on anything else, but as a fan of that short from 1984 (shown on Pinocchio re-release prints) and his Vincent, I’ll be eager to see if he can recapture the charm of those shorts.

Source: CS

August 5th, 2010, Los Angeles, CA – Radical Publishing is proud to announce that Disney has acquired the film adaptation of OBLIVION, based on Radical Publishing’s illustrated novel created by Tron: Legacy director, Joseph Kosinski, written by Rex Mundi creator, Arvid Nelson, and with illustrations by Andrée Wallin. OBLIVION will be directed by Joseph Kosinki and will be produced by Radical’s President and Publisher, Barry Levine, and Kosinski. Radical Studios’ Executive Vice President Jesse Berger is signed on as Executive Producer. Kosinki is repped by Verve and Anonymous Content while Radical is repped by CAA and David Schiff.

In a future where the Earth’s surface has been irradiated beyond recognition, the remnants of humanity live above the clouds, safe from the brutal alien Scavengers that stalk the ruins. But when surface drone repairman Jak discovers a mysterious woman in a crash-landed pod, it sets off an unstoppable chain of events that will force him to question everything he knows.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Joe Kosinski on OBLIVION,” said Barry Levine, president of Radical Pictures.  “Joe is one of the most creative forces in filmmaking today.  From the moment he teamed with Radical to produce the book and film, he had such a clear vision of the OBLIVION landscape and universe.  Add to that Joe’s successful partnership with Disney on Tron: Legacy, and you have all the ingredients for a phenomenal action/adventure film.”

OBLIVION, the 128-page illustrated novel, will be released in Summer 2011 and will feature prose, combined with over 40 fully painted landscape renderings. OBLIVION will be distributed worldwide through Random House.

Until Up last year, this was the only animated film nominated for Best Picture.

Look for it in early 2011.

Source: /Film

For those who aren’t familiar with the comics, Dr. Strange was New York Surgeon robbed after a car accident. He was later a healer in the Himalayas, where he learned to use psychic powers on evil wizards and other villains. Unlike most Marvel superheroes, Dr. Strange’s weapon is his mind, rather than muscle.

Currently Marvel Studios is committed to Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger, The Avengers, and the last likely being Iron Man 3. Also, a feature film on Ant-man and The Runaways are being worked on separately. However, work on Dr. Strange should begin shortly.