Also, Pixar announced another film, but this film will be about the human brain. This film is scheduled for the summer of 2014, and is tentatively titled The Untitled Pixar Movie That Takes You Inside The Mind. This film is still in the early stages of development, and no director has been announced at this time. No details on what the film is about, but it’s nice to see the studio continuing to make original films rather than sequels to previous films.

No extras have been announced other than you will be getting a  3D BD, 2D BD, DVD and Digital Copy with each film. You can also buy each film separately, or the whole trilogy in one set.

The film will be released June 22nd, 2012, and focuses on the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Merida (Kelly Macdonald) is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

Source: Coming Soon

Cars was a global hit, yet many have considered it as the studio weakest film, even though they forget about A Bug’s Life, but in Cars 2 Pixar has given us their first real stinker. And why? You can criticize the notion of this sequel’s existence, or you can look under the hood to see a slap-dash script, that focuses far too much on silly hick things, like ignorance and sheltered knowledge, instead of saying something important about a story featuring cars in a world where gas is sky high and running out. While people in Missouri, Arkansas, and Alabama have their Citizen Kane in Cars 2, for the rest of us it’s a grating experience. Hasn’t Pixar learned anything from Witless Protection?

Now, it’s not all bad, as the animation is superb and there’s little flourishes of the wide-eyed imagination the studio has. Little kids grow up with Mattel or Hot Wheels cars, racing them along various surfaces and crafting stories of impossible races, and you see that at times wonderfully here. Yet, just because someone likes guns, hunting, fishing, or lives in rural areas, doesn’t make them wrong or an outcast, but this “hick” culture we ‘city folk’ balk at, it’s clearly focused in Cars 2, as Mater shows little intelligence, little lack of cultural knowledge, and little common sense, making the film a dangerous showcase for how your kids should not behave.

Be forewarned: Pixar’s name is on something unheard of in their canon, as Cars 2 (and the short film Toy Story: Hawaiian Vacation) are forgettable, disposal and glum sources of “children entertainment”.

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, Brave stars Kelly Macdonald as Merida, the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

The film follows Cooper, a blind jazz musician who befriends an angry, armed-to-the-teeth penguin that wishes to show Clover City how it feels about Christmas. In a world where a man’s life is worth less than the change in his pockets, can a blind man teach the bird that people and Christmas are both worthwhile?

Directed by Tony White, the film is using Pixar and Disney animators for its cell animation glory, and sources close to the production told us that the film met its Kickstarter goal and is heading into production!

“We’re definitely getting funded!! We’re shooting for $20K now with the limited time left – in order to make the difference between a good trailer and an amazing one, but either way, the bird’s gonna fly!” the source tells us.

We will keep you posted, and until then get familiar with the project:

Source: Killer Film

Rumors first surfaced in early-September last year about the possibility of Pixar creating an all-CG film on Marvel’s Dr. Strange (here), and rumblings about Disney wanting Pixar Animation to bring CG short films of Marvel’s characters. While it would be nice to see what Pixar could do with the likes of Dr. Strange or other characters, it may be best for the studio to keep making original films like Brave.

The Film:

Outside of Disney themselves in the early 1940s and on, has there been a studio like Pixar that delivers quality films time and time again? Even their most average films like A Bug’s Life or Cars, are far better than anything else out in the animation world. Family friendly, yet strangely adult, Pixar has that secret recipe that I’m sure most cooks would love to get their copycatting hands on. The Incredibles in Pixar’s loving ode to Jack Kirby and Stan Lee, especially evident in the family dysfunction aspects that mirror the Fantastic Four, although I bet those live-action films wish that had an ounce of Pixar’s talent.

Still, once the third act gets going and the villain disabled, the film sort of flattens out from being a great and fresh spin on those comics of the 1960s, into a rudimentary one.

Looking back at the film now, after a few years passed its theatrical and Oscar-winning run, hindsight isn’t an advantage now, since there’s been so many odes and fresh takes in the movies at least on superheroes, that The Incredibles doesn’t feel as alive as it once did back in 2004. Of course, this film is what Fox wanted in their Fantastic Four films, but the less said about those the better. Watchmen and Kick-Ass, heck even last year’s Megamind, all spun the genre and the conventions into areas that freshened up the superhero. This, obviously, doesn’t make The Incredibles a bad film, it’s just not as great as initial thought. I still think director Brad Bird’s best film is The Iron Giant.

Ha, I do know how good this movie is, despite my latter comment. The family dynamic is the absolute heart and soul of the film. The film displays the kind of self-awareness I think superheroes would have if they couldn’t be super anymore. Having Craig T. Nelson voice Mr. Incredible is superb incredible casting. He has this sense of living a well-worn life, that deep down still hungers for the youthful sense of adventure. The nuances in the script are brilliant and a key reason to the film’s success, but Frozone is clearly poorly written and serves no reason other than to have a non-Caucasian in the film (insert token black character) and the villain? Pretty conventional, as The Incredibles features the Superman dilemma: so super, so perfect, the villain is always weaker as is the peril.

Still in the end, The Incredibles pretty much lives up to its name.

The Blu-ray:

Audio/Video: The long wait for the film is wonderfully justified by Disney’s fine HD presentation. Colors are as bold as ever, deep blacks, fine details that are better here than on DVD and possibly the theatrical presentation, so HD fans should rejoice mightily. The DTS track is perhaps too loud, but who cares. Swooshes, booms, clanks, the sound mix is as aggressive as a superhero movie should be.

Two discs worth of extras, some new, some ported over from its DVD release.

Disc 1:

Commentaries: Director Brad Bird and producer John Walker share a wonderful chat that covers the world of the film, the creations, the ideas, and the animation. It’s really good stuff. The second track features the supervising animators and the animators for a fun, yet over-whelming track that’s really technical.

The Incredibles Revisited: Here’s a great 30-minute roundtable. The usual Pixar directors sit and chat about the film, which only enlightens the viewer. A must watch.

Boundin’: Here’s the short that preceded the film back in 2004 with optional commentary.In HD.

Jack-Jack Attack: Another short film, made for the DVD release a few years back, with optional commentary. In HD.

Disc 2:

Deleted Scenes, now in HD!: Unfinished scenes cut from the final film, with intros, and for the first time in HD, although they were cut for a reason.

The New Nomanisan: A Top Secret Redevelopment Plan: In HD, here’s a series a fun animated ads for a variety of Nomanisan-related things.

Paths to Pixar: Story Artists: This is an on-going series Pixar has been doing on their Blu-ray release, focusing on the storyboard artists.

Studio Stories: Gary’s Birthday and Ending with a Bang: Making the End Credits are the last two HD extras, as the rest are just ported over from the DVD release (The Making-Of; the character designs and featurettes; the Easter Eggs; Art and Publicity Gallery). An HD Teaser Trailer rounds out Disc Two.

Disc 3 is the DVD and Disc 4 is the Digital Copy.

The Film: Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Blu-ray: Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Let me present to you: Bad Penguin. Directed and produced by Tony White, a BAFTA award winning animator and author, Bad Penguin is the anti-Disney. The film follows Cooper, a blind jazz musician who befriends an angry, armed-to-the-teeth penguin that wishes to show Clover City how it feels about Christmas. In a world where a man’s life is worth less than the change in his pockets, can a blind man teach the bird that people and Christmas are both worthwhile?

The dark comedy is tapping former Pixar and Disney animators for the project, which will be very violent and persuasive. Best of all, this motherf’er will be glorious 2D cell animation.  Actually, scratch that: best of all, you can support this film, which has a Kickstarter campaign going. The film needs 12k to get a trailer going, before getting a feature length version out – and they’re just a few dollars off!

So if you wish you could see more mature animation, here’s your chance. Give a few bucks and tell them Killer Film sent you. There’s some wicked prizes to help, varying on the dollar intervals you wish to donate.  Though a cartoon, Bad Penguin is intended for a mature audience. Sex, drugs, violence and bigotry are all harsh realities in Bad Penguin’s world. Plus killer jazz music! Imagine if Quentin Tarantino and Bugs Bunny had a child…

Monsters University opens in November of 2012.

Monsters University is slated to open on November 2nd, 2012.

French site Disney Plaza Central (via /Film) is saying that Monsters Inc. 2 will be a prequel rather than a sequel. The story will see Mike (Billly Crystal) and Sully (John Goodman) as rivals at college teaching others how to scare. It will then show how they went from being rivals to the best friends we saw in the original film. While prequels generally haven’t worked out too well for some franchises, this could be a good idea for Pixar. It would give them the chance to show how the Mike and Sully became friends, but also explain Randall’s (Steve Buscemi) attitude towards Sully. A prequel would also let Pixar come up with some great characters to introduce. This is only a rumor as of right now, so take it with a grain of salt.

Monsters Inc. 2 is slated for a release in November of 2012.

“Bonnie is off to Hawaii, and Barbie and Ken are excited to go along on their first tropical vacation! But when they’re accidentally left behind, it’s up to Buzz, Woody, and the rest of the toys to create a Hawaiian paradise right in Bonnie’s room.”

Cars 2 opens on June 24, 2011.

While Norman isn’t sure what film it will be attached to, director Lee Unkrich confirmed on Twitter the short will play in front of Cars 2 next summer. Of course, many were probably hoping for more of Woody (Tom Hanks) and Buzz (Tim Allen), and there new owner Daisy, but Ken (Michael Keaton) and Barbie (Jodi Benson) were one of the many highlights of the movie. It’s uncertain if Keaton and Benson will return and voice the characters, but it seems likely.

Cars 2 opens on June 24, 2011.