If the title alone hasn’t made your eyes and cursor dash to the video player below this text then to quote Mrs Landingham, “Well gosh, Jed, I don’t even wanna know you.”

If you need a preamble then this is a Spike Jonze short using cut out animation called Mourir Auprès de Toi (To Die By Your Side) and it was made with Simon Cahn, whose work you can find here.

It’s just lovely.

Bad Ass Digest found this and shone a light on it for us and that’s enough reason to send them some kind of cake or something.

HeyUGuys is live at the O2 arena in London for the Empire Big Screen movie event for the full three days and we aim to have as much covered as possible.

Right now we have the Walt Disney / Pixar Animation Studios Panel and we’ll be liveblogging the event right here on this page. You won’t have to refresh anything – just keep watching the live blog panel below and we’ll update you with all the goings on.

Pixar have a huge presence here with every one there films playing as part of a 25 years anniversary celebration and what we’re looking for right now is the word on their next – Brave and perhaps something on their future Monsters Inc prequel, Monsters University…

You can ask us questions as we go, and we’ll do our best to respond to them.

You can follow all our Big Screen coverage right here.

Big Screen – Walt Disney Pictures / Pixar Animation Panel

(08/14/2011)

  

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1:19	HeyUGuys:  Time for the Disney Panel. Let’s see what Mickey has in store for us! Sunday August 14, 2011 1:19 HeyUGuys

1:20	HeyUGuys:  Lunch is over and the Indigo2 for the Disney panel which has already shown us Muppets and Marvel. We’re hoping for the footage from Brave, and perhaps some John Carter… Real Steel and The Odd Life of Timothy Green are featuring heavily. Let’s see… Sunday August 14, 2011 1:20 HeyUGuys

1:22	HeyUGuys:  Real Steel is up first – we spoke to Shaun Levy yesterday and Dave saw the film. Review and Interview are coming up on the site. There’s some new footage coming up and Shaun Levy is now on stage. Hello Shaun. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:22 HeyUGuys

1:25

HeyUGuys:  SL: The goal was to make a badass robot boxing movie – but in 2011 you need to make more. Make a spectacle but it’s more of a sports movie than a robot movie. Chariots of Fire and Rocky are mentioned as influences. There’s a new clip coming up – I’ve not seen the film so I’ll be letting you know what it’s like seeing it for the first time… It’s an underground fight scene… Oh, there’s another clip after it. The hunt for new robot parts. We’ll get a sense of the father/son stuff as well… Sunday August 14, 2011 1:25 HeyUGuys

1:27	HeyUGuys:  Looking like Transformers meets the WWE. It’s loud… Hugh Jackman and his recently reunited son are flanked their robot Noisy Boy. now they’re going to hit each other…. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:27 HeyUGuys

1:30	HeyUGuys:  Raging Bot gets going and the FX look very solid. The father son relationship is clearly a huge part of the film and things aren’t looking good for Jackman’s shiny Transformer. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:30 HeyUGuys

1:36

HeyUGuys:  The crowd enjoyed the fight scene and fears that relating to a robot fighter isn’t a problem as most of the time the camera was on Jackman and his on screen son. Now there’s a new scene which is all about the human element. This is the near future and the design is pretty impressive, though the ‘saving the relationship through robots’ element was just given a very literal representation. This looks to be a true Disney film. Dysfunctional families and smart kids and gruff Dads – sweeping music as they come to realise their feelings and responsibilities. Each teaching the other about the world. I doubt there’ll be many surprises but the fight looks well shot and fun. And Loud. It’s very loud. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:36 HeyUGuys

1:36	HeyUGuys:  The crowd, incidentally, loved that footage. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:36 HeyUGuys

1:38

HeyUGuys:  This is pretty cool – Shaun Levy is back on stage and he’s asking a question to the crowd for the chance to win a pair of tickets to the premiere here. Richard Matheson who wrote the story also wrote a Twilight Zone episode around it – who starred in it… Sunday August 14, 2011 1:38 HeyUGuys

1:39	HeyUGuys:  No-one knows. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:39 HeyUGuys

1:39	HeyUGuys:  Oh wait… Lee Marvin. But the person googled it. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:39 HeyUGuys

1:41	HeyUGuys:  SL is now talking about the film. We;ve seen robots, but this is about HJ and his redemption as a father. He’s been on his own for a long time, and HJ is a likeable guy – but he has an unlikable edge here. He never alienates the audience. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:41 HeyUGuys

1:42	HeyUGuys:  SL: The idea from Matheson was originally about a society that wants to spare humans – so robot box. But here the idea is that people aren’t interested in boxing so Robot boxing is all about giving the people who want more, something beyond. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:42 HeyUGuys

1:43	HeyUGuys:  SL: We built the robots – 4 of them we built for real. It’s a real animatronic robot. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:43 HeyUGuys

1:43	HeyUGuys:  Ok – that’s it for Real Steel. Let’s see what Disney have got in store next… Sunday August 14, 2011 1:43 HeyUGuys

1:44	HeyUGuys:  John Carter time… Sunday August 14, 2011 1:44 HeyUGuys

1:45	HeyUGuys:  Andrew Stanton is about to say hi. New footage coming up! Sunday August 14, 2011 1:45 HeyUGuys

1:47

HeyUGuys:  Andrew Stanton is onscreen introducing the footage – the fist clip is JC arriving on Mars – realising his power. Then JC will meet the Tharks. We’ve seen a little of it before. Then there’s a trial scene with JC and a thank he has befriended. Here goes… Sunday August 14, 2011 1:47 HeyUGuys

1:55

HeyUGuys:  Hidden structure – finds a window – see dozens of hatching eggs. In the distance ride the Tharks – in escaping them he jumps high into the air. The attack is called off when it biomes clear JC is something very alien on this world. The thark looks a little like a betusked Alan Ruck. The CG looks as polished as you’d expect. The creature design is not derivative. The second clip looks very similar to the Attack of the Clones gladiator scene with a wooly Rancor type with a pig face facing off against JC and I’m guessing the Thark who helped him in the previous clip… The teaser is now playing. When I saw the teaser I thought nothing of it, now seeing the clips out of context it looks a little less Stargate of Persia and more of its own design. The CG and character work is impressive. A lot will be asked of Taylor Kitsch in this one. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:55 HeyUGuys

1:56	HeyUGuys:  The world of John Carter is not a million miles away from what we’ve seen before. Looks more promising than the teaser. Oooo – War Horse footage. This is another world exclusive. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:56 HeyUGuys

1:59

HeyUGuys:  Steven Spielberg says Hi to Empire and then we’re into a War horse featurette. SS: It’s an emotional story and a historical story. The glimpses of wat footage are typically sweeping. Guns and horses being dragged through the trenches. Stunning. So much movement and power on screen. The family torn apart with the war and the journey beyond that is what SS promoted. Sunday August 14, 2011 1:59 HeyUGuys

2:02

HeyUGuys:  The shots we saw showed off the contrast inherent in the story – the small farm house and the bond between the boy and his horse, then the riding across the horizon silhouetted against the setting sun and then to war. If anyone can wrench the heart of emotion it’s Spielberg and a non-human character in a family situation. Though this is far more than Saving Private E.T. Sunday August 14, 2011 2:02 HeyUGuys

2:04	HeyUGuys:  We’re hoping that the War Horse footage is up online pretty soon. When it does we’ll have it on the site. Trailer montage time now… beginning with MUPPETS! Sunday August 14, 2011 2:04 HeyUGuys

2:09	HeyUGuys:  All things we’ve seen – The Muppets, The Help. The Avengers. Sunday August 14, 2011 2:09 HeyUGuys

2:13

HeyUGuys:  And continuing the theme – The Lion King. In 3D – the trouble is that the glasses aren’t working and I doubt many people would have seen it. Now – Brave is up. It’s a shame that the first look of TLK 3D and this look at Brave isn’t easy to see given the 3D glasses situation. But Disney’s line up is looking pretty impressive with a promising new look at John Carter. Sunday August 14, 2011 2:13 HeyUGuys

2:14	HeyUGuys:  That’s the last of the Studios panel. Muppets at 3 and then a Potter Tour panel. Sunday August 14, 2011 2:14 HeyUGuys

2:15

 

 

To celebrate the release of TANGLED, on DVD, Blu-ray Double Play & 3D Blu-ray from 23^rd May, we are giving away five copies of the Blu-ray and DVD Double Play to you, our lovely readers!

Synopsis: When the Kingdom’s most wanted (and most charming) thief is forced to make a deal with the golden-haired, tower-bound teen, the unlikely duo sets off on a hilarious, hair-raising escapade complete with super-cop horse, an over-protective chameleon, and gruff gang of pub thugs.

The handsome thief Flynn Rider has sailed through life by looking good, talking fast and being lucky – but when he picks a mysterious and secluded tower as his hideout, it looks like his luck may have run out.

Flynn is knocked out, tied up and taken hostage by the beautiful and feisty Rapunzel, whose 70 feet of magical, golden hair isn’t even the strangest thing about her. Locked away and lonely, Rapunzel sees this smooth-talking criminal as her ticket out of the tower. One comical kidnapping and a bit of blackmail later, Flynn and his curious captor are off on one of the most tangled tales ever told.

Expect adventure, heart, humour, and hair…lots of hair.

© 2011 Disney

To be in with a chance of winning Tangled on Blu-ray Double Play, simply answer the following question using the form below:

Who voices the character, Flynn Rider in Tangled?

COMPETITION NOW CLOSED

The small print:

• Open to UK residents only
• Only one entry per household will be counted
• The competition will close 23rd May at 23.59 GMT
• The winner will be picked at random from entries received

The usual T&Cs can be found here. Good Luck!

Our friends from Upbeat always give us top quality videos to host on HeyUGuys but this one (in my opinion) is their best so far! They got to travel to Disney Animation Studios in Burbank California and were given amazing access to the world of Disney where they explored just how the 50th animated Disney feature film, Tangled is made.

In the featuerette, we get to see interviews with directors – Nathan Greno & Byron Howard, Art Director – David Goetz, Visual Effects Supervisor – Steve Goldberg, Head of Disney Animation Research Library – Fox Carny and Supervising Animator – John Khars.

This really is a fantastic featurette and if you’re intersted in Disney in general or anything to do with animation, this is well worth a watch.

Disney’s Tangled is released in the UK this Friday, 28th January and you can read our review here or keep track of all our coverage of the movie here.

I’m not going to throw too many disparaging comments at this film before seeing it, but I can’t help but get a Garfield-like sinking in my stomach when I see the images and trailers for the new Smurfs movie.

The cartoons series of The Smurfs had its charm but CG those blue things into the real world and you’d better have a decent script with a sackful of wit to keep me interested. Pulling in Neil Patrick Harris, Jayma Mays and a Gargamelled Hank Azaria is a good start, but this new poster fills me with an apoplectic apathy which I’m sure isn’t the point.

Any guesses for how this poster started out?

IMPA had the poster.

As has been widely reported, Harry Potter made a massive impact at the box office in the last few weeks, and continues to do so. Success was inevitable, and the level of success predictable. Harry Potter is one of the most popular book series of all time, appealing to fans both young and old. All previous installments in the Harry Potter movie series have made hundreds of millions of dollars, and with the finale in sight, anyone with even a passing interest in the boy who lived wants to see how it all ends.

The success of Harry Potter financially, particularly in the case of Deathly Hallows, is also however part of a much bigger movie trend. We have seen, in the last year particularly, an apparent rise in the popularity of the family movie. Whilst in the past it has been big, effects heavy action movies that have been the big hitters, it seems there is now just as much interest, if not more, in family orientated, action adventure movies, in both animated and live action form.

It started at the beginning of the year with Alice in Wonderland. Directed by Tim Burton, and starring Johnny Depp, it was always going to have elements that would appeal to both children and adults alike. The novelty of the 3D experience was also just starting to become wildly popular thanks to Avatar, resulting in Alice setting the box office bar high early on in the year.

Then along came How to Train Your Dragon. The year’s first big animated movie, the original nature of the storyline, not based on a recognisable property, meant that How to Train Your Dragon started reasonably slowly at the box office. This Dragon however had long legs, and the combination of the 3D factor and fantastic word of mouth meant that it became a massive box office success.

The trend continued throughout the year, particularly with animated movies such as Shrek Forever After, and the big gun Toy Story 3. Toy Story 3 broke records to become the highest grossing animated movie of all time. Despicable Me enjoyed moderate success, and just a few weeks ago Megamind helped set a record for box office figures on the opening weekend of the Winter period.

There have been less live action success stories, but Prince of Persia broke the $100 million mark. With the recent success of Harry Potter, and the inevitable big money openings we can expect from the latest in the Chronicles of Narnia series and Disney’s Tron sequel, by the end of the year live action family movies will be nearly on a par with their animated peers financially.

Why, then, have family orientated films exploded in popularity recently? One factor that may have played a part is the recent global recession. Yes, you would expect that in a depressed economic climate, financial success would be more unlikely. However, with families forced to tighten their belts over the past couple of years, a lot of the entertainment budget for a typical family has been put to other uses. Now, instead of Mum and Dad going out for dinner, or on nights out with friends, and kids being taken to clubs and sports and the like, a family trip to the cinema looks to actually be a cheaper prospect. A £7 cinema ticket is cheaper nowadays than two pints of beer, or a bottle of wine, so is far more economically viable per person than a night on the town with friends. Combining everyone’s leisure time also means they can spend more quality time together.

Another part of the reason is that family movies are far more appealing now than they used to be to a lot of adults. Where once animated films were seen as childish and aimed solely at children, this perception has changed thanks in large part to the original Toy Story. Animated movies have become far more sophisticated. Pixar successfully combined adult humour with kid friendly slapstick action, and all the other studios began to follow suit. Now, it isn’t unusual for a an animated movie to be written with adults in mind first, and the kids second. Wall*E, for example, was actually quite boring to many young children, and achieved its popularity thanks to the appreciation of its adult audience.

With CGI now becoming more affordable, and available, live action family movies are also better equipped to sell to a broad audience. The action in family movies used to be confined to slapstick and pratfalls, but more affordable computer effects mean massive worlds can be used to entice adults and children alike. Films like Harry Potter would have been very difficult to make in a realistic way years ago, and the animatronics and plastic sets would have probably looked far too cheap and silly for a lot of the grown up audience to contemplate paying money to see. It is now far easier for the mature audience to buy into the worlds being created, as fantasy figures and locations are able to look much slicker and more realistic.

In the case of Harry Potter, it is also very much the themes explored and the richness of the original source material that have made the movies a must see experience. Adults were already engrossed in the novels before the first film was released, and in many cases the parents were looking forward to seeing the films as much, if not more than their offspring. This success has lead to similar types of book series being written, and adapted, like The Golden Compass and Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief. It has also seen older works like The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe dusted off to capitalise on this newfound interest in magical family adventure.

Only time will tell if the family movie boom will continue on for an extended period of time. Certainly, there are many external factors that influence cinematic tastes and trends. A major upturn in the economy, another massive global event, or even just the introduction of a new favourite source material amongst movie makers could all change the dynamic overnight. For now, however, family films rule the box office. With Harry Potter and Megamind still going strong, Tangled now on release, and Voyage of the Dawn Treader and Tron: Legacy imminent, it is going to be a family affair in theatres this Christmas. Maybe that’s just as it should be.

Bazmann – You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann

Did you know the Italians call The Smurfs ‘i Puffi?’  Well, it’s true and the two dual character posters, seen below, are proof.  Trailersland.com, an Italian movie site, snagged some pictures of these posters and have given us English speaking folks an opportunity to view them online.  Thank you so much for bringing us with these puffi posters.

The Smurfs, directed by Raja Gosnell, stars Neil Patrick Harris,  Hank Azaria, and Jayma Mays in live-action roles and features the voices of  Jonathan Winters, Katy Perry, Alan Cumming, George Lopez, Jeff Foxworthy and Paul Reubens.

Let us know what you think of the i Puffi posters below.

Last night while we were all fast asleep, Dreamworks were busy releasing their first teaser trailer for new movie, Kung Fu Panda 2 or more accurately: Kung Fu PandaThe Kaboom of Doom.

Kung Fu Panda 2 sees Jack Black back to kick some more badie butt alongside a support cast whcih includes James Hong, Lucy Liu, David Cross, Dustin Hoffman, Seth Rogen, Angelina Jolie, Jack Black, Jackie Chan, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Gary Oldman and is directed by Jennifer Yuh.

Synopsis: In “Kung Fu Panda 2”, Po is now living his dream as The Dragon Warrior, protecting the Valley of Peace alongside his friends and fellow kung fu masters, The Furious Five.  But Po’s new life of awesomeness is threatened by the emergence of a formidable villain, who plans to use a secret, unstoppable weapon to conquer China and destroy kung fu.  Po must look to his past and uncover the secrets of his mysterious origins; only then will he be able to unlock the strength he needs to succeed.

The poster, also embedded below comes from Filmofilia and we can expect to see the movie released in the UK June 17th 2011.

This week I watched five Animated films of differing styles and topics that were My Neighbour Totoro, The Incredibles, Nightmare Before Christmas, The Lion King and Grave of the Fireflies.

Now we are around the half way mark at week 26 I’m starting to consider the films which are not on the list and wonder how the voting for certain films was done. For example the Pixar and Miyazaki films are all stunning, brilliant movies and deserve to be in the top 250 movies or there about in terms of animated films but are they really the best animation has to offer? Wall-E was the clear favorite animated movie at the placing of 43 on our list (Now placed at 47 on the current IMDb list) and at the time of writing this post Toy Story 3 has actually got to No. 6 which is incredible.

I’m staggered that films like the stunning French masterpiece ‘Les Triplettes de Belleville’ by Sylvain Chomet is not on the list or anywhere near it at a rating of 7.6 as it is seriously one of the most incredible animated films I’ve ever seen or the film Akira which is one of the greatest and well loved Anime films of all time with a current rating of 7.9 is very close to being on the top 250 but surely deserving higher considering the impact it had, my Disney movie of choice Robin Hood sadly doesn’t feature in the list, then there is the outstanding Iron Giant which is just a work of brilliance and grossly under-appreciated or a personal favorite of mine Wings of Honneamise that has some of the most outstanding animation and intelligent storylines and then finally the greatest animated movie of all time Transformers: The Movie, one of the few films that makes me cry, all these films firmly deserve a place in the top 250 films if something like Lion King can make it, surely!.

I’ve already reviewed some animated movies from the list, Miyazaki and Pixar are the clear favorites and animated movies of choice and in terms of quality fully deserve it but surely there is a place for a wider selection of artists work to make it on there or even for classic Disney films to make more of an impression on it like Snow White, Fantasia or Pinocchio. I’ve never seen Perspolis, Paprika or Waltz with Bashir which I’ve heard are incredible but it seems they never get the credit they deserve due to the overwhelming love of Pixar and Miyazaki and I doubt that will change unless Pixar have a really bad run of films which I highly doubt will happen. What is interesting is that almost all of the none Pixar CG movies, like Kung Fu Panda (Good Fun), Ice Age (never seen), Shrek (which I despise), Over the Hedge (Ok) are not on the list even though they are very popular but they come nowhere near the quality in story and animation as Pixar manage to squeeze into their films. How to Train Your Dragon is the only one that has made it on the IMDb list since we started the project coming in at 175 which is pretty darn good and I’m yet to see it but I doubt it will hold its position in the list as long as the favorite Pixar movies have.

Then you have the classic stop motion animated films that have again started to become a popular choice for film makers with the recent arrival of Wes Anderson’s ‘Fantastic Mr Fox’ and future Tim Burton project Frankenweenie, there are also classics like Corraline, Wind in the Willows and Wallace and Gromit to get our teeth into. Stop motion animation was also used to glorious effect in a wonderful and rather unknown film called The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb that was made using a combination of stop-motion animation and pixilation (live actors shot frame-by-frame)that often had live actors and puppets sharing the frame at the same time which was just an incredible viewing experience.

Most fondly remembered though is the contribution made by the incredible Ray Harryhausen who created some of the greatest animated characters of all time in films like Sinbad, Jason and the Argonaults and my favourite The original Clash of the Titans (which should have been on the List) without his creative patience these films would never have worked.

I would be interested to hear your thoughts on this and please tell us your favorite animated films of all time.

No. 247 – (Tonari no Totoro) My Neighbor Totoro (1988) – Rating 7.9

My Neighbor Totoro has been voted one of the best animated movies of all time in almost every poll made, sometimes making the best ever and it’s clear to see why. I’ve never enjoyed watching a classically drawn animated film as much as this with incredible characters and a heart warming story that you can’t fail to be touched by or fail to enjoy.

My Neighbor Totoro tells a wonderfully simple story of two young girls named Satsuki and Mei who move into a new home with their father, their mother is sick and in the hospital so the sisters help their dad move into the new house. As they move in, they discover some soot spirits in the house and other magical spirits wandering round nearby and as the story progresses Mei, the younger sister, wanders into the woods chasing a little creature and discovers the ginormous Totoro, a creature that’s a cross between a bunny and a huge cuddly bear that has become one of the most iconic characters in animation.

Totoro and his little buddies can only be seen by the eyes of children and he soon makes friends with Mei and Satsuki and together they enjoy the forest and nature taking flight over the trees and countryside with Totoro and also take a trippy journey on Catbus which really shows off Miyazaki’s imagination and creativity to the full. One day Mei disappears trying to look for her mother, and Satsuki asks the forest spirits to help find her and conclude a deeply touching and unforgettable film.

The magic of My Neighbour Totoro is the simplicity of it, the completely against the grain plot of two girl leads and a sick/possibly dying mother which is not how western animation does things at all and to see the instantly lovable Totoro in action is so magical you wish he existed and you could take a ride with him, The animation is dated but none the less beautifully crafted from Miyazaki and studio Ghibli and altogether it made me feel happy after watching it and not many films have such a wonderful effect.

No. 176 – The Incredibles (2004) – Rating 8.1

At the time this was Pixar’s most daring movie as it was the first time they used solely human characters and a more adult storyline this time involving a less marketable toy range superheroes but hell did it succeed in every aspect.

The animation legend Brad Bird created a superhero film that can easily stand up against any superhero film ever made and introduced some excellent characters that are attributed from the superhero archives to give gthe story an instantly recognizable feel allowing no origin story and to let us accept that this is a world of humans of which some have powers. It’s when an incident of numerous injuries occur to innocent bystanders, after Mr Incredible saves the day, that lawsuits fly in and an order enforced that implies superheroes are a menace and are outlawed leaving all superheroes to go into hiding and live normal lives.

Some years later Mr Incredible is married with three kids all desperately trying to live their lives as normal humans hiding their powers from but when Mr Incredible gets the lure to come out of retirement to use his powers again by a mysterious company after former superhero colleagues go missing and only the Family Incredible can save the day. Of course there is a lot more to the storyline that and I could go on all day talking about every magical aspect of the film from Fro-Zone, the uber-cool Samuel L Jackson voiced Iceman superhero to the wonderful Island HQ of Syndrome (Buddy Pine) the villain of the film where some of the great action scenes take place or the wonderful explanations of why Superheroes shouldn’t where cloaks to the Family Incredible using their powers together to beat the bad guy, it’s all pretty much faultless.

The film has so much humor and charm thrown in with the thrilling action that it’s maybe Pixar’s most adult friendly movie to date with kids lives being threatened, tons of violence, a quite complex plot and sharp dialogue coming at us as fast as Dash can run, it’s a true pleasure to watch Pixar showing its muscles and again proving how it dominates the world of CG Animated movies with what looks like relative ease but of course it’s not, it takes a perfect team to bring a great story, incredible animation, stunning visuals, flawless sound and vocal work that is never equaled by any other animated film of its kind. Another fully deserving film on the list.

No. 229 – Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) – Rating 8.0

I’m pretty shocked this film was made back in 1993, I always seem to think it came out near the same time as The Corpse’s Bride back in 2005 and never seventeen years ago, i completely missed it and I was equally amazed by how good it was, not only in its utter perfection in stop motion animation but in its quality of storyline and character creation, it’s just utter genius.

With its unforgettable wonderfully weird opening musical number that introduces us to the inhabitants of Halloweentown, we meet the manic community which are devoted to annually creating frightening ways of scaring the hell out of people. However the hero of our film Jack Skellington or the Pumpkin King as he’s known to his friends gets tired of the old routine and whilst walking through the forest he comes upon a tree with a door to Christmastown where he finds the joys of Santa’s workers in preparation for Christmas and Jack wants a part of it.

Jack concocts a plan to kidnap Santa Claus and become the king of Christmas and attempts to get the rest of Halloweentown to join in with terrible consequences after they make horrific present creations of shrunken heads or devouring snakes but Jack unaware of the meaning of these presents sets off dressed in white beard and red outfit into the night sky drawn by his three reindeer skeletons and proceeds to distribute presents that terrify their recipients. Understanding his errors after ruining Christmas and with Santa being due to be eaten by Halloweentown’s evil Oogie Boogie man, Jack has a change of heart and has to race to save Santa and restore the worlds to their normal glory.

The stop motion animation is jaw dropping and sublime and the style has an obvious Tim Burton influence from start to finish with a look that is unique, gorgeous and so well designed which is all topped off with some excellent voiced characters to suit the excellent storyline. A Nightmare Before Christmas is a pure visual treat and a film that will stick with me for a long time to come and fully deserves its place in the top 250 list.

No. 150 – The Lion King (1994) – Rating 8.1

I’ve never been a huge fan of the classic Disney Animated movies, I’m not sure why but maybe it has something to do with the musical numbers that litter them as I kind of remember having a huge issue with the likes of Beauty and the Beast and its songs that never sat right with my tastes and what I wanted from my animated movies.

Disney’s 32^nd Animated feature is a coming of age story for Simba (Matthew Broderick) a young lion cub who runs away after believing that he is responsible for his father’s death after his evil Uncle Scar (Jeremy Irons) sets Simba up which enables him to become leader. Scar takes over the lion kingdom and forms an alliance with the hyenas who go on to abuse their role in the new regime creating a miserable and barren place to live for the rest of the lions. Meanwhile Simba befriends Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella), a wart hog, and Timon (Nathan Lane), a meerkat, and learns all about Hakuna Matata growing up in the process to be a free living happy Lion

Eventually the time comes for Simba to confront his past when he comes across a starving Nala (his childhood friend) trying to eat his friends and protects them, After he meets Rafiki the baboon priest and also receives a message from the ghost of Mufassa, his father telling him the time has come to return back to his kingdom and confront Scar to save his family and take his rightful place as king.

The story is amazingly dark at times and emotional, the characters are strong but the songs from Elton John grind to the point of bleeding ears despite the Oscars it got and that it overshadowed Hans Zimmer’s score (also Oscar winning), but of course some songs are classics and instantly recognizable and help elevate it to the classic Disney film its regarded as but like I said something doesn’t sit right with me on the film despite some great vocal casting and incredible animation set pieces despite being computer generated (See below), it’s too soppy and at times nauscious, the pacing drags at times and lacks the fun factor that Robin Hood has or any Pixar film contains by the bucket full and I really can’t agree it deserves its place on the IMDb250 list when the likes of Snow White, Pinocchio or Dumbo don’t get near.

For me The Lion King is an average film and one that really doesn’t get me excited, it does have its moments and there is no doubt it was one of the last great animated movies from Disney for many years after its release in 1994 but with John Lasseter getting behind Disney’s push for hand drawn animation again and his involvement on Princess and the Frog it has finally brought Disney back on track.

No. 184 – Grave of the Fireflies (1988) – Rating 8.0

Grave of the Fireflies tells the emotionally draining story of a pair of orphans struggling to survive after the events of firebombing of Kobe at the end of World War II and it’s an incredible example of how animated movies can be more than just a “Cartoon” and be a truly haunting and dramatic work of art.

The film opens with the reveal that this is the day that our young male protagonist Seita died and the film looks back at how we come to this horrible ending of a teenage boy lying dead in a station.

The young brother and sister, Seita and Setsuko, find out that their mother didn’t survive a firebomb attack on their home town and leave for their aunt’s home to live but due to the rationing of food and their Aunts horrible perspectiveve of her lodgers the pair leave with what they can and take up refuge in an abandoned bomb shelter where a majority of the film takes place as they set up home and struggle with hunger, personal pride and prejudice in their own personal battle for survival.

I don’t think i’ve ever watched an animated film like Grave of the Fireflies that can equally amaze you with its stunning animated depiction of war then smack you in the face with its harsh reality of it too that will bring a tear to any viewer. The bond between the siblings is wonderful to watch and 100% believable which makes it even harder to watch as things deteriorate, it’s one of the most incredible anti war films ever made in any form heartbreaking drama doesn’t come better than this.

The animation is subtle but beautifully detailed in an effortlessly realistic style by Studio Ghibli director Isao Takahata and that equalled with one of the most memorable story lines makes Grave of the Fireflies one of the greatest animated films ever made and when you see Lion King sitting 34 places above you have to wonder how this isn’t sitting higher.

You can find Barry’s next update next week, catch you in two.

Don’t forget, you can follow our progress on Twitter at http://twitter.com/baz_mann and http://twitter.com/Gary_Phillips

Much like The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time press conference‘s we attended the Wondercon Toy Story 3 panel yesterday in San Francisco. Director, Lee Unkrich was joined by voice artists, John Ratzenberger, Kristen Schaal, Jeff Garlin and producer, Darla K. Anderson as they attempted to recreate a scene from the movie live on stage. It went down pretty well. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to film the screen to show their voices being used but you’ll get the idea from this footage.

I also took a few photos which you can also see below. We got to see Toy Story 3 a few days ago and you can see my first reactions from it here. Bottom line: I LOVED it! We’ll be posting footage and photos from our visit to Pixar Animation Studios in the coming months but for now, enjoy!

Studio Ghibli are most famous for their feature films such as My Neighbour Totoro (pictured), Spirited Away, Princess Mononoke and many more wonderful films but they also occasionally make television adverts.

They recently created an advert for a company called Nisshin Seifun Group to celebrate the company’s 110th anniversary.

The advert was storyboarded by Goro Miyazaki, son of Hayao Miyazaki, the character was drawn by producer Toshio Suzuki and the project overseen by Katsuya Kondo. It focuses on a little kitten and is a very sweet little ad. The longest ad (only 30 seconds though) is embedded below.

Source for the info on the advert: Anime News Network

Yesterday we brought you part one of our exclusive interviews with cast and crew from Disney’s The Princess and the Frog in the form of an interview with Supervising Animator, Andreas Deja . Today we have the second installment and have an interview with both directors of the new movie, John Musker and Ron Clements.

Both guys were lovely to chat to and told me how The Princess and the Frog had come into being, how 2d animation has changed to sit in the 21st Century and how influential John Lassester was in the whole process of bringing their vision to reality.

Tomorrow at 13:15 GMT, we have an exclusive interview with leading lady, Anika Noni Rose so make sure you keep your eyes peeled for that one. You can keep track of all our coverage of this magical movie here.

The Princess and the Frog is released tomorrow, 5th December in cinemas all over the place. 

Over the next three days at exactly 13:15 GMT we have a real treat for our lovely readers in the form of three exclusive video interviews with the supervising animator, the Directors and leading lady herself, Anika Noni Rose from Disney’s latest movie, The Princess and the Frog.

Part one of our interviews is with leading animator, Andreas Deja who was the supervising animator for Mama Odie in the movie. During the interview I find out what his role is on a day to day basis, how they come up with a characters look and how he felt returning back to hand drawn animation after such a long time away from the paper and pen.

You’ll also notice that Andreas has a pad on his lap. During the interview he started drawing his latest, Mama Odie on the pad and we were lucky enough to capture the entire event on camera. I’ve edited it so that you can see both his interview and the drawing that he’s doing while I continue to ask him questions. And who ever said men can’t multi-task?!

The Princess and the Frog is out this Friday in all cinemas and we know you’ll love it. You can check out our review here or for even more info on the movie, you can watch the press conference in full here.

Avatar has just a become the second highest grossing movie of all time. It’s inevitable it will break Titanic’s record, becoming the highest grossing movie of all time, and will have done so in an astonishingly short period. James Cameron’s movie has united almost the entire industry in praise, with scores of positive reviews. Historically, the big movies have had some kind of impact on the industry, and as one of the biggest, we can expect the ‘Avatar Effect’ to have a huge influence. But just what will that influence be?

 3D

 This will probably be the most immediate influence, as movies already in production can be converted to 3D. There have already been rumours of Robin Hood, Clash of the Titans and the Robocop reboot possibly going 3D, and with demand now being expected from the public for more, we can expect many such announcements. Previously much maligned, 3D is now being seen as the way forward, and that is thanks to the great work Cameron and his team have done with the technology.

 Motion Capture

 Poor Robert Zemeckis. He’s been trying to convince us that motion capture animation is the way forward for several years, but despite his best efforts we weren’t buying it. There was much criticism over ‘dead eyes’ in the characters, and the overall effect of the movies were uninspiring. Now in one fell swoop Avatar has made motion capture viable. The alien characters were truly stunning, full of life and completely believable. The locations in some cases were photorealistic, and the overall effect was breathtaking. Thanks to Cameron’s success with the Nav’vi, we can expect many more motion capture projects to be announced.

 Big Bugets

 Despite the current economic climate making studios reluctant to greenlight risky big budget productions, the success of Avatar and others like Transformers 2 last year has lent credence to the notion that you have to spend money to make money. Audiences have flocked to movies that have cost hundreds of millions of dollars recently, which may well convince studios to loosen the purse strings. Smaller, lower budget movies have not made much money at the box office over the last year, bigger profits are coming from bigger investments.

 Original Stories

 Sequels, adaptations, remakes and reboots have been the big hitters in recent times, but Avatar may change that. It had previously been thought that completely new properties were incapable of drawing big box office, but Cameron has proved that wrong, along with other original movies last year like District 9, Inglourious Basterds and even 2012. If studios pick up the ball on this and develop more original projects, we will all benefit. Franchises will most likely still rule for the foreseeable future however. All the other movies that drew big last year were sequels and adaptations, and even Avatar looks set to become a franchise with rumours of Avatar 2 and 3 already doing the rounds.

 Family Movies

 Avatar was PG-13, which effectively meant anyone could go and see it, and it became very much a family friendly experience. There were arguably much fewer family oriented movies last year than in previous ones, with only really animated ones filling the void. The benefits for studios however are obvious. Your potential target audience is the biggest possible because it includes everyone. Each household can provide multiple viewers, even if the marketing only reaches one of them. And afterwards, word of mouth reaches schools, colleges and places of work. It can even benefit audiences by virtue of bringing families together for a joint experience.

 Long Development Periods

 Long development periods are nothing new, but there’s a big difference between a time consuming project and development hell. Cameron was probably busy the whole period, but will studios now follow his lead and finance marathon length production? Unlikely. Cameron got away with it, he was coming off of Titanic and was the boss. Funding came from several sources, and he didn’t have to answer to anyone. The major studios aren’t going to want to hand that kind of power to anyone, and if a long period of time goes by without any tangible progress, they’ll get nervous. Waiting a year or two for a return on investment is one thing, but paying out hundreds of millions with no bottom line in sight is not going to be a popular endeavour.

 Joint Financing

 Avatar has been said to have been financed from half a dozen sources. Will we see more deals of this type? I don’t know enough about these type of things to know the answer, but i do have a couple of thoughts. I don’t know if major studios will want to share a big budget movie with each other, i don’t know if it’ll be seen as a wise investment, and there’ll be issues over control and final cut. Also, with several investors, when it comes to dividing profits there’s likely to be less transparency over how much each party is due. Smaller companies may be more likely to part finance, but with the amounts of money involved it might be seen as too much of a risk.

 Whatever your opinion of Avatar, love it or hate it, there’s no denying it is a cultural phenomenon, and a piece of movie history. However it affects the industry, and there’s no doubt it will, it will long be remembered as one of the most influential movies of all time.

Please help support Heyuguys by going here and voting us Best Newcomer in the Total Film Movie Blog Awards 2010.

 Bazmann – You can follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/baz_mann

A brand new poster for Disney’s The Princess and the Frog has been released by Empire Online. The poster is similar to those we’ve seen before but let’s face it, they’re all beautiful crafted like the movie itself.

HeyUGuys were able to see the movie a couple of weeks ago and our review is now up here. This is the first hand-drawn animation for over 10 years and it’s good to see that Disney are still making them like they used to!

Click the image above to enlarge. The Princess and the Frog is out 5th February and we know you’re going to love it!

ComingSoon.net have a brand new featurette for Disney Animation’s The Princess and the Frog. This latest footage gives us a closer look at the movie villain Dr. Facilier (voiced by Keith David) and Mama Odie (voiced by Jenifer Lewis).

We should be seeing the movie early next week so we’ll bring you our review shortly after that. The Princess and the Frog is released 5th February 2010.

This week sees the release of the year’s first Christmas movie, Robert Zemeckis’ A Christmas Carol. The latest in a long line of adaptations of this classic story, Zemeckis has made it using his motion capture animation. This is the third movie Zemeckis has made using the technique, having perfected it after Polar Express and Beowulf. Zemeckis has been interested in combining human actors and animation for a long time. With news breaking last week of a sequel in development, it’s the perfect time to look back at 1988′s Who Framed Roger Rabbit.

Following huge success with Back to the Future in 1985, Robert Zemeckis was in big demand. This allowed him the clout to take hold of  what would be a hugely ambitious project. Live action had been combined with animation previously, most notably in Mary Poppins. No-one yet, however, had attempted a feature length movie.

Bob Hoskins is a 1940′s private dick, Eddie Valiant. Struggling with money problems, he can’t afford to be too choosy about the work he accepts. So when someone pays him to take pictures of Toontown owner Marvin Acme playing patty cake with Jessica Rabbit, he can’t say no. When the star of the pictures turns up dead, Valiant can’t shake the feeling he has been set up. The one accused of the murder has also been set up. ‘Toon Roger Rabbit had been distraught when he saw the pictures of his wife playing away, but was he really capable of murder?

On the lamb, Roger wants Valiant to clear his name. The problem? Valiant hates Toons. At one time a hero to the animated community, Eddie turned his back on them when his brother and partner was murdered by an unidentified cartoon character. Valiant does want to find out who used him in the murder plot however, and reluctantly teams up with the whacky rabbit, hiding him from the police, and the evil Judge (Christopher Lloyd) and his pack of weasels. The Judge has found a way to kill Toons, previously thought impossible. He is keen to introduce Roger to The Dip.

As Eddie follows the clues, he discovers a plot over real estate, Toontown, and a missing will. In order to uncover the truth, he is forced to face his fears and enter Toon town for the first time in years. Can Valiant solve the mystery in time to secure the future of the Toons he now despises?

Twenty years on, in a time of great technological leaps, does Who Framed Roger Rabbit hold up? The movie was made with what is called ‘in ones’ animation. In most cartoons, the painted cells are often updated every other frames, or in some Japanese Anime up to once every five frames. This technique saves money, as only half the number of cells need to be drawn.

In Roger Rabbit, in order to keep the animation in sync with the live action, it was necessary to animate every frame, a very expensive and time consuming prospect. Combined with the complexity of drawing the cells with pinpoint accuracy to line up with the human actors, Roger Rabbit was a huge undertaking.

As a result of the techniques used, the animation is wonderful. Bright, fluid and imaginative, it is a joy to behold. Watched back in an era of perfect computer generated animation, you truly appreciate the complexity of having to hand draw each frame. The interaction between the human actors and cartoon environment are really very convincing.

A lot of the credit for this has to go to the artists and director, but it’s important to remember just how difficult a job actor Bob Hoskins had on his hands. Made before working with green screen (or in this case blue screen) became just another element of the job, Hoskins had to react to not just characters and backgrounds that weren’t there, but also props. He even had to drive a car that was drawn in later! But he sells it, completely. An actor best known for harsh gangster roles, he throws himself in to the slapstick sequences whole-heartedly.

For me, the best thing about Roger Rabbit is the little touches, the shout outs to classic animation conventions. is killed by a dropped piano in true cartoon style. Eddie convincing Roger to take a drink by using the Bugs Bunny dialogue switch, Betty Boop drawn in black and white, all show great attention to the theme. The really amazing thing is the appearance of characters like Bugs Bunny, Betty Boop and Droopy alongside the likes of Dumbo, Mickey Mouse etc, dozens of cartoon characters from several different companies appearing together. The red tape involved with the rights issues must have been monumental, you have to ask if it could be done in today’s corporate climate.

The answer may come, with the announcement by Zemeckis of a sequel in the works (read our story here). It’ll be interesting to see which characters are allowed to appear. It’ll also be interesting to see if Zemeckis utilises his new motion capture style of animation. I’m not convinced, in this era of computer animation, that there enough animators adept enough at hand-drawn cartoons available anymore for what would again be a huge undertaking. The nature of the new project is as yet unknown, but it seems likely to be a prequel, maybe set at a time when Eddie and Valiant were making a living working for Toons. Rest assured, we here at HUG will keep you posted on any and all news on this project.

The only real problem i had looking back at this movie was the far from compelling storyline. The forties noir-style detective story is overdone, the conclusion predictable. It takes Valiant an hour and a half to solve the mystery of the will, which puts him an hour and fifteen minutes behind the audience. The clumsy jabs at the rise of gas stations and freeways across America, effectively killing the Redcar transport system, are done with all the subtlety of an Acme anvil on the head. And Christopher Lloyd’s ‘cartoonish’ villain, with his over the top performance, is unnecessary in a movie already packed to the rafters with big, colourful characters.

The story, however, is unimportant. It’s just a vehicle for the fantastic animation, and the technical brilliance on display. Sit back and enjoy a true cinematic event, and lament the loss of traditional animation in Robert Zemeckis’ brave new computer-led world.

Bazmann

Much like Sony have done with 2012, Disney have released the first five minutes from their new 2D animation, The Princess and the Frog. I’ve embedded the clip below along with a 30 second clip showing how some of the animation was achieved. The video clip also features some animation which is as yet incomplete.

The Princess and the Frog features voices from Anika Noni Rose, Terrence Howard, John Goodman, Keith David, Jim Cummings, Oprah Winfrey, Jenifer Lewis, is directed by Ron Clements, John Musker and is released 12th February.

Synopsis: Walt Disney Animation Studios presents the musical THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG, an animated comedy set in the great city of New Orleans. From the creators of “The Little Mermaid” and “Aladdin” comes a modern twist on a classic tale, featuring a beautiful girl named Tiana (ANIKA NONI ROSE), a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again, and a fateful kiss that leads them both on a hilarious adventure through the mystical bayous of Louisiana. THE PRINCESS AND THE FROG marks the return to hand-drawn animation from the revered team of John Musker and Ron Clements, with music by Oscar®-winning composer Randy Newman (“Monsters, Inc.,” “Cars,” “Toy Story”).