Animation is Great Britain's Favorite Type of Film

Animation is taking off all around the world. A study by the British Film Institute found that animation films, which were just 4.7% of all releases in 2013, accumulated 21.4% of the 2013 box office in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

That's an out-sized share for animation. It means something.

The top earning animation films were:

1. Despicable Me 2
2. Frozen
3. Monsters University
4. The Croods
5. Wreck-It Ralph (released in 2013 in Great Britain)

Technically, animation is not a genre. However, that is how studies like this one always categorize it, and we're not about to argue with the authorities. While animation films can be comedies or musicals or dramas, lumping in animated feature film comedies with live-action comedies does not really tell us much - though a separate study could do that, too.

The top "Categories" in terms of share of box office were:

1. Animation 21.4%
2. Action 18.7%
3. Comedy 13.7%
4. Sci-fi 7.6%
5. Drama 5.2%
6. Fantasy 5.2%
7. Adventure 5.0%
8. Horror 5.0%
9. Crime 4.2%
10. Music/Dance 4.2%

What does this all mean? Well, it suggests that animation is becoming a worldwide common language all its own, with top product doing well in all sorts of places. Hollywood is taking notice, with China an especially important area of opportunity.

It's easy to say that if you figured live action as a "category" it easily would trump animation. However, considering that animation only constituted such a small slice of the releases, yet gobbled up over a fifth of all box office revenue, such arguments fall flat. Animation is popular, and animated feature films draw people into the theater.

Animation is exploding in popularity around the world.




2014

A Peek at Some Faces Behind Your Favorite Animation

Pixar!

Our goal here at Animated Film Reviews is to give animation fans just a teeny smidgen of insight into the animation they love. We do this by providing industry news, film reviews and as much context as we can squeeze in. Animation is an industry, like doctors and lawyers and plumbers and such, so it's impossible and unnecessary to try to give a complete view of the field. However, a little context goes a long way and helps some of us to enjoy the animation we see a bit more than we would otherwise.

With that in mind, and as a one-time thing, we're going to give an extremely quick peek under the hood and let you see a few animators who create the animation you see in the theater and on home video. These folks all have worked at Pixar, though they all apparently have moved on to new employment. You'll almost never hear of these folks otherwise unless you stick around for the five minutes of credits after some future animated film and squint really, really hard.

We're cool with anyone who works on animated films and wish them nothing but the best. And besides, without these guys and many, many more like them, we'd here at Animated Film Reviews would have nothing to do all day! Keeps us off the street.

All right, on with the show.

Daisuke 'Dice' Tsutsumi

Dice Tsutsumi

Dice Tstutsumi has been an animator for a number of years. He began in the Art Department at Blue Sky Studios (pretty sure of that, if that's wrong, apologies), where he worked, among other things, as a matte (background) painter on smash hit "Ice Age."

After that, he gravitated over to Pixar, where he was an Art Director on their smash hit "Toy Story 3." While there, he directed a couple of shorts, "Sketchtravel" and "The Dam Keeper," which he created outside of Pixar.

Dice obviously is extremely talented. A native of Tokyo, he just so happens to be the son-in-law of Hayao Miyazaki.

Yes, that Hayao Miyazaki.

Anyway, Dice recently sent around a notice to friends and followers that he was leaving Pixar, no doubt to go to another top outfit. It's worth posting just to give you a tiny slice of a top animator's life. We wish Dice the best of luck.


Subject : I'd like to thank you all----Today is my last day
Time : July 11th 2014

When I graduated from high school in Tokyo, I left my country behind to start new life in the U.S.

I had no idea what I got myself into at the time especially since I spoke no English and didn't even know what I wanted to study. (I knew nothing about art!)

People often ask me if I like America better as I ended up staying here the next 20 years.

I look back now and I realize it was not a matter of preference between Japan and US.

What mattered the most was the "change" I made in my life. It taught me so much about what it means to live in the fast changing, diverse international society today.

Interestingly, my love for Japan actually grew more after I left Japan because I can see the beauty of my culture from outside. I proudly carry my Japanese heritage to this day while I adapted the culture in the United States.

I am certain that is what it's going to happen after I leave Pixar, the most creative environment on earth that I will miss so dearly.

One thing I learned from you guys at Pixar is that I shall not be afraid of taking risks. I'll live and work like a Pixarian even after I leave the gate behind today.

Hope this isn't a break up. I rather see it as a child leaving for college to learn from his own failures in the outside world. I see Pixar as my parents and I hope to use everything I learned here to survive out there.

My dream is that I come back to work with you again someday and apply whatever I learn from this dark, scary and dangerous jungle of "unknown."

Until then....

with sincere gratitude

Dice Tsutsumi

Robert Kondo

Robert Kondo

Robert Kondo has been at Pixar at least since "Ratatouille," on which he served as an art director. He recently worked with Dice on "The Dam Keeper" short, and was an art director on last year's "Monsters University."

Robert recently left Pixar for parts unknown. He tweeted this out with Instagram:

The picture is of the Pixar Gates

Kondo and Tsutsumi have announced that they have started their own creative house, Tonko House. In the animation industry, you never know what will happen, so they may wind up back at a big studio, or Tonko House could become a huge hit. We wish the boys the best of luck with their project.

Saschka Unseld

Saschka Unseld

Saschka Unseld started out in Germany, where he co-directed the short "Strasse der Spezialisten" for Studio Soi. He found his way to the States at some point worked on, among other projects, "Toy Story 3," "Cars 2," "Brave" and "Toy Story of Terror" as a Pixar layout artist.

That's a pretty impressive list of films right there.

Saschka recently posted a bunch of photos and stuff on Instagram showing him departing Pixar. Incidentally, he can speak for himself, he lists his own biography on Instagram as:

Saschka Unseld: Director and writer of things, including Pixar's The Blue Umbrella, I tweet @saschkaunseld 

Anyway, apparently after leaving, Saschka had to go back to the office for something, so he posted this:

He now needs a "host" to enter the premises

That's how it goes in the big city, riding high in April, having to be someone's guest in the place you used to be a big shot in July. Just about anyone who's had a job at a big firm knows how that goes.

We wish Saschka the best of luck as well.

Teddy Newton

Teddy Newton

Teddy Newton was at Pixar for a long time. His credits there go back at least as far as working as a voice actor on "The Incredibles." Before that, he did character design on "The Iron Giant" while apparently at Warner Bros. Animation. Since Brad Bird was behind both of those films, we're guessing they came over to Pixar together or one at the suggestion of the other. That's only a guess, but that's how transfers often work - one guy goes over, then puts in a good word for another.

At Pixar, Teddy's worked on "Cars," "Ratatouille," "WALL-E," "Up," "Toy Story 3" - these are some of the biggest animated films of all time, and he did voice work on all of them! Man, that's plain awesome.

Anyway, Teddy apparently has left Pixar as well fairly recently. His friend posted this picture of him with a bunch of big shots (trust me, these folks are not scrubbing toilets, they are bosses):
 

Teddy Newton and friends

Anyway, so it appears that Teddy Newton now is at Paramount. Looks like they're all having fun as well, which is awesome. We're sure we'll be seeing and hearing his work in the years to come.


Anyway, that completes our quick peek under the hood of the animation that you see and love. Best of luck to everyone.



2014

Pixar Shows How to Make a Monster - with Presto

How to Make a Monster

Presto demonstration at NVIDIA's GTC conference from Pixar Graphics on Vimeo.

This is another peek behind the scenes at the creation of what we see on the screen at animation features. Pixar, of course, has been at the forefront of computer graphics animation for decades, and this is an interesting look at what their software enables them to do.

Pixar engineering lead Dirk Van Gelder appeared at the annual GPU Technology Conference in San Jose, California to show Pixar's cutting edge program called Presto.

Presto is new. It was first used for Pixar's Academy Award-winning animation feature "Brave." One of the most notable aspects of "Brave" was the way that the lead character, Merida, had such flowing red hair. It was possible because of Presto.

Presto provides an interactive experience for the animator. This enables the animator to control the character and its movements with fine precision.

In the demo, we see Van Gelder manipulating aspects of the lead character of James P. "Sulley" Sullivan from "Monsters University." Previous software was limited, but Presto enables the animator to make changes while all of the character's artistic features are viewable at high resolutions. Sulley, for instance, has 900,000 computer-generated hairs, and Presto enables the software engineer to work on them directly.

This is an animator's version of WYSIWYG, or What You See Is What You Get. Previously, animators were only able to manipulate stripped down figures that were built up later with things like hair.

There are obvious advantages to being able to work on characters in their full form, rather adding their "look" later. The character's movements can be made more naturalistic and accurate, plus it cuts down on the number of revisions that will have to be made to get just the right character movements.

2014

"Frozen" Wins BAFTA Award

"Frozen" has won the BAFTA award for Best Animated Feature. It was probably the least controversial win in the category's history, especially after last year's winner "Brave" received a somewhat more mixed reception from critics.

"Frozen" is one of the most successful Disney films of all time. So far, it has grossed nearly a billion dollars worldwide and is still going. "Frozen" beat "Despicable Me 2" and "Monsters University" to win the award, those latter two films probably handicapped by virtue of being sequels.

The BAFTA awards are trying to get a more European focus, so it is a growing mark of respect for American films to win their top awards. Most consider them the third-highest honor any film can earn, after the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes.

"Frozen" Directors Chris Buck and Jennifer Lee were careful to thank their crew, saying "it took about 600 people on this one - we had thousands of storyboard designs they had to draw and redraw." The two, who are spending a lot of time at awards shows this year, acknowledged the superior voice recording from stars including Kristen Bell, as well as the computer rigging and the songwriters of the popular musical numbers from the film such as "Let It Go."

The other stars of "Frozen" are Alan Tudyk, Ciaran Hinds, Idina Menzel, Jonathan Groff, Josh Gad and Santino Fontana.

Meanwhile, in the category Best British Short, Animation, "Sleeping with the Fishes" won.

2014

BAFTA Nominations 2014

The big "Monsters University" football game

Many onsider the BAFTA awards the second-most prestigious film awards of the season, even above the Golden Globes. The Golden Globes get more press because they are the first awards of the year, are in Hollywood, and are considered fairly good predictors of what will happen at the Academy Awards.

The three nominees for the 2014 BAFTA Awards in the animated feature category are Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me 2, Disney’s Frozen, and Pixar’s Monsters University. Frozen and Despicable Me 2 appear to be the favorites this awards season, with other choices shuttling into the third spot. Since "Monsters University" wasn't nominated for an Academy Award, its people would dearly love to get at least a BAFTA. Since Pixar doesn't have any releases scheduled for 2014, this will be the last chance for the studio to pick up a major award any time soon.

It's only natural that conspiracy theories start now, because that's how people are. This BAFTA nomination sort of legitimizes "Monsters University" as a top film, so why no Oscar nod? The thinking is that Disney wants its own "Frozen" to win everything, and so did not push Pixar's competing "Monsters University" for the Academy Award. It's tough to get a nomination - it's worth money at the box office and in DVD sales - so it wouldn't take much to slight a film that Disney didn't really have its heart in having as a fellow nominee. I'm just throwing that out there, wrong as the theory may be.

To be honest, I think that "Frozen" is simply the better film, Disney's best in years and years. But everyone will have their own ideas about that, and they are just as legitimate as anyone else's.

In the animated short category, the BAFTA nominees are Everything I Can See From Here (Bjorn-Erik Aschim, Sam Taylor, and Friederike Nicolaus), I Am Tom Moody (Ainslie Henderson, who also won a BAFTA last year for co-writing Will Anderson’s short The Making of Longbird) and Sleeping With The Fishes (Yousif Al-Khalifa, James Walker, and Sarah Woolner). Short-film nominees, unlike the feature film nominees, must have some British content.








2014

Animation in Japan on the Rise in 2013

Seven of the top box office hits in Japan during 2013 were animated films. Japan has been a leader in anime at least since the 1960s, but this is a new development that signals a faltering Hollywood grip on a key overseas market.

"The Wind Rises," the story of the designer of the Japanese Zero fighter as told by animation legend Hayao Miyazaki, was the top box office hit in Japan, earning $116 million.

All is not lost for Hollywood. "Monsters University," the well-received sequel to "Monsters Inc.," was No. 2 in Japan with $89 million. Naturally, considering its patriotic theme, "The Wind Rises" appealed directly to Japanese sensibilities, so it would have been tough for any animated film to top it. The "Monsters University" figure was quite respectable and easily could have been the top draw in other years. However, Hollywood live-action films were conspicuous by their near-absence from the list.

Those two animated films were followed at No. 3 by "Ted," which has an animated lead character. Most of the other animated films in the top ten for 2013 were derived from local anime franchises with built-in audiences. The 2012 Disney hit "Wreck-It Ralph," was released in Japan as "Sugar Rush," came in tenth at the 2013 Japanese box office, at $29.3 million.

Surprisingly, "Iron Man 3" did not crack the top ten, earning only $25.3 million and coming in not far ahead of Johnny Depp's "The Lone Ranger," which earned $20 million and was a surprise hit with Japanese audiences.

It is easy to sneer at box office returns, especially foreign ones, as any guide to film quality. However, the success or failure of a film and, indeed, entire film franchises relies more and more on international grosses these days. Domestic US audiences may recoup production costs for a hit film, but the profits flow in from overseas. Failure of Hollywood films overseas would lead to lower film budgets and, thus, likely lower grosses both domestically and abroad in a vicious downward cycle. At a bare minimum, it would cut into actor/film executive salaries and studio profits.

In live-action films, Hollywood needs to crank out better product for Japan or it will continue falling behind.



 




2014

Billy Crystal Interview: Monsters University

Billy Crystal Says Mike of "Monsters University" is His Favorite Character

Popular Internet interviewer Jake Hamilton interviews Billy Crystal about his character Mike in the "Monsters Inc." prequel "Monsters University." Highlights include Billy Crystal speculating about what happened to Boo, how he breaks the news to his grandkids that he is in show business, and his ideas about a third film in the series.


2014

Monsters University (2013) - A Funny Look at What Happens When Dreams Don't Come True

"Monsters University" is a Monster Film That Should Appeal to Everyone

Having introduced the characters of Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) and James P. "Sulley" Sullivan (John Goodman) in the 2001 animated comedy "Monsters Inc.," Pixar had to go to extreme lengths in order to make this sequel, "Monsters University" (2013), directed by Dan Scanlon, produced by Kori Rae, and with a screenplay by Robert Baird, Daniel Gerson and Dan Scanlon. Due to contractual provisions with Disney, Pixar did not even have the right to make a sequel or prequel to its own film. Rather than have Disney do it, as the contract provided, Pixar wound up merging with Disney and thereby recovering the rights to its own characters. As with any follow-up, some will say that "Monsters Unversity" is predictable and not as ground-breaking as the original film. However, it is very entertaining and should appeal to all fans of "Monsters Inc."

Mike meets Sulley

It is about ten years before the events of "Monsters Inc.," and Mike has just realized his long-held dream of matriculating at Monsters University. He majors in scaring, and quickly befriends nerdy Randall "Randy" Boggs (Steve Buscemi). Mike practices his scaring lessons at night, and while doing so meets Sulley, a large blue monster. It turns out that they are in the same fraternity, and one night Sulley uses Mike's room to hide a rival school's mascot pig, Archie. Archie steals Mike's hat and runs outside with it, and Mike and Sulley give chase. When Sulley is seen capturing the pig, he is offered admittance to top fraternity Roar Omega Roar. Mike tries to join as well, but he has words with Sulley and they turn into enemies.

Helen Mirren voices Dean Hardscrabble

Dean Hardscrabble (Helen Mirren) is in charge of the school scaring program. She tells Professor Knight's (Alfred Molina) class that they will have a difficult exam at the end of the semester. Whoever does worst will be forced out of the scaring program. Mike and Sulley compete to become the best scarer, but they go overboard and are both tossed out of the scaring program after breaking one of the Dean's precious mementos. Sulley also loses his spot in the fraternity. The two commiserate and make up, with Mike explaining that he just wanted to show the world what he could do.

Mike really wants to succeed

Mike finds out that he might be able to rejoin the scaring program if he can get back into a fraternity and enter a competition, but none of them will have him. Finally, Mike finds a bunch of misfits who have formed Oozma Kappa, headed by Don Carlton (Joel Murray). Others in the fraternity are Scott "Squishy" Squibbles (Peter Sohn), Art (Charlie Day), and brothers Terri Perry (Sean Hayes) and Terry Perry (Dave Foley). Now in a fraternity, Mike needs a partner to compete, and Sulley is the only one who will agree to help him. Randy, meanwhile, is upset that Mike has become better friends with Sulley than with him and joins Roar Omega Roar.

Mike and Randall enjoying a nice day

Making a deal with Dean Hardscrabble, Mike agrees to leave Monsters University if he fails at the competition, which involves a series of physical challenges that test scaring ability. Mike has to whip the Oozma Kappa members into a truly scary group if he is to have any chance of staying in school.

The visuals really are striking in 3D

The competition itself is one of the highlights of the film. In their first race, Mike and Sulley have to try not to step on items that will make their bodies grow. In the second competition, they have to steal an item from the library. The competition is intense and seals the friendship between the two monsters.

Mike has an idea

The story of "Monsters University" is very simple and basic, but the plot is almost secondary to the interactions between the main characters as they learn about each other and begin their friendship. The most interesting aspect of the story is that it remains in question throughout whether Mike and Sulley will realize their dreams, which provides a good dose of creative tension.

Randy Newman

Randy Newman, Pixar's hosue musician, composed the score, with the soundtrack released by Walt Disney Records on June 18, 2013. "Monsters University" is filmed in 3D computer animation and looks sensational. Director Scanlon, a Pixar storyboard artist, uses his visual talents to great effect throughout the film. The design of the monsters varies enough (moustaches shaped like vampire bats and so forth) so that the film remains visually exciting. There are lots of knowing pokes at real university life that should be familiar to any present or past student, and the layout of the campus looks all too familiar.

Mike and Sulley at a frat party

There are a lot of laughs, but the heart of the Monsters saga is the sentimental friendship between Mike and Sulley. Crystal and Goodman have a great rapport, and the supporting cast, particularly Helen Mirren, is exceptional.

Going wild at a school party

"Monsters University" flows smoothly into "Monsters Inc.," so you could enjoy the two films by watching this one first if you wished and then following up the "Monsters Inc." This is one of Pixar's best efforts, equal in quality to the original and a step above several of their other more recent productions. The key to Pixar films always has been that their comedies really are more about relationships than laughs. Some core relationship always provides the central core around which the jokes flow. In "Monsters University," the comedy is peripheral to the drama of Mike and Sulley becoming friends, but that drama provides the tension which makes the jokes funnier. Pixar still has its touch for top-notch animation, and they still understand that relationships, not slick animation, are what makes their product work. The Mike/Sulley interaction is one of the best in animation, as it calls to mind all of the classic gruff guy - nice guy buddy pairings ranging from Ralph Kramden/Norton to Fred Flintstone/Barney Rubble to Skipper/Gilligan. The casting is perfect, as you couldn't find anyone with a nicer persona than Billy Crystal, while John Goodman has that everyman touch that makes everyone recall that co-worker or kindly Uncle or who ploughs through all the nonsense to get to what's real.

Concept art for the film

"Monsters University" was Pixar's second-best opening, grossing $82 million domestically and $154 worldwide in its opening weekend, behind only "Toy Story 3." Several trailers and clips were released before the film came out, some of which include scenes not in the film itself. You may view them here.



2013

Monsters University as Reviewed By Actress Emma Caulfield

I Think Emma Likes It

Actress Emma Caulfield (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Beverly Hills 90210) reviews Disney/Pixar's "Monsters University" in her own unique style.




We echo Emma's suggestion that you might want to see "Monsters, Inc." before you see "Monsters University," or even see it again if you've seen it before. However, if you don't get a chance, since "Monsters University" is a prequel to "Monsters Inc.," and they flow seamlessly together, you might want to consider seeing "Monsters Inc." right after you see "Monsters University."

You may watch all the previews and trailers and read up on "Monsters University" here, and you may see our complete review of "Monsters University" here.



2014

Monsters University (2013) - Prequel Arriving June 21, 2013

Monsters University, Prequel to Monsters, Inc.

Monsters University (2013) is the upcoming animated Disney/Pixar prequel to "Monsters, Inc." (2001). John Goodman,, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, Frank Oz, Dan Gerson, Dave Foley, Jennifer Tilly, Julia Sweeney, Peter Sohn, Joel Murray, Ken Jeong, Rob Riggle, J. B. Smoove, and John Ratzenberger (of course) are all slated to voice Monsters University characters. Kelsey Grammer replaces James Coburn as Henry J. Watermoose, Chairman of Monsters, Inc.

Just as a heads up, advance reviews are good, with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 75%, while HuffPost's Greg Wetherall says:

"Director Dan Scanlon has managed the unlikely in this outing; he has, at the very least, matched the bar of the film's forebear. In these particular eyes, he's toppled it. This is a film that will live long after its cinema release and should be welcomed with open arms into homes across the world. Only a curmudgeon would not be melted by the exuberance and execution of Monsters University -- a film that is truly laugh-out loud funny, and is armed with an equally touching coda of a moral lesson that avoids the precipice of melodrama."

Our own review is here. We liked it, too.

Mike has arrived! Let the party begin!

Two new clips are all about Mike and Sulley meeting and getting to know each other and were released on June 12, 2013. The first is called "Star Player":



The second new clip is called "Terri & Terry and Art" and introduces twins Terri and Terry, along with the eccentric Art.




The clips and trailers have been flying out of Disney/Pixar fast and furious throughout May. Here, on good advice, is the final - and extended - trailer that was released on Thursday, May 29, 2013:




That this is the final "trailer" doesn't mean there won't be more "clips." Below is another clip, "OK Initiation," which was recently released:



Here's another clip, which introduces the character of Johnny Worthington, voiced by Nathan Fillion of Firefly:




The next clip happens to be in German. Apparently, there is no English version available. Anyway, der Deutsch gives the characters an interesting edge. Watch Mike and Sulley get in trouble:




There are plenty of other clips to look at as well, though you might already have seen them if you've been to this page before. The following clip "Acceptance Letter" and was released on May 27 2013:




A couple of other new preview clips have come out in anticipation of the US June 21 release (UK July 12). First, the "party" trailer:

And here is the "First Morning" clip:

"Monsters University" is being produced by Pixar and will be distributed by Pixar's parent company, Walt Disney Pictures. Once again, Goodman voices James P. Sullivan, Crystal is Mike Wazowski, Steve Buscemi is Randall Boggs, Jennifer Tilly is Celia Mae, Frank Oz voices Jeff Fungus, and John Ratzenberger is the Abominable Snowman.

Reading on the green

Details about the plot remain secret. The film will be set about ten years prior to "Monsters, Inc. Sulley and Mike meet, become rivals, then join the same college fraternity and at some point settle their differences. According to Pixar:

"Mike Wazowski and James P. Sullivan are an inseparable pair, but that wasn’t always the case. From the moment these two mismatched monsters met they couldn’t stand each other. Monsters University unlocks the door to how Mike and Sulley overcame their differences and became the best of friends. Screaming with laughter and fun, Monsters University stars the vocal talents of Billy Crystal, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Dave Foley, Julia Sweeney, Joel Murray and Peter Sohn and is directed by Dan Scanlon and produced by Kori Rae."

Studious students at Monster University

The narrator of a television commercial says, promoting the "Monsters University" college:

"Your future is knocking. Open the door."

The spot was actually shown during California’s New Year Rose Bowl Parade, which takes place in Pasadena, north of Los Angeles.

Rowdy Frat monster

Georgian Progressive Metal band Mastodon have stated that they are contributing a song. Randy Newman is preparing the score.

Mike and Sulley get down

"Monsters University" will be accompanied by the short "Umbrella." Television commercials already are airing, and you may visit the Monsters University website. "Monsters University" will be in 3D computer animation. Dan Scanlon directs, Kori Rae is producing.

Pixar/Disney has released several international posters as well as a short Mother's Day spot:

Below is a fairly amusing interview by actress Emma Caulfield of Director Dan Scanlon and Producer Kori Rae about "Monsters University":


Here is the Mother's Day spot:




Below are the two official trailers that have been released, and below that a television spot that began airing early in 2013:

2014