Tangled

Walt Disney Pictures presents TANGLED, one of the most hilarious, hair-raising tales ever told. When the kingdom’s most wanted – and most charming – bandit Flynn Rider (voice of ZACHARY LEVI) hides out in a mysterious tower, he has taken hostage by Rapunzel (voice of MANDY MOORE), a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with 70 feet of magical,golden hair.

Flynn’s curious captor, who’s looking for her ticket out of the tower where she’s been locked away for years, strikes a deal with the handsome thief and the unlikely duo sets off on an action-packed escapade, complete with a super-cop horse, an over-protective chameleon and a gruff gang of pub thugs. In theaters this holiday season in Disney Digital 3-D, TANGLED is a story of adventure, heart, humor and hair – lots of hair.

Opens November 24th.

Official Site

Shrek Forever After

After challenging an evil dragon, rescuing a beautiful princess and saving your in-laws’ kingdom, what’s an ogre to do? Well, if you’re Shrek, you suddenly wind up a domesticated family man. Instead of scaring villagers away like he used to, a reluctant Shrek agrees to autograph pitchforks. What happened to this ogre’s roar? Longing for the days when he felt like a “real ogre,”  Shrek is duped into signing a pact with the smooth-talking dealmaker, Rumpelstiltskin. Shrek finds himself in a twisted, alternative version of Far Far Away, where ogres are hunted, Rumpelstiltskin is king and Shrek and Finon have never met. Now, it’s up to Shrek to undo all he’s done in hopes of saving his friends, restoring his world and reclaiming his one True Love.

Opens May 21st.

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How To Train Your Dragon

From the studio that brought you “Shrek,” “Madagascar” and “Kung Fu Panda” comes “How to Train Your Dragon.” Set in the mythical world of burly Vikings and wild dragons, and based on the book by Cressida Cowell, the action comedy tells the story of Hiccup, a Viking teenager who doesn’t exactly fit in with his tribe’s longstanding tradition of heroic dragon slayers. Hiccup’s world is turned upside down when he encounters a dragon that challenges he and his fellow Vikings to see the world from an entirely different point of view.

Opens March 26th.

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Review – The Princess and the Frog

“Three cheers for the return of Disney 2-D animation!” That has been the mantra running through my head since watching The Princess and the Frog. What a pleasure and delight this film is. It has great characters, art direction, songs, and a story that appeals to both young and old alike, as the best animated films always do. This is Disney’s return to the animated musical, to hand-drawn animation, to the fairy tale, and to a princess-centered story. And it is highly recommended.

For those of you who know the Grimm Brothers’ story of “The Frog Prince,” you may be pleasantly surprised at how the filmmakers have taken the story, altered and expanded it. Now taking place in New Orleans during the jazz age, the film begins as the heroine, Tiana (voiced by Anika Noni Rose, of Dreamgirls fame), is a poor young girl. We learn of her love of cooking and her dream to one day run her own restaurant. The film quickly advances to Tiana as a young woman, where we find her working two jobs just to save enough money for a down-payment on a vacant building she plans to renovate and turn into her dream restaurant.

Now, as I am the type of person who doesn’t like to know too much of a story before I see it, I will refrain from detailing too much of the plot. Although anyone who’s seen the trailer should know that it involves a prince (Bruno Campos) who turns into a frog, who then accidentally turns Tiana into a frog. The remainder of the film is the crazy adventure they go on to find a way to become human again. Along the way they will meet a trumpet playing alligator named Louis (Michael-Leon Wooley), a hysterically funny Creole lightning bug named Ray (Jim Cummings), and a bayou voodoo priestess named Mama Odie (Jenifer Lewis). There is also a villain, the evil Dr. Facilier (Keith David), a fortune teller and practician of the dark arts.

The film was directed by Ron Clements and John Musker, who were both responsible for the Disney films Aladdin, Hercules and The Little Mermaid which are all classic films of the Disney cannon. It has a musical score by Randy Newman, in his first non-Pixar animated film. While I am not a fan of Randy Newman’s work, I will admit that his score and his songs are very appropriate to the time period of the film and, in fact, are quite entertaining. There are seven new songs in the film. (Nine, if you count the fact that one song has 3 different versions.) All of the major characters get a song to sing and all of the songs are of the New Orleans jazz variety. Plus, there’s a new contemporary radio track by Ne-Yo that plays over the end credits. My favorite song was “When We’re Human,” a scene in the film which had a distinct The Jungle Book feeling to me. As well as “Ma Belle Evangeline,” which reminded me a bit of the “Kiss the Girl” scene from The Little Mermaid.

Overall, there really isn’t much to criticize about this film. I enjoyed it immensely and will definitely be adding it to my library once it hits home video. I think it’s safe to say that if you enjoyed Disney’s previous films of this type, you will like this one too.

NOTE: If you live in the Los Angeles or New York areas, there is the option of seeing the film along with “The Ultimate Disney Experience,” which consists of a Disney princess meet-and-greet, Bayou Adventure playground, etc. Details can be found here.  Unfortunately, for the screening I attended, the only “Ultimate Experience” attraction that was up & running was the display of props and costumes from the Disney archives, which consisted of many items from the Pirates of the Caribbean films, as well as Up, Race to Witch Mountain and more. Also, for those of you who are iPhone users, Disney has released a free iPhone game called Bayou Beats, which can be found here.

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Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

From the Official Site: Columbia Pictures’ and Sony Pictures Animation’s Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs will be the most delicious event since macaroni met cheese. Inspired by the beloved children’s book, the film focuses on a town where food falls from the sky like rain.

Opens September 18th.

Official Site

9

From the official site: An action-packed adventure, director Shane Acker’s animated fantasy epic 9 is the feature-length expansion of his Academy Award-nominated 2004 short film of the same name. The screenplay for the feature is by Pamela Pettler (Monster House); directors Tim Burton (Beetlejuice) and Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted) are among the feature version’s producers.

The time is the too-near future. Powered and enabled by the invention known as the Great Machine, the world’s machines have turned on mankind and sparked social unrest, decimating the human population before being largely shut down.

But as our world fell to pieces, a mission began to salvage the legacy of civilization; a group of small creations was given the spark of life by a scientist in the final days of humanity, and they continue to exist post-apocalypse. Another of their own, #9 (voiced by Elijah Wood), emerges and displays leadership qualities that may help them survive and possibly even thrive. The conflicted but resilient tribe already includes #1 (Christopher Plummer), a domineering war veteran and the group’s longtime leader; #2 (Martin Landau), a kindly but now-frail inventor; #3 and #4, scholarly twins who communicate nonverbally and mostly with each other; #5 (John C. Reilly), a stalwart and nurturing engineer; #6 (Crispin Glover), an erratic artist beset by visions; #7 (Jennifer Connelly), a brave and self-sufficient warrior; and #8 (Fred Tatasciore), the none-too-bright muscle and enforcer for #1.

With their group so few, these “stitchpunk” creations must summon individual strengths well beyond their own proportions in order to outwit and fight against still-functioning machines, one of which is a marauding mechanized beast. In the darkness just before the dawn, #9 rallies everyone of his number to band together.

While showcasing a stunning “steampunk”-styled visual brilliance, 9 dynamically explores the will to live, the power of community, and how one soul can change the world.

A Focus Features presentation in association with Relativity Media of a Jim Lemley/Tim Burton/Timur Bekmambetov production. 9. Elijah Wood, John C. Reilly, Jennifer Connelly, Christopher Plummer, Crispin Glover, Martin Landau, Fred Tatasciore. Casting by Mindy Marin, C.S.A. Themes by Danny Elfman. Score by Deborah Lurie. Edited by Nick Kenway. Associate Producers, Graham Moloy, Lilian Eche, Pierre Urbain. Animation Produced at Starz Animation, Toronto. Co-Producer, Jinko Gotoh. Co-Producer, Marci Levine. Produced by Jim Lemley, Tim Burton, Timur Bekmambetov, Dana Ginsburg. Story by Shane Acker. Screenplay by Pamela Pettler. Directed by Shane Acker. A Focus Features Release.

Opens September 9th.

Official Site

9 Experiment

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