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There’s a Traveling Wilbury in PIXAR’s Inside Out, A Movie Review & Analysis

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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When I have a buddy whose first impression of what PIXAR’s Inside Out is about is that of copying the comedy from Herman’s Head, I had the desire to knock some sense into his brain. The analogies are completely different and how can one not love any movie made by this studio? Did he not know that this story was directed by Pete Docter, the same person who created the much-loved Up!? When considering I did not think highly of Monsters University or Cars 2, there might be a reason to not enjoy this film since this studio’s track record has not always surpassed previous products. In between these two films, I found more to love about Brave with its Celtic supernatural themes.

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Celebrating 5 Family Friendly Funny Father’s Day Films

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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Happy Father’s Day to all, and to some, it’s time to sit back and relax. That includes looking at what films are a fun watch for everyone after a long day. My criteria is to consider films that can do for the good of the family, with father (or a father figure) as part of the plot or not. Or in how easy or uneasy it is for dad to manage the family unit.

Finding Nemo (2003) – There is a lot of charm in this father-son tale where Marlin, a clownfish, realizes there has to be a time where he has to learn to let go, and let his little boy grow up. Pops is devoted to what’s left of his family, and how he feels may well be a good life learning lesson for any real life family dealing with heartbreak after the loss of someone near or dear at any stage of that bonding process.

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PIXAR’s Brave New Worlds

Brave is not very suitable to children who can get easily frightened and PG-13 rating is far more appropriate than its current one.

Brave_Poster At the heart of PIXAR’s CGI film, Brave, is a look at the ties that bind and the threads that get broken along the way. This medieval parable can easily be retold within any cultural backdrop and that can make for a universally understood movie.

In this film, the Scottish setting is appropriate. The importance of bringing clans together does get noticed as the tale progresses and some viewers can easily shout, “Braveheart!” along the way. But this movie is hardly original. PIXAR may have taken a few ideas from an older product, namely Disney’s Brother Bear, and redesigned it for a newer generation. The concept of brotherhood is important, but this time the focus is on sisterhood, and the bonds that keeps families together.

This movie has the potential to play up some of Scotland’s mystique, and sadly it does not. Should the producers have gone further, a fanciful look into the mysticism of the Celtic pride and superstition could have made for a satisfying watch. MacBeth and Shakespeare must be feeling ashamed by now. This movie is hardly Arthurian in style either. With this film, the struggle comes from one strong-willed teenage redhead who is not willing to be a Juliet to all the Romeos who are brought to her attention.

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PIXAR’s Toy Story of Terror. Is It Scary Enough?

The new ABC Special, Toy Story of Terror is a fun filled homage to the horror classics by keeping the ideas PG-13.

By Ed Sum (The Vintage Tempest)

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The new ABC Special, Toy Story of Terror is a fun filled homage to the horror classics by keeping the ideas PG-13. There are a few moments that the well-versed fan of horror will pick out, but for the young ones, there’s nothing absolutely scary about it to make one go hiding under the sheets. Well, maybe the screams, but they are well earned. The humour is right on par with PIXAR’s feature film products,

Woody (Tom Hanks), Buzz (Tim Allen), Jessie (Joan Cusack), Rex (Wallace Shawn) and Mr. Potato-head (Don Rickles) all return for a nightmare filled romp. The tale seems to continue from where the third Toy Story left off. But when the build ups are wonderfully marginalized by Mr. Pricklepants (Timothy Dalton), to see his observations come true is just wonderfully hilarious. His understanding of what the horror genre of yesteryear is about is spot on. Writers John Lasseter and Andrew Stanton did a great job at penning this screenplay.

These days, horror does not have to be about visceral terror or in-your-face shocks. Everything done here in Toy Story of Terror is old school—the frights are implied. The question of what true horror is from a toy’s perspective is nicely done. Jessie shows that even she has fears too. Most of it centers deals with how neglected she was back when she was abandoned in Toy Story 2. Her character development defines much of this story’s plot, and if more episodes spotlighting each character are made, the potential for more Toy Story related tales may well be in store in the years to come.

To say too much more about this new product would just spoil the fun that ensues. Hopefully ABC will see to repeating this funhouse filled romp every year. Despite the fact that PIXAR shut down their Vancouver, British Columbia office, which was set to produce more Toy Story shorts, the fate of the franchise seems uncertain. At least the Emeryville headquarters will continue on strong.

The Minions are doing a Mad Shuffle. Movie pushed back.

despicable_me_2_minions-wide Fans of Despicable Me will have to wait one year longer for the Minions to invoke their madness upon the silver screen. Illumination Entertainment and parent company Universal announced today that this film will be released July 10, 2015. It was previously slated for Dec 19, 2014, and the reasons why are undisclosed.

Maybe some breathing room is required? After all, there are hundreds of minions to deal with and the story will have to be restricted to just a sampling of the stand-outs of this genetic crowd for some good stand-up comedy.

At least the minions are not alone in all this shuffling that’s going on. PIXAR’s Good Dinosaur movie also got the one year bump. And fans of animation will just have to wait for a busy 2015 season to get their fix. In the meantime, fans can get their fix on Youtube with a variety of shorts made over the years, like this fun Football one.

Finding a Place to Belong at Monsters University

As a prequel, this film makes for the perfect lead-in to Monsters Inc., but as a standalone product, there’s not much to this film that simply explains how one big eye surrounded by a mound of green flesh and a fluffy blue bear has become bosom buddies.

Monsters_University_poster_3 Expectations were low for some long-time PIXAR fans going in to see Monsters University. In fact, they were smaller than the green imp, Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal). He has these grand ambitions to be a Scare-a-lot even though he is better suited to be Care Bears material. The joke is on him when he finally arrives at the prestigious Monsters University. He is there to learn how to be scary and that is one tall order for the most tamest beast to grace this monster-verse.