This Week on A113Animation (9th - 15th September, 2013)

This week we got yet more clips and promos from upcoming, exciting projects like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.; we got exciting cast and crew details about upcoming films; we got some cool stuff from Disney's Frozen; and we got an absolutely marvellous new short film from those talented guys and gals at Moonbot! Add onto that a special instalment of Damien's Futurama column, Munir's weekly Disney Retrospective, and William's review of the new Little Mermaid Blu-ray, and there's a lot of good stuff to catch up on this week on A113Animation. Oh, and we've slightly updated our logo! Now with minions!

News

Scaly new HTTYD2 logo: There's not an awful lot to say about this one... DreamWorks rolled out a pretty cool (or rather, hot. Y'know, because dragons?) new logo for their upcoming, and majorly anticipated, sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2! Directed by Dean DeBlois, the film scorches its way into theatres on 13th June, 2014 in the US, and 4th July, 2014 in the UK. Check out the logo in full here.

Miyazaki speaks about his retirement: We recently reported the sad news that legendary Japanese animation director Hayao Miyazaki, of Studio Ghibli fame, has decided to hang up his cape, after many long years of brilliant filmmaking. His latest, and final, film, The Wind Rises, is getting great reviews (as we're accustomed to), and the man himself spoke about his decision to step back here. Mayra's currently writing a farewell letter to Miyazaki, so watch for that in the near future.

New strawberry-flavoured clip from Cloudy 2: Another week, another great new clip from Sony Pictures Animation's Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2. This week, we got a very well put together little clip which introduces us, with much fun, to one of the sequel's new characters, Barry the Berry. The film, which will be SPA's seventh in-house feature, arrives in cinemas with a storm of food puns on 27th September (US)/25th October (UK). Check out the new clip here.

Rio director might move to live-action: Brad Bird, Andrew Stanton, Rob Minkoff, Sylvain Chomet... Animation directors are switching over to live-action left, right and centre! The latest might apparently be Carlos Saldanha, director of Blue Sky's Rio and the upcoming Rio 2. Saldanha is said to be in talks to direct the E.T.-like Rust. For all the details we have on that, and speculation about what this might mean for Saldanha's other upcoming Blue Sky film Ferdinand, head over here.

Channel 4 promo for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: We UK Marvel and Whedon fans got the great news recently that the Avengers spin-off series, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., will air in the UK only three days after its US premiere, and this week Channel 4, who will show the series over here, released a cool new promo for it. Sharp Whedon dialogue, bad-ass editing and more, check out that great TV spot here.

Stunning new short film from studio behind Morris Lessmore: Back in 2011, Moonbot Studios wowed audiences with the tender, beautiful, wonderfully nostalgic - and eventually Oscar-winning - The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore. Now, in association with Chipotle Mexican Grill, the studio are back with another brilliant short film, The Scarecrow. I'll be chatting to the short's directors, Brandon Oldenburg and Limbert Fabian, this coming week, and you'll be able to listen to that in our upcoming Disney Renaissance podcast. Watch the fantastic, best-of-the-year-so-far short film, here.

Colin Firth to voice Paddington Bear in StudioCanal/Weinstein's Paddington: Garfield, Scooby-Doo, The Smurfs, Yogi Bear. What do they all have in common? They're all wonderful cartoon characters with frankly rather dreadful live-action/CG film adaptations. So we're a little cautious, then, about this newly announced adaptation of Paddington Bear, coming from StudioCanal, and starring Colin Firth (in voice and facial animation, that is), Nicole Kidman and Hugh Bonneville. Check out all the details on Paddington, the cast, crew and more, here.

Frozen opening song and Olaf posters: Frozen's been a slow burner (ironic, yes), advertising-wise, with the most exciting, interesting stuff coming via online leaks, while Disney's advertising has focused on only the comic side of things. And this week is no different. While we got four posters focusing on the somewhat overexposed Olaf (voice of Josh Gad), we also got a leak of the song that's apparently going to open Disney's 53rd animated film. Check all that out here!

Features

Futurama, A Top Ten: Last week, Futurama wrapped up its (probably) final season, and Damien wrapped up his farewell column, Futurama, A Swan Song. As a (probably) final goodbye to the show, Damien this week made a list of his ten favourite episodes from the show's numerous runs, along with honourable mentions (making it kinda a top twenty one episodes...). I give my top ten in the comments section, but, more importantly, check out Damien's here.

Disney Retrospective, Hercules: Munir's Disney Retrospective ticked over to number 35 this week, with a review of one of Disney's "more lightweight and colourful" films, 1997's Hercules. Munir's a fan of the film, from its frequent laughs, to its fun characters and its gospel-toned music. "Hercules may not be Clements and Musker's best film," he says, "but it is nonetheless a great addition to their excellent filmography, and to the Disney canon ." Check out his full review of the film here.

Reviews

The Little Mermaid Blu-ray review: Under the Sea looks great in HD, take it from me! Disney's 1989 classic, the Broadway-inspired, fairytale-reinventing, animated treasure, had been in that dreaded Disney Vault for far too long. And now it's out. The Little Mermaid is now out on Blu-ray for the first time, in a great Diamond Edition set, packed with great new bonus features, which is coming to the US next month. And our review's up now. The set has "one of the greatest Disney animated films of all time, in its best quality, looking beautiful, sounding fantastic, and with the same great story that fans have kept wanting to revisit for 24 years." Check all that out here!