Munir's Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #44: Brother Bear (2003)

Last Week's: Munir's Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #43: Treasure Planet (2002)

After departing from the Broadway formula for most of the new decade and striving for a darker approach, and yielding few effective results, the Disney Studio returned to a more 90s formula with Brother Bear. Bearing a striking resemblance to Tarzan in its music style, Brother Bear is not a perfect film, but remains one of the better films of this (mostly) lacklustre era. The main problem with the film is that it doesn't quite know what it wants to achieve, with many serious and powerful moments being hindered by poorly executed humour.

Frozen's Out Now in the US: What Did You Think?

After months of hype and waiting, Walt Disney Animation Studios' 53rd animated feature film finally hit North American cinemas yesterday! We really liked the film, our friends at Rotoscopers really liked the film, most of Rotten Tomatoes really liked the film; so now we want to know, did you? If you've seen Frozen, what did you think of it? Is it as good as the hype suggests? Or not? Let us know below! If you've not seen the film, beware of probable spoilers in the comments section.

Watch: New Handmade Teaser for The BoxTrolls

Laika are making a name for themselves as a really brave, boundary-pushing, outside-the-norm animation studio. With two acclaimed films - Coraline and ParaNorman - under their belt, and a desire to tell personal, spooky stories, in an animation medium that has proven less than popular at the box-office. Yet that's exactly what they're pushing in the new teaser for their next film, The BoxTrolls.

Watch: New Full Trailer for Mr. Peabody & Sherman Pays Homage to Doctor Who

Doctor Who's 50th Anniversary special aired tonight (it was bloody marvellous, wasn't it?), and DreamWorks have capitalised on the longest running sci-fi series' immense popularity to front the first full trailer for their upcoming time-travel flick, Mr. Peabody & Sherman! Check it out below.

Pixar Begin Layoffs In Wake of The Good Dinosaur Delay

Credit: Stitch Kingdom

After the announced 18 month delay of erstwhile first-time director Bob Peterson's The Good Dinosaur, Pixar have announced an undisclosed amount of their 1200-strong workforce has been laid off, to accommodate the schedule reshuffle. The layoffs affect less than 5% of the staff, says an L.A. Times source.

Awesome New Poster for How to Train Your Dragon 2

20th Century Fox have released an intense new poster for DreamWorks' hotly anticipated sequel, How to Train Your Dragon 2! Hiccup's looking badass, Toothless's looking imposing, and the film's looking incredibly exciting.

Watch: Tom Hanks Talks About Being Walt Disney for Saving Mr. Banks

Mary Poppins is inarguably one of Walt Disney's crowning achievements - up there with Steamboat Willie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and Disneyland. Saving Mr. Banks tells the story of that story, and how Walt Disney acquired the rights to author P.L. Travers's original book. Emma Thompson plays Travers, and Tom Hanks is the first person to play Walt Disney; Hanks talked about the pressure and importance of taking on such a high profile role in a new featurette for the film, below.

Photos: Frozen Premiere Ices Over Hollywood

Disney's 53rd animated feature film is well and truly upon us, and hype for Frozen is reaching crescendo levels. With less than a week to go until its theatrical release, Disney held a massive white carpet event world premiere for Frozen this past Tuesday. Check out photos of the filmmakers and cast at the event here!

New Trailer(s) for Muppets Most Wanted! It's Not Easy Being Mean...

We're all getting rather excited for the sequel to 2011's musical hit The Muppets here at A113 Animation. To keep up the excitement, we have a brand new trailer two brand new trailers for Muppets Most Wanted!

Diane Disney Miller, Daughter of Walt Disney, Passes Away at 79

Diane Disney Miller, daughter of Walt Disney, has sadly passed away. The last living child of Walt, Diane devoted her life to preserving and sharing personal artefacts from her father's rich history, as well as her philanthropy. She sadly died yesterday, at age 79, following complications from a fall in September.

Watch: Brand New Clip from Disney's Get a Horse!

Disney animation legend Eric Goldberg, who served as hand-drawn animation supervisor for Get a
 Horse!

85 years ago today, Mickey Mouse first appeared on our screens in the now classic Steamboat Willie (watch the short in our recap for Disney 90th anniversary here). To commemorate this milestone, Disney have released a brand new clip from Get a Horse!, the vintage-styled Mickey short that precedes Frozen in cinemas.

Packed New Poster for The Lego Movie

Warner Bros.' re-emergence on the animation scene is next year's The Lego Movie, directed by Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and 21 Jump Street's Phil Lord and Chris Miller, and today we got an action-packed new poster for it!

Frozen Review - Believe the Hype

Not that you would have believed it six months ago, when you couldn't find any decent advertising for the film to save your life, but there is a considerable amount of hype surrounding Frozen right now. The 53rd animated feature from Walt Disney Animation Studios has been called "Disney's best since Beauty and the Beast;” particularly coming off massive successes with Tangled and Wreck-It Ralph - in addition to critically acclaimed, if less financially impressive, films like The Princess and the Frog and Winnie the Pooh - there's a lot of expectation. Surely it can't be that good? Surely it's not all that? It can. And it is. I was extremely privileged to see the first UK screening of the film this morning, and can now tell you, with full confidence, to believe the hype. Frozen is the best Disney Animated film in about 20 years.

Watch: Extended Trailer for The Tale of Princess Kaguya

Though we have yet to hear about any other release dates for The Tale of Princess Kaguya, we will soon find out how Japanese audiences will react to Studio Ghibli's latest release, directed by Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies); it hits Japanese theatres next week, on 23rd November.

Charming New Poster for The Wind Rises

Today is the last day to catch The Wind Rises in select theatres if you live near LA or New York City. If you happened to miss the screenings, couldn't scrape enough money to fly out, or just had to do laundry, no worries! There will be another American limited release starting 21st February, 2014 before it is released wide on 28th February, although those release dates come with the American dub.

In the meantime, enjoy the new English poster for the film, or read about the sudden controversy it's received from American critics (mostly the MPAA, really), and read up on my review of the film, which I had the opportunity to watch at the New York Film Festival.

Via /Film

Pixar Co-Founder Ed Catmull Writing Book About the Studio's History

Ed Catmull, as well as being an accomplished computer scientist and computer graphics pioneer, is also a very successful businessman. That's going to be the focus of his new book, Creativity, Inc.: Overcoming the Unseen Forces that Stand in the Way of True Inspiration, which will be published by Random House on 8th April, 2014. So says The Hollywood Reporter.

Watch: First Trailer for Disney's Maleficent

Following on from the teaser poster we got yesterday, the first trailer for Disney's live adaptation of Sleeping Beauty, Maleficent, has been released. Watch the trailer below!

First Poster for Disney's Maleficent!

The first poster for Disney's live-action Sleeping Beauty adaptation, Maleficent, has surfaced, showing a particularly horned and evil-looking Angelina Jolie. With it, we hear that the first teaser trailer will appear online at some point tomorrow, which will hopefully show us how dark the fairytale adaptation will be.

Watch: Olaf Sings in New Frozen Clip

Disney continue their recent Frozen marketing blitz with a brand-spanking new clip from the film, featuring Olaf (voice of Josh Gad) singing a fun new song, called "In Summer!" Contrary to the impression early over-saturation gave us of him, Olaf actually seems immensely loveable, and this cute, barmy song certainly helps only makes one's affection for the little snowy fella grow.

Munir’s Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #43: Treasure Planet (2002)

Last Week’s: Munir’s Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #42: Lilo & Stitch (2002).

2002 arrived with a ray of hope for Disney Animation. Lilo & Stitch was released in the summer to great acclaim and box office success, something the studio hadn't achieved since the beginning of the decade, and the second film to be released that year looked to be a promising endeavour. After all, Treasure Planet was directed by two of the top people at the studio, John Musker and Ron Clements, who practically launched the Disney Renaissance a decade earlier with beloved films like The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. Also, Treasure Planet was a dream project for the directors, something they'd been wanting to do for a long time. Finally they were granted the chance to adapt Robert Louis Stevenson’s beloved novel, Treasure Island, but in a sci-fi setting. Unfortunately, when the film arrived in the Fall of 2002, it bombed at the box office and now remains one of the most obscure films from the canon.

Star Wars: Episode VII Gets Release Date

With open auditions starting this weekend, Disney have finally announced the release date for Star Wars: Episode VII, ending months of speculation. It will be a Star Wars Christmas, because it's due to open on 18th December, 2015.

Watch: Charming New John Lewis Ad, The Bear & the Hare

John Lewis always have great Christmas adverts. This year's one - as well as being part of a £7 million advertising blitz campaign (including "television, social media, soft toys, in-store events and even a mini manmade forest on the banks of the Thames" - via The Guardian) - is a great little animated piece, with a little bit of Disney in it.

The Wind Rises's Upcoming U.S. Release Stirs Up More Controversy

The Wind Rises will be opening in LA and New York City this weekend from the 8th through the 14th of November for an Oscar qualifying run. Though my review of the film, along with others, from the New York Film Festival, was incredibly positive, there's been some apprehension popping up regarding its US release.

Frozen, The Wind Rises, Monsters U and 16 More Submitted for Oscar Consideration

AMPAS have announced the 19 animated film that are in contention for a nomination for Best Animated Feature at the upcoming 86th Academy Awards. Among the contenders are the likely big-name frontrunners: Disney's upcoming Frozen, Miyazaki's final film, The Wind Rises, and Pixar's latest, Monsters University; there are also smaller scale films, like French animated pic, Ernest & Celestine (which won the Best Animated Film gong at the César Awards, the French equivalent to the Oscars, back in February). Check out the full list of films submitted for consideration below, complete with their Rotten Tomatoes score (current at the time of writing), where there is one.

The Wrap Calls Frozen "Disney’s Best Animated Musical Since Beauty and the Beast"

We're under a month away from the release of Disney's 53rd animated feature, and the glowing reviews are already coming in. We've seen it called the "Greatest Disney Animated Event Since The Lion King," and a new review from The Wrap calls it the best since Beauty and the Beast! "Proactive princesses and catchy tunes make for a winning combo in this updating of Hans Christian Andersen’s “Snow Queen”," says the review.

The Wrap's Alonso Duralde praises the film on pretty much every level, from music, to story, to the film's message. Check out highlights from the review below - but if you're reading the full one, beware of spoilers:

Munir’s Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #42: Lilo & Stitch (2002)

Last Week’s: Munir’s Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #41: Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001).

When Lilo & Stitch came out in 2002, I was in a phase where I no longer cared for Disney Animation films. After Tarzan, my excitement and interest for Disney films was gone, and replaced by enthusiasm for Pixar's output, which was (and still is) formidable. So, while I was disenchanted by films like Atlantis and Dinosaur, I was utterly thrilled by Toy Story 2 and Monsters, Inc. By the time Lilo & Stitch was released, I was completely devoted to Pixar, so I wasn't excited by this film. When I first saw it, more than ten years ago, I wasn't impressed and quickly discarded it like I did with so many of its contemporaries. As I got older and wiser (hopefully), I've come to realise how good Lilo & Stitch is and how it has stood the test of time to become a true Disney classic.