Review: 'Coco' is a Moving Journey into Mexican Culture

The winning team behind Toy Story 3 is back with Coco, more than 7 years after their previous film: Lee Unkrich (director) and Darla K. Anderson (producer) team up again, this time to bring us a story inspired by Mexican culture; one about Día de los Muertos.
Read our spoiler-free review below.

Munir's Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #55: Zootopia (2016)

Previous post: Munir's Disney Retrospective - Animated Classic #54: Big Hero 6 (2014)

After taking a year off, Walt Disney Animation Studios has returned in a major way with what might possibly be the best film from the new era and one of the best films from the canon ever. Zootopia, the 55th animated film from the studio, is an instant classic perfectly balancing humor, heart and timely themes, all set up against one of the studios' most inventive and gorgeous creations of all time.

Michael Giacchino Will Score Disney's 'Zootopia'

Zootopia, Disney's upcoming animated film, had a presentation in Paris on the 5th October. Six scenes were shown to bloggers and journalists, and an interview with Clark Spencer (who produces the film) was set up. Chronique Disney just posted the best bits of the interview, where Clark Spencer reveals that the score will be written by Michael Giacchino.

Brad Bird's 'Tomorrowland' Gets a Poster

Be excited! Brad Bird (The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille) is back in 2015 with a new film, and just that thought is enough to make us happy. But wait, there's more, as Disney revealed a brand new poster for Tomorrowland, starring George Clooney… and a famous Disneyland attraction.

Michael Giacchino to Score Toy Story of Terror

Randy Newman has been the definitive Toy Story composer since the original feature film in 1995, but all of the Toy Story Toons have been scored by others: Mark Mothersbaugh scored Hawaiian Vacation; Henry Jackman, Small Fry; electronic artist BT, Partysaurus Rex; now, Film Music Reporter says, Pixar veteran Michael Giacchino is to score the upcoming Halloween TV special, Toy Story of Terror.

Star Wars Episode VII Composer Confirmed?

Star Wars: Episode VII director, J.J. Abrams.

Has Star Wars 7 got it's composer? Its director seems to think so.

UPDATED: Michael Giacchino Working On An Unspecified Upcoming Pixar Film

Giacchino (right) with Up director Pete Docter (left).

As part of the promotion for next month's Star Trek Into Darkness, composer Michael Giacchino spoke to Swiss blog Owley, to whom he revealed that he is working on another film for Pixar!

This will mark Giacchino's fifth feature film collaboration with the Oscar-laden studio, after previously composing the scores for The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up and Cars 2. Which film exactly, though, wasn't specified, and Giacchino offered up a very nondescript "a Pixar film". We know that Thomas Newman is scoring Bob Peterson's The Good Dinosaur, and can only he assume that he's also returning to score Finding Dory, so it would seem likely that Giacchino is going to be collaborating with Up director Pete Docter again, on his new film, Inside Out - currently due 19th June, 2015. UPDATE - 14/04/2013, 19:24 (GMT): Owley himself commented below that the actual original English quotation was:

"Michael Giacchino: Also, there is a project I cannot tell you about. And, a future Pixar thing. I can't tell you about that either.

Owley: So, is that a project that hasn't been spoken of yet?

MG: Yeah."

That certainly seems to imply that Giacchino's working on an as of yet unmentioned Pixar film (Teddy Newton's feature?), but it could just be a matter of the phrasing, and our money's still on Inside Out.

Giacchino is also scheduled to collaborate with The Incredibles director Brad Bird again, on his second live-action feature, Tomorrowland.

Via Big Screen Animation.

Classic Cartoons #8 - The Karate Guard

Paired up with today's Bitesized Biography, of Hanna-Barbera co-founder, Joseph Barbera, is the last Tom and Jerry short film directed by Barbera, The Karate Guard. Co-directed with Spike Brandt (The Looney Tunes Show) the short is inspired by Japanese film, but giving the usual violent, zany Tom and Jerry take on it. Released in 2005, The Karate Guard was the first Tom and Jerry theatrical short produced in over 45 years, and, as of now, is the last.

Although Barbera did work on the straight-to-DVD film Tom and Jerry: A Nutcracker Tale, The Karate Guard is the spiritual end to his career, ending how Hanna-Barbera started, with Tom and Jerry theatrical cartoons. Funny, charming, lovable and boasting a great score by Pixar favourite, Michael Giacchino, The Karate Guard was a fitting cartoon to bookend the legendary career of Joseph Barbera.

New La Luna Clip

Entertainment Weekly has premiered a new clip (above) from Pixar's Oscar nominated short film, La Luna. The short, which has been making the rounds of festivals in the past few months, is scheduled to premiere worldwide with Pixar's 13th feature film, Brave, this summer.

The clip, which is accompanied on EW's website with an interview with the film's director, Enrico Casarosa, is charming, nostalgic and makes it obvious that La Luna is set to be one of Pixar's finest shorts to date. The musical accompaniment by Pixar favourite Michael Giacchino is also sublime.

For the clip and interview with Enrico Casarosa, head over here.

Via Upcoming Pixar.

Pixar: 25 Magic Moments

Just thought it would be a good idea to share my thoughts on a recent show I watched, Pixar: 25 Magic Moments that showed yesterday on BBC Three. The documentray was brilliant, really fascinating, interesting and funny. Whilst a lot of the clips and interviews (specifically the ones with John Lasseter) were just the ones from The Pixar Story, it featured lots of new information (including an interview with Emily Mortimer - who voices Holley Shiftwell in the upcoming Cars 2), and some great interviews with Pete Docter, Andrew Stanton, Randy Newman, Michael Giacchino and Billy Crystal, among others. I really reccomend watching it, you can check it out on BBC iPlayer for a limited time.

Also as requested by a blog reader, here is the U.K. WALL E Trailer. Enjoy it Tom.
Also, time for yet another poll. The poll, which you will find to the right, is to determine which animated film, or films, you think will make the biggst impact this year, 2011.

Aardman News 2

More Aardman news concerning their upcoming 2011 CGI Christmas film, Arthur Christmas. Set in the ultra high tech North Pole on Christmas Eve, the film stars James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton and Ashley Jensen as hapless and eager son of Santa Arthur, his older and more capable brother Steve, Santa, Grandsanta (the grumpy and cranky father of Santa), Mrs. Santa and lowly elf Bryony respectively.

The film casts many stars who are also in the upcoming Starz Animation film Gnomeo and Juliet, what really caught my attention is that the film is co-composed by the fantastic Michael Giacchino, a staple of Pixar, who is currently compsoing Cars 2.

The film sounds fantastic and you can read the full article here.