Pixar Short Films: Volume 2 Due in November

La Luna director Enrico Casarosa hinted at it a few weeks back in an interview with this blog, but now we have confirmation and a release date for the Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 2. Enrico, whose directorial debut, La Luna, will be featured on the collection, said we could expect an announcement on the collection soon, and the above image - a German flyer - states a November 2012 release date for the DVD and Blu Ray release.

The first collection featured all the shorts from 1984's The Adventures of André and Wally B. up until 2006's Lifted, this collection presumably picks up where that left off, with 2008's Presto. We can also see from the front cover that Day & Night, Dug's Special Mission, the Toy Story Toon, Hawaiian Vacation, and Partly Cloudy will be featured on the set. Enrico told us that La Luna's going to be on there, and it's fairly safe to assume that BURN-E, the Cars Toon, Air Mater, and the Toy Story Toon, Short Fry, (after failing to appear on The Muppets' home video release) will all be on here too.

Look also for behind the scenes features on the shorts, as Enrico said that "[the commentary track for La Luna is]supposed to be on the DVD of the shorts, you know, there’s a new shorts [DVD], and that’ll be available soon.". Well, we now know when soon is, so expect other special features for the other shorts also.

Via Pixar Talk, who link the story back to us.

The Muppets Review - The Most Sensational, Inspirational, Celebrational, Muppetational Return Possible

For those of you in the States, this is a very belated review, but, as we long ago came to terms with, Disney clearly hates all of us here in Europe, and we often have a ridiculously large delay between the US release and the UK (or European) release of Disney, or Disney owned, films - last year we had to wait until January for Tangled which came out in November in the US, The Muppets is our 2012 equivalent. Fortunately though, much like Tangled was, The Muppets was definitely worth the wait.

New Small Fry Images and Interview With Director

Following on from the release of the first clip and look at Pixar's next voyage into the world of Toy Story, the Toy Story Toon, Small Fry, we get a couple more images courtesy of IGN. With The Muppets now hitting theatres in the US (although those of us in the UK will unfortunately have to wait until February 2012), audiences who go to see it will be treated to the 7 minute short, that sees Buzz left behind at a fast-food restaurant and the gang inadvertently taking home a happy-meal-like toy instead.

The images give us a sneak peak at the scaled down, toy characters and how they'll slot into the Angus Maclane directed short. Speaking of MacLane, IGN also managed to catch a few words from the Pixar veteran on the short, its voice cast (including Glee's Jane Lynch and Pixarian Teddy Newton) and its genesis, which is definitely worth a read.

Via The Pixar Times.

Short Fry Clip

With the release of Disney's The Muppets edging ever closer, after recently premiering, (although it, annoyingly, doesn't open until February over here in the UK), Disney and Pixar are looking to promote the Toy Story Toon that goes along with it.

Short Fry, the follow up to the Toy Story Toon, Hawaiian Vacation, (which showed with Cars 2) will be opening soon and, following on from some images and words from the short's director a few days ago, we now get a thirty-odd second clip. The short looks very funny and very good, as is to be expected from Toy Story and from Pixar; we also get our first proper look at Glee's Jane Lynch's character.

First Look at the Next Toy Story Toon

Disney's The Muppets, opening in cinemas very soon, is set to be preceded by the latest continuation of the Toy Story franchise, the Toy Story Toon, Short Fry. As such, Disney and Pixar have released a couple of images from the short film, giving us a flavour of its story, to promote Pixar Canada's first Toy Story short.

USA Today gives us one image (above), and Stitch Kingdom provides us with another (below). The plot of the short is a retelling of The Prince and the Pauper, when Buzz is accidentally swapped for his Happy Meal toy equivalent. The images also provide us with our first look at the pint-sized Buzz (voiced by Day & Night director, Teddy Newton, who also voiced Chatter Telephone in Toy Story 3) and Glee's Jane Lynch's character (the mermaid with her back to us below).

USA Today also has an interview with the short's director, Angus MacLane, who says, of the abandoned toys: "These toys' existence is about being really popular before the meal and then being totally forgotten about,".

MacLane also adds, of Buzz being Juxtaposed into the support group for these toys, that "There's something funny about having the action hero have to deal with something very mundane like escaping from an awkward social situation,". He also passes some comments on the short's voice cast and message.

Head on over there to read the whole interview. Thanks to The Pixar Times for the news.