Temple Run: Brave Coming Soon!

The pairing up of popular mobile game franchises with the latest animated releases continues. Last year we got Fruit Ninja: Puss in Boots, Angry Birds Rio and Doodle Jump Hop, as well as an original game for Pixar's Cars 2. Today we got news that Pixar are jumping on the bandwagon of pairing their latest release with a popular mobile game: the über popular Temple Run.

The very simplistic game makes the user swipe up to jump, swipe down to slide, and swipe left and right to turn, to avoid obstacles and sharp falls and survive for as long as possible. Temple Run: Brave looks (from the first look above) to expand on that gameplay, with the ability to shoot objects at the side for bonus points. The player controls Merida, the antagonist of Pixar's latest film, and must try and evade the demon bear, Mor'du, for as long as possible.

This looks like a great partnership for both parties, and seems set to be a great app!

Temple Run: Brave will be available on 14th June for iOS and Android devices.

Via Pixar Post and Pixar Tweets.

The Cast and Crew of Brave Visit Edinburgh

The team behind Brave at a press junket for the film in Edinburgh. (Left - Right) Tia Kratter (Shading Art Director), Kevin McKidd (voice of Lord MacGuffin), Kelly Macdonald (voice of Merida), Mark Andrews (director), Katherine Sarafian (producer), and John Lasseter (executive producer).

The cast and crew of Pixar's thirteenth feature film Brave have been over here in the UK for the past couple of days, specifically, in Edinburgh, the capital of the land in which Brave is set, Scotland. Whilst here, the voice cast of the latest film from the studio that brought you Toy Story (as well as posing for some pictures, which you can see on Pixar's Facebook page) spoke  to Scottish newspaper, The Daily Record, about their favourite Disney memories growing up, and how the more recent Pixar films compare to that.

(Left - Right) Robbie Coltrane (Lord Dingwall), John Lasseter (Pixar and Disney Animation Chief Creative Officer), Katherine Sarafian (producer), Mark Andrews (director), Kelly Macdonald (Merida) and Kevin McKidd (Lord MacGuffin) pose in front of the iconic Edinburgh landscape.

Robbie Coltrane (Lord Dingwall) talks of his love of Disney's Dumbo, saying of its ambitious circus scenes “I remember thinking, ‘Someone did that with a pencil’.” While Kelly Macdonald, who lends her voice to Brave's leading lady, Merida, talks about how Pixar is today, what Disney was then, saying “It is more the Pixar films that  [Macdonald's son] Freddie likes, things like Toy Story.”

Kevin McKidd (Lord MacGuffin) also said, of the film:

“It is a love letter to Scotland. It really conjures up the feel of the country – the wind is blowing, the sea is flowing and everything is covered in ferns or moss and always in motion. It is a very textured landscape and you see this in the movie. Everything looks so real and vibrant.”

Also, you've got to admire John Lasseter for going the whole-hog with the Scottish trip, it takes a brave man (pun intended) to wear a kilt in this weather.

Check out the full article at The Daily Record, and the rest of the pictures from the press junket on the official Pixar Facebook page.

Brave is released in cinemas in just over two weeks, on 22nd June, in America, whereas us poor UK fans will have to wait until 13th August.

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The Art of Luke Chueh: Bearing the Unbearable Review

The cover of the book, featuring Bear in Mind - 2006

Today's review marks the third 'Art of' book that I have reviewed in the past week, following on from The Art of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and The Art of Brave, but this is an entirely different kettle of fish to those two books. The former two are books that accompany the latest animated releases of Pixar and DreamWorks, The Art of Luke Chueh: Bearing the Unbearable is a standalone specimen, a compilation of the artwork up until now of Philadelphia born "lowbrow" artist, Luke Chueh. So, obviously this is not animation related, but, as I explained the other day, I feel it is explicitly linked - after all, looking at the gorgeous animation related 'Art of' books, it's evident that the people in employment at Pixar, at DreamWorks, etc., are indeed very talented and capable artists. Also, I feel it's important to challenge yourself, so I wanted to push, slightly, the boundaries of this blog, expanding our outlook somewhat.

So, this won't be a traditional review, I just wanted to offer up some quick thoughts on the book and the artwork it contains.

New Madagascar 3 Clips

DreamWorks have been layering on the promotion for the release of their latest feature film, Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, over the past few weeks, and today I stumbled upon 3 new videos that were released three or so weeks ago.

Firstly, above you'll see one of two new clips from the film, titled "Human Cannonball", or more accurately: Sealion Cannonball, featuring Stefano the Sealion, a new addition to the Madagascar crew, and Marty. The clip (above) is pretty funny, and showcases the luscious, bright animation of the film - that is mixed with the very stylised look of the franchise. We also have another new clip, titled "I'm The Leader" (below), featuring a bit of a conflict between best-friends Alex and Marty - that storyline's starting to feel a bit overused now. The clip then segues into the shot of the zoosters sprawled over a poker table in a Monte Carlo casino that we've seen in previous trailers.

And finally we've got a mini-featurette (below) which gives us some words from the voice cast of the main 4 characters, on this latest instalment in the Madagascar franchise.



Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted is released on 8th June 2012 in the US and 19th October here in the UK.

The Art of Brave Review - A Deep, Rich and Brave Art Book

I have been privileged to get the chance to read some great 'Art of' books over the past week, starting with Insight Editions' The Art of Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, and continuing now with Chronicle Books' The Art of Brave. Pixar's thirteenth feature film, Brave, looks set to be another classic, with great characters, great story, and a fantastic, gorgeous visual style. The Art of Brave reflects this. Always in these 'Art of' books, the artwork on display is fantastic, reflecting the unparalleled amount of work that goes into creating an animated film - regardless of the studio from which the film emanates - and The Art of Brave is just another utterly fantastic example of this.