Wrecking a theater near you in 2012.
More from D23, which is pretty much like Disney’s own personal Comic-Con, all courtesy of ComingSoon’s extensive coverage of the event.
It wouldn’t be Disney without animation, of course, so the weekend included news about upcoming animated movies that are under the Disney umbrella. That umbrella includes Pixar, which means it is one lucky (or rich) umbrella.
First there’s the movie that’s ready, Pixar’s “The Brave,” not a very inspiring title. Pixar is trumpeting it as its first movie featuring a heroine, but so far the tale of a proud, independent Scottish girl who does not want to get married and settle into the life of a wife is by now pretty familiar–the traditional girl waiting to be rescued by Prince Charming is a tougher sell these days to both girls (because even little girls know there is no Prince Charming) and boys (who don’t want to see a movie centered around a girl singing wistful love songs). Here is a partial summary of the footage shown, featuring Merida, voiced by Kelly McDonald:
The next clip featured King Fergus (Billy Connolly), who has called Merida’s suitors together to compete in a game of her choosing – the winner will receive her hand in marriage.
“[Merida] is reeling against her mother,” Macdonald said backstage, “She doesn’t want a suitor. She’s quite happy and wants to live her life, but her mother is trying to create this perfect princess. It’s a bit of their battle and their reconnection.”
“Merida sees an opportunity here,” [director Mark] Andrews told the audience in reference to the clip, “Do you know what game she picks?”
To which the crowd shouted back, “Archery!”
Unfinished, the scene played with some parts featured only as animatics and others roughly rendered. Most of the parts with Merida in them played beautifully. As the suitors shoot their arrows, Merida and King Fergus laugh about their ineptitude.
First is Macguffin (Kevin McKidd). He timidly shoots his arrow and barely hits the target. Next is the Gene Simmons-esque son of Lord Macintosh, who fares better than Macguffin but misses the bullseye. He angrily tosses his bow into the crowd, where a young girl shouts “I caught it! Yay!” Finally, the aptly named young Dingwall goes next, barely enough brains in him to knock the bow. King Fergus angrily shouts at him to get on with it, and the spooked Dingwall looses the arrow and miraculously gets the bullseye.
Enraged, Merida appears on the field and shouts that she will be competing for her own hand. As she gets a perfect bullseye in the first target, her mother screams at her to stop. Merida ignores her, and goes to the second one. At Dingwall’s, she not only splits the arrow, but her arrow cuts all the way through to the scaffolding of the target. Merida then turns to face her furious mother and the clip ends.
It reminds me a little bit of the Wife of Bath’s tale (not her lengthy autobiography, her actual tale).
Pixar also announced two new movies. The first one, to be directed by Bob Peterson,
asks the question – “What if the cataclysmic asteroid that forever changed life on Earth actually missed the planet completely and giant dinosaurs never became extinct?” Well, for starters, the world would feel a lot more crowded and awkward. The movie is scheduled for November 27, 2013. The other is described as follows:
Pixar takes audiences on incredible journeys into extraordinary worlds: from the darkest depths of the ocean to the top of the tepui mountains in South America; from the fictional metropolis of Monstropolis to a futuristic fantasy of outer space. From director Pete Docter (‘Up,’ ‘Monsters, Inc.’) and producer Jonas Rivera (‘Up’), the inventive new film will take you to a place that everyone knows, but no one has ever seen: the world inside the human mind.” It’s coming May 30, 2014.
Ahh, the magic of the human mind. Maybe a little “Fantastic Voyage” here.
And finally, we have something from Disney’s own banner–the long-awaited “Wreck-It Ralph,” starring the voice of John C. Reilly as a video game villain trying to find his place in the world. Here is the description of the footage:
The story begins as an 8-bit style video game intro with the titular Ralph (played by John C. Reilly), explaining that he’s the villain for the Donkey Kong-esque game “Fix-It Felix Jr.” Ralph is over nine feet tall, weighs over six hundred pounds and “can’t walk down the street without causing major structural damage to a building.” Ralph explains that while he’s the “bad guy” of the game, he doesn’t perform his job with any malice. In fact, he’s a pretty good guy at heart. He just so happens to sleep in a garbage dump with crushed bricks as his mattress and a tree stump as his pillow.
The other denizens of his video game shun him, though, and this makes him feel incredibly lonely. He attends a regular Bad Guys Anonymous group, lead by one of the ghosts from Pac-Man, where he and other villains talk about their feelings about their roles in their games. References to games were snuck in everywhere in this bit. Aside from the Pac-Man ghost, you could spot an analogue for BioShock’s Big Daddy, Coiley from Q*bert, and even Mortal Kombat’s Kano (who rips out someone’s heart to help prove a point). To help Ralph feel better about his lot in life, an axe-wielding zombie dispenses advice about accepting himself for who he is. The meeting wraps up with the recitation of a credo about how even though they are bad guys they are not bad guys, and that “there’s no one I’d rather be than me!” This does not seem to make Ralph feel better.
Misunderstood bad guys have been a trend. Thank you again to ComingSoon for all their D23 coverage. Go see their photo gallery from the events here.
