whoot

Coming out of hiding to talk about this. Not sure if it's because I was spoiled with Inside Out (in my top 2-3 Pixar rankings), or because my expectations for this were sky high - but after the first viewing I'd have to say I did not enjoy this movie, I'd give it a C. And I really wanted to enjoy this. Spoilers obviously, right? I felt some of the key scenes were very derivative of Lion King. Arlo's dad getting squished by a stampede of water was obviously like Mufasa'a death scene. We can argue the differences, but seriously that was the first thing that popped into my head when I saw it. Some scenes dragged on. Some felt random. Pacing just felt off. Like it couldn't decide between being a quirky movie or an epic. I very much would have loved to see Bob Peterson's actual vision. Like, was his whole point of the meteor missing earth simply having the ability to tell a story with a human and a dinosaur together? But really it could have been about a dog and a cat and it would have made no difference story-wise? I feel like Peterson's vision may have been more interesting and I'd rather the movie "failed" with the story he meant to tell. It feels like the disappointment I had with Bolt - solid but somewhat generic, and it definitely wasn't the Chris Sanders vision. i will say, nice try, and at the very least it was an original movie.

I don't know if it's a guy thing, but I liked this so much better than Frozen - which I liked a lot. Amazing movie. My favorite of the Lasseter/Catmull-WDAS era by far.

Maybe the ultimate plan is to turn off all the Pixar fanboys so that when they decide to just get rid of the name and have every movie under the "WDAS" banner, nobody will care about it enough to raise a stink?

Maybe people are finally tired of animated sequels. That's why Frozen kicked DM2's and MU's arses last year. (Wishful thinking for me.)

I've been waiting for Incredibles 2 forever... But something about it coming out this way doesn't make me feel great about it (i.e. Pixar on a free fall creatively, sequels being the norm there at this point... Bah).If Brad Bird isn't involved with Incredibles 2 I am done with this studio.

Not to be a Debbie Downer but that's pretty much how it always works when a director is replaced at Pixar. They announce that the ex-director is still at Pixar working on other projects - then a few months after the movie has been released, the ex-director leaves. Likely due to contractual issues, maybe they don't want them going to another studio while the movie is still in production giving out ideas of what it's about. See: Pinkava, Andrews, Chapman.Peterson is as good as gone. Remember he's already removed the "Been at Pixar since 199?" on his twitter bio.

That's a significant delay. How much are they reworking this? I wonder if the whole meteor missing the earth bit is still even in the setup.

Yeah I wasn't really sure about that whole thing. If that was it, I really hope that wasn't why they got rid of her... Like I said, there's probably more to it. In any case, I wish they'd just let the director finish up, especially if its this close.

From the little comments I've read around all the news articles, blogosphere, etc, sounds like another "director couldn't let go of certain things that the 'other brain trust' folk thought the movie could do without" deal, like Brenda Chapman. Of course, we'll never know for sure what these certain things were. One of the rumors that Chapman didn't want to let go of was setting the whole story in snow. I doubt that was all, but who knows... Still, I often wonder what these movies would turn out to be if they just let the person who originally came up with it just finish the damn thing.

Give it to Sohn. Let Andrews have his own project to work on... And I think, as good as Brave was IMO, that Andrews is no Brad Bird.

New tweets from Bob Petersen after a two month hiatus:@bob__peterson: Been a tough time, but I am good - thankful for family and hilarious friends. On to future projects. Long live TGD. It's gonna be great!@bob__peterson: And what's with John Kahrs stealing my thunder?!! http://t.co/YJZLVsfUgb (Note - John Kahrs is the Paperman director who is reportedly leaving Disney... Is "stealing thunder" about Kahrs taking the headline from Petersen being removed from TGD? Or about Kahrs leaving?)Saying good things about the movie and support from family and friends. Still no Pixar on his twitter bio. Dude is paying lip service like the previous Pixar directors, then will probably move on after the film is released.

Brad Lewis was taken off Cars 2 and he still did promos for the movie - I thought he took the directing demotion the best out of any of the other directors... And STILL he left the studio.I would be shocked if Petersen stayed.

I'm personally really bummed because I was really looking forward to seeing Petersen's first shot in the directors chair. But yeah, none of us know how that really went behind the scenes...Pixar is 0 for 3 in keeping artists taken off the director's chair midway through the movie. I don't see how this will be any different. It's probably pretty stressful and embarrassing having your creation taken away from you after all the hard work you've put into it.Also to be fair to Lasseter - is he spending much time in Emeryville nowadays? Disney animation seems to be humming along really well ever since he came over... As much as I've criticized him in the last few years for Cars 2 and losing Chris Sanders - I have to admit Pixar as a studio ran relatively smoothly when it was under him exclusively. Maybe splitting duties between studios has really hurt the dynamic there.Just a sad turn of events. But it's part of growing pains.

Reading around, apparently bob Petersen hasn't tweeted since June and has removed "Been at Pixar since 1995" from his bio. Welp, there goes another one.

Yeah seriously, that's why this news pisses me off. Petersen is one of their best story guys.

Disney and Weinstein together again?

Maybe my expectations for this were too high, but I came away from it wishing I liked it more. Definitely liked the first one better. I'm not entirely sure what it was. If I had to guess I would say, maybe a tad bit too much of the minions? I think the first movie, we didn't exactly know what to expect from Gru, the minions etc. This time around, recycled bits from the first one didn't give me the same reaction (e.g. Agnes's "cute sequences" seemed much better the first time around, and also the aforementioned minion gags). Such is the downside of comedy sequels I guess?Anyway, I sound negative but it's mostly because I really wanted to like this more. My family and I still enjoyed it for the most part, and my kids loved the minions a lot more than I did.B/B+

More signs of the apocalypse

Starring Johnny Depp as Mowgli

It's official, medium wins.

Not alone.Any Cars story that pretty much left alone the characters from the first movie would have been better than Cars 2.

It's a medium. This isn't even a debate.2 + 2 = 4Animation is a medium.

I do think though that limiting sequels is just as important. What if their releases for the next five years were TS4, TS5, Monsters Retirement Home, The Incredibles 2, and Finding Dory? And lets say they all were certified fresh and people liked them?I would hate it.

Animation is what Disney's legacy is set on, so at least they have that back.But yeah, the live action stuff definitely needs an overhaul.

Can't say I'm surprised TLR is an epic fail.Disney is not doing well on its blockbuster track record. If it wasn't for Pixar and Marvel (and you can argue they're not even "Disney"), they'd be bleeding money.Bring Dick Cook back?