Comic-Con: Disney Looks Ahead with the Past

Disney is showing their commitment to progress the film going experience by releasing some of their recent popular films in 3D, as well as taking a page from the past in developing a new fairy tale musical. Also, acclaimed Japanese director Hayao Miyazaki will have his upcoming film, Ponyo, distributed through Disney in America. We were treated to have Disney/Pixar’s John Lassiter moderate the panel which included directors of all the projects. It was one of the most anticipated panels this year, as Pixar always knows how to bring in the crowds with their award-winning films.

Lee Unkrich, director of Toy Story 3, gave the audience an update on the progress of the newest film. Voice work is done and almost half of the animation is complete, so things are looking on schedule so far for their June 18, 2010 release. In addition, we also learned that for this film, Andy (who owns all the toys from the movie) will be leaving for college and no longer playing with his toys, something Woody has already come to accept in the previous film but now we see how the toys feel when their kid is all grown up. With Pixar’s recent tear-jerking plots in Wall-E and Up, there is no doubt this film will also tug at the audiences heart.

One of the greatest fairy tales ever told is coming back to theaters this February. Beauty and the Beast will be re-released in theaters in 3D for an unspecified amount of time Valentine’s Day, 2010. Kirk Wise, director of the film, brought some footage to show the audience how the transition looks. And it looks incredible onscreen. There was a short bit of the ballroom dancing scene, which already is one of the most beautifully crafted set pieces in animation to date. Then, we saw the opening of the film, where Belle is walking through her little town singing. As the last few days have overloaded us with 3D films using live action and CG, it was refreshing to see a hand-drawn animated feature in 3D. Whereas CG typically makes things pop out at the screen continually, 2D has a more of an ability to draw out characters from the background into the foreground without the overwhelming sensation that everything is jumping out of the audience. No doubt more information about Beauty and the Beast will be trickling out as we grow nearer to next February.

Disney wrapped up their second large panel with discussing 3 more projects: Prep and Landing, The Princess and the Frog, and Ponyo. Prep and Landing is a Pixar project that will be a Christmas program on ABC this holiday season, telling the story of the secret elves who sneak into homes right before Santa gets there and gets them ready for the St. Nick. It looks very fun and entertaining, as the elves do theses CIA-style moves and techniques to knock out the dog (with Christmas sleeping gas), make sure the milk is the right temperature and the cookies have no nuts, even rolling out snowman gadgets that light up a runway on the roof for Kris Kringle’s sleigh, like he is landing on an aircraft carrier.

The Princess and the Frog is Disney’s return to 2D animation and musical, with a prince being cursed by a Voodoo man and falling for someone he thinks is a princess, which leads her to be transformed as well. Along their way to find a mysterious women in the bayou they meet a crazy cast of musical animals including a very classic looking crocodile named Louis. Looks very good, I’m glad to see Disney still has that charm and talent when it comes to hand drawn animation.

Lastly, Ponyo is a Japanese film made by Miyazaki that looks much like his other works that include Spirited Away and Howl’s Moving Castle. I was least excited for this film, but it was awesome to see the amount of enthusiasm the audience had for it. When they announced there would be screening of the movie tonight and that Miyazaki would be in attendance, the room nearly cleared out to head for the line for tickets.

As a huge Toy Story fan, it was neat to see how the movies will look in 3D as well as hear news on how the new film will be. Beauty and the Beast will be a big hit in theaters and more information will be following in the announcements made today. Disney knows how to make a great story and make it look good, and this panel showed they have more up their sleeve then simply coming up with heart-warming stories. Look for more information on all these projects to follow up their announcements soon.