Disney/Pixar has released a third (and possible final?) trailer for Brave. This trailer focuses on the family element of the story, and uses Pixar’s past films (Toy Story 3, Up!, Wall-E) to really sell the movie in the hope the same audiences will be up for some adventures in the Scottish Highlands with a redhead.

Watch below:

Here’s the synopsis:

Brave is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Merida is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

Brave will be released June 22, 2012 and is directed by Mark Andrews.

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A new two minute+ clip from Disney/Pixar’s Brave has been released online. It shows Princess Merida (the first female protagonist in a Pixar film) breaking the rules and taking part in an archery tournament.

Watch below:

Here’s the synopsis:

Brave is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Merida is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

Brave will be released June 22, 2012 and is directed by Mark Andrews.

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The Academy has released the names of the 10 short animated films still under consideration for nominations. The list was shortened from the 45 films released earlier this year, and between three to five films from this current list of ten will be nominated.

You can preview the 10 shorts over at Rope of Silicon who have done a great job compiling all the films, which include Pixar’s La Luna and Warner Bros’ Sylvester and Tweety Pie short I Tawt I Taw a Puddy Tat.

The Oscar nominations will be announced on January 24th, 2012.

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The teaser for Disney/Pixar’s Brave was unveiled in June and gave us a quick glimpse at the movie, which is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands and features the first female protagonist in a Pixar film.

Now the second trailer for Brave has appeared online, showing off some stunning animation and delving deeper into the story.

Watch below:

Here’s the synopsis:

Brave is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Merida is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

Brave will be released June 22, 2012 and is directed by Mark Andrews.

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Yesterday at the D23 Expo in California Disney/Pixar announced they were making two new films, and the good news is that they aren’t sequels, and one involves dinosaurs.

The dinosaur movie, set for release on November 27, 2013, will be directed by Bob Peterson (Up! co-director) and 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?” I’m sold already.

The second movie, set for release on May 30, 2014, will be directed by Pete Docter (Monsters Inc., Up!) and “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. 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.”

These sound like great additions to the Pixar slate and a return to form after whoring themselves out for Cars 2 merchandise. We’re already getting a new movie in June 2012 called Brave, which is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands and will feature the first female protagonist in a Pixar film. The company is also working on Monsters Inc. prequel Monsters University for 2013, which follows the origins of Mike and Sully’s relationship all the way back to their time at the University of Fear.

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Following the release of the first poster last week Pixar have debuted the teaser trailer for Brave. The movie is Pixar’s next original project and will feature the first female protagonist in a Pixar film, and the voice cast for the movie mostly consists of soon-to-be Harry Potter alumni.

Watch the teaser below:

It looks quite stunning, and should regain some confidence in Pixar following the poor reviews for Cars 2 over the weekend.

Here’s the synopsis:

Brave is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Merida is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

Brave will be released June 22, 2012 and is directed by Mark Andrews.

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While appearing on BBC Breakfast in the UK promoting Larry Crowe Tom Hanks revealed that work has begun on a Toy Story 4. You can view the video here, and Hanks makes his revelation around the 2:40 mark.

When asked if there will be a Toy Story 4 for his new granddaughter to see Hanks says, “Yeah…yeah, I think they’re working on it now”.

Toy Story 3 couldn’t have been a more perfect ending to the trilogy, but with it making over $1 billion worldwide at the box office Pixar and Disney have a very big incentive to continue on with the franchise. Do you want to see Toy Story 4?

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The setting: It’s late February 2012, wait, scratch that…it’s January 2012, and the Oscar nominees are being rattled off; some A-list celebrity is about to read the candidates for Best Animated Film, and wouldn’t you know it, a Pixar film is noticeably missing…

That’s because Cars 2 sputtered at just about every turn.  If you’re looking for what makes Pixar the perennial dominating product in this genre, this 113 minute flick is a very average sample size.  And don’t pull the “it’s for the kids” on me this time people; for the only element these said kiddies will laugh at are the funny accents two of the talking cars deliver.  Even the animation just seems like its on cruise control half the time.  Can you be cited for being under the influence while making a movie about automobiles?  Cause the directors should be for their often times out-of-control execution in this sucker.

Now labeling something very average doesn’t mean it’s dreadful.  And though this review could easily use an infinite number of car metaphors and puns to illustrate why this flick ran like a 4-cylinder as opposed to the V8 audiences have come to expect from this heralded studio, we’re going to try not to go there too often.  Just like the studio should have not gone the sequel route here.

Our refurbished tale sees the sharp sports car, Lighting McQueen (voiced by Owen Wilson) and his unorthodox, small-town tow-truck best friend Mater (voiced by Larry the Cable Guy), taking part in a world championship race to help promote an alternate fuel source, which would make oil obsolete in cars.  While attending lavish events in Japan, Italy and England, McQueen gets into a rivalry with an arrogant Italian race car named Francesco Bernoulli (voiced by John Turturro).  Their desire to beat each other becomes intense and McQueen needs to remain focused on the task at hand.  So when he allows Mater to tag along and work in the pit crew for the first time ever, the curious tow-truck who likes to shake things up in his own unique – and indirect – way, causes McQueen some issues on the track.

Meanwhile, Mater somehow is also mistaken for an American spy, as British agents Finn McMissile (voiced by Michael Caine) & Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer) force him into an espionage caper involving a mystery villain, who is purposely sabotaging the races McQueen is participating in.  Since Mater has a junkyard crush on Holley, he reluctantly goes along with the mission, yet gets more fired up when he realizes that his best friend McQueen is the latest target.

Look, this is paced well for the younger audiences’ attention span and the jovial accents of Larry the Cable Guy and John Turturro will get them laughing even if they don’t comprehend all the jokes.  The physical make-up shows the Pixar shine every now and again, too.  Seeing cars, planes and ships with personalities will catch your eye for a while.  But it will never tickle the funny bone as other recent animations have been able to smoothly accomplish.  This would be satisfactory if there was a rich story on display, yet the cartoon James Bond with a goofy sidekick angle will only please those that have never experienced this redundant theme before.  So of course a good portion of hyper summer kids will be drawn to this.  Just be prepared to explain what happened when this wistful feature concludes parents/guardians/babysitters/older siblings/recreation park supervisors/etc.  That is, if the kids give a crap.

And that’s the biggest issue with Cars 2:  It’s so uneven that film professors could go on for days about all its defects.  The story haphazardly goes from being completely calibrated for wholesome entertainment, and then jumps to moments where characters meet their demise in not-so elaborate action skits.  Yeah, characters die here.  So as far as continuity goes, this script looks as if some portions were written by Chris Columbus, while others were under the guidance of the destructive Michael Bay.  As stated earlier though, the kids will simply give blank stares at the 3D screen during these nonsensical transitions.

Finally, much respect to Michael Caine, Larry the Cable Guy, Emily Mortimer and John Turturro for their exuberant voice work.  If they weren’t subjected to being trapped in an animated frame, this may have been more engaging.  Pretty sad when one yearns for live-action actors instead of the dated CGI atmosphere.

Overall, Cars 2 is nothing special.  The characters are as much fun as a 1990 Volvo…safe, but boring as hell to drive.  Portions of the animation reveal glimpses of the creative minds at Pixar (kind of like this review haha).  That said, the animation – even with the 3D – is more of a matte finish rather than the patented glossy that will continuously entice audiences to explore this world.  In the end, Cars 2 should be recalled from theaters and placed in the DVD shop.  And so much for avoiding all those metaphors eh?

RATING: 2 out of 5

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In preparation for the release of the teaser trailer for Pixar’s Brave with Cars 2 this weekend, Pixar have released the first official teaser poster for the film.

Check out the full poster below:

Brave is Pixar’s next original project and will feature the first female protagonist in a Pixar film. The voice cast for the movie mostly consists of soon-to-be Harry Potter alumni.

Here’s the synopsis:

Brave is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands, where Merida is the princess of a kingdom ruled by King Fergus (Billy Connolly) and Queen Elinor (Emma Thompson). An unruly daughter and an accomplished archer, Merida one day defies a sacred custom of the land and inadvertently brings turmoil to the kingdom. In an attempt to set things right, Merida seeks out an eccentric old Wise Woman (Julie Walters) and is granted an ill-fated wish. Also figuring into Merida’s quest — and serving as comic relief — are the kingdom’s three lords: the enormous Lord MacGuffin (Kevin McKidd), the surly Lord Macintosh (Craig Ferguson), and the disagreeable Lord Dingwall (Robbie Coltrane).

Check back for the teaser trailer which will probably appear online sometime this week.

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With Pixar’s most recent movies, Toy Story 3 and Cars 2, both being sequels fans have been calling for more original movies from the company. Thankfully we’re getting one in June 2012 called Brave, which is set in the mystical Scottish Highlands and will feature the first female protagonist in a Pixar film (expect a teaser with Cars 2).

As for 2013 we’re getting Monsters Inc. prequel Monsters University, which follows the origins of Mike and Sully’s relationship all the way back to their time at the University of Fear. However Pixar recently announced that they’re planning to release another movie in 2013, on November 27, and it will feature an original story.

Details of what it will be are currently unknown. Last year Pixar cancelled Newt, which would have followed the last remaining male and female blue-footed newts on the planet. That project is unlikely to be revived, but at least we have another original Pixar movie to look forward to.

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